Knitting In Camp

[latigerrebjim]

This came up as a discussion, did CW soldiers knit?? I was thinking that perhaps they did, mostly during times in long camp (winter?) and for a bit of self preservation. Knitting of socks, mittens, mufflers, etc. Both for themselves and to make a few cents selling them to their friends and others. Found some references of youngsters (civilian type) before and just at the beginning of the war knitting, but nothing about the common soldier, both north and south. Any direction, information, ideas?
Thanks for any assistance that is provided
JIM Tee

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Knitting In Camp

This came up as a discussion, did CW soldiers knit?? I was thinking that perhaps they did, mostly during times in long camp (winter?) and for a bit of self preservation. Knitting of socks, mittens, mufflers, etc. Both for themselves and to make a few cents selling them to their friends and others. Found some references of youngsters (civilian type) before and just at the beginning of the war knitting, but nothing about the common soldier, both north and south. Any direction, information, ideas?
Thanks for any assistance that is provided
JIM Tee

The following quotes I have for men knitting are not for soliders but it does indicate that boys and men did knit.

From _Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone 1861-1868_. Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press.
1972.

[Jimmy was 14 in 1861, Ashburn was 18 and died in 1861 and Kate was 20.]

Sept. 13, 1861 "Have my knitting for steady work. Jimmy is hard at work knitting a white yarn necktie. He made his own needles. Ashburn made a beautiful, polished pair for me."

Sept. 19, 1861 "I am knitting a pair of gloves for Brother and earnestly desired to finish one today. Worked faithfully until 9 o’clock and then gave up
for the night. Mamma started on the mate to mine this afternoon and will
finish it before I do. It is a laborious work to me and she does it with
such ease. The long fingers are such a trial to get right. Fortunately,
they are easy to rip. Shall I ever have the courage to attempt another pair?
All the boys are at work knitting with bones except Brother Coley and he is ambitious to learn. Other Pa learned when he was a little boy and has
taught them, and he has knitted a complete glove today with long
fingers. The gloves are for the soldiers and we are leaving the ends of
the fingers open so that they can handle their guns well."

Sept. 20, 1861 "The family all were sewing and knitting all day. ... We, all together, have finished two pairs of gloves and are all busy on others."

Oct. 7, 1861 "I finished the read and white comforter for Capt. Peck... Jimmy
finished his comforter and we will take it in the morning with a number of
articles made by Mrs. Curry, Mrs. McRae, and ourselves out to the sewing
society.

Nov. 7, 1862 "After they (guests) had left, Johnny and I were sitting cozily
by the parlor fire. I had been practicing and he was knitting on a
glove…"

It is concievable that if boys learned to knit at home before the war and could make knitting needles that they may have taken it up again in camp if they could have obtained the yarn.

I did find one additional quote from a seconary source. This is from _No Idle Hands_ by Anne L. Macdonald. "Not all soldiers were the recipients of 'women's work,' for few eigher learned to knit or polished previous skills during prolonged hospital convalescence. Major Charles J. Mills,, whose Civil War letters have recently been published privately, knitted a decorative bag 'used for carrying personal toilet articles' when recuperating from wounds sustained in the Battle of Antietam, and his decendants have lovingly preserved and proudly photographed it toaccompany the letters."

[KarinTimour]

Re: Knitting In Camp

Dear Mr. Tee:

Personally, I think the world would be a better place if everybody were knitting. If you're in the area and want to start, come see me at Remembrance Day, I'll be over near the new location for CJ Daley and I'd be happy to teach you or offer advice if you've already started.

With regard to documentation of men in our period knitting, I've not seen much. As Virginia Mescher noted, Major Charles Mills did some knitting during his recuperation from his Antietam wounds. Those of you who want to read his letters check out "Thourgh Blood and Fire: The Civil War Letters of Major Charles J. Mills, 1862-1865" edited by Gregory Coco.

