TIPS FROM AN OLD VETERAN

By Private Denis Gaubert

The “Zouave Outlaw”

If any of you have read first-person accounts written by Civil War veterans, you are likely to have run across instances of experienced soldiers helping recruits in adjusting to army life. A good example of this is in the novel, Si Klegg and His Pard, where the raw recruit Si is helped along by his veteran comrade, Shorty. I came across the following item in my periodic excursions in the ether (cyberspace). This advice from a Mexican War veteran was originally printed in a period newspaper, then reprinted on cards which were distributed to Union volunteers.

COUNSEL TO OUR VOLUNTEERS.

HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE CAMPAIGN.

(From the Evening Post, April 22.)

1. Remember that in a campaign more men die from sickness than by the bullet.

2. Line your blanket with one thickness of brown drilling. This adds but four ounces in weight and doubles the warmth.

3. Buy a small India rubber blanket (only $1.50), to lay on the ground or to throw over your shoulders when on guard duty during a rain storm. Most of the eastern troops are provided with these. Straw to lie upon is not always to be had.

4. The best military hat to use is the light colored soft felt; the crown being sufficiently high to allow space for air over the brain. You can fasten in up as a continental in fair weather, or turn it down when it is wet or very sunny.

5. Let your beard grow, so as to protect the throat and lungs.

6. Keep your entire person clean; this prevents fevers and bowel complaints in warm climates. Wash your body each day if possible. Avoid strong coffee and oily meat. General Scott said that the too free use of these (together with neglect in keeping the skin clean,) cost many a soldier his life in Mexico.

7. A sudden check of perspiration by chilly or night air, often causes fever and death. When thus exposed, do not forget your blanket.

* AN OLD SOLDIER *

Now, I hate to think of myself as old, but I have to admit I have been in this hobby for over thirteen years. Over that time, I have been taught a few little useful tips, tricks, and suggestions which make our impression as Civil War soldiers not only more convenient, but probably more accurate as well. I have also learned a few more through experience (sometimes, bitter experience!). I offer the following, for what they’re worth, to our recruits or less experienced soldiers, with gratitude to all the unnamed veterans to whom credit is due for sharing them with me or otherwise inspiring me to commit them to memory.

1. If you are troubled by mosquitoes, gnats, or flies when trying to sleep, but don’t like a scratchy wool blanket on your face or head, stick your bayonet (or a sharpened stick) into the ground near your head and drape your blanket over it. This improvised mosquito net will help you breathe more comfortably and keep those pests away from your ears.

2. Caught in a rainstorm without a poncho, and can’t find a piece of string to tie your rubber blanket around you? No problem! Take the two hooks off the front straps of your Federal double-bag knapsack (you don’t need them to wear the knapsack, anyway) and run them through the opposite grommets to secure the rubber blanket around you.

3. Don’t stick a candle directly into the socket of your bayonet. The wax will drip onto the bayonet eventually and make a gummy mess. Instead, use a bayonet candlestick (available at some sutlers) or just put a piece of thin cloth under the base of the candle. This will keep your bayonet clean.

4. Take the time to make up some period-correct packs of toilet paper. Do not assume that the bathrooms or porta-potties at events will always magically have paper available! Toilet paper at reenactments disappears faster than a keg of free beer at a college fraternity party.

5. Buy a wooden tompion for your musket, and keep it available in your pocket at every event. If you have an extra canteen cork, that’ll work, too.

6. Buy or make yourself a housewife, with an adequate supply of thread, needles, and buttons in it. This little item is one of your best investments.

7. Always carry an extra pair of socks in your knapsack, blanket roll, or haversack.

8. As between a big Bowie knife and a folding pocket knife, the latter is more useful (and lighter).

9. Placing your different food items and eating utensils in separate rations bags(preferably in different colors or fabric patterns) makes them easier to find and keeps your haversack organized.

10.  On cold nights, do not sleep with your shoes on.  Leather is dead tissue; it does not generate or retain heat, and is a poor insulator.  Take your shoes off, put on an extra pair of socks if available, and keep your feet against one another under your blanket.  Warm feet are essential to a good night's sleep! 

Do you have your own tips? Then share them with your comrades!