This cavalry jacket came out of south-eastern Pennsylvania, unfortunately with no history attached to it, but showing indications of a bullet strike in the right arm, with one hole at rear of the sleeve seam just above the elbow and the other a little lower down, forward of the seam, pretty clearly entry and exit points, either from the wearer’s left rear or right front. The jacket was, for better or worse, laundered at some point, by the veteran or his family, leaving no blood stains, if indeed he was winged, which seems likely, but he may have escaped narrowly if he had his arm slightly bent, which is also possible, making it equally likely he preserved the jacket as a sort of good-luck charm. In either event, this a great looking piece.

The jacket is a regulation mounted services jacket with yellow trim for cavalry service. It has the regulation twelve-button front and tall standing collar with two buttons and false buttonholes on either side, with the false buttonholes, edge of the collar, lapel, and bottom edge of the jacket trimmed in yellow worsted wool tape, as are the two-button cuffs, trimmed in chevrons, the belt support pillows on the rear waist and the rear seams from the tops of the pillows to the armpits.

The lining is complete and in place in the body and sleeves. The jacket bears a contractor marking in one sleeve reading, “I. HABER & Co. / NEW YORK / 3 NOV 1864,” with the size stamp “1” in two locations (one very clear, the other rubbed.) The “& Co.” is slightly rubbed, but there is no doubt on the contractor or date. Haber had numerous large uniform contracts, including for some Duryea zouave uniforms, and seems to have had a factory in New Jersey, though operating as a company out of New York. Their contracts included some 56,800 cavalry jackets in December 1863 and November 1864.

Given the contract date and likely delays in distribution and issue, we are probably looking for a trooper who had a close call in one of the numerous cavalry fights of late 1864 and Spring 1865, when colder weather dictated wearing the lined, regulation jacket, and the war reached its conclusion with cavalry raids and expeditions in the west like those under Wilson, in the east as Grant sought to cut-off and then pursue and capture Lee’s forces at Petersburg and Richmond, or as Sherman finally triumphed over Johnston in the Campaign of the Carolinas. Unfortunately, there is little to go on in identifying the wearer other than that he was likely of short or moderate stature given the size, and likely from Pennsylvania given the find location. The jacket shows some minor moth tracking from storage, one small hole just above the rear, upper hole, likely a graze from the same bullet that caused the other two holes. With such a close call it is little wonder the veteran preserved it as a telling memento and lively conversation piece.  [sr][ph:L]

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