Clothing the Confederate Soldiers of South Carolina, 1861–1865, by Ron Field

Military Collector & Historian Clothing the Confederate Soldiers of South Carolina, 1861–1865

Ron Field

Part 1: The State Quartermaster Department

Following the act of secession in South Carolina on 20 December 1860, there was a great need for uniforms and clothing for the state troops being organized to defend the short-lived republic and those that went on to fight for the Confederacy. Much of the early work of clothing these volunteers was accomplished by the philanthropic efforts of the Rev. Anthony Toomer Porter, a Roman Catholic priest who had begun an industrial school for girls on Ashley Street, Charleston, during 1858.1 Since March 1860, the Industrial School for Girls had received cut clothing, including jackets and pants, from C. F. Jackson & Co., clothiers located at 199 King Street, Charleston. These garments were sewn and finished at the school and then sold at Jackson’s “Clothing Emporium,” with some of the proceeds going to the girls who worked for Porter.2

At the beginning of January 1861, Porter approached the State Quartermaster Department run by Col. Lewis M. Hatch, who was a commission merchant in Charleston and quartermaster-general of the state militia before the war, and entered into an agreement with him by which the energies of the Industrial School would be devoted to assisting in the manufacture and supply of uniforms for volunteers in state service. Of this agreement, Porter recalled, “I went to Hayne Street (office of the Quartermaster-General, South Carolina Militia.), and made a contract for hundreds of pieces of plain underwear. Gradually we grew more ambitious, and took contracts for common pantaloons and coats.”3 In order to accommodate contracts for state uniforms, Porter employed 59 women, some of whom worked 32 sewing machines. Meanwhile, C. F. Jackson and Co. continued to cut the cloth and press the finished articles of clothing.

By 9 January 1861, a notice published in the Charleston press by the Quartermaster Department requested, “Those Ladies who wish to ‘sew’ for this Department will please apply to Rev. A. Toomer Porter, at Industrial School.”4 On 25 January, Hatch advertised for providers/makers of, “DARK GREY CLOTH suitable for making uniforms for the troops.” Applicants were to “send in samples, with the prices attached,” stating the number of yards they had on hand and whether “the same be few or many.” At the same time he requested all those “willing to work on the one thousand uniforms wanted for Col. Gregg’s Regiment” to “send in their names to the Rev. Mr. Porter,” and advised the work was to be “sent to the homes of those wishing to do it.”5 Despite these efforts, the output of the Industrial School was insufficient to meet the needs of the Quartermaster Department, and it appears to have produced only a small amount of the clothing required, being paid a mere $508.87 by the end of March 1861.6

Meanwhile, on 1 February 1861, Colonel Hatch had received $4,000 from the state treasury in order “to pay in part for the Cloth and Labor necessary for uniforms for Col. Gregg’s Regiment.” Twenty days later, he received a further $3,500 to be expended “in preparation for Clothing for Col. Gregg’s Regt. as contracted for with Edwin Bates & Co.” Established in Charleston no later than 1856, E. Bates and Co. were manufacturers and wholesale dealers in clothing located at 118 Meeting Street, Charleston.7 By the end of March 1861, this firm had completed one thousand uniforms for the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, commanded by Col. Maxcy Gregg, made from dark gray cloth which had been produced at the mill owned by James G. Gibbes and Co., of Columbia.8 The frock coats issued to the 1st South Carolina were based in certain respects upon M1851 U.S. dress regulations and had nine-button fronts with tape edging on the collar but no cuff trim. Also supplied were gray trousers, probably trimmed with tape on the outer seams, and gray or blue chasseur-pattern caps, the latter being produced by hatters Williams and Brown of 277 King Street, Charleston.9

The Industrial School continued to supply uniforms and clothing throughout 1861 and much of 1862 and eventually had 350 out-workers as well as the 59 women working at the school.10 An invoice in the State Quartermaster Department records reveals during July it supplied Hatch with “50 Inf[antr]y Uniforms & 150 Shirts.”11 The fact the former were specified for infantry indicates the state uniforms had some sort of branch-of-service color trim, which was probably dark blue or black for infantry, red for artillery, and yellow for cavalry. During the same month the school began sewing equipage and was paid $27.90 for, “Making 259 Knapsacks.”12

