Lee Lee's Uniforms...

[RedRover]

General Lee is pretty famous for his relative informality of dress. His gray "regulation" uniforms, for example, generally bearing only the three stars of a colonel, rather than the CS Army Generals' regulation wreath and stars.

I see in Armistead L. Long's memoir, (a member of Lee's staff) that even to the Spring of 1862, when detailed to command at Savannah, GA, he was yet "conspicuous by the blue uniform which he was the last of the Confederates to put off..." [Armistead L. Long, Memoirs of Robert E. Lee, 1886, 494.]

Here is a poor copy of a portrait of Lee as a Colonel of US Army engineers, ca. 1855, by E.L. Ipsen.

He was still wearing his dark blue uniform, occasionally buttoned to the throat, during the Seven Days' Battles around Richmond, June-July, 1862, notably at Gaines' Mill. By that time he had already grown a beard. [Woodward, Elmer R., III, A Bloody Day at Gaines Mill, 2019, 55; Snow, William P., Lee and His Generals, 1867, 61.]

Anyone have an idea when he finally "put off" his blue uniform and procured the regulation gray?

Best,
J. Marshall,
Hernando, FL

 

[RedRover]

An update. From General Lee's wartime papers, edited by Clifford Dowdey in 1961, is found the following references to the general's clothing.

On June 10, 1862, he notes sending back a blue coat to his family, "it is of no use to me here..." and requests in its place one of his linen coats for wear "in the house" (evidently as in off duty). 190.

On June 22, '62 he wrote his daughter that "my habiliments are...nor so suited for the hot weather." "My coat is of gray, of the regulation style and pattern, and my pants of dark blue, as is also prescribed, partly hid by my long boots. I have the same handsome hat..." 197.

On May 11, 1863, he asked his son for aid in lightening his clothing for the summer, asking him to forward, "my gray sack, cotton drawers, and some cotton socks... 441.

 

[James N.]

An update. From General Lee's wartime papers, edited by Clifford Dowdey in 1961, is found the following references to the general's clothing.

On June 10, 1862, he notes sending back a blue coat to his family, "it is of no use to me here..." and requests in its place one of his linen coats for wear "in the house" (evidently as in off duty). 190.

On June 22, '62 he wrote his daughter that "my habiliments are...nor so suited for the hot weather." "My coat is of gray, of the regulation style and pattern, and my pants of dark blue, as is also prescribed, partly hid by my long boots. I have the same handsome hat..." 197.

On May 11, 1863, he asked his son for aid in lightening his clothing for the summer, asking him to forward, "my gray sack, cotton drawers, and some cotton socks... 441.

Several of his uniforms or at least the tunics survive; I recall seeing a very simple frock coat at Battle Abbey, the headquarters of the Virginia Historical Society, in Richmond around 1990. The one he supposedly wore at Appomattox is displayed along with his gauntlets in the new museum nearby that contains much of what was in the now-defunct Museum of the Confederacy, also in Richmond:

 

[RedRover]

I have seen a reference regarding the Lee equestrian statue in Richmond, made by the French sculptor Antonin Mercie, that he had in his studio for study the very boots Lee wore at Gettysburg. The artist showed them to a correspondent noting the very small feet. He also had for study Lee's hat. The sword on the statue is based from a photograph, and the saddle is one used by the Duc De Chartres, a Union veteran and brother of the Compte de Paris...

Aberdeen Daily News, Aberdeen, SD, May 14, 1890.

J. Marshall,
Hernando, FL.

 

[RedRover]

Col. Freemantle of the British army, described Lee's dress generally at Gettysburg:

When he says a "long...jacket" I wonder if he means what Lee called his gray "sack." In the tailor's books like Devere (1866 etc.), what Americans called a sack coat, was described in the London fashion as a "walking jacket" etc. Freemantle knew the difference between a jacket and frock coat. Elsewhere in his volume, Freemantle refers to the Confederate regulation "bluish gray frock coat..." and Gen. Wilcox wearing a "short jacket..."

J. Marshall,
Hernando, FL.

 

[RedRover]

Here's a photograph of Gen. Lee, on Traveller, suppose to have been taken in Petersburg, Va., in the fall of 1864.

 

[RedRover]

And Gen. Lee at home in mid-1865...

 

[John5thNJ]

Several of his uniforms or at least the tunics survive; I recall seeing a very simple frock coat at Battle Abbey, the headquarters of the Virginia Historical Society, in Richmond around 1990. The one he supposedly wore at Appomattox is displayed along with his gauntlets in the new museum nearby that contains much of what was in the now-defunct Museum of the Confederacy, also in Richmond:

Wasn't the preserved body of Traveler also in the now-defunct Museum of the Confederacy, or am I misremembering (again)?

