Military tent

“ Double shelter tents may be pitched by first pitching one tent as heretofore described, then pitching a second tent against the opening of the first, using one rifle to support both tents, and passing the front guy ropes over and down the sides of the opposite tents. The front corner of one tent is not pegged down, but is thrown back to permit an opening into the tent. ”

“ All the men spread their shelter halves on the ground the tent is to occupy. Those of the front rank are placed with the triangular ends to the front. All four halves are then buttoned together, first the ridges and then the square ends. The front corners of the tent are pinned by the front-rank men, the odd number holding the poles, the even number driving the pins. ”

“ The Encampment consists of eight rows of tents, two to each company, opening on four streets parallel to each other, and a broad avenue runs through the centre of the camp. The tents of the Company Officers and of the Army Instructors of Tactics, are situated opposite their respective companies, while the tent of the Commandant of Cadets is placed centrally at the East end of the broad avenue. The Guard tents, five or six in number, are situated in a line a little distance in front of the whole camp. ”

“ I found a tent erected for my accommodation by the native Christian brethren close to the ruins of the mission premises. What a scene of desolation the whole place presented! The houses of the European residents had been set on fire, and there they were as the mutineers had left them. There were no European families. One large house had been put in order by the magistrate, and in the wide surrounding enclosure what may be called a canvas town had arisen. Civil and military officers were continually passing up and down, and for their accommodation tents had been pitched. ”

“ But military despots pick up their families and carry them out to their dinner, if they refuse to walk. The new neighbors offered us a room with them, but the General never left his men, and it is superfluous to say that I thought our clean, new hospital tent, as large again as a wall-tent, and much higher, was palatial after the trials of the pine forests. ”

“ Whenever windstorms are expected, the tent pegs should be secured and additional guy ropes attached to the tents.
Tents may be prevented from blowing down by being made fast at the corners to posts firmly driven into the ground, or by passing ropes over the ridge poles and fastening them to pegs firmly set into the ground. ”

“ Except in their material, the shoes of the troops are as varied as their clothing. None have as yet been served out, and each still wears the boots, the brogans, the patent leathers, or the Oxford ties in which he enlisted. The tents have mostly no other floor than the earth, and that rarely swept; while blankets, boxes, and utensils are stowed in corners with a disregard of symmetry that would drive a martinet mad. Camp stools are rare and tables invisible, save here and there in an officer’s tent. ”

“ Every one is kind and sympathetic; a cool breeze blows through the looped-up tents; it is all very luxurious and pleasant for wearied-out soldiers. I like to lie and watch the little pictures through the tent openings of low blue veldt hills in the distance (which somehow remind one of the background glimpses in old Italian pictures) , and dream over things one has seen and done, many of which seem already such ages ago, and listen to the bugle calls that sound at intervals in the camp. ”

“ It is very diverting to walk among the camps. They are as different in their form as the owners are in their dress, and every tent is a portraiture of the temper and taste of the persons who encamp in it. Some are made of boards, and some of sail-cloth; some partly of one and partly of the other. Again, others are made of stone or turf, brick or brush. Some are thrown up in a hurry; others are curiously wrought with doors and windows, done with wreaths and withes, in the manner of a basket. Some are your proper tents and marquees, looking like the regular camp of the enemy. ”

“ Over the horizontal pole is hung a large mat, the ends of which are pegged to the ground, and the tent is then complete. The mat is made of the epidermis of young palm leaves. In order to prevent water from flooding the tent in rainy weather, a trench is dug around it. The only furniture is the hammock in which the inhabitant sleeps, and in fine weather, this is much more often slung between two palm trees than between the upright posts of the tent. In fact, the only use of the tent is as a shelter in rainy weather, the whole of the life being passed in the open air. ”

