C.S. Use of Dog Tents

[lthull3rdla]

I just finished reading ( again ) a book by R. M. Collins called "unwritten chapters of the War between the States" Collins was a Lt. in the 15th Texas Cavalry (Dsmtd) in the AOT. At LEAST three times in his memoris he mentions 'our little dog tents'

Interesting. I have not heard of the C.S. Government issueing shelter tents so possibly these were captured or traded for items. At one point I believe he mentions 'our rows of dog tents' so it was just not him that was using one.

Thoughts on this fellers?

Ronnie - Shreveport

[Dignann]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

Perhaps there is some useful info in these two threads:

Tent Fly

Confederate Rain Fly

Eric

[Gallinipper]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

Those are great threads. However, since Lt. Collins does not appear to specifically indicate that what they used was a "tent fly" by design, I would approach his words with an open mind pending further research. Certainly, he could be referring to a shelter half of unknown provenance, but photographic evidence would seem to suggest that even a blanket similarly arranged might also qualify as a "shelter" or "tent".

[Silas]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

"This army has with it in the field little or no protection from weather. Tents seem to have been abandoned, and the men cover themselves by means of their blankets and other contrivances. The shelter-tent seems to be preferred by them, and I have thought that something could be manufactured out of the tents now on hand better than what they have in use. A simple fly, or cloth of that shape, would answer the purpose."

Gen. R.E. Lee to Col. A. C. MYERS, Quartermaster-General, dated 10 June 1862; Vol. 11 (Pt. III) 585.

More info about tent usage is found in my old article : Shred the Tents and Burn the Wagons.

[lthull3rdla]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

My Exact thought Rich. Very well could be that they called them that no matter what they were made of, blanket, rubber blanket, old piece of carpet, canvas etc etc. I know I have made shelter from all of those items. I have lugged around a 8' X 8' piece of canvas many times. You would be surprised how many spooning pards can cram under one LOL

thanks for the thoughs y'all

Ronnie

[Jimmayo]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

Chamberlain talks about the Confederates folding their little tents on the morning of the surrender at Appotmattox. I can't remember his exact words but they are in his autobiogaphy "In the Hands of Providence". Sure sounded like they had IMO, US dog tents.

[Longbranch 1]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

My Exact thought Rich. Very well could be that they called them that no matter what they were made of, blanket, rubber blanket, old piece of carpet, canvas etc etc. I know I have made shelter from all of those items. I have lugged around a 8' X 8' piece of canvas many times. You would be surprised how many spooning pards can cram under one LOL

thanks for the thoughs y'all

Ronnie

All,

Unfortunately, I cannot yet share my sources, but recycled 8'6"BY, 8 or 10 oz. Mexican War halves might fit the bill for CS "fly"early to mid war.
A differentiation to be noted is that the description was from a 1rst NC State Volunteer ( Mexico ) ,(1847-48), also a veteran of the 35th NC, 1861-65, who made this reference in letters, viz. 1871.

Also to be noted is that while serving in Mexico as a "Volunteer", the provisions provided may have not have been U.S. issue proper.

Regards,
Kevin Ellis,
26th NC

[markj]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

For your consideration,

I'm sorry to say the author did not survive the war.


[Port Hudson, Louisiana] April 20 [1863], Monday.

***Our regiment is well fixed up in their new quarters. They all have good shanties or good tents and our encampment presents a very neat and regular appearance. Our improvements at headquarters present a very neat appearance, and when they are finished we will have the nicest regimental headquarters at Port Hudson. Adjutant [David] Martin and myself are fixing up a mustard patch. The colonel's and quartermaster's quarters consist of four tents placed in a square with a bush arbor in front as a sort of lounging room for the officers of the regiment. Dr. Bowers' and mine will consist of two tents, one in front of the other, and an arbor in front. The rear tent will be our sleeping apartment and the front one the office. The arbor will do to lounge in during the cool of the morning and evening. Our kitchen built of logs is in the rear of our quarters and our stable will be in the rear of the kitchen. We are preparing to spend the rest of the spring and part of the summer in this post.

[Same location] April 25 [1863], Saturday.

