It's possible this could go either here or the authentic folder, but I'll play it safe and post it here.

It's early September.  Temperatures for the event are expected to drop into the high 30's-low 40's overnight, every night.  It's still "campaign season", and you probably haven't been re-issued your greatcoat yet.  We all know that each man was issued single gum and wool blankets. You also have your shelter half.

Do you fudge, and take an extra blanket, gum blanket, or both?  Do you skip the extra blanket and take the greatcoat?  Or do you tough it out, use just what was issued, keep the fire going and spoon with your comrades?

And do you keep your shoes on to sleep in the cold weather?

H. H. Clayton bought a gum blanket some time before he received one through the army, and you could draw pretty much what you wanted and could carry so long as you paid.  That said, probably most soldiers drew no more that what they would have been allotted because there are other ways to keep warm, the foremost among them being to share blankets and bedding with another soldier.  We don't do this because we're shy and hung up.  It was pretty normal then.  It makes a world of difference.  Even "safe spooning" -- each man wrapped in their own blanket, but sharing a single gum blanket under and one over both, makes a huge difference in warmth.  If the gum blanket below rests on a pile of newly cut pine or cedar boughs, so much the better.

In my experience, you're better off taking off your shoes.  You can keep them under the blanket, either with your body or arranged as pillow.  The best pillow for neck support, as far as I'm concerned, is a sack coat rolled up on top of a cartridge box.  That's the one thing I miss when I play officer.

I've almost always carried two gum blankets, out of necessity to try to stay dry. Shoes off, even when it's really cold and, unless it's raining really hard, is the only time I leave them on. I'll change into dry socks in the morning. I've never been shy about finding a spoonin' partner if the weather is going to be cold. At Payne's Farm, I didn't see anyone who didn't have at least one partner. I saw men sleeping in groups as large as six or seven men. Once you've shared blankets, you won't hesitate to do it again.  

--Last edited by grumpydave on 2007-09-21 06:40:43 --

Bernie,

Reread the sleeping article from circa 1997.

I did a Confederate impresion at Paynes Farm. For this event I carried a full size blanket, an poncho blanket, and a rubber blanket. That poncho blanket really came in handy, both as extra covering at night and a coat in the morning.

A lot of the folks in my unit didn't spoon for a very practical reason. Between the cow pies Friday night and rocks, roots and trees on Saturday night, it was tough to find a place wide enough for two people to lie down together.  

Quote :

Sayeth Schnapps: We don't do this because we're shy and hung up.

Or ONE of us SNORES too loudly.  Fortunately, noise levels are reduced with distance, so I've only been exiled to the furthest sleeping spot.

One gum

One blanket (sometimes not)

One greatcoat tied to gum

Shoes off

Definitely spoon

Sleeping Campaign by Yourself
by Charles Heath

Copyright 1995, 2004

This works down to about 15 degrees. I realize "those people" have much colder weather up yonder, but the "teens" mean cold weather down here. Let's put the fresh fish to bed. If his feet are warm, you have won half the battle. If both his head and feet are warm, you've done well. Just burp him as needed

Bayonet & Pocketknife - Grub any roots, stems and rocks from your pallet footprint. Use the bayonet to loosen the soil, and level it if need be. Clear away pine cones, sticks, gum balls, galls, and other debris. The ground is your insulation, so you want to form a good weld between your ground cloth and the soil. You and improve this a bit by making a cushion of pine needles, grass, or leaves between to small saplings or fence rails as if a feather bed. Yes, that mattress goes under the ground cloth.

Canteen - In the winter, make sure it is only half full. A full canteen will split when it freezes solid. Place the canteen to the left of your head, so you may find it in the dark. (Right side if you are a lefty.) Remember to develop a placement pattern for your uniform and equipment items. This will serve you well in the future when you should have been sleeping on your arms, but a lax commander let you fling your equipment everywhere.

Shoes - Take your shoes off, and put your hat over them. The hat keeps out light rain and dew. They will ventilate normally with the hat covering. If it is pouring down rain, just leave your shoes on for the night, and change your socks in the morning. Shoes can be made more water resistant with applications of bacon grease or other animal fat left over from ration issue.

Feet - Massage your feet thoroughly. Improving circulation leads to increased warmth, and it may get a few kinks out of your back. You can use your jacket as a feet wrapper on cold nights, or as a pillow wrapped around a cartridge box.

Socks - If you have a dry pair of socks, and you'd better, put them on just before retiring for the night. Take the old pair of socks and turn 'em inside out. Place these socks over your nice dry socks. They will wick away the sweat, and become your dry pair for the next night. Your feet will also have 2 layers of socks plus the jacket as protection.

Suspenders - Loosen the suspenders, so you won't pop a button in the night. You can do the toilet tuck, if you wish. What’s that you say? Just undo the suspenders from the rear buttons and shove them into your pocket as if you were taking a dump in the woods.

