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The Watchdog THE WATCHDOG Volume 2, No. 1 Winter, 1994 Guarding your interests.... This issue of The Watchdog marks the end of our "Under Two Flags" of Getlysburg, Pennsylvania first year, and we would like to take this opportunity will present a one-day workshop for civilian to thank you for subscribing, for passing along our interpreters Sunday, April 10. Topics include Men's newsletter to your colleagues in reenacting, and for and Women's Clothing, Social Classes of the Era, an( your many kind and thought-provoking letters. We Methods of Interpretation. The workshop fee is have succeeded beyond our wildest expectations, and $25.00, and information is available from "Under we appreciate your support and encouragement. In Two Flags,"(7 17) 337-2984. accordance with our non-profit status and our Perhaps the most gratifying aspect of pub1 ishing commitment to battlefield preservation, The The Watchdog has been hearing from our readers tha Watchdog will be making a donation to the Mill our information has had an effect on the goods they Springs Battlefield Preservation Association in purchase. Some readers reported a long delay in Kentucky. receiving their frying pans from Mr. Frank Ellis -- This issue also marks the completion of many that's because he reporledly had orders for more than subscriptions, and we hope that all of you will renew a hundred after our July issue. October's report on thi your subscription. You won't want to miss articles on "pocket flashlights" produced by Mr. Patrick Federal sack coats or Confederate kepis in future Cunningham resulted in a number of orders, and we issues. Many of our readers have already sent in still receive orders for "School of the Soldier" videos their renewals; as a gentle reminder to those whose and base ball rules. We've heard of two units who subscriptions expire with the receipt of this issue, we have banned the two-piece folding camp chairs from have checked a renewal notice on the back cover of their unit impressions. What this tells us is that this issue. If you placed your subscription after April reenactors are hungry for thc kind of information 1, 1993, your notice will be checked as your provided in The Watchdog, so we will continue to subscription expires later. guard your interests. We alwayslike to direct our readers to programs which will help to improve their impressions. A full- day workshop on ladies' indoor headwear, presented by Libby Smith, will be held at the Sam Davis home in Smyrna, Tennessee on January 29. Cost of the program is $10.00 (pre-registration is necessary), and kits for making your own indoor day cap will be available at a cost of $10.00 to $20.00. For registralion, contact Libby Smith at (615) 883-9501. "A Winter Cantonment," a seminar for military reenactors, will be held in Decatur, Illinois on February 4-6, 1994. The seminar will include i programs on the function of color guards and guides, battalion evolutions, first person impressions and more. Watchdog publisher Nicky Hughes will present a program entitled, "From Country Store to Company Street: the Material Environment of the Civil War." To register for the seminar call Me1 Kent at (2 17) 876-0328 or Peter Wells at (217) 875-5207. COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE COMMON TENT Stephen Osman The lowly common tent (a.k.a. "A" or wedge The tabling on the foot of the tent, whenfinished, tent) housed American soldiers from the Revolution will be one and a half inches in length. to the Civil War, showing remarkably little change The door lines to be of six-thread Manilla line, over those years.' But in procuring a tent, as with so three feet long in the clear. many other replicated items offered to Civil War The foot lines to be of six-thread Manilla line, reenactors today, the buyer is faced with endless sixteen inches long in the clear. variety of products purported to be authentic. The Twelve door strings, one inch in width, and best way to compare these offerings is to examine the fourteen inches long in the clear. government's own specifications for tents issued to All lines to be well whipped, one inch from the Civil War soldiers. ends, with waxed twine and properly knotted. In the fall of 1 864 Chief Inspector of Tents A. Flomerfelt proposed manufacturer specifications for all tents, an edited version of which was published as Quartermaster General Office General Orders Description of Common Tent Poles. Number 60, dated December 12, 1864. Flomerfelt's specifications described the same tents used for years Ridge, 6 feet 10 inches long, 2 112 inches wide, I by the any,along with the Sibley and shelter tent 7/8 inches thick; bands on each end 2 inches