MINT CONDITION CIVIL WAR INFANTRY ENLISTED GREAT COAT

MINT CONDITION CIVIL WAR INFANTRY ENLISTED GREAT COAT

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$5,500.00

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 1314-04

Shipping: Determined by Method & Location of buyer

To Order:
Call 717-334-0347,
Fax 717-334-5016, or E-mail

This is a superior example of the standard overcoat or greatcoat for U.S. enlisted foot troops from 1851 through the Civil War and several years thereafter, described in detail in the 1865 Quartermaster’s Manual. In all respects the coat follows the standard pattern. The coat has a regulation standing collar made with interlining as a stiffener, 2- inches tall and reinforced by four lines of stitching along the middle, and the cape sewn in place along the lower edge. The front edges of the collar are fitted with two sets of hooks and eyes to close it up. As is correct, the cape is roughly elbow length, about 16-inches long down the front and 18 down the center seam on the back. The cape is unlined and closed by six small, cuff-size general service eagle buttons. All these buttons are in place. The buttonholes show no wear.

The body of the coat is single breasted and fastened by five coat-size general service eagle buttons, all in place, with the buttonholes showing only minor wear. The back of the coat is fitted the standard two-piece cloth belt fastened by a single coat-size general service eagle button on one of the belt halves and two adjusting holes on the end of the other half, with a vertical supporting loop at center. The button is present and fastened into the outermost buttonhole. The supporting loop and belt are in place, secure, and visible buttonhole shows no wear. The rear of the skirt has a 13-1/4 inch vent with the edges turned under and sewn. The bottom edge of the coat is turned under and sewn, giving it a 3/4 inch hem.

The body of the coat has a burlap lining extending down to the waist, which is unlined. The sleeves are lined in white. The cuffs are separately applied, unlined, and would be 7 inches long if turned down and extended, which would provide some hand cover, a good thing since the Army had not yet gotten around to issuing gloves or mittens. At present, the ends of the sleeves are turned up to form cuffs about 4 inches tall on the outside. As is correct, there are no pockets in the coat, something soldiers often remedied by adding them.

The condition is outstanding: the coat shows no moth damage- neither holes nor tracking, is structurally sound and has strong color. The only open seam we see is a 2-inch section on the vertical seam on the skirt on the wearer’s right rear, near the lower edge. The lining of the body and sleeves is excellent as well. We see the number “21” stamped in ink in the sleeve lining at both shoulders, but no contractor or inspection marks. These likely came out in postwar Army cleaning and treatment for storage. The left shoulder shows the three-line ink stamp of “Cowles & Co.,” with their patent dates, indicating this was one of the some 150,000 enlisted uniforms treated for Army by that company with their patented moth, water, and mildew-proofing process from 1869 to 1876. A modern study indicates they also treated some 20,000 tents and a total of some 1.5 million yards of fabric. The stamping is somewhat light, but legible. A somewhat blurred circular ink stamp next to it is not legible, and could be remnants of a maker or inspection mark. In any case, given the excellent condition of the coat, the Cowles process seems to have worked, preserving the coat until sold as surplus once government specifications for overcoats changed in the 1870s-1880s.

You will have to look long and hard to find a Civil War enlisted infantryman’s great coat in anything close to this condition.  [sr][ph:L]

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