Illinois gray uniforms.

[major bill]

Detroit made gray uniforms for a Illinois regiment. These were made by Gardner, probably out of gray cloth from his Jonesville woolen factory in Jonesville Michigan.

 

[Cpl. Smith]

Cool, were the uniforms all made and delivered?

 

[major bill]

Cool, were the uniforms all made and delivered?

Yes they were made in abut a week and sent to Illinois.

 

[Cpl. Smith]

Yes they were made in abut a week and sent to Illinois.

Wow!! That is really fast, even for today's standards. I order 1 jacket and 6-8 weeks later it arrives!

 

[major bill]

Early in the War Detroit merchant tailors were putting out 100 uniforms per day. Ransom Gardner was not a merchant tailor but owned two cloth mills. I assume he sub contacted out the work or used the workers that had worked for the other Detroit merchant tailors. Sadly Gardner did not have the proper vats to dye blue cloth and so was making gray uniform cloth. For those who do not recognize the name Gardner supplied large quantities of cloth before the War to include cloth for prison uniforms.