Average weight?

[Hank Trent]

Re: Barbarism and Civilization stats

It's fascinating that on the umich site, the average weights range from 140-151 lbs. compared with the average 226 lb. "Revolutionary officers at West Point, August 10, 1778, given in 'Milledulcia,' p. 278"

Here's an itemized list of those officers and their weights:

http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fharp%2Fharp0006%2F&tif=00881.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABK4014-0006-137

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Dale Beasley]

Re: Average weight?

MS Allen,

Just for thought......if the average soldier weighed say 175lbs at the onset of the war, you can bet that after a few months he lost from 10-20 lbs. Now, I know this can vary, the more the person may weight, the more he would probably lose. I am 43 y/o, I am 5'10'', at the start of my tour here in OIF2 I weighed 204, 18% body fat, I now weight 185 and body fat is now 16%. My point is that the soldier lost weight.....so give or take 10 -15 lbs, when you read the history.

[OlszowyTM]

Re: Average weight?

A period perspective on weight--

The following are entries from letters written by Cora Benton, Albion, NY to her husband Charlie, 17th NYV Independent Light Battery, published as “Hard Breathing Days”, Almeron Press, Albion, NY 2003

11/16/62-
the child was born at half past ten…a fine plump little fellow-weighing after it was dressed –nine & one half pounds…

3/1/63
Do you know how much you weigh-how much have you gained since you left home?

3/2/63
Why darling, what are you thinking about-hope I’ll weigh from 130-150 pounds? I should think I would be “quite a woman!” I guess you’ve forgotten… I did not weigh a hundred and never much over that…

3/8/63
He saw one of the officers in the co. Howard is in last Friday…. Howard is well and growing fat…

3/15/63

I don’t see how you could weigh yourself so-they must have been large balances to hold you.

3/29/63

Ella & I were weighed yesterday & I am gaining finely. Her weight is 131 & mine 108-some difference but both of us are unusually fleshy.

I weighed him a few days ago & he weighs fifteen pounds now
(This is the same baby from entry 11/16/62)
12/13/63

…160 lbs. I see you are not pining away very fast to say the very least- if I remember rightly you never weighed more than that.


Off topic but 2 interesting entries-

2/22/63

You naughty fellow, to write such stuff in a letter as the line underscored. What if any one else had got that letter first; how exceedingly mortified I should have been. I have scratched out a portion of it, lest other eyes might see it as it is….

3/15/63

I see you are not learning very fast to leave off the smutty words

I found the book a little tedious to read (lots of I’m sick, your mother is sick, my mother is sick, how am I going to survive without you, please convert, don’t drink, don’t gamble etc), but there is a lot of information about citizen life on the home front. It has some of the most descriptive passages about childbirth and rearing I’ve read recently-Cora is nothing if not heavy on details, including a bout of jealousy.

[Anna Allen]

Re: Average weight?

Awesome! Once again, you guys shared much more info than I expected!

Those are some great excerpts from that book, Terri! I'll have to check that one out sometime.

[SouthernRifle]

Re: Average weight?

I recently purchased a book of letters that were written by four brothers who served with the 3d Alabama Infantry in Virginia. In one letter dated March 22, 1863 one brother complains about provisions getting scarce, down to a quarter pound of meat and one pound of flour. In a second letter dated April 18, 1863, the same brother talks about getting wild onions and occaisional fish. In another letter dated a week later, a second brother describes himself as being 160 pounds in weight, which was 15 pounds more than he ever previously weighed. The only addition to their rations in the third letter was "fresh shad drawn once a week."


Rob Weber
3d Alabama