Uniforms of the 1st Tennessee

There is really no official record of what type of uniform the 1st Tennessee was issued during their four years at war. All we have is photographic and very little written evidence. Another problem arises in the fact that there are several pictures or first hand accounts from one company and little to none on some or most of the others. Based on what we have, I have tried to piece together everything.

Adelicia McEwen, a young woman from Franklin, TN, recounts that the women of the town turned the Masonic Lodge into a clothing factory. They brought in sewing machines and began making uniforms while the younger girls made housewives for the soldiers. The uniforms created for the Williamson Grays were described as: "Black pants with gilt [gold] side stripes, grey coats trimmed with gilt braid and brass buttons, a grey cap setting off their uniforms."

It is interesting to note the Rock City Guards (Companies A-C) were a militia unit formed in 1860. Their original uniform consisted of a blue uniform with shoulder scales. In October 1860 they were issued Chasseur Uniforms with a red cap and pants. They marched in a parade through Nashville on January 20, 1861 wearing these uniforms. The fact Private March is wearing is wearing a shirt in his picture may suggest that they were issued battle shirts to maintain a uniform appearance until actual coats and jackets could reach them.

In the picture of Clay March, he appears to be wearing an undershirt, with the buttons only coming halfway down the shirt. He has only one breast pocket. It is possible this was an undershirt issued to the regiment. Captain Hanner is wearing what is commonly called a "Battle Shirt." Which is usually a thin wool shirt worn over the undershirt as a uniform. Captain Hanner's shirt is buttoned all the way down as a jacket would be. This would give it a more a more military uniform appearance. Hanner's shirt also has pockets on each side and brass buttons. Noticeable, is the U.S. Military Officer's bars on his shoulders. Because we know that this was not the uniform issued to the Williamson Grays upon their creation it would stand to reason that this was a private purchase uniform. At the same time his officer's bars are that of a Lieutenant, so this maybe a pre-war photograph.

The Tennessee Military and Financial Board was founded on May 6, 1861. They purchased 30,000 yards of gray satinette and 25,000 yards of red, gray, and blue flannel, metal coat buttons from Louisville, KY. They also purchased $50,000 worth of uniform items from Baltimore, MD. They also purchased knapsacks, oil cloth blankets, and hats. The 1st Tennessee received some of the first Tennessee State Frock Coats and are unique in the fact they were the only ones to be issued with a blue collar and plain cuffs.

Below are several of the known photographs of 1st Tennessee soldiers taken in 1861. The main headgear appears to be a gray kepi with the company's brass insignia placed on the hat. Marcus Toney later states in his book, "I left Edgefield, clad in my uniform of gray with a big brass B on my cap." Company H appears to be the only exception, wearing Black Dress "Hardee" Hats. They were issued medium gray, wool satinette frock coats with a blue collar signifying infantry. In the photographs of Thompson, the Brandons, Cook, and Nicholson the frock coat is fully visible, all have 8 buttons as is common with Tennessee State issued jackets. In several photographs a blue stripe runs along the sides of the pant legs. The photograph of Corporal Graham below is unique in the fact that it is the only known 1st Tennessee Photograph where a soldier is pictured with his chevrons. They appear to be white and interestingly they are pointed up instead of down as was common during the war.

August 1861 found the 1st Tennessee situated in West Virginia along with the 7th and 14th Tennessee Regiments. A member of the 7th Tennessee reported, "Our clothes are beginning to give out." Around this time the State of Tennessee was having trouble meeting demands but by November 1861 were catching up. It is reported in this same month, the three Tennessee Regiments in West Virginia were issued Winter Coats. According to one Tennessean, "We do not make a very uniform appearance, some having light and gray, others dark colored clothing." It would stand to reason the 1st Tennessee received new frock coats at this time as well.

The new frock coat was of a similar pattern to the Camp Cheatham uniform with the exception of a gray collar instead of a blue one. Private James Neely, pictured below, is the first evidence of the new uniform. His picture was taken in Staunton, VA in January 1862. In October of the same year Private George Nichols is seen wearing the same frock coat. Nichols' picture is the last known picture taken of a 1st Tennessee soldier while the war was still raging. In his picture, he shows the natural progression of soldiers in the regiment towards non-uniformity. He wears his second issue frock coat and what appears to be a blue Federal bummer or southern forage cap with a brass 'D' and cross cannon insignia. The cannon insignia was probably a souvenir from the Romney Campaign earlier in the year where the 1st Tennessee overran a Federal Battery. He is wearing civilian, windowpane pattern plaid pants as well.

