The Regiment was formed by amalgamations of pre war companies all of which had served in the 1st and 2nd AVC from January to April of 1961 on the Gulf Coast. Each of these companies had their own uniforms and traditions, some dating to 1835. Attached is information about each of these company's uniforms as far as we have been able to glean (APPENDIX A). Remarkably, we know rather a lot about them from information, CDVs, or extant uniforms for eight of the ten original companies and one of the two added companies of fall 1861. How long this plethora of comic opera suits prevailed has always been puzzlement. My own supposition has been that they were replaced by a uniform soon after arrival in Richmond. If period chroniclers are to be believed, the Alabamians who arrived in Richmond in 1861 were conspicuous for their close-cropped hair (perhaps by necessity having spent four months on the Gulf Coast?) and by uniforms of every color of the rainbow. Also deserving mention was headgear from kepi de chasseur, to Corsican caps, to shakoes, to coonskins!! (Probably Gordon's Raccoon Roughs of the Sixth Alabama.) Their odd suits may have disappeared in September or October of 1861.

According to research done by Michael Bailey which appeared in the November 1983 issue of Camp Case Gazette, Governor Moore of Alabama requested soldiers aid societies of Alabama to produce uniform jackets, great coats, pantaloons, etc., for Alabama's 20,000 soldiers in the field in August of 1861. The specific instructions for the uniform jacket describes a single breasted jacket with a seven button front with the buttonhole side sewn perfectly strait from the collar down. Shoulder straps and belt loops secured with buttons and an inside left breast pocket are mentioned as well. It is very likely that jackets of this type were manufactured and sent to Norfolk for the men of the Third.

During the winter of 61/62, rumors circulated that the regiment would be used only as a showpiece because of its good appearance and would never smell powder. Observer's comments have used the word bandbox, referring to the Alabamians during this period. Benjamin Huger, the Third's divisional commander, at one point mistook the M.C. on Company A's caps for musical corps suspecting it was actually a band or chorus! In May of 1862, the regiment marched through Richmond; 1000 strong all in cadet gray according to Cullen A. Battle, then the regiment's major. A corroborating Virginia newspaper states they were dressed as the New York Seventh Regiment. The Seventh New York wore cadet gray jackets and trousers with a black collar, cuffs and shoulder straps, black stripes on the trousers, and a gray kepi with black band.

J. Gilmore of G Company was wounded at Malvern Hill wearing just such a jacket. It now resides in the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. The jacket is of a super fine butternut colored jean material, seven button front, applied black false shoulder straps, and a square front black collar which is aligned with the buttonhole side of the coat. Three small M.V.C. buttons adorn the corners of the strap and there is some indication of a cuff, similarly applied. The cuff is edged with what appears to be green/yellowish cording. (Could this have been blue?) Fragments of the cording shows on the collar base and around the false strap. Salient features of this jacket are as described in Governor Moore's circular of August 1861. Features that are missing, the functional loops and straps, are easily removed. The black collar, cuffs and straps could no doubt have been added by tailors or seamstresses in Norfolk (or even Montgomery! Several other Mobile raised units apparently wore similar suits during this period). A second uniform that also fits this description, worn by a man in A Company, complete with cap and trousers is in the Virginia Historical Society collection, or at least was in 1990. (As of this moment we have not been able to locate these artifacts.) There is also an extant photo of R. A. Adams, of G Company, similarly dressed.

At this writing, I am convinced this is the Third Alabama uniform of Winter/Spring 1862. Of course, it doesn't match Battle's description of cadet gray.... or does it? Ben Tart, a textile chemist from North Carolina, has been experimenting with and dyeing some cadet gray jean cloth using period dyes of logwood and iron. According to Mr. Tart, the formula is from a Richmond receipt book of wartime provenance. Reprinting these formulas would put a serious crimp in Mr. Tart's business, so we will have to take that on faith. (I have no reason to doubt him.) This material is dyed in the cloth. The color is a very dull, very uniform blue-gray similar to US Air Force blue. Six weeks of exposure to the North Carolina sun turns this stuff the color of a brown paper bag with the cotton warp fading more than the woolen filler. In short, it is pretty much the exact color of extant examples of Confederate cloth. Mr. Tart also makes a sumac dyed gray cloth, which fades to a butternut with a greenish cast. Both cloth samples are decidedly unattractive when new, but sure look good when they fade. (Incidentally, according to an un-footnoted paragraph in a 1960Õs World Book encyclopedia, Alabama troops got the nick-name yeller hammers when their perspiration caused the axillary quarters of their jackets to fade prematurely. A yellow hammer is actually a yellow-shafted flicker, a large greyish ground feeding bird, relative of a woodpecker, which has a black chevron on its chest and yellow-shafted feathers under its wings. As of 1900 it became Alabama's state bird!)

