Walking Sticks

[bonniegreenflag]

In the Alfred Waud sketch mentioned in the knapsack Vs. blanketroll thread by Mr. Wright, there are two ex-infantrymen with walking sticks. I am assuming that these