Knapsack - This is a better pillow, if you have one. Fluff it up a little, and enjoy. If no knapsack, then use the handy cartridge box. It is small, but it works.

Ground cloth / gum blanket / poncho - Use this as the first layer in the foldover sandwich. Lay the gum blanket / poncho rubber side down. The shelter half can be a good substitute, if the you do not yet have a groundcloth or gum blanket. Otherwise, keep the shelter half handy for a dewcloth. For the extra weight, two gum blankets can’t be beat, and gum blankets make a dandy shelter half.

Blanket - Your blanket should be long enough to cover your head and feet. If you are tall, curl up a bit. If you are short, be happy to have such an advantage. If you can sandwich into the blanket/ground cloth arrangement, then fine. If not, don't worry about it. Some like to fold the blanket once on the long axis so you climb in like a sleeping bag, and if have a second blanket, fold it along the long axis and lay the whole thing on top of you - its the equivalent of three blankets. This is nice if you have an extra blanket, but that’s rare. Most people merely mummify themselves with their one blanket in an evil sort of twist. Find your own level of comfort in this.

Headwear - Those funny little smoking hats have a purpose, but a good flannel or monmouth cap is hard to beat in cool weather. Keep some kind of headwear handy, and use it. You'll lose a lot of heat from that old bald head, if you don't keep it covered. Less heat if you still have hair. I see pards use Crimean Balaclavas, and they look mighty comfy, too. A good woolen scarf can be wrapped around your head, as if one of those old cartoon characters with a toothache. Looks stupid, but it is warm.

Wind - Find a place to sleep that is out of the wind. If you have to choose between a windbreak and a fire, go with the windbreak. A good low hanging cedar or other ground hugging tree works well for this in the woodland environment. If you are in a built up area, determine the wind direction, and bed accordingly. Avoid inside chimney corners as they are frequently used as urinals. Getting next to a log works, as does piling up a little berm of soil or snow on the windward side, and those who sleep next to the firewood pile are probably there for more than just the altruistic reason of adding a log to the fire now and then. You can make a lean-to or shebang, but it's more work taking it down in the morning. Besides, if the officer in charge doesn't order it, then canvas shouldn't be sprouting.

Fire - Spoking works well. Use your judgement as to whether you want toasty feet or toasty skull. Documentation has the boys of ’61-’65 pointing feet in or feet out, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. If you are my age, you'll get up once in the night anyway, so don't forget to toss a log on the fire. A good trick is to keep 3-4 pieces of firewood by your side to toss on the fire so you don’t have to go tripping over to the squaw wood pile in the middle of the night.

Wood - Put denser wood such as cherry, beech, or persimmon on the fire before retiring. The fire should still be warm in the morning. Pine burns fast, and you’ll be up in a few minutes looking to put some more wood. Wet wood warmed near the fire can be both a reflector and a way to dry it.

Musket - Put it in the fold of your blanket. This discourages thieves, and keeps your piece nice and warm. Stacking is good at events with some form of security, but if it is only you and the messmates, think about securing the musket next to you, and putting other pilferable items close at hand.

Great Coat - If you happen to have one, you almost have a sleeping bag. Use it as a second blanket, and with the cape flipped up it covers the head nicely.

Optional Sweet or Irish Potato - Stick a sweet potato about 4" under the coals, so your breakfast is cooked and ready to eat when you open your peepers at the first tap of the drum. Laugh now, eat hearty later.

There is a huge difference between sharing the discomfort of the elements and being miserable. A little chill or breeze up the blanket opening should be expected. Use common sense, and if you are having problems let someone know, or, better yet, spoon with them to share some blankets and body heat.

Good stuff. Charles told me to take off my shoes at Outpost 2000, that turns out to be correct.

As a Wisconsinite, son of a WWII ETO Vet who survived Nordwind and ended up a Doctor/MD, and a Boy Scout Winter snow camper, ADD:

Stoke your fire (not talking about THE Fire): take a walk prior to retiring, beat your arms around your body, jumping jacks, jog in place, etc. then hunker down. You don't want to Sweat....just get the muscles warmed up. the water at Outpost was up hill at least a quarter of a mile one way....perfect body core warmer. How about a cup of coffee (Diary of a Dutch Mudsill, John Henry Otto, this is a nightly ritual.

Insulation from the ground: I pulled together a 3 foot high pile of oak leaves and threw my rubber blanket over that. Straw, hay (recycle it by feeding it to your equine friends the next morning), pine boughs, sawdust. burlap sacks, corn shocks (the corn itself is too lumpy, feed it to the mules), cotton bale undone(probably something we DO NOT see enough of in reenacting is cotton bales...and steam ships/engines)....the ground is cold....even SNOW is a darn good insulator from the wind and the ground. Get out of the wind, or hypothermia will set in.

