M1858 enlisted man's heavy artillery frock coat. This coat was obviously issued and worn during the war and includes a contractor stamp in the upper right shoulder "K. H & Co. P". Kunkel, Hall & Company out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had contracts for thousands of federal frock coats for infantry and heavy artillery in 1863 and early 1864. This coat exhibits many of the characteristics of a later war enlisted frock coat, complete with the padded alpaca chest lining stuffed with layers of shoddy, buckram and raw wool, along with polished brown cotton tail pockets. Treadle machine and hand-sewing throughout, with hand-whipped button holes. All buttons are artillery "A" buttons, originally meant for officers, but for some reason adorn this coat. Missing 5 on the the front, all the rest present, and are late war Waterbury buttons, all matching and appear original to the coat. Some moth scattering present, displayed in the photos. Someone, at some point, ironed on some denim patches to the tops of the lining where it meets the base of the collar, perhaps to event any further loss of the lining contents where the lining had become loose from the collar. One of the brown polished cotton pockets in the tail is a bit shredded, typical of an issued coat worn extensively in the field. Towards the end of the war, may heavy artillery troops were pulled from the mundane defences of Washington to serve as infantry in the trenches of Petersburg and some in the Western theater to help end the conflict, as part of the final campaigns of the war.

The coat came with an index card where someone had written:

"Civil War Artillery

Frock Coat

*James Murphy

Minnesota?

Young 18 or Less"

Unfortunately, there was no more information with the coat to denote the owner and its history, and a search on the database reveals over 650 "James Murphy"'s who served in the war. Narrowing it down to one who served in a heavy artillery unit, possibly in Minnesota, and was very young could be a nice research project for its next curator. Nevertheless, this is a fine example of an increasingly rare example of Civil War Federal-issued enlisted man's attire, one that was issued and worn during the war,  and not just Boylan contract/ Bannerman surplus that you see mostly on the market.