vests

[roger]

is it ok to ware a vest with a 4 botton frock coat, buttoned up at the top so the vest shows nicely with a watch and chain on a volonteer at say a ball dance?
roger 4th ohio volenteer inf.

[Rob Weaver]

Well, your 4-button is not a dress coat; it's a fatigue coat, intended for wear doing manual labor: water and wood details, etc. Each branch had a distinctive dress coat or jacket. So right from the start, you're basically dressing your "carharts" up to go to town. Many volunteer units were never issued dress coats. The 4-button was very popular as it looked a lot like a civilian coat, and in our eyes, it's really the iconic Civil War look. I'd do it, particularly since I wouldn't buy a dress coat just to wear to an event such as you describe. I wouldn't button it up at all. I'd wear it like a civilian coat, open at the front to display my vest and tie.

[roger]

sorry i ment [sack] coat
roger 4th ohio:shock:

[Rob Weaver]

That's OK - same coat. :)

[roger]

thanks rob, ijust like the look of a vest with a watch and chain. one more thing, how did you take your picture for opening shot?the greyish one.
thanks r. 4th. ohio

[roger]

rob how did you take that picture of yourself? the greyish one?

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Bearing in mind that vests were not an issued item by either side - they were privately procurred/purchased- you have some latitude in how they were worn with a garment. You can find period images of them being worn both with the fatigue blouse (sack coat) and service dress coat (frock coat). Many images we see are studio, or posed, images. They were often wanting to have an individual non-military pose , so when you see an image of an enlisted man wearing a vest with a fatigue blouse (sack coat) he is basing that wear on what he wore prior to joining the army. Because the vest was not an issued item, they were usually worn under a closed coat for warmth, or an open coat for "off duty" or leasure wear. The regulations called for coats to be buttoned completely for duty, so a vest wouldn't be seen, but if you just want to gussy up for something off duty like a camp dance then you can do as they did and wear it as you want, but for duty wear, you best best is usually not seeing it. Vests for military wear were designed more for warmth and comfort versus fashion

[Rob Weaver]

My avatar photo is actually a scan of a tintype image taken by Mr Szabo himself a couple years ago. All I did was crop it to fit.