Private George S. Nichols

Company D "Williamson Grays"

Picture taken at Chattanooga, TN in October 1862

Private James Neely

Company D "Williamson Grays"

Picture taken at Staunton, VA in January 1862

Other incidents would help rid the regiment of uniformity. At Shelbyville in June 27, 1863, 4th Corporal William M. Pollard of Company D remembers:

"Co. D remained at the depot to load trains, until the enemy began firing on our picket in the edge of town. We were then ordered to leave. The boys then at once began to break open boxes stored in the depot, and loaded themselves with clothing, and abundance of good things, that had been sent to various ones from their homes."

By 1863 it would be safe to say the regiment no longer matched.

1864 Uniform

By the end of 1863 most of the cities and towns the 1st Tennessee called home were under Federal control. There is a quote from a soldier in the 14th Michigan, that once was in garrison around Franklin, TN, stating that he had run into a company of Confederates at Kennesaw Mountain who hailed from Franklin and told him they had not received a letter from home in over a year. The soldiers he met were probably from the 20th Tennessee due their proximity to each other during the battle, but it shows the soldiers of the 1st Tennessee probably had not heard from their loved ones either. In 1864 Sam Watkins states that Joe Johnston issued new uniforms to every soldier he could. Whether or not most of the men wore the new uniforms is another story. By 1864 the Confederates in the West had become so independent in their manner of dress and its very likely uniformity never did entirely come back to the regiment. Most likely a jean wool Columbus or Atlanta Depot jacket would have been the new uniform if it was issued. Though in his memoirs Chaplin Charles Quintard mentions buying cloth for the 1st Tennessee to make uniforms. Unfortunately, there is little evidence after 1863 to what everyone was wearing. We do have one statement from Private William M. Moss, who was captured in July 1864 and sent to Camp Chase, that he received a new uniform while in prison. "I had on a new Confederate gray suit, with bright Confederate buttons sent to me from home just before I left Camp Chase."

Equipment

The photographs of Thompson and Cook (above) are the only two where the soldier's belt can be seen. In both pictures they are wearing a black leather belt with a 'U' shaped roller buckle. This is not concrete evidence that the whole regiment was issued this kind of belt since both men are from the same company. Private March, pictured above, has a regular black leather belt with a rectangular brass belt buckle. Both Thompson and Cook appear to be equipped with the knife as well. It would appear the regiment wore knapsacks over bedrolls throughout the war. Sam Watkins at various times mentions in his book that he carried a knapsack and the requisition records below by Company D seem to back it up.

Lieutenant John L. House took over for Company D as soon as they left Camp Cheatham because Captain Hanner fell ill. Hanner would never return to the company. He resigned in December 1861 and House was promoted to Captain. Immediately following his promotion his war record contains several Quartermaster Special Requests for the beginning winter of 1862:

Date	Qty.	Station	Item
January 31, 1862	9	Romney, VA	Shoes
(Clothing)	4		Pants
	3		Overcoats
	2		Shirts
	13		Drawers
February 14, 1862	9	Winchester, VA	Tents
(Equipment)	2		Wall Tents
	6		Haversacks
	5		Camp Kettles
(Clothing)	11		Shirts
March 18, 1862	20	Chattanooga, TN	Shoes
(Clothing)	4		Pairs of Drawers
	2		Pants
March 20, 1862	6	Chattanooga, TN	Cartridge Boxes
(Equipment)	6		Waist Belts
	6		Cap Boxes
	6		Bayonet Scabbards
March 22, 1862	14	Chattanooga, TN	Pants
(Clothing)	1		Shoes
March 28, 1862	8	Chattanooga, TN	Wall Tent
(Equipment)	2		Shelter? Halves
April 17, 1862	1	Corinth, MS	Pants
(Clothing)	25		Shoes

On Captain Oscar F. Atkeison's war record is included several orders for items made during the summer of 1862 after he took over the company after House's promotion to Major:

Date	Qty.	Station	Item
May 11, 1862	1	Tupelo, MS	Jacket
(Clothing)	1		Pair of Shoes
	10		Shirts
	2		Pairs of Socks
(Equipment)	16		Knapsacks
	2		Haversacks
	8		Camp Kettles
	11		Canteens
	11		Tin Cups
July 7, 1862	5	Jackson, MS	Shoes
	12		Pairs of Drawers
August 29, 1862	35	Kentucky	Shoes
	7		Pairs of Drawers
	6		Shirts
September 6, 1862	1	Kentucky	Officer's Sword
September 25, 1862	16	Kentucky	Pairs of Socks
	6		Pairs of Shoes
	2		Pants
	1		Coat
	1		Plain Hat
	1		Shirt