Toward the end of July 1861, Toomer Porter departed for Virginia as chaplain of the Washington Light Infantry Volunteers, Co. A, Infantry Battalion, Hampton’s Legion. Following his departure, the Industrial School appears to have been taken over by the Quartermaster Department “in the name of the state.” Shortly after his arrival in Virginia, Porter was tasked by Col. Wade Hampton with purchasing cloth and arranging for new uniforms to be made for the Legion, as its men had a distinctly ragged appearance after heavy involvement in the fighting at Manassas. According to his memoirs, Porter searched without success for cloth in Virginia and North Carolina, but eventually purchased from “Messrs. Wm. Ravenel and Co. [of Charleston] … ten different kinds of cloth for the ten companies ...” of the Legion which he had duly shipped to the Industrial School.13

Meanwhile, in Columbia, South Carolina, James G. Gibbes and Co. advertised on 14 August for “15 or 20 GIRLS OR YOUNG WOMEN, to learn to weave.”14 This

was probably to replace workmen who had volunteered for military service in the Confederate Army. Twelve days later Colonel Hatch invited estimates for “making uniforms, under-clothing &c., for State Troops,” which was presumably to fill in part Porter’s order for Hampton’s Legion.15 On 3 September, he also advertised for “500 COAT HANDS and 500 PANTALOON HANDS.”16 Assisted now by Col. Sanders L. Glover, he had, according to a report in the Charleston Mercury “constantly employed at the Quartermaster’s department, under the foremanship of Messrs. H. Koppel, and D. H. Kemme, forty experienced cutters, who supply about 1500 needlewomen, who make a fair weekly salary. To Mr. J. Russell Baker is entrusted the no small task of keeping the accounts of the operatives, the number of parcels given to each, and paying off when the work is returned.”17 Hermann Koppel was a merchant tailor located at 306 King Street and D. H. Kemme was a draper and tailor located at 29 Broad Street, Charleston.18 These two individuals received payment between 14 December 1861 and 31 January 1862 for cutting “3019 frock coats, 1157 overcoats, 113 pair of pants, 168 flannel shirts, 21 ‘shirts’ and 13 pairs of drawers.”19 Serving as an assistant quartermaster and “travelling agent of the Quarter Master Department” since at least June 1861, J. Russell Baker was a broker, auctioneer, and commission agent with offices located on State Street in Charleston.20

One of a number of voluntary organizations which supplemented the work of the State Quartermaster Department, was the Soldiers’ Relief Association established in July 1861 with a depository for clothing and other supplies at Chalmers Street, Charleston.21 Upon visiting the depository in mid-September 1861, a correspondent of the Charleston Mercury wrote:

On the first floor donations and contributions and finished work are being received; boxes packed and shipped; bales of domestics and flannels and rolls of woollens are being opened, and with the work of the Quartermaster, distributed to the various members; while in the hall above from fifty to sixty ladies, young and old, from the matron of 80 down to the girl of 10, may be seen busily spinning, plying the needles and working the various sewing machines for the purpose of preparing gratuitously warm and comfortable uniforms and garments … . 22

Among the units supplied by the Soldiers’ Relief Association were the South Carolina Zouave Volunteers (uniform suits), Carolina Light Infantry Volunteers (blankets), 23d South Carolina (Hatch’s) (jackets and pants), plus other items supplied to the 1st South Carolina (Hagood’s), 2d South Carolina (Kershaw’s), 7th South Carolina (Bacon’s), and the 10th South Carolina (Manigault’s).23

On 16 September 1861, the Charleston Mercury praised the efforts of the State Quartermaster’s Department, Industrial School, and aid societies, stating they had been doing “a large amount of good for the honest and industrious poor of our city, and while paying a full and remunerative price for labor, they find that they can manufacture their own goods much cheaper than could be accomplished by contract, thereby saving the State a large amount.”24 Following the departure of Colonel Hatch to command the Coast Rangers, which became the 23d South Carolina Volunteers, Sanders L. Glover was appointed State Quartermaster General.