wide, versions. Enough details are provided in these orders secured by two screws I inch long; 112 inch hole I to allow accurate reconstruction today. inch from each end. Upright 7feet 4 inches long, 2 inches thick; Description of Cornmon Tent bands on upper end 1 3/4 inch wide, secured by 2 Dimensions when firished: screws I irzch long; spindles, 3/8 inch iron, to project Height when pitched 6' 10". out I In inch, and inserted 2 inches in upright. Length of ridge"" 6' 10". Bands and spindles to be galvanized. Width when pitched 8' 4': Height of door "" 5' 6': Width of door "" I 'at bottom aritl 9" at Description of Common Tent Pins top. From top of ridge Sixteen inches long, 1 1/4 inch wide, I inch thick, to lower edge of I riotclt 3 inches from top. roof wherr pitched 8' 1n1l. For each common tent there should be 14 pins.* To be ntade of cotton drtck 28 In inches wide, clear of (111 imperfections, ar~dweighing ten ounces to Common tents were all hand sewn during the the lineal yard. Civil War, with hand-worked grommet holes on the Ends of tent to be cut with a sweep of four inches ridge and in pairs along the bottom for the "foot from the corner to the center. lines." These stake loops were positioned at each To be made ill workmanlike manner, with not less seam line. Pins were to be of white oak, the ridge tharl two and one half stitches of equal length to the pole of white pine and the uprights of ash or "other inch, made with double thread ~j'five~foldcotton suitable wood."Wther features missing on most twine, well waxed. The setrnis riot less than one inch replicas available today include the sod cloth and the in width, arrd no slack taken in tltertl. reinforces at the ridge ends. Grornntetts must be worked in all the holes, and to be well made with waxed cotton twine. With these specifications you can rate the various The doors and stay pieces to he of the same replicas on the market, or perhaps encourage your material as dte tent, the sttlj~pieces on the end and favorite supplier to upgrade his offerings. ridge of tent to he rlirle irlclles squtrre. The sod clot11 to he seven-ounce cotton hrck, nine inches in widtlz in the clear from the tabling, arzd to extend arourld the tent. SOURCES AND NOTES Descriptions from 1807, 18 12, 1826, 1832, and 1 846 have They are easily followed and would add considerable been examined and show only minor variations in dimensions uniformity and realism to our camps. It is not and a change from linen to cotton after the Mexican War. unusual to visit a reenactment camp and see hardly National Archives, Record Group 92, Entries 21 18 (Commissary any poles and pins that match from tent to tent -- a General of Purchases, Letters Received), 2 1 17 (CG of P, Letters misleading situation when one recalls that these items Sent), and 225 (Consolidated Correspondence File). were objects of fairly standardized manufacture and 2~heprinted specificationsclosely follow those in mass issue. Flomerfelt's letter and enclosures to Col. Herman Biggs, Nov. While on the subject of common tents, please 2 1, 1 864. National Archives, Record Group 92, Entry 225, allow us to solicit an article of The Watchdog about "Tents." the frequency and locations of use of such tents 3~rtortenwasterMar~rral, 1865. Unpublished manuscript, during the Civil War. "Hard-core" reenactors tend to National Archives, Record Group 92. condemn common tents pretty universally, and it is certainly true that common tents are not appropriate Stephen Osmnn is Curator of Historic Fort for every living history event. But we wonder where Snellirtg, nncl is n folntclirtg member of the 1st and when they were really used. Have you ever Mirtrresota Infantry looked closely at the photographs of the encampments of Grant's army at Vicksburg? Look through the chapter entitled "Jewels of the Mississippi" in Volume IV, Fighring.for Time, of the Images qf War series. You will see a lot of common tents. Our favorite period photograph of a common tent in use, which we recommend our readers examine closely by the way, appears on page 287 of Volume V, Tlze Soltril Beseigecl, of Irnages qf War -- and in many other places. It depicts n wedge tent near Atlanta in 1864. These are hardly the "early war scenarios" to which we tend to relegate conimon tents in reenactment use. We draw no conclusions and make no recommendations here, but simply point to the need for some detailed research into primary materials. Is anyone interested in taking on this project? From n 19th Certtury spelling book; sounds like Publisher's Note: We are aware of no currently The Watchdog to us: available reproduction common tents that include many of the features described in Mr.
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