The shelter-tent used by the Union soldiers during the Rebellion was
made of light duck[12] about 31-1/2 inches wide. A tent was made in two
pieces both precisely alike, and each of them five feet long and five
feet and two inches wide; i.e., two widths of duck. One of these pieces
or half-tents was given to every soldier. That edge of the piece which
was the bottom of the tent was faced at the corners with a piece of
stouter duck three or four inches square. The seam in the middle of the
piece was also faced at the bottom, and eyelets were worked at these
three places, through which stout cords or ropes could be run to tie
this side of the tent down to the tent-pin, or to fasten it to whatever
else was handy. Along the other three edges of each piece of tent, at
intervals of about eight inches, were button-holes and buttons; the
holes an inch, and the buttons four inches, from the selvage or hem.[13]

Two men could button their pieces at the tops, and thus make a tent
entirely open at both ends, five feet and two inches long, by six to
seven feet wide according to the angle of the roof. A third man could
button his piece across one of the open ends so as to close it, although
it did not make a very neat fit, and half of the cloth was not used;
four men could unite their two tents by buttoning the ends together,
thus doubling the length of the tent; and a fifth man could put in an
end-piece.

Light poles made in two pieces, and fastened together with ferrules so
as to resemble a piece of fishing-rod, were given to some of the troops
when the tents were first introduced into the army; but, nice as they
were at the end of the march, few soldiers would carry them, nor will
you many days.

The tents were also pitched by throwing them over a tightened rope; but