Camp Hygiene

[Charles Heath]

Re: Camp Hygiene

Joe,

You'd have enjoyed the two-holer outhouse at Retreat From Rude's Hill. It wasn't as "detailed" as your outhouse from TAG, but it sufficed.

[Joanna Jones]

Re: Camp Hygiene

I love my chamberpot. Now, it may not be the right thing to have at some events, depending on the scenario (did they grab them as they fled? Interesting research idea...), but when it fits in there is nothing more handy at night or when it is raining. When my son was a baby it was just not feasable to walk across the site at night and leave him alone, and now that he is potty training he won't make it across the site before he would present me with some very period laundry to do! And there is nothing more out of place in my frame of mind than the bright blue of the portajohn - I'm glad it isn't nearby. I wish I had a seat for the chamberpot, but oh, well. A daytime trip to the portajohn to empty and a little vinegar keeps everything fresh after. I even have an extra one to loan, but no one will take me up on it :wink_smil
Joanna Jones

[Charles Heath]

Re: Camp Hygiene

I took a few moments to re-read this thread. On one hand the thread was about the very important sanitary topic of digging sinks and castramentation while on campaign. Something folks did back then, and something folks do these days at some events. Now this thread has morphed into women in camp with pee thunder pots. Does the chamber pot go in the flap or bag side of the issue knapsack? Exactly.

[Old Reb]

Re: Camp Hygiene

Mr. Charles, you tie the chamber pot to your knapsack right beside your cast iron skillet so they bang against one another and let folks know you are coming.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Camp Hygiene

Mr. Charles, you tie the chamber pot to your knapsack right beside your cast iron skillet so they bang against one another and let folks know you are coming.

Uncle Tom,

Thanks. Anytime I need a scatological reference, there you are.

Sad to say, but most of the CPH wing of the hobby have not experienced the construction or use of sinks. Makes a fellow wonder what kind of events they attend.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Camp Hygiene

In support of Noah's post, the "Winter 1864" event has encouraged and "enforced" using improvised chamber pots by all its participants (60 to 65 per event) since 2004. Perhaps a down-and-dirty authenticity item to some, but we do it both for the reality/experience/act as they did aspect, as well as to preserve camp sanitation. The alternative is 60 guys all wizzing alongside or behind their huts for days, which may not be a wild hazard but it's both offensive and certainly not conducive to best health practices.

With regard to Joe's post, now we have "cooking chicken in the dark" to stand alongside "cooking bacon in the dark" in the Hall of Reenactor Cuisine Infamy, which I believe is located somewhere near Sharpsburg, Maryland. :p

[NoahBriggs]

Re: Camp Hygiene

In support of Kevin's support of my post, the officers' sinks were a good ways off in a gully, defended by an artillery embrasure, dug, had a wooden bench slim enough so you could sit down to do your business without the bench getting in the way, it had some semi-farby-but-still-necessary TP packets, and it had some canvas rigged to a frame for privacy. That canvas was a decent windbreak, too. It was about as real and accurate as one could get.

Proud to say I could whizz a hole through the ice at one draining,

[Drygoods]

Re: Camp Hygiene

I took a few moments to re-read this thread. On one hand the thread was about the very important sanitary topic of digging sinks and castramentation while on campaign. Something folks did back then, and something folks do these days at some events. Now this thread has morphed into women in camp with pee thunder pots. Does the chamber pot go in the flap or bag side of the issue knapsack? Exactly.

Well, Mr. Heath, you can easily blame me for the derailment, however, I'd like to remind you that more than likely past soldiers used commodes and chamber pots long before they ever had dug ditches. Now consider this, how many soldiers in this hobby have had to sit on the ground with a chamber pot? Not a pretty mental image I'm sure, but you have to consider the idea that many today have never attempted it. :tounge_sm Again, my apologies for getting off your topic &c.

Oh, and for a good location as to where to place the pot while marching, I suggest upside down and over the head, certain sure to keep the dust down and prevent tree limbs from knocking off the hat. :confused_

[Randy]

Re: Camp Hygiene

Thought I'd mention a picture I've seen of the commodes at Andersonville. It's interesting in that they look like a long bench built over a tiny stream that ran through the camp. It looks like they were initially enclosed with canvas over a framework, which the prisoners had appropriated for shelter-making. Thus, the commodes were completely open. Several prisoners can be seen "answering nature's call" in the photo, and they were also seen by Southern civilians who were afforded a look at the poor Yankee prisoners at Andersonville. ...Talk about humiliation!