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I thought this was a funny first hand account of typical Union Army uniform issue.
'One of the amusing incidents in the earlier camp experience transpired when Quartermaster Smith issued to the future soldiers the stock of clothing furnished by the government for their use. It was clear that Uncle Sam's contracting tailor who made the garments had no idea of measuring the man and then fitting his suit; he seemed rather to expect that, having made the uniforms according to certain patterns, it would be the duty of the officers who distributed them to fit each wearer to his clothes , as Procrustes, the Attic highwayman, fitted victims to his bed. As a fact, however, when the time came to exchange the citizen's dress for the soldier's garb, it provoked a deal of hilarious mirth to see a square-shouldered, portly man struggling to encase his ample limbs in trousers scant enough to please a dude; while a lean, light-weight comrade fairly lost his corporal identity in the baggy capacity of a fat mans coat. Nor were the seams of these new garments always equal to the strain to which they were subjected, so that in the course of the first week after they were donned, many of the wearers had to resort to the spools and cushions thoughtfully provided by a loving wife or mother .....'
George N. Carpenter, History of the Eighth Regiment Vermont Volunteers, 1861-1865, Boston, 1886, p. 20
'One of the amusing incidents in the earlier camp experience transpired when Quartermaster Smith issued to the future soldiers the stock of clothing furnished by the government for their use. It was clear that Uncle Sam's contracting tailor who made the garments had no idea of measuring the man and then fitting his suit; he seemed rather to expect that, having made the uniforms according to certain patterns, it would be the duty of the officers who distributed them to fit each wearer to his clothes , as Procrustes, the Attic highwayman, fitted victims to his bed. As a fact, however, when the time came to exchange the citizen's dress for the soldier's garb, it provoked a deal of hilarious mirth to see a square-shouldered, portly man struggling to encase his ample limbs in trousers scant enough to please a dude; while a lean, light-weight comrade fairly lost his corporal identity in the baggy capacity of a fat mans coat. Nor were the seams of these new garments always equal to the strain to which they were subjected, so that in the course of the first week after they were donned, many of the wearers had to resort to the spools and cushions thoughtfully provided by a loving wife or mother .....'
George N. Carpenter, History of the Eighth Regiment Vermont Volunteers, 1861-1865, Boston, 1886, p. 20
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