Research Notes: George Thompson Garrison’s Shelter Tent

On March 8, 1865, Lieutenant George Thomson Garrison arrived on David’s Island in a pouring rainstorm. It had been a wet spring, much of it spent on campaign with his company of black privates, Company I of the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment (Figure 1). Eldest son of the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, his diary reflected his training as a printer in The Liberator office; he recorded details efficiently: “Got my Great Coat badly wet before I got Shelter Tent up,” he reported. “We are encamped in the woods upon very moist and wet ground. Our camp is a little over a mile from where we encamped last night.” In short, it had been hard going and much trouble to relocate one mile. He finished his entry hoping they would not remain where they were for long. Three days later, he reported, “The Reg’t has been engaged to-day in fixing up their Shelter Tents, &c. Had my tent raised from the ground, and a flooring put into it, & a bunk made.” Although orders to move could come at any time while on a campaign, he and his men were accustomed to making do and separated themselves from the soggy landscape. A hundred forty-five years later, descendants found that tent, wrapped in a brown department-store bag, in a family attic. The only known shelter tent surviving from an African American regiment, it documents one of a number of tactical structures Union forces used in the Department of the South and elsewhere.¹

Figure 1.

Lieutenant George Thompson Garrison, 1865. Author’s collection.

From a distance, shelter tents look like nearly square pieces of white cotton cloth. Up close, it is apparent that they were pieced, had bound edges, reinforced corners, buttons, and button holes. Each man was supposed to carry one half of a tent, improvising supports and stakes in the field; buttoning two halves together made a whole “A” tent for two men, although George’s diary did not record that he had a tent mate on that March day. It was possible to pitch them at an angle with one open side and still keep out of the rain. Fred Gaede’s comprehensive study of shelter tents has identified their evolution. Garrison’s tent was most likely made the year of his enlistment in 1863, but he drew it after he was assigned to Company I, the letter along with the Regimental number that is painted onto the tent surface (Figure 2). It also has a stamped maker’s mark from Henry McComb of Wilmington, Delaware, who supplied the government with 219,000 shelter tents in 1863 at prices that varied from $3.25 to $4.10 per tent half, a price that was in line with other suppliers that year.²

Figure 2.

Lieutenant George Thompson Garrison’s shelter tent half, Henry S. McComb, manufacturer, Wilmington, Delaware, circa 1863. Author’s collection.

Figure 3.

Detail of corner and button, Lt. George Thompson Garrison’s shelter tent half, Henry S. McComb, manufacturer, Wilmington, Delaware, circa 1863. Author’s collection.

Garrison’s tent was made with light but coarse cotton twill, reinforced at stress points (Figure 3). The long seams were machine sewn, but the bone buttons and button holes were stitched on by hand. Implicit in the design was an effort to hold down costs, facilitate speedy deployment, and reduce the cumulative weight of rations, ordinance, and support material carried by soldiers on campaigns. Garrison’s diaries make it clear that his company and regiment moved more in the late winter and spring of 1865, after Charleston fell, than it had for nearly all of 1863 and 1864, when the men spent long stretches of time bottled up in the vicinity of James and Folly Islands doing fatigue work and picket duty. Shelter tents supported troops on the move and George only referenced his in the context of campaigns.

These 1865 campaigns were important. Army command knew from experience...