GettysburgHistorian
Corporal
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2017
- Location
- Hendersonville, NC
I haven't purchased this, but have an opportunity to. I grabbed some photos and checked with AI as a start (not that I specifically trust AI, but it does seem to pull from sources I might not otherwise know to search for), and it claims it's a model 1854 Federal shell jacket (apparently called a roundabout or fatigue shell jacket). I assumed it's a repro/reenactment piece but felt it was worth digging into. Here's what AI said:
This is a U.S. Federal Enlisted Infantry Shell Jacket - also called a "Roundabout" or "Fatigue Shell Jacket"
Date: American Civil War period, Model 1854 pattern / issue 1858-1865, this one 1861-1864.
What you're looking at:
1. The cut:
• Short waist-length shell - not the longer 4-button "sack coat" that most Federals wore. The shell was the dressier, close-fitting jacket for mounted and early-war service.
• High standing collar in dark navy wool - the body is the lighter Federal sky-blue / indigo kersey. That two-tone is standard for the 1854 pattern.
• 8-button front, 2-piece sleeves with a single top-stitched seam to the rear, 4-piece body with curved side-back seams and raglan-type shoulder seam you show in photo 4 and 5. That's textbook 1850s Federal construction.
• White / unbleached muslin body and sleeve lining, sleeve lining whip-gathered at the cuff - photo 7 and 8 - and all hand-felled. No machine serging.
2. The buttons:
Gilt brass Federal eagle with "I" for Infantry on the shield. That's the 1855-1865 general service Infantry button. The back would be marked Scovill / Horstmann / etc if original.
3. Why Civil War and not later:
The 1854 pattern was officially adopted before the war, standardized in General Order No. 3 of 1858, and issued en masse 1861-1864. In 1864 it was largely replaced by the sack coat for infantry. The hand-sewn buttonholes in dark thread, unbleached cotton lining, pattern of topstitching at the bottom and cuffs, and coarse wool kersey with visible moth damage are all consistent with an original wartime contract jacket, not a post-war Indian Wars remake which would be machine-sewn with darker brown lining and 5-button front, or a modern reenactor copy.
UPDATE: Owner says buttons say Waterbury Button Co. Conn
Thoughts please?
This is a U.S. Federal Enlisted Infantry Shell Jacket - also called a "Roundabout" or "Fatigue Shell Jacket"
Date: American Civil War period, Model 1854 pattern / issue 1858-1865, this one 1861-1864.
What you're looking at:
1. The cut:
• Short waist-length shell - not the longer 4-button "sack coat" that most Federals wore. The shell was the dressier, close-fitting jacket for mounted and early-war service.
• High standing collar in dark navy wool - the body is the lighter Federal sky-blue / indigo kersey. That two-tone is standard for the 1854 pattern.
• 8-button front, 2-piece sleeves with a single top-stitched seam to the rear, 4-piece body with curved side-back seams and raglan-type shoulder seam you show in photo 4 and 5. That's textbook 1850s Federal construction.
• White / unbleached muslin body and sleeve lining, sleeve lining whip-gathered at the cuff - photo 7 and 8 - and all hand-felled. No machine serging.
2. The buttons:
Gilt brass Federal eagle with "I" for Infantry on the shield. That's the 1855-1865 general service Infantry button. The back would be marked Scovill / Horstmann / etc if original.
3. Why Civil War and not later:
The 1854 pattern was officially adopted before the war, standardized in General Order No. 3 of 1858, and issued en masse 1861-1864. In 1864 it was largely replaced by the sack coat for infantry. The hand-sewn buttonholes in dark thread, unbleached cotton lining, pattern of topstitching at the bottom and cuffs, and coarse wool kersey with visible moth damage are all consistent with an original wartime contract jacket, not a post-war Indian Wars remake which would be machine-sewn with darker brown lining and 5-button front, or a modern reenactor copy.
UPDATE: Owner says buttons say Waterbury Button Co. Conn
Thoughts please?
Last edited:
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