Stretching Blankets

[lojafan]

I was reading about Trans-Mississippi soldiers on campaign using their blankets as tents on Lazy Jack's website. Has anyone tried this or own a tent that is made of blankets? I was thinking of making one for myself and was looking for some good places to find good quality period blankets to use.

Here is a link to the website. The topic is little less than half way down the page under "Stretching Blankets."

http://www.lazyjacks.org.uk/tenting2.htm

Thanks ya'll,

Andrew Gale

[Andrew Kasmar]

Re: Stretching Blankets

Hi,

County Cloth and EJ Thomas stock very nice blankets. It is a interesting idea. I have never thought about it that much. Thanks for bringing it up.

Andrew

[lojafan]

Re: Stretching Blankets

Andrew,

Thank you for the reference!

Yes I thought that myself. I was reading about shelter halves and it went into "stretching blankets." I've never seen anything like it, so I figured that would be something interesting.

Thanks again,

Andrew Gale

[Huck]

Re: Stretching Blankets

I know right off the top of my head in Fred Gaede's Book "The Federal Civil War Shelter Tent", the very first photo shows a federal blanket being used in such a way.

[Rebel Yell1863]

Re: Stretching Blankets

I have put a rock in each corner of a blanket and tied rope to the corner around the rock inside. Makes for a good shelter, with the stuff you already have...

[fahtz]

Re: Stretching Blankets

Stretching blankets is nothing more than, tying two corers to something, and stretching the other two to something else. The possibilities are almost endless. Much like a fly or a single shelter tent. Also like shelter tents, you can join blankets together to make a whole shebang out of them. It is all about what is available to you at a given time here. I have done thing on a summer night while it was raining. Kept the majority of the rain off, I simply used my ground sheet as a blanket then to keep the rest of the water off. Just like canvas, the blanket is a surface for the water to hit and run down, but the blanket becomes soaked with water eventually... so there are pros and cons for this method.

As for making a ready made TENT out of blankets, not much documentation for that as I have seen, I would shy away from a shelter ten made of two country cloth federal issue blankets as it would cost you 300 bucks, and not be documented...

Stick with working with what you have... it didn't fail them, it can't fail you with a little research.

[lojafan]

Re: Stretching Blankets

Derrick,

I was trying to think of ways to hold down the sides without putting holes in it. Thanks for the idea!

Andrew Gale

[AZReenactor]

Re: Stretching Blankets

Heck, I've thrown blankets over bushes, branches, fence rails, you name it to make an impromptu shelter from rain and sun. Stretching blankets is simple, ain't no great science behind it. Really, the principle is not much different from what I learned as a toddler making "forts" from a blanket and couple of kitchen chairs or even just a coffee table.:wink_smil

Seriously. this shouldn't be any great mystery. Take the situation you find yourself in, look at the resources available to you, and make do the best way you can. More often than not this formula, if you include only the same ingredients they had, will yield the same results as it did for them.

[lojafan]

Re: Stretching Blankets

Mitch,
This is from the website I found this on.

"Three of us have made a tent by sewing to [two] blankets together, which serves us a good purpose, keeping us tolerably dry."

"Had considerable rain last night my mess of seven has a tent made of four blankets which shelters us tolerably well."

Journal entries from Lt. E.A. Pinnell, 8th Mo (CSA), 17 September and 2 October, 1862 respectively, Trans-Mississippi Theatre ; both published in: Banasik, M.E.(ed.) 1999. Serving with Honor: the Diary of Captain Ethan Allen Pinnell, pp 12,15

I don't think it would take much imagination to make, since after all, all soldiers had plenty of time to kill and why not take that time to make something to keep the elements off yourself.
I agree, it would be much more expensive, but in my opinion, well worth the cost. It's a unique item that I've never seen before, and I think it would be interesting to have.

Thanks,

Andrew Gale

[fahtz]

Re: Stretching Blankets

There is an image...of some federals on the north bank of the Potomac, with the pontoon bridge at Jericho Mills, there is three stacks in the left foreground, a soldier milling about, one in the river bathing...and Three blankets stretched in the middle of the picture, it appears on page 318 of An Illustrated History of the Civil War Images of an American Tragedy-Time Life Books

A quick LOC search came up with out this picture, there were plenty from the same bank but Just a little to the Left (reversed) of where the actual image was taken... anyone know this picture?

[lojafan]

Re: Stretching Blankets

Mitch,

I believe this is the image. Great picture!

http://www.old-picture.com/civil-war/pictures/Virginia-Jericho-Mills.jpg

Thanks,

Andrew

[fahtz]

Re: Stretching Blankets

That's it! Thanks man!

[lojafan]

Re: Stretching Blankets

Your welcome! I put in Jericho Mill's on google images and that was one of the first pictures shown. What luck!

Andrew Gale

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Stretching Blankets

Hallo!

Just an aside about not "reading" too much into "stretching" a blanket- beyond a soldier using a blanket as some from of shelter whether the improvisation is a blanket over a rope line, a fence, a tree branch, or a lean-to, or over a "rat's nest" of dead wood.
Or a pair of small group of soldiers pooling resources such as if they have only two blankets- one becomes the "tent" against the rain or snow while the other covers the two "bundling" men instead of both me getting wet and cold alone.

As with many things, the "improv" is using what you had in an adaptive and adoptive way to meet the need based upon ingenuity and experience.

As shared, one can use a rock (a smooth rounded pebble is superior and less damaging to the blanket) and some twine or cord or thong to make "tie down" loops. And when there are no suitable rocks, a musket or a Minie ball works as well.
(A similar thing can be found on Plains Indian tipi's.)

Curt

[OldKingCrow]

Re: Stretching Blankets

Lower right hand corner...look closely at the blanket which has been lashed as cover....(granted it is in a prison)