Under shirts

[C. Johnson]

Hello Everyone,

I have a question regarding cotton knit under shirts, I know that they were made in solid colors,(white, red, blue, etc.), but were there any made with any patterns such as a stripped under shirt?

Were these kind of under shirts common during the Civil War?
Thanks!

Best,
Cody Johnson

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Re: Under shirts

Although I've only examined one knit cotton undershirt with 1800's provenance in a private collection, I have noted that the shirts contracted to the military were all machine knitted. I do not understand all of the intracacies of such machines, but I'm not sure it was practical to have stripes in it. From a government standpoint, they would cost more. Now for civilian undershirts, it could be possible, but I have yet to see any evidence. Knit cotton undershirts are one of the rarest of Civil War era items as most were used until they fell apart, so there are very few left for us to examine. Most of the reproductions currently being made are made from specifications, period photographs, and educated speculation.

[Shockoe Hill Cats]

Re: Under shirts

Most of the reproductions currently being made are made from specifications, period photographs, and educated speculation.

Mr. Lamoreaux,

I have likewise been interested in finding one. Who are the vendors that make them these days?

Regards,

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Re: Under shirts

Nick Sekala currently makes one in red knit cotton with a NY contractor stamp, and I have one from Pat Brown via the Jersey Skilletlicker, but the last I heard Mr Brown is on active duty and deployed and currently isn't making anything. Mr. Hoffman can correct me if needed. Those are the only two repros that I've seen of late.

[C. Johnson]

Re: Under shirts

Morris Clothiers has the reproduction of the under shirt in the Gettysburg Museum, but it is made of canton flannel.

Best,
Cody Johnson

[Charles Heath]

Re: Under shirts

Jason,

Take a moment to check out the handful of threads that also include the term "bottom shirt."

[westcoastcampaigner]

Re: Under shirts

Morris Clothiers has the reproduction of the under shirt in the Gettysburg Museum, but it is made of canton flannel.

Best,
Cody Johnson

I heard a rumor that this shirt was a reproduction...only a rumor though. Who knows?

Josh Sawyer
Liberty Rifles
Hardtack Society

[NoahBriggs]

Re: Under shirts

Corner Clothiers had some, for $45, if I remember correctly.

[3alabama]

Re: Under shirts

Corner Clothiers had some, for $45, if I remember correctly.

Corner Clothiers is cotton not knit. They copied it from an original in there collection. A great item and one of the best purchases I have made in a while.

[myster]

Re: Under shirts

I've got one from Corner Clothiers as well. I have yet to wear it in the field though. All in all, looks and feels pretty good. And yes, for $45, it is an investment I am willing to make as I am a "professional" students.
Sean Harla

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Under shirts

Friends,

I have examined several original knit shirts with strong provenance to the American Civil War period, as well as others that slightly pre or post date the war. Each one I was fortunate enough to study were made of an all-wool knit varying in thickness and knit pattern, and the colors were mostly off-white with one being a mixed gray color and another being red (which had a matching pair of knit drawers).

The appearance of these shirts were strikingly similar except for the red knit undershirt. They had a smallish square body, tapered sleeves, off-center short placket made from white silk, sheeting, or silesia, collarless with a wide neck opening. None of the originals featured gussets, separate cuff, collar, shoulder straps, or pockets. Cuffs and seam/hem treatments were very interesting; the lower hem appeared to be turned up but somehow knitted directly to the body rather than sewn. The seams in some higher quality undershirts were done in the same manner - knit together rather than sewn. This negated the need for a seam allowance and made the inside of the garment smooth.

Cuffs, as mentioned before, were never added separately on the shirts. The majority had a ribbed cuff knit directly onto the end of the sleeve. I recall this method being referred to as "tipping" in the CRRC 1. A small handful of the originals had the edge of the sleeve turned back and knitted to it in the same manner as the lower hem, without a cuff vent, leaving the finished cuff a little loose.

Those features were seen on nearly all of the gray and off-white knit wool shirts I've studied. The red undershirt conformed to a style like that of the Capt. Chas. Gould undergarments in the Troiani collection, on display at Pamplin Park. The red knit material was used in conjunction with a woven white sheeting "plastron" or "bib" which buttoned all the way to the bottom of the shirt. One-piece sleeves were cut in the manner of a sack coat or jacket, with the sleevecap being slightly gathered into the armscye. At the end of the knit sleeves were narrow cuffs made from the same woven sheeting that the bib was made from, likewise a narrow neck binding. As mentioned before this shirt came with it's matching pair of drawers which featured knit legs gathered into a yoke style waistband of cotton sheeting, with sheeting cuffs at the ankle. The really neat thing about these were that the shirt had buttons sewn around the waist while the drawers had corresponding buttonholes sewn into the waistband; this is something I've never seen in period adult undergarments but I've owned several full suits of children's clothing that bear this same feature. The red undergarments were marked with a Parisian maker's mark.

