Uniforms for Union Chaplains

[major bill]

Not many Civil War soldiers wore black uniforms. This is the order that came out in 1864 that changed the 1863 regulations uniform for the Union Army Chaplains.

General Orders 247 August 25 1864.
The Uniform for Chaplains in the Army, prescribed in General Order No 102, November 25,1861, is hereby republished with modifications, as follows: Plain black frock coat with standing collar, one row of nine black buttons on the breast, the "herring bone" of black braid around the buttons and button holes . Plain black pantaloons. Black felt hat, or forage cap with a gold embroidered wreath in front, on black velvet ground, encircling the letters U.S. in silver, old English characters. On Occasion of ceremony, a plain chapeau de bras many be worn.
BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR.

 

[major bill]

The 1861 US Army Regulation (General Order No. 6) were revised in 1863.


APPENDIX B
Paragraph 131.
The uniform for Chaplains of the Army will be plain black frock coat with standing collar, and one row of nine black buttons; plain black pantaloons; black felt hat or army forage cap, without ornament. On occasions of ceremony, a plain chapeau de bras may be worn.

 

[major bill]

OK feel guilty for not including Confederate Chaplain.

 

[major bill]

Another Confederate Chaplain from 1861 (4th Texas Infantry).

 

[Legion Para]

http://www.phcmontreat.org/Exhibit-CWChaplains-Chaplaincy.html

Presbyterian Chaplain Robert F. Bunting, Texas 8th Cavalry

9th Corps Union Chaplains, c, Oct. 1864 near Petersburg, VA, showing official black military frock coats and black brimmed hats or kepi (cap).

 

[Legion Para]

http://civilwarbaptists.com/thisdayinhistory/1864-october-19/

Lewis Raymond, Baptist Minister, Chaplain of 51st Illinois

 

[Legion Para]

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/union-chaplain-uniform.124850/

Chaplain William H. McCormick of the 1st New Jersey Volunteers.

 

[Klaudly]

Some confederate chaplains, no uniform regulation for them:

 

[phil1861]

Even with the regulations, due to the officer's penchant for flair and clothing allowance many chaplains purchased uniforms with cavalry piping due to the pay standard, paid as a captain of cavalry and wore shoulder boards. Some carried a command sword and pistols.

Until the mid to late war tightening of regulations chaplains were left on their own for the most part to deal with ministering to their regiments in campaign and in garrison or cantonment.

 

[AUG]

Another Confederate Chaplain from 1861 (4th Texas Infantry).

View attachment 110457

I believe this is supposed to be Chaplain Nicholas A. Davis of the 4th Texas Infantry, Hood's Texas Brigade.

Article on him here:
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fda46

Also see Chaplain Davis and Hood's Texas Brigade edited by Donald E. Everett

 

[AUG]

And this is Joseph Birtley Wright, chaplain of the 1st Missouri Cavalry (CS) and later Cockrell's Missouri Brigade.

Joseph Birtley Wright, a minister and native of Randolph County, Missouri, was a resident of Pettis County when he enlisted in the Confederate army on January 1, 1862, in Springfield, Missouri. He served as a private in Company G, 5th Missouri Infantry and participated in several actions, then was promoted to chaplain of the 1st Missouri Cavalry in 1863. In 1864, he is listed in official records as chaplain of General Francis M. Cockrell's First Missouri Brigade.
http://ozarkscivilwar.org/photographs/239/

 

[CMWinkler]

Rev. Bunting is buried in the Gallatin City Cemetery, Gallatin, Tennessee.

 

[major bill]

And this is Joseph Birtley Wright, chaplain of the 1st Missouri Cavalry (CS) and later Cockrell's Missouri Brigade.

Joseph Birtley Wright, a minister and native of Randolph County, Missouri, was a resident of Pettis County when he enlisted in the Confederate army on January 1, 1862, in Springfield, Missouri. He served as a private in Company G, 5th Missouri Infantry and participated in several actions, then was promoted to chaplain of the 1st Missouri Cavalry in 1863. In 1864, he is listed in official records as chaplain of General Francis M. Cockrell's First Missouri Brigade.
http://ozarkscivilwar.org/photographs/239/

Intersting. His frock coat is in more ofthe "German frock coat" style as opposed to the more common "French "style frock coat worn by many Confederate officers.

