35th Regiment, North Carolina Troops

Clothing and Equipment, 1862

The uniforms, weapons, and equipment of the regiment typified that of North Carolina regiments raised in late 1861.  The State of North Carolina armed, clothed, and equipped its troops prior to transfer to Confederate service.  Several early-war images of soldiers in the 35th NCT show them wearing the 1861 N.C. regulation coats.

The regiment lost much of its personal and organizational baggage during the retreat after New Bern. At Kinston in late April, the companies of the regiment received new uniforms, issued out of North Carolina supplies.  The Special Requisition forms (Form 40) show that while the company commanders requested “coats” or “uniform coats”, they received only “jackets” from W.W. Peirce, a state quartermaster.   The number of jackets issued equaled the number of coats requested. These officers generally stated that their men required new clothing because “all of the clothing with the exception of one suit was lost in the retreat from Newbern.”

CLOTHING ISSUES TO 35TH NC,  APRIL 20- 25, MAY 1, 1862

This chart shows that the companies received an ample amount of clothing for their soldiers.  Company K appears to have not been issued sufficient clothing, but the requisition was filled at the amounts requested.  One item requested, but not provided, to Company K was “fifty fatigue jackets”.  The quartermaster issued the 15 “jackets” in lieu of the “uniform coats” requested. Several companies received other small issues of clothing and equipment between March 14 and June 1: 

Company D:   March 29  - 5 overcoats, 24 haversacks, 1 shirt

Company E:    March 17 - 1 coat, 25 pr pants, 25 pr shoes, 2 pr drawers, 2 shirts

                        March 29 – 5 overcoats, 15 haversacks

May 17 – 20 jackets, 20 pants, 20 pr drawers, 20 shirts, 20 pr shoes, 20 caps  (this issue was “for recruits”)

Company G:   March 14 – 15 pr shoes, 25 pr drawers, 25 shirts, 1 coat  (issued one day before the Battle of New Bern)

Company H:   May 29 – 5 overcoats, 15 haversacks

The only quartermaster items missing from these issues were blankets, which the company commanders did not request on the Form 40s.  The soldiers must have retained their blankets during the retreat to Kinston.

On April 7, several companies were issued “Bell Tents”- Company C, 10 tents; Company D, 10 tents; Company E, 10 tents; Company F, 10 tents; Company H, 10 tents, and Company K, 9 tents.  There were also other issues of small numbers of pans, shovels, axes, picks, and spades to some of the companies.

           35th NC moved to Virginia on June 21 relatively well-clothed and shod in North Carolina-issue items.  There are no records of any other issues of clothing during the period June 21 to October 31. The regiment’s assistant quartermaster, Nicholas M. Long, signed for the following equipment at Raleigh on June 28, 1862: 750 knapsacks, 250 haversacks, 30 wall tents, 6 fifes, 3 hospital tents, and 463 canteens and straps.  When the regiment moved to rejoin the ANV, Lieutenant William Burgwyn recorded on August 27 that they were “… allowed to take no baggage with us on the trains but what we could carry on our backs.” The wagons carrying only tent flies and the regulation’s amount of baggage” indicating that the bell and wall tents were left in Richmond.  These wagons did not rejoin the brigade until late on September 1.  Lieutenant Walter Clark, the Adjutant of the 35th NC, wrote later: “Our men have not had a tent since we left Richmond in August.”  Garland Ferguson of the 25th NC wrote of this move:  “Camping equipments had been left behind at Richmond and frequently on the march the men had to resort to ramrods for baking purposes and forked sticks for the roast.”