***Today we, that is, Dr. Bowers and myself, have been improving our quarters. We have now two tents, one put up in front of the other. We use the rear one as a sleeping apartment and the front one as an office and public apartment. Our improvements are not yet complete and will not be so for some days, as we are neither of us remarkable for industry, especially in hot weather. We have a magnificent cane bed on a bedstead two feet high. Large pieces of cane are woven across like a cane-bottomed chair and on top of this is placed a bed of hay, on which are our blankets. It is railed all around to keep from rolling out. The doctor the other day bought a lady's traveling dressing case and I have just put up a stand made out of an old goods box to put it on. The doctor is frequently found in front of his elegant mirror surveying his countenance. We are now living in more comfort than we have done for a long time.

[Near "Rocky Face Mountain"/Resaca, Georgia] May 11 [1864,] Wednesday.

***It rained last night and [Adjutant] Dave Martin and myself had to sit up in my little dog tent half the night.

Source: Ferrell, Robert H. Holding the Line: The Third Tennessee Infantry, 1861-1864 [Diary of Major Flavel Clingan Barber (30 January 1830 – 15 May 1864), 3rd Tennessee Infantry]. Kent OH: The Kent State University Press, 1994.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Tom Dodson]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

On page 56 of "Brothers in Gray : The Civil War Letters of the Pierson Family" Reuben Allen Pierson in a letter to his brother written from Camp Bienville, Va in Oct. 1861 writes of "lying on the ground beneath a thin ausnaburg (osnaburg?) tent". Could this tent (no mention of size or type) have been CS issue? Or maybe homemade? I would think it unlikely that a piece of osnaburg large enough to make a tent would have just been lying around. It seems like strange and inefficient material to make a tent of.
Just wondering if anyone had read anywhere else of such a tent.
Tom Dodson
47th Ga / GVB

[cprljohnivey]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

I know Craig Schnieder has some information about CS issued shelter halves. Perhaps contacting him. I believe he has even made a few and they are smaller than the U.S. varieties if you can believe that.

[SCTiger]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

Mark R. Wilson wrote a 41 page paper on Northern Tent procurement and the use of cotton duck as tent material.

http://es.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/2/2/297.pdf

Most interesting was his statement that the U. S. Army quit issuing Sibley tents in 1862 because they were too cumbersome and required wagon transport. If the U. S, Army was converting to shelter halves to save on wagon space; then the Confederate Field Army would have had the very same problem, if not worse. According to Wilson the U.S. Army purchased 2.2 million Shelter halves during the war

If the South did receive some supplies of French tents, we would have to search the military blockade runner records. For Confederate manufacture we may have to search the sail maker, quartermaster and clothing depot records. In my own reading I have ran across the "oil cloth" in more references than the halve-shelter. The oil cloth would have been better protection against the rain.

So far I haven't ran across any documented, imported, Confederate shelter tents. It could be that the "Army Tent" that I have seen issued in quantities of 20-30 per company could be that animal, but without a picture to accompany the description, it's mostly educated guess work.

I would like to see an example of a 1860's model French Tente D'abri. In Wilson's Article it's described as:

"(Quartermaster General) Meigs informed the governor of Massachusetts that the French shelter tent 'is the only tent which an efficient campaign can be made in this country.' The shelter tent that so quickly replaced the Sibley model was made of light duck or drill and was issued to individual Soldiers as a 'half-shelter.' These pieces of canvas, each roughly 62 inches by 56 inches across featured buttons and buttonholes on three sides, allowing connections to other half-shelters..."

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

"(Quartermaster General) Meigs informed the governor of Massachusetts that the French shelter tent 'is the only tent which an efficient campaign can be made in this country.' The shelter tent that so quickly replaced the Sibley model was made of light duck or drill and was issued to individual Soldiers as a 'half-shelter.' These pieces of canvas, each roughly 62 inches by 56 inches across featured buttons and buttonholes on three sides, allowing connections to other half-shelters..."

I HIGHLY RECOMend getting ahold of Fred Gaede's book, The Federal Civil War Shelter Tent. In this book, Mr. Gaede lays out the progression of how the Americans were first exposed to the French tent d'abri...and how it was soon adopted (pre-war) in some small scale into the army as a campaign tent. But it doesn't stop there...Mr. Gaede then goes on to clarify the transition of the tent from the 'purely' French design to the known variants which soon emerged in this country...and he supports all this with Federal QM records, photographs and original images...Again, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK for anyone who wants to discuss the use of this style tent....now, this book is geared towards the Federal Army and as such doesn't specifically focus on the Confederate Usage, but DOES HAVE SKETCHES of the tent d'abri, tent pegs...etc.

