What do you do?

[lincolnsguard]

You're at an event, it's time to sleep. It's going to rain/is raining.

You have:
Federal shelter half
One Gum blanket
blanket


Going to your car and or going home is not an option.

Pick one:
Spring/Fall
Summer


For me:

Summer:
No big deal, warm and wet is no problem. I'll dry, I do every day when I get out of the shower. Sleep on the shelter half, rollup in the blanket, cover with the gum. My equipment, properly cared for will be just fine.

Fall/Winter:
Three men button two shelter halves together. Set up low for more space. Sleep on two gum blankets, sharing three wool. Use the extra gum(on the windy side) and half to cover the top/ends. No trees to hack up? Use your muskets.

[RJSamp]

You're at an event, it's time to sleep. It's going to rain/is raining.

You have:
Federal shelter half
One Gum blanket
blanket


Going to your car and or going home is not an option.

Pick one:
Spring/Fall
Summer


For me:

Summer:
No big deal, warm and wet is no problem. I'll dry, I do every day when I get out of the shower. Sleep on the shelter half, rollup in the blanket, cover with the gum. My equipment, properly cared for will be just fine.

Fall/Winter:
Three men button two shelter halves together. Set up low for more space. Sleep on two gum blankets, sharing three wool. Use the extra gum(on the windy side) and half to cover the top/ends. No trees to hack up? Use your muskets.

Time to find a couple of pals.....if you aren't marching 15+ miles in a day you should enough energy and time to build a shebang of sorts.....or at least erect a shelter tent.....

Rifles tend to be rust magnets.....so we try to keep them off the ground and under something....morning dew is always a pain..... couple of hunks of twine, attach the rifle to the ridge pole under the tent works well.....rubber blanket on one end of the tent helps keep out wind/weather.....

go raiding on the newbies/fresh fish and grab yourself some extra blankets/canvas/rubberized blankets.....or share....

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

You're at an event, it's time to sleep. It's going to rain/is raining.

You have:
Federal shelter half
One Gum blanket
blanket


Going to your car and or going home is not an option.

Pick one:
Spring/Fall
Summer


For me:

Summer:
No big deal, warm and wet is no problem. I'll dry, I do every day when I get out of the shower. Sleep on the shelter half, rollup in the blanket, cover with the gum. My equipment, properly cared for will be just fine.

Fall/Winter:
Three men button two shelter halves together. Set up low for more space. Sleep on two gum blankets, sharing three wool. Use the extra gum(on the windy side) and half to cover the top/ends. No trees to hack up? Use your muskets.

Why wait for the rain to come?

[Parault]

Summer:

Gum Blanket
Lightweight blanket

Winter:

Gum Blanket
Greatcoat
Sleep by the fire
or
Shelter halves with pard

[HCSmitty]

well, id put the gum blanket down, then the blanket, loy on one half and pull the other half over. youll be spooning with your weapon tonite!!! Atleast thas how we did it in Infantry school,only with a pancho and a poncho liner.

[Poor Private]

Id pick up everything and head to my car and find the nearest hotel/motel. Then come back when it stopped raining- if the event was still going. (all this said tongue in cheek). I tried that this past year- event was rained out satuday morning after everything soaking wet. Had to pull cars and cannons out with wreckers It is now called the "Quagmire Event". To wet and muddy to sleep on friday night with just a 1/2 and blanket and Gum. Ended up in a shabang dog tent.

[GrumpyDave]

"Going to your car was not an option"

I think, at this juncture, with the internet, folks look at the forcast before an event and, if it's supposed to rain, they just don't show up. IMHO, camping skills are at an all time low. Units/NCO's don't take the time to teach. It's not fun, membership is down.(one of many reasons) Nobody said start a fire. The psychological(sp?) value of a campfire is priceless.

[reb64]

You're at an event, it's time to sleep. It's going to rain/is raining.

You have:
Federal shelter half
One Gum blanket
blanket


Going to your car and or going home is not an option.

