question for the CS troops using flies

[High-Private]

Hi,

I am still in the research phase of making a CS tent fly. I have a few questions for those that use them on a regular bases:
1. What size have you found works for you?
2. How many pards can use that fly?
3. What material do you use? Do you use the same drilling that is used for the Federal shelter halves?



Thank you,

Kevin Coyle, Private
4th Texas Company B

[Silas]

Re: question for the CS troops using flies

You should try to make one as they were made rather than inquiring what others use. Few make their own flys. Most purchase them and are at the mercy of what is produced by sutlers. Here's a link which should answer many of your questions : http://www.lazyjacks.org.uk/tenting2.htm

Regarding grommets, they need to be hand done. I've been reinforcing mine with a method I saw at the Royal British Maritime Museum in Portsmouth. (They have some great displays about sails. I left nose prints on many a display case trying to get closer looks.) I cut some bailing wire and bend it to the size grommet I want. You need some overlap in the wire to make an effective grommet. I lay it on the top side of the fabric, then stitch the grommet with cord until the metal is pretty much gone from sight.

The Brits used rings, wire and even green twigs in the grommets. The reinforcement makes for a much stronger grommet than merely stitching around the hole with cord.

Key thoughts are that your fly should be three panels wide, made of a lightweight canvas such as drill, and the seams should be flat felled. The width of fabric less seams determined the length of the tent fly when finished. (Note : the width of canvas then was not as wide as now. I don't recall the size, but I do recall a difference.) The width of the fly should be around nine feet as that would sufficiently cover the top of a common tent which was 8'6".

My when new was approximately 13'x9' and is based upon the Lazy Jack article. How is that for a start?

[High-Private]

Re: question for the CS troops using flies

hi,

Thank you for the information. I guess what prompted me was the practicality in our modern day of the hobby and working within the confines of our camps, such as company streets and such. I have been doing rev War for a very long time and I have seen what odd ball sized wedge tents can do to a company street when the organizers do not plan on large wedge tents.

How many pards will fit under the 13'x9' fly?

Time for some more reading.

Thank you again,

Kevin Coyle

[CSchneider]

Re: question for the CS troops using flies

About 8 years ago Eric Mink posted information on C.S. tents found in the Richmond QM Maj. William Bentley's Compiled Service Record. The "Fly Tent" being manufactured, after doing a little bit of math with the fabric requirements he provided for each tent (27 inch wide cotton duck, by the way--modern drill at least is not sturdy enough for a large fly), comes out to about 20.5 x 13.5 and made of six panels of fabric, just about the size of the fly that was meant to go over hospital wall tents. A fly this size, when pitched at the same angle as the tent it was originally designed to go over, can fit 16 men if each is given his shoulders' width worth of space when lying down. That is just about the same number of men that were required to fit under each fly after the often repeated "6 tent-flies for every 100 men" orders that is discussed in the link attached in Mr. Tackitt's post above.

I've never seen any Confederate regulations specifying exactly how these flies are supposed to be made, but I doubt they differed much from the Federal regulations in construction seeing as how we do know the size and material stayed quite similar. I'm sure the U.S. regs for the Hospital Tent Fly can be found posted somewhere on this forum if things like tabling, corner reinforcements, and hand sewn at 2.5 stitches per inch with doubled 5-fold cotton twine is of interest to you.

-Craig Schneider

[Silas]

Re: question for the CS troops using flies

How many pards will fit under the 13'x9' fly?

As many as that noted in the article. I'm certain the fly is a little shorter now due to shrinkage over time. Could now be 12.5' x 8.5' but I haven't had a reason to measure it.

[Ike Gatlin]

Re: question for the CS troops using flies

If memory serves.... braggs general order number ??? Mandated 20 to a fly... It's been a long time... I am sure one of the more learned folks here could fill in those blanks.

Ike Gatlin

[Silas]

Re: question for the CS troops using flies

Generals Orders, No. 78 dated Headquarters Army of Tennessee, April 13, 1863 :

One tent to each regiment for medical department; one tent to each regimental headquarters; two tents to each brigade headquarters; two tents to each division headquarters; six tent-flies for every 100 men.