Coverlets in the American Civil War
A kind reader, Benecio Machado, made me aware of Civil War photographs that clearly show handwoven coverlets. He was asking what books I would recommend for learning about the coverlets of that era.
As it turned out, he is a historic reenactor, with the Liberty Rifles, a group that portrays the common fighting man and home-front civilian on both sides of the war. They take part in all kinds of events, portraying infantry, cavalry, and even prisoners of war. They are so well respected that they are allowed to be on the actual battlefields for official reenactments. I wish that I had been aware of them back when I was teaching, because my students would have benefited from watching their work!
Benecio is interested in creating authenticity in uniform. He had noticed the blankets that soldiers often carried slung across their shoulders, but had not been able to find much background information in the usual sources.
He sent me two pictures from Battle of Antietam. I went to the Library of Congress website and found the originals, so I could download the TIF files, which are huge. Then I was able to zoom in and crop to show the coverlets. I am just going to post small jpgs of the entire photos (because it is so sad to look at the casualties) but I linked to the originals so you can find them if you are interested.
View in the field, on the west side of the Hagerstown Road, after the Battle of Antietam, Library of Congress. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpb.03563
There is a striped blanket in the foreground, but in the back by the fence we can see this coverlet:
Coverlet from the photo above.
I immediately recognized this one as a Blooming Leaf or Double Bow Knot. Here it is from Eliza Calvert Hall’s A Book of Hand-woven Coverlets, 1912.
Hickory Leaf/Double Bow Knot/Blooming Leaf from Eliza Calvert Hall
List of names for this pattern.
(Carol Strickler in her book American Woven Coverlets explains that if the size of the little squares increase and then decrease on the diagonal, it is a bowknot; if they remain the same size for several steps of the diagonal, it is a blooming leaf.)
Antietam, Maryland. Confederate soldiers as they fell. Library of Congress https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/cwpb/01000/01091v.jpg
Coverlet from the previous photo.
The coverlet in this photo looks like a Governor’s Garden to me.
Governor’s Garden from Eliza Calvert Hall. This example was woven in 1810, blue wool on a linen warp.
Benecio also sent me photos of the unit marching along at a reenactment. I really love this one because the very scruffy guy at far right has a Texas hat, and the most expensive coverlet! I think he must have stolen it off a Yankee. 🙂
A group of reenactors at Antietam Battlefield in 2022.
Reenactor with coverlet.
Reenactor with coverlet.
Where did these fine coverlets come from? you may wonder. Benecio made me aware of Family Heirloom Weavers, and when I saw their work, all I could say was Wow! Their products look so good. Their coverlets are made of 100% cotton, instead of cotton and wool like the originals, but for reenactment purposes, that would be fine. And Sutler of Fort Scott also has beautiful reproductions.
And then the pièce de résistance!
Here is a picture of President Lincoln meeting with General McClellan after the battle. McClellan had apparently done a terrible job of commanding the Union forces, and a few months after the battle, Lincoln relieved him of command.
Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/item/2018666253/
I find it interesting that in this photo, the United States flag is being used as a table cover! And look at that coverlet!
Close up of the “Antietam” coverlet.
Well, we are not the only ones to notice this coverlet. This 2018 article in First Things analyzes the scene, and reports on two women who wove reproductions of the coverlet. The first, Rita Hagenbruch, figured out the threading, even noticing where the original weaver made some mistakes! (I probably would not have noticed, but after reading that she found mistakes, I looked and looked until I found them too. I love the evidence that an ordinary human made this.) That led me to this article from Handwoven magazine (which is very confusingly dated), which finally led me to this book on overshot, which I bought so I could get the draft.
Getting back to Benecio’s original request for some book recommendations, I found so many books and collections of coverlets available online, that I made a whole page of resources.
You can get to it at any time from the tabs up top. I hope you will take a look and dip into one of the online books or galleries; they are fantastic!
I am grateful to have been made aware of these historic photos, and of all the resources that are available.
And I want to leave you with this video of the Liberty Rifles at the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam. I cannot imagine what it would be like to live through something like this, and I am in awe of the people who study it, and present it, so that we can understand the hardships ordinary people experienced.