On 8 October 1861, Glover advised Gov. Francis Pickens most members of the South Carolina volunteers in state service were “supplied with a full outfit and most of them partially so.” At the same time he expressed concern that James G. Gibbes and Co. had advised him they could not “continue to supply the cloth at contract price,” which indicates this firm had been supplying cloth for uniforms since at least March of that year. Pickens responded, “Hold Gibbes to his contract.”25 In a letter published in both the Columbia and Charleston press during April 1862, Gibbes defended his reason for price increases. Despite appeals to “the Governor & Executive Council” to excuse his overseers and foremen from military duty, having lost forty-seven of his workforce to military service. He further explained work had fallen off from “the consumption of eight bales of cotton per day down to two,” and his expenses were much greater.26

As a result of legislation approved on 6 March 1861, the Confederate government had established the commutation system whereby volunteers called into Confederate service would receive $21 every six months in order to pay for uniform and clothing. Those men who provided their own uniform had received their full commutation. When the state or various local agencies provided clothing directly to a regiment, battalion, or company, the commutation money was paid by the unit to the state or agency or the account was settled at a higher level. As the value of Confederate currency fell during 1861, the weakness of this system became apparent and caused major supply problems in South Carolina and other states in the Confederacy. On 26 September 1861, Sanders Glover established a supply system to combat “the greatly advanced cost of material,” while at the same time receiving an insufficient amount of money via the Confederate commutation system, by requesting help from the various aid societies and associations throughout the State.27 He established depots in both Columbia and Charleston for “the reception of all donations of clothing” including “Frock Coats and Pantaloons, of heavy goods; Shirts and Drawers, of heavy Homespun or Flannel; Wool or heavy Cotton Socks; Blankets, new or second hand; also, heavy Shoes.” When aid societies were not able to provide both material and labor, the quartermaster undertook to reimburse them the cost of all material, at a rate not exceeding that accrued by the department in

making clothing itself.28

After a prolonged illness, Sanders L. Glover died on 27 May 1862 and Col. James Jones, of Columbia, was appointed State Quartermaster General on 5 June 1862.29 Probably in anticipation of this appointment, on 30 May 1862, the Executive Council of South Carolina authorized the change of location of “the Bureau of the Quarter Master General’s Department” from Charleston to Columbia “until further orders.”30 On 24 July 1862, the system established under Sanders Glover on 26 September 1861 of providing clothing with help from volunteer aid societies, was ended.31 On 30 August 1862, James Chestnut, Jr., Chief of the Department of the Military of South Carolina, reported to Governor Pickens stating the Quartermaster Department had purchased, manufactured, and received since 1 January 1862, 8,265 “Coats,” 4,260 “Over-Coats,” 4,977 “Pants,” 898 “Drawers,” 5,452 “Shirts,” 6,074 “Socks (pairs),” 3,325 “Shoes (p’rs),” 2,545 “Hats,” 2,430 “Caps,” 10,293 “Blankets,” 6,078 “Knapsacks,” 2,733 “Haversacks,” and 2,554 “Canteens.” He also advised he had “failed to obtain any satisfactory records or returns, or any showing whatever, previous to the administration of the late Col. Glover.” Hence, he only provided estimates of goods supplied under the direction of Lewis Hatch, much of which had been delivered directly to the commanders of volunteer regiments and companies, without properly balanced records and quarterly returns being produced.32 Thus, by 1 July 1862, he had only provided estimated totals of the amount of goods on hand as follows: 8,171 “Coats,” 2,508 “Over-Coats,” 4,219 “Pants,” 837 “Drawers,” 501 “Shirts,” 2,516 “Socks (pairs),” 60 “Shoes (p’rs),” 174 “Hats,” 665 “Caps,” 7092 “Blankets,” 2,867 “Knapsacks,” 6,547 “Haversacks,” and 1,352 “Canteens.”33

In order to ensure properly balanced accounts were provided, all officers of the Quartermaster Department were required within twenty days of 8 August 1862, to “account for all monies and public property” received.34 This resulted in a much more reliable system of bookkeeping and led to the production of accurate and complete quarterly returns of clothing received and issued for the last two quarters of 1862.

