Florida Military Institute Jacket

[Legion Para]

http://moconfederacy.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/AF7C6444-76D0-4FF5-BC41-180181128630

Charles Locke Beard donated his cadet jacket, explaining that he wore it when he was fifteen years old and attending the Florida Military Institute in Tallahassee, in 1865. Beard served in the Cadet Corps, also known as the "Baby Corps", in the Battle of Natural Bridge on March 6, 1865, which helped to preserve the capital city as the only southern capital east of the Mississippi not captured during the Civil War.

Single breasted, 7 button front, very light brown (faded from gray?) cotton homespun with no piping or facings, no lining; Louisiana state buttons with backmark: "HYDE & GOODRICH/ NEW ORLEANS". Pin of bone, heart-shaped (a) attached to left breast.

 

[Legion Para]

http://moconfederacy.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/E16C2D90-9D41-424C-ADBA-292943686208

Heart-shaped pin of bone. Decorated with painted designs. Pinned to left breast of the shell jacket.

 

[FloridaCSA]

Really cool thanks for sharing. I wonder if there's a meaning to the pin or is it a personal effect he added.

 

[major bill]

Very nice jacket. I was wondering why military school uniforms are not studied more.

 

[ucvrelics]

Great jacket with a nice sweet heart pin, but why would a private cadet Florida have Louisiana Pelican buttons? I would think he would have Florida buttons.

 

[captaindrew]

Looks like a undyed confederate shell jacket typical of what some of the deep south depots were putting out during the war, this one I guess from Louisiana although the buttons often didn`t mean much being they used whatever they could get their hands on including often times Federal eagles. That school must have gotten their hands on a batch of these.

 

[Grayrock Volunteer]

Has anyone seen this jacket in person, or have access to more detailed notes or perhaps a data sheet? This is an interesting jacket, and appears to be somewhat similar in construction to the 3rd Louisiana jacket (possible Shreveport Depot) that resides in the Troiani collection.

Thanks,
Garrett

 

[captaindrew]

Louisiana had several small depots that put out a fair amount of uniforms during the war. I don`t know where in Florida that school was but if it was in the Panhandle which it probably was it certainly isn`t a stretch that they acquired a batch of uniforms from one of nearby Louisiana`s depots. There were Louisiana and Mississippi regiments stationed on the coast through that area also.

 

[RedRover]

Has anyone seen this jacket in person, or have access to more detailed notes or perhaps a data sheet? This is an interesting jacket, and appears to be somewhat similar in construction to the 3rd Louisiana jacket (possible Shreveport Depot) that resides in the Troiani collection.

Thanks,
Garrett

I have seen the Museum data sheet on this jacket. It has no interior lining; the front inner facings of the same cloth as the body are very wide, reaching to the side-underarm seams, and felled to the side seam allowance, etc. One of these interior facings has a pocket opening worked in it. There is another facing piece put around the inside of the bottom back. While the Echoes of Glory Confederate Volume suggests the jacket is of cotton, the museum sheet says it is made from a wool and cotton mix fabric, evidently in a plain weave (woolen "plains.")

Jesse Marshall
Hernando, FL

 

[major bill]

At the start of the Civil War the prescribed uniform for the West Florida Seminary (The Florida Military and Collegiate Institute during the Civil War) was a gray tail coat, pants, and chasseur cap, trimmed with black: possibly a fatigue uniform.

This school became Florida State University. An interesting side fact is that in 1858 the institute absorbed the Tallahassee Female Academy and was thus one of the earlier coed colleges in the South.