Jersey Skilletlicker pleated frocks

Directly taken from European fashion, the pleated blouse was a symbol of the outdoorsman. As noted in John Langellier's oustanding book, Army Blue, this style was taken from hunting attire and applied to military garments. Worn by Chasseur and Jäger regiments in France and Germany, they became symbols of the light infantry tactics then in vogue and made famous during the Crimean conflict. For a brief period prior to the Civil War, the US Army had adopted a similiar frock coat for dismounted servicemen. The illustrations in Hardee's Tactics shows the figure in a pleated frock coat.

This style not only spread to the north, as seen by the officer in the Rhode Island blouse pictured in Army Blue, but south of the Río Grande as well. As pictured below, officers from the Mexican state of Puebla adopted the french influenced style.

This reproduction by NJ Sekela, accurately reflects this international fashion trend of the mid ninteenth century.

Figures painted from life
in the Puebla Miltary Album of 1863,
State Museum, Puebla México

From Cronica del Traje Militar en México del siglo XVI al XX, Artes de México, 1968.

Photograph of Capt. Dyer, shown of page 200 of Army Blue

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