According to earlier clothing vouchers and these returns, both the Industrial School and the Soldiers’ Relief Association continued to supply goods, with the former back under the management of the Rev. Anthony Toomer Porter. Producing small amounts of clothing throughout 1861 and much of 1862, the Industrial School received payment of $5,562 for “402 suits of uniforms” and “96 Pairs Pants” on 17 December 1861 (see FIG 1). During 1862, it appears to have supplied only shirts. By 26 May 1862, it had produced 353 shirts for $63.24 (see FIG 2).35

FIGs 1 & 2. These two vouchers produced by the State Quartermaster Department for uniform clothing supplied by the “Industrial School for Girls” on Ashley Street, Charleston, during December 1861 and May 1862. The fact both payments were received by the Rev. Anthony Toomer Porter indicates he had returned to the city to manage the running of the school after service in Virginia with the Hampton Legion. Courtesy of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. According to the quarterly returns for 30 September and 31 December 1862, it supplied a total of 655 “Flannel Shirts.” The Soldiers’ Relief Association produced for the same time period 1,615 “Cotton Drawers,” 783 “Cotton Shirts,” 616 “Hickory Shirts,” 24 “Flannel Shirts,” and 48 “Tweed Shirts.”36

On 8 October 1862, the Confederate commutation system was ended because the issue of “Soldiers’ Clothing” directly from Confederate clothing depots was considered to be efficient enough to cope with demand.37 As a result the South Carolina State Quartermaster Department began to wind down its operations by 24 October 1862, when Jones was authorised by the Executive Council to sell to the Confederate Government “such supplies, now in his department, as they may require; provided the same be issued to the troops from South Carolina.”38 Four days later, the Charleston Daily Courier reported about “7000 coats, 2000 over-coats, 3000 pairs of pants and 6000 blankets” had been handed over to Col. Samuel McGowan, who was in Charleston recuperating from a wound received at Second Manassas, and who was acting for the Quartermaster General of the Confederate States.39

However, at the end of 1862, the State Quartermaster Department was still clothing the volunteers of South Carolina and had on hand 8,228 “Coats,” 2,996 “Pants,” 2,507 “Overcoats,” 863 “Cotton Drawers,” 58 “Cotton

Shirts,” 135 “Flannel Drawers,” 277 “Flannel Shirts,” 6 “Hickory Shirts,” 2,402 “[pairs] Socks,” 7,007 “Blankets,” 4 “[pairs] Shoes,” 127 “Woolen Capes,” 1,500 “Haverlocks [sic],” 665 “Caps,” and 20 “Hats.”40

It was not until the end of March 1863, the Confederate “Clothing Department” established on East Bay, near Adger’s North wharf, in Charleston by Capt. George I. Crafts, C.S. Assistant Quartermaster, began to issue uniform clothing to troops in South Carolina.41 Presumably any goods still in state hands by then were turned over to the Confederate Quartermaster Department. Acknowledgements

FIGs 3 & 4. The frock coat and trousers worn by Pvt. James Wiley Gibson of the Orangeburg Artillery (Co. I), 2d South Carolina Artillery Volunteers, also known originally as the Lamar Artillery Battalion, or 1st South Carolina Artillery Volunteers, commanded by Col. Thomas G. Lamar, are believed to have been sewn together at the “Industrial School for Girls” from cloth produced at the Columbia Mills of James G. Gibbes & Co. Probably issued during November-December 1861, the seven-button coat is edged around collar, front, V-shaped cuffs, and rear-skirt pockets with what was once red piping which has faded to pink. It has a small watch pocket at the front waist and side pockets in the coat tails. The trousers have a six-button fly, small buckled belt in rear, and what were probably once red seam stripes. Both garments are lined with white homespun. Gibson was killed at Secessionville on 16 June 1862. The hole in the coat’s left breast indicates where the musket ball pierced his heart, ricocheted off his sternum or spine, and exited beneath his right shoulder blade. Gibson was one of six men in his company killed at Secessionville. Reporting their loss, the Charleston Mercury stated on 20 June 1862, “Every man acted with the spirit that fills the breast of every true Carolinian.” Courtesy of the Charleston Museum. FIGs 5 & 6. Probably made from the striped osnaburg, otherwise known as “Hickory Shirting,” as advertised by James G. Gibbes & Co. during December 1861, and sewn together by the Industrial School, this shirt was also worn by Pvt. J. W. Gibson when he was killed in action at Secessionville. Courtesy of the Charleston Museum.

