Uniform care

[Old Soldier]

In my days in the Army Cadet Force in Britain, we were still issued battledress (1947 pattern) and we were told never to wash them Why? They were serge - basically wool. Brushing was the primary method of cleaning. We learned why when we were told how to 'shrink' our berets - wool felt - to shape and fit them. You always tried to get one size bigger than you wanted. It was the reason why they - and most felt hats - always had a leather hatband - to prevent shrinkage. BTW - this was changed to a cotton wooven band and could explain why many modern British berets are seen perched on top of the head with the back rather higher than the front - not 'parallel with the ground'.

Fleas and ticks. They were one of the hazards of service and were often just accepted. Shirts and underclothes (if worn (!) were cotton and easily 'hot washed' but 'top clothes' were another thing. A lighted match or firewood could be passed along the seams the 'crackling' confirming the removal. Fire was not the only way out as you could 'pop' them between thumbnails as you searched the seams of your clothes. It is often seen in pictures of WW2 German soldiers in the front line in summer, however, in Civil War days, it was something you rarely described in detail, if indeed, you bothered to tell those at home at all.

 

[Package4]

Not sure I agree with the last statement, under garments were regularly washed, but the actual wool was not, to get rid of lice there are myriad of stories of holding the uniforms over a fire. Having collected original ACW cloth for more years than I can count, I see absolutely no evidence of any wool ever being laundered, just the uniforms I have examined and owned. You would easily be able to tell as the linings of most coats/jackets are made of cotton/osnaburg which would shrink at a different rate than the wool, you would see split seams and thread pulling apart.

I am not saying it never happened, it is a fools errand to use absolutes.......

As an aside, I know that Bilings in Hardtack & Coffee mentions that boiling of clothes was the only way to get rid of lice. He doesn't say which clothes or all, but he was artillery and they did have mess gear that would enable boiling. I always found it hard to believe that infantry could ever avail themselves of the material to do such unless in winter quarters. I just personally have never seen evidence of uniform cloth that was boiled or even washed. An unlined sack coat 2 sizes too big maybe I guess, but that wool is so fragile in weave that you would end up with a completely different garment.

 

[LCYingling3rd]

Very interesting thread. I am enjoying it from both the modern and historic perspectives.

 

[Dan Kohli]

As an aside, I know that Bilings in Hardtack & Coffee mentions that boiling of clothes was the only way to get rid of lice. He doesn't say which clothes or all, but he was artillery and they did have mess gear that would enable boiling. I always found it hard to believe that infantry could ever avail themselves of the material to do such unless in winter quarters. I just personally have never seen evidence of uniform cloth that was boiled or even washed. An unlined sack coat 2 sizes too big maybe I guess, but that wool is so fragile in weave that you would end up with a completely different garment.

As far as I can tell the artillery isn't special as far as issued mess equipment is concerned. The kettles were the same size as the infantry's.

 

[RetiredCanuck]

Not sure I agree with the last statement, under garments were regularly washed, but the actual wool was not, to get rid of lice there are myriad of stories of holding the uniforms over a fire. Having collected original ACW cloth for more years than I can count, I see absolutely no evidence of any wool ever being laundered, just the uniforms I have examined and owned. You would easily be able to tell as the linings of most coats/jackets are made of cotton/osnaburg which would shrink at a different rate than the wool, you would see split seams and thread pulling apart.

I am not saying it never happened, it is a fools errand to use absolutes.......

Only a Sith uses absolutes. Guess I'm on the Dark Side now...

 

[Package4]

As far as I can tell the artillery isn't special as far as issued mess equipment is concerned. The kettles were the same size as the infantry's.

The ability to transport, Billings mentions large mess kettles.

 

[RetiredCanuck]

I guess it's a matter of personal opinion whether to wash wool garments.
I will share some pics of a commutation jacket and a Union vest I made some time ago.
Both of these garments were worn to many events and hand laundered/line dried after every one.
As you can see they are a bit stained from use, but still in one piece despite being 40+ years old.

Note I used pre-shrunk wool and lining material as pointed out in my earlier post.

 

[Flybox1977]

Not sure I agree with the last statement, under garments were regularly washed, but the actual wool was not, to get rid of lice there are myriad of stories of holding the uniforms over a fire. Having collected original ACW cloth for more years than I can count, I see absolutely no evidence of any wool ever being laundered, just the uniforms I have examined and owned. You would easily be able to tell as the linings of most coats/jackets are made of cotton/osnaburg which would shrink at a different rate than the wool, you would see split seams and thread pulling apart.

I am not saying it never happened, it is a fools errand to use absolutes.......

Great information everyone. My mom always taught me hand wash line dry wools, and cotton will take care of itself. Not that I'm going to hand wash wool uniforms after every event. I would like to think a slight odor is more authentic which is no issue as far as sleeping. I camp by myself in a pup tent while the women and Sgts sleep on cots and comfort. I'm just a lowly Pvt but I'm fine with that. I want to live and eat as close to real period at events as I can.

 

[Dan Kohli]

The ability to transport, Billings mentions large mess kettles.

I doubt the functional issued mess kettles were on the top of the list of the "excess items to ditch" list when the wagons were staring to be restricted for infantry companies and regiments.

 

[The Ninth Ohio]

Let's think of it this way. Most events are 2-3 days. Even if they did launder their outerwear (which I'm not convinced they did) they certainly didn't do it regularly.

So if you figure, maybe they did it every 90 days, then maybe consider laundering your outerwear after 40 or 50 events or so.