“ SCENE.—A shell-pitted plain and a cavalry regiment under canvas thereon. It is not yet "Lights out," and on the right hand the semi-transparent tents and bivouacs glow like giant Chinese lanterns inhabited by shadow figures. From an Officers' mess tent comes the twinkle of a gramophone, rendering classics from "Keep Smiling." In a bivouac an opposition mouth-organ saws at "The Rosary." On the left hand is a dark mass of horses, picketed in parallel lines. They lounge, hips drooping, heads low, in a pleasant after-dinner doze. ”

“ I was watching the hundreds of tents—it looked like a great many—and was wondering how men could live in such places, and was trying to fancy what George's or Gibbes's looked like. It was pleasant to watch the barefoot soldiers race around like boys let loose from school, tossing caps and chips at two old gray geese that flew in circles around the encampment, just as though they had never had more earnest work. One gray-headed man stood in the door of his tent, while a black-headed young one danced before him, to his own whistle, with his arms akimbo. ”

“ I believe they are still used to some extent by the militia of the various States. I remember having seen these tents raised on a stockade four feet high by some regiments during the war, and thus arranged they made very spacious and comfortable winter quarters. When thus raised they accommodated twenty men. The camp for convalescents near Alexandria, Va., comprised this variety of tent stockaded.
A, OR WEDGE TENTS.
The A or Wedge tents are yet quite common. ”

“ For the information of any persons who are ignorant as to knowledge of the shelter-tent it may be said that this kind of a tent is used by troops in the field in active service. Each soldier draws one piece of tent,—a piece of white or unbleached twilled cotton cloth about one yard and a half square. ”

“ But a man who is not so equipped, who has no change of clothes, and no bedstead to sleep on, will do better to sleep in the open air, in front of a good camp fire. Napoleon I., speaking of soldiers, says ('Maximes de Guerre') :--"Tents are not healthy; it is better for the soldier to bivouac, because he sleeps with his feet to the fire, whose neighbourhood quickly dries the ground on which he lies; some planks or a little straw shelter him from the wind. Nevertheless a tent is necessary for superior officers, who have need to write and to consult a map." ”

“ We are back again in the same camp as we started out from for this show,22 and got back just in time, as it has rained almost ever since. We are pretty comfortable in our tents, after much digging. I mean, we dig out the inside of our tents, and make a trench all round to keep the water out. You achieve three things by doing this: (1) your tent is much warmer; (2) you have much more room and do not bump your head every time you turn round; (3) you keep dry.... We can’t possibly move up again for another show until the sun comes out and dries the mud, which is ankle-deep now. ”

“ Soldiers have a knack of making a tent attractive.
"Madame, the Lieutenant's compliments, and your tent is ready."
I then alighted and found my little home awaiting me. The tent-flaps tied open, the mattresses laid, the blankets turned back, the camp-table with candle-stick upon it, and a couple of camp-chairs at the door of the tent. Surely it is good to be in the army I then thought; and after a supper consisting of soldiers' hot biscuit, antelope steak broiled over the coals, and a large cup of black coffee, I went to rest, listening to the soughing of the pines. ”

“ She has a large recreation tent, like the side-show tent of a circus, but painted green to escape the attention of the German airmen, and in this tent she entertains the men during their brief periods of leave from the trenches. ”

“ In the midst of all this, an incident took place that created a great deal of amusement. Along the line, just back of and somewhat protected by the works, the Texans had pitched several of the little “shelter tents” we used to capture from the enemy, and found such a convenience. One of these stood apart. It had a piece of cloth, buttoned on the back, and closing that end up to about eighteen inches from the top, leaving thus, a triangular hole just under the ridge pole. In this little tent sat four men, a captain and three privates, all that were left of a Company in this Texan Brigade. ”

“ There is great activity everywhere, as preparations have already commenced for the march north. Our camp "mess" has been started, and we will be very comfortable, I think, with a good soldier cook and Cagey to take care of the tents. I am making covers for the bed, trunk, and folding table, of dark-blue cretonne with white figures, which carries out the color scheme of the folding chairs and will give a little air of cheeriness to the tent, and of the same material I am making pockets that can be pinned on the side walls of the tent, in which various things can be tucked at night. ”

