 |
Civil War Tents
Civil War tents were the closest thing that a soldier could call home during the Civil War. Each Union soldier was given one half of a tent. It was a piece of canvas in the form of a rectangle that had to be attached to another soldiers piece of canvas that would then form two sides of the tent. These were very small two man tents. TO THE RIGHT----> Enlisted men's tent These tents got the nickname of dog tent because soldiers complained they were more fit for a dog than a person, especially when keeping out the elements. They just were to small but it was all they had. The tent however was so simple in design that it could easily be set up virtually anywhere. All you needed was a place to tie up the strings to hold the two sides up. Simply sticking a rifle with a bayonet into the ground and using that to string up the tent usually accomplished this. The southern soldiers never received a standard tent like the Union soldiers did. They had some variations of a tent but the Union tents were much more desired than anything the South had to offer. Southern soldiers would often capture Union tents or any other supplies they could get their hands on whenever the opportunity presented itself.
|
