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55th Massachusetts Shelter Half Found

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  • 55th Massachusetts Shelter Half Found



    Discovery in the attic

    UD professor finds Civil War relic in Massachusetts

    8:19 a.m., July 6, 2011--Ritchie Garrison was helping to clean out his late uncle’s attic in Massachusetts when he came upon an intriguing department store bag.

    “When I saw what was inside, I almost fell over,” the University of Delaware history professor says. It was his great-grandfather George T. Garrison’s folded-up shelter tent from the Civil War, or more correctly, half of a shelter tent.

    “Each man carried a half, and when you buttoned the two halves together and suspended it over a sapling or a rope, you had a two-man tent,” explains Garrison, director of the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture at UD. “They looked a little like pup tents and were an idea borrowed from the French military.”

    Only about 30 shelter tents are known to exist from the Civil War, according to Garrison, and this one is even more rare because of its regiment of origin.

    George T. Garrison served as a lieutenant and acting quartermaster in the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. With the exception of the officers, it was one of the first units of the U.S. Army to be made up entirely of African American men. The regiment was stationed on Folly Island near Charleston, S.C., in 1863 until the war’s end. The island was a major staging ground for Union troops operating in the vicinity of Charleston.

    The creamy white tent is made of cotton canvas and stamped “Company I, 55th” to identify the regiment and “H. S. McComb, Wilmington” for its maker and place of manufacture. Primarily machine sewn, the tent has hand-stitched buttonholes and buttons made of bone.

    McComb, of Wilmington, Del., was the largest contractor for shelter tents in 1863, with contracts for 219,000 out of 585,700 tents made that year.

    “Since this was the year my great-grandfather mustered into the service, it seems likely that his tent was issued in 1863, but McComb also had a contract in 1864 for 50,000 tents, so it could have been made and issued then,” Garrison says.

    The prices for shelter tents rose during the war due to inflation and materials shortages. The tents in 1863 cost between $3.25 and $4.10 each, the price seemingly shaped by the cost of the cotton cloth used in their manufacture, Garrison notes. In 1864, McComb charged the government $5.48 for each tent.

    Garrison has read about the tent’s use during maneuvers on Folly Island in his great-grandfather’s detailed diaries. He is working on transcribing those diaries for a future book, along with the diaries of his other great-grandfather, John Ritchie, who was quartermaster of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the black regiment memorialized in the movie Glory.

    “The two visited each other and sometimes served together in the war,” Garrison says, noting that John Ritchie was based on Morris Island and George Garrison on Folly Island with only an inlet separating them.

    “These islands were loaded with mosquitoes and bad water. Imagine what it would be like living on a beach in a tent like this through the winter or in hurricane season. These tents were like sails.”

    When he touches the tent, Garrison says he feels the strong pulse of family, from his great-great-grandfather abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, who sought an end to slavery through non-violent means, and the son George who chaffed at such nonviolent beliefs and jumped at the chance to serve in one of the first black regiments of the Civil War.

    “We’re the custodians of the nation’s history with items like these,” Garrison says.

    Ironically, Garrison had just sent an article about Civil War tents off for publication when he made the attic discovery.

    Article by Tracey Bryant

    Photo by Evan Krape

    Video by Andrea Boyle


    Click on the following link to watch the video:

    Adam Dintenfass

  • #2
    Re: 55th Massachusetts Shelter Half Found

    Fantastic find, hopefully it gets preserved properly.
    Tyler Underwood
    Moderator
    Pawleys Island #409 AFM
    Governor Guards, WIG

    Click here for the AC rules.

    The search function located in the upper right corner of the screen is your friend.

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    • #3
      Re: 55th Massachusetts Shelter Half Found

      Seems like an interesting guy: http://www.udel.edu/History/bio/garrison_ritchie.html
      Wonder if he'll be able to add a chapter on this shelter half to his proposed article on tentage. Wonder if he would share his research and photos with Fred G. for his next edition?
      Just thinking out loud. Thanks for sharing the article, Friend Adam.
      Paul Hadley
      Paul Hadley

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      • #4
        Re: 55th Massachusetts Shelter Half Found

        I get jealous when I read these kinds of things.
        Kenny Pavia
        24th Missouri Infantry

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        • #5
          Man Finds Original Shelter Half in Attic

          I thought this was a really interesting story - a man cleaning out his uncle's attic finds an original shelter half ID'D to his relative who served in the 55th Massachusetts:

          J. Thomas Giambrone, Esq.

          Have History Books, Will Travel.

