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IDENTIFIED CONFEDERATE OFFICER'S FROCK COAT WITH EXTRAORDINARILY RARE BUTTONS

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Offered is the uniform coat of 2nd/1st Lieutenant John Calhoun Clemson. This fine frock coat has 20 rare "CS Palmetto Guards" overcoat and cuff buttons (SC17).

John Calhoun Clemson was the grandson of statesman John C. Calhoun and the son of the founder of Clemson University. As a teenager he spent 1 month at VMI but left due to poor health. He enlisted as a private in 1861 in Orr's South Carolina Rifles. He is subsequently shown with the 2nd Infantry Battalion South Carolina Sharpshooters and holding the rank of 2nd Lieutenant but never physically reported for duty. Clemson had joined Co. H of the 1st South Carolina Heavy Artillery January 24th, 1862, and evidently remained with them until he resigned April 2, 1863. In May of 1863 he joined his father's command The Niter and Mining Bureau of the Trans-Mississippi Department. He was given the rank of 1st Lieutenant. That September Clemson was placed in charge of a squadron to transport a large sum of Confederate currency. He and his detachment were captured in Bolivar County, Mississippi. Clemson went to prison at Johnson's Island, Ohio. He was held here until June of 1865. War's end did not change his luck and on August 10th, 1871, he was killed in a train wreck age 30.

FROCK COAT: Clemson's lieutenant's coat was tailored between June of 1862 and May of 1863. The coat is made of a mid-gray colored wool broadcloth. It has full-length skirts ending in an unbasted edge. The sleeves have an 8 1/2-inch billow at the elbow and a non-functioning cuff which display 3 rare "CS Palmetto Guards" buttons both left and right (6 total back marked “EXTRA GOLD” with a lion). Running up the sleeves for 10 1/2 inches are hand tacked galons in a quatrefoil pattern. These are the metallic gold flat-fall type and 1/8 inch wide. These are single stranded for lieutenant rank.  The wool standing collar is 2 inches high and is lined with blue polished cotton. On both sides of the collar are 2 metallic hand tacked ¼” wide bars that are 2 1/2 inches long (1st Lieutenant).  The coat is piped collar, top of the cuffs, front of the coat and pocket flaps at the rear. But from field use this dark blue broadcloth piping is only about 30% intact. The coat is double breasted, with hand whipped buttonholes. The total front button count is 14. There are 7 per side. All the buttons are rare "CS Palmetto Guards" overcoat buttons (SC17) back marked “EXTRA GOLD” with a lion. On the right side of the frock about 4 inches above the hip is a piped straight slash pocket for a watch. The interior of the frock is lined with a green glazed cotton which is quilted in the area above the waist. In the lining below the waste on the left side is a large pocket. The sleeves were fully lined in a white cotton. The rear of the frock has 2 decorative pocket flaps that cover polished cotton pockets. These rear flaps have a total of 4 US eagle officer buttons, but it is the compiler's contention, after examining their haphazard attachment, that these have been exchanged for 4 CS Palmetto Guards buttons in the not-too-distant past. The condition of the frock coat is fine with most of the inner lining is intact. There are several spots of wear and tear. The exterior of the coat has scattered insect damage and a couple of the larger ones have been backed with matching gray wool by a restorer.  The seams generally are tight. All the CS Palmetto Guards buttons, but one cuff button on the right sleeve where there is a small repair, appear to have been sewn on contemporaneously.

The coat shows a lot of "period" use and it is not impossible that Clemson wore it after his capture in military captivity. With the frock are a number of photocopies of letters Clemson sent from prison to his mother. Formerly in the Texas Civil War Museum this uniform outstanding!   [pe][ph:L]

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