FIG 7. Tentatively identified as Jonathan McPherson who enlisted in the Columbia Greys, 2d South Carolina Volunteers, this enlisted man wears a frock coat of the type produced via the State Quartermaster Department in 1861–62. With an eightbutton front and plain cuffs, its collar is trimmed all around and has a false button hole of the same color trim which terminates in a small button which probably also bore the state Palmetto device. Note the embroidered palmetto tree on his cap front. Ninthplate ambrotype courtesy of Ron Field.

I am greatly indebted to Patrick McCawley, archivist of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina; C. J. Grahame Long, chief curator of the Charleston Museum; Jan Hiester, historic textiles curator, Charleston Museum; and W. Allen Roberson, director of the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. Without their generous help this article would not have been possible. Thanks are also due to Company Fellow Les Jensen, curator of arms & armor, West Point Museum.

FIG 8 FIG 9

FIG 11 FIG 12

FIG 10

FIGs 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. The coat of Cpl. Robert Hayne Bomar of the Washington Light Infantry Volunteers, Hampton’s Legion, is possibly another example of the work produced by the State Quartermaster Department and Industrial School. Bomar enrolled on 12 June 1861 and was wounded at the First Battle of Manassas. Not sufficiently recovered to wear his new uniform, it is probable the surviving coat and pants were sent home to him after his discharge from hospital on 1 October 1861. Both the coat and trousers are of a grayishbrown jeans material of mixed cotton and wool, which was originally gray, as may be seen in an area once covered by the trousers stripe. The coat has one half-inch-wide light yellow or buff tape edging round the collar, and eight buttons on the front, which are brass eagle buttons with a “V” on the shield, of the type made by Scovills & Co., Waterbury, CT, for enlisted men of the United States Army’s Regiment of Voltigeurs and Foot Riflemen (1847–1848) in the Mexican War. These were attached by pushing the looped shank of each button through the coat cloth. A long piece of braid was then threaded through each shank. Not coincidentally, the Regiment of Voltigeurs was originally designed to be a “legion” comprising infantry, artillery, and dragoons, and to have a uniform of “dark gray,” but with yellow trimming. The sleeves were plain without buttons or slashes. As with the Gibson coat, the rear skirts have one pocket set inside each skirt. Bomar’s trousers were also originally gray with a strip of one inch-wide light yellow or buff braid on the outer seam. The rear of the trousers displayed a slit some 4 inches long, originally held together to adjust the waist size by two 4½-inch-long straps probably once fastened by a buckle. In a style frequently found in U.S. Army officers’ trousers, two “frog pockets” in the front were fastened by small buttons. Courtesy of the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum.

FIG 13. Partially identified as Henry Schmidt, this image originally had a label attached to the mat stating “German Rifles, Charleston, S.C.” The interior of the case was also inscribed “A. [or possibly H.] Schmidt, Charleston, S.C.” Originally formed in 1837, the German Riflemen made up part of the newly organized 1st Regiment of Rifles, South Carolina Militia, in 1859 and had about 100 men enrolled by November 1860. Recruited for Confederate service as the German Volunteers, this company was accepted into the Hampton Legion as Co. H of the infantry battalion on 22 August 1861. It was converted to artillery on 1 November 1861 and after the reorganization of the Legion in July 1862 became an independent battery known as the German Light Artillery. Enlisting as a private in the German Volunteers at Charleston on 22 August 1861, nineteen-year-old Schmidt served with the legion in Virginia until its reorganization, but does not appear to have been listed as a member of the independent battery. He wears an example of the type of uniform issued to the legion in September-October 1861. These were made by the state quartermaster department in Charleston with cloth acquired from Ravenel & Co. by the Rev. A. Porter Toomer. The trim on the collar and cuffs of Schmidt’s frock coat was painted green by the photographer’s artist, which would have been consistent with the appropriate branch-service color for riflemen. Close examination of the buttons reveals the Federal-style “eagle” pattern with shield containing the letter “V,” as seen on the coat issued to Cpl. Robert Hayne Bomar, Washington Light Infantry Volunteers (Co. A), Hampton Legion, in 1861. Schmidt must have been in a hurry to fasten his buttons for the photographer, as he has buttoned them up incorrectly. Quarter-plate ruby ambrotype courtesy of Ron Field collection.

