“Shabby Gray” Gray Review?

Shoddy source? - Brooks store 1845 - before brothers took over

Having enlisted shortly after President Lincoln’s first call for Volunteers on April 15, 1861, the 19th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment has had a few challenges since it arrived in Elmira, NY on April 29th: Cold, dreary weather; constant marching and drilling without uniforms or weapons; the incessant racket of trains rumbling, brass bands playing, and the round-the-clock clatter of the hash machine; and the questionable food produced by said hash machine . But things are looking up! 150 years ago today the regiment received its long-awaited uniforms:

Uniforms were issued, Friday May 24th. It was a day of excitement A neat uniform is the pride of a good soldier. The men were eager to don the army blue. They were furthermore suffering for warm and comfortable clothing. When the boxes, containing the suits, were delivered at the barracks, the joy of the regiment knew no bounds. That feeling suffered an early demise. There was tossed out to each volunteer a cap, jacket, pair of pants and overcoat. They were not of army blue. The great Empire State had seen fit to clothe the 19th regiment in a shabby gray. The brave fellows, however, anxious to get suits of any description, donned them good naturedly. Then came out the whole truth. The uniforms had been made of a coarse, fluffy, flimsy material, called shoddy, full of fine flocking, which on shaking sifted out, filling the eyes, irritating the skin, and covering the floor with refuse. A heartless fraud had been perpetrated.

Envy of Elmira - Union troops in uniforms that fit by Capitol 5-13-1861 (LOC - LC-USZ62-86311)

On the 23d of April, the Military Board at Albany advertised for proposals for 12,000 uniforms. In response, Mr. F. L. Griswold, an honorable and esteemed merchant of Auburn, proposed to furnish those required by the Cayuga regiment, in furtherance of the plan for equipping and training that command at Auburn. He sent a sample suit of his make, the cloth being purposely better even than the State required. State Treasurer Dorsheimer raised the quibble that the color of the jacket varied a shade from regulation blue, and also objected that the suits could not be made in time in Auburn. A contract was refused Mr. Griswold. The whole 12,000 suits were awarded to be contracted for by Brooks Bro’s of New York city. The senior Brooks assured the State, positively, that he could furnish the whole number of regular army blue cloth within the specified time. A few days after the contract was signed, he cooly notified the Military Board that his firm could not comply therewith unless permitted to use cloth other than agreed upon. Interviews and consultations followed. At last, so urgent were the necessities of the hour, the contractors carried their point and were authorized to substitute “gray cadet mixed satinet” for army blue for 7,500 uniforms. These were promptly furnished, most of them being sent to Elmira.

How thoroughly ” mixed ” the goods were, the Cayuga volunteers can testify. Stripes of dark gray ran through them, with streaks of butternut intermingled. Patches of green, spots of brown, and splashes of other colors, dotted their surface, and no less than eighteen different hues were counted in them by an inquiring volunteer. Shabby in color, uncomfortable from the gritty dust in them, flabby in texture, they were also ungainly in cut. Few were able to get a suit that fitted them. Nearly all of them were too large. Two men could button around them one overcoat. Many men could button up their folded overcoats in their pants.

These outrageous uniforms were issued to the 12th, 13th and 26th regiments also. They had a most depressing effect on all. Men, wanting furloughs to go home to bid farewell to dear ones, before marching to the seat of war, were ashamed to show themselves and went to the front without seeing the friends they so longingly desired to.

From Cayuga in the Field by Henry Hall and James Hall.

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On September 6, 1861 The New-York Times published the report of New York State’s investigation into the uniforms provided by Brooks Brothers. The report backed up Henry Hall’s take on the uniforms.

In Battle Cry of Freedom (pages 323-324) James M. McPherson writes about contractors providing “shoddy” products and about the un-uniform ways states outfitted their first volunteers. Different states used different colors for their uniforms. Throw in the gaudy Zouave threads and “the Union forces gathering in Washington looked like a circus on parade.” That impression must have been strengthened by the troops from Elmira with uniforms falling apart, of 18 different hues, and sometimes double the necessary size.

Circus on Parade 1899 (LOC - LC-USZC4-916)

Plenty of room in clown's uniform, too (1923 LOC - LC-USZ62-95025)