Pick one:
Spring/Fall
Summer


For me:

Summer:
No big deal, warm and wet is no problem. I'll dry, I do every day when I get out of the shower. Sleep on the shelter half, rollup in the blanket, cover with the gum. My equipment, properly cared for will be just fine.

Fall/Winter:
Three men button two shelter halves together. Set up low for more space. Sleep on two gum blankets, sharing three wool. Use the extra gum(on the windy side) and half to cover the top/ends. No trees to hack up? Use your muskets.


secure another halve and pretend two guys are doing the brokeback mountain thing in another tent. sleep alone , dry and cozy with gum over the tent.

[Parault]

"Going to your car was not an option"

I think, at this juncture, with the internet, folks look at the forcast before an event and, if it's supposed to rain, they just don't show up. IMHO, camping skills are at an all time low. Units/NCO's don't take the time to teach. It's not fun, membership is down.(one of many reasons) Nobody said start a fire. The psychological(sp?) value of a campfire is priceless.
So very true sir..........I find that an event with unforseen problems makes the event much more fun. It doesn't last forever, I can do anything for a little while. Eventually I will come back to the 21st century.

[Trimmings]

"...two guys are doing the brokeback mountain thing...."

Let's not go there.

[hanktrent]

Let's not go there.

I can't even figure out what he's saying. Something about sleeping alone while imagining homoerotic fantasies? :confused:

Obviously the best solution is to find someone else with another shelter half, but if you're alone, has anybody mentioned yet trying to rig even one shelter half at a low angle?

I'd try to weight or stake down one long side of the shelter half, and prop or tie the other long side just high enough to so it would shed water, and try to face the opening away from the wind. Then lie on the gum blanket with the wool blanket, with all my gear close against me. A single shelter half is just barely wide enough to do some good, and will at least shed water better if at an angle.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[bob 125th nysvi]

Option one find a pard with a shelter half and settle down for the night.

If alone, pitch the shelter half with the three open sides away from the prevailing weather (the west for most of us or southwest) role up in the blanket and gum balnket (think yodel cake) and go to sleep.

WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?

Man does this even need to be a topic?

[flattop32355]

Obviously the best solution is to find someone else with another shelter half, but if you're alone, has anybody mentioned yet trying to rig even one shelter half at a low angle?

I'd try to weight or stake down one long side of the shelter half, and prop or tie the other long side just high enough to so it would shed water, and try to face the opening away from the wind. Then lie on the gum blanket with the wool blanket, with all my gear close against me. A single shelter half is just barely wide enough to do some good, and will at least shed water better if at an angle.

For further protection, there is also the option to pile brush, small branches, etc. towards the open side and one end of the lean-to. This depends upon what is availalbe in the area of your camp. You just need to be careful getting in and out that it doesn't all come falling down.

[53rd OVI]

realize I am screwed for the night then. Being 6'7, not normal height for a cw soldier...shelter half is doing no good for me. Maybe throw it over me somehow and place the gum blanket on the ground then the poncho on top of me then the shelter half. Place the gear under it all with me and get in a currled up position for the night to keep under the covering. In the morning just realize I need help up when waking up...LOL :p

[reb64]

I can't even figure out what he's saying. Something about sleeping alone while imagining homoerotic fantasies? :confused:

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net


I meant let the other two do the crotch to biscuits spooning thing, Im going to make a shelter and sleep alone, and no, its not homophobia. just dont want a foul smelling dude up against my arse all night.

[sbl]

A experienced field sojer will figure out a way to sleep warm an' dry. Lemme know when ya do.
~ William H. (Bill) Mauldin, Up Front (1945).

[Slickrick214]

I meant let the other two do the crotch to biscuits spooning thing, Im going to make a shelter and sleep alone, and no, its not homophobia. just dont want a foul smelling dude up against my arse all night.

I agree with you there. I would rather sleep alone. Three years ago when I first started re-enacting I would always sleep alone in my shelter half.

