Under shirts

[C. Johnson]

Hello Everyone,

I have a question regarding cotton knit under shirts, I know that they were made in solid colors,(white, red, blue, etc.), but were there any made with any patterns such as a stripped under shirt?

Were these kind of under shirts common during the Civil War?
Thanks!

Best,
Cody Johnson

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Although I've only examined one knit cotton undershirt with 1800's provenance in a private collection, I have noted that the shirts contracted to the military were all machine knitted. I do not understand all of the intracacies of such machines, but I'm not sure it was practical to have stripes in it. From a government standpoint, they would cost more. Now for civilian undershirts, it could be possible, but I have yet to see any evidence. Knit cotton undershirts are one of the rarest of Civil War era items as most were used until they fell apart, so there are very few left for us to examine. Most of the reproductions currently being made are made from specifications, period photographs, and educated speculation.

[Shockoe Hill Cats]

Most of the reproductions currently being made are made from specifications, period photographs, and educated speculation.

Mr. Lamoreaux,

I have likewise been interested in finding one. Who are the vendors that make them these days?

Regards,

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Nick Sekala currently makes one in red knit cotton with a NY contractor stamp, and I have one from Pat Brown via the Jersey Skilletlicker, but the last I heard Mr Brown is on active duty and deployed and currently isn't making anything. Mr. Hoffman can correct me if needed. Those are the only two repros that I've seen of late.

[C. Johnson]

Morris Clothiers has the reproduction of the under shirt in the Gettysburg Museum, but it is made of canton flannel.

Best,
Cody Johnson

[Charles Heath]

Jason,

Take a moment to check out the handful of threads that also include the term "bottom shirt."

[westcoastcampaigner]

Morris Clothiers has the reproduction of the under shirt in the Gettysburg Museum, but it is made of canton flannel.

Best,
Cody Johnson

I heard a rumor that this shirt was a reproduction...only a rumor though. Who knows?

Josh Sawyer
Liberty Rifles
Hardtack Society

[NoahBriggs]

Corner Clothiers had some, for $45, if I remember correctly.

[3alabama]

Corner Clothiers had some, for $45, if I remember correctly.

Corner Clothiers is cotton not knit. They copied it from an original in there collection. A great item and one of the best purchases I have made in a while.

[myster]

I've got one from Corner Clothiers as well. I have yet to wear it in the field though. All in all, looks and feels pretty good. And yes, for $45, it is an investment I am willing to make as I am a "professional" students.
Sean Harla

[GreencoatCross]

Friends,

I have examined several original knit shirts with strong provenance to the American Civil War period, as well as others that slightly pre or post date the war. Each one I was fortunate enough to study were made of an all-wool knit varying in thickness and knit pattern, and the colors were mostly off-white with one being a mixed gray color and another being red (which had a matching pair of knit drawers).

The appearance of these shirts were strikingly similar except for the red knit undershirt. They had a smallish square body, tapered sleeves, off-center short placket made from white silk, sheeting, or silesia, collarless with a wide neck opening. None of the originals featured gussets, separate cuff, collar, shoulder straps, or pockets. Cuffs and seam/hem treatments were very interesting; the lower hem appeared to be turned up but somehow knitted directly to the body rather than sewn. The seams in some higher quality undershirts were done in the same manner - knit together rather than sewn. This negated the need for a seam allowance and made the inside of the garment smooth.

Cuffs, as mentioned before, were never added separately on the shirts. The majority had a ribbed cuff knit directly onto the end of the sleeve. I recall this method being referred to as "tipping" in the CRRC 1. A small handful of the originals had the edge of the sleeve turned back and knitted to it in the same manner as the lower hem, without a cuff vent, leaving the finished cuff a little loose.