 

[Legion Para]

Father John B. Bannon was born in Ireland in 1829 and was ordained as a priest in 1853. Shortly after his ordination, he was sent to St. Louis, Missouri. Father Bannon was loved not only by his parishioners but also by the city at large which, by 1861, boasted of having the second largest Irish population in the Southern and border states. When the war erupted Father Bannon enlisted as Chaplain in the 1st Missouri Confederate Brigade. A Confederate veteran later described Bannon's actions on the battlefield during the war: "While his mission was one of peace, he became noted for his bravery in the field in attending the wounded and the dying in very exposed places. He was both a pious and practical man, and became a ministering angel wherever broken and bruised humanity needed help and consolation." At the close of the war Bannon returned to Ireland and resumed his priesthood.

Photograph from "The Confederacy's Fighting Chaplain: Father John B. Bannon" by Philip T. Tucker

 

[Legion Para]

http://livinghisstoryministries.blogspot.com/2011/07/j-william-jones-confederate-chaplain.htmlhtml

J. William Jones was known by his contemporaries as "the evangelist of the Lost Cause". Historian Charles Reagan Wilson said of Jones that he was, "the single most important link between Southern religion and the Lost Cause." He was also known by his own generation as "the fighting parson."

Jones was born in 1836 in Mineral, Virginia. He grew up in this area of Virginia and became interested in the ministry. He belonged to the first class of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained in 1860. He pastored a small Baptist church in the Mineral, Virginia area. In late 1860 and early 1861 he felt the call of God on his heart to go to China as a missionary.

Before he could leave for China the War Between the States broke out and he enlisted in the 13th Virginia Volunteer Infantry as a private. He soon applied for a commission as a chaplain. A short while after receiving this commission he resigned it and seeing the need for more chaplains in the ranks he became the first Baptist evangelist the Army of Northern Virginia.

 

[Legion Para]

https://sites.lib.byu.edu/sc/2011/05/27/77th-ny-volunteers-chaplain/


Reverend Norman Fox Jr. was born, the third of seven children, in Glens Falls, NY, Feb 13, 1836 (the very same hometown as Jimmer Fredette). In 1840 his family moved to Ballston Spa in the Saratoga Springs area about 25 miles away. He grew up there while his father served as a Baptist pastor. By the age of 19 he had graduated from the University of Rochester and the Rochester Theological Seminary. He followed in his father's footsteps and served as a Baptist minister for nearly six years in Whitehall, NY before becoming the chaplain for the 77th. He enlisted on Dec. 1, 1862 and was mustered out on Dec. 13, 1864 in Saratoga, NY. After the Civil War he went on to receive his Law degree from the University of Rochester and married Julia McKnight. The same year their first child, Arthur, was born she passed away (1869). He then married Jennie Bleeker and they had two children, Alice and Noel, before she too died in 1880. A decade later a census report from Morristown, NJ indicated that he was living there with two of his children, Alice and Noel, presumably practicing Law. In 1906 Norman married Martha Dimmick and they moved back to Saratoga Springs, NY where he died the following summer on June 23, 1907.

 

[Legion Para]

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294955414&dsRecordDetails=R:IM70748

Samuel W. Eaton was the Chaplain of the 7th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry of the Iron Brigade

 

[7thWisconsin]

Notice that although the regulations stipulated black buttons, at least one of the chaplain photos above show metal buttons. In reality, commanders were not going to criticize the uniform the chaplain was, or was not, wearing. Remember, too, that there was a real shortage of chaplains by the time those 1864 regs were published. Many chaplains resigned during winter at Falmouth in 1862-1863. Military service was hard on the health of men somewhat older than other company grade officers. Fully half the regiments in the AoP were without a chaplain by the Overland Campaign.

 

[Blessmag]

From a Baptist History paper I wrote in seminary, many Baptist chaplains were also given the label 'colporter'.
handed out tracs and bibles to many soldiers. some Baptist Associations used all their money to send them out to the troops.

 

[7thWisconsin]

Yes. Colporters were a major Baptist ministry starting in the late 18th century and continuing through the 19th century. They transported Bibles, tracts, studies and religious newpapers to transient communities like the army and frontier communities. Many colporters were lay persons, whereas by regulation the Federal chaplain needed to be a regularly ordained minister in the respective denomination.