The Ben Tart cloth is probably closest to what was used in 1861 to make the Third's coats. Topstitching and buttonholes on the Gilmore coat remain quite dark in color, implying the cloth was originally dark too. Other manufacturers are making period dyed cloth as well: Charles Childs does both gray sumac and a very dark logwood, which oxidizes very quickly. Both of these cloths are quite attractive from the start. However, bear in mind, from the amount of time re-enactors actually spend in the sun, any mixed carded jean stuff would probably be just as appropriate as what is mentioned above.

Materials unearthed pertaining to issues of the Third Alabama are spotty at best and somewhat unrevealing. Early returns from the Richmond quartermaster's depot for summer of 1861 seem always to be for haversacks, canteens with straps, tentage and the like. It appears when Governor Moore loaned the Third Alabama to the Provisional Army of Virginia it was without field equipment. Returns for the fourth quarter of 1862 are more interesting. These indicate clothes drawn from the Richmond Depot. The absence of material from before this time implies that all the Third's clothing needs were being met by the state. (This is of course a wild and irresponsible assumption. Returns are filed on microfilm at the Library of Congress by state and secondly by the name of the receiving officer. Finding a particular company, regiment, and date is like looking for a needle in a haystack. We don't even know the name of the quartermaster officer for Company D! More material may very well come to light but for now we have nothing for Winter 1861 or Spring and Summer of 1862.) The late 1862 returns are tantalizing in that prices are attached to each issued item. This is pursuant to charges laid to the state under the commutation system.

The information is as mentioned, spotty, with returns available for only seven of eleven companies, and represent issues from mid October through December; a two month period. During this time, thirteen suits of clothes were issued to recruits, two felt hats and twelve caps drawn, fifty-seven pairs of shoes (at seven different prices), eighty-six pairs of pants (at eleven prices), sixty-six shirts, forty-four pairs of drawers and only twenty-one jackets (at four prices). The variety of prices probably reflects a variety of materials and trims, but all the jackets (and one coat entered at the same price as six jacket entries) were no doubt Richmond Depot Type I or II. The pants entries are more puzzling. Prices range from four to ten dollars. The bulk in the $7.00 to $8.50 range. This block of information is attached to this report as APPENDIX B. One other side light, there are blankets listed at prices of $6.00, $3.50, $1.00, and thirty-nine blankets at 25( each. These seem to have been issued in lots of three or in lots devisable by three. Could they have been the notorious Wilmington shipment of spoiled moth eaten English goods? Perhaps they were issued in threes so you could cut and piece them and make one whole blanket!

Why, after the arduous Sharpsburg campaign did the men of the Third draw only twenty-one jackets for seven companies? This could barely represent 10% of the troops in a veteran regiment. Were there so few left to stand to the colors? Eighty-six pairs of pants were issued; four times as many pants as coats. The reason may well be two fold. First, judging by the photo of J. Gilmore that remains with his jacket, that suit was pretty well worn before the Seven Days. A small tear and threadbare spot on the coat appear in the photo as well. The wearer was wounded at Malvern Hill - the photo was likely taken before. Following the Seven Days, the Third was stationed in the works at Richmond and rejoined the Army after Second Manassas. Also at this time the state of Alabama was maintaining a quartermaster's depot in Richmond. It may well have functioned through winter of 1864. A soldier's letter of December 1864 states that he stopped in Richmond as he returned from furlough to draw an Alabama jacket on his way to the front! (This tid-bit by the way is hearsay, reported by friends in the Mobile area; I have seen neither letter nor transcript)