Those features were seen on nearly all of the gray and off-white knit wool shirts I've studied. The red undershirt conformed to a style like that of the Capt. Chas. Gould undergarments in the Troiani collection, on display at Pamplin Park. The red knit material was used in conjunction with a woven white sheeting "plastron" or "bib" which buttoned all the way to the bottom of the shirt. One-piece sleeves were cut in the manner of a sack coat or jacket, with the sleevecap being slightly gathered into the armscye. At the end of the knit sleeves were narrow cuffs made from the same woven sheeting that the bib was made from, likewise a narrow neck binding. As mentioned before this shirt came with it's matching pair of drawers which featured knit legs gathered into a yoke style waistband of cotton sheeting, with sheeting cuffs at the ankle. The really neat thing about these were that the shirt had buttons sewn around the waist while the drawers had corresponding buttonholes sewn into the waistband; this is something I've never seen in period adult undergarments but I've owned several full suits of children's clothing that bear this same feature. The red undergarments were marked with a Parisian maker's mark.

Below I've included two images illustrating the basic appearance of the knit shirts described above. The Federal soldier is wearing the domestically produced undershirt with white cloth placket and knit cuffs. The French advertisement illustrates a style similar to that of the original red knit shirt (sans underarm vents).

I'll try to get some clearer images posted as the day goes.

[C. Johnson]

Thanks for the pics Brian.

Best,
Cody Johnson

[Ian McWherter]

Striped wool jerseys are commonly associated with seafaring men and numerous descriptions of these garments abound. This description of men attired for a boat race is from Charles Reade's 1863 novel Very Hard Cash.

"all dressed in neat but easy-fitting clothes, cut in the height of the fashion, or else in Jerseys, white or striped, and flannel trowsers, and straw-hats, or cloth caps of bright and various hues."

"Presently the competitor for this heat came down, the Cambridge boat, rowed by a fine crew in broad striped Jerseys."

On pg. 77 of Silver & Gold Cased Images of the California Gold Rush there is a Dag. of a Nisenan Indian wearing what appears to be a gray mix wool jersey with an off-set placket and on pg. 89 there is a Dag. of a group of Miners along the banks of a stream, most of them are wearing their jerseys (the majority of which have off-set plackets). There are a few other images of miners who have rolled up their shirt sleeves exposing their jerseys, but those two are the clearest images of pre-war civilian jerseys.

Also, if you go to the Victoria & Albert Museum's website and search through their collections (remember the English call undershirts vests) you'll find an excellent man's cotton knit undershirt which was featured at the great 1851 exposition in London, where machine knitted clothing caught a lot of attention. There is even a women's undershirt as well, which was specially knitted to accommodate a bust.

[GreencoatCross]

Ian's post reminded me of an image in a coffee table book entitled "The West", I think it was. There is a large section of the book dedicated to the gold rush era, featuring an incredible number of period images. In some of the individual portraits you can see white or gray knit undershirts peeking out from under work shirts and rolled up sleeves. There are also one or two group photos taken at mining camps that show striped knit undershirts, all of which have very wide stripe patterns.

One other original undershirt I never got to view in person but had photos of once was made from a dark brown and off-white checked pattern knit. I'm not sure of this shirt's provenance but the construction features were identical to the civilian style of knit shirt (off-center placket, knit cuffs, no collar, etc.) seen during the Civil War period.

Below are more photos of knit shirts in use by workmen at the Sligo Iron Works of Pittsburgh. You can see that these shirts share similar features common to the popular civilian style of the time. Adam Hart is not wearing a knit shirt but I had to include his picture; not only is it hilarious but it's just a great depiction of a norther factory working in the 1860's.

[GreencoatCross]

Here's a link to the knit undergarments housed in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

http://images.vam.ac.uk/indexplus/result.html?_IXSESSION_=e1YMLcUuJ_5&submit-button=SUMMARY&_IXIMAGE_=2006AM6186-1&_IXSS_=_IXFIRST_%253d1%2526_IXINITSR_%253dy%2526%2 52524%25253dIXID%253d%2526_IXACTION_%253dquery%252 6%252524%25253dIXOBJECT%253d%2526_IXMAXHITS_%253d1 5%2526%25252asform%253dvanda%2526%252524%25253dIXN AME%253d%2526_IXSESSION_%253de1YMLcUuJ_5%2526%2525 24%25253dIXPLACE%253d%2526_IXadv_%253d0%2526search %253dsearch%2526%252524%25253dIXMATERIAL%253d%2526 %252524%25253ds%253dshirt%2526%252524%25253dop%253 dAND%2526_IXFPFX_%253dtemplates%25252ft%2526%25252 4%25253dsi%253dtext%2526%252524%25253dIXFROM%253d% 2526%252524%25253dIXTO%253d&_IXSR_=34gzG2SK8fR&_IXFIRST_=2&_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXSPFX_=templates/t&_IXFPFX_=templates/t

