North and South

In the 1985 Miniseries, North and South, soldiers fighting for the north wore union suits. Proof of their wearing one-piece long underwear was presented in the second installment of the triology, Love and War, released in 1986.

The very popular miniseries was produced by Wolper Productions and Warner Bros. Television.

The War Between the States drama first premiered on the ABC television network beginning in November, 1985 as Book I. Book II was then televised in May of 1986. It wasn't until February, 1994 that the final installement, Book III, Heaven and Hell, was shown. 

In Book II, Yankees, captured near Richmond, Virginia in a raid by southern rebels, were led to the notorious and overcrowded Libby Prison. It was a cold and bleak site of confinement, formerly a three-story, brick tobacco warehouse.

There they met Captain Turner, commandant of the Virginian prison, a severely psychotic director. His personal style was to treat the prisoners especially bad and not according to the articles of war. Rather, his modus operandi was to gleefully humiliate and beat the men under his charge. He detested the "invading" northerners.

And especially so, the northern general, George Hazard:

Upon their arrival, he ordered the union soldiers to strip so they could be better searched. Reluctantly with few exceptions, the men of the north removed their uniforms...

 ...until each soldier stood before Turner in only their union suits: 

Even the young drummer boy was reduced to his underwear: 

 

The first officer didn't move quickly enough for Turner, so he was bludgeoned in the belly, 

causing him to collapse to the filthy floor.

The commanding officer, General Hazard, had been made to remove his uniform along with his men, standing in only his union suit before the lower ranked southerner, Turner.

  

When the general demanded to speak to Turner's commanding officer, he was answered with a fist to the belly, followed by an upper cut to his chin which sent him to the floor in pain:

Pulling themselves up from the floor... 

...each man in his underwear was then required to meet Turner at the table in order for him to examine the pockets of their uniforms for money and any valuables they may have possessed. 

Each man in turn, gave up what little money and treasure he had.

"Spit out whatever is in your mouth!" he scolded the first officer:

Finally, Capt. Turner took his leave as General Hazard looked after him:

 

His day will come, thought Hazard. 

Spoiler Alert!  Eventually, Capt. Turner was killed.

 

Union forces freed General Hazard who returned to the North to fight again.

Special thanks to Wolper Productions, Warner Bros. Television, and ABC for this exceptional miniseries which can be viewed streaming on several services or can be rented, as it was for me, at your library.

And a special shoutout to Artie up in Maine for bringing this miniseries to my attention so I could bring it to you.

How did the term "Union Suits" come about?

One account is that "Union Suit" is a designation for long underwear which was, and is, massed produced by workers belonging to a garment union. Thus, union workers made long, one-piece, combined underwear or combinations which became known as union suits, first for women and soon for men and boys. 

Some are convinced that union suits got its name simply because it was the underwear worn by men of the union army in the "War Between the States," the U.S. civil war. Besides North and South, other movies and tv shows depicting underwear in this time period show men and boys wearing union suits rather than two piece long johns. It has been accepted that southern boys wore two piece flannel underwear, red in color.

And finally, many have come to believe "union suit" was the name of the eventual and practical joining of long legged "drawers" with long sleeved undershirts into a single garment. Two pieces of underwear combined into one. Before the invention of union suits and before boxers and briefs, men and boys wore "long johns," two piece underwear.

So which is it. Why is our long underwear (or shudder, "onesies") today called "Union Suits?"