Battle shirt or jacket worn by Captain Nehemiah Fountain company F 10th Virginia infantry. The coat was purchased 1970's from a house sale in Page county Virginia.and comes with a letter confirming the provenance. For many years it resided in the late Bill Turner collection. Fountain enlisted in April of 1861 in Woodstock, Virginia as a 2nd lieutenant and quickly rose in the ranks. Lieutenant Fountain was promoted Captain in May of 1863. The 10th served most of the major campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia suffering heavy casualties at the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. At the battle of Gettysburg Captain Fountain was captured and sent to Fort McHenry, Maryland and later to Johnson's Island. On February 25, 1865 he was exchanged at City Point, Virginia.

The jacket or sack coat is single breasted with 5 Virginia state seal buttons down the breast. The collar is a falling type two piece with the exposed side made up of dark blue velvet. The collar is trimmed down it's outer edge in gold braid with three horizontal strips indicating the rank of Captain. The cuff is made of the same velvet material as the collar. The velvet cuff trim is on the front of the cuff only. The remaining material of the coat is made of of gray cloth made up of a blue cotton warp and a gray woolen weft, flannel weight, twill. The jacket comes with a letter of examination from Les Jensen confirming it is indeed of the Civil War period.