Confederate camps- on campaign and in summer/winter quarters

Pg 212 of Memoirs Historical and Personal, Including the Campaigns of the First Missouri Brigade, by Ephraim McD. Anderson
https://books.google.com/books/abou...AAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button

Circa late July-Aug 1862 Saltillo Mississippi

"We marched with the brigade to Saltillo, where camp was again regularly established. Saltillo is a small village and a station on the Mobile and Ohio railroad: our camp was situated in woodland half a mile from the town, and adjacent to it was a large cleared field, which was used for drilling—very warm work at the season of the year in that latitude. Wells were dug on the color-line by every company, and we were soon again settled in camp
with such conveniences around us as could be procured. Our tents were raised a couple of feet from the ground, to allow a free circulation of air, and to make room, at a sufficient height, for sleeping berths, which we were in the habit of constructing when it was likely the command would not move for several days. These were generally erected by driving forks in the ground and laying small poles across; they were rather hard, but to us not uncomfortable, and kept our blankets in good condition."

Is there not a drawing depicting "berths" such as these?
 
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@AUG351 thanks!

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I like this photo as it shows a different type of main support for the fly shelter. Looks much like the Viking style tents.

Notice the other fly like tents in the background that are Large, however use the more common main support method.
 
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@Bruce Vail are any of the old mills still producing fabric?

No, I think the last of the cotton duck plants closed in the 1970s. Most were converted to other industrial uses (one that was close by my old rental house in Baltimore was used as a warehouse for imported toys from China) but that didn't last too long.

In recent times, the old mills are being converted to residential condos, loft space for small business, restaurants, small-scale retail, etc. Surprisingly, not that many mill structures in the historic Jones Falls Valley have been demolished.

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This is a Baltimore cotton duck mill recently converted to condos.

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This is an old photo (1980s or 1990s, I'm guessing) of Mount Vernon Mills No. 1. Recognize it?

If industrial history interests you, check this out:

https://www.mvmills.com/content/history-of-mount-vernon
 
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Federal prison hospital, September 1862 Antietam. Note the "field" use of blankets, ground cloths and Federal rubber blankets.
 
Going back to the great period images in this thread of the company at drill, I'm taken by the number of men in shirtsleeves while in formation. As reenactors in the South in summer, the push to wear jackets is a constant issue. Interesting to see a company of real Rebs having shucked their coats to drill.
 
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Yeah, there are a lot images out there of troops in their shirtsleeves while outdoors. A few men are wearing overshirts in these photos, but there's certainly others in undershirts as well. I think shirtsleeves were acceptable in certain outdoor working conditions, more so than people think.

Here are a few more images from Pensacola.

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"Encampment of Louisville Blues, Captain Bludworth, 1st Alabama Regiment, Near Light House, Pensacola, Florida, April 1861."

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Unidentified
 
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Yeah, there are a lot images out there of troops outdoors in their shirtsleeves. There are a few men wearing overshirts in these photos, but there are certainly others in undershirts as well. In polite society of course that would not have been permitted, but I think shirtsleeves were acceptable in certain outdoor working conditions, more so than people think.

Here are a few more images from Pensacola.

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"Encampment of Louisville Blues, Captain Bludworth, 1st Alabama Regiment, Near Light House, Pensacola, Florida, April 1861."

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Unidentified
Surely the ditch in the first picture is not a latrine!
 
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While not Confederates (yet), the following images are of the Kentucky State Guard encampment at Camp Boone in Louisville in August or September 1860.

You'll notice quite large tents and flies of various styles. The KSG was probably the best equipped and trained of all militias North or South before the war began.

The majority of the KSG went south to a second Camp Boone in Tennessee in the fall of 1861 and would become the First Kentucky Brigade. I would assume some of the equipage went with them.

These are screen captures from a youtube video. The pictures can be found in Shadows of the Storm: The Image of War, 1861-1865, Vol. 1, published by the National Historical Society through Doubleday in the early 1980s.

The link to the youtube slide show is below




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The Texas Brigade 1861-62 winter quarters photographs, taken by Solomon Thomas "Tom" Blessing of Co. L, 1st Texas Infantry in camp near Dumfries, Va.

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I found the original ambrotype that the third photo came from here. Unfortunately it looks like a lot of the glass broke at some point.

Their caption in part is "Ambrotype of full length portraits of five unidentified soldiers in uniform, from the Wigfall Mess at Camp Dunlop in Dumfries, Virginia."
 
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