State jackets of the period are, like their Richmond Depot counterparts, reasonable well documented. Photos of two Alabamians in the 1996 Confederate Calendar taken in Spring and Summer of 1862 show a jacket of mottled material, probably jean, sporting a wide straight stand-up collar, functional epaulets and two outside slash pockets. The angles of these pockets seem to be variable by company as is the location. This is consistent with manufacturing techniques of the period, know as the putting out system by which the jackets were cut by tailors in the employ of the state and let out to seamstresses to be assembled at home as piecework. Also typical of Deep South early war garments are the close fitted sleeves similar to the Gilmore jacket. One of the photos is a private in Law's Brigade and his coat is trimmed apparently with light blue tape on the collar, epaulets, pockets, front opening and the sleeves. The second photo is of a private in the Sixth Alabama, Rhodes Brigade. This jacket is trimmed with black tape on the epaulets and possibly the collar, although in the photo the collar is turned down and it is a difficult shot to call. Tom and Becky Nall of Mobile [Cotton City Tailors] have had access to and made copies of an extant example of the Sixth Alabama coat of impeccable provenance. The coat is in the Alabama Historical Society collection, and was worn by a private named Murphree. At Sharpsburg, Private Murphree stood near Col. (later General) John Gordon when he was wounded. Murphree apparently stripped off his coat and cradled Gordon's head with it. A true nineteenth century romantic, Murphree saved the blood soaked coat as a relic (perhaps believing initially Gordon would die) and later wore it to Confederate Veteran reunions. This example has a seven-button front with a strait and square collar, which comes barely within two and a half inches of meeting in front. This seems typical of most Alabama state jackets of this period, as well as late war. Murphree's coat has two outside slash pockets and is currently sporting post war English C.S.A. buttons, so there is little to be gleaned in this department. The collar is untrimmed, but the epaulets are bound with navy blue twill tape. This might easily appear black in a ferrotype of the period. Might the men of the third have worn the same or a similar jacket? Would it be trimmed in black? or in blue? Well, you can make a case for yes, no, or either. As it is a supremely well-documented garment the decision was made, tacitly, not to muck with it and at this writing at least two members have purchased the Nall's reproductions with blue trim. (Ben Tart's blue-gray jean, Tom's excellent cutting, and Becky's fine hand top and buttonhole stitching make for a superior product )

Another Alabama coat, reportedly worn at Sharpsburg is extant in a (private?) collection. Charles Childs made a pattern of this jacket and it is similar to the aforementioned jackets except for a Richmond Depot type tapered collar, black tape trimmed epaulets and balloon sleeves; a very fashionable jacket for 1862. Consistent with Deep South jackets, the collar on the left side is even with the edge of the jacket, thereby closing the collar at the front, unlike Richmond Depot jackets. I have not seen documentation on this jacket, but Mr. Childs' reputation speaks for it self.

It should be noted here that there is a great preponderance of black trim and reports thereof, particularly amongst pre-war companies. It is interesting also to note that a felt hat identified to Horatio Wright of the Third Alabama exists in the Montgomery Alabama state archives collection. The hat itself is of a very light tan color, almost white, and is folded flat. It is in quite good condition and has a single black tassel hanging out the back fold, supporting the notion of black trim for the Third. Another supporting item is the photo of the Law's Brigade man with light blue trim, implying different trims for different units. Then the question would be, what size unit? regiment, or brigade? A second more distressing notion is that perhaps they were issued arbitrarily as some late war Richmond Depot caps were [Yipes!].

Several years ago Military Images magazine published a photo, circa 1863, of a sergeant in the English Guard, a home guard unit from Mobile, sister unit of the Mobile Cadets, A Company, Third Alabama. This particular man had served with the Third in 1861 and part of 1862 and had been discharged for health reasons. The jacket is very interesting in that it seems to bring together many early and mid-war features. The collar, false epaulets and cuffs are black; the cuffs edged with light colored cord (blue?). The collar is aligned with the left edge of the coat front and the sleeves are huge fashionable balloon type. It is certainly tailor-made. Although the image is not of the Third Alabama, I believe it further fuels notions of the Thirds uniforms.

Word from Alabama researchers seems to indicate that as the war progressed Alabama state jackets suffered the same fate as Richmond depot jackets; that is being simplified for cost/manufacture purposes. First to go was the trim, then belt loops (per R. Nall, Mobile, Alabama), epaulets, and finally one of the pockets. Three extant jackets (one incidentally identified to a private in the Mobile Volunteer Cadets, a prison guard at Andersonville) seem to fit this criterion. They have balloon sleeves, a large standing collar, seven button front, stepped as per the Richmond Depot jackets, double rows of top stitch, and an outside slash pocket on the left, angled upwards as if for use with the right hand. The Andersonville jacket had wooden buttons on it similar to those on some AOT Alabama and Mississippi sack coats. The second was buttonless. These buttons may have been brass state or central government buttons removed to conform to federal regulations as in post war south. (Henry Kidd Douglas, author of I rode with Stonewall was incarcerated in West Virginia for having his image taken in a brass buttoned uniform coat in 1865. He remained in jail in D.C. for several months.) The third is available for close examination on videotape entitled Collecting the Confederate Soldier. According to the tape the jacket acquired by a New York cavalryman held prisoner in Alabama in 1864. All details of this jacket are similar to the aforementioned garments. Two interesting footnotes are, first the sewing; the stitching is by hand but much larger than any previously noted the second is the buttons, (presumably original to the garment, for it was never worn,)large brass early nineteenth century flat coin type buttons. These three jackets, strikingly similar to our memory of the Third Alabama jacket seen in a magazine almost twenty years ago (I recall the photo to be gray not brown/jean color) seem to fit with the notion that the only coat that survives is the last one worn. Is this our late war jacket? Possibly.

