What are your measurements??

[Boy of '61]

Hi all,

I’m doing a research project on the size of Civil War soldiers compared to people, mainly re-enactors of today. What I need you to do is post your height, weight, chest size and waist size. If you don’t want your measurements to be posted on the web and seen by everybody, then you can PM me. Your information will be kept confident and your name will not be posted with any of my research. So with that being said, honesty on measurements is a must. Also the more the merry, the more people I get to respond, the more of a true sampling of today’s re-enactor I’ll get. This translates to more correct date and results for me. What I going to do with this information is I going to compare it to the heights given on soldiers index cards and see if there is any relationship. Also if you what to collect these measurements from members of your unit and pass them along too, that would be great to. Thanks for any info you provide.

[Boy of '61]

Re: What are your measurements??

I forgot to also ask what your age is, what branch of the army do you portray the most and finally which state or country were you born in. Again thanks for any info you provide for my research.

[Prodical Reb]

Re: What are your measurements??

OK! I'll start this out.
Age: 42
Born in Indiana
Reenact as Infantry
Height: 72 inches or 6 foot nothing
weight: 203 lbs (I've lost a few pounds in the last couple of weeks and plan on losing some more)

Measurements
Chest: 46 inches
Waist: 38
Neck: 16.5

[rand19th]

Re: What are your measurements??

Andy,
I am 5'3", 150, 41 inch chest, 33 inch waist, born in Indiana and reenact in Heavy Artillery and Infantry.
Randy Pesut
2D CONN Heavy Artillery
11TH CT Vol Inf

[thad gallagher]

Re: What are your measurements??

Andy,

Sounds like an interesting research project. Will we get to see or read you final findings?

Here's my dirt:

I reenact infantry
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 215 lbs
Chest: 46
Waist: 37

Best regards,
Thad Gallagher

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: What are your measurements??

Hallo!

While I think I understand you project...
But how are you going to capture chest and waist measurements of actual Civil War soldiers other than by the measurements of the Period garment sizing concept? Let alone weights?

Not being negative, just curious...

Curt

[Citizen_Soldier]

Re: What are your measurements??

Greetings,
I'm currently away from my material but it's my understanding that the first recording of chest measurements for enlisting U.S. Army soldiers was in the very early 20th century (Pre-WW1). This was due to a believed correlation between chest size and one's soldiering ability.

In 2004-2005 myself and another professional historian were able to gain access to the archives of a military base and examine thousands of enlistment records for Iowa National Guard soldiers prior to WW1. After building up a large sample of random enlistment records we set to work on using statistics to see what the average height and chest size were, along with seeing if there was any correlation between chest size and occupation. We then compared our findings to that of other anthropometric data including forensic material, period tailoring manuals, and etc. Following all of this we compared are material to the heights and chest sizes of a modern sampling and anthropometric material on the current population.

The findings were that from roughly the Revolutionary War through WW2 the average chest size for American enlisted men was around 36" or so. After World War Two the chest sizes started increasing due to better calorie intake, the heavy use of corn syrups in the American diet, a more sedentary lifestyle, fast food, and etc. What we also found is that there was very little difference in height between historic and modern populations.

We presented our findings at the national ALHFAM conference in 2005 and had our research published in thier journal.

Concerning The Rebellion, there was a study done of 2,000 Army of the Potomac soldiers during the war, of which I have an 1890's copy of and the finding were that the average chest size was around 36 inches for this sample. This along with uniform sizing by the QMD and forensic anthropology material may be your only shot for doing an anthropometric study comparing chest sizes of soldiers of The Rebellion to modern reenactors and historical interpreters.

If you have any questions please feel free to drop me an email at ddorwig@yahoo.com

Darrek Orwig

[Hank Trent]

Re: What are your measurements??

Concerning The Rebellion, there was a study done of 2,000 Army of the Potomac soldiers during the war, of which I have an 1890's copy of and the finding were that the average chest size was around 36 inches for this sample.

If it's what I'm thinking of, it's in the ORs online here:

http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/gifcache/moa/waro/waro0126/00892.TIF6.gif

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Linkstrap]

Re: What are your measurements??

Height, 6' 0"
Weight, 161 lbs.
Chest, 39"
Waist, 33"
(Cavalry)

[C. Hyson]

Re: What are your measurements??

Andy,
Here's some more info for you:
Age: 27
Reenact as Infantry
Height: 69"
weight: 160
Chest: 40 inches
Waist: 33
Neck: 16

[Citizen_Soldier]

Re: What are your measurements??

Hank,
Over the next week or so I'll dig out the material I have on the study conducted during The Rebellion and get back to you. What I have was published at the end of the nineteenth century, but it could possibly be associated with the one mentioned in the Official Records.

Darrek Orwig

[Boy of '61]

Re: What are your measurements??

Hallo!

While I think I understand you project...
But how are you going to capture chest and waist measurements of actual Civil War soldiers other than by the measurements of the Period garment sizing concept? Let alone weights?

Not being negative, just curious...

Curt

No, good question. What I'm going to do is take the chest and waist measurements and compare them to the height and weight and see if I get any relationship, this being for modern re-enactors. Most of the records that I have found so far for the soldier only list there height, so right now if I can find a relationship between height, weight, chest size and waist size that can be used in a modify model and applied to the soldiers height. I'm also planning on using the period garments sizing as well and measurements taken off of original uniforms and clothing. If fact, today I was in the vaults of the Minnesota Historical Society today looking at uniforms and clothing today, and plan on going back in the future. I'm not sure if it will work the way I'm planning until I do some number crunching, but if not I know for sure I can use the heights for so comparison. I hope that answered your question, if not ask me again and I'll try answering it again.

thad gallagher Re: What are your measurements??

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy,

Sounds like an interesting research project. Will we get to see or read you final findings?

Here's my dirt:

Height: 6'1"
Weight: 215 lbs
Chest: 46
Waist: 37

Best regards,
Thad Gallagher

Yes, I'm planning on either putting the results on the forum here or see if one of the magazines would like to do a article about my finds. I not sure how long it will take, I'm going to work on it in my free time. Currently, I'm a college student studying my pre-veterinary course, a lot of heavy science courses. So I'll work on this, gathering data and etc. on my free time and over the summer.

Thanks to everyone that has post so far and any comments.

[buckeye bear]

Re: What are your measurements??

Andy,

Age: 36
Portray infantry
Height: 71"
Weight: 195
Chest: 46"
Waist 35"

Scott Bierer
Mess No. 1

[Hank Trent]

Re: What are your measurements??

Most of the records that I have found so far for the soldier only list there height, so right now if I can find a relationship between height, weight, chest size and waist size that can be used in a modify model and applied to the soldiers height.

I'm trying to figure out that sentence. Do you mean you'll use the modern heights, weights and measurements to extrapolate the weight and measurement of period soldiers based on their heights?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: What are your measurements??

Hallo!

Herr Hank!

Was it you that posted, a while ago before the last or second-last AC Crash, a Civil War era (I believe it was New York Life Insurance Company) demographic list?

Curt