C.S. Army officers' greatcoats question

Billy1977

Sergeant
Joined
Mar 18, 2016
Location
Flippin, Arkansas (near Yellville)
Hello everybody, I have a question about C.S. Army officers' greatcoats. While I've seen plenty of photos and illustrations of Confederate enlisted men's greatcoats, both mounted and for foot troops, I don't think I've ever seen what their officers' greatcoats looked like. Were they sort of a gray version of the Union officers' greatcoat with frog closures etc.? Or were they more like a fancier version of the C.S. Army enlisted greatcoat, just with the curly rank devices on the cuffs and made of a better quality wool? Or something else entirely? Thanks in advance to whomever can shed some light on this.
 
Hello everybody, I have a question about C.S. Army officers' greatcoats. While I've seen plenty of photos and illustrations of Confederate enlisted men's greatcoats, both mounted and for foot troops, I don't think I've ever seen what their officers' greatcoats looked like. Were they sort of a gray version of the Union officers' greatcoat with frog closures etc.? Or were they more like a fancier version of the C.S. Army enlisted greatcoat, just with the curly rank devices on the cuffs and made of a better quality wool? Or something else entirely? Thanks in advance to whomever can shed some light on this.
Officer's supplied their own clothing and as such there would be many different types of overcoats, some with a cape some without and some just a cape. Here are 2 that I have had the opportunity to view, the Samuel Bond coat, for sale at Midwest CW Relics and the Buchanan coat which resides in the collection of the Maryland Historical Society.
 

Attachments

  • CS Maryland Overcoat.jpg
    CS Maryland Overcoat.jpg
    380.8 KB · Views: 676
  • Buchanan coat.jpg
    Buchanan coat.jpg
    36.4 KB · Views: 391
Thanks Package4 and CivilKen! That's pretty modern looking for the era in my opinion, almost looks like a greatcoat an East German soldier would have worn in the 1980s or something. Great to see the actual uniforms. Wow, so it was pretty much a very mixed bag for C.S. Army officers' greatcoats, being private purchase and everything. So you saw some that looked like a fancier version of the enlisted greatcoat I guess, others that looked like what was in the photos above, still others that probably looked different from either. Being so much left up to personal preference, I wonder what kind of greatcoat some of the more famous senior officers wore, like Lee or Jackson or Stuart. Has anyone seen them in greatcoats? (Off topic, but for that matter has anyone ever seen Gen. Lee wearing a forage cap/kepi? I've always seen him in a broad-brimmed hat.)
 
Thanks Package4 and CivilKen! That's pretty modern looking for the era in my opinion, almost looks like a greatcoat an East German soldier would have worn in the 1980s or something. Great to see the actual uniforms. Wow, so it was pretty much a very mixed bag for C.S. Army officers' greatcoats, being private purchase and everything. So you saw some that looked like a fancier version of the enlisted greatcoat I guess, others that looked like what was in the photos above, still others that probably looked different from either. Being so much left up to personal preference, I wonder what kind of greatcoat some of the more famous senior officers wore, like Lee or Jackson or Stuart. Has anyone seen them in greatcoats? (Off topic, but for that matter has anyone ever seen Gen. Lee wearing a forage cap/kepi? I've always seen him in a broad-brimmed hat.)
Many wore a type of cloak and Jackson had a rubberized/oilcloth coat, that I'm sure held in quite a bit of heat, in fact he was wounded in it at Chancellorsville. I'm sure Lee was presented with more than one kepi from admirers, but doubtful he ever wore or kept one as it was not his preference. He most likely wore one during his days as superintendent at West Point and determined that he was not fond of the headwear.
 

Attachments

  • jackson rain coat.jpg
    jackson rain coat.jpg
    60.3 KB · Views: 238
Thanks Package4. Yes, I'd never seen Lee in a kepi either, it would just seem too undignified for him I guess. So in sum, there was no "standardized" issue C.S. Army officers' greatcoat, correct? So for example a bunch of Confederate generals on a rostrum reviewing a parade in the wintertime would look like a motley collection of individuals wearing different styles of coats rather than a uniform group of officers from the same army?

But I guess when you're trying to form an independent country from scratch, in wartime no less, you've got more important things to worry about than if all your officers' coats match.
 
Thank you for posting this. I have never really studied Confederate overcoats so find this interesting.
 
Beautiful Klaudly! Thanks buddy!

I was thinking, though the officers' greatcoats would be private purchase and thus of differing styles, cuts, etc., there are only so many possibilities for the broad, general details of the coats. I would have to believe almost all of them would be double-breasted instead of single-breasted. Made of wool. Most being gray instead of butternut I'm sure. So in you all's opinions, would Confederate officers be more commonly seen in greatcoats that:

1.) had capes or did not have them?

2.) had the curly rank devices on the cuffs or did not have them?

Or is this a question that it's really impossible to know the answer to? Honestly I don't recall even seeing C.S. Army officers in greatcoats and I have the full five-volume set of the Photographic History of the Civil War with tons of photos of rebel officers. Did cameras of the period not work as well in cold winter weather or was it simply because armies generally were in winter quarters and not in the field where they would be available for more exciting "field" photos rather than more mundane winter quarters photos?
 
Last edited:
I remember seeing many photographs of officers wearing the coat, most were single or double-breasted with the cape, but without insignia of rank. About the color can not say anything, those survivors appear gray to me for the most part.

2jentps.jpg


Captain Edward Brett Randolph, 7th Alabama Cavalry
 
Last edited:
The officers also used cloaks, this belong to colonel Mosby:
ff0io0.jpg

Even general A.P. Hill and other officers preferred this winter garment.


Many photographs on Pinterest are misidentified, including the above photo which is credited to the American Civil War Museum. There is no Mosby cape in the Museum of the Confederacy Collection.

Portrait of John Mosby painted in 1865 by Edward Caledon Bruce. The portrait was likely taken from sittings during Mosby's visit to Richmond in late 1864 and early 1865.

7dcdaaa745e8f1bd8fc83de5bb21b3b9.jpg
 
Back
Top