Heat Casualties – the Other Opponent at Gettysburg

Few Confeds had complete uniforms by this point in the war and still fewer had uniforms without holes.

The Federals, on the other hand, usually had most of their uniforms. To some degree, the Federals had another advantage: Their more complete uniforms did a better job of keeping the sun off their skin and that would have slightly reduced the need for water consumption. Read it again, I wrote, 'slightly.'
As I recall, a lot of troops in the ANV were issued new uniforms not long before the Gettysburg Campaign, including some manufactured from English cloth imported through the blockade. From mid to late war the ANV was rather well supplied - more so than it had been earlier - and probably more uniform in comparison to those in the Western Theater and Trans-Miss. That's not to say some men didn't go ragged on campaign, but they were issued uniforms frequently enough to have them.

Edit: Should probably reword that last sentence. What I meant to say was that while they might have worn them out while on campaign, the troops in Lee's army were issued uniforms frequently enough to start off adequately clothed.
 
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Few Confeds had complete uniforms by this point in the war and still fewer had uniforms without holes.

The Federals, on the other hand, usually had most of their uniforms.'
You should try read the OR on the campaign. There are a number of mentioned of union soldiers with no shoes before the battle even started. And there is not one mention of this issue with the CSA army. (but a critical lack of horseshoes)

By this time in the war the CSA was importing huge quantities of wool from the UK and making it into uniforms. If a unit had old uniforms when the campaign started, it was simply because they where not suppose to get new uniforms yet according to regulations... not because the supply system didn't have access to any. Because Richmond was producing sufficient numbers of uniforms to supply Lee's army with what they where suppose to have.
 
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LTC William Michael Luffman of the 11th Georgia may also be added to this list. Though frequently shown as wounded, I have never seen any evidence of it and find it far more likely that his exertions on July 2 caused him to be taken off the field suffering from some form of exhaustion (very possibly related to the heat) on July 3.
 
News Weather
The weather during the Battle of Gettysburg
" High Tide at Gettysburg Pickett's Charge " (Courtesy of Gettysburg National Military, Baltimore Sun)
Paul McCardell, The Baltimore Sun

Curious about the weather during the Battle of Gettysburg fought by soldiers in wool uniforms July 1-3, 1863? The Rev. Dr. Michael Jacobs, a math and science professor at Pennsylvania College, now Gettysburg College, recorded the temperatures three times a day during the battle: 7 a.m., 2 p.m., and 9 p.m. On July 1 the temperature at 2 p.m. was 76 degrees and the sky was cloudy. At 2 p.m. July 2, it was 81 and partly cloudy. It was 87 degrees at 2 p.m. July 3, the time of Pickett's Charge. Lee's retreat from Gettysburg on July 4 was hampered by rain, mud and swollen creeks.

Sources: Hanover Evening Sun 2005, Gettysburg College
 
You should try read the OR on the campaign. There are a number of mentioned of union soldiers with no shoes before the battle even started. And there is not one mention of this issue with the CSA army. (but a critical lack of horseshoes)

By this time in the war the CSA was importing huge quantities of wool from the UK and making it into uniforms. If a unit had old uniforms when the campaign started, it was simply because they where not suppose to get new uniforms yet according to regulations... not because the supply system didn't have access to any. Because Richmond was producing sufficient numbers of uniforms to supply Lee's army with what they where suppose to have.

Letters home discuss the terrible condition of the Confed uniforms. I am aware that North Carolina had uniforms that the state was able to provide and that the NC governor would not surrender the uniforms to other Confed troops, but my understanding is that, in general, Confed troops had severe uniform issues.
 
Letters home discuss the terrible condition of the Confed uniforms. I am aware that North Carolina had uniforms that the state was able to provide and that the NC governor would not surrender the uniforms to other Confed troops, but my understanding is that, in general, Confed troops had severe uniform issues.
and have you done any statistics on when they where written and from where?

When we are talking in the East it is my impression that the worst was in summer of 62 (before they system was up and running) and then in late 1864 and into 1865 (when it stopped working)

Also often when there is an issue (for both sides) it is not because there are no supplies available at a depot, but because the unit is not suppose to get new stuff yet, and/or the military situation result in the unit not having the time to get new stuff.

One example of this is after the Peninsula campaign in 62.
Lee move quickly, fight at Mananas again and then invade Maryland. Even if the CSA have plenty of new uniforms in storage they would not have had the time to issue them. (since that is not something you bring with you)

Similar some union units that is shipped from the Peninsula go directly from the port they disembark in to Maryland and the fighting there in September. They had been in the field from mid march, over the summer and then go straight into the Maryland campaign in September. Their uniforms was most likely as ragged as the uniforms worn by the CSA.
 
Letters home discuss the terrible condition of the Confed uniforms. I am aware that North Carolina had uniforms that the state was able to provide and that the NC governor would not surrender the uniforms to other Confed troops, but my understanding is that, in general, Confed troops had severe uniform issues.
The Richmond Depot was able to keep the ANV well supplied by this point. And North Carolina wasn't the only state to supply her troops directly; just speaking for east of the Mississippi River, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina continued to do so to a significant degree as well throughout most of the war. They might get torn and filthy on campaign, but the majority of troops in Lee's army should have had complete uniforms.

Member @tullock has done a lot of research on this and written a book, Never in Rags. Also recommend Fred Adolphus' research on his website.

