union tents in 1861

[smithjub]

Greetings,

What type of tent would be appropriate for campaigning in 1861, prior to the issuing of shelter tents, for a Union impression? What would a Union camp in the Summer of 1861 have been predominantly made up of?

[BarryDusel]

Re: union tents in 1861

Jared, In 1861. As to shelter for the troops. The "A" tent would be predominate. Sibley tents were also in use. In either case. Those 2 tents are not readily portable. The army would definitely need a baggage train for transport. I do believe that when faced with the prospect of a campaign one would have found many soldiers sleeping in the open under a blanket of stars.

[billwatson]

Re: union tents in 1861

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 17
HDQRS. DEP'T N. E. VIRGINIA,
Arlington, July 16, 1861.
The troops will march to the front this afternoon in the following order:
1. The brigades of the First Division (Tyler's) will leave their camps in light marching order, and go as far as Vienna, the Fourth Brigade (Richardson's) taking the road across the Chain Bridge, and by way of Langley's, Lewinsville, and Old Court-House; the others by the Georgetown turnpike and Leesburg Stone roads. The order of march of the several brigades to be arranged by the division commander.
2. The Second Divisio

etc. snipped

The three following things will not be pardonable in any commander: 1st. To come upon a battery or breastwork without a knowledge of its position. 2d. To be surprised. 3d. To fall back. Advance guards, with vedettes well in front and flankers and vigilance, will guard against the first and second.

Troops will march without their tents, and wagons will only be taken with them for ammunition, the medical department, and for intrenching tools. A small baggage train for each brigade, to take the camp-kettles, mess-pans, and mess kits, and the smallest allowance of personal baggage of the officers and men, will follow the divisions the day after they march. This train will consist of from twelve to fifteen wagons.
A subsistence train will follow at a day's interval the First Division from Fort Corcoran and Vienna. A second subsistence train will follow the Second Division at a day's interval. A wagon for forage will be taken with each battery and squadron. A herd of beef cattle will be sent with each subsistence train. There is on many of our regiments nothing to distinguish them from those of the enemy, and great care must be taken to avoid firing into each other.
The national color must be kept continually displayed, and, if possible, small national colors should be placed on the cannon of the batteries.
Division commanders will see that the axmen and engineers at the head of the columns (and men of the ordnance guard) are well provided and in condition to work efficiently. When there are no ax-slings, the axes will be carried and the muskets will be slung.
Department headquarters will be with the Second Division, on the Little River turnpike. Division commanders will communicate with them by every opportunity.
By command of Brigadier-General McDowell:
JAMES B. FRY,
A. A. G.
-----
Those are the actual marching orders for what became the Bull Run campaign. The men had no tents . They were not in one place long enough for all the banned baggage to ever be sent forward. No order sending it forward was ever issued.
If you read all the correspondence that went through McDowell in May and June, and see how much of it is preoccupation with getting baggage straightened out and moved around, it becomes a little clearer why he just said "to hell with tents" for his actual active campaign. Besides,it was July -- high summer. Sleeping out was not a hardship, and presumably the men were expected to make do with oil cloth and rubber blankets if it rained.

Other theatres of war may have had different experiences, but remember 1st Manassas was the big campaign in 1861.

This gets a little trickier figuring out just what to do in the spring of 1862, because who knows for sure when various regiments were issued shelter halves?

For their base camps, garrison camps, whatever you want to call it -- not-on-campaign, staying-here-for-awhile camps, they had both wedge tents and Sibleys, four and five to a wedge tent and many more than that in Sibleys. You can see both in photographs and sketches from the summer of 1861.

Hope that helps a bit.

[RyanBWeddle]

Re: union tents in 1861

What type of tent would be appropriate for campaigning in 1861, prior to the issuing of shelter tents, for a Union impression? What would a Union camp in the Summer of 1861 have been predominantly made up of?

