HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR IMPRESSION

Here are a few suggestions to improve your impression:

Hair – Hair can be long, covering ears and to collar, but not long enough for a pony tail. It was very uncommon for hair to be that long in this era. It can be short but the above was much more common. "Buzz" cuts are too short. The only soldiers that had hair that short had their head shaved to eliminate lice infestations.

Eyeglasses – Wear period eyeglasses or contacts. Along with shoes, this should be the first item you purchase.

Uniform Maintenance – We portray units on campaign at most events so the dirtier the uniform the better. Feel free to leave mud on the uniform. When I return home from an event, I wash only my shirt, underdrawers and socks with Woolite. I let my sack coat and trousers air out but don’t wash them. If you have to wash these items, hand wash using Woolite. Do not dry clean these items as the chemicals tend to stay with the item and stain your shirt and drawers.

Unauthentic items – These should be hidden in poke bags or in a tent.

Button holes – Hand sew button holes on all showing button holes. This is very easy to do. We are more than happy to show you how. Here are two links with instructions:

Instructions for Hand Sewing Buttonholes from the Rockport Mess

Stitches for Buttonholes from AzRA Historical Resources

Replace unauthentic buttons on shirts – A lot of the reproduction shirts use shell like buttons that are incorrect. Replace with porcelain buttons.

Corps Badges and other pins – Do not wear anything on your uniform except for your company letter on your headgear unless specifically requested to do so.

Lose Weight – Look at the pictures, soldiers were skinny!

Wear all your gear during battles - We portray soldiers on campaign in most scenarios, we should wear knapsacks or bedrolls. This can be as little as a gum blanket or shelter half rolled into a bedroll.

Hike up your traps – Your trousers should have a high waist, around your belly button. This is also where your waist belt should be. With your sack coat, you can wear your waist belt here even if your trousers don’t reach this high. Your haversack and canteen should be at this level also. Look at the period photographs. If you want to know why they were worn so high, try marching 15 miles a day with a full haversack and canteen banging around your hip! The best way to shorten the canteen strap is to cut and resew. For the haversack, fold it over on itself and resew.

Recover your canteen in Gray/Brown Wool/Jean Wool – As mentioned on the required equipment list, brown or gray wool or jean wool covers were very common, sky blue and dark blue were not. Sky blue covers were very rare during the War as sky blue wool was used for trousers and greatcoats.

Haversack goes outside of your waist belt – A soldier should put on his leathers first and then his haversack, canteen and knapsack. They could then take these last three items off easily. On the march, the men would typically get five to ten minute breaks every hour. They would sit or lay down, drink water and eat their rations. They did not have time to take off their belt to get to their haversack.

No Modern Style Handkerchiefs (Railroad/Biker Bandanas) – These are not period. Buy a period one from a sutler.

Shelter Tents – If you bring a full shelter tent for yourself, put down bedding for two, one on each side of the tent. Shelter tents were made for two people.

Know your drill – We drill with Casey’s Infantry Tactics. Below is a link to Hardee’s which is very similar to Casey’s:

School of the Soldier and Company - Click on hardee toc.htm

Rations – Keep them period. Hardtack is easy to make. Other common rations on campaign are coffee, sugar, meat ration (either fresh or salt beef or pork or bacon) and dried apples. Other non-typical rations would include potatoes, onions, rice, beans, carrots. Sweet potatoes, corn, corn meal, unroasted peanuts and rice would be primarily forage issue in the South. My hardtack recipe is as follows:

Mix 5 cups of unbleached flour, 1 tablespoon salt in a large bowl and a ¼ teaspoon of baking powder (not baking soda). Add 1 3/4 cup of water and knead the dough until you have a ball of dough that is not sticky to the touch. Add more flour or water as needed. Once you have a smooth ball of dough, roll on a flour-sprinkled cookie sheet to a 1/2" thickness. Cut pieces with a knife anywhere from 3"x3" to 5"x5" and poke 16 holes in each piece in 4 rows of 4. Put in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 30-60 minutes or until the hardtack is slightly browned. If the hardtack is still soft after it has completely cooled, put back in oven at 300-350 degrees until it hardens.

Weapon – As mentioned on the Required Equipment list, the Enfield needs to be "defarbed". Any of the accepted weapons should have the glossy polyurethane finish removed from the stock. You can either use sand paper or a paint or varnish remover. Once you have removed the old finish, buy some boiled linseed oil. Most hardware stores carry it. The U.S. Army soaked the stocks in boiled linseed oil for a few days to protect them from the elements. With a rag, apply 3-4 coats allowing each to dry for 24 hours. ONCE YOU ARE FINISHED WITH THE RAG, EITHER BURN IT, LEAVE IN A WELL- VENTILATED AREA OR SOAK IN WATER. BOILED LINSEED OIL IS VERY COMBUSTIBLE!

The Third Model P53 Enfield was the model used during the Civil War. The Euroarms Enfield replicates the Fourth Model P53 that was never used as a muzzleloader. These were converted to breechloaders in 1866. There are some adjustments that need to be made to convert your Enfield to the correct Third Model. With both the Euroarms and the Armisport, the current off-center upper swivel will need to be replaced with a centered swivel. The rounded brass side lock screw washers need to be replaced with squared ones.

With the Euroarms P53, you will also need to replace the two lower bands with Armisport reproductions. These bands are not rounded at the bottom like the existing Euroarms bands. All of these items can be purchased from Lodgewood Manufacturing. See Weapons on the Vendor List.

Greatcoat – C.D. Jarnagin’s greatcoats are acceptable but need to be adjusted. If you purchased one with the buttons on the coat, you will notice a 3-4 inch gap in the front of the collar. The buttons have been attached straight down the chest not offset to the right, as originals are. Order the greatcoat without button holes, order an extra hook and eye for the collar and do not have them sew the buttons on. Sew the buttons onto the body of the coat on a line angling slightly out and 2-3 inches to the right of the center button line. The button line should follow the line of vertical stitching which attached the front placket. Since you have moved the buttons over to the right, you will have an excess of material in the cape. You must cut off this excess material, sew a portion back under the cape and then put the button holes in place. The cape buttons should run down the center.

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR IMPRESSION

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