Anyway, I would think less clothing would be better in the heat. I imagine many troops stripped down to their shirtsleeves when they could.
 
Letters home discuss the terrible condition of the Confed uniforms. I am aware that North Carolina had uniforms that the state was able to provide and that the NC governor would not surrender the uniforms to other Confed troops, but my understanding is that, in general, Confed troops had severe uniform issues.

When I arrived on this site and despite thinking of myself as someone well read on the subject I was of much the same opinion as you. In other words Confederates wore uniforms of uneven quality and that other than at the start of the war they were (very) poorly clothed. However I no longer believe this and the most compelling evidence in my mind of this is not the work of various authors poring over Confederate quartermaster returns - though this is excellent primary research and I salute the people who have done it - but simply the photos of recently captured Confederate prisoners of war from the ANV.

They are reasonably (though certainly not impeccably) dressed. Certainly they are not in rags. Nor are they significantly bare of foot.

Now I am sure at times ANV units were badly clothed and shod, especially at the very end of the war and it appears during the Antietam campaign, but I now believe it to be an overly used stereotype. Yes the ANV had supply problems but they seem to have been overly emphasised in the common perception of the war. Similarly the supply problems for the AoP seem to be underplayed, though these appear to have been minor in proportion (Admittedly I doubt the rank and file of the AoP saw it that way...)
 
and have you done any statistics on when they where written and from where?

When we are talking in the East it is my impression that the worst was in summer of 62 (before they system was up and running) and then in late 1864 and into 1865 (when it stopped working)

Also often when there is an issue (for both sides) it is not because there are no supplies available at a depot, but because the unit is not suppose to get new stuff yet, and/or the military situation result in the unit not having the time to get new stuff.

One example of this is after the Peninsula campaign in 62.
Lee move quickly, fight at Mananas again and then invade Maryland. Even if the CSA have plenty of new uniforms in storage they would not have had the time to issue them. (since that is not something you bring with you)

Similar some union units that is shipped from the Peninsula go directly from the port they disembark in to Maryland and the fighting there in September. They had been in the field from mid march, over the summer and then go straight into the Maryland campaign in September. Their uniforms was most likely as ragged as the uniforms worn by the CSA.
The entire ANV was re-supplied with new uniforms after the Peninsular Campaign. Starting in early July every unit received fresh Richmond Depot clothing or stored State uniforms. This re-equipping continued throughout July and August, right upto early September 62, when fresh batches of clothes were delivered to Lee’s troops after they had entered Maryland! Union surgeon James Dunn wrote during the Maryland Campaign “All this stuff about their extreme destitution is all bash. I have yet to find a Rebel even meanly clad or shod. They are as well shod as are own men. They are dressed in gray.” A newspaper correspondent from the True Daily Delta newspaper travelling with the ANV in Maryland wrote “Nothing can be more conclusive than the fact that your correspondent saw full companies newly clad in substantial and fine garments, all of which were uniform in appearance.”
 
Found another one:

Union Brigadier General Tyler who was technically in charge of The Artillery Reserve succumbed to heatstroke he developed on the march to Gettysburg and does not appear to have taken any meaningful part in the battle. Certainly he becomes pretty much invisible. Instead Captain Robertson of the Reserve Horse Artillery assumes command - albeit with Hunt as the true Artillery Reserve Commander.

Is this the highest ranking officer to succumb to heatstroke there?
 
I really don't wish to change the subject. We were talking about Gettysburg. But it must have been a scorcher down south that month. I was reading about Port Hudson in Mississippi and came upon this sentence. "The Union lost over 4,500 battle casualties and almost as many to disease and sunstroke".
In all my years of civil war interest, I never gave the weather much thought. The cold winters, the mud, the thunderstorms etc. I did think about briefly, but not the heat for some reason.
 
I really don't wish to change the subject. We were talking about Gettysburg. But it must have been a scorcher down south that month. I was reading about Port Hudson in Mississippi and came upon this sentence. "The Union lost over 4,500 battle casualties and almost as many to disease and sunstroke".
In all my years of civil war interest, I never gave the weather much thought. The cold winters, the mud, the thunderstorms etc. I did think about briefly, but not the heat for some reason.

The Tullahoma Campaign (Rosecrans-Bragg, June 24-July 3) in Middle Tennessee was made in constant rain, troops sloshing through mile after mile of mud, starting right as the Campaign kicked off. According to a good friend of mine (Steve Meserve, God rest his soul), most of the rain you find in the East during the Gettysburg Campaign (like the deluge on July 4-5) was part of that storm system. He had an uncle, IIRR, who was a weatherman and had done research into the matter to see.
 
The Richmond Depot was able to keep the ANV well supplied by this point. And North Carolina wasn't the only state to supply her troops directly; just speaking for east of the Mississippi River, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina continued to do so to a significant degree as well throughout most of the war. They might get torn and filthy on campaign, but the majority of troops in Lee's army should have had complete uniforms.

Member @tullock has done a lot of research on this and written a book, Never in Rags. Also recommend Fred Adolphus' research on his website.

Anyway, I would think less clothing would be better in the heat. I imagine many troops stripped down to their shirtsleeves when they could.
Alabama's troops in the Army of Tennessee were not well supplied with uniforms, according to letters home that I have read.
 
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