Activity
Pup Tent
Creating a tent in your bedroom or living room is always fun. But if you consoider that a Civil War soldier’s pup tent was often all he had keeping him from the rain, cold, snow and sun it might not sound like so much fun anymore. Each Union soldier was issued half of a tent. This rectangular piece of canvas was then hooked to another soldier’s half to create an A-frame pup tent meant to sleep two. Soldiers often referred to them as “dog tents” because they were better suited for a dog and were not very effective at keeping out the weather. However, the tents could be set up anywhere by using a rifle with a bayonet as a pole and they were much better than nothing, which is what most Confederate soliders had.