Campaigners tips, tricks, and techniches

[tomarch]

When sleeping in REALLY cold weather, an hour or two before you turn in, put a good-sized rock near the fire (about the size of a loaf of bread). Heat it evenly untill you can just barely hold it in your bare hands. Put it at the foot of your bedroll so the soles of your feet rest against it, roll up and snooze away! I've have personally done this sleeping out in 17 F.with a blanket and ground cloth.P.S. wearing a sleeping cap to bed is must for this to work!

[KarinTimour]

This trip would also work with bricks or parts of bricks, since they've been put in a kiln to make them into bricks. Two important points to keep in mind about using rocks as footwarmers: a) heat it to just beyond comfortable heat for picking it up with your bare hands; b) know and be able to recognize igneous rocks and sedimentary rocks. I've been told that if you heat a sedimentary rock to too high a heat, it can explode -- I've never tried it, and it might be one of those things that was told to see if I'd believe it.

Karin Timour
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[bluebellybugleboy]

Paul;
in our area you'd be suprised .

Before you go to a reenactment,spend the night before sleeping eather outside, or on the floor, this may sound silly , but the first night out doors is the hardest to sleep in, you'll stay awake a while , so if your first night is at home, you'll sleep better in the field.

you can actually fit 4-5 people ina "A' frame tent. it will be kinda cramped but all the body heat will build up and you will be warm.

don't stand by the fire to long you'll heat your self up and on the way to the tent will get colder and colder, by the time you get to your tent you are freezing.

if you are using a shelter half with a pard, try laying side by side , but be beside his feet and him beside your feet, saves some room, also put a candle by your head and one by his head, you can both keep your feet warm and fall asleep with a small light, set this way for a couple of minutes and warm your self up then blow out the candles and go to sleep, this also works with a lantern , if you carry one.

hey paul; this idea came around as the brain child of a pard of mine on another forum only on a much different subject.

Rob young

[John E. Tobey]

Here's a list of "old soldier tricks" that were listed by "one of the originals". Unfortunately, the vet didn't explain the actual "how to". I've been trying to figure them all out for years:

“It was the private soldier who taught me not to step on the heels of my file closer.
He also taught me how to make a feather bed of two oak rails.
How to grind coffee in a tin cup with the shank of a bayonet.
How to boil roasting ears in the their own husks in the ashes.
How to drink boiling coffee without blistering my throat.
How to conceal my person behind a sapling not half so thick as my body.
How to fill my canteen from a warm pond and let the water cool in the sun on a hot day.
How to march eighteen or twenty miles over rough roads day after day without getting an ache in my feet.
How to make one day’s rations last three days without going hungry.
How to get a refreshing drink of water without swallowing a drop.
How to lift a nervous hen from the bosom of her family without any outcry from herself or relatives.
How to fool the sergeant on roll-call – once. That trick was like a limited ticket, good “for this day and this train only.”
How to “explain things” to the captain.
How to launder one’s linen, which was woven of the coarsest flannel, in cold water.
How to make one’s self clean when it was muddy, and how to look fresh when it was dusty.
How to divide the last pint of water in your canteen so as to get a drink and a sponge bath and have enough left for coffee.
How to make two month’s pay – twenty six dollars – last till next pay-day, two or three months away, after you had sent half of it home and spent half the remainder.
How to keep awake on picket all night when your dry eyes ached and burned for sleep.
How to sleep like a tired working man under the guns of a battery shelling the enemy’s lines.
How to light a fire in the woods with wet twigs in a pelting rain and a fretful wind with your last match.”
[Burdette, "Drums of the 47th" ppg. 113-114]

John Tobey

[Johan Steele]

Just as a note about staying warm at night, put at least 2/3's of your blankets underneath you. The ground will rob you of as much heat as the night cold. My gum blanket over the top of everything keeps the dew off of me, there is little worse than waking up damp all over.

I'm still waiting for my wife to finish knitting my sleeping cap...

[styler]

Don't talk too much, especially about modern nonsense.
(Been there, done that, felt bad after.)

[Robert Braun]

After a quarter century in this so-called hobby, I can attest to the following:

1. When at the halt, never pass on a chance to refill your canteen or empty your bladder;
2. Clean your musket before dusk. During the night, lay it on one of the long edges of your gum and fold a portion of the gum over the musket. This will keep the "dews and damps" away... mostly;
3. March with a full canteen and full cartridge box. You can always scrounge for food...
4. Sleep with twice as many layers under you as over you;
5. Tents don't keep you warm. Fire keeps you warm;
6. Pool your grub and cook in "messes" of two, three or four;
7. Bring extra socks and change often. "As your feet go, so go you."
8. Even when wet and cold, you'll be more comfortable with a wool cap and dry wool socks at night;
9. Shelter tents will not protect you in a driving rain, but a gum thrown over the buttoned junction helps;
10. God gave you two ears and one mouth. Shut up and listen more;
11. First impressions can be poisonous. Get to know folks before jumping to conclusions;
12. Cook only on campfire coals. Never in the flame.
13. Coffee need not be boiled. Heat to the point of boiling, remove from the coals, and set aside for a few minutes. If you can't wait for the grounds to settle, dribble in a little cool water from your canteen.
14. Cook your rations carefully. Only stone idols appreciate burnt offerings;
15. If you are wide awake at 2 A.M., remember most of your chums are not. Keep your voice down.
16. Drying your clothing and shoes next to a fire can be tricky. Remember the rule of thumb: "if it's too hot for your hands, it's too hot for your shoes";
17. Warm wet shoes are better than cold wet shoes.
18. Your cartidge box and spare shirt inside your double-bag, with your hand towel spread on top, makes an adequate pillow;
19. A tin can makes an adequate coffe boiler. "Less" really is "more";
20. Some plantation cotton, stuffed into your ears before firing you musket, goes a long way to preserve your hearing.

There's more, but this will do for now...

Bob.

[Moonshine]

• Never carry moonshine in an other than hot-dipped canteen!
• Never drink moonshine on an empty stomach!
• Never mistake moonshine for water and take a big gulp when thirsty.
• Never smoke after drinking moonshine!!!


• Try not to wear your clothes to the event, rather, put them on when you get there, otherwise people will comment that "I thought the Amish drove wagins and horses, not cars" (if you have to stop).

Jim Ross

[MuddyTrowsers]

On a chilly or down-right cold night, three fellows sleeping together means three blankets, three gum blankets, possibly three overcoats, and three warm bodies. Away from a fire, it's the best way to stay nice and warm...well, as warm as possible anyway.

Also, I have learned that if I carry a blanket roll and it rains, I would rather protect my blanket with my gum blanket and let myself get wet. The clothes I wear will dry faster than a soaking blanket.

[Jonah Barleycorn]

Okay fellers, I'll bite. Always carry some tinder in a tin container in your knapsack. Bird's nests do well for this. If the weather is wet, when trying to get that fire going, snap small branches off of tree limbs, they tend to drip dry while still suspended in the air, while their fallen comrades on the ground tend to be saturated even after a slight rain. It makes the chore much easier and you'll expend less curses than otherwise.(This I learned from Frank Aufmuth--I'm thouroughly convinced he could make mud burn.)

Want to make a fast cup of coffee at the Halt? With your mates, build a SMALL fire just big enough to put your boiler in. Use only small twigs and kindling. The smaller the better, as these burn faster, bring the temperature of the contents of your dipper up quicker. Note, you will need more fuel since the smaller twigs burn up faster, but since you are at the Halt, time is of the essesnce. In 5-10 minutes you should have a hot enough brew to pass around with your mates.

Okay, who's next?

Bully,
Mike Palada