“[U]nder the energetic and liberal administration of the War Department, the wants of the troops have been regularly supplied, their comfort, health, and efficiency have been amply and regularly provided for.”
So wrote Montgomery C. Meigs in his November 1865 report to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton detailing the enormous expenditures the government had made—and which he had overseen as the Union army’s quartermaster general—in the previous four years. Among those many “wants” was clothing, from outfitting new recruits to supplying veterans in need of replacement items. By war’s end, over $292 million alone (more than $5 billion today) had been spent clothing the approximately 2.1 million men who served in the Union army.
Shown here are figures associated with the procurement of some of the more common uniform pieces donned by “Billy Yank.”
Key
Total number of items obtained for army use*
Lowest to highest price paid for item during the war
Civil War forage cap
Heritage Auctions
Forage caps
4,766,100
$0.35 to $1.04
Civil War hat
Heritage Auctions
Uniform hats
2,347,524
$1.62 to $2.19
Civil War sackcoat
Heritage Auctions
Sack coats
6,025,169
$2.10 to $5.09 (lined)
$1.88 to $4.38 (unlined)
Civil War greatcoat
Heritage Auctions
Greatcoats
3,827,050
$6.50 to $13.17 (infantry)
$7.74 to $16.11 (cavalry)
Civil War shirt
Heritage Auctions
Shirts
11,091,639
$0.45 to $3.01 (flannel)
$0.69 to $2.34 (knit)
Civil War trousers
Heritage Auctions
Trousers
7,756,795
$2.05 to $5.40 (infantry)
$3.32 to $5.89 (cavalry)
Civil War socks
Heritage Auctions
Stockings
20,319,896
$0.23 to $0.53
Civil War bootees
Heritage Auctions
Bootees and Brogans
8,437,216
$1.71 to $3.24 (sewed)
$1.33 to $2.45 (pegged)
Civil War blanket
Heritage Auctions
Blankets
7,803,066
$2.19 to $7.75 (woolen)
$2 to $5 (rubber)
$1.99 to $2.35 (painted)
*The figures highlighted here are for ready-made articles of clothing purchased by the government at the depots at Philadelphia, New York, and Cincinnati, Ohio, from May 1861–June 1865. They are exclusive of items of military clothing manufactured from raw materials purchased by the government.
