How did soldiers sleep?

[Zack]

Hear me out on this one - when a soldier was on the march and camped down for the night without a tent, how did he sleep?

I understand that often two guys got together and they would lay out a gum blanket on the ground and a wool blanket over then cover themselves in a wool blanket and a gum blanket, but what did they do with the rest of their equipment? If he had a tin cup on the haversack, did he remove that first before using it as a pillow? Would it even be that comfortable as a pillow? If the soldier had a blanket roll, where would all the extra clothes rolled up inside it go overnight? The shirt and socks? They'd be loose as soon as he undid the blanket roll.

This image seems to show the soldier using his haversack or cartridge box as a pillow and laying next to his rifle. Where would his canteen be? Did he remove his belt with the cap pouch and bayonet? Where did that stay overnight? Did all soldiers like to hang their cartridge boxes on the stacked rifles?

This shows a lot of equipment hanging from stacked rifles. How did soldiers know which cartridge box and belt was theirs, or did they not care that much?

So many questions....

 

[bankerpapaw]

How do soldiers sleep? If outside, very uncomfortably, especially in wet, cold, weather.

 

[JOHN42768]

When tired enough, pretty much anywhere would do

 

[Zack]

I guess my question is more asking what did they do with their equipment at night? I know they'd just collapse wherever, but did they sleep in their gear? Or take some of it off?

And if they have a blanket roll and use the blanket, they're suddenly gonna have a bunch of loose clothes laying around.

 

[captaindrew]

I think the painting would be about right. I have read that some liked using their cartridge boxes as pillows. They did usually mark or write their names on their gear. As far as extra clothes they would be lucky if they even had any. Most of them travelled as light as possible and wore the one set of clothes they had until it rotted off of them. If they had any at all I'm sure they kept them very close or they would disappear. In line of battle like above they're arms would be stacked. If they had the time and energy and had them they would use their shelter halves.

 

[johan_steele]

If your equipment went on your weapon on the stack it would be easy to retrieve as you knew your place in line.

Haversack as a pillow... Yeah no. Fill the haversack with food and after the first couple days you don't want it anywhere near your face.

Your spare clothes from the blanket roll make a good pillow.

If you've ever slept rough you know to put 2/3 of your blanket under you. If you have a gum blanket that goes over you in the rain otherwise under you.

 

[AUG]

Don't recall where but not long ago I read an account of a soldier taking off his pants, folding up his shoes and socks in them and using that as a pillow.

 

[Patrick H]

I think you'd have to be pretty confident that you wouldn't be attacked before taking off your shoes and pants. However, we've seen pictures of soldiers bathing and swimming in streams, so we know it happened.

 

[amweiner]

At events I found that my cartridge box, either under a corner of my blanket or wrapped in a spare shirt, made a pretty fair pillow. @johan_steele makes an excellent point regarding the gum blanket; I awoke once in a very big, very cold pool of rainwater, and maneuvered my blanket under me and my gum blanket on top. It worked about as well as anything else!

 

[JohnW.]

You can be so exhausted that you can actually be sound asleep standing up....I've done it.

 

[johan_steele]

You can be so exhausted that you can actually be sound asleep standing up....I've done it.

The real professionals can sleep while marching.

 

[amweiner]

The real professionals can sleep while marching.

Have you done that, @johan_steele ??

 

[johan_steele]

Have you done that, @johan_steele ??

Yep, got me my first real chewing out in the military though the TI was trying not to laugh and the CMSGT made me a student leader marching the formations in the mornings so I would be denied my naps. Apparently, I was snoring when I was caught.

I got my revenge though. When I gave cadence they could hear me a block away. I figured if I had to be awake...

 

[johan_steele]

Have you done that, @johan_steele ??

FWIW I've read of men in the ACW sleeping, reading and even writing letters while marching.

I've slept & read while marching but writing was impossible for me.

 

[JohnW.]

The real professionals can sleep while marching.

I was Navy....no marching involved

 

[mofederal]

I have read some accounts where soldiers spoke of sleeping on their arms for the night. I wish I could remember where it happened. Otherwise I learned that soldiers don't sleep very well at most any time. When the weather was bad or cold. It was a struggle, shivering all night, not getting warm not sleeping. I expect the only times a soldier slept well was in garrison, in winter quarters or well behind the front lines.

 

[AUG]

Don't recall where but not long ago I read an account of a soldier taking off his pants, folding up his shoes and socks in them and using that as a pillow.

I think you'd have to be pretty confident that you wouldn't be attacked before taking off your shoes and pants. However, we've seen pictures of soldiers bathing and swimming in streams, so we know it happened.

Found the account I mentioned earlier - an article in the Confederate Veteran by T. H. Maney, 1st/27th Tennessee at Kennesaw Mountain. They were in the rear at the time but heard firing and rushed into action. He did have some trouble trying to get his trousers back on in the dark.

On the first night of our rest in the rear works there was a false alarm in the front lines, something that happened several times in that campaign, each line fearing the other was making the grand sneak up. While it was dark some fellow would imagine he saw some one crawling, and then bang! would go his gun; and, of course, it would be answered by several, and then the fire would begin. Generally, a fight like that would do very little harm, but occasionally some would get hurt or killed. The writer did not get hurt that night, but got scared out of his pants mighty slick; he pulled off his shoes, socks, and to make his rest better, took off his pants, too, folded them up nicely, and made a pillow of them, and was going to sleep at a two-forty gait when the din began by bang! bang! boom! boom! while the cry went up all around us, "Fall in, fall in, the enemy are on us!" We thought, or at least a good many of us did, that we were still in the front line and were crazed from loss of sleep. Every one woke up with a start and was dazed to such a degree that we hardly knew where to go, but there were our guns stacked just before us, and there were the works, too. The writer jumped up, put on his socks and shoes, and hat, grabbed what he thought was his pants, jammed one foot through a breeches leg, but it would not go on, simply for the reason it was his jacket he was trying to put on that way; gave that up as a bad job, looked for the pants and could not find them, so he put on his jacket and fell into line in a Texas costume style. Everybody was too much excited to notice my white pants, so after the scare was all over, I wrapped my blanket around me and laid down to rest again, promising myself that I would be up with first peep of day and find my pants before any of the boys could find it out; which.was done, but the joke was too good and I had to tell it and help to laugh at myself for being scared out of my pants.
https://archive.org/stream/confederateveter11conf#page/160/mode/2up

 

[Borderruffian]

Wrap yourself in a poncho or blanket (now a days a poncho liner) lay down where ever and catch what Z's you can depending on the weather. taking of pants and shoes just wastes time, and your gonna be uncomfortable anyway.

 

[mofederal]

Worse than that your shoes get cold, and putting them on again just makes you're feet cold again. It takes them awhile to warm up again. The fire doesn't help much either, only set your shoes on fire. I hate the smell of burning leather.

 

[GS]

How did the soldiers sleep during the four-month Atlanta siege, during which the fighting continued night and day? The men were told to "sleep on arms", according to the diaries, and did not stack arms to be retrieved later. They got little sleep in those four months, spent on the move and fighting. I imagine the eventually collapsed from fatigue, and of course were made more vulnerable. Those who had a blanket generally shared with another, but Atlanta was fought in the heat of summer.