Below I've included two images illustrating the basic appearance of the knit shirts described above. The Federal soldier is wearing the domestically produced undershirt with white cloth placket and knit cuffs. The French advertisement illustrates a style similar to that of the original red knit shirt (sans underarm vents).

I'll try to get some clearer images posted as the day goes.

[C. Johnson]

Re: Under shirts

Thanks for the pics Brian.

Best,
Cody Johnson

[Ian McWherter]

Re: Under shirts

Striped wool jerseys are commonly associated with seafaring men and numerous descriptions of these garments abound. This description of men attired for a boat race is from Charles Reade's 1863 novel Very Hard Cash.

"all dressed in neat but easy-fitting clothes, cut in the height of the fashion, or else in Jerseys, white or striped, and flannel trowsers, and straw-hats, or cloth caps of bright and various hues."

"Presently the competitor for this heat came down, the Cambridge boat, rowed by a fine crew in broad striped Jerseys."

On pg. 77 of Silver & Gold Cased Images of the California Gold Rush there is a Dag. of a Nisenan Indian wearing what appears to be a gray mix wool jersey with an off-set placket and on pg. 89 there is a Dag. of a group of Miners along the banks of a stream, most of them are wearing their jerseys (the majority of which have off-set plackets). There are a few other images of miners who have rolled up their shirt sleeves exposing their jerseys, but those two are the clearest images of pre-war civilian jerseys.

Also, if you go to the Victoria & Albert Museum's website and search through their collections (remember the English call undershirts vests) you'll find an excellent man's cotton knit undershirt which was featured at the great 1851 exposition in London, where machine knitted clothing caught a lot of attention. There is even a women's undershirt as well, which was specially knitted to accommodate a bust.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Under shirts

Ian's post reminded me of an image in a coffee table book entitled "The West", I think it was. There is a large section of the book dedicated to the gold rush era, featuring an incredible number of period images. In some of the individual portraits you can see white or gray knit undershirts peeking out from under work shirts and rolled up sleeves. There are also one or two group photos taken at mining camps that show striped knit undershirts, all of which have very wide stripe patterns.

One other original undershirt I never got to view in person but had photos of once was made from a dark brown and off-white checked pattern knit. I'm not sure of this shirt's provenance but the construction features were identical to the civilian style of knit shirt (off-center placket, knit cuffs, no collar, etc.) seen during the Civil War period.

Below are more photos of knit shirts in use by workmen at the Sligo Iron Works of Pittsburgh. You can see that these shirts share similar features common to the popular civilian style of the time. Adam Hart is not wearing a knit shirt but I had to include his picture; not only is it hilarious but it's just a great depiction of a norther factory working in the 1860's.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Under shirts

Here's a link to the knit undergarments housed in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

http://images.vam.ac.uk/indexplus/result.html?_IXSESSION_=e1YMLcUuJ_5&submit-button=SUMMARY&_IXIMAGE_=2006AM6186-1&_IXSS_=_IXFIRST_%253d1%2526_IXINITSR_%253dy%2526%252524%25253dIXID%253d%2526_IXACTION_%253dquery%2526%252524%25253dIXOBJECT%253d%2526_IXMAXHITS_%253d15%2526%25252asform%253dvanda%2526%252524%25253dIXNAME%253d%2526_IXSESSION_%253de1YMLcUuJ_5%2526%252524%25253dIXPLACE%253d%2526_IXadv_%253d0%2526search%253dsearch%2526%252524%25253dIXMATERIAL%253d%2526%252524%25253ds%253dshirt%2526%252524%25253dop%253dAND%2526_IXFPFX_%253dtemplates%25252ft%2526%252524%25253dsi%253dtext%2526%252524%25253dIXFROM%253d%2526%252524%25253dIXTO%253d&_IXSR_=34gzG2SK8fR&_IXFIRST_=2&_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXSPFX_=templates/t&_IXFPFX_=templates/t

Knit silk is another material used for these styles of garment. Capt. Gould's (4th Vermont Infantry) matching undershirt are of knit silk, both marked with Paris maker's marks. Gould also had another undershirt of the "plastron" style made from an interesting woven cotton. The cotton in that particular shirt appeared to have a cross-hatched plaid pattern but the "bars" of the plaid were tightly woven while the spaces in between were gauzy.