Uniforms in the field often required patching after two months and usually had worn out after four months in the field. For that reason, officers and men of a company entering service in the summer of 1861 would have changed uniforms a least a dozen times by April 1865. Since an entirely new change of clothing for all company members was rather unusual, soldiers would typically wear an assortment of clothing garnered from different sources. For instance, a soldier sent to a hospital often received clothing from a different depot than other soldiers of his company. The same is true of a soldier returning from furlough and new recruits.