Define a Bed: two fence rails parallel, xx inches apart.....logs....corn field row....at Outpost I was fortunate to have two Giant Oak trunks as a windbreak, and it also kept the pile of oak leaves from flattening. At Morgan's Raid I we built stick 'platforms' on the uphill side of trees.....laid our hay on top of that and the tree kept us from sliding down hill (yes, it was that steep!).

Hay your horses.....gives them something to do at night and all that effort to munch on the hay keeps them warm and their systems flowing (they aren't call hay burners for nothing!).

Two pairs of socks.....always (that mean ALWAYS) rotate your socks, dry off your feet as best you can.....and then......put your 'wet' (wring them out if they are truly Wet) socks on your feet Over your dry socks. double the insulation (remember that wool still retains body heat when wet)....and the damp socks will dry out better from your body heat.
Bring an extra blanket and rubber blanket.....they would have stolen one from a fresh fish, picked up a discarded blanket, raided a local house....if they could.

Go for the Four stripe Hudson's Bay blankets.....the more stripes, the more Beaver pelts it took to trade for (one beaver pelt per stripe!), and the thicket the blanket was fulled.....period correct...and lot's of boys from Maine, Upstate NY, MI, Wisconsin and the 50,000 Canadians who came down to fight had access to them....that new upstart Express line.....hmm, I think it was American.....brought one to me last month from my sister in Madison. I wonder if American will be successful, being a new concern.  

Wear your second shirt.....second drawers, etc (also a good pillow, sometimes).... Sack coat and Frock coat I use the Frock coat as a second blanket.
head neck fingers toes are vulnerable core body temperature coolers.....cover them. I bring a muffler, woolen hat, gloves, two or three pairs of socks to all events starting in September through May... ever wonder what that Dress Parade sash was for? yep, I wrap it around my neck and pray I don't hang by it....

For buglers: dry out you bugle OVER the fire before retiring AND playing.....bell down, three feet ABOVE the visible flame (heat rises, and the copper/brass bell is a heat sink), couple of minutes. Don't set your bugle cord aflame. Carry the mouthpiece in your pant's pocket (leave it their for sleeping). Walk around during the day with your thumb IN the mouthpiece....if it's inside your glove or your pocket, so much the better (keeps 'em wondering when you are going to Blow the General or give yourself 'shake'. Your spit WILL freeze inside your bugle....your breath vapor will freeze almost instantly....cold metal means an unresponsive horn.  Eventually you won't be able to sound the horn....shouting Hey You, Assembly! may have to suffice. When we had 6 inches of snow at Jefferson Barracks (Western Cavalry Brigade drill about 6 years ago in March).....I had to warm up the horn over the fire for almost every call.  

--Last edited by RJSamp on 2007-09-23 12:40:05 --

RJ,

That sounds comfy. Sometimes I wonder how many folks know how to drive in a pair of split rails on the knife edge to make a bed. The gauge depends on the shoulder blades, but it does work to keep a body off the mud.

You mention the Hudson Bay Blankets. Those darn things show up in 1865 on the backs of yanks who liberated them from the goodies in Wilmington. That quote has been posted a couple zillion times, but others can still find it.

After a while, a man learns to just flop down and go to sleep in those neat little company rows.

At one of the "Recons" I got off guard duty in the middle of the night and it was cold as a well digger's butt. I found a place along the road where leaves had piled up. I pushed most of them out of the way, laid down in my blanket and pulled the leaves back over me. I was reasonably warm, and figured they wouldn't find me in the morning. No such luck.  

Also a word on spooning. The big mistake that some make is that spooning with a pard or several involves a candlelight dinner, flowers, and the loving touch of another man. Hence making the idea a little unattractive to some. Of course the idea is alot better when you are freezing your butt off in the Virginia mountains in late spring or fall. I have found that if you and your comrades just lay your ground covers side by side in a row and tuck in like talked about above that this also helps in keeping body heat where you want it. On a cold night even being a foot away gives you more heat and wind block and still gives you room to move if needed. The more guys the better and it still gives you the option to snuggle up if needed.

Quote :

ChrisOwens wrote :  The big mistake that some make is that spooning with a pard or several involves a candlelight dinner, flowers, and the loving touch of another man.

Chris,

You should make sure your spooning partner will still respect you in the morning!  

Added to what Bill has written, a big, fat, blubbery one will do you more good than the latter day authentic looking specimen.  

--Last edited by Curtis Makamson on 2007-09-27 14:29:01 --

Depending on the event,where it is located,& the season.

If I can do a campaign style then it is:

Knapsack/haversack with just very few things.
One blanket or overcoat, one ground cloth.
And yes take your shoes off.  One thing that I have learned( it works well for me) is to take off your jacket and wrap up in it for the night,along with your blanket.  Use your knapsack/haversack for a pillow.

If I decide to do an event with a tent then I will be comfortable.  I will bring my wooden cot(covered of course), mattress two blankest along with pillows.  One thing is for sure
campaigning or in camp have something to cover your head. I love my handmade nightcap.