Kentucky Muffins...

[KentuckyReb]

Hello, pards--

Got yet another question for any kind soul willing to give a bit of guidance to a lowly webfoot in need of enlightenment. Got me a set of Kentucky Muffins. No, not the lil' torpedoes left in the wake of a mule in a tobacco field. The buttons. I bought a jacket off a friend in my outfit some time ago, a Blockade Runner 'Western Depot' jacket. It had kinda 'Brand Z' block I buttons on it, so after debating between wood buttons and the muffins, I finally ended up flipping a coin and went with the muffins. So I got 'em all sewed on all nice and purty...look real good on there. Then a fellow at the last event I was at said he had never in the world heard of muffin style buttons on an enlisted man's uniform. Did I goof or something? And I suppose now would be as good a time as any to ask about the 'Western Depot' jackets. Looks just like a Columbus Depot, just no blue trim, no pocket. It's my understanding that while they weren't attributable to any particular production point, there were surviving specimens, linked to Western Cornfed outfits. Kinda tryin' to hammer as many kinks out of my impression as possible during the off-season. So. Buttons...jacket... Thoughts? Appreciate any help.

[ewtaylor]

It has been a year or so since I have seen Blockade Runner stuff but what I did see was incorrect -authenticity wise.
I would stay away from them.
Go with a Columbus Depot jacket. I don't think too many soldiers had KY buttons on their jackets since most of the Ky Brigade was furnished uniforms from the central qmaster system. Wood, fed eagle, script I, and I think block I were the most common.
I don't have my uniform notes with me right now, but I hope this helped.

ewtaylor
bluegrass rifles

[Chasseurs de Chalmette]

When will reenactors learn that when it comes to something as mundane as buttons on reproduction Confederate garments there is no right or wrong. Did enlisted men have muffin buttons on their coats? Yes. Did they have wood buttons? Yes. Did soldiers from one state wear the buttons of another state? Yes. Did infantry wear artillery buttons? Yes. Yes, yes, and yes again! In the Tennessee State museum in Nashville there is a very ragged, homespun shell jacket with Federal muffin buttons on it. In fact, I remember every jacket and coat on display from the private up to the General having Federal muffin buttons. There is a Louisiana jacket with South Carolina buttons on it because that guy's family came from S.C., even though he was fighting for Louisiana. There are wooden buttons on original garments that were put on after the War, so who knows what the original buttons were? As long as the buttons you are putting on are made correct, that's as authentic as you're going to get.

Nic Clark
Chasseurs de Chalmette
Louisiana and the World!
Allon!

[hireddutchcutthroat]

The Woodard jacket has "muffin" buttons on it, but they may be postwar additions. If I were you, I would go with something more mundane, but definitly PEC, such as Fed eagles, script or block eyes. You cannot go wrong keeping it simple.

[Enfield]

Several Kentucky enlisted uniforms in museums today have KY state seal buttons. It is open to debate whether or not these were on the uniforms during the war. In the case of the Orphan Brigade jackets, probably not (that is, they are likely post-war replacements). Not to say that the depot jackets worn by KY troops could not have had some KY buttons, even though the garments themselves didn't come out of KY. A lot of KY State Guard uniforms did leave the state in 1861 and early 1862, and a soldier *may* have saved the buttons from his old KSG uniform to put them on later uniforms. Or just about any other common button would do. FWIW, the camp sites of the Orphan Brigade around Dalton, GA, have yielded several NC "sunburst" buttons.

Geoff Walden

[Clark Badgett]

Geoff, how are ya doing pard? It's been a long time, glad to see your still kickin. Drop me an emule sometime.

[VMI88]

In general, the 3-piece dome style buttons were officers' buttons. In fact, in the Federal service they were referred to specifically as "staff" buttons because they were worn only by staff officers. I suppose there's nothing to say an enterprising enlisted man couldn't have gotten his hands on some and sewn them on his issue jacket, but it probably wasn't the norm.

I believe that state buttons (of any type) are overdone on CS enlisted uniforms. Certainly they were used, but far more common would be CS issue buttons or even Federal eagle buttons. There are exceptions, such as the wide use of NC state buttons on jackets issued by the state, but items coming through the Confederate quartermaster would have been generic and probably remained that way for the most part.