Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

[Andrew Kasmar]

Hi,

I am looking for information on the Huston and Shreveport jackets, such as:

What buttons were used?

What fabric for the lining and the body?

Where all these jackets trimmed?

How many pieces was the body made up of?

If anyone can post some pictures of the jacket, that would be a great help. I am also interested in finding out where I can purchase a pattern for one of these jackets, or if there is a pattern that can be modified. Thanks for any information.

[kaelin]

Re: Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

Hey Andrew
I wanted to pass this on to you, not sure if you have this already or not thought it might help!

http://www.nsalliance.org/uniforms/texaslouisianajackets.pdf

Take care
Kaelin

[Andrew Kasmar]

Re: Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

Hi,

Thank you very much Mr. Vernon for the information.

Andrew

[Sweatshop Tailor]

Dear Andrew,
You may also wish to have a look at this which I wrote some time ago:

http://www.lazyjacks.org.uk/tranmis1.htm

I have subsequently written an article particularly on Texas-Louisiana Depot jackets for the Lazy Jacks Newsletter, but due to the absence of a webmaster in our mess at the current time it is not yet posted... Hopefully this will be resolved before the end of the year.

I attach one of two known images of a Houston depot jacket (this one resides in my personal collection). The image is of August Ritter. I include edited excerpts from my article to give the image some context:

August Ritter was born at Meiningen, in what was then Saxon Thuringia. He immigrated to the United States in the 1850s via South Carolina, arriving in Texas only shortly before the outbreak of the war. On the 12th of December 1861 he enlisted in Manly’s ‘Houston City Battery’ for the duration of the conflict. There was a fair leavening of ‘Dutchmen’ in this unit. Indeed my own gr-gr grandfather, a Texas-German from Baden, served in this same battery, before transferring to the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles. Ritter is described as being 5 foot 4 inches in height, having auburn hair and blue eyes. His occupation is given as ‘Clerk’. His age as listed in his service records and in census records varies slightly from record to record, however, he appears to have been born somewhere between 1829 and 1833.

Many’s Houston Battery became Company G of Cook’s Heavy Artillery Regiment in early 1862, and Alfred Whittaker replaced Manly as their Captain. Throughout Ritter’s time with them they served in the Galveston Bay area. In October 1862, shortly after the fall of Galveston to Union forces, he was detailed to the Ordnance Department in Houston where he was employed in ‘fabricating rockets’ and ‘making ammunition’. He was admitted frequently to the Houston General Hospital while working at the Ordnance Department: shortly after arriving in October 1862 with rheumatism, again with rheumatism in December 1862, and once with intestinal problems in July1863. Each of these visits lasted from two to eight weeks before returning to duty. Finally he re-entered hospital in August 1863 and remained there until he received a medical discharge in October 1863.
Ritter’s absence from the military did not last long. Perhaps he could not find employment in Houston outside of the military. In any event he re-enlisted in early 1864 with Dege’s Texas Light Artillery. On the 26 February, 1864 he was transferred to Captain Fox’s Ordnance Office in Houston (Fox had been the original commander of Dege’s Battery). There he resumed his work with munitions until the end of the war. His parole papers, dated 21st June, 1865 (Houston Texas) are signed in neat, flowing script: “August Ritter, Private, Dege’s Light Battery”. It seems likely that this ambrotype was taken sometime early in this second enlistment while working at the Houston Ordnance office.

There are two main reasons to believe that the shell jacket Ritter is wearing in the ambrotype is a Houston Depot winter issue:
•The tone, texture and weight of the cloth are consistent with the blue-grey British kersey used in these jackets – and not known to have been used in other Texas depot issues.
•The context of the image would imply that it is a Houston Dept issue: i.e. someone working in the Houston Ordnance office almost next door to the Quartermaster’s office.

Still, it is interesting to note that the number of buttons in the image is at odds with the 7 originally specified by the Texas Quartermaster for this type. At most his jacket has 6 buttons, and quite possibly only 5. However button numbers may well have changed over the length of issue as materials became more limited. His jacket also lacks facings which are present on the other known surviving Houston Depot image (Don Smith pers. com.). Again, this should not be surprising given that these facings were to be made using imported materials which would not always have been available.



OOPs - I see the article linked to in the earlier post by Mr.Vernon actually is my complete article... At least its posted somewhere on the net - now we just need to get it posted on the Lazy Jacks site too!


KC MacDonald
Founding Member Lazy Jacks Mess
****************************
Proud Galveston BOI (Born on Island)
Gr-Gr Grandson of 5 Confederates (and one Yankee...)

Currently residing in an ex-Tailoring Sweatshop built in Huntingdon, England in 1851

[Andrew Kasmar]

Re: Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

Hi,

Thank you very much for the article.

