Friday, 6th Pleasant. E.I.R.B. Neh. 11 2d Peter 1-2-3. This morning I am detailed as officer of the day. Took another lesson in the sword practice. Engaged in reading in the History of England.
[orders and circulars Loren would, or should, have seen concurrent with his diary entries...]
Genl Order No 37, Hd Qrs Ninth Regt I V, Camp Paine Dec 6, 1861
Commanders of the Cos will parade their resp. commands dressed in the grey uniform promptly at the beat of the drum (1 ¼ o'clock PM) on the Regtal Parade ground prepared for marching to the Review Ground.
By the time of their arrival at Camp Yates, Springfield, Illinois several companies had been issued uniforms of differing shades of gray, probably of wool, some of which had red piping. As noted by Captain Webb on Tuesday, 23 April 1861, “There were already some soldiers there when we arrived but we were dressed in uniforms and presented a very fine appearance and were cheered as we passed along.” Most of the men wore that, and or a mixture of their own odd bits of clothing and hats. Most brought nothing additional in the way of clothing with them, anticipating a speedy issuance of clothing and blankets by the army. Nothing was officially issued for some time and the men suffered greatly for want of clean and hygienic clothing, and when being washed for want of anything to wear as protection from the unbearable heat and the countless mosquitoes.
ReplyDeleteThey also had been issued a dress uniform, described as Teutonic, with shoulder scales; probably resembled something similar to the uniforms worn by some of the men, in their previous service, in the German revolutionary armies of 1848. On 26 August 1861 the men were issued fatigue uniforms of less than desirable quality, that was considered the men’s un-dress uniform. It was made of hickory shirting material, which some called ‘shoddy’, decorated with red piping. They were finally issued winter uniforms and overcoats on 29 October 1861; the officers had to purchase their own and Captain Webb’s overcoat arrived 12 November 1861 at a cost of $40.00.
The following order was issued in the late autumn : “Genl Order No 37. Hd Qrs Ninth Regt I V. Camp Paine Dec 6, 1861. Commanders of the Cos will parade their resp. commands dressed in the grey uniform promptly at the beat of the drum (1 ¼ o'clock PM) on the Regtal Parade ground prepared for marching to the Review Ground.” It appears that they wore the gray throughout all of 1861 and into the first months of 1862.
Captain Webb noted on 21 March 1862, “We turned over our old coats and drew a new uniform of dark blue.” That statement refutes early assertions that not until 5 April 1862, just before the battle of Shiloh were the men issued suits of union blue, and met the Confederates on that fateful day with new uniforms. Either way it is clear that they met the enemy at Donelson in gray and the enemy at Shiloh in blue; obviously some companies received their clothing at various times in the two week period between 21 March and 6 April 1862.
Each company was allowed four women to be employed as laundresses or washerwomen, and under Army Regulations, it would have been the unwelcome duty of these four ladies to wash all of the clothing for almost one hundred men.