Sibley Tent

[Rusk County Avengers]

I recently went to a Rendezvous event, new to the area where I'm at, first one and at the same place a local CW "enactment" before politics destroyed the event again. (It was meant as a Fur Trade event, but ended up as a Mexican War- Antebellum era one more or less we're gonna find its feet next time. )

But anyway I drug out my A-frame tent for the first time in a couple years, I usually just sleep on the ground, and to my horror, through some unknown means while in storage moisture got to it, and it's pretty rough. And while I'm probably gonna patch it and so forth, I got to wondering about maybe a new tent.

Then a random idea happened. Why not try for a Sibley and a stove just for the heck of it. Especially with so many reenacting buddies wanting to share a tent to get out of buying their own, and wanting to reenact but never the whole weekend because they refuse to sleep on the ground with a blanket.

So anyone got any experience and so forth?

Just a random idea.

(As for my new venture trying out event wise, I love it due to the absence of everything that's broke my heart on CW events. Though I'm not done with CW reenacting. )

 

[Sivart]

A Sibley tent with a stove sounds awesome for group events. It's a bit expensive, but if you're splitting it with friends, it's not too bad. Plus, it'll make the weekend way more comfortable and warm—no more freezing on the ground. Just gotta make sure to take care of the tent and stove, and it could be a game-changer for reenactments.

 

[LisaJ]

Sibley tents seem to have been popular early on during the war. One of my ancestors in the SC low country wrote with satisfaction of investing in the expense of a large tent along with his mess mates. But later he wanted out of it - back to a small tent. Enough socializing.

Another fellow who went to Virginia with Hampton's Legion Cavalry wrote the following in January 1862, well before they packed up and hauled out the Potomac area:
"Our Legion is now in camp near a place called Occoquan on the River a very healthy location and a very pleasant one. They have been supplied with fine large Sibley tents and I think are very comfortable. Whether or not they will winter there I do not know. Forage is becoming very scarce for our horses and something will have to be done with the Cavalry and artillery before long."

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

A Sibley tent with a stove sounds awesome for group events. It's a bit expensive, but if you're splitting it with friends, it's not too bad. Plus, it'll make the weekend way more comfortable and warm—no more freezing on the ground. Just gotta make sure to take care of the tent and stove, and it could be a game-changer for reenactments.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a full size one at events in all my years of reenacting, seen a few farby small scale ones, and it is scary pricey, but with 2-4 folks begging to reenact but not ever coming out because "no tent" (Seriously spend thousands of dollars on multiple uniforms and muskets, but not a d**n tent and cry for one as a requirement, or buy Rev. War ones! )cold nights and the stove, (if I can find one) with the one pole, I'm thinking hard about it.

If anything just see 'em represented.

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

Sibley tents seem to have been popular early on during the war. One of my ancestors in the SC low country wrote with satisfaction of investing in the expense of a large tent along with his mess mates. But later he wanted out of it - back to a small tent. Enough socializing.

Another fellow who went to Virginia with Hampton's Legion Cavalry wrote the following in January 1862, well before they packed up and hauled out the Potomac area:
"Our Legion is now in camp near a place called Occoquan on the River a very healthy location and a very pleasant one. They have been supplied with fine large Sibley tents and I think are very comfortable. Whether or not they will winter there I do not know. Forage is becoming very scarce for our horses and something will have to be done with the Cavalry and artillery before long."

Yes socializing can be tiresome.

Neat info.

 

[Rhea Cole]

I would encourage you to consider a wall tent. Not only were Sibley tents an early war tent, they are very clumsy to deal with.

A wall tent is a very adaptable shelter. It can be set up with walls & a fly. Ideal for a couple of beds with table & chairs.

On hot days & nights, the sidewalls can be rolled up. The breeze beats roasting in a tent.

A third variation of a wall tent is as a simple triangle without the walls. Nothing is simpler, easier to pack & carry.

I highly recommend a fly. It was ubiquitous during the war. That extra layer of protection from sun & rain makes the tent much more comfortable. It can also be used as a ground cloth or a tarp.

The elements of a wall tent are easy to hang up & dry… something that can't be said for a Sibley.

I have dealt with the Blockade Runner Sutlers for 30 + years. It is family owned. Folks I know have been satisfied with tents from there.

Link:

Blockade Runner Civil War Sutler Sutlery 9-23-25

A complete Civil War Reenacting supplies and uniforms, shoes, leather goods, weapons, etc. For Men & Women since 1983

www.blockaderunner.com

 

[1st Section]

The ideal goal for any impression should be to research and duplicate whatever the original cast was using during the specific time you are trying to represent.

Here we are representing the camp of Battery C, 1st New York Light Artillery as they would have appeared in Maryland in October 1862 -

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

The ideal goal for any impression should be to research and duplicate whatever the original cast was using during the specific time you are trying to represent.