[Trimmings]

Obviously the best solution is to find someone else with another shelter half, but if you're alone, has anybody mentioned yet trying to rig even one shelter half at a low angle?[/EMAIL]

Hank,

The spacious 7' 2" diagonal is available in a properly made shelter half, although dimensions can and will vary (see Gaede) as shelter halves age and taking into consideration the vagaries during the manufacturing process. Simply stake in a non-rope loop corner with an inverted twig crotch, prop up the other corner with a light 18" to 24" branch, and twig down the other two corners with inverted twig crotches. Simple stuff, and great for one man.

Using the rope issued with the shelter half works, too, as does mating a properly made gum blanket to the shelter half; however, most reenactor repop gum blankets are not properly made so as to be joined up with a shelter half to make a tent complete.

Great book: http://www.howtocampout.org/

Maybe the better question is what would they have done instead of what reenactors would do.

[tompritchett]

A experienced field sojer will figure out a way to sleep warm an' dry. Lemme know when ya do.
~ William H. (Bill) Mauldin, Up Front (1945).

Either Joe or Willie to the fresh fish while the rain is falling into the trench at night. Yes, I remember that cartoon well.

[hanktrent]

Maybe the better question is what would they have done instead of what reenactors would do.

Well that's too easy. They rarely needed to sleep alone.

It does bring up the question, though: Anyone have examples of period soldiers choosing to sleep alone, with just their own shelter half, in cold or rainy weather, when others were available to share things with? Or carrying two shelter halves so they could avoid needing to partner with another to make a full tent? How common was it? What kind of man would choose it?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[bob 125th nysvi]

realize I am screwed for the night then. Being 6'7, not normal height for a cw soldier...shelter half is doing no good for me. Maybe throw it over me somehow and place the gum blanket on the ground then the poncho on top of me then the shelter half. Place the gear under it all with me and get in a currled up position for the night to keep under the covering. In the morning just realize I need help up when waking up...LOL :p

Carry and extra oilcloth (I do) and use it as top cover especially over the feet.

Works every time.

[sbl]

I couldn't find an on-line copy of the cartoon. Mauldin did "Mud and Guts" for the Rev-War. Too bad he didn't do the CW/WBTS, although we all remember his role in The Red Badge Of Courage.

I have been cold and wet doing this hobby and no matter what layering or gear you bring, each event is different. We rarely do more than two nights at an event. Those guys figures it out quickly. Spooning with other men probably wasn't a problem for men who may have shared a bed with siblings.

[Blair]

Gen. Patton tried to get Mauldin's cartoons band from the Stars and Strips. Believing it was bad for moral and didn't really depict the living conditions of the troops in the field. The G I's loved them for how accuate they were to their life style.

There are a great group of photos taken at Ft. McAllister south of Savannah, GA. This completed Sherman's March to the Sea and linked his Army up with the Navy where they could be resuppied. The Union troops are cleaning up the fort area when the photos were taken.
You would not believe how ragged those troops appear in those photos and not typical of photos of Union men.
Blair Taylor

[Dave Myrick]

I don't understand what is so hard about building a hot fire, gathering leaves and boughs to lie on, covering them with your shelter half, your blanket an then the ground cloth. Sleep with your feet to the fire and a pile of wood at your head. You can stay warm, comfy, and dry and keep your gear the same.

Dave

[sbl]

Dave, That's good for one man. How about a company street?

[Poor Private]

I too am one of those that will not share the same space. I only see the guys Once a month and if we are lucky 2 times. Don't know them enough to get that comfortable with them. Especially to spoon. Sorry no Broke Back Mt for me. Might be different if I grew up with them or it was my son, or brother that I share a dog with.
Beside that, where do the pair stick thier rifles and leathers and haversack, and back pack at during a rainy night? Just toss em out in the rain? Remeber these are not government supplied equipment. I have too many dollars invested in my kit to not know where it's at and and care it's given.

