David Edelen
Uniforms, etc.
Fri Jul 6 11:43:04 2001


Hello Hayes,
Thanks for answering my querry. I agree with you on the uniform and equipment thing. I have a lot of books on the Civil War, and have gotten magnifying glasses and studied many, many pics of dead Confederates in the field extensivly. I do that to see what they were actually wearing in action, not what they might have on in some studio. Almost all pics that I have studied were well uniformed. Some even seem to have two coats or jackets on. Of course I am sure that on extended campaigns and the last few months of the war many were in rags.
Another thing that irritates me about modern people and their opinions is the question of uniform trim. I have been a reenactor since the early 1980s. A lot of reenactors want to argue the point that trim is fake or "farby". It is not. Most uniforms were trimed. I have seen countless pics of Confederates with trim on their uniforms. This argument goes on especially in cav units. If you show up with a uniform with yellow trim in a cav unit, they will hound you about it and call you farby, incorrect, etc.. I think that the cavalry, or at least a good bit of them, did indeed have yellow trim on their jackets. The Southern soldier was a proud individual, and want the world to know what he stood for, and wanted to look sharp as much as possible. So therefore if he was in the cavalry, I am sure he wanted to look the part, not to mention the government probably issued it. I have seen pics of a coats that belonged to a guy in a Miss. Cav unit that had Green trim, and some Texas units had green trim. Also, my own g.g.grandfather was in Co."K", Palmetto SharpShooters, S.C. Vols.(not to be confused with the "Palmetto Guard", or the "Palmetto Rifles"). His unit also had green trim. It takes yellow and blue dye mixed together to make green dye. So I know that they had yellow dyes. But as we know, the argument will go on and on. Another thing that irritates me is these "Hardcore" nuts in reenacting insisting that everything was hand made, and insist that you take your Jarnagin Co. coat apart and re-sew and stitch it back together by hand, etc., etc.. They are nuts. The Columbus Depot alone was putting out so many thousand uniforms a month by the end of 1863. At thre Columbus Depot, besides the sections making leather accoutrements, gear, guns, saddles, etc., they had a factory and/or factories set up with a lot of women and sewing machines. Thousands of uniforms a month could never have all been done by hand. The reenacting community has pushed a lot of dedicated, old time reenactors out of reenacting because of their trying to push this hardcore crap, and all that about stitching, uniform construction, trim on coats, etc., down everybody's throats!
Well, I have to go. Excuse me for getting carried away with a little ranting.
Take care,
Dave