“ The nature of the change was made manifest by the substitution of shelter tents for those we had been accustomed to use. Each man was served with a single tent, which he carried with his blanket on his back, and by joining with two or three of his comrades, and uniting their tents, a fair shelter or covering could be obtained. The officers were served after the same fashion, the only distinction being that three tents were furnished them instead of one, and they were not compelled to carry their baggage. ”

“ A staff officer took in our names, and directly returned with the reply of "Pass in!" We were now in the sacred enclosure, secured by flaming swords. Four tents stood in a row, allotted respectively to the Chief of Staff, the Adjutant-General, the telegraph operators, and the select staff officers. Just behind them, embowered by a covering of cedar boughs, stood the tent of General McClellan. Close by, from an open plot or area of ground, towered a pine trunk, floating the national flag. Lights burned in three of the tents: low voices, as of subdued conversation, were heard from the first. ”

“ In an army where men are plentiful and tents very few, the eighteen or twenty fortunate fellows to whom a bell tent may be allotted, can pitch it easily and rapidly enough; one, standing inside, will hold up the central pole, while the others, driving pegs all round, draw out and affix the cords to them. We found, however, when accompanying the division in Kafirland under General Somerset, that we could set up our own tent, shared by Mr. ”

“ Since the wars of the French Revolution, armies have completely done away with the tents on account of the encumbrance they cause. Partly it is found better for an army of 100,000 men to have, in place of 6,000 tent horses, 5,000 additional cavalry, or a couple of hundred extra guns, partly it has been found that in great and rapid operations a load of tents is a hindrance, and of little use. ”

“ The soldiers built little log huts and shacks, roofed them with their shelter tents, and built earth and stone fireplaces, the chimneys terminating in a flour or pork barrel which often caught fire. For an office and a place to sleep I had a wall tent with a camp stove in it. We fixed up a kitchen and, with the aid of tarpaulins, erected a few store-houses for the protection of the commissary stores, which were guarded by a sentinel. The railroad from Aquia Creek on the Potomac was quickly repaired and we drew our supplies at a railroad switch about two miles from the camp. ”

“ As they are exactly alike, any two soldiers may join their pieces and thus raise a shelter, or three or four, by uniting and pitching the tent at a right angle, can close the tent ends, using two of the pieces cornerwise. ”

“ The camp of these Tchoukchis was pitched [Pg 40] upon the border of the river, by the side of their equipages, and at the back of the wood which I mentioned. It contained about a dozen tents ranged in a line along the bank. They were of a square form, and made of rein deer skin, suspended by leathern straps to four poles erected at the four corners. Bundles of spears and arrows, fixed in the snow before every tent, seem to guard the entrance [14] , which is very low, and shuts hermetically. The tents are extremely hot. ”

“ Soldiers live in tents, when they march from home; and at night they take the canvass out of their waggons or baggage-carts, and pitch the tents in any convenient field. Four soldiers live in one tent, and lie upon clean straw, taking their knapsacks for pillows. ”

“ Not a little ingenuity is called into play in disposing advantageously about the tent the necessary personal paraphernalia of the soldier, not to mention the dozen little conveniences that incommode everybody, but which, nevertheless, silently accumulate by virtue of the volunteer's perpetual outreach after the shadow of his accustomed home comforts. Room must be found for four to six muskets, according to the number of the mess, and as many knapsacks, haversacks, belts, blankets, rubber-cloths, canteens, sets of dishes (!) ”

“ The camp consisted of dome-shaped, sheet-iron barracks and tented areas. After an hour's wait Battery D was assigned to the 13th row of Section C of the tented area. Tents were pyramid in shape. Fourteen men were crowded into each tent that was originally intended for eight.
By laying in wheel formation, with fourteen pairs of feet meeting at the center pole, the boys rested themselves on the board floors of the tents that night. There was no room for packcarriers and other paraphanelia in the tents. Most of the soldiers deposited their excess luggage on the outside. ”