3051

CONFEDERATE CONVERTED ENLISTED GREATCOAT.

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:2,000.00 USD Estimated At:4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD
CONFEDERATE CONVERTED ENLISTED GREATCOAT.
This is a rare & possibly unique example of Confederate ingenuity of repurposing regulation Union dbl. breasted overcoat by over dyeing, removing lining & cuffs, changing buttons to Georgia state seals & hard rubber. There is little reason for use of cloth covered Georgia state seal buttons other than to a Confederate soldier. Les Jensen wrote a good 2 page letter that describes & explains his conclusions as to possibility of Confederate usage; “Overcoat, double breasted, made of wool kersey, 2/2 twill, originally sky blue but dyed a dark color, probably black. This was a Federal mounted pattern overcoat, w/ a four-piece body & two-piece sleeves, double breasted w/ a stand & fall collar. It once had the length mounted cape which theoretically extended to the cuffs, but it has been cut off at 19” long at the front. The two top buttons are large size George state seals (GA 203 A.1.), one of which is back marked “W.C. MINTZER PHILA 1861.” The remaining buttons are hard rubber, black, back marked “N.R. Co GOODYEAR’s P=T. 1851”. Every indication that this is an original Civil War Federal mounted overcoat which has been over-dyed, the cuffs removed, the cape cut down, the lining removed & the buttons changed. The original body & sleeve lining is missing, as is the interlining from the collar & any stiffening that was in the button fails. The buttons are of the period, but it is difficult to tell when they were added. Certainly, there is contemporary Civil War evidence for a Confederate practice of dying captured Federal overcoats. At least one contract, for a firm in Richmond exists for “scouring & dyeing” captured clothing. William E. Doster’s “Lincoln & Episodes of the Civil War” (1915), p. 93 notes a Captain Charles Powell, CSA captured near Dumfries, VA in early 1863; “He wore, when captured a dark overcoat, which he said was taken at Dumfries from one of our soldiers. It was originally light blue, like all the soldiers’ overcoats, but was colored by the use of a butternut dye, at a factory in Gordonsville, where this change from federal to Confederate went on.” The overcoat used by the famous TN scout & martyr, Sam Davis, was variously described as Federal, Federal dyed black, homemade, butternut dyed, etc., & was supposedly dyed by his mother. It survives the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville.” UNATTACHED ACCESSORIES: Les Jensen report of authenticity accompanies. CONDITION: very good overall, supple & sound. (02-13605/JS). $4,000-6,000.