Notes

1. See A. Toomer Porter, Led On! Step by Step: Scenes from Clerical, Military, Educational, and Plantation Life in the South, 18281898 – An Autobiography (G. P. Putnam’s New York & London: The Knickerbocker Press, 1898). The Rev. Anthony Toomer Porter was born 31 January, 1828, in Georgetown District, South Carolina, on the rice plantation of his parents John Porter and Esther Ann Toomer. Educated in Georgetown and Charleston, he entered the Episcopal ministry in 1854 and by 1860 was rector

of the Church of the Holy Communion in Charleston. After the war he founded the Episcopal Holy Communion Church Institute, which was a school for the education of boys orphaned or left destitute by the Civil War. Called Porter Academy after 1882, the school added a military department in 1887, and is known today as Porter Gaud School. Porter died on 30 March 1902, and is buried in Prince George Winyah Cemetery, in Georgetown. 2. “Charleston Clothing,” Charleston Mercury, 5 April 1860, 1:3. 3. Porter, Led On!, 108. Hatch was aided by Assistant Quartermaster-

General Edmund J. Dawson. See Charleston Mercury, 9 January 1861, 2: 2. 4. “Headquarters, Quartermaster’s Department,” Charleston

Mercury, 9 January 1861, 2: 2. 5. “Headquarters, S.C.M.—Quartermaster’s Department,”

Charleston Mercury, 25 January 1861, 2: 3. 6. Accounts, 20 March 1861 (5126176), Records of the Comptroller

General, State Auditor, Papers of the Quartermaster Department,

South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia,

SC, (hereafter RCG, State Archives). 7. RCG, Requisition, 31 January 1861 and 21 February 1861, State

Archives; and “Charleston Business Directory,” Charleston

Mercury, 9 March 1861, 4: 7. A letter written from Morris Island by Pvt. W. H. Abney, of the Edgefield Riflemen (Co. C), 1st South

Carolina Volunteers (Gregg’s), dated 31 March 1861, stated “the uniforms were not distributed until a few days ago.” 8. See Edgefield Advertiser (Edgefield, SC), 10 April 1861, 2: 7. James

G. Gibbes purchased the Saluda Factory in 1855 and renamed it the Columbia Mill. See “Columbia Cotton Mill,” Charleston Daily

Courier, 14 April 1856, 1: 4. 9. “Carolina Caps—Williams & Brown,” Charleston Daily Courier, 6

April 1861, 1: 3. 10. Porter, Led On!, 110. 11. Monthly Clothing Account, July 1861, RCG, State Archives. 12. Monthly Camp Equipage Account, July 1861, RCG, State Archives. 13. Porter, Led On!, 110. 14. “Girls Wanted,” Charleston Daily Courier, 14 August 1861, 2: 7. 15. “Headquarters, Q.M.G. Dept.,” Charleston Mercury, 26 August 1861, 2: 4. 16. “To Tailors,” Charleston Mercury, 5 September 1861, 2: 4. (see advertisement below for tailors and seamstresses for coats at corner of King and Society). 17. “Quartermaster’s Department,” Charleston Mercury, 16

September 1861, 2: 2. 18. “Trade Directory,” ibid., 27 December 1860, 4: 6–8. 19. Receipts, Ordnance Papers, Records of the Confederate Historian,

South Carolina Department of Archives and History. 20. See “J. Russell Baker,” Charleston Mercury, 5 January 1861, 4: 8; and Journals of the South Carolina Executive Councils of 1861 and 1862, ed. Charles E. Cauthen (Columbia, SC: Archives

Department, 1956), 225. By the end of 1861, Baker had gone to

Virginia and served in the valley until toward the end of 1863 when, having been stricken with “Typhoid fever, Plurisy, and

Pneumonia,” he returned to South Carolina and wrote to Secretary of the Treasury Christopher Memminger requesting a position in his department. It is not known if he succeeded in this endeavour. 21. “Soldiers’ Relief Association,” Charleston Mercury, 24 July 1861, 2: 4. Volunteer groups elsewhere in the state included the Aiken

Soldiers’ Relief Association, Bluffton Soldiers’ Relief Association, and Black Oak Soldiers’ Relief Association.