Historical Documentation for the Care of Uniforms and Equipment

[John "Red" Turner]

Gents,
What primary sources, in your opinions, best describe and accurately document the soldiers' care and maintenance for their personal gear, clothing, and equipment? Letters, diary entries, and historical accounts written after the war certainly lend creedence, but I was searching for a more all encompassing reference or manual used for the war.

Thanks for the guidance.

Respectfully,
John Turner

[Gallo de Cielo]

The few times I've seen this topic mentioned in letters, journals, and diaries, it's always been along the lines of "did some mending on a shirt" or "boiled clothes today." Almost always that was in the "slower" months of winter encampment. I would wager too that the boiling was often to combat lice as much as it was to clean the garments. Much more often were the appeals for more items from home, or perhaps a wish that the government might see fit to issue out something.

What comes up far more often is men writing that they are filthy, clothes were becoming worn and tattered, shoes were giving out, etc.

I'm not meaning to throw a log on the "Ragged Rebel" theory but there most definitely were times when the lads were in pitiful shape.

I've done a fair amount of work on the 9th TX Infantry, an AOT unit from pre-Shiloh to Spanish Fort and the worn/dirty/ragged notations arose very frequently on the Perryville Campaign, Atlanta Campaign, and Nashville Campaign. At Perryville many of the boys marched the shoes off their feet. On the retreat to Altanta, they grubbed in trenches for several months without cease and were uterly filthy. Nashville was a combination of dirt and distance, with both clothing wearing out and shoes failing. Here is a quote from a junior Lt on the retreat back from Nashville, December 1864- "One third of the men are now barefooted, and the other two thirds are not much better for all of our shoes are very much worn. But few have any other clothing than the suit they have on and we are now a ragged dirty Lousy set.” There are also multiple notes about clothing becoming torn or even shot-shorn at Shiloh and Murfreesboro. Using them as a microcosm of what many regiments experienced, I think that the example they provide is applicable to the bulk of line units on campaign.

The Carolinas Campaign is a solid example of Federal troops being in a worn/filthy condition.

On the Trans-Mississippi side there were units in a similarly pitiful state of affairs. Some of these quotes will appear on the Into the Piney Woods website but are useful here. “We have marched about 200 miles on bad fare and it takes a good patriot not to murmur under such circumstances,” wrote Captain Elijah Petty of the 17th Texas Infantry. Another man in the ranks wrote “Both legs of my pants are nearly torn off at the knee, and my drawers get the very mischief, though it is the best I can do.” “We have nothing to cook with but Pine Knots,” stated another Texan who testified “We have been in the pine woods a week and have not shifted our clothes and we are as black a set of white men as you ever saw.” (BGR veterans can testify that one can quickly get fairly sooty in such conditions). And those comments were penned before those men had seen combat- they were merely retreating in the face of the Union advance.

I would say clean was a rarity. Looking like you didn't wake up in a ditch after a run-in with wild hogs would be the goal, one which they often fell short of I would guess.

My thoughts on the topic.

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

"What primary sources, in your opinions, best describe and accurately document the soldiers' care and maintenance for their personal gear, clothing, and equipment? Letters, diary entries, and historical accounts written after the war certainly lend creedence, but I was searching for a more all encompassing reference or manual used for the war."

I am not sure of what you are asking, in that IMHO the answer to your question is in your question. Meaning...

Primary source documents such as letters, diaries, etc., best describe and document what was done by soliders in actual practice while the "manuals" detail what "regulation" called for or what the end result was "so ordered" to be- which did not always end up what was done in the field or on protracted campaign.

Curt

[Craig L Barry]

Curt
Do you suppose this inquiry is about such things as Leander Stillwell describing of how they had to keep their muskets "shiney as a silver dollar to pass inspection", and Sam Watkins descriptions of the same tedious cleaning and maintenance process in Company Aytch?

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

Not sure...

I am waiting to see if the question was direct, or whether it is a between-the-lines request for others' documentation to be posted confirming both extremes and the middle with and without regards to unit, time, place, and circumstances... ;) :)

Curt
Proud Member of the Jocularity Rifles

[Kevin O'Beirne]

It's not an end-all/be-all essay, but the CRRC2 has an entire chapter on how soldiers cared for and maintained the various items of their uniform and kit.

[John "Red" Turner]

Getns,
Thanks for the guidance and pointing me in the right direction.

Greatly appreciate the help.

John Turner