Object of the Month

Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site has a large museum collection consisting of thousands of objects, many of which are not regularly displayed in the house's furnished exhibit rooms. Every month, an object will be featured on this page, providing a look at an unusual piece from the collection.

 

A blue wool sack coat, with two bullet holes, worn by Charlss Appleton Longfellow during his service in the Civil War.

NPS

Charley Longfellow wore this blue wool coat when he served as a lieutenant in the 1^st Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry during the U.S. Civil War. It is of a type commonly referred to as a sack coat. The sack coat was one of the most commonly worn pieces of uniform worn by Union soldiers, who favored it over other styles for its comfort and practicality, although the wool could be a burden in warmer weather.

The uniform has brass buttons on the front and on the sleeves. The buttons are stamped with the image of an eagle with an olive branch in its proper right talon, three arrows in its proper left talon, and a shield on its chest bearing the letter “C”. On the back of each button is “D. EVANS & CO. • ATTLEBORO MASS. •” D. Evans & Co. was established by Daniel Evans in 1848 when he purchased an existing, bankrupt jewelry and button manufacturing outfit in Attleboro, Massachusetts, where the first metal stamped buttons in the U.S. were made. The company continued making buttons for the U.S. military well into World War II.

On November 27, 1863, while in Northern Virginia during the Mine Run Campaign, Charley was reconnoitering along the front lines and was wounded. Holes in the back of the coat mark where a bullet entered under his left shoulder blade, nicked his spine, and exited under his right shoulder blade. He recorded the event in his journal by writing “Started early in the morning marched to New Hope Church had a fight with the reb. Cav. and infantry got pluged [sic].” The holes made by the bullet are visible in the view of the coat’s back, shown above on the right.

Four days later, while having dinner at home in Cambridge, Henry W. Longfellow received news of his son’s wounding, via a telegram that inaccurately reported Charley was severely injured in the face. He rushed down to Washington D.C. where he eventually located his son on a train transporting wounded soldiers to hospitals in the city. After spending some time in Washington getting Charley healthy enough to travel, they returned to Cambridge where Charley began an extended recovery.

 

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