During the rapid movement to their new position in the West Woods, some in the regiments of Ransom’s Brigade dropped their knapsacks and blankets and were later unable to retrieve them.   Corporal W.N. Rose of the 24th NC wrote that prior to this move: “Here we were ordered to lay off knapsacks which we never saw again.” Another regiment in the division, the 27th NC, also lost their blankets and knapsacks, “having piled them up by companies as we entered the fight and being unable, on account of the change of position, to get them, as we intended on 18 September.”  Walter Clark in a letter to his mother stated that “…when we got in two miles of our position (now the extreme left) [the West Woods]…Our men were ordered to throw off their knapsacks and we pushed forward.”  It is unknown how many soldiers dropped off knapsacks and blankets at that point, but it is clear that many soldiers lost these items during or immediately after the battle.  While in bivouac near Martinsburg on September 21, Lieutenant Burgwyn noted that his men were “…suffering very much in the night from want of bed clothes, baggage and clothing being lost.” He wrote his brother two days later:  “We retreated or fell back after the battle of Sharpsburg across the river and in our haste lost all our baggage and bed clothing but no regiment but ours [35th NC] lost the officers’ baggage or bed clothing.”  Later, while spending a cold night on the picket line near Upperville, Walter Clark observed: “Not one in twenty of our men have blankets.”  William Day of the 49th NC, recalled that his regiment “crossed the Potomac into Virginia again, and lost all our knapsacks and blankets on the march.”  Garland Ferguson, 25th NC, also remembered “…blankets and change of clothing had been left at Sharpsburg, and when the men recrossed the Potomac they were without blankets and bare of clothing.”

According to Clark, the camp equipment carried on the regimental wagons was rarely seen on the march because “our wagons are very often separated from us three, four, five days or more at a time and I have nothing except what I have on my back or in my pockets.”  Lieutenant Burgwyn thought the wagons had been captured, but they were only separated from the brigade during the retreat.  He noted in his diary on October 3 that “Warrenton, Virginia had not been captured by the Yankees and consequently our baggage was safe.” This “baggage” would have been officers’ baggage, tent flies and other camp equipment packed on the regiment’s wagons in late August.

Shelter in the Virginia camps was limited to what the soldiers could build themselves. On October 27, a month after the army returned to Virginia, Burgwyn wrote: “Sent one wagon today to bring our tent flies from Warrenton, Virginia.” William Day described the use of tent flies in the 49th NC bivouac during late October:

Instead of tents we had what was known as flies.  They were cloths about ten feet wide and fifteen feet long and were put up by placing a fork in the ground at each end and with a pole from one end to the other and fastening one side of the cloth to the pole and the other to the ground.  They made very good shelters unless the wind and rain blew in on the open side.

            After the return to Virginia, the regiment took steps to obtain replacement clothing and equipment.  On September 23, Burgwyn recorded in his diary:  “Captain Long, our quartermaster…was sent home to get clothing and cetera for the regiment.” Burgwyn added in a letter that  “our quartermaster goes to Raleigh today to get clothing, guns, etc., etc., for the men.”  Burgwyn wrote his brother on September 23 that “We are making out here as well as can be expected with no blankets or baggage and hope soon to get supplies from our Quartermaster Captain Long.”  Long did not return to the regiment and the mission to bring back clothing was assigned to another officer in October.  Burgwyn detailed Corporal William G. Morris “to go to Mecklenburg County, N.C. to get clothes for the company” but noted on October 22 that he sent Corporal Morris “to get blankets for the company.” The situation for the other NC regiments in the division was equally bad.  Lt. Col. Samuel H. Walkup, 48th NC, wrote Governor Zebulon Vance on October 11 about the condition of his men. Walkup’s letter gives a clear, if grim, picture of the condition of his regiment and this was probably representative of other regiments in Walker’s Division.  He stated that of 619 men present, 51 were “completely & absolutely Barefooted” and another 194 “nearly as bad off, as Barefooted.” Walkup continued:

There are but Two hundred and ninety seven blankets in the Regt. among the 619 men present which is less than one blanket to every two men. In truth there is one Compy (I) having 66 men & only Eleven Blankets in the whole company-- The pants are generally ragged & out at the seats & there are less than three cooking utensils to each Company-- This sir is the condition of our Regt. Upon the eve of winter here among the mountains of Va. Cut off from all supplies from home…What is said of the 48th N.C. is equally true of other Regts in the service from N.C. & from other States too.