Similar orders were issued by General Porter in Gen. Order 93 at Martinsburg in July of 1861 limiting the amount of tentage used on campaign per company
to: "four common and one wall tent". See attachment.

from: OR Series 1 - Volume 51 (Part I) p. 415 courtesy U.Cornell MoA

You ask two questions....

What would be appropriate for campaining in 1861?
The answer from orders is obviously a sparse amount of tents per company, to limit baggage, increase mobility, etc. etc.

What would a union camp in the summer of 1861 been made up of ?
Of course by viewing photos you can see that wall tents, common tents and sibley tents were all in use in the period in large fixed camps.

But if you're talking about a "campaign" then you'd limit tentage in general and follow the orders referenced here and above as a guide. Or go with none at all...

Again, the period term "common tent" is more correct than what is modernly referred to as a "wedge" or "A" tent ...

Fred Gaede's monograph does cover the tentage situation for the military in prewar/1861 time period and the evolution of earlier d'abri and shelter tent purchases. Many reg'ts early also were carrying state and local issue items, which are harder to identify. However, Gaede's monograph is the place to start your research. Here's how to obtain a copy:

The Federal Civil War Shelter Tent, by Frederick C. Gaede.
$19.95 plus $2.00 shipping to:
O'Donnell Publications
7217 Popkins Farm Road
Alexandria, VA 22306

Good luck!

[Darrell Cochran]

Re: union tents in 1861

This gets a little trickier figuring out just what to do in the spring of 1862, because who knows for sure when various regiments were issued shelter halves?

According to Augustus C. Meyers, 2nd Infantry, in his book Ten Years in the Ranks U.S. Army the Regular Division at least began to receive shelter tents in the spring of 1862 just before leaving Washington for the Peninsula.

The earliest references to them I was able to find in my CD version of the O.R. is in June 1862.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: union tents in 1861

To my knowledge the first issue of shelter halves in the west, came on Christmas eve 1862 just before Stones River.

[Clark Badgett]

Re: union tents in 1861

Having just read through that part of the history of the 6th KY Inf US, that covered the move into Nashville, the Shiloh and Kentucky Campaigns, there seemed to be a total lack of ANY tentage while on the move. Those poor soldiers found what they could to cover up with, which was very little according to the primary sources cited.

[MoFed]

Re: union tents in 1861

In June of 1861, each company of Sigel's 3rd Mo. Vol. Inf. "possessed one half dozen Sibley tents..." Otto C. Lademann, "The Battle of Carthage, MO., Friday July 5, 1861" WI Commandery of MOLLUS read March 7, 1907 [see http://suvcw.org/mollus/war/Wiv4p131.htm]

Following the Battle of Carthage, General W.Y. Slack, Missouri State Guard, reported capturing "2 baggage wagons loaded with tents and other quartermaster stores." O.R. Series I, Vol. 3, p. 33 (GPO 1881, reprinted by Historical Times, Inc. 1985)

Eugene Ware makes numerous references to tents in his "The Lyon Campaign and History of the 1st Iowa Infantry, 1861." He does not specify the type of tent, but says "our tents were light, perhaps six-ounce duck. We were drenched through. The tents could not keep out the water. They were such as had been hastily made from material such as the Government could get, in St. Louis, and were entirely unsuited to a campaign. The secesh had got all of the heavy duck." Eugene Ware, "The Lyon Campaign and History of the 1st Iowa Infantry, 1861" p. 142 (Camp Pope Bookshop, 19910. I suspect that these were common tents. If they did come from St. Louis, this would make sense because Quartermaster McKinstry was contracting for them in April and May of 1861 (however, McKinstry also claimed to have only purchased 32 common tents by June 30, 1861). At any rate, Ware says that on July 5th, 1861, "we tumbled out all of our damp, heavy, mouldy tents except the six best ones. Among the ones reserved was the tent of "Chicken Mess, No. 1." We dumped the balance of the tents, and never saw them afterwards. After that day I never slept in a tent duringthe whole campaign." Ware, pp. 165-166.

Charles D. Hoskins