Here we are representing the camp of Battery C, 1st New York Light Artillery as they would have appeared in Maryland in October 1862 - View attachment 529756

I'm in total agreement, however….

I'm in the Trans-Mississippi, and to put it simply, we got folks who have ZERO clue on how Trans-Mississippi troops North or South looked and don't care. They go with the "popular Hollywood inspired mental image" to put it nicely without me being my usually blunt, anger inspiring self. I mean, 90% of events are run by SCV leaders if that puts it in perspective. We got a couple of excellent guys in small groups that go above and beyond in authenticity, but their events are small and few and far in between. With the last fun but a mess I'm told.

As said, I usually when at an event where something actually happened I camp on the ground like they did and I try to portray troops at that battle. Usually make a uniform proper to that battle only to either get compliments or hostile commentary depending on present company. More hostile than anything on impressions.

Event I just did, where a CW made up battle was till something with the powers-that-be occurred as it always does, and is on a couple hundred of riverfront acres where there was an early war CS training camp, and post-war US occupation camp, (we've dug up so many artifacts, one close friend found a neatly stacked and buried pile of 32 pairs of brass shoulder scales), and he decided to do this shindig that became an Antebellum affair.

The Sibley idea is mainly for that, and maybe a CW event where my non-tent owning but demanding a tent as a condition buddies to try and inspire them to camp at an event.

But as an example, this impromptu Fur Trade deal, first one to see if it could take off, and on very short notice, I just took all my CW gear that could pass, bought a pair of cheap Mexican War trousers, and put together a very imperfect impression of a soldier from the 1st Texas Mounted Rifles in the Mexican War. I had the guns, part of the accoutrements, and having an ancestor that served there I had kinda already wanted to do that.

Lot I was displeased with myself over, brogans getting repaired, wore out farby boots and new boots delayed in the mail, wrong belt and cap pouch, passable vest and not a great shirt for 1840's, but I'd say it was decent.

 

[NFB22]

Your solo charge across the Stones River wasn't perfect either, but still **** entertaining.

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

I would encourage you to consider a wall tent. Not only were Sibley tents an early war tent, they are very clumsy to deal with.

A wall tent is a very adaptable shelter. It can be set up with walls & a fly. Ideal for a couple of beds with table & chairs.

On hot days & nights, the sidewalls can be rolled up. The breeze beats roasting in a tent.

A third variation of a wall tent is as a simple triangle without the walls. Nothing is simpler, easier to pack & carry.

I highly recommend a fly. It was ubiquitous during the war. That extra layer of protection from sun & rain makes the tent much more comfortable. It can also be used as a floor or a tarp.

The elements of a wall tent are easy to hang up & dry… something that can't be said for a Sibley.

I have dealt with the Blockade Runner Sutlers for 30 + years. It is family owned. Folks I know have been satisfied with tents from there.

Link:

Blockade Runner Civil War Sutler Sutlery 9-23-25

A complete Civil War Reenacting supplies and uniforms, shoes, leather goods, weapons, etc. For Men & Women since 1983

www.blockaderunner.com

I've had a lot of experience with wall tents over the years. Never owned one, but helped many folks drag them into camp and set them up.

What you say on the Sibley gives me a lot to think on, but I can't say I want to mess with a wall tent, as to me they are a hassle and way over represented in reenacting. Though I reckon they do have a bigger time span they are accurate for.

As for Blockade Runner, I know they've gotten a lot of my money the past couple years. Great folks I like dealing with.

 

[Jack7171]

This excerpt from Hard Tack and Coffee referencing Sibley tents always makes me chuckle

"These tents are comfortably capacious for a dozen men. In cold or rainy weather, when every opening is closed, they are most unwholesome tenements, and to enter one of them of a rainy morning from the outer air, and encounter the night's accumulation of nauseating exhalations from the bodies of twelve men (differing widely in their habits of personal cleanliness) was an experience which no old soldier has ever been known to recall with any great enthusiasm."
– JD Billings, Hardtack and Coffee, p 47

 

[gc45]

While the wall tent is not period correct they are very nice for camping. My family when young, slept in one having a wood stove, folding beds, table and chairs. The kids loved it so much we used it for many years and now my sons still use it when elk hunting. If taking care of one they will last many years..

 

[iron bender]

There were a ton of huge sibley's at Shiloh in 1987. We froze our nads off. We packed about 20 guys into a sibley with everyone's feet at the stove. We all woke up with half singed blankets and dried out shoe leather or burned socks. It was VERY cold

 

[7thWisconsin]

I have one of those 9 foot A tents. I think of it as the compromise wall tent. Not quite as expensive, easier to haul around and you can put it up by yourself. Sibley´s were designed to be a communal tent and as such are big and require several hands to put up. (For all the talk of the Sibley being an early war thing: remember that they were used throughout the war not only in the field but in camps of instruction where they could be left erected for some time. I´m willing to wager almost every soldier saw at least one during his service. They were still a standard army tent until WW1.)

