Page 25 - January1960

January, 1960 NATIONAL B(ITTON BI'LLETIN 23

Note: This article is reprinted from the Essex rnstitut€ HrsroBrcAl coLLEc-
TIONS, Vol. LXXIX, July 1943, pages 274-29p. by permisslon of Essex Institute,
Sa.lem, Massachusetts.
trtrNFEDERATE BUTTtrNS*

By R,ICHAR,D D. STEUAR,T
. Back in that pre-zipper era in which our American civil war, or war Be-
tween the states, or war of the Rebellion-take your choice-was tought, buttons
wgfe as imp3rtant a part of the equipment of our flghting men as hJversacks in
which_to carry, food, gr canteens in which to carry-water. canteens sometimes
ca,rried other-liquids, but that's beside the point. Ttris story is about buttons-
the buttons of the Confederates.
Fighting men of the Northern armies and navy had to have buttons, too, but
supplying them was comparatively a simple mattei. Throughout the North were
many button factories, some of them almost as old as thJ wation itself. These
factories, prior to the outbreak of-the war, supplied not only tne Noith, but the
south, trith buttons. Every southern State purchased buitons ror its militia
organiz'ations-and, usually, the entire uniforms-from New york, Boston, chi-
caso, Phibdelphia or other industrial centers of the North. And. as wili'be shovm
later in this article, some of these flrms were willing to continue this southern
business after the war started. consequenily, the supply of buttons in-the North
was equal to the demand, although some few butibhi in use in the Northern
Tlly and navy were made in England and Fbance. rn the south, conditions were
different. There was not, at the outbreak of the war, a single button factory
within the conffnes of the confederacy, although there were-a. numrler of im-
porting firms in such key cities as Richmond, New orleans, chaxleston and
Montgomery, Ala.
_ .t{t.q{t the hastily armed and uniformed confederate troops assembled for the
first ba,ttles, such as First Mana.ss-as, they wnre buttons in alirost innnite variety.
Many offrcers who had resigned from the Reeular Army to join the South woie
their old buttons which had been transferred to their'new'uniforms.r l4o.t ot
the militia units wore buttons of their resnective states. A few of the older mili-
tia organizations wore buttons of special dcsign, made for them in Northern fac_
tories. Bur.tons were rremoved from carefullv-treasured uniforms of the Mexican
war, thc war of 1812 and even the Revolutionary war, and attached to the new,
gray uniforms. And so, in the early part of the war, it was not unusual to see the
flat. solid. plain buttons of t8l2 and even the round, "bullet" buttons of 1??6 on
the gray coats.
A fcw factories were started in the confcderacv to manufacture buttons of
brass, copoer, pewter and lead. Later, when the neerl became sreater and mctal
became se.arcer, buttons of bone or wood were supDlicd the ConfFderate soldiers.
For ihe orficers and for thnse privates who could afiord them. there were buttons
of artistic dpsiqn and fine workmanship made in Fngland, France, or rreland.
These were run through the blockade in great quantities. But priccs wpre stiff-
even in a'tonfederate money. Rcceints of the Ouartermaster's DeDartmpnt at
shreveport, La., strow that in Ausust, 186a, the larg'e General or staff officer's
buttons vrore sold to offjcers for $8 a dozen, and the smaller size for $4 a, dozen.
A yeal la,ter the prices had doubled. Scores of blockade-runners, crlrving war
su.nnlles to the Confedera,cy, 'lvere ca.rrtured by the bloekadine fleet. For instance,
under date of July 24, 1862, it is recorded that the blockade-runner Tubal cain
was eantur-d hv the Trnion qrnboat Octarora, and that the Tubal ,cain was Ioaded
"with small arms, buttnns and ammunition."
rcopyrlghted by the Essex Insutute, Salem, Masachusetts.

- _ I The ltniform coat worn by Brig. Gen. Ctrarles S. $rlnder, of Marytand when he was
killed at ttre battle of ceda.r Moilntein, va., alcrisi 9. 1862. G oreieivec"in-lie"cio.t"oerate
Room of the Marvland r{lsfo-r^^r $^^i"rv. esrliniis. 'r'hp ""ltoni -unilirilis-a
are irre_- riguiitron eaere
Generar wndeiJoro cuptara
lf'fflirYi8irt#t3"Iii"9"g:?3lg 1f,5"s"11"*