I haven’t been here in so long, but picked a perfect time to visit .You do find the most amazing and interesting topics to write about and this one did not disappoint. Thank you for your research, detail, and the links to find out more.
Thank you! Sometimes the topics find me! 🙂
extraordinary research and the photos are gruesome indeed. thank you for this historical look.
why did they form up so closely together? I’m assuming that as the conflict continued and weapons improved the lines would have been more spread out to reduce casualties? Am I wrong about that?
I don’t know for sure, but I think that in both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, troops were following what had been standard procedure for years, just like cavalry troops went out on horses to try to fight tanks in later wars. You might reach out to the Liberty Rifles on their page; I think they would be happy to answer, and they are the experts on battles. 🙂
Wow! Those reproduction coverlet are amazing!
Yes, I can’t believe someone is doing such a beautiful job! I am glad to see those old patterns rejuvenated. 🙂
Fascinating, but so sad when you think of all the lives lost unnecessarily. I guess re-enactment is one way to make sure people don’t forget the past and make the same mistakes.
Yes, I didn’t know this before I looked into the McClellan coverlet’s history, but Antietam is still the worst day for American loss of life in history!
And I’ve been reading some books of naval history in England and France, and those countries fought each other just about every year for centuries! When I was a fifth grade teacher and we were going over the French and Indian War, some of the kids were just speechless and said, why didn’t they just buy the territory, it would have saved a lot of money in the end! I wish grown men were as smart as fifth graders.
I love finding out more about the history of ordinary people. So much of what I was taught in school was about Kings and Queens and politics. I have been listening to a series of podcasts from the BBC about the history of items in our homes and the presenter / author Ruth Goodman started as a reenactor and became a historian as she researched the things she needed to do – like washing up!
Can you tell me the name of that BBC podcast? I would love to listen to it. I searched my podcast provider for BBC podcasts, and found lots of interesting ones that I didn’t know about before, but I couldn’t find one with Ruth Goodman.
it is called ‘The Curious History of Your Home’. Because I use the BBC Sounds App I can’t find the web address I will try again tomorrow on the bigger screen rather than my phone and email it to you. However a Google search of the title took me to it in the app so it might well work for you. I have enjoyed the episodes I have listened too.
Found it, thank you so much! ________________________________
You are welcome. If I was feeling less lazy I would have got the web address for you. Sunday evening torpor had set in 😂
Thank you for this very interesting post. I always thought American coverlets belonged on the bed. I would never have thought that they could also serve soldiers.
I think the soldiers, especially in the South, had to equip themselves with whatever they had, there was no administration supplying them, at least not at first. There is an interesting kids’ book called Turned Homeward Hannalee, based on a true situation, where civilian children that were working in a Southern textile mill that wove cloth for Confederate uniforms, were rounded up as traitors and sent up North.
And then I have heard that as the war went on and equipment wore out, the soldiers would steal whatever they needed from the homes around the battlefields.
That explains it. In my country, the textile industry often developed mainly because factories supplied textiles to soldiers all over Europe.
Wow, I never thought of military textiles as a stimulus to development, but it makes sense!
I used Google Translate on your page and it said you write in Czech — one of my great-grandmothers came from that area somewhere, but I am not sure where. In the census every 10 years, she would change her country of origin. She said Silesia, Bohemia, and Czechoslovakia at different times. I am not sure if the borders changed so much, or if she just answered whatever she felt like! 🙂
Yes, this is our history. I was born in Czechoslovakia and now I live in the Czech Republic. At the same time, I am still in the same place. Silesia is a part of our state and Bohemia is another name of my country (not official).
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I wondered if perhaps the flag was on the table so parts could be mended?
My own inclination would be to think that they just weren’t as formal with flag etiquette as we are, but I really don’t know! You had me imagining some woman coming over and saying, “You men just go on with discussing the battle, I am going to fix a few things around here.” 🙂
Thank you for making this piece, and your resource page is invaluable!
Thank you for letting me know about these fascinating historic pictures!