 

[Trooper "D"]

The ideal goal for any impression should be to research and duplicate whatever the original cast was using during the specific time you are trying to represent.

Here we are representing the camp of Battery C, 1st New York Light Artillery as they would have appeared in Maryland in October 1862 - View attachment 529756

Top notch!

 

[Trooper "D"]

I recently went to a Rendezvous event, new to the area where I'm at, first one and at the same place a local CW "enactment" before politics destroyed the event again. (It was meant as a Fur Trade event, but ended up as a Mexican War- Antebellum era one more or less we're gonna find its feet next time. )

But anyway I drug out my A-frame tent for the first time in a couple years, I usually just sleep on the ground, and to my horror, through some unknown means while in storage moisture got to it, and it's pretty rough. And while I'm probably gonna patch it and so forth, I got to wondering about maybe a new tent.

Then a random idea happened. Why not try for a Sibley and a stove just for the heck of it. Especially with so many reenacting buddies wanting to share a tent to get out of buying their own, and wanting to reenact but never the whole weekend because they refuse to sleep on the ground with a blanket.

So anyone got any experience and so forth?

Just a random idea.

(As for my new venture trying out event wise, I love it due to the absence of everything that's broke my heart on CW events. Though I'm not done with CW reenacting. )

Sibley might be a tough one to erect. I used A tents or wedge tents. Easy for one person to put up and with a tent fly out front it makes for a nice cover from rain or sun.
The Sibley is the one where someone calls out "spoon" and everyone rolls to their other side. They are roomy on the floor plan if you have buddies to help you set it up.

 

[LisaJ]

Found in my great-grandfather's letters: his reasons for selling out his place in the big Sibley tent:

Written by Corporal Henry Jeffers of the Rutledge Mounted Riflemen, to his sister
Dated 21 July 1862, McPhersonville, SC

"I enclose a rough sketch of our Camp. I used to be in the Center Tent "A" but as I liked to be gay at times and very quiet at other times I moved as you will see to a more retired spot. The "big Hotel" was too large for me and its visitors too promiscuous. I am now quite pleasantly situated with an agreeable companion and congenial neighbors."

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

I just wanna say how much appreciate everyone's input, especially all the period input. Input that has me me rethinking my idea.

I reckon for now I'll just patch my poor A-Frame and tell friends wanting to share a tent to take a hike and spend money on something besides guns.

But as a nod to the illustrious Wall Tent recommendations, I will share something I noticed last night. I had some questions in my head and I took out "From Desert to Bayou: The Civil War Journal and Sketches of Morgan Wolfe Merrick" an excellent resource for the Trans-Mississippi due to scarcity of photos, and I saw this again I had forgotten of "Camp Snow Holley Arkansas.

That itself could be an interesting set up to replicate one day.

 

[7thWisconsin]

That´s clearly a company street of A tents in the back. Those might be the officers wall tents in the foreground. But it also looks like the fires by them are somewhat communal. There don´t seem to be any fires in the background (except maybe in the middle distance?). I wonder who the poor schmuck was who was stuck with the improvised booth beside the figure walking away. There are footprints at it, so it´s in use.

 

[LisaJ]

I just wanna say how much appreciate everyone's input, especially all the period input. Input that has me me rethinking my idea.

I reckon for now I'll just patch my poor A-Frame and tell friends wanting to share a tent to take a hike and spend money on something besides guns.

But as a nod to the illustrious Wall Tent recommendations, I will share something I noticed last night. I had some questions in my head and I took out "From Desert to Bayou: The Civil War Journal and Sketches of Morgan Wolfe Merrick" an excellent resource for the Trans-Mississippi due to scarcity of photos, and I saw this again I had forgotten of "Camp Snow Holley Arkansas.

View attachment 530460

That itself could be an interesting set up to replicate one day.

That's a great sketch of a camp in the Arkansas Piney Woods. Maybe the little stick A-frame was a place to store provisions. It reminded me of another pertinent quote from an ancestor's letter. Written by Pvt. Spann Jeffers, 7th SCC, from one the breastwork encampments near Richmond, to his mother, on 27 Nov 1864:

"My Dear Ma

I returned to camp a few days since from King Wm Cty where I have been baling Long Forage during the past month. Since my return I have been busily engaged in building a house for our protection from the cold weather which we have already had reason to expect this winter.

Our Camp reminds me of Coosawhatchie. Nearly all the men have houses and are as comfortably fixed as we were there. Mine though I call it a house is only a large tent pitched on a log pen with a chimney in one end. Mr McKellar and myself are the only occupants, so we will have room enough for Henry should he desire to stay with us."