Figure 1.--This unidentified boy is wearing a collar-buttoning military-styled jacket. He has a pointed white collar shirt. We can't tell if the jacket has a collar, but it does mot look like it did. . This was a very popular style in the mid-19th century. This is reprtedly a Dag which we have trouble dating. We think that the boys without matvching trousers mostly date to the 1840s while the matching trousers mostly date to the 1850s.

Some of these colar buttoning jackets had military syling, especially during the mid-19th century. We are not yetsure about the 1840s, but the portrait here probably dates to the 1840s (figure 1). We see these jackets in th 50s and 60s. A good example is Charles McLong in the 1850s. They look like U.S. mid-19th century U.S. Army uniform jackets. The jackets might have collars of varying sizes, although this is not always clear because they were often worn with white collars, presunably part of shorts worn under the jacket. These white collars were very common. The military styling primarily came from the prominant buttons down the front which we think were often brass. The destinctive row of brass buttons is the most destinctive feature of these suits. There are usually many more buttons than are needed to close the jacket. The actual number varied. Besides the buttons, the jackets were very plain. Many were done in blue which also gave them a military look. U.S. Army uniforms were at the time blue. A good example is an unidentified Connecticut boy about 1865. There was no other military styling. The jackets were cut short, just at the waistline, another military look. Only the nilitary style collar-buttoning jackets were cut short like this. We don't see more obvious military military features like epaulets.

Created: 8:06 AM 1/1/2014
Last updated: 4:54 AM 10/20/2017