Uniform Coat Question

[msothan]

Hello,

I am looking for help in finding a source for information regarding different styles (in regards to piping colors) of Uniform Coats available at the end of the Civil War, 1864 to 1869.

I have been handed/dumped a museum exhibit project that is now behind schedule and has up to this point forgone the research needed to give it the justice it deserves (or so I think). As a result I am trying to catch up quick!

These Uniform Coats will be used in a Pawnee Scout Exhibit featuring the Pawnee Scouts (Served 1864-1870's) in their service defending the railroad on the Nebraska plains in the time period of 1867-1869. The original documents and photographs show these scouts issued and wearing the uniform coat. Many sources point to these as Civil War surplus which makes sense.

Several sources and members of the Pawnee Nation that I have talked with refer to "Cavalry Jackets" as the coat of the Pawnee. However, from the original documents and photo archives the uniform coat is seen in nearly every case.

Could this misunderstanding be from a lack of knowledge on 19c. coats? Or could it be due to yellow piping? I have never heard of a late war Cavalry Frock but maybe it did exist?

The big question here is what type of piping would have been found on these coats?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Michael

[Berdan Sharpshooters]

9780806141398.jpg

Is this the style of coat? If they wore a frock coat like these pictured, then I think the piping color would have been blue.

Could you please post photographs giving us a better idea of the type of coats you are referring too. Thank you.

[msothan]

Berdan,

Yes here are a few examples I have by W.H. Jackson. I am awaiting more zoomed in details from the Nebraska State Historical Society, they hold most of the collection.
Blue Hawk & CAWTH.jpgPawnee - Sky Chief.jpgPawnee - White Horse.jpg[ATTACH=CONFIG]

Next post will have more examples

[msothan]

Rattlesnake and wife.jpgScout - leggings & frock beading detail.jpgPawnee Man - Drivng A Herd.jpg

[msothan]

Berdan,

I tend to agree with your thoughts as sky blue as I understand tends to photograph lighter, while yellow would at times photograph dark sometimes near black from my limited photograph understanding.

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

Discussions over color in Period photographs tend to be controversial. However, there are threads that have done "comparative" analysis of the photographic medium and how different colors are reflected or aborbed, or radically change there black-and-white versions (such as what happens to yellows and reds appearing dark or black.)

I would guess that the dress coats were infantry with the "saxony blue" piping trim.
Shortly after the War, the Quartermaster Department was stockpiled with surplus uniforms. Oh, another outcome of that was they took the infantry dress coats and sometimes removed the skirts making them a form of shell jacket for the cavalry. (Some of Custer's troopers at the Little Big Horn in 1876 were still wearing them.)

Curt

[Pennvolunteer]

Matt Reed, curator of Native American collection at the Oklahoma Historical society has a recreated Pawnee Scout impression, using a photo of an ancestor I believe, and it is built around a ornamented Infantry Frock coat. His analysis is that as Curt mentioned above, the Pawnee scouts were issued "excess" Infantry frocks.

[Irish Buzzard]

Those are some nice photos. Frock coats look great in all the photos.

[msothan]

Thank you everyone for your help!

[Pvt Schnapps]

FWIW, the ORs (Series III, Vol. 5, p. 278 ) lists the following uniform coats as on hand at the various depots on June 30, 1865: Engineers - 13,618; Ordnance - 2,301; Artillery - 85,634; and Infantry - 360,552.