1861 Illinois volunteer impression

[John of the Skulkers Mess]

Read Dec. 1881

"...
The days at Caseyville were well spent in drill of officers and men, and practice in the usages of camp life. The traffic to and from St. Louis was inspected with vigilance, and now and then seizures of contraband goods were made. There was but little sickness; usually about thirty cases, in charge of Doctor Wardner and his assistant, and many of these off duty for a few days only. The constant guard, though at times quite severe, was in the end of great benefit to all. Officers and men gradually became acquainted with each other, and the foundations of the regiment were well laid. Here, also, the men received the first uniforms issued after their muster in; they were furnished by the State, and were of a color not at all welcome, -- gray. The recipients of these ambiguous garments put them on as ordered, but no one enjoyed the spectacle of a Union battalion clad in that tint. It was in vain to assert that the New York Seventh wore gray, as it provoked the retort: “ So do the Rebels.” Up to this time the Galena Company had been the only one uniformed, wearing a sort of jäger costume of green. ..."


Paddock, George L. “The Beginnings of an Illinois Volunteer Regiment in 1861.” In Military Essays and Recollections: Papers Read Before the Commandery of the State of Illinois, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Vol. 2, pp. 253—67. Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Co., 1894.

[Iceman]

Re: 1861 Illinois volunteer impression

Thanks, John.

I assume this is from the 12th IL? However, it's odd that it says they wore a green Jager style uniform, when I have microfilm copies of the Galena newspaper that makes mention of them being the only company with a uniform, and it was an exact copy of the 7th NY uniform. Of course, this newspaper article is from the time, not twenty years later in someone's memoir, too.


__________________________________________________ ____

Guys; you like this discussion? Then join up with the 90 Day Suckers and be a part of one of the most killer impression for the 150th anniversary in 2011. Contact me if you'd like to be a part of this company.

[J. Donaldson]

Re: 1861 Illinois volunteer impression

To resurrect an old thread not knowing the status of the impression being discussed, I wanted to pass along the following link. Daniel Sauerwein, one of the historians who publish the Civil War History blog, has made his M.A. thesis on Civil War camps of instruction in Illinois. As the information has been made public for free download, I thought I would pass it along for those working on this and similiar impressions. The link provided goes directly to the .pdf file. If the link does not work, go to the second link.

Civil War Camps of Instruction in Illinois

Civil War History blog

[Mark Susnis]

Re: 1861 Illinois volunteer impression

From Charles Wills's "Army Life of an Illinois Soldier" on page 16 in a letter dated May 23, 1861. He was in the 8th Illinois Infantry at the time:

We have had our uniforms about a week Gray satinet pants and roundabout with a very handsome blue cloth cap Nine brass buttons up the jacket front and grey flannel shirts We are obliged to wash dirty clothes the day we change and to black our shoes every evening and polish our buttons for dress parade Our company is the only one that does this though and they call us dandies We have done more work and better drilling though than any of them so we don t mind it

v/r
Mark Susnis

[BenjaminLDavis]

Re: 1861 Illinois volunteer impression

Yer all a bunch of Hoosier-wannabe's!!!

Hoosiers, Suckers and Hawkeyes ~ deep down, in their heart of hearts,
would all rather be Badgers!
(And I do not want to hear ANYBODY uttering those immortal words
from "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" . . . you know the quote I am talkin' 'bout,
and if you do not, go out and rent this classic now! It ain't the War Between The
States, but it is still very, very good!)

[Hairy Nation Boys]

Re: 1861 Illinois volunteer impression

The 2nd and 3rd Iowa was initially issued grey but before they left the state they switched to blue. And don't forget the Iowa First!

Jim,

I will honor your state but I am VERY happy to be a Hawkeye!

[Mark Susnis]

Re: 1861 Illinois volunteer impression

While the '61 Sucker volunteer sounds like something very unique why not a February 1862 Illinois infantry impression at Fort Donelson? Strict guidelines with no rifled weapons. Keep it to '42 smoothbores or original pumpkin slingers and .69 cartridge boxes. No Enfields or '61 Springfields. Ramblings on a December a.m...

Mark Susnis

[Illinois Rebel]

Re: 1861 Illinois volunteer impression

Color me "Interested"!

An Illinois Sucker...

