Black Pants? Please help...

[poncho]

Re: Black Pants? Please help...

I posted this info in another thread in March 2004.


From Richard Moe's history of the First Minnesota Volunteers, The Last Full Measure:

"The problem of inadequate clothing and equipment was not as easily remedied. In addition to the blanket, shirt, and pair of socks each man was given on arrival to Fort Snelling, he later received a pair of black pants and a slouch hat. Only the men from Company K had anything resembling a uniform; they wore light gray suits made by the patriotic women of Winona."

page 22
The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers
by Richard Moe
Minnesota Historical Society Press (2001)
1993
ISBN 0-87351-406-8
Originally published by Henry Holt and Co., Inc. 1993

Normally wouldn't challenge this statement but I just started reading James Wright's memoirs, Titled [I]No More Gallant a Deed [I]. Wright was the 1st sergeant in F company of the 1st Minn. He specifically quotes several times that the issued trousers were indeed dark blue. They were also issued red shirts which Wright observed turning black from the excessive wear.