[sbl]

Beside that, where do the pair stick thier rifles and leathers and haversack, and back pack at during a rainy night? Just toss em out in the rain? Remeber these are not government supplied equipment. I have too many dollars invested in my kit to not know where it's at and and care it's given.

I agree with you. That's a good point! I've saved a corner of my gum blanket for the traps and oiled my rifle before sleeping and roll part of my gum blanket over it too. You try to head off the rust in the AM. When I get home I immediately air all the wool, and clean all the metal. The canvas of your knapsack and haversack should keep the contents dry unless immersed. Knapsack can make a nice pillow too so that's undercover.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Gen. Patton tried to get Mauldin's cartoons band from the Stars and Strips. Believing it was bad for moral and didn't really depict the living conditions of the troops in the field. The G I's loved them for how accuate they were to their life style.

There are a great group of photos taken at Ft. McAllister south of Savannah, GA. This completed Sherman's March to the Sea and linked his Army up with the Navy where they could be resuppied. The Union troops are cleaning up the fort area when the photos were taken.
You would not believe how ragged those troops appear in those photos and not typical of photos of Union men.
Blair Taylor
Photo #2 from the left is one of my favorites. Note the torn blouses and the dude with what looks like a turban on his head.

[sbl]

Is this the one you guys are talking about?


http://sherpaguides.com/georgia/civil_war/coastal/gen_shermans_men_removing_ammo_from_ft_mcallister. jpg

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Yep, thats the one. I forgot to put the darn link in my last post
http://www.civilwarp.com/reenactment_sites_05/ftmc/pgs/ftmcpage4.html Second pic on the left

[sigsaye]

Interestng topic. For me it depended no the event and what unit and when in the war we were portraying. The last time I went out we were portraying a unit that had only been in service for three weeks. We all had full knapsacks with blankets, shelter halves and gum blankets. We humped that stuff up and down hills all day. It was August in Tennessee and hotter than a $2 pistol in New Orleans. right after we stopped for the night, it started to rain. I was beat, simply beat (50 is getting much to old to be humping the bush as it were). I did not want to unpack everything and get it all wet just to have to pack it all back up in the morning. I keep my gummy between the halves of the pack (when I carry it), so I pulled it out and wrapped my weapon and leather gear up in it and put it ontop of the pack. Then I took my sack coat (doing Fed) and put it over my head with my hat still on and leaned against a tree and went to sleep. When they woke me up for my watch, it had stopped raining (I had slept through it) so I hung my coat in the tree to dry, put on my gear over my shirt and and stood my watch. I had the last watch so I just cooked some coffee when I was relieved and got ready to move out. And, yes, the Sgt. did verbly beat me about the head and shoulders for not wearing my coat. But, I was just a Pvt who had only been in the Army for three weeks, I didn't think it mattered that much:roll:

In my early career, I did CS. I did an event in early March in Northern VA. It was cold, and actually snowed. We made a dog pile. Now, I knew these guys and 90% were active duty or retired Military, the rest were Poliec or Firefighters. We took half the gummys and layed them down then half the blankets. Then we piled in with gear and weapons with the rest of the blankets and then the rest of the gummys on top. Slept great under the pile and woke up with a layer of snow on top of us. Learned a valuable lesson that night. Along with weapons and gear, don't forget to pull in your shoes. Mine were full of snow, making it very interesting to answer natures call:(

Usually, at events I don't bother to rig any shelter, just find a convient place to through down. I have only done marches and those typoe of events for years, and have not dealt with company streets since maybe '95. When the weather goes bad, I have been knowen to rig something with what ever I have.

At an event in Florida one year, I had a shelter half and gummy. It started to rain, and there was a new guy appearing very lost. I told him to fall in on me and we rigged my SH under some bushes against the wind. We used his gummy as further shielding and my gummy on the ground to keep us off the damp. We each then rolled up in our own blanket and slept through the night waking up quite dry. We also had dry gear, weapond and a stash of fire wood to cook morning coffee (gotta have the morning coffee!).
I have also spent rainy nights in a great coat with nothing but a gummy. Leaning against a tree with my feet to the fire, cold wet, miserable and hating life ( very much into the "Period Moment").