[Iceman]

Re: 1861 Illinois volunteer impression

Mark,

If you were in on the conversation from the very beginning, the concept was an entire year's worth of Illinois impressions, beginning in April of 1861 to April of 1862. We would have started out in civilian clothing, then work our way to limited State issue, such as red blankets, gray shirts, etc. Then, beginning around June and July, is when the grey Illinois Brigade uniform started to be issued to the first seven regiments. If we were to portray regiments 14 - 22, we would still have gray, but it wouldn't be the distinctive Brigade uniform (which the 12th IL was a part of, an who took part at Donelson). By having these Brigade uniforms, we would be in a position to authentically portray the 12th IL Inf. The last I heard from Ft. Donelson a few years ago, they were about to purchase new land that included the land the 12th IL camped and fought over. The climax of this conceptual impression of the first year of the war as Illinois soldiers would be Shiloh, where we would break out brand new blue uniforms.

The weapons, unless unit specific, would generically be converted M1816. The gear would be old Mex War gear; i.e. canteen, knapsack, leathers, etc.

There was a quick interest in this concept when I first proposed it, and a lot of guys said that they were down with doing this. But, when the discussion moved to actually buying the fabric, and gear, etc., the conversation turned quiet real quick. So, rather than having almost two years to start preparing for this conceptual impression that will last for the first year of the 150th, there's now only a little more than a year to prepare, make the impressions, etc. Unfortunately, this hobby - and this website - seem to be plagued with guys who like to talk about being authentic, but they'll only be authentic to a level that is comfortable for them, not what's authentic for history. Ask guys to wear what they already have, no problem, but ask guys to build new impressions for the sake of being historically correct, and watch the numbers drop in participation (even in the "authentic" community).

[MissouriStateGuard]

Re: 1861 Illinois volunteer impression

Mark,

There's a 1900 account in the National Tribune written by George Carrington, who served as a drummer in B Company, 11th Illinois at Donelson. Some of the neat points he recalls were:

1) buckling a cartridge box around his waist (would seem to indicate the boxes weren't sling mounted)

2) Armed with "French rifled-muskets, caliber 69; the bullet was elongated, pointed, with a hollow in the back end and weighed one and a half ounces. "

3) Wearing gray uniforms, with caps, except "We changed to blue on the battlefield. We all had on long blue overcoats with capes; hence the rebels afterwards said that they fought the 'long-tailed blues.'"

A post-war account written almost 40 years after the facts, but for what it's worth he seems to recall many details.

Hope this is of some interest!

V/R,
kip

[Michael Comer]

Re: 1861 Illinois volunteer impression

this hobby - and this website - seem to be plagued with guys who like to talk about being authentic, but they'll only be authentic to a level that is comfortable for them, not what's authentic for history.

You're right Nic, but I think you neglect the reason why that happens. It's not a plague though, it's called budget and financial management. You're concept is a good one but would cost a few thousand dollars with uniform, weapon and kit. Most folks with family, house payment, insurance etc. have to watch the dollars pretty closely and I think the prospect of putting together some very, very specialized impressions to be used for one year is just not possible for the majority in the hobby.

Don't blame folks for not wanting to be authentic for history because that sells people short and is a bit of an insult. I think if we were independently wealthy, most of us would have umpteen different impressions to be used at the drop of a hat. But there's just so much a person can do when it comes to investing in this hobby and priorities have to be set.

[Hairy Nation Boys]

Re: 1861 Illinois volunteer impression

All I know is that I have one maybe two good years left to do this. Adding another impression at this point is not in the cards. Next year will be season number 20. I am ready for the "war" to be over.

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: 1861 Illinois volunteer impression

Let's not get too down about this yet. I don't think the prime issue is posers. I think what is making this tough is the fact that the potential participants are not part of any common organization. We all like to do what we like to do and the thought of committing to a number of events over a the course of a year, the first of which is over a year away, is probably what is making it tough to get guys to commit.

I've been part of a "let's adopt a specialty impression" effort before and that was just for one event. We had an established company-sized organization and it came off pretty well for that one event. It involved several heated debates about fabric, alienation of a certain hat vendor, investing in an entire run of custom fabric from FHW, and fighting like hell to drag the whole club along with the few "visionaries" driving the project.

It CAN be done. I think the Illinois volunteer idea is great. However, I think there will be a lot of work involved outside of just getting the gear together. YOu'll have to sell a group of guys who aren't otherwise committed to each other. I think you can do it, Nick. Just get excited and stay there. People will follow your enthusiasm, especially if they know you'll make sure the effort is quality in all aspects.