Undershirts in storage at the end of the Civil War

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
Civil War undershirts were is use well after the Civil War. A total of 1,130,000 flannel undershirts and 394,000 knit undershirts were in storage in 1865 and this would insure that many US soldiers would wear surplus Civil War undershirt for many years.

The Army also had over 3 million pairs of drawers in storage at the end of the Civil War.
 
I would bet they still had some of these sitting around into WWII. With the US Army and the government very little surprises me. There are still warehouses full of WWII equipment sitting around. The stuff is still in cosmoline.
 
Civil War undershirts were is use well after the Civil War. . .

This is the first time I've even heard that undershirts were even a thing back in CW days. My understanding of it is that shirts were considered the undergarment and at least a vest would be expected to be worn over that, in polite circumstance. Of course men would wear only shirts in field or heavy work (or just plain hot) conditions in the same way we use undershirts today -- but that there were no undershirts in CW times. Drawers or "union suits" maybe, but undershirts no.

Please post a picture for us of what you are calling a CW-period "undershirt." Otherwise I understand that the earliest "undershirts" were a later-century phenom. I could see that maybe WW1 -era undershirts could have been held-over stock later issued in ww2, but CW-era clothing not at all. There are no instances I know of where any other CW-issue materials were held-over for as late as ww2 issue. I suppose wax candles or certain horse equipments an outside possibility.
 
Shirts were not undergarments in the classic sense of the word- one could show a shirtfront without blushing as long as he had a waistcoat and coat on. Undershirts were optional clothing; this is the first I've heard of US issuing them- perhaps they mean the ordinary Federal issue shirt? Might it have crossed the fine line between shirt and overshirt? In general undershirts were very simple, often without a collar, cuffs. or sometimes buttons. The photo shows one of the Lincoln conspirators wearing only an undershirt (due probably to the heat inside the ill-ventilated moniter in which he has been imprisoned. Modesty was not really an issue in this case.
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Rather, I'd like to see what would have been called an undershirt at the time, not what looks somewhat like an undershirt to us today. If indeed they were an optional item then they did exist, meaning we should be able to find and post an image of one, if only a newspaper ad.

As with ladies under-wear in Victorian times, a man's under-shirt would not be dyed a color. They wouldn't have spent money on something not meant to be seen (though I admit post-century army undershirts were green or drab for camo purposes).

In any event I don't think that anything called an undershirt was a CW army issue item. We have quartermaster records, lists of the clothing that was issued to soldiers, and "undershirts" were not in there. Or were they? I miss stuff.
 
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I would bet they still had some of these sitting around into WWII. With the US Army and the government very little surprises me. There are still warehouses full of WWII equipment sitting around. The stuff is still in cosmoline.

I can't recall where I first read it now but I remember stumbling across an article that claimed surplus Union sack coats were issued to German and Italian prisoners of World War Two held at Fort DuPont.
 
There is a story I heard from a WWII POW guard he said an officer told him they had found a huge amount of Civil War sky blue pants, and they were issued like a couple of pair to every POW in the state. I think this was in Wisconsin.
 
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I think I was issued some of those.
 
I am sorry I was late getting back to this thread. My modem went out and I have had to use my smart phone for a week.

Here is the explanation. The U.S. Army used the term flannel shirts to describe what the Army also called undershirts. So Civil War U.S. Army flannel shirts were in fact undershirts. The Army issued flannel shirt was never intended to be worn without a coat or jacket and in the Army view were undershirts.The concept of over shirts was around during the Civil War. I can see Civil War sources where some were shirts are called battle shirts or over shirts.

You will also see the terms miner shirt and fireman's shirt during the Civil War. Both could be worn without a coat or jacket and they would be classified as a over shirt.

So if you looked at post Civil War storage records you might/will see undershirts listed but not normally the term "shirts. Because of this I used the term undershirts in my original post. Also some/most books about the use of Civil War uniforms worn after the Civil War usually use the term "undershirts"
 
byron ed. I'm afraid you're wrong with respect to 'undershirts' not being issued during the Civil War, and major bill you are also incorrect in assuming that 'undershirt' was another term for flannel shirt. Over the years I have studied thousands of quartermaster tables and the term 'undershirt' crops up numerous times, more so in the Confederate army than the Federal army. For example, in October 1863 the 3rd North Carolina Cavalry was issued 182 overshirts, 80 'undershirts', 27 cotton shirts, 4 lindsey shirts, 3 flannel shirts and 2 wool shirts. At the same time the 5th NC Cavalry received 893 shirts including 463 cotton shirts, 289 overshirts and 141 'undershirts'. So the 'undershirt was a garment in itself and not a generic name for other types of shirt.
 
Interesting. I have seen US Army issue lists and it uses the term flannel shirts or later undershirts. Soldiers often added cotton shirts and such, but they were usually not issued by the US Army.

I do wonder shat kind of shirts the 3rd North Carolina Cavalry was getting. I can understand the 182 overshirts and do wonder about exactly what the 80 undershirts were.

Were the cotton shirts for the 5th NC Cavalry intended to be worn over undershirts or as a replacement for undershirts?
 
Interesting. I have seen US Army issue lists and it uses the term flannel shirts or later undershirts. Soldiers often added cotton shirts and such, but they were usually not issued by the US Army.

I do wonder shat kind of shirts the 3rd North Carolina Cavalry was getting. I can understand the 182 overshirts and do wonder about exactly what the 80 undershirts were.

Were the cotton shirts for the 5th NC Cavalry intended to be worn over undershirts or as a replacement for undershirts?
Major Bill, you are correct in terms of US issue, the "undershirts" you are referring denote the US Issue Domet Flannel shirts that are so rare to find these days. They were issue at 3-4 per year, but many men preferred to obtain a nice cotton shirt from home. The term "undershirt" in the 19th century and earlier, does denote the wearing of a shirt under a jacket or vest. Shirts at one time were designed to be completely covered, but it became stylish to have the cuffs and the collars show, I believe in the 15th or 16th century. Collars and cuffs were then made to be detachable, thus negating the need to wash the entire garment.

The Confederate version would have been the undershirt, which would still have been under a jacket or vest, but would not have cuffs or collar. The undershirt would still not have been worn under another shirt, though it is possible this might have been done for extra warmth, but not its intent.

Actual full underwear did not come into existence until the union suit in the late 1860s (1867?)
 
From page 32 of Army Blue the Uniforms of Uncle Sam's Regulars 1848-1873 by John P. Langellier in a discussion about the 1851 uniforms.

"On the more utilitarian side, the government authorized such items as a gray flannel shirt, white linen undershirt and drawers, and a white stable frock..."

John P. Langellier is considered an expert on uniforms and this passage seems to indicate that mounted soldiers got both gray flannel shirts and linen undershirts. Any thoughts on this?
 
From page 32 of Army Blue the Uniforms of Uncle Sam's Regulars 1848-1873 by John P. Langellier in a discussion about the 1851 uniforms.

"On the more utilitarian side, the government authorized such items as a gray flannel shirt, white linen undershirt and drawers, and a white stable frock..."

John P. Langellier is considered an expert on uniforms and this passage seems to indicate that mounted soldiers got both gray flannel shirts and linen undershirts. Any thoughts on this?
This seems to have been the policy in the Confederate army as well,as the only troops to receive undershirts in the winters of 62, 63 and 64 were cavalry. Seems to make sense now.
 
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