The soldier from Fredericksburg appears to have brass buttons on his.
Thank you. How common were civilian vests do you think in the Confederate army at the time?
I honestly don't know exactly, I'm sure they were somewhat common. After I saw your question and being you posted a Fort Mahone photo I revisited Adolphus's article on the examination of those photos. If you haven't seen it here's the link, it's a great read and cross section of what a CS soldier looked like at that time. http://adolphusconfederateuniforms.com/the-confederate-soldier-of-fort-mahone.html He brings up vests. Of the 14 subjects photoed 12 were able to see if they had vests or not. Of those 12, 6 were wearing vests. 4 of those were of military style all of different materials, one was a double breasted civilian style and one there wasn't enough visible to tell for sure. So I think it's a good conclusion it was a half and half whether they had a vest or not and I'd think close to that on style leaning more toward the military style. That said it was still pretty cool weather when those photos were taken. If it were me when the summer campaign season got underway, in order to lighten my load, I think I'd be sending my waistcoat along my great coat, extra blankets, and any other extra baggage I acquired in winter quarters either back home or to a storage area till needed again. Maybe @Package4 could talk to us both in more detail about waistcoats. It's not really a subject I've paid a ton of attention to.
Vests/waistcoats were very common during the Spring and Fall campaign seasons as another layer of warmth, since these were not issue gear they would most necessarily be civilian in nature. There have been vests made from Confederate shell jackets that currently exist.
I'm sure you've examined some originals and may even have one in your collection, what would you say would be a common button on those? I have a pretty decent repro vest but I was never crazy about the buttons that came on it, Confederate cuff buttons. I don't wear it often so I never worried about it much but I did recently and this discussion got me thinking about it again. I've been leaning on trying to find some plain civilian coin buttons or some civilian brass flower buttons like the ones Mr. Starbuck put on a cap he made me a few years ago.
Thank you. I was thinking about adding my civilian waistcoat to my impression.
There is certainly nothing wrong with adding your civilian waistcoat to your impression. What @Package4 was getting at is they were all civilian made thus essentially they were all civilian.Talking about "civilian" vs. "military" styles is strictly talking about the style of the garment. I don't believe there's a right or wrong in that area as both are seen in photographic evidence, especially on the CS side.
Flower buttons, bone buttons, basically anything goes even federal cuffs.
Thanks, that's what I was thinking, the least common were probably Confederate buttons. I'll have to pay a visit to the Button Barron and a few of the antique shops when I get to Gettysburg next month and see what I can find.
Standup collar and brass buttons. But look at the dark fabric. Possibly that it's a captured and repurposed Federal military vest?
Very unlikely, the fabric and lining are more coarse than one would typically see in a federal officers fine broadcloth private purchase pieces.
The Yanks private purchased a well so it might not be an officers well tailored waistcoat but an enlisted Yank private purchase one that the previous owner had no need of any longer.
That very well could be. Its really impossible to tell without seeing it least the buttons. Confederate uniforms came in so many tones of grey that a dark grey would appear to be dark blue.
The guy to the left of the gut to the far right looks to me to be a federal guard.
I think it's a Richmond Clothing Depot vest. They made a few but those might have been private purchase.
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