Total For 1862

Item	Quantity
Pairs of Shoes	102
Socks	18
Pairs of Drawers	36
Pants	23
Overcoats	3
Jackets/Coats	2
Hats	1
Shirts	30
Wall Tents	10
Tents	9
Shelter Halves	2
Cartridge Box	6
Waist Belt	6
Cap Box	6
Bayonet Scabbard	6
Haversack	8
Canteens	11
Knapsacks	16
Officer's Sword	1
Camp Kettles	13

This illustrates how easy it became for the regiment's gear to become inconsistent. In the course of one year they drew clothing and equipment from four different states. Most of the items ordered are only basic clothing necessities. In other words they are ordering things like socks and shoes but not very much in the way of jackets or pants. Only one hat was ordered during the whole year. This would signify the regiment was beginning to pick up civilian hats or wearing whatever hat they so desired. The items ordered were special requisition items. In other words this means they were items being asked for when it was not necessarily time for the Quartermaster to issue new items.

Officers

Lieutenant Colonel John Patterson

Killed at Perryville

Lieutenant Carey Allen Harris

Company D "Williamson Grays"

Colonel Hume R. Feilds

Captain John F. Wheless

Company C "Rock City Guards"

Officers during the civil war were required to supply their own uniforms which accounts for the variety of uniforms you see above. Both Patterson and Harris appear to be wearing the same uniform which could be evidence of an earlier militia career.

Band

Musician June Tucker on left side and unidentified soldier

Regimental Band

The above photo is the only known image of 1st Tennessee musicians taken during the war. While it is hard to say, it appears their uniforms are possibly blue. The amount of hat brass is extremely noticeable as well. Not as obvious from just a glance is both soldiers are wearing gaiters or leggings. Both were original members of Company H "Maury Grays." June Tucker was a bugler for the regiment and is mentioned in Company Aytch on page 10.

Weaponry

The 1st Tennessee was the only regiment from the state to be entirely outfitted with percussion rifles by the the State. These were probably converted Model 1842 Springfields or something similiar. The picture of Corporal Thompson above is probably the only evidence of their original rifle. There is a quote from a 1st Tennessee soldier in March 1862 stating the regiment had just been issued Enfield rifles. Sam Watkins that states at Rocky Face Ridge, "Our Enfields crack, keen and sharp; and ha ha ha, look yonder! The Yankees are running away." So, we have concrete evidence that no later then 1864 the majority of the regiment was carrying Enfield muskets. Some officers in the regiment carried rapid-fire rifles with them. Colonel Feild carried a seven-shot rifle that he used to bring down around twenty Yankees while the regiment was in Virginia. George Nichols recalls Lieutenant Loving Woldridge of Company D also carrying his own rifle at the Battle of Chickamauga:

"At Chickamauga I tried to get him to get behind a tree, but he told me there were too many behind trees now doing no good. He had a Colt rifle that shot six times, he emptied his rifle and killed five Yankees, he had no more cartridges, and threw his rifle down and got him a minnie musket. I picked up his rifle and carried it off the battle field and gave it to him."

At the Carnton Museum in Franklin is the five-shot Navy Colt revolver belonging to Sergeant James R. Hughes of Company D. Several companies of the regiment were given pistols during their time at Camp Cheatham, most of which were thrown to the side of the road during the march over Warm Springs Mountain, VA.

There were at least a few 1861 Model Springfields present in the ranks of the 1st Tennessee. As seen in this story related by a soldier who only acknowledges himself as "Private Rock City Guards" in the Nashville newspaper in 1884. He writes about his conversion rifle during his memoirs of the Battle of Graysville (Cat's Creek), GA:

"The writer in trying to stop a bullet, found that he could not succeed. The position was exposed - no particle of shelter, a plain, open field, with the enemy under cover of the woods. In the meantime, the order was given to fall back into the woods behind. This was done in reasonably good order. The moon, which had now risen, displayed the glistening bayonets of a still unbroken front. Every wagon was for the present in safety, and the only capture the enemy had made from us was the gun of the writer, and those of several others who had been wounded or killed. Ah, my old gun! I well knew where I got it. It was on another moonlight night, of the 20th of September, 1863, the second day's battle of Chickamauga. It lay inside the Federal works, near their extreme left. It was bright, and perfectly new from the factory. "Bridesburg" was stamped on the lock-plate. It was like a foreign country to me, but I knew it was a suburb of Philadelphia. Though twenty years younger than I now am, I was still too old a soldier to give up a trusted friend, without knowing more of the merits of my new one. So I strung both muskets over my shoulder, and, at the first opportunity, in the firelight of the night, proceeded to examine my new friend. The lock was perfect - bright as a new-coined silver dollar. I drew the rammer, and running it down the barrel, found that it stopped within a foot of the muzzle. I got a ball-screw and drew out ball after ball, with great labor, and found that its previous owner, doubtless a gallant Federal soldier, had simply been snapping caps at us. The job was hopeless. I gave it up, and taking off the barrel of my old musket, made at Springfield, Massachusetts, soon had as fine a weapon as any Confederate possessed. The parts were interchangeable - our arms were rifle muskets. Just as its brightness attracted me then - it now formed (November 26th), 1863, the last object of my solicitude - I "own a kindly debt of old remembrance" for it. Some Federal, perhaps more worthy, may have the same feeling for parts of the same gun. A kind of love for your engine grows with its use.

A good workman comes to like - shall I say love - the machine which seems to share his labor. It is thus I feel toward the "Bridesburg" musket. I was not a loser, but simply the gainer by its two months use. Long before this I had another gun, which I recollect with a feeling of grim satisfaction. While useful in sending bullets at the battle of Murfreesboro, it did me the service to stop one. The ball passed between the two lower bands, taking off half the stock between them, springing the rammer as it passed between it and the barrel. At many a regimental and brigade inspection, I "fessed out," as the West Point boys say, on that gun. "What's the matter with that gun, sir," would say the inspector. "Shot in battle, sir," would be the answer, and it saved me, for many months, a deal of rubbing and scrubbing. Oledowski, or whatever his name was, the Prussian Inspector of Hardee's corps, passed that gun a dozen times. It was still a serviceable weapon, but Captain Kelly, of the Rock City Guards, just before the battle of Chickamauga, got tired of my usual excuse, and a summary order was issued to turn it over to the quartermaster and get a good one. The privates were at times on a par with their officers, in shrewd devices to escape duty, and their humor at times smacked of Irish flavor. Thus said an inspector to J.W. Branch, or the same company who kept a clean gun, but which needed oiling, "Why do you not grease that gun?" "I can't afford it, sir, I can't grease my throat." Under the highest system of tariff taxation, grease in the Confederacy would have been admitted free. I have endeavored in the foregoing to depict the experiences of a private soldier, in connection with the operations of his regiment and brigade, in A notable battle. I am well aware that from the ranks, the field of observation is extremely limited. It extends only to the front and a few companies or regiments, to the right or left. Generally he finds enough to do in front. "

From these facts we can gain the following: 1) The regimental majority carried Enfield muskets, but there was a sprinkling of rapid-fire and other rifle models amongst the ranks. 2) Officers carrying rifles was fairly common.

Written by Mike Hoover

Written Credits

"The Confederate Army 1861-65: Tennessee & North Carolina" by Ron Field

"Memorial to Loving Woldridge" by George S. Nichols (Company D)

"Memoirs of William M. Pollard" by William Pollard (Company D)

"The Memoir and Civil War Diary of Charles Todd Quintard" by Charles Todd Quintard and Sam Davis Elliott (Chaplin of the Regiment)

"Privations of a Private" by Marcus B. Toney (Company B)

"Company Aytch" by Samuel R. Watkins (Company H)

War Records:

Lt. Colonel John L. House (Company D)

Captain Oscar F. Atkeison (Company D)

Picture Credits

Captain James P. Hanner-Tennessee Heroes Gallery

Private J. Clay March-Tennessee Heroes Gallery

Private George E. Wharton-Military Annals of Tennessee

Private Henry L. C. Ramage-Military Annals of Tennessee

Private Robert Cheatham-Confederate Veteran Magazine

Private Joseph Campbell-Military Annals of Tennessee

Private Henry Howe Cook-Courtesy of Rick Warwick, Heritage Foundation

1st Corporal John M. Thompson-Courtesy of Rick Warwick, Heritage Foundation

Brandon Brothers- Company E's Webpage

Private Nicholson-Company E's Webpage

Corporal William A. Graham and Joseph Bynum-Company Aytch (Revised and Extended Addition)

Private George S. Nichols-Tennessee State Library and Archives

Private James Neely-Tennessee Heroes Gallery

Private June Tucker-David Fraley Carter House

Lt. Colonel Patterson-Company E's webpage

Lt. Harris-Ronnie Townes

Colonel Feild-Ronnie Townes

Captain Wheless-David Fraley Carter House

Company D Documents

Home