Buttons on sack coats

[RickyTexan]

Hi team. This is my first post so if for whatever reason it does not meet the criteria for appropriateness, please let me know.
I would like your thoughts on button replacements that soldiers used during the war:
1. How likely was it to lose a button?
2. How scrupulous were soldiers to replace lost buttons?
3. Were soldiers extremely particular about replacing lost buttons with ones identical to the lost ones, or did they make do with buttons they could find, or perhaps even make from wood, bone, etc?
4. Would it be common, particularly later in the war, and particularly for Southern troops, to see a mix and match of buttons on a shell jacket or sack coat, or even missing buttons?
Thanks for your thoughts
Ricky

 

[major bill]

Based on photographs of buttons missing on uniforms of other eras, I don't believe that a missing button was the end of the world for most soldiers.

 

[RickyTexan]

Based on photographs of buttons missing on uniforms of other eras, I don't believe that a missing button was the end of the world for most soldiers.

Thanks Major Bill. I imagined that the Victorian Era sensibilities might lead to different priorities in terms of dress. I remember reading that for men, what we considered shirts that might be worn in public would be expected to be covered with a Vest or jacket back then, as if those shirts were underwear. So a missing button would be a bigger deal back then.