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          • #6
            Re: Man Finds Original Shelter Half in Attic

            Thanks for sharing that, very interesting story.
            Jim Kindred

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            • #7
              Re: 55th Massachusetts Shelter Half Found

              Make sure you watch the video on the linked website. It has some great photos of the shelter half.
              Tristan Galloway

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              • #8
                Re: Man Finds Original Shelter Half in Attic

                Oh that's awesome! It appears to be consistent with extant shelter halves made by H. S. McComb; two pieces vertically seamed in the center and bone buttons. I would love to take a closer look at it.
                Brian White
                [URL="http://wwandcompany.com"]Wambaugh, White, & Co.[/URL]
                [URL="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wambaugh-White-Company/114587141930517"]https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wambaugh-White-Company/114587141930517[/URL]
                [email]brian@wwandcompany.com[/email]

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                • #9
                  Re: 55th Massachusetts Shelter Half Found

                  Guys, we had two threads started in separate folders on this subject, the two have been combined.
                  Jim Kindred

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                  • #10
                    Re: 55th Massachusetts Shelter Half Found

                    Seeing as though I live in Delaware and am probably ten minutes from where this gentleman lives and the fact that I own an original forage cap worn by William H. Saunders of the 55th Mass. I decided to reach out to Mr. Garrison, which I did last night. Mentioned my cap and congratulated him on his find. Hopefully I will get a reply shortly. If I do I will ask him if it is possible for me to examine the shelter half up close and personal. If I can I will also take some pictures. If it works out I will post them here.
                    [COLOR=Blue][SIZE=2][FONT=Book Antiqua]Ken Raia[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

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                    • #11
                      Re: 55th Massachusetts Shelter Half Found

                      Another 55th Mass item. Shaving mirror owned by Steven Ward. I believe he was killed at Honey Hill, SC. Wonder how many other 55th Mass items are around?
                      Attached Files
                      Jim Mayo
                      Portsmouth Rifles, Company G, 9th Va. Inf.

                      CW Show and Tell Site
                      http://www.angelfire.com/ma4/j_mayo/index.html

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                      • #12
                        Re: 55th Massachusetts Shelter Half Found

                        Interesting, although I have my doubts that, as an officer and acting QM, he was actually living in a tent made up of 2 shelter halves....
                        Tom "Mingo" Machingo
                        Independent Rifles, Weevil's Mess

                        Vixi Et Didici

                        "I think and highly hope that this war will end this year, and Oh then what a happy time we will have. No need of writing then but we can talk and talk again, and my boy can talk to me and I will never tire of listening to him and he will want to go with me everywhere I go, and I will be certain to let him go if there is any possible chance."
                        Marion Hill Fitzpatrick
                        Company K, 45th Georgia Infantry
                        KIA Petersburg, Virginia

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: 55th Massachusetts Shelter Half Found

                          Originally posted by Jimmayo View Post
                          Another 55th Mass item. Shaving mirror owned by Steven Ward. I believe he was killed at Honey Hill, SC. Wonder how many other 55th Mass items are around?
                          Jim,

                          The shaving mirror is a neat item. Here is an image of my forage cap.

                          [COLOR=Blue][SIZE=2][FONT=Book Antiqua]Ken Raia[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: 55th Massachusetts Shelter Half Found

                            That is a beautiful piece of headgear, Ken!

                            In one of this years issues of the Journal of the Company of Military Historians there's an article about four late war shelter halves that were discovered in New England a few years ago. I think a pair, or all of them, are attributed to an officer in a USCT regiment.
                            Brian White
                            [URL="http://wwandcompany.com"]Wambaugh, White, & Co.[/URL]
                            [URL="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wambaugh-White-Company/114587141930517"]https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wambaugh-White-Company/114587141930517[/URL]
                            [email]brian@wwandcompany.com[/email]

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                            • #15
                              Re: 55th Massachusetts Shelter Half Found

                              Brian,

                              Thanks, I don't know of too many examples of headgear that can be ID'd to any of the black regiments. I only know of two forage caps. Mine and one other that I saw a while back. I'd be interested in seeing any surviving artifacts that can be traced to any of the black regiments. I think it's neat that we have three items on this forum that can be traced to the 55th. That's an achievement in itself.
                              [COLOR=Blue][SIZE=2][FONT=Book Antiqua]Ken Raia[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

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