Issued Gear

Retired User BL

Retired User
Joined
Jun 7, 2019
Are there original documents showing what officers and enlisted were issued.
For example:
X1 shirt
X1 bayonet
X1 haversack

Where officers issued knapsacks/blanketrolls and haversacks as enlisted were, orndid they buy them? Are there any accounts of officers using rifles?
 
From: Statistical Pocket Manual of the Army, Navy etc. (pp. 22-3):
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The above was "by the book" in peacetime, but the men never saw some of this stuff [pompon, "eagle & ring," cap cover (havelock), leather stock, etc]. Anything needed in excess of this was taken out of their pay.

Officers supplied their own uniforms, and paid for them. Nor did they carry knapsacks, haversacks, etc. Their baggage, was carried in the wagons, along with the company tents and camp equipage.
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Are there original documents showing what officers and enlisted were issued.
For example:
X1 shirt
X1 bayonet
X1 haversack

Where officers issued knapsacks/blanketrolls and haversacks as enlisted were, orndid they buy them? Are there any accounts of officers using rifles?
Yes there are such records. Some are available via State Historical Records in particular others in private collections but the Library of Congress has most of them on microfiche.

The bayonet was issued with the weapon and was considered a weapon in itself.

There are very few accounts of officers using rifles. That said it happened. Officers were not issued small arms by the Govt. The general belief at the time was that if an officer had to use his sword or pistol things had gotten very desperate indeed. For an officer to pick up a rifle and use it he would have been considered neglecting his duty as an officer. Early in the war many officers carried pistols, swords and everything else they could think of but as the war progressed and they learned the reality of active campaigning many would forgo carrying a pistol at all. The old saying of less is more is true, especially to the Infantry.
 
what about leather gear, weapons, bags? Where is the list for them? I can’t find it in your link
The Army supplied accouterments, arms etc.

What the average soldier was expected to supply on his own were: braces (suspenders) dinning ware, socks, underwear, etc.

The various Army Regulations list what a soldier was to be issued; though wartime reality didn't always allow that which is why some units were never issued a dress hat or a cap or frock etc. The Army figured they could cloth twice as many men by issuing one Regt only a Sack Coat & Cap and another a frock and Hat with the idea that the QM would make things right at some future date.
 
I’m mainly looking for what was issued to the average soldier and what was bought/issued to the officer. Mainly for gathering the items myself.
 
Brogans, sack coat, cap or hat, trousers, canteen, tarred haversack, plate, spoon, cup, pocket knife, accoutrements, weapon, bayonet, cleaning kit, gum blanket, blanket, undershirt, socks & suspenders are a start.
 
Not every soldier, company or even whole regiments received uniforms right away, but had to wait weeks, months or sometimes up to a year or more before they were issued them. I have done the vast majority of my research mostly centered around the 2nd Regiment Alabama Cavalry. When they mustered into Confederate Service at Camp Stone, Montgomery, Alabama between March - May 1862 they were not issued uniforms, but rather were required to supply their own clothing, as well as their own weapons (shotguns, pistols and squirrel rifles if that is all that they had). Likewise they had to provide their own horses and horse equipment (saddle, saddle blanket, saddle bags, valise, bit, reigns, stirrups, etc...) They would be given a commutation for forage (horse at .40 cents a day) and clothing every 3 months in addition to their base pay.

The first letters or journal entries that I read regarding anyone of the regiment stating that they had been issued "a suit of government clothes" was in April 1863 when they arrived at Okolona, Ms. from the Florida Panhandle to help oppose Grierson`s Raid from Lagrange, TN. through the length of Mississippi and onto Baton Rouge, LA., being a year since they had formed and were mustered into Confederate service. When they did receive that first uniform, which only consisted of one pair of pants and one jacket, they complained of the weight, material and simply it being too hot then. Most would not wear them initially but would send them home asking family to double seat the pants or do something to make them more comfortable. They continued to ask for certain items of clothing to be sent from home, even after being issued a uniform. Some of the Troopers would take clothing from prisoners or take items of clothing from the Federal dead after a skirmish or a battle had broken off. Anything that they may have taken from the Federals was required to be dyed dark gray or Black.

According to many letters written home from Troopers of the 2nd Regiment Alabama Cavalry, especially during the first year of their service (1862 - 1863) from various companies they were all asking for pants, shirts, jackets, shoes, boots, winter coats and long drawers to be made or purchased at home and sent to them. Quite a few letters would mention that they had spent a certain amount of their money buying pistols and other things that they desperately needed from different places. The first real Special Requisition that I saw regarding uniforms of my 3rd Great Grandfather`s Troop in the 2nd Regiment Alabama Cavalry was on 25 Nov 1863 at Okolona, Ms. when they were just about to help carry Nathan Bedford Forrest through the Federal lines and then screen his movements into middle Tennessee where he could raise and recruit his last Cavalry Division of the War. I have attached that requisition below.

If you go through the company and regimental service records of the unit that you are researching (OR) and look at all of the officers who were in command you will find numerous officers from Lieutenants up to the Colonel making Special Requisitions for forage, clothing, horse equipment, stationary and so much more. As well as the Adjutants of the regiment.

Lt. B. B. Lewis Okolona, Ms. Special Request Nov 25 1863.jpg
 
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Before the Civil War, a "stand of arms" indicated the musket, its bayonet, and cartridge box all together.

Question: I thought that "drawers" or underclothes were often issued along with the standard army shirt, while many--perhaps most--soldiers brought shirts and so on from home?

CSA: Small wonder the "commutation" allowance system was used, no?
 
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