 

[RedRover]

A blue cloth cape, or cloak, worn by Gen. Lee, was reported among the displays at the Chicago Historical Society museum in 1936:

 

[RedRover]

Several of his uniforms or at least the tunics survive; I recall seeing a very simple frock coat at Battle Abbey, the headquarters of the Virginia Historical Society, in Richmond around 1990. The one he supposedly wore at Appomattox is displayed along with his gauntlets in the new museum nearby that contains much of what was in the now-defunct Museum of the Confederacy, also in Richmond:

View attachment 407314

Here's another view of Lee's full-dress coat, showing the regulation general's collar insignia, on the non-regulation rolling collar:

This coat is evidently the one mentioned in 1903, as displayed at the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, as having been loaned to the sculptors for their works:

Several sources state that this uniform coat of Gen. Lee's, worn at Appomattox Court House, was then brand new. Perhaps he procured it after his elevation to general-in-chief of the armies of the CSA in February, 1865...

 

[RedRover]

Wasn't the preserved body of Traveler also in the now-defunct Museum of the Confederacy, or am I misremembering (again)?

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, of Oct. 13, 1935:

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

I have the same handsome hat...

It really is a handsome hat.

 

[JonnyReb_In_MI]

Wasn't the preserved body of Traveler also in the now-defunct Museum of the Confederacy, or am I misremembering (again)?

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, of Oct. 13, 1935:

View attachment 407356

Traveller's remains have since been interred just outside of the crypt entrance of Lee Chapel at Washington & Lee University.

 

[RedRover]

And more evidence regarding his dress at Gettysburg. During the campaign a Mississippi soldier saw him on the march wearing a linen duster over his clothes, and a broad-brimmed straw hat. Here's an 1864 reference to commercially made linen dusters:

A gent mentions the "duster" of the 1860s as a curious garment:

From George Herbert's, The Popular History of the Civil War in America, 1861-1865, p. 551.
Evidently not much changed into the 1870s. Here's a duster worn by the James gang in the Northfield, Minnesota raid in the 1870s which matches the description of the wartime ones:

Otherwise, as Freemantle says, Lee generally wore a long gray jacket, perhaps what Americans called a "sack." A union soldier of the 142nd PA, captured at Gettysburg, evidently recorded Lee touring a hospital at which he was on July 3, and noted he was dressed "like a citizen without any side arms."

Here is an image of Gen. Lee, ca. 1866 in straw hat, and common sack... (from Library of Congress):

In 1862, the CS Army promulgated an important alteration in the uniform dress of Confederate officers. Following the high attrition on the officer corps at the Battle of Seven Pines near Richmond, (May 31-June 1, 1862), Gen. Samuel Cooper, Adjutant General of the Army distributed orders June 3, 1862 that officers in the field could wear a "fatigue dress" in lieu of regulation uniform; to officially consist of either a regulation frock coat without collar insignia, or a gray jacket with the collar insignia. The line officers were also allowed to wear the plain uniform caps of the privates of their commands, devoid of the gold trim and loops. Further;

"Mounted officers are ordered to dismount in time of action, whenever they can do so without interference with the proper discharge of their duties.
Officers of all grades are reminded that unnecessary exposure in time of battle on the part of commissioned officers is not only unsoldier-like, but productive of great injury to the army and infinite peril to the country. They are recommended to follow in this particular, to a reasonable extent, the excellent example set them by the enemy."

Many CSA officers chose to wear the fashionable, and comfortable, sack coat as a fatigue dress. Lee evidently wore his sack coat as common field dress. G. Moxley Sorrell noted:

"An unusually handsome man... The General was always well dressed in gray sack-coat of Confederate cloth, matching trousers tucked into well-fitting riding boots - the simplest emblems of his rank appearing, and a good large black felt hat completed the attire of our commander..."

In October, 1863 William W. Chamberlaine, a staff officer with Lee's army, noted having his dress uniform (with regulation buff cuffs and collar), and a "service uniform" of "a double breasted sack coat of fine gray cloth..." [Memoirs of the Civil War... 1912]. It would have looked something like that of engineer Capt. Charles H. Dimmock:

Here's J.S. Scott of the 1st LA Cavalry in a common gray sack, this one evidently single-breasted.

Although the officer's sack coats were informal wear, they did meet the CS Army uniform regulations in a sense. The regulations allowed for enlisted men of the CS (regular) Army, "For fatigue purposes, a light gray blouse, double-breasted, with two rows of small buttons,
seven in each row; small turn-over collar..." which is similar to a sack.



J. Marshall,
Hernando, FL.

 

[mofederal]

I did find these images of Lee's uniforms from the Arlington House. I cannot find images of his CSA uniform from the old Battle Abbey in Richmond. I did find another photo which show his US Army uniform, also at Arlington. I do not know if they are original uniforms. When I saw Lee's uniform at Battle Abbey in the late 1980's the pants and vest was displayed as if being worn.

 

[RedRover]

I did find these images of Lee's uniforms from the Arlington House. I cannot find images of his CSA uniform from the old Battle Abbey in Richmond. I did find another photo which show his US Army uniform, also at Arlington. I do not know if they are original uniforms. When I saw Lee's uniform at Battle Abbey in the late 1980's the pants and vest was displayed as if being worn.

View attachment 407374

View attachment 407375

Interesting displays, but I would guess these are reproduction garments, as National Park Service has very specific and stringent guidelines for the display and care of historical artifacts, which includes climate, humidity, and light control, etc.

The frock coats at top are staff colonels', with buff facings at left, and buff trim at center. The buff sashes were regulation for generals, not colonels however. Staff officers were to wear red ones. No branch color on the captain's double-breasted jacket at right, though has a cavalry officers' yellow sash.

The mannequins appear to be representative of General Lee; his US Army uniform at left, and at right his dress as shown in this wartime photograph;

J. Marshall,
Hernando, FL.

 

[James N.]

I did find these images of Lee's uniforms from the Arlington House. I cannot find images of his CSA uniform from the old Battle Abbey in Richmond. I did find another photo which show his US Army uniform, also at Arlington. I do not know if they are original uniforms. When I saw Lee's uniform at Battle Abbey in the late 1980's the pants and vest was displayed as if being worn.

View attachment 407374

View attachment 407375

Those all look like reproductions to me. Lee likely would've had NO reason to wear the cavalry captain's short jacket at top right since he never held that rank in the Confederate army; maybe it represents an officer of his staff or an ADC.

 

[James N.]

Here's another view of Lee's full-dress coat, showing the regulation general's collar insignia, on the non-regulation rolling collar:

View attachment 407373


This coat is evidently the one mentioned in 1903, as displayed at the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, as having been loaned to the sculptors for their works:
View attachment 407355

Several sources state that this uniform coat of Gen. Lee's, worn at Appomattox Court House, was then brand new. Perhaps he procured it after his elevation to general-in-chief of the armies of the CSA in February, 1865...

It's interesting to note that the button spacing corresponds to that of a U.S. brigadier general; as I recall, Confederate uniform reg's made no distinctions between the various grades of General, likely because at the beginning of the war there was only a single grade which corresponded to that of Union brigadier.

 

[RedRover]

It's interesting to note that the button spacing corresponds to that of a U.S. brigadier general; as I recall, Confederate uniform reg's made no distinctions between the various grades of General, likely because at the beginning of the war there was only a single grade which corresponded to that of Union brigadier.

That is correct. The military laws of the CSA, from early 1861, established five brigadier generals for the CS Regular army. In May, 1861 an act established that these regular army generals would not be designated "brigadier generals" but merely "generals"; the highest grade in the army of the CSA. Consequently, the CS Army Uniform regulations reflected the dress of a brigadier-general as standard for generals, with two rows of eight buttons, set in pairs. Here is Gen. Bragg, who was appointed a CS Army "general" in April, 1862:

However, there were over 400 other "generals" in the CSA service during the war, holding ranks of "lieutenant-general" "major general" and "brigadier general." These grades were for service with the wartime "provisional army of the Confederate States" (PACS) and were not "regular" commissions. It is notable that many PACS major-generals, etc., followed the federal army practice of setting the buttons (9 in each row) in threes from Maj. Gen. up, as MG Lovell below, and many others.

J. Marshall,
Hernando, FL.

 

[RedRover]

Here's a description of General Lee in the summer of 1862, during the Seven Days and thereafter, in summer clothes. In post number 2 above, is noted a June, 1862 letter of Lee sending his blue uniform home, and requesting in its stead some summer clothing:
On June 10, 1862, he notes sending back a blue coat to his family, "it is of no use to me here..." and requests in its place one of his linen coats for wear "in the house" (evidently as in off duty). 190.

A Louisiana Veteran subsequently noted.

From Military Record of Louisiana, by Napier Bartlett.

Here's an ante-bellum bob-tailed summer coat.