VERY RARE CIVIL WAR U.S. ARMY ISSUE DRAWERS

$2,500.00 ON HOLD

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 1052-256

This is a very rare set of Civil War army drawers, issued, worn and then discarded at a small frontier army fort after the war. These were made and issued in huge numbers, but were characteristically cheaply made, often disliked, and hardly worth preservation as a cherished relic of wartime service. Very few survive even though Osman estimated US purchases of drawers at 11 million, with hundreds of thousands more made at clothing depots. Most were cotton flannel, but there were some knit, domet flannel, or other types specified in individual contracts. This set followed the standard pattern: ankle length, with slit cuffs closed by cloth ties to keep them from riding up, fastened by two buttons at the waist and laced across the open V at the rear of the waistband through sewn grommet holes for adjustment. They were issued in three sizes, which were often all too small, in one weight of material that was often not warm enough in cold weather and too hot for warm weather. These are relatively intact, but the legs were torn off below the knee, possibly as a field modification to get some relief from summer heat in the Dakotas and still prevent chafing by army issue trousers, and then worn for a while longer. A hole below the waist band on the wearer’s right front, likely caused them to be discarded more than the torn-off legs. It is notable that in his Military Collector and Historian article “Army Drawers in the Civil War,” Osman quotes an 1861 letter by a doctor suggesting a better design of drawers and noting, “old pants may be converted in draws of this pattern in 2 minutes by cutting off the legs 2 to 3 inches . . . ,” suggesting that length of the legs might certainly be considered a matter of comfort by the soldier.

By condition, texture and color of the fabric this pair would appear to come from a soldier’s trunk, but they are actually from excavations at Fort Pembina, ND, conducted on private property with the owner’s permission. The anaerobic soil conditions have yielded cloth and leather gear in remarkable states of preservation. (One thinks of the Vindolanda excavations in Britain, producing 2,000 year-old Roman sandals in excellent condition.) These have been cleaned, but not repaired or conserved, are substantially intact and stable. The lower seam of the fly opened and spread about 3 inches along the seam of the crotch, but there is no fabric missing. The waistband still has one of the two tinned buttons on the top. The fly, as normal, is open, about 9 inches long from the bottom of the waist band and faced with 1 ¼ strip along either side. The hole at the bottom of the waistband on the wearer’s right is about 4 by 4 inches, and could be backed or camouflaged for display, but is actually a nice indicator of the hard use these garments were subjected to on the frontier, where resupply might be an issue. The fabric is stable, supple, and shows very close to the original white with just a thin charcoal colored stain on the lower left front.

The waistband is about 2 inches wide at the front and tapers only slightly to 1 1/4 inches at the very back, next to two sewn grommet holes on each side to adjust with laces. The legs were made of one piece of material and seamed along the outer edge. The V-cut at the back is 4 inches long from the top of the waistband and reinforced by a 1 ¼ inch strip along either side extending about 1 inch below the end of the V. A yoke runs from about 1 ¼ inch down the leg seam on each side to about 2 1/2 inches below the point of the V-slit, or 6 1/2 inches from the top of the waistband. The ink maker and inspector stamps (sometimes on the seat and back of the calf) are long gone and the large numbers of drawers made by so many different manufacturers makes it tough to pin these down to a specific maker or depot, but these have some similarity to the Danish Exchange pair, made at Schuylkill Arsenal and part of an 1858 exchange of military material. That pair like this, has legs seamed down the outer edge, a more-or-less straight waistband, and this pair also uses a relatively shallow yoke across the seat, typical of Schuylkill infantry trousers. A set made by New York contractor Albert Rose is  illustrated in the Time Life series Arms and Equipment of the Union and diagrammed by Jim Stamatelos in Osman’s Military Collector and Historian article, but differ in having a wider waistband, no yoke on the back, and legs seamed on the inside. Probably just a few of the differences we would find if there were a significant sample of the millions made.

Fort Pembina was established in 1870 by troops of the 20th US Infantry and as is typical of the early Indian Wars regular army, their issue uniforms were Civil War surplus well into the 1870s. These drawers fit the pattern usually called the 1851 pattern, likely the same as used from about 1835 until the new pattern of 1875. In fact, adverse comments on both the size and warmth of this pattern were made in 1875 by officers of the 20th Infantry stationed in Dakota. Situated in the Red River Valley in North Dakota near the Canadian border, Ft. Pembina was in operation until 1895. Trading posts existed earlier in the area as part of the fur trade, and the first U.S. military post there was temporary- manned by a detachment of Minnesota troops in 1863-1864 following the 1862 Sioux uprising. In March 1870 a new fort was established south of the Pembina River and about 200 yards west of the Red River, completed by July and named in honor of Gen. George H. Thomas. The name was changed to Fort Pembina in September and the initial garrison consisted of two companies of the 20th US Infantry. Their main purpose was to provide security for settlers worried about Sioux returning south from Canada, but the troops spent much of their time escorting boundary surveys along the Canadian border and preventing Fenian raids heading north into Canada.

The fort included enlisted barracks, officers’ quarters, guard house, ordnance storehouse, company kitchen, root house, laundress’s quarters, quarters for civilian employees, hospital and hospital servant’s house, a barn for the “hospital cow,” quartermaster and commissary offices and storehouse, stables, wagon shed, etc. The garrison reached peak strength in 1878 of 200, but the average was about 125 enlisted men and 8 officers. An October 1885 return listed 97 men, 2 field pieces, 1 mountain howitzer, 100 rifles, 19 pistols, 23 mules, and 9 wagons. By 1890 the post had just 23 men, and after an 1895 fire destroyed some 19 buildings it was decided to abandon the fort rather than rebuild, the last detachment left in September. The property was turned over to the Interior Department and later sold in 1902.

This set of drawers is completely stable, shows interesting continued wear and possible field modification in the legs, and is very rare for being army issue. It displays very well and would fill a gap in just about any Civil War collection out there, private or public. It is also a scarce relic of army life on the frontier.   [sr] [ph:L]

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