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Re: White Gloves
Do you think all troops carried overcoats in July? Of course not. Overcoats were turned in in the Spring, and obtained again in the fall. Frock coats, dress hats, scales (and probably gloves) were turned in when on the move.
I'm not sure that I fully agree with the above statement. For example, I believe it was not standard practice in the Union army to collect overcoats in the spring for autumn re-issue until 1863 or even 1864. Of course, the tendency prior to this was for soldiers to throw away their overcoat and other excess gear on one of the first marches of the spring campaign, so the net result was that he was rarely carying an ovecoat in July. Also, there are few regiments of which I've heard that were assigned to an active field army where the typical soldier had various jackets at any given time. Of course, folks can certainly provide examples of this happening, but was it typical, or was it pretty much only in "spit-and-polish" regiments?
Do you think all troops carried overcoats in July? Of course not. Overcoats were turned in in the Spring, and obtained again in the fall. Frock coats, dress hats, scales (and probably gloves) were turned in when on the move.
I'm not sure that I fully agree with the above statement. For example, I believe it was not standard practice in the Union army to collect overcoats in the spring for autumn re-issue until 1863 or even 1864. Of course, the tendency prior to this was for soldiers to throw away their overcoat and other excess gear on one of the first marches of the spring campaign, so the net result was that he was rarely carying an ovecoat in July. Also, there are few regiments of which I've heard that were assigned to an active field army where the typical soldier had various jackets at any given time. Of course, folks can certainly provide examples of this happening, but was it typical, or was it pretty much only in "spit-and-polish" regiments?
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