Uniform Appearence.

[5thMIkeydet]

All,
As a Modern Cadet conditioned to monotonous uniform upkeep and appearence in Garrison, I've become interested what the average Federal soldier would have been doing in his Garrison enviroments. I know there was mending and the boiling of clothes. What I'm looking at is brass and shoes. We know in the field they probably only cared about function, but within the garrison, when there was time for idle hands, where the standards enforced? What were the standards that were expected?
My gut is telling me this is going to be somehting more pronounced towards the beginning of the War. So I'm specifically looking for early war references, perhaps when units were still in their initial phases of training, although anything will do.
Do we know what materials they would have used, and how these would have been aquired or issued?
I really appreciate anyone who could point me in a direction on this.

[tenfed1861]

Re: Uniform Appearence.

A number of items were used for cleaning shoes.Possibly thr best thing was just water to wash off the mud.Remember that in garrison they would be going through mud and dirt still.The best thing is to simply clean up the shoes enough to pass inspection.Another thing used was shoe polish.I am sure someone else can fill you in on what that consisted of.
As for buttons,they would have used button cards.Simple peices of wood,leather,or brass with a hole and a slot.Place th button in the hole and move it down the slot.From there,it was either good ol' fashion elbow grease or woodash to polish it up.Again,with weather and all,the brass was not going to b perfectly clean.The point was to clean off a much tarnish and surface dirt as possible.
Hope this helps some.

[5thMIkeydet]

Re: Uniform Appearence.

Would anybody know of any survivng boards, or pictures/descriptions? Or of any indicatiosn of how regular this was?
I really think this process could add somehitng towards a living history, just like when spectators are interested in watching us clean our rifles, the mundane details of Soldier Life cma be of interest to them, plus the nuisance of having to do it would be one of those little details that help give us perspective on their lives beyond those perilous few moments of combat.
Again, input is very much apprecaited.

[JimConley]

Re: Uniform Appearence.

Ross,
I have attended Living Histories where inspections in camp and garrison were done. Ft. Granger back in 2006, for example, ended with an inspection of the companies upon the parade ground. We were instructed to brighten our buttons, belt buckles, cartridge box plates, breast plates, and other brass. Also, our weapons, uniforms and other equipment were to be cleaned as best as possible.

You can get a really good grasp on the practices of camp life and garrison by reading letters, memoirs, and journals. Often times, from what I have read, there was much fatigue duty and guard duty, drill, and inspections depending on the specific circumstances. And all that aside from duties shared between messmates, the boys also wrote about the different ways they would pass the time while not drudging along on campaign. So, if you are interested in bringing something like that to life, there is a lot you could incorporate to have a good experience. Just ask any of the fellows that were at the Living Histories at Ft. Granger or the brave souls that attended Ft. Donelson and the recent Winter '64.

John D. Billings' Hard Tack and Coffee is a great source and a must have for anybody interested in the life of Civil War soldiers. Though his experiences were not that of a soldier in garrison, he does share a lot of information on camp life that would be applicable to your questions.

Also, Sam Watkins' Co. Aytch. Again, while not a soldier in garrison, he provides a good amount of information on camp life and mentions inspection of arms at least once.

A source used for the Ft. Granger event in 2006 included letters written by Calvin W. Diggs of Co. A, 84th Indiana. They included some entries he wrote from March to June of 1863 while in Franklin. If you go to the WIG website and check out the event guidelines for Ft. Granger, the Diggs letters are included in that section. I printed out a hard copy of the letters before the event that had a better layout and info on the 84th Indiana. Tripp may have that somewhere floating in cyberspace still. There is also a link to Diggs' letters provided, but it does not seem to be working anymore.

[NoahBriggs]

Re: Uniform Appearance.

There might be an article(s) in the Research Articles section of this very forum on maintenance of equipment. This article is in the second edition of the Columbia Rifles Research Compendium. I used rottenstone to polish my brass, and a good five-pound bag will keep an infantry club in supply for the rest of their lives. Rottenstone will not give you the perfect mirror shine associated with today's Brasso, but it does remove the worst of the scunge.

Having just come off the back end of a four-day winter garrison, I can guarantee there were plenty of inspections - uniforms, weapons, backpack contents and the like, which kept most of the gun-bunnies in the huts on their toes. Guard mount, fatigue details, plenty o' paperwork. Still plenty of downtime for letter-writing, pranks, and being forced to prepare your own food which had been foraged.

(Wood was a major detail. Chop it, split it, wheel it to the huts to keep the woodstoves going. We gave our stoves women's names because they were tempremental cast-iron b****es which needed constant feeding.)

And of course, there is the inevitable sinks (latrine) humor, too.

[Dreamer42]

Re: Uniform Appearence.

There is a book on the collection of letters sent home by a soldier, Ira S. Petit, in the 11 Regt. of the US Regulars, stationed in NY and other N.E. US garrisons prior to being sent to Virginia. It is called "Diary of a Dead Man". He describes much of what you're looking for - don't recall if he mentioned specifics of the "how-to". He was later captured and sent to Andersonville, where he died after about three months stay, I believe, in 1864. I was impressed with the information about living in garrison, preparing for guard duty, etc. Oh, there is also the typical dufus all military personel run into who is a slacker/"Jonah"/sad sack amoungst his regt. Great stuff.
Interrestingly, I have the discharge papers of a Christopher Clintsman, who was also in the 11th, and from NY. There's a good chance they knew each other.

- Jay Reid
Dreamer42
9th Texas