Butternut

[Mississippian1861]

Went on a bit of tangent on CS uniform colors and what exactly "butternut" meant to different people. In the South, it tends to mean dye from the black walnut tree (Juglans Nigra) which grows widely. It produces a chocolate brown dye that can vary depending on what combination of hulls/bark/leafs that you use. The 1904 Montgomery Advertiser article mentions in passing that black walnut is not the same as true butternut. True butternut is white walnut (Juglans Cinerea) which grows mostly in the north and border states.

Last year, the vendors Wambaugh and White worked with Family Heirloom Weavers to produce a limited run of butternut (white walnut) dyed wool jean fabric. It matches the red-brown described in the 1909 Julesburg newspaper article.

 

[Allyn]

The church building in which I worship, dating from the late 1860's, has wainscoting of alternating strips of black walnut and butternut, definitely two different colors. Butternut was considerably lighter than the black walnut. And yes, newspaper articles noted at the time that butternut was also known as white walnut.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Went on a bit of tangent on CS uniform colors and what exactly "butternut" meant to different people. In the South, it tends to mean dye from the black walnut tree (Juglans Nigra) which grows widely. It produces a chocolate brown dye that can vary depending on what combination of hulls/bark/leafs that you use. The 1904 Montgomery Advertiser article mentions in passing that black walnut is not the same as true butternut. True butternut is white walnut (Juglans Cinerea) which grows mostly in the north and border states.

Last year, the vendors Wambaugh and White worked with Family Heirloom Weavers to produce a limited run of butternut (white walnut) dyed wool jean fabric. It matches the red-brown described in the 1909 Julesburg newspaper article.

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Very interesting. I had always thought of butternut as yellowish brown.

 

[DixieRifles]

I guess the two maps show the region where the two walnut trees grew: 1st map is White Walnut & 2d map is Black Walnut.

Its interesting to see the Black Walnut doesnt grow where I grew up in the Mississippi Delta.
But around Memphis, where I now live, both may be found there.
On my hike I find small walnuts but they are all rotten— probably because they are in a wet area.

I have seen a color photo of butternut uniform in one of my books that has a light reddish brown. I assume it has faded some over the years.

 

[captaindrew]

Butternut was a term used to describe much of the CS domestically made uniforms mainly by northerners. the domestically produced jean clothe using poor dyes made of nut shells and vegetables would start their life as an attempt at grey but would quickly weather into a tan yellowish color. The term goes back to before the war when poor rural southerners would travel north looking for work in northern factories wearing homespun clothing made in the same fashion. The northerners would call them "Butternuts" It was like calling them hicks or rednecks. The term carried over into the war. There's a few vendors producing jean in the exact same fashion for reproduction uniforms. I don't want to steal a photo so here's a link to Ben Tart's website showing a before and after sample of his logwood jean which perfectly shows how these fabrics weathered. https://www.tartextextiles.com/Logwood-Jean-Cloth_p_91.html#mz-expanded-view-1052058617810 then click the second color example