Somethings to Consider for putting your Chickamauga impression together

[LWhite64]

"The uniforms of the Eastern troops, made quite a contrast with the tattered and worn jeans of their Western brethren." Augustus Dickert, 3rd SC.

"It was easy to distinguish them from the soldiers of Bragg's army by their clothing. Most of them wore the regular Confederate uniform, while the dress of the western men was a 'go-as-you-please' matter, with every imaginable variety of garments and head covering. Scarcely any two of the latter were clothed alike." Wilbur Hinman, 65th OVI.

"The contrast between them and General Bragg's motley ragged troops, was striking in the extreme. If this command was a speciman of Lee's troops, they are certainly superior to the Army of Tennessee in dress!" William Brown, Stanford's Mississippi Battery.

"They wore light blue pants, gray jackets, and regular soldier caps. We, on the other hand, the Western troops had no uniform at all, but wore clothes of all kinds and hues." Captain Frank Ryan, 1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles.

"The men of Longstreet's Corps are a fine looking lot, dressed in good suits of gray, and much better clothed than Bragg's men, who have only butternut colored jeans." Sgt. Major John Branum, 98th Ohio

------------------------------------

"Our cavalry...come in bringing in about 72 'Rebs' who look like a set of 'raggymuffins'. Nearly all have light colors and dirty in extreme. Some with hats of all colors and shapes, some with caps, some with none at all, some with no shoes. " Merritt Simonds, 42nd Ill. May 1863.

"He was costumed much after the style of the Southern Volunteer--slouched hat with red cord and tassel, shirt of domestic open at the neck, and a worsted 'comfort' answering the double purpose of cravat and vest, dark coat of jeans, and light trousers completed the costume..." Chattanooga Daily Rebel, April 17, 1863, describing a soldier of the 3rd Tenn, same Brigade as 7th Texas.

[Daryl Black]

Re: Somethings to Consider for putting your Chickamauga impression together

Lee and all,

I believe Fremantle's description of the ATN near Shelbyville nicely sums up these threads -- if I recall correctly he noted that in many/some cases men who were issued clothing laid it aside and opted for home-made garb. Doesn't Arliskas use a quote from the 33rd AL describing the variety of regulation and non-regulation clothes in the regiment during the pre-Chickamauga period?

Of course we also need to be thinking about the supply systems within which the various troops on the field operated. The troops serving in Mississippi prior to September were drawing clothes through a system entirely different than that of the ATN-- this includes Gregg's Brigade of Johnson's Provisional Division. Another brigade-mate of the 7th Texas, the 41st TN was experiencing a pinch in clothing late summer 1863. Pretty low morale among those boys in part due to supply problems.

Daryl Black

[H. L. Hanger]

Re: Somethings to Consider for putting your Chickamauga impression together

Speaking of the 7th South Carolina specifically, and South Carolina troops in general at Chickamauga, here is a quote from a member of the Texas Brigade:

"After the battle of Chickamauga, while on picket duty along the Chattanooga Creek, “…a truce along the picket lines in front of the Texans was arranged; that is, there was to be no more shooting at each other’s pickets – the little killing and wounding done by the practice never compensated for the powder and shot expended, and the discomfort of being always on the alert, night and day.
"But the South Carolinians, whose picket line began at our left, their first rifle-pit being within fifty feet of the last one of the First Texas, could make no terms whatever. The Federals charge them with being the instigators and beginners of the war, and, as I am informed, always exclude them from the benefit of truces between the pickets. It is certainly an odd spectacle to see the Carolinians hiding in their rifle-pits and not daring to show their heads, while, not fifty feet away, the Texans sit on the ground playing poker, in plain view and within a hundred yards of the Yankees. Worse than all, the palmetto fellows are not even permitted to visit us in daylight except in disguise – their new uniforms of gray always betraying them wherever they go. One of them who is not only very fond of, but successful at, the game of poker, concluded the other day to risk being shot for the chance of winning the money of the First Texas, and, divesting himself of his coat, slipped over to the Texas pit an hour before daylight, and by sunrise was giving his whole mind to the noble pastime.
"An hour later, a keen-sighted Yankee sang out, “Say, you Texas Johnnies! Ain’t that fellow playing cards with his back to a sapling, one of them d------d South Carolina secessionists? Seems to me his breeches are newer’n they ought to be.” This direct appeal for information placed the Texans between the horns of a dilemma; hospitality demanded the protection of their guest – prudence, the observance of good faith toward the Yankees. The delay in answering obviated the necessity for it by confirming the inquirer’s suspicions, and, exclaiming, “D---n him, I just know it is!” he raised his gun quickly to his shoulder and fired. The South Carolinian was too active, though; he sprang ten feet and disappeared into a gulch that protected him from further assault."

From Joseph B. Polley, A Soldier’s Letter to Charming Nellie, p. 146-147

J

[JStiles]

Re: Somethings to Consider for putting your Chickamauga impression together

Yeah, those Texas guys did not think too highly of Micah Jenkins either. I say that becasue I just know Neill Rose is a big Micah Jenkins man....Jerry Stiles

[H. L. Hanger]

Re: Somethings to Consider for putting your Chickamauga impression together

Referencing General Jenkins, on p. 142-144:

"I was lucking enough to be on picket duty a few nights ago with my friends, Will Burges and John West. of Companies D and E of the Fourth (Texas), each of whom is ot only a good soldier, but a most entertaining companion. As the night advanced, it becme cold enought to make a fire very acceptable, and, appropriating a whole one to ourselves, we had wandered from a discussion of the war and of this particular campaign that was little flattering to General Bragg, into pleasant reminiscences of our homes and loved ones, when someone on horsback said, "Good evening, gentlemen." Looking hastily up, we discovered that the intruder was General Jenkins, alone and unattended by either aide or orderly, and were about to rise and salute in approved military style, when, with a smile plainly perceptible in the bright moonlight, he said, "No, don't trouble yourselves," and, letting the reins drop on his horse's neck, threw one leg around the pommel of his saddle and entered into conversation with us.
"Had you been listening for the next half hour or so, Charming Nellie, you would never have been able to guess which of us was the General, for, ignoring his rank as completely as we careless Texans forgot it, he became at once as private a soldier as either of us, and talked and laughed as merrily and unconcernedly as it were not war times. I offered him the use of my pipe and smoking tobacco, Burges was equally generous with the plug he kept for chewing, and West was even polite enough to regret that the whisky he was in the habit of carrying as a preventative against snake bites was just out; in short we were beginning to believe General Jenkins of South Carolina the only real general in the Confederative serice, when, to our surprise and dismay, he straightened himself up on his saddle, and climbing from 'gay to grave, from lively to severe,' announced that at midnight the picket line would be expected to advance, and drive the Yankees to the other side of the creek. We might easily have forgiven him for being the bearer of this discomforting intelligence had that been the sum total of his offending; but it was not; he rode away without expressing the least pleasure at having made our acquaintance, or even offering to shake hands with us - the necessary and inevitable consequence of such discourtesy being that he descended at once in our estimation to level of any other general. But midnight was too near at hand to waste time in nursing indignation. Instant action was imperative, and, resolving ourselves into a council of war with plenary powers, it was unanimously decided by the three privates there assembled that our recent guest was an upstart wholly undeserving of confidence; that the contemplated movement was not only foolish and impracticable, but bound to be dangerous; and that, if a single shot was fired at us by the enemy, we three would just lie down and let General Jenkins of South Carolina do his own advancing and driving."

J