Andrew

[Andrew Kasmar]

Re: Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

Single breasted with seven buttons made of 1 3/4 yards of double width coarse, cadet gray cloth, basted with spool cotton and sewn with flax thread... Bleached domestic sleeve lining taking 3/4 yard and unbleached domestic for the body lining and pockets ... [being] heavy weave cotton material from the penitentiary mill. (Adolphus 1996: 173)

Hi,

Does anyone know what "Bleached domestic sleeve lining" might be? Would it be a Osnaburg cotton or was it some sort of muslin? Any thoughts? Thanks

[Sweatshop Tailor]

Re: Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

Dear Andrew,
I discussed 'bleached domestic' with both Fred Adolphus and Charlie Childs a few years ago and though I cannot remember the reasoning, I know that I wound up using CC Osnaburg for my own jackets. Basically you want a fairly light domestic cotton, but nothing as fine as muslin.
Hope this helps,
KC

[Andrew Kasmar]

Re: Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

Hi,

Thanks

[Joe Walker]

Re: Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

I believe the term for the material today would be cotton "sheeting".

Joe Walker

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

Don't forget the mysterious Louisiana jacket in the Troiani Collection. Dan Wambaugh and I had a close look at it twice and the thing is something to behold; nasty gray-tan tabby weave jeancloth body, with a thick, slubby cotton lining, machine chainstitched and the body and sleeve seams are even felled before the lining was worked in. Looks like something that came out of WWII era Russia but could actually be an example of a deep south/penitentiary jacket that came out of an established manufactory.

I'm still looking for a chainstitch machine that can run thread about as thick as string so I can reproduce this jacket.

[DougCooper]

Re: Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

Hi,

I am looking for information on the Huston and Shreveport jackets, such as:

What buttons were used?

What fabric for the lining and the body?

Where all these jackets trimmed?

How many pieces was the body made up of?

If anyone can post some pictures of the jacket, that would be a great help. I am also interested in finding out where I can purchase a pattern for one of these jackets, or if there is a pattern that can be modified. Thanks for any information.

First is a photo of a 1st Texas heavy Arty soldier wearing what may be an example of a Houston Depot double breasted frock coat (we think). Next is a photo of August Ritter KC speaks of in what may be a Houston Depot Jacket (zip file also enclosed). Last is 4 photos of the Louisiana Jacket Dan speaks of.

Here is an outstanding webpage with much info on the subject of Trans-Miss jackets. http://www.nsalliance.org/uniforms/csuniforms.htm

I think this has been covered, oh, 5-6 times so far, but it is great to have KC on here!

[Sweatshop Tailor]

Re: Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

Hi Doug (and Don Smith too if he is reading this thread!),
Great to be back around! Hope to see you back Stateside sometime soon.

Anyhow... Do you know if the double-breasted frockcoat image is the one that Don Smith was talking about - or is that another image again? If so, Don - if you are listening - do you have a scan of it?

As to the double breasted image, the cuffs are interesting as those on Ritters probable 1862 issued uniform are also pointed (in the article, jpg attached below also).

All the Best,
KC

[Sweatshop Tailor]

Re: Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

Regarding the English 'Charles A. Parkins' jacket, and further to the comments I made about its origins in my article linked to elsewhere on this thread by Mr. Jessop, its Louisiana depot origins are still uncertain. It certainly looks the ticket, and I would like to believe it to be so, but the problem remains that there was no Charles A Parkins or Charles A. Perkins in a Louisiana Western or Trans-Miss unit. Rather, there are the following:

Charles A. Parkins (Captain, 16th SC Infantry)
Charles A. Perkins (Morgan's 6th MS Cav)
Charles A. Perkins (3rd AL Cav)

There is a Charles Perkins (no initial) in the 1st Louisiana Infantry Co.B, but he served in the East and had a leg amputated in the war.

[DougCooper]

Re: Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

Hi Doug (and Don Smith too if he is reading this thread!),
Great to be back around! Hope to see you back Stateside sometime soon.

Anyhow... Do you know if the double-breasted frockcoat image is the one that Don Smith was talking about - or is that another image again? If so, Don - if you are listening - do you have a scan of it?

As to the double breasted image, the cuffs are interesting as those on Ritters probable 1862 issued uniform are also pointed (in the article, jpg attached below also).

All the Best,
KC

KC if I remember, Fred Adolphus came up that photo (I could be wrong) and I had lost my "early Ritter" photo file. Intriguing! I will send a copy to you via e-mail.

Of note on the Louisiana Jacket. Brassey's Uniforms of the Civil War (CS) has some very detailed photos of the fabric and the cast Louisiana buttons.

[Sweatshop Tailor]

Re: Trans-Mississippi Depot Jackets

the cast Louisiana buttons...

Yep, I have Brassey's before me. I begin to wonder whether we should disassociate the Parkins name from the jacket, and go more by what it looks like. Does anyone know what kind of documentation Troiani got with it? I could always try to contact the Woolwich Arsenal and see if they still have the accession records - though if they de-accessioned it to sell it...