Clothing

Scholars debate how much influence the Civil War had on clothing and how much impact clothing had on the Civil War. One argument contends that women's participation in the war effort stimulated reform in their apparel; another insists, with some exceptions, that those who could afford to do so followed the vagaries of fashion in a normal manner. As the war raged on, fashion magazines increasingly emphasized mourning attire, and the demand grew for mourning veils and black yard goods. Matters related to dress and textiles figured in every sector of the war from the battlefield to the home front and did not only concern fashionably-attired women.

Uniforms, more than any other item of clothing, affected the war effort. When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, state volunteer regiments on both sides marched into battle wearing an array of colorful uniforms; this lack of standardized uniforms often had tragic repercussions. By 1862, the two sides had sorted themselves into blue and gray, and uniforms evolved into a functional form. Some of the more flamboyant units such as the Zouaves, the Butterfly Hussars, or the 79th New York Cameron Highlanders (who wore full Highland dress that included kilts) modified their uniforms to become more like the standard uniforms. However, a number of state militias continued to use extravagant uniforms of such units as a recruiting ploy—attracting volunteers by offering them fancy uniforms with which to impress admirers. As the war dragged on, soldiers on both sides generally wore whatever they could find.

Although they could not officially join the troops, approximately 400 women donned military uniforms, passed themselves off as Union or Confederate soldiers, and fought in the war. Some women, perhaps those who wanted to work for the war effort but did not want to wear male apparel, became spies, and female fashions—from parasols and crinolines to corsets and metal buttons—proved highly conducive for spying. One Federal agent complained, "A girl could hide a fair-sized arsenal under her hoop skirt."

In addition to uniting and recruiting military personnel, Civil War uniforms also led to important advances in men's ready-made clothing production, which had begun to develop earlier in the century. Standardized sizing and the large-scale use of the sewing machine enabled manufacturers to create masses of clothing; in particular, for Union uniforms. Poverty pushed many women into these new factories where they might earn one dollar per dozen shirts sewn. At the conclusion of the war, demand for uniforms ceased, and companies diverted their production to civilian garments and made a wide choice of ready-made clothing available to men. Most women, however, continued to obtain their garments from dressmakers or make their own clothing; factory-made feminine attire did not lose its negative associations until the beginning of the twentieth century.

Underpaid factory operatives were not the only women who stitched for the war effort. "Leisured ladies" also sewed and knitted for the soldiers, but in a significantly different way. Thousands of "war work" societies sprang up to augment existing sewing, knitting, and church circles; Northern black and white women also used their quilting skills to raise funds, first for abolition and later for the war. Southern women gathered in neighborhood

groups to sew uniforms and clothing for Confederate soldiers. Additionally, the Women's Patriotic Association for Diminishing the Use of Imported Luxuries pledged to support Union manufacturers by refusing to purchase imported textiles. Mary Todd Lincoln attempted to bolster Union morale by projecting the image of a fashionable first lady, and Varina Howell Davis, wife of Confederate president Jefferson Davis, continued to dress in fashionable attire. Critics pointed out that while these first ladies purchased jewelry and clothing, American women were sewing, scraping lint, and making bandages. Widespread shortages forced loyal seamstresses, especially in the South, to be innovative in their quest for fabric and yarn. Desperate to clothe their ill-clad troops, women unraveled blankets, dresses, draperies, upholstery, even carpets for their valuable threads. The lack of clothing, blankets, and bandages for the soldiers had an effect on the outcome of the war by weakening morale.

Most fashion magazines made few, if any, references to the national situation during the war years and continued to publish the styles designed abroad; the Civil War had little direct impact on how white women's fashionable apparel evolved. In the aftermath of the Civil War, changes related to clothing were measured in the increase in ready-made production, the standardization of clothing sizes, the increased use of the sewing machine, the surplus of female seamstresses, and the popularity of the military cap—a vestige from the military uniform. The most significant postwar clothing transformation came about as whites witnessed newly freed black women and men proudly wearing fashions that had once been denied them.

Davis, Varina Howell; Lincoln, Mary Todd.

Banner, Lois. American Beauty. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983.

Bullough, Vern L.; and Bullough, Bonnie. Cross Dressing, Sex, and Gender. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.

Daves, Jessica. Ready-Made Miracle: The Story of Fashion for the Millions. New York: Putnam, 1967.

Hall, Richard. Patriots in Disguise: Women Warriors of the Civil War. New York: Paragon House, 1993.

Leonard, Elizabeth D. Yankee Women: Gender Battles in the Civil War. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995.

Martin, Paul. Military Costume: A Short History. Stuttgart, Germany: W. Keller & Co., 1963.

Masson, Ann, and Bryde Reveley. "When Life's Brief Sun Was Set: Portraits of Southern Women in Mourning—1830–1860." Southern Quarterly 27 (Fall 1988): 33–56.

Wasowicz, Laura. "The Tatnuck Ladies' Sewing Circle, 1847–1867." Historical Journal of Massachusetts 24 (Winter 1996): 19–46.

White, Shane; and White, Graham. Stylin': African American Expressive Culture from Its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998.