Perhaps a few paragraphs regarding Richmond Depot jackets are in order in consideration of the fact that some (at least) were issued to the Third. The Richmond Depot jackets are usually divided into three varieties. Current thinking is that first and second model jackets were issued concurrently and pretty much throughout the war, although some conventional logic needs to be applied to that statement. Many Richmond Depot jackets exist with varying types of trim, belt loops, and epaulets. More plain ones than trimmed ones are extant, and all surviving trimmed jackets are of Gettysburg provenance or earlier (and tailor made). Photographic evidence, I believe bears this out also. Many surviving examples are not actually of Richmond Depot origins, but instead tailor made jackets to pattern. Trim is, generally speaking, of tape with collar and epaulets predominant and some with cuff trim in the shape of chevrons. Most (maybe all) surviving issue (not tailor made) garments are of jean, which is consistent with cloth purchases made by Richmond Depot according to Les Jensen's article on the subject.

Some time in Spring of 1863 Ewell's Corps was issued some dark blue gray kersey jackets which made Gettysburg civilians in burial parties mistake many of Ewell's dead for Federals. This may well have been the English or Irish kersey, which earmarks all surviving type III Richmond Depot jackets. That is not to say the these jackets were type IIIs, but probably type IIs made in that same kersey cloth. Of course, the Third Alabama was part of Ewell's Corps. Could men of the Third possibly have drawn this coat as well?

Finally, many type III Richmond Depot jackets survive and may well have been worn by some of the Third's men. A. C. Redwood's drawings of the retreat from Petersburg show men in jackets and epaulets and neat kepis, but the men are as thin as young boys with old and bearded faces. W. L. Shepard painted the retreat as well. This painting shows what is surely type III Richmond Depot jackets in kersey with matching trousers. Homer's masterful Prisoners From the Front shows the same; one man in matching kersey jacket and trousers, another in grayish jean trousers and a blue-gray jacket, and a third, an elderly chap in essentially rags. All of these images are no doubt accurate. However only Homer, with the Federal Army, depicts Confederates in mixed uniforms. Maybe Redwood and Shepard were idealizing the truth somewhat.

The question is, in the final analysis, what did they wear? The answer is that there is no final analysis, and the unit probably wore all kinds of clothes, but some stuff will be predominant. My current estimation is that from October of 1861 through June of 1862, the unit probably wore some variation of the Gilmore jacket. From August of 1862 on, they probably wore some manner of Alabama state jacket (my personal vote goes to the Sixth Alabama jacket from Sharpsburg) and a mix of I and II types of Richmond Depot jackets. These variations probably persisted through the Mine Run Campaign with the unit resupplied in the winter of 63-64. Mid 64 probably saw the unit in a mix of kersey and single pocket Alabama jackets.

There may also have been a smattering of from home clothes but several letters from Alabama soldiers mention stopping by the Alabama depot at Richmond to draw new clothes on their way to the front. At some point or another, sergeants may well have worn frock coats, as this was fashionable amongst wealthy young men in the army. However, the full picture is still as mysterious as shadows cast by a fire on a cave wall.

APPENDIX A

Uniforms of the Third Alabama - Prewar and 1861

Company A - Mobile Cadets
Grey coatee with black trim. Grey trousers. Grey & black shako [circa 1860 photos, records]
Grey jacket with black collar, cuffs and false straps. Trousers with black stripe. Cap with black band. Crown letters Ò3 ALAÓ [VA Historical Society]

Company B - Gulf City Guards
No information yet

Company C - Tuskegee Light Infantry
Dark blue frock and trousers with sky blue trim. [Circa 1860]

Company D - Southern Rifles
No information yet

Company E - Washington Light Infantry
Green hunting frock, and green and white striped pants [circa 1860]

Company F - Metropolitan Guards
Cadet gray coatee and trousers with French blue trim. Black shako. [Circa 1859]

Company G - Montgomery True Blues
Dark blue claw hammer coatee and trouser [circa 1859 photo]
Dark blue frock and trousers [circa 1861 photo]

Company H - Lowdnes Beauregards
Charcoal gray broadcloth shell with sky blue trim [circa 1861, Manassas Historical Society]

Company I - Wetumpka Light Guards
Grey shell, 7 buttons, collar and cuffs trimmed sky blue (tape?) [Circa 1859]. I believe a ferrotype of an Officer in this company has recently come to light. It is a three-quarter view, seated image showing a dark, possibly broadcloth jacket, seven button front with left side slash pocket, a tall straight collar and very light colored piping. It is very well tailored.

Company K - Mobile Rifles
Dark green coatee and trousers trimmed with white [circa 1859]

Company L - Dixie Eagles - Added in the fall of 1861
No information yet