Mrs. Mescher also mentioned the book "No Idle Hands" -- that book also mentions a Civil War veteran, I.R. Seelyee who participated in an open air "knit-in" sponsored by the Navy League Comforts Committee for World War I soldiers in 1918. They even have a picture of him, and he's looking pretty dapper in a handlebar mustache and straw boater. But there's no knowing if he was knitting through the Civil War, learned after the war, or just took it up when World War I came along.

As previously noted, many if not most boys would have learned basic knitting as children -- in many families just to keep everyone in socks, you needed all the help you could get. But I doubt that many native-born men continued knitting in later life. Depending on one's class and past life, certain parts of Europe were known for knitters of both sexes -- especially if you grew up in an area where hand knitting had been fostered as a cottage industry, and your family depended on it for survival. Northern England, parts of Wales and some parts of Norway and Sweden had traditions of both sexes knitting, especially during the winter months, and gathering in different homes to make social evenings while furiously knitting away to get items for sale.

As Mrs. Mescher notes here and Mrs. Lawson noted when this topic was discussed on the CW reenactors site, there is huge documentation that civilians were knitting for the war efforts -- both North and South. But when we hear of men coming to Sanitary Commission meetings or local soldier's aid society meetings, mention is not made of them knitting or sewing -- they are helping with packing the materials for shipment, or reading aloud or entertaining the (female) knitters.

I've long wondered whether or not men were knitting in Elmira or Andersonville. I've heard a lot of documentation about POWs knitting in World War I and World War II, so why not the Civil War as well? But unlike the soup bone rings and more durable souviners that are seen in museums today, anything they would have made would likely have been worn completely out or burned to get rid of vermin once they were released.

Sailors have a long history of beautiful embroidery, but I've never seen documentation of them knitting.

There is a balaclava in the Confederate Echooes of Glory which has a crocheted insert which was added after the knitting was finished. I've often wondered if the crocheting was done by the original knitter who relalized she'd made the face opening too big, or a field modification done by a soldier who found his balaclava getting stretched out and took action to keep cold air from zipping down his front.

I've never heard of soldiers selling knitting to others, though you hear of men who were famed for making wonderful carved wooden pipes during winter camp, etc. When you talk about the "lack of supply" keep in mind that this was often caused by being cut off from the transportation system, etc. If you are going to knit you need a) needles; b) know-how; c) something to knit with -- i.e. yarn. Certainly Federal soliders could have had wool yarn shipped to them from home. Southern soldiers might well have had a much harder time getting materials, especially as the demand for wool escalated, and the transportation system got less and less reliable. The Museum of the Confederacy has a pair of socks that Mrs. Hugh Holmes Lee knit of unravelled Federal shelter halves. Doesn't mean that soldiers did that as well, but the fact remains that one enterprising knitter looked at a shelter half and saw knitting fodder. Don't know how comfortable they'd be, either.

What about unravelling socks that were too far gone to repair and reknitting the remnants into a whole pair? Well, that depends. Certainly, some soldiers would wear a pair until they got serious holes, than throw them out and draw a new pair. The stories of this happening are usually early war stories of Federal armies on campaign.

The cost of a pair of Federal issue socks varied from 25 - 33 cents per pair. If you're getting $13 a month, roughly 3.33 for a 7 day week, then 33 cents is a little under a day's pay. How often do you cavalierly spend a days' pay today? And many men knew that that 13 dollars was all they could possibly contribute towards their family's survival, so the family men are likely sending as much of that home as possible (and thus not drawing any more clothing than they absolutely had to). There are a lot of stories of persistent, even if repeatedly futile attempts at darning, and when the toes were gone, some federal soldiers would reverse the socks and stick their feet in the toe end and walk on what used to be the sock leg. If the (usually better supplied) Federals are doing that, you can bet the Confederates are, on average, doing that and more to get every last bit of wear out of socks. So once someone has put his socks through all that, likely the remnants wouldn't have much left you could unravel to reknit.

If you come across documentation of soliders knitting in winter camp, POW camps or sailors on shipboard, please do share -- always looking for more information, several of us are endlessly fascinated by documentation of knitting and crochet.

Hope that's helpful,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping Hats, Balaclavas
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: [email]Ktimour@aol.com[/email