What’s Your Favorite Civil War T-Shirt?

Searching through the ECW archives the other day, I came across a February 2020 post by Sarah Kay Bierle that showed off a few of her favorite pieces of Civil War apparel—most notably several pretty funny Civil War-theme t-shirts. (For a good chuckle, check it out.)

That reminded me of a recent shirt I picked up at the Virginia Museum of the Civil War in New Market. I am, as you know, a Stonewall Jackson fanboy, so this was a delight:

Sarah’s post also reminded me of this old chestnut, which most of us have seen:

What is your favorite Civil War-themed t-shirt? Any good one-liners? I’ll send a free copy of our upcoming book The Civil War in Popular Culture, part of the Emerging Civil War 10th Anniversary Series, to the person who posts the funniest one. (We need a minimum of ten entries….)



16 Responses to What’s Your Favorite Civil War T-Shirt?

  1. Lucky Charms but with the Kearny badges of the corps of the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg. Meade stands in for the leprechaun, and says “They’re Magically Victorious”

  2. CivilWar Tees has some great ones. John Burns sitting in his rocking chair with “Get Off My Lawn” always makes me chuckle.

  3. I’m afraid I don’t know how to post a pic. I am always looking for classic and hilarious Civil War-themed shirts. There’s the Sherman shirt that says, “I dream of a Brighter Atlanta.” Might be too soon for that one. Then there’s the shirt with Burnside’s Swim Team on it. I have the Lincoln shirt that says “Be Excellent to Each Other.” That one may not be applicable here though I would think. Still a good one. I stumbled on General William T. Sherman and the Union Scorchers – Heat a Peach Tour shirt. There’s always the classic “The North – Civil War Champions!” 🙂

    1. Best part about your Lincoln shirt, though, is that it’s a Bill and Ted reference–always excellent!

  4. There’s a good one available from Civil War Tees on Etsy: “The Famous Gettysburg Shoe Factory” on the corner of Unicorn Rd. and Leprechaun Ln.!

  5. From a shirt I got recently at the American Civil War Museum in Richmond: “ Tell me the brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals.” __Abraham Lincoln 1863

  6. I have a great idea for one but need financial backing. If ECW wants to join me…it could be big….

  7. I was wearing a George Thomas shirt one day and a cashier asked me if it was a picture of Robert E Lee. I haven’t worn that shirt since.

  8. I have one from the President Lincoln Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home that has an image of young Lincoln, wiping sweat from his brow while splitting rails, with the caption, “I’d Rather Be Emancipatin’!”

    Also, a shirt I received as a gift (I think from online) has a picture of Lew Wallace with the caption “Let’s Go Wander Around A Battlefield!”, which I sometimes wear while wandering around a battlefield.

  9. As a Labor & Employment lawyer, I particularly enjoyed buying one that said “The Confederacy was non-Union.” It’s still around somewhere in one of our moving boxes.

  10. My daughter has a Clara Barton t-shirt that she loves. We visited Antietam and she made sure she had it for when we stopped at the Clara Barton monument. I got some really good pics of that.

Leave a Reply to waynegettysgrgCancel reply