Knit silk is another material used for these styles of garment. Capt. Gould's (4th Vermont Infantry) matching undershirt are of knit silk, both marked with Paris maker's marks. Gould also had another undershirt of the "plastron" style made from an interesting woven cotton. The cotton in that particular shirt appeared to have a cross-hatched plaid pattern but the "bars" of the plaid were tightly woven while the spaces in between were gauzy.

[Shockoe Hill Cats]

Soo.. this is all great stuff! Who's gonna start reproducing them for us?? :D Mr. Lamoreaux referred to the ************ Red Knit one, but there's clearly many more colours.

[GreencoatCross]

Jason,

I've developed three separate patterns of knit shirt, all of which are civilian in style, and incorperate the design features I noted in the originals I examined. The only stumbling block for a truly 100% accurate knit undershirt is the knit cuff but I may have found an individual who can help me with that. It's now just a matter of finding cuff yarns to match the knit material that's available.

Along the same vein, I think I have located what appears to be a Federal issue knit shirt in several images from the Library of Congress. These shirts are definitely knit as evidenced by the cuffs and cloth itself, except they are unlike any civilian style in general appearance. These shirts appear in off-white and a light gray color and feature a stepped or square fall-down collar, short centered placket, knit cuffs, square body and tapered sleeves. If you can picture a modern long-sleeved polo shirt made from knit wool and with black metal buttons, you can picture the Federal issue knit shirt.

[Shockoe Hill Cats]

Brian,

Wow, this sounds awesome! Please let us know if you're planning on producing a batch for the public.

Regards,

Jason.

[C. Johnson]

That sounds really interesting, keep me up on this.
Thanks!

Best,
Cody Johnson

[Charles Heath]

An undershirt is a handy garment to have at Winter 1864. Lacking that, wearing more than one shirt can be a way to ward off the cold.

[Coatsy]

Ian and Brian, great pictures! Thank you so very much for posting them and the research/information. Also thanks for keeping this thread on topic. I've seen a few orginal pictures of these bottom shirts and they look comfortable, but I've never thought about striping or prints.

[sgt sidd]

I have a question Sir's are we talking about a winter undershirt that is under the shirt that is he has on or is the shirt that he has on called the under shirt? The shirt that you see them have on that everyone sees. Thank you Robert S Lanier

[Canton Zouave]

There has been a lot of discussion over the years about the undershirt in the GNMP Collection. It is made of canton flannel with a one piece body, and one piece sleeve extensions. It is a hand sewn shirt, and as you will note it has a right over left placket, and the neck opening is merely bound with a separate piece of canton flannel. So what about the comments that have been made about it being a reproduction? About two or three forum crashes several years ago, John Stillwagon and I had a very good discussion about undershirts in general and the provenance of the GNMP Shirt. I had heard several times from sources in Gettysburg that the shirt was a fake. So I went to the source. In a chance meeting with Mike Vice, former curator at the GNMP, we spoke about the shirt and its authenticity. Mike vouched for it vintage, but did not have much else to say, aside from the fact that it had made a trip to Harpers Ferry for conservation and documentation. I followed up this chance meeting with the current curator, Dean Knudsen. We discussed the shirt to some degree and was provided the Museum Report for the shirt. This report led me to William Brown III. It turns out that the current incarnation of the visitor center was laid out by Bill in the early 1980's. Bill authenticated the shirt as being a period piece. With Bill's expertise in period garments, his personal validation of the shirt as being of period construction was very helpful. Even though the shirt may be from the mid-19th century, it does not have a known provenance or is it in anyway associated with the battle. Now here is the curve, the shirt was also acquired by Mr. Brown for the collection from an estate auction that was held in Gettysburg during the time period that he was working at the GNMP. Mr. Brown did not recall the family name from the estate sale, but surmised that the information may be had from period (1980's )news papers. Gleemed from the expertise of several well known historians and curators we can conclude that the shirt is from the 19th Century, that it came from the Gettysburg or Adams County Area, and that it isn’t associated with any known participant of the battle or to any other action in the Civil War. Perhaps, going back and reviewing estate auctions listed in the local papers at the time of the acquisition, we might find a family name, but no real way to connect the shirt to a specific individual.