 

[Package4]

Great information everyone. My mom always taught me hand wash line dry wools, and cotton will take care of itself. Not that I'm going to hand wash wool uniforms after every event. I would like to think a slight odor is more authentic which is no issue as far as sleeping. I camp by myself in a pup tent while the women and Sgts sleep on cots and comfort. I'm just a lowly Pvt but I'm fine with that. I want to live and eat as close to real period at events as I can.

Having reenacted for more years than I would like to recount, other than my first event I have yet to launder a single frock, jacket, pair of trousers etc. Wool socks with Woolite and hang to dry, all under garments after every event. Early on, for about 15 years, at least 15 events a year tapering off to an average of 10-12 and now just Park Service demos roughly 10 per year.

 

[Package4]

One thing that I have posted on other threads, but bears repeating, the wool that we commonly obtain here in the US is nowhere near the wool that was being obtained in the 1860s. Like much of the agricultural landscape we have engineered changes to crops, animals even our water, thus the composition and behavior of today's wool is very different than that of the 1860s.

Wool from specific herds/flocks of sheep in the UK are the closest one may come to period wool. I am not saying that this is bad, just a fact. We have a geneticist who is in our group and the advances in all of this is astounding, rendering crops more resistant to drought, disease etc, similarly sheep, cows and other farm animals have had the same done.

One story he tells is the altering of the size of domestic farm grown turkeys back in the the 30s and 40s to fit the standard size home oven. Prior to that the turkeys were huge and were cooked in large ovens or open fire places or pits on a spit.

He claims that no one wants to hear his FDA/Department of Ag drivel, but I find it fascinating. Another tale he tells is that frozen vegetables are actually better for you due to the flash freezing process that takes place at the time of harvest. They are harvested, washed and frozen in the same process, I think it was Birdseye that patented the process.........

He is actually the individual who enabled the orchid industry to thrive and allows consumers to go to Home Depot, Wally World etc to purchase orchids for $9.99, when in the past they were considered exotic and unbelievably expensive. He genetically engineered them to be more disease resistant and able to grow in cooler climes. Good or bad they are here to stay.

Thus, we now have "heirloom" fruits and vegetables, I wonder if you would call UK sheep heirloom sheep?

 

[52ndFandS]

One thing that I have posted on other threads, but bears repeating, the wool that we commonly obtain here in the US is nowhere near the wool that was being obtained in the 1860s. Like much of the agricultural landscape we have engineered changes to crops, animals even our water, thus the composition and behavior of today's wool is very different than that of the 1860s.

Wool from specific herds/flocks of sheep in the UK are the closest one may come to period wool. I am not saying that this is bad, just a fact. We have a geneticist who is in our group and the advances in all of this is astounding, rendering crops more resistant to drought, disease etc, similarly sheep, cows and other farm animals have had the same done.

One story he tells is the altering of the size of domestic farm grown turkeys back in the the 30s and 40s to fit the standard size home oven. Prior to that the turkeys were huge and were cooked in large ovens or open fire places or pits on a spit.

He claims that no one wants to hear his FDA/Department of Ag drivel, but I find it fascinating. Another tale he tells is that frozen vegetables are actually better for you due to the flash freezing process that takes place at the time of harvest. They are harvested, washed and frozen in the same process, I think it was Birdseye that patented the process.........

He is actually the individual who enabled the orchid industry to thrive and allows consumers to go to Home Depot, Wally World etc to purchase orchids for $9.99, when in the past they were considered exotic and unbelievably expensive. He genetically engineered them to be more disease resistant and able to grow in cooler climes. Good or bad they are here to stay.

Thus, we now have "heirloom" fruits and vegetables, I wonder if you would call UK sheep heirloom sheep?

I sourced Confederate 'French blue' to a company in England. I figure I'll be getting the real thing then. Or close to.

 

[Flybox1977]

One thing that I have posted on other threads, but bears repeating, the wool that we commonly obtain here in the US is nowhere near the wool that was being obtained in the 1860s. Like much of the agricultural landscape we have engineered changes to crops, animals even our water, thus the composition and behavior of today's wool is very different than that of the 1860s.

Wool from specific herds/flocks of sheep in the UK are the closest one may come to period wool. I am not saying that this is bad, just a fact. We have a geneticist who is in our group and the advances in all of this is astounding, rendering crops more resistant to drought, disease etc, similarly sheep, cows and other farm animals have had the same done.

One story he tells is the altering of the size of domestic farm grown turkeys back in the the 30s and 40s to fit the standard size home oven. Prior to that the turkeys were huge and were cooked in large ovens or open fire places or pits on a spit.

He claims that no one wants to hear his FDA/Department of Ag drivel, but I find it fascinating. Another tale he tells is that frozen vegetables are actually better for you due to the flash freezing process that takes place at the time of harvest. They are harvested, washed and frozen in the same process, I think it was Birdseye that patented the process.........

He is actually the individual who enabled the orchid industry to thrive and allows consumers to go to Home Depot, Wally World etc to purchase orchids for $9.99, when in the past they were considered exotic and unbelievably expensive. He genetically engineered them to be more disease resistant and able to grow in cooler climes. Good or bad they are here to stay.

Thus, we now have "heirloom" fruits and vegetables, I wonder if you would call UK sheep heirloom sheep?

Yes infact, it was Birdseye who flash froze veggies. History Channel's The food that built America series. I actually also learned today's wheat is shorter but thicker stalked to withstand wind storms. Also, our corn is bred taller. I can totally agree with the "drivel" or conspiracy theories about the FDA modifying our food, and livestock. Look at baby chicken bought from Tractor Supply. The broodiness is genetically bred out of the hens, so they won't sit on the eggs and hatch new chicks. If they did, then Tractor supply wouldn't have a market for baby chicks. Funny how the "drivel" comes out in the wash and is centered around profit, not sustainability.