I have also slept in a warm Sibley with a thick layer of straw on the floor, a wall tend and a wedge tent, under a fly, an properly erected dog (I'm 6 foot four, so not so great) and a winter hut dug thre feet into the ground, roofed with shelter halves and a fire place (snug). For me it just all depended on the scenerio:confused: .

Steve Hesson

[sbl]

Thanx Ross! I like the reenactors who made the wheel barrow from the photo. I got to Ft Pulaski about 10 years ago but didn't make it to McAlister.

Neat photo as you can just make out the two men who tucked his sack coat into their trousers.

[Blair]

Thanks Ross & Scott for posting those pictures and the web site.
There are other photos in this series showing more of the work details. I have not been able to find them. They use to have a number of them (inlarged versions) on display in the small museum they have on site.
It would seem a Photographer travaled with Sherman's Army during his "march to the sea". Many of these images have been misidentified or simply gone missing.
Sherman's men were in a pretty sad condition by the time they got to Ft. McAllister. The contrast between enlisted and Officers is obvious in the photos.
In sharp contrast are the images of the Officers, as is typical, they are in their finest for the photos. The common private had little more than what he could carry or was wearing.
Little Ft. McAllister had to be taken for Sherman to be resupplied. He had to be resupplied before he could move on to Savannah.
Blair Taylor

[Dave Myrick]

Dave, That's good for one man. How about a company street?

If the scenario called for a fixed camp where a company street would be correct them thats a different matter. The majority of reenactments depict battles. Rarely (I know it did happen sometimes) did troops march to fight from a fixed camp or get attacked while in camp. More often the troops are marching to the fight so no fixed camp style company streets.

Dave

[Mint Julep]

You're at an event, it's time to sleep. It's going to rain/is raining.

You have:
Federal shelter half
One Gum blanket
blanket


I do what they did ... get wet and suffer through it.

I have been known to put all my gear on, sit on my knapsack, cradle my musket and wrap my gum blanket around me, pull the brim of my hat down and doze off. Most of your gear stays dry, you don't sleep well and you get a cramp in your back. But at least I'm not carrying a sopping wet wool blanket the next day.

[Silas]

Dave, That's good for one man. How about a company street?

Why insist upon a company street? Per Gilham :

BIVOUACS

769. [ ] In infantry, the fires are made in rear of the color line, on the ground that would be occupied by the tents in camp. The companies are placed around them, and, if possible, construct shelters. When liable to surprise, the infantry should stand to arms at daybreak, and the cavalry mount until the return of the reconnoitering parties. If the arms are to be taken apart to clean, it must be done by detachments, successively.

This is from page 488 of the Confederate copy of Gilham's work (http://books.google.com/books?id=xmw9kXUyOlcC&printsec=frontcover&#PRA1-PA488,M1). It's the same wording in his pre-war version.

From page 485 is the typical method of setting up a company street (http://books.google.com/books?id=xmw9kXUyOlcC&printsec=frontcover&#PRA1-PA485,M1). Butterfield is also available online. He describes how to set up a camp.

Here's an interesting little source : Bvt. Brig. Gen. Francis James Lippitt, Field Service in War: Comprising Marches, Camps and Cantonments, Outposts, Convoys, Reconnaissances, Foraging, and Notes on Logistics (http://books.google.com/books?id=Q3IDAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage#PPA152,M1)(1869) p. 151-52.

2. Field tents for the command generally, should not be allowed.

[ ] The injurious effects of wet and cold are in a great degree obviated by making the men sleep in circles round their bivouac fires, with their feet close to the fire.

Lippitt applied many of the lessons of the war into his manuals.

