I am going through a marathon of books on letters and diaries of Rebs. Richard Adams, 5th Alabama: "Wet as a rat, hungry as a wolf, poor as a church mouse. Down came the rain and we could no nothing but take it. I’d rather be dead than alive cold and wet."

Ahh yes, Fort Blakely. The event where God forgot he promised Noah not to flood the earth again.

09:38 "We're gonna talk about the concept of spooning."

Thank the Lord I was in the Army infantry with some high quality sleeping bags because the whole spooning thing would have been a hard sell to me. When I first joined our sleeping bags were goose down and I would have been warm and happy in a blizzard tucked into it. The next generation bags that came out, the Goretex ones, I woke up covered in snow and rain many times and had no clue it had occured while I was asleep. Those men in the Civil War were tougher than woodpecker lips.

Word of advice, always wipe off and stuff your boots into the bottom of your blanket pile or sleeping bag. This prevents them from being freezing wet and covered in frost in the morning.

Bravo gentleman!! once again a smashing success and absolutely amazing post. It's so cool how you delve deep into the real life aspects of a soldier's everyday life and the challenges faced while on campaign. I think it really enhances the experience, and creates a multidimensional understanding of the real world these men lived in. While at Gettysburg I found I was more often fascinated by the small seemingly insignificant items a soldier carried like a pipe, comb, pocket knife, a handkerchief, maybe playing cards. Little personal things which we use to this day. Intimate experiences EVERY soldier who served would have had. This post felt that way Thank you truly LD

Huge props for going the extra mile and showing us!

This is why outdoorsmen make good soldiers. They are somewhat inured to discomfort and take it in stride as the cost of doing business, so to speak.

Yes! This sort of content is much needed.

My Gran who had experienced both conditions was fond of saying she would rather be hungry than cold. I guess opinion varies but I agree with her.

I can confirm, that by "embracing discomfort" you see discomfort in your "normal" life with other eyes!

Gum blankets are life savers

Soggy hardtack seems to be an improvement compared with the dry stuff.

I'm glad you mentioned trenching around the tent; CW vets often mentioned that. If the rain was really bad they would also sleep on branches or fence rails. Knapsacks sometimes served as pillows. It all sounds very uncomfortable to me.

This video was recommended. And YT got this right. I learned here

Did a Rev War event in the middle of a hurricane. Cold rations and wool. We actually got to take turns to go inside the 18th century building and warming by the fireplace. Really made it "real life"

I always enjoy hearing the writings from soldiers; it's like they're sitting right there with you! Great stuff, very enjoyable to watch.

Just in time as I was getting ready for an event this weekend in Florida. Thank you! Thank you!

A few weeks ago we did a static display at the local national guard air Base for the air show. The static display was just like any other reenactment display. We had flies up and we had a frames up. And just like any other reenactment I was sleeping inside the A-frame. Forecast called for clear skies until morning. Boy were they wrong! Storm of the century came through at about 11:00 at night. One of the two flies came down and all the A-frames lost their waterproofing within minutes. We were in ankle deep water inside the A-frames and the ridge poles were dripping down the whole length of the tents. The decision was made to abandon and run for the vehicles and in order to get there we had to run through ankle deep rivers and ponds that were not there an hour before. we were lucky to be so close to our vehicles. I can't even imagine what they would have gone through on campaign with nothing but a dog tent and a gun blanket

Did these techniques in the military and in reenacting, both settings, it works well

This is a great topic. Thanks for the consistent, excellent content

U got 2 do whatever u got 2 do 2 stay warm

Come on guys, where was this last weekend when I froze at Petersburg. I wore shoe Friday and froze, Saturday, I took them off and slept better in spite of it being a colder night.

I absolutely loved this episode and agree with Jon Harris that it needs to be covered so we living historians don't make the same mistakes our ancestors did. Can you post the name of who made your sleeping cap. Thanks Will.

Just arrived in Kentucky (160th Perryville) from Virginia…this information is definitely gonna be helpful when the temperature drops. Thank you Will.

Thisis a great video. The AC website also has a great thread about this topic.

Excellent video!!!!!

Splendid episode.

during the early Indian wars some fellows,would take 2 gum blankets and their blanket

awesome!

Another awesome video

This was just beautiful. A much needed video, indeed! Thank you!!!

Practical knowledge! Great content, thank you Will & CWDD Crew!

Love learning about these details

Excellent video thank you.

Great video, this is very good content. Very helpful too. I'm really looking forward to part 2.

Thank You

Great video. Just a thought based on my own experience at campaign type events. I found that taking off your outer clothing, especially if you're spooning with one, two or three other men is actually warmer and you can put them in an extra shirt to use as a pillow.

Thank you. Good one!

Very informative. 😊

Great job guys

Awesome! Will you guys be at the “perfectly homespun Waterloo” event?

Should talk about using straw, pine, dry grasses to insulate from the ground.

It's not a good time until you wake up with a frozen canteen!

Can you please have a discussion on basic training of both armies?

One quick note on the "spooning" technique- That kind of thing is very taboo today because in our society, people would infer someone kind of sexual thing with men sleeping with men or women with women. But back in the 19th century, that was very common with no sexual connotations at all. I'm currently reading a biography on Lincoln, and it surprised me how much Lincoln slept in the same bed as other men and how regularly it happened. For example - when he was a lawyer in Springfield, he, other lawyers and the judge would ride the circuit. And if they slept outside for the night, they all spooned. If they were in town and had a room rented for the night, guess what? They all slept as many men in the beds as possible! Even without the need, like lawyers and judges riding the circuit, it was a normal and regular occurence. Lincoln, before he got married to Mary Todd, boarded together with a friend of his and they only had 1 room with 1 bed. And guess what? They shared the bed every night. That was a very common and normal thing to do in 19th century America. It's the exact opposite today.

Wow!those were hard times. Reminds me of my first SCOUT camp in Scotland I only had a wool blanket and a polythene ground sheet. We had a Sahara canvas bell tent. I never slept a wink. We ended up walking through woods all night to keep warm. That's a scout camp I will never forget. Those poor soldier's must have gone through hell in those campaigns. 👍👍

i dont know if you guys will see this comment but could you point me in the direction of where to acquire one of those sleeping caps you have in the video?

Something about the woodcut in the into bugs me….. does anyone else don’t it odd that a soldier would be using his bayoneted musket as a tent pole?

Do you have contact info for the person that made your hat? I know you mention the a name in video but I can't seem to locate the person and would love to get a nice winter sleeping cap made. Thanks,

Who sells the most authentic shelter half?

So if it's down pouring, soldiers would go asleep wet then?

Wauhatchie....Indian word meaning "wet and crabby".

This was fantastic fellas! Y’all check out my #CivilWarTimeMachine videos for some reenactment footage, Civil War historical sites and relic hunting. I really enjoyed this feature btw. Well done.

who set up that fly is going to be really sad if it rains. all that slack canvas is going to soak through and leak.

Yeah I wouldn’t choose to do that unless you pay me

so I guess don't ask don't tell is a modern invention then?