Now, with that out of the way, I have attached some images of the shirt from the GNMP. In some cases, these may be rare pictures….since they were all taken with the garment outside of the case. For my next post, I will have some images of a second and third canton flannel bottom shirts that are in my own collection.

ENJOY the images, in some cases are large and in 6.0 megapixels. I have about 100 iamges of this shirt, and will share some of those as we go along.

[Canton Zouave]

To Continue,

I have attached some more images, of a canton flannel bottom shirt that is in my own collection. The shirt is made out of a 6-7 oz. canton flannel, and has several interesting features.

Some of the features of the shirt are:


Hand Sewn Construction with overcast not flat felled seams
Neck Gussets with no neck binding
Offset Placket
Right over Left Placket Type
Front is Hald Lined
Back is lined all the way down to the side vent
One Piece Body
One Piece Sleeve, made in two sections


I have two of these shirts and they both follow a basic pattern, but they are not identical. They both show extensive piecing of fabric sections to make what parts were needed for the shirt. A "TRUE" frugal use of the fabric, and not allowing a single piece to go to waste.

[Moonshine]

I have to say that as an owner of one of Mr. Morris' reproductions, it looks EXACTLY like the one in the GNMP exhibit. I was amazed for being canton flannel, it's much cooler than the knit one I have. I thought this would be the other way around. Wearing the "GNMP" shirt under a lined Federal blouse was VERY cool and accommodating. The knit version is warmer and fairs better under another shirt for added warmth.

Just my 2 cents.

[AZReenactor]

Todd,
Thank you so much for sharing these great photos. It is good to see the details close up. The shirt with the side placket is great as well.

I was just reading your and John's comments about this shirt in an old 2004 discussion (http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2885&) that popped up during a search for info on period drawers. Gotta love that search feature. ;-)

[Canton Zouave]

I wore my bottom shirt underneath a light weight period print shirt that I had up Rich Mountain with a Lined Blouse. I cna say, depending on the weight of the fabric I used, even under some "ODD" conditions I was very comfortable. It is always nice to test drive my goods. The biggest value I have found to any undershirt is how it makes my Issue Shirt so much more comforatble to wear. With the varying weights and quality of Canton Flannel, a very comfortable summer or winter weight garment can be made. Quality has always been a killer for me when searching for a material whose common use in the 21st Century is for buffing wheels, and work gloves.

[C. Johnson]

John,
Nice pictures, like Troy said it's always nice to see detailed and up close pictures.
Thanks!

Best,
Cody Johnson

[Peachfuz]

From A Private in Gray by Thomas B. Reed, Co. A 9th LA Inf.
"...while I was in the hospital I kept feeling something crawling on me, and one day I thought I would examine and see what it was. So I took off my under-shirt- it was a knit woolen undershirt- and to my great consternation I found five or six body-lice inside my shirt. You ask, "What did you do"? Well, right then I was near committing suicide, for I took that shirt and pitched it out the window, and it was all the woolen shirt I had, and I took cold, relapsed and lost my speach, and oh I how did suffer for that rash act."

Link to one of my all-time fav. photos: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/I?cwar:2:./temp/~ammem_cEuF::displayType=1:m856sd=cwpb:m856sf=0420 8:@@@

[C. Johnson]

Nice!
Thanks!

Best,
Cody Johnson