Boylan Contract Coat
Quartermaster called them the "Infantry Uniform
Coat". Soldiers referred to them as the "Dress
Coat", "Frock Coat" or "The Sweat Box". All these
terms refer to the
official dress uniform of the Federal army during
the Civil War. Hundreds of thousands of these coats
were made and issued during the war by government
arsenals and contractors throughout the north. One
of these contractors was JB Boylan of Newark, RI. An
extant Boylan coat is currently in the collection of
the Gettysburg National Military Park in
coat exhibited no signs of being worn and was in
fair condition. There are several modern repairs to
hold the linings in place and keep the buttons
secured, but otherwise there doesn't seem to be any
major damage to the coat. The coat is an excellent
example of a contract infantry uniform coat and is
made from finely woven broadcloth. The coat has a 9
button front, a 6 piece body and a 2 piece sleeve.
the coats straight seams and topstitching is done by
machine, there is extensive handwork throughout the
garment. The linings, buttonholes, collar, trim and
facings are all set by hand. The time involved
making this coat is extensive and it is truly one of
the most detailed of all the Civil War garments.
collar is 2" high in the front and 2 1/4" in the
center rear. It also has hooks and eyes set into the
seam for closures. The interfacing is attached to
the collar by two parallel rows of stitching along
the inside of the collar. There is also a wool
collar tab on the inside of the collar which is 3.5"
coat is only lined in the front panels and under the
arm. It is lined with a wool alpaca that was
originally black, but has oxidized to a greenish
brown. All exposed seams have a 3/8" seam allowance.
The chest is quilted with a zig-zag pattern and has
a tapering facing piece.
cuffs are trimmed with a light blue wool welt that
in a chevron pattern which peaks at 4 3/4" and
levels out at 3 3/8". It exhibits a functional cuff
with a two button closure. The first button is 1
1/4" up and the second is 1 3/4" from the first. The
cuff vent is 4" high. The sleeve is 23 inches long
from the sleeve cap to the cuff.
are no inside breast pockets as with most (not all)
uniform coats, but there are the traditional two
tail pockets. The tail pockets are brown polished
cotton and the sleeves are lined with a light cotton
sheeting. The 6" pocket opening is faced with wool
and the pockets are 12" deep.
skirt facings have hooks and eyes located 4 3/4" up
from the hem inset into the facing. There is also a
triangular piecing featured on the rear of the skirt
which is 5" tall and 2" wide at the bottom. This
piecing was primarily used when the contractors were
using 27" wide yard goods and the skirt pattern was
wider than the cloth. The skirt is 16" long and the
facings are pieced in several places.
not sure what the size the coat was originally
issued as, but there is a "1/REMEASURE" marking on
the sleeve which means it was
reinspected at some point and found to be a size 1.
Other markings in the sleeve are the makers mark;
"JAMES B. Boylan/NEWARK, R.I." and an inspectors
stamp "Wm. Phillips/U.S. INSPECTOR/NEW YORK"
inspected clothing at the NY Depot for the entire
War, from October 1861 until August 1865. There were
two Boylan contractors,
and I donít remember which is
your mark. John Boylan
delivered 2,000 infantry uniform coats to the NY
Depot under an October 24, 1862 contract (for $7.00
each), his only contract for such coats during the
War. Under the name John
Co. he had two other
contracts that went to NY, 9.23.62 for 3,000
@ $6.80 and 10.08.62 for 2,000 @ $7.00. James B.
Boylan had two contracts
uniform coats, but only one went to the NY Depot.
2.22.64 for 50,000 at $9.00
you have additional questions about this coat or
frocks in general, please do not hesitate to ask.
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I'd like to thank the staff at Gettysburg National
Military Park for allowing us to use the photos in
this article and to Fred Gaede for the contractor
and inspector information.