The answers to many of the "how to" questions in this thread and others were written 140 plus years ago. Here, you've got Gilham before and during the war suggesting how to bivouac and Lippitt afterwards saying the same thing. Must be something to the method.

[sbl]

Thanks Silas, I've bedded down around a fire with a group within the company rather than setting up my own bed and fire.

[Silas]

The hearty keyboard campaigners on forum who are so full of practical advice need to put some of that theory to practice. The Piney Woods (http://www.intothepineywoods.com/) calls those who are inclined to do more than campaign online. Federal companies are still being formed. Get registered for the best campaign event on next year's calendar.

Silas Tackitt,
adjutant, 24th Iowa and
participant at Banks Grand Retreat

Into The Piney Woods, 10-14 March 08, near Natchitoches, Louisiana (http://www.intothepineywoods.com/)

[Pvt Schnapps]

A experienced field sojer will figure out a way to sleep warm an' dry. Lemme know when ya do.
~ William H. (Bill) Mauldin, Up Front (1945).

"One thing is pretty certain if you are in the infantry -- you aren't going to be very warm and dry while you sleep. If you haven't thrown away your blankets and shelter half during a march, maybe you can find another guy who has kept his shelter half and the two of you can pitch a pup tent. But pup tents aren't very common around the front. Neither is sleep, for that matter. You do most of your sleeping while you march. It's not a very healthy sleep; you might call it a sort of coma....

"You wake two hours later and you're glad you didn't get in the hole because it's raining and the hole is half full of water. Your head still feels fuzzy and your heart is still pounding but it's better because you have been lying down. A pool of water has collected right in the center of the shelter half you threw over yourself and the water is dribbling right through to your skin. You brush the water out and pull the canvas tight around you. The rain continues, the weather is getting colder, and you try to go to sleep quick so you don't feel it."

Ibid., pp. 146-151

Sounds like he would have gone to his car if he had a chance. In lieu thereof, he recommends barns.

[sbl]

Thanks for the quotes. My father agreed with Mauldin. My father did recommend piles of pine needles for a bed from his experiences in training troops from 1940 to 1944 in the US and July to October 1944 in France.

[Mint Julep]

Thanks for the quotes. My father agreed with Mauldin. My father did recommend piles of pine needles for a bed from his experiences in training troops from 1940 to 1944 in the US and July to October 1944 in France.

At the BGR event a couple of years ago, the best bed I had was made of pine needles. I found a small natural depression in the ground and claimed it. There were already some pine needles collected in it and I collected more from a dead tree that had apparently blown over. It was soft, warm and comfy. Sadly, this was also the only night I had to get up in the middle to pull guard duty. I took it as a punishment from God for getting too comfortable.

[Mint Julep]

The other day, as I arrived at work, I was thinking about the weather and my dog. It was bitterly cold that morning and I was glad that I had kept my dog crated in the garage where he had protection from the wind and a warm bed to rest on that day. In the next thought, I was wishing I had an event to attend that weekend, as I enjoy camping in the cold weather. It dawned on me that I was eager to go out and experience what I could not in good conscience subject my dog to endure.

A few nights after that, I was checking on my dog, in his kennel in the back yard. It was starting to rain and I went to see if he wanted to come into the garage. I'm out there in the rain, in a ballcap and my raincoat, getting wet, and I went into his kennel. The kennel is a fenced area on top of concrete squares with a tarp over it for weather protection and his dog house inside. His dog house is stuffed with loose straw. I'm getting wet and the wind is blowing. He is inside the doghouse, warm and dry and looking at me like I'm an idiot. I left him to his cozy nap and went to bed. Lying in bed, I was thinking how cozy he seemed and wished I could get that cozy at a rainy event. I realized I was being jealous of my dog for sleeping warm and dry outside in the rain.

I may have been in this hobby too long. I'm either jealous of or enduring worse conditions than my dog.

[Silas]

Face it, Joe. Your dog's a farb.