Object:
Civil War Clothing LedgerCatalog #: 2002.52.1
Donor: Patty Pearce Payne
With a little bit of sleuthing even a nondescript ledger may become a historical treasure. This was the case for a leather-bound journal donated by Patty Pearce Payne. Her mother, Verba Jo Pearce, purchased it many years ago at auction when the contents of the Seamster Museum near Garfield were sold. The journal belonged to W.F. Patton, whom Mrs. Pearce recognized as a neighbor of her Pea Ridge ancestors. But it wasn’t until Mrs. Payne donated the journal to the Museum that its significance was fully understood.
William Frasier Patton was born on October 7, 1833, in Knox County, Tennessee, near Knoxville on the French Broad River. In 1860 Patton, his mother, and his siblings left their Tennessee home and were on their way to Texas with their Morgan horses when they stopped to visit their old friends, the Rices, in the area now known as Pea Ridge. Hearing of a horse-killing disease in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), the Pattons postponed their journey and bought a nearby farm.
Family stories relate that when the battle of Pea Ridge broke out in March 1862, Patton ran north to hide and watch the horrible conflict in which fought a group of local recruits whom he had helped train. In August he enlisted in the Confederate army as a first lieutenant (later promoted to captain) in Company F, 22nd Regiment Arkansas Infantry (also known as the 35th Regiment). Patton fought throughout the state at the battles of Prairie Grove (December 1862), Helena (July 1863), and Jenkins Ferry (April 1864). While it is unclear what his duties were, it seems likely that he served in the quartermaster department, as evidenced by a few equipment receipts and the clothing-allowance ledger he kept.
Clothing an army was a tremendous effort. The Confederate States of America (CSA) Quartermaster’s Department, organized in February 1861, was initially responsible for provisioning members of the Regular Army with the necessary shoes, caps, suits of clothing, etc., needed to fight a war. Volunteers in the Provisional Army weren’t issued government clothing. Instead, under the commutation system they provided their own clothes, receiving about $25 every six months for their “use.” This practice allowed for the quick provisioning of an army without having to build numerous manufactories (factories) or to stockpile raw materials for what was surely going to be a quick victory.
However, as the war dragged on, the need to adequately provision the armies grew. The CSA built more government-run manufactories and relied on outside suppliers, contractors, and state governments to provide additional goods. By 1863 the issue system generally became the norm throughout the South, with the CSA government providing most of its troops with a certain amount of clothing at a set price. Each soldier drew on his clothing allowance, pocketing the difference if he underdrew and paying the difference if he overdrew.
Much has been made of the “ragged rebel” image of the Confederate soldier. While it is true that at certain times and certain places the average soldier was poorly outfitted and that many soldiers relied on clothing supplied by their families or Ladies’ Aid Societies, recent scholarship indicates that even during the direst moments of the war a surprising amount of supplies were making their way to the troops. After all, a war couldn’t be waged for several years if a well-established and furnished supply system wasn’t in place. Unfortunately for today’s historians, much of the CSA’s quartermaster records were destroyed after the war.
Captain Patton’s ledger can shed some light on this topic because it lists the clothing issued between September 1862 and February 1864 to 92 members of Company F of the 22nd Regiment Arkansas Infantry. Cloth hats went for $2.50, a pair of drawers $1.40, a coat $5.00, and a pair of shoes $3.00; shirts ranged from $1.40 to $4.00. The number of cashmere pants ($8.00) issued in October 1862 indicates the troops’ winter preparations. “Cumforts” (comforters) and blankets (both $6.00) were also popular items during cold-weather months.
The ledger documents a few poignant moments as well. One soldier’s record shows $6.25 drawn for a shirt and two hats before this final note was added: “J.W. Lee died of a wound received in Battle at Prairie Grove Dec The 21st 1862.”
The following is the official roster for the 35th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Co. F (also known as the 22nd Regiment). Its 94 names have been compared against the 92 names found in Captain Patton’s journal. An asterisk indicates the matches between the official roster and Patton’s ledger. Square brackets indicate the different spellings or additional names found in Patton’s ledger that are not found on the official roster.
