Overalls in the field?

[MuddyWaterMess]

I have just recived a pair of overalls i was gonna use for a few civilian events but i was curious how accurate if accurate at all would this be for early war. Any chance that these may have been carried and worn during the winter. Sent from home. Worn into battle early war. I dont know so i was just throwing it out there. I checked the search engine didnt find any awnsers. Thanks (now just to add i do not plan on doing so but i think it would be neat to know if there are any accounts of it being done)

BEN

[Todd Watts]

I don't know of any records of men wearing them, but I would assume they would at least be fine for a civy impression. Probably they'd be o.k. for early war use among Confederates. The design was aroudn in the 1700s and quite common by the time of the Civil War. I have seen some pictures of slaves and white boatmen and farmers wearing them from the era.
http://http://www.npr.org/programs/m...lls/index.html
Here's a link about them.

[BrettKIllinois]

retry that link it should be
http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/...lls/index.html

[MuddyWaterMess]

Thanks, for the info. I thought it would be neat to have during the winter months to wear over the clothes. I will do my reading and see what i can dig up appreciate it guys. Thanks

BEN

[BrettKIllinois]

From all I know is it's a lower class status thing, so if your portrayal is a soldier who is above that status I'd imagine he'd avoid wearing something like this. The people of the 1860s were very much into fashion, it's not like today where folks have huge wardrobes, back then clothes ment a lot because you didn't have a lot of outfits... well unless you were really really wealthy.

[BrettKIllinois]

Another thing to think about is this is "work clothes" not "town clothes" or "traveling clothes" the wear of a garment like this to town I doubt was as acceptable as it became in the 1900s
I'd stress finding documentation of it happening in the file prior to doing it. I'd be very interested if you could find this!

[DougCooper]

Other than the white canvas overalls issued to US Engineers, I can't recall any reference to overalls among soldiers. Since overalls don't cover the most cold sensitive areas of your body very well (sides of the chest and shoulders) I would not pick such a garment for the cold as the extra layer. Better to have the homefront send an overcoat, extra shirt or extra blanket.

[coastaltrash]

Ben,
The one thing to remember is that overalls went OVER ALL your clothing, so it was something to wear while working in a field or something more along the lines of physical labor.

That being said, I've seen reference to overalls being issued to CS troops, I believe it is in "Cadet Gray and Butternut Brown" among a few other sources, although those notes are buried under Chickamauga, Stone's River and 6th Mississippi regimental research.

[Minieball577]

Other than the white canvas overalls issued to US Engineers, I can't recall any reference to overalls among soldiers. Since overalls don't cover the most cold sensitive areas of your body very well (sides of the chest and shoulders) I would not pick such a garment for the cold as the extra layer. Better to have the homefront send an overcoat, extra shirt or extra blanket.

Doug, the engineer overall are something I have been thinking about lately, but have not had the time to research them much. Do you know of any source material that may give examples of original U.S. engineer overalls? I am probably missing something obvious.

Thanks.

[Todd Watts]

A form of "dress" overalls were used as regular soldier uniforms in the Rev-War. I am not sure whether or not any early war companies brought the attire into the Civil War, but there are references to Rev-War styles as companies evidently tried to mimic the "romance" of the Rev-War. That would be something neat to research to see if it was done.