In 1864 Samuel Weaver reported on his examination of bodies buried at Gettysburg to establish whether they were Union or Confederate, in preparing the National Cemetery there. He wrote, "It may be asked how we could distinguish the bodies of our own men from those of the rebels. This was generally very easily done. In the first place, as a general rule, the rebels never went into battle with the United States coat on. They sometimes stole the pantaloons from our dead and wore them, but not the coat. The rebel clothing is made of cotton, and is of a grey or brown color. Occasionally I found one with a blue cotton jean roundabout on. The clothing of our men is of wool, and blue; so that the body having the coat of our uniform on was a pretty sure indication that he was a Union soldier. But if the body were without a coat, then there were other infallible marks. The shoes of the rebels were differently made from those of our soldiers. If these failed, then the underclothing was the next part examined. The rebel cotton undershirt gave proof of the army to which he belonged. In no instance was a body allowed to be removed which had any portion of the rebel clothing on it ... I firmly believe that there has not been a single mistake made in the removal of the soldiers to the Cemetery by taking the body of a rebel for a Union soldier." Weaver was wrong -- a handful of such cases have been documented. Conversely, since clothing was sometimes exchanged and replaced on a dead Federal soldier, some Federals (likely those missing their coats) were no doubt mistaken for Confederates and reinterred in southern cemeteries after the war.