Federal Impression, July 1863 Western Theater Documents

[D1861]

Greetings,
I was conducting research this week in Minnesota and found some documents which may be of use to those of you working on your mid-war 1863 Western Theater Federal impressions.
These excerpts come from the "Fix Letters, 1905" at the Minnesota Historical Society. Mr. Fix was conducting research on the activities of the 4th Minnesota Infantry during the surrender of Vicksburg and sent out a questionaire to the veterans in that command asking about their accoutrement on July 7, 1863. The excerpts are as follows:

M. L. Webb, Co. D, 4th Minnesota:
"We carried Springfield rifles and 40 rounds of cartridges, and woolen and a rubber blanket rolled up and tied at end, carried over right shoulder across under left arm' haversack and two days' rations. Our uniforms were fatigue caps, but many wore black hats."


Linus J. Lee of Co. A wrote:
"Fatique uniforms were worn on July 4th, 1863. Hats, not caps. They carried their canteens, haversacks and knapsacks. We carried the Whitney rifle."

Reuben A. Wheelre of Co. D, wrote:
"As I remember the blue was mostly worn, but there was a mixture of hats and caps. We carried woolen and rubber blankets in a roll. the rubber blanket outside was hung around and over the left shoulder. Springfield rivles as I remember now."

Marion Lyle of Co. K, wrote:
Pants and shirt were commonest; some few blouses."


Richard S. Reeves of Co. F, wrote:
"We wore slouched black hats and regular army blouses; had Springfield rifles with bayonets in scabbard. Had our belts, canteens and haversacks."


Thomas M. Young of Co. A, provideded the best information with this excerpt:
"As to uniform, all wore blouses, 5 button single front, with the buttons on the sleeves (I think as to the sleeves). We all wore hats. There was not a cap worn in the regiment except by the Quartermaster....and Hospital Steward. Our caps all disappeared after the battles of Iuka and Corinth, and there were not, more than twenty-five or thirty at that time, Sept. & Oct. 1862. No more were drawn so far as I know after the spring of 1862. We all wore the black campaign hat without ornament except the sky bule cord (tasseled). They were not worn turned up at the left sid as was at that time required by the regulations."


I hope this is helpful to some of you.

David L. Slay

[coffee boiler]

Re: Federal Impression, July 1863 Western Theater Documents

Thanks for the post David.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Federal Impression, July 1863 Western Theater Documents

Great post David! It just goes to show that if you have five witnesses to an event you will have 5 different takes on the event.

[theknapsack]

Re: Federal Impression, July 1863 Western Theater Documents

Thanks, David, for posting that. I wholeheartedly agree with Robert.

Thanks again,

[ScottCross]

Re: Federal Impression, July 1863 Western Theater Documents

I think this is an important example of how memory changes over time. Here you have numerous accounts, all from the same regiment, at the same time period, and none of them agree! One old veteran even has them wearing five-button blouses with cuff buttons! This has to be taken into consideration when doing research. Soldier accounts written at the time of the event or shortly thereafter are much more reliable than those recorded a few years, or in this case 40 years, after the event. We really have to be careful when using post war accounts as a basis for "what they did." I wrote my graduate thesis on this subject, so don't get me going!

[VMI88]

Re: Federal Impression, July 1863 Western Theater Documents

I think this is an important example of how memory changes over time. Here you have numerous accounts, all from the same regiment, at the same time period, and none of them agree! One old veteran even has them wearing five-button blouses with cuff buttons! This has to be taken into consideration when doing research. Soldier accounts written at the time of the event or shortly thereafter are much more reliable than those recorded a few years, or in this case 40 years, after the event. We really have to be careful when using post war accounts as a basis for "what they did." I wrote my graduate thesis on this subject, so don't get me going!

I've talked to World War II and even more recent veterans who have no earthly idea what uniforms they wore. The details just weren't as important to the original soldiers as they are to us! As long as it was warm, dry, comfortable, etc., that's about all that mattered to most of them. Too bad for us historians and collectors . . .

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Federal Impression, July 1863 Western Theater Documents

A great example of postwar memoirs vs wartime diaries, is the Johny Jackman (Diary) and Johny Green (Memoir) Orphan brigade books. Here you have two men that knew one another and did all the same things, but the recolections of Johny Green were obviously shaped by time.

[D1861]

Re: Federal Impression, July 1863 Western Theater Documents

I think this is an important example of how memory changes over time. ...... I wrote my graduate thesis on this subject, so don't get me going!

I agree, these particular responses are surprisingly accurate in other areas. (I only posted the excerpts and not the full responses in order to avoid any copyright problems.) I also found some diaries by soldiers in the same unit for July 4th and they agree with these guys as to the time of day and their position in Logan's column when they marched into Vicksburg as well as camping in another location afterward. These guys were also asked to supply a wartime photo of themselves along with their replies and I suspect they used the photos to jog their memories as to their kits that day.
I was in Minnesota and Wisconsin conducting research for my dissertation and found several other choice items I think you guys will be interested in once I get permission to post them on this site. I found several pencil sketches: a brigade headquarters tent (along with itemized furnishings), a drawing of a fortification, and a sketch of a Wisconsin soldier wearing a ragged slouch hat from July 1863 outside of Atlanta. I also found a letter by another Union soldier lamenting the loss or destruction of a homemade shirt by a loved one and how he replaced it with a "secesh" shirt.

Anon,

David L. Slay