As an interesting aside; Gilham's Manual of Instruction for Volunteers and Militia of the Confederate States (1862) lays out descriptions and sketches of for several types of tents recommended for the Vounteer & Militia. Keep in mind this printing was done in 1862...kind of raises some questions, at least in my mind...:

761. There are several froms of tents - the common tent, covering an area of about seven feet square, and capable of accomodating from five to six men; the wall tent, usually used by officers, about nine feet square, and having its roof protected by a second piece of canvas, known as the "fly;" the Sibley tent, which is conical in shape, has but a single central pole, with an arrangement at the top to admit of a fire in the centre for cooking purposes, or for comfort in cold weather, and sufficiently large to accomodate from twelve to fifteen men; and the shelter tent of the French. The Sibley tent is in general use in the C.S. service. Fig. 172 is a representation of the Sibley tent, and fig. 173 of the shelter tent. The latter is invaluable in a summer campaign when transportation is limited.

A new invention has been lately introduced into the C.S. service, which promises to be very useful; it is called the tent knapsack, and serves the purpose of a knapsack on the march, and a shelter tent when in camp. It is a piece of gutta-percha, five feet three inches long, and three feet eight inches wide, with double edges on one side, and brass studs and button holes along two edges, and straps and buckles on the fourth; with two sticks, three feet eight inches long, by one and a half inches in diameter, a small cord. When used as a knapsack, the clothing is packed in a cotton bag, and the gutta percha sheet is folded around it, lapping at the ends. the clothing is thus protected by two or three thicknesses of gutta-percha; the knapsack adapts itself to the size of the contents, so that a compact and portable bundle can be made, whether the "kit" be entire or not; and with the cotton bag, it forms a convenient, commodious, and desirable receptacle for all a soldiers clothing and necessaries. (Fig. 174)
The studs and eyelets aloing two edges of the tent knapsack are for the purpose of fastening a number of them together, and thus making a large sheet, which may be used as a shelter tent. When used, the sheet is to be stretched on a cord supported by two sticks, or by two rifles, muskets, or carbines, and pinned down at the sides with small pins. The sheet of four knapsacks is ten feet six inches long, and seven feet four inches wide, and when pitched on a rope of four feet four inches above the ground, convers a horizontal space of six feet six inches wide, and seven feet four inches long, which will accomodate from five to seven men. (Fig. 173) Or four of these knapsacks may be united, an edge pinned to the ground, and the opposite one secured to a pole facing a fire, forming a half-faced camp, as shown in Fig. 175.

More information to follow on the use of CS Manufactured/Imported Shelter Tents (non-oilcloth)...now where are those notes...


Paul B.

[CSchneider]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

I know Craig Schnieder has some information about CS issued shelter halves. Perhaps contacting him. I believe he has even made a few and they are smaller than the U.S. varieties if you can believe that.

Just the Alfred May shelter half, and there's plenty of debate as to exactly what it is and who made it (in fact, we had two curators doing the "Its Confederate! No its Federal!" debate in front of us when we went to see it). Made of three pieces of rather coarse cotton duck, entirely handsewn, wooden buttons that match those seen on a couple Confederate garments, and yes, its a good bit smaller than the halves listed in Gaede's book.

-Craig Schneider

[markj]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

The following was done in Indiana, so I see no reason why similar actions wouldn't have been carried elsewhere:

Source: Indianapolis Daily Democratic Sentinel

24 April 1861:

Camp Morton.--***The quarters of the City Greys are near Power Hall. They occupy the tents belonging to the company, which the Government will purchase.***Captain [Mahlon D.] Manson's company [the Crawfordsville Guards] from Crawfordsville, and Captain [John] Blake's from Michigan City, also occupy tents--the former near the center of the ground and the latter in the vicinity of Miscellaneous Hall. The ladies of Crawfordsville made the tent[s] for Captain Manson's company, and presented them before they left home. There are thirteen company tents and one marquee.***


30 April 1861:

ZOUAVE TENTS.--Capt. Robinson and Lieut Wilson, both of the [11th Indiana] Zouave regiment, were yesterday [Monday, 29 April 1861] perfecting a tent as a sample of the kind they desire to have for use in the field. It will accommodate one man, is very light, and so arranged that it can be pitched in a moment. The cloth is to be made of muslin boiled in oil. Four light sticks, four pegs and the muslin is all that is required. Each man, if this plan is adopted, will carry his tent on his back. It is an exceedingly simple contrivance, and we see not reason why it will not work well.


Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[cprljohnivey]

Re: C.S. Use of Dog Tents

Thanks Craig for the clarification.