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Rolling the Civil War
Overcoat
By: Unknown
Author (The
following info comes from Doug Dobbs' site at
Tips for Civil War Reenactors, who pulled the information
off a website and didn't record the URL, nor is it recorded in
the body of the HTML. Doug Dobbs didn't know the author's
name or how to reach him. If you are the author of this article,
please email us and we will link to your page and give you
credit. email:
penna142d@142dpvi.org)
For all you Federal Reenactors
(and you curious Confederates) out there, you may be wondering
"how the heck did the original US soldiers carry those
overcoats?" of course, you may not care, especially if you don't
have an overcoat. But for me, I wanted to know. A little digging
turned up the information that the soldiers carried them rolled,
and on top of their knapsacks. But, "how did they roll them?"
you might pontificate. Well, I too pondered the same perplexity,
and answers were not forthcoming. I could find no printed
instructions left over from the war. I have since learned that
there were a few reenactors out there who chose not to share
this info, well, they have been punished. Fortunately, one of
the studliest members of the 15th US/1st Florida modified the World
War I overcoat rolling procedure and scored a breakthrough. So
here are the steps for rolling the overcoat thanks to Matt
Wright.
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Step One |
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Lay
the overcoat flat and button all the front buttons and the
buttons on the cape. However, undo the buttons on the back belt
and pull the belt parts out from under the coat. Fold in the
sleeves so that they run along the length of the front opening.
Next, pull the cape away from the rest of the coat and form a
clam-shell with it (check the picture.) Make sure the cape is
even both left and right and that the edges of the cape meet
evenly away from the coat. |
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Step Two |
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Fold
in the sides of the coat over the sleeves until they too run
evenly along the front opening of the coat. Fold in the bottom
of the coat a little more until it roughly has this shape \_/.
It will make it easier to roll it tightly later. |
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Step Three |
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Roll
the overcoat from the bottom towards the cape tightly and make
sure it stays even on the sides. For some reason, this picture
didn't come out too well, but the roll is about halfway, or
right about where the back belt pieces come across. Once you get
a good half-roll, put your knee on the roll to hold it in place. |
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Step Four |
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While
holding the roll with your knee, fold in the to corners of the
'clamshell' until they cross like in the picture. This step is
crucial and you will undoubtedly have to unroll and repeat this
step many times until you can get just the right width to make a
tight roll. The wing tips need to overlap, however, because they
will eventually hold the roll in place. I didn't get a shot of
what you do next, but you're smart you can figure it out. Fold
the cape piece down (exactly as it is with that overlap) at the
collar. You can see the collar line in the picture, it is right
above the button. The cape will be facing the roll you are
holding with your knee, with the opening in the cape towards
said roll. |
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Step Five |
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Now,
take the roll with one hand, and grab the top two layers of the
cape with the other hand. Simply roll the coat up into the
opening, pulling the cape with one hand and rolling with the
other. Be careful not to pull out the crossed wings of the cape
or you will have to start over. If you find that the roll isn't
very tight, roll the coat out of the cape, cross the cape tips a
little tighter and try it again. |
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