Thanks for the kind reply and for taking the time to look through FDLITMS, Mr. Howell's crowning Mississippi historical achievement. I have the series, too, and it perpetually amazes and informs me.

Oh, for a colorization program that I could use to scan and tint those 300 portraits of MS Confederates in mostly early-war uniforms and civies! What a (fashion) story they would tell! I wonder just how many hues one would find among those stalwart, early Southern Patriots.

Yes, many of those photos depict men in very dark coats, but who knows which ones (if any) are black. (Though, surely, some of the civilian coats are black.) Navy blue, dark butternut, and very dark shades of grey would all show up (at leat to my untrained eye) as black in those grey-scale photos.

As for what I mean by "frock coat," I mean the mid-thigh or longer uniform coats that might have had single or double rows of buttons, stand-up collars, no lapels, and a military cut (i.e., a cut that would completely cover up a man's shirt when all the buttons were buttoned).

I'm hoping that someone may actually have or know of a description (from a newspaper, letter, diary, book, etc.) that might mention a company's going out in black frock coats.

This rara avis may not exist, given that black was generally the color of a gentleman's evening attire and gentlemen going to war may have universally desired to go out in other, clearly non-civilian colors.

Many thanks for the kind post! -- Jim Huffman, Gainesville Vols