Overcoats-Greatcoats Question

[Phil McBride]

I'm looking for primary source references to regimental commanders issuing orders for all their soldiers to put on their issued overcoats--greatcoats prior to leaving camp before a battle, or perhaps when they dropped knapsacks before going into combat.

I'm a tabletop miniature wargamer, and am deciding whether or not to paint whole Union regiments wearing overcoats, or scatter the overcoats throughout the regiment of 20-30 miniatures.

I would think it would have been common for the colonel to dictate all or none regarding overcoats in battle, but that's just my assumption. Any thoughts or better, any primary source accounts you might post in that regard?

 

[RedRover]

From the regulations of the armies, it is mentioned that regiments had parades in which the regimental orders were given every day in camp or garrison. If it pleased the regimental commander to order the men to wear their greatcoats on parade, etc. then it was probably announced then, and not necessarily given in written orders.


On campaign, the armies were more informal evidently.




Billings, in Hardtack and Coffee (1887), suggests the infantry generally dressed as they pleased on campaign:

And, discarded greatcoats when not wanted in many cases:

I cannot recall where I saw it, but there is somewhere a notice from a Western theater US brigade that the men were to carry either woolen or rubber blanket, or greatcoat, at their decision.

Regarding Sherman's Atlanta campaign...

The regimental history of the 13th Massachussetts explains in large measure why the troops were allowed to discard clothing so often, generally:

Billings mentions that besides clothing discarded on campaign, more would be tossed going into battle. Going into camp, the regiments would claim all the missing clothing and kit lost in battle, to potentially spare the men extra expense for the extra issues.

 

[Lampasas Bill]

In some instances, greatcoats were issued seasonally by the quartermaster and kept in storage during the warm months. In late September, at the Battle of Pilot Knob, Missouri, the Missouri State Militia Cavalry had not yet been issued their greatcoats for the winter. Many were wearing their blankets draped around their shoulders and tied under their chins. Some of their scouts almost blundered into a party of Confederates who were similarly dressed.

 

[RedRover]

In some instances, greatcoats were issued seasonally by the quartermaster and kept in storage during the warm months. In late September, at the Battle of Pilot Knob, Missouri, the Missouri State Militia Cavalry had not yet been issued their greatcoats for the winter. Many were wearing their blankets draped around their shoulders and tied under their chins. Some of their scouts almost blundered into a party of Confederates who were similarly dressed.

Perhaps that is the distinction between the eastern and western armies that Billings mentioned; in the west the troops packed away their baggage and marched light from the start, and in the east, marched heavy and discarded garments, etc. as necessary or convenient...

 

[Lampasas Bill]

Perhaps that is the distinction between the eastern and western armies

This may have been a special case in Missouri. The State Militia Cavalry generally were assigned to different districts of the state and operated out of established bases from which they were supplied. Their primary function was the suppression of guerrillas, but the situation was different when they formed part of a larger force and operated outside of their districts, such as in the pursuit of Price's army through western Missouri and into Arkansas. On those occasions their supply problems would be similar to any unit on campaign.

 

[Rhea Cole]

As the sun set on the first day of the Battle of Stones River, great coats single handedly repulsed the forlorn hope attack by Cleburne's troops. In the field between the Nashville Pike & the cedar forest a Union regiment had doffed haversacks & greatcoats. As Cleburne's men who had been fighting since before dawn charged out of the black dripping trees in a final attempt to break George Thomas' grip on the Nashville Pike & N&CRR, they were startled to see a Union regiment lurking in the cotton field ready to leap up & fire into their flank.

Their rebel yells instantly morphed into to yelps of alarm. The impetuous onslaught froze momentarily & snapped backward in a howling rout. Cleburne was consulting with another commander when they were all but trampled under foot by their panicked men running for dear life from the line of empty great coats. Darkness fell as the bemused Cleburne attempted to rally his scattered troops.

Thus endth the first day at Stones River… the mighty Cleburne defeated by haberdashery.

As Twain & others remarked, the difference between history & fiction is that fiction has to make sense.