Did Civil War soldiers really tuck their trouser legs in to their socks?

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
You will see many drawings or artworks showing Civil War soldiers with their trouser legs tucked in to their socks. This is especially true of drawings and artwork of Confederate soldiers. So was this actually common?

It would seem like the trouser legs would not stay tucked in very well unless one tied a string around the sock or the trouser leg. I am not a reenactor and I have never tucked my trouser legs in to my socks so perhaps one of our reenactors can helps us know if the trouser legs would stay tucked in.
 
You will see many drawings or artworks showing Civil War soldiers with their trouser legs tucked in to their socks. This is especially true of drawings and artwork of Confederate soldiers. So was this actually common?

It would seem like the trouser legs would not stay tucked in very well unless one tied a string around the sock or the trouser leg. I am not a reenactor and I have never tucked my trouser legs in to my socks so perhaps one of our reenactors can helps us know if the trouser legs would stay tucked in.
In some artwork, you see them tied with a piece of string, not in others. I´ve done it with fairly authentic socks and they stay up without being tied.
 
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Two widely-separated reenactment photos show me at Champion's Hill, Mississippi ca. 1983 above and somewhere in Middle Tennessee several years later below. The photo above is notable because it shows me wearing my gaiters at an event where they definitely proved to be a drawback; it had been raining steadily for several days - as usual for May in Mississippi! - and we had been tramping around on the hilltop where our camp was located, flattening in the process all the mounds of anachronistic fire ants. Inadvertently I found myself atop one of them, not realizing it until I began to feel their stings; rolled socks like I'm wearing below would've been MUCH more practical and easy to remove!

Stones River 3 James Neel.jpeg
 
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Amazing the havoc a clan of these creatures can wreak on one's personal comfort and vocabulary!

Bet you had quite the "gaiter dance" to rid yourself of their affections.:frantic:

Nothing quite like being on or near their mound and experiencing them for the first time.
Coming from Ohio to live in Texas I'd never heard of them though I quickly learned about them from personal experience.

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Amazing the havoc a clan of these creatures can wreak on one's personal comfort and vocabulary!

Bet you had quite the "gaiter dance" to rid yourself of their affections.:frantic:

Nothing quite like being on or near their mound and experiencing them for the first time.
Coming from Ohio to live in Texas I'd never heard of them though I quickly learned about them from personal experience.

View attachment 408334
That photo brings pack a laugh. Many years ago in the Academy during a formation run one of the biggest wimps in our class (later promoted above us all even after getting in a argument with his girlfriend and discharging his weapon several times in the ground, yup true story!) called the head Instructor "Dude". So he was ordered off to the side to knock out 25-50 pushups. So off the road he goes into the grass. About 30 seconds later he's leaps up jumping all over the place screaming. He must of been right over a swarm of them ants and they got all over his legs, crotch, and balls. My partner & Me still laugh 33 years later over that Wimps screaming like a little girl that day. :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
 
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That photo brings pack a laugh. Many years ago in the Academy during a formation run one of the biggest wimps in our class (later promoted above us all even after getting in a argument with his girlfriend and discharging his weapon several times in the ground, yup true story!) called the head Instructor "Dude". So he was ordered off to the side to knock out 25-50 pushups. So off the road he goes into the grass. About 30 seconds later he's leaps up jumping all over the place screaming. He must of been right over a swarm of them ants and they got all over his legs, crotch, and balls. My partner & Me still laugh 33 years later over that Wimps screaming like a little girl that day. :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
The absolute funniest memory I have involving them was a clip I saw on TV in the 1970's here in Texas. At the time my usual routine was to come home from work around 5:30 and turn on the evening news (and almost invariably fall asleep); one day while dozing a story came on about one of our state officials about whom I knew very little, apart from his distinctive name: Warren Harding, a Democrat who was presumably no relation to the former Republican president. He was then our Agriculture Commissioner and was filmed on the grounds of the State Capitol in Austin talking about how bad fire ants were here in the state, and to demonstrate he bent down, stuck his bare hand into a mound and let them crawl all over it while he continued to blather on - but not for long! :D
 
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There is so much to like about this thread. When I first joined the 8th Ohio in 1987, guys regularly bloused their trousers into their socks. After many years, it was determined by the powers that be that this wasn't authentic, so the NR staff ordered us to stop doing it. As the evidence in this thread shows, it was clearly done by both Union and Confederate soldiers in all theaters of the war, but there was no regularity to it. In hindsight, I think the NR wanted uniformity of appearance, particularly on dress parade (where forage caps are preferred ot slouch hats) and the sock thing was just too much variation (though gaiters occasionally made an appearance). During the 150th NPS encampment at Gettysburg we were camped behind the PA monument in the mowed area, but our provisions were in an unmowed area across the park road. The whole outfit got chiggers over there, including guys wearing boots and despite the practice of tucking underdrawers into socks. I wonder if having pants inside socks would have prevented this infestation.

I was quite amused by @bayonet's unsuccessful attempt to shift the discussion from the foot positions while loading to the effects of heat and wool on one's testicles, only to have the topic drift towards things like ants, chiggers, possums, and skunks. Thanks to @Don Dixon for reviving this thread and getting us back on topic! Can't wait to see where it goes next. 😁
 
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Just noticed that bayonet managed to get ball misery back in the discussion after all. Good work man!!:frantic::giggle:
Yeah and someone hit the REPORT button and I got spanked for it, oh well. Let me rephrase that then. 100% wool pants and no underwear during them reenactments chafed the dickens out of them. Next I tried them period long johns (underwear) and they got soaked from the sweat, and I was not a overweight reenactor. So from then on it was Farby cotton briefs under those 100% wool pants. Only other Farby item was a wallet and car keys in the Haversack, that don't count. As far as the tucked socks guess who was in charge of the event or formation allowed them, or how tall the grass was full of critters. Gotta stay humored.
funny.GIF
 
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Yeah and someone hit the REPORT button and I got spanked for it, oh well. Let me rephrase that then. 100% wool pants and no underwear during them reenactments chafed the dickens out of them. Next I tried them period long johns (underwear) and they got soaked from the sweat, and I was not a overweight reenactor. So from then on it was Farby cotton briefs under those 100% wool pants. Only other Farby item was a wallet and car keys in the Haversack, that don't count. As far as the tucked socks guess who was in charge of the event or formation allowed them, or how tall the grass was full of critters. Gotta stay humored.View attachment 408717
I discovered the same thing after many unpleasant weekends and multiple pairs of ripped cotton underdrawers. If you must go to non-period undergarments, go the Under Armor route. Totally inauthentic in every way but they wick moisture, breath in the heat, and the full length ones can be tucked inside socks as extra protection against vermin.
 
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