Walkup described the privations facing his men and implored Governor Vance to come to the aid of the North Carolinians in the army.  He stated what was immediately required:

What we most pressingly need just now is our full supply of Blankets, of Shoes, & of pants and socks.  We need very much all our other clothing too. But we are in the greatest need of these indispensable articles & Must have them & have them Now.

These conditions prompted Vance to call on the citizens of North Carolina for aid.  He issued an appeal on October 15 for donations of winter clothing to meet the soldiers’ needs.  Governor Vance identified what items were in greatest demand:

The articles most needed, and which the State finds it most difficult to supply, are shoes, socks and blankets, though drawers, shirts and pants would be gladly received…A great lot of blankets also might yet be spared from private use, and thousands could be made from the carpets upon our parlor floors.

Murdock McSween, a North Carolina lawyer and  “unofficial journalist” with the army in 1862, wrote Governor Vance in mid-November detailing the plight of the North Carolina soldiers:

Our soldiers in the Army of the Potomac [ANV] need shoes, blankets & clothes very badly—The companies there average probably 30 effective men each.  About one third are barefooted or the same as barefooted—I saw many men marching in the snow entirely without shoes or any substitute— there are perhaps 10 men in a company well shod—Very few men are amply supplied with blankets, many have none and others have only one thin blanket apiece. Our soldiers…left or lost their baggage before their trip to Maryland. They are of course ragged and dirty, and itch vermin and disease are very prevalent—Much of the baggage they left when starting on their march has been damaged, stolen or misplaced since they left…The articles I think most necessary are shoes, blankets, pants and coats & should be supplied first.

Through both government and individual efforts, the 35th NC finally received some new clothing while in camp near Madison Court House on November 12.   Lieutenant Burgwyn wrote:  “The Quartermaster sent two wagons to Gordonsville today to get the clothing for the regiment just arrived there from Raleigh.”Garland Ferguson, 25th NC, also remembered that “…the regiment marched to Madison Court House where it bivouaced and then drew a supply of clothing and blankets.” On November 15, Burgwyn received a bundle of carpet blankets from his uncle.  He wrote his mother two days later:

…as soon as I receive the blankets you are going to send me I intend to give them out but till then I will need them myself and they are the very sort of blankets my men are now thoroughly supplied with blanket and clothing the man who I detailed to go home and get them has returned and they have as much as they can carry.

The bulk of the clothing would have been from the North Carolina Quartermaster Department and the blankets from the Mecklenburg families of the soldiers, as he refers to Corporal Morris as “[my] man who went home for blankets…” Morris probably bought back some clothing items as well.  There are no records of this November issue of clothing that list types and quantities received.  As an officer, young Lieutenant Burgwyn did not draw government clothing and his uniform was in poor condition.  He described his appearance to his mother:  “My pants at the bottom are so ragged that I have to hem them up and all the lining [in] most of my coat is torn out.”

The Regiment would eventually move to Fredericksburg and later participate in the fighting around Marye’s Heights on December 13.  Burgwyn recalled that he permitted his men on the field after the battle to salvage clothing and other items.

The images of some enlisted men of the regiment are found in Greg Mast, State Troops and Volunteers: A Photographic Record of North Carolina’s Civil War Soldiers  (Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1995), volume I, pp 36, 67, 68, 200, 248.  Several other soldiers are wearing plain jackets, perhaps those issued later in April. The data on clothing and equipment issues is taken from the compiled service records of the company commanders of the 35th NCT in 1862.  See National Archives, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, Thirty-Fifth North Carolina Infantry, 5 rolls.  Cited hereafter as 35 NCCSR..  The quote on uniform condition is from the CSR for Captain David G. Maxwell, Company H.

Sources 

Arms and Accouterments, 1862