New Cotton Uniforms - 5/8/1918

Camp Sheridan

Montgomery, Ala.

May 8th

My Dear Mother: - 

It is almost too hot to write tonight, so I shall only drop you a few lines. 

There was a review of the entire Division this afternoon. The Camp Infirmaries got out of it. I was told that the new Div. Commander, Gen. Farnsworth is a near relative of the Farnsworth at Waterville.

The flies are bad here. They have build vestibules on all of the doors of the Mess Halls, Bath House, Latrines, etc. & have every bldg in camp equipped with double screen doors. 

We have been issued cotton coats & breeches & a Div. order states, that cotton uniforms will be worn at all times hereafter. The woolen clothing is to be cleaned, repaired & put away for future use. The cotton clothing is cooler, but harder to keep clean. 

Is Rhea Rohn still at Coles, or is she at our house?

Feeling fine & dandy

Love to All, 

Howard

P.S. Wrote Mrs. Robb a little letter the other evening. 

Pack Inspection of 139th Regiment Infantry

Well, I certainly did not anticipate spending the afternoon learning the history of denim and underwear thanks to this letter, but here's my weird and winding thought process of how I got there. 

On a mission to find a similar order to wear cotton uniforms, I happened upon an original Army Uniform Regulation Guide from 1917. While there was some interesting finds unrelated to Howard (did you know that band members were issued black lynx-skin shakos?), the thing that really caught my eye was the "Underclothing and Stockings" section. 

I know, it's a little weird to think about your great-grandfather in his underwear. It's even weirder to read that his underwear may have consisted of "wool knit undershirts" (don't you feel itchy just thinking about it?) and "jean drawers". While my mind immediately went to Tobias' Never Nude jean shorts, I assumed that our American heroes in World War 1 could not have defeated the Germans in such discomfort. It turns out that jean cloth was actually slightly different than denim - not quite as rough and stiff as an old pair of Levi's. 

I did a second search to find a good photo to share. At first I was careful to be purposefully non-descriptive, not wanting to go into any scary dark corners of the internet in what might pop up. While I did find that World War 1 was the beginning of our T-shirt culture, I didn't really find a photo so decided to throw caution to the wind. After bravely typing a variety of options, "american solider in underwear 1918" finally got me what I (kind of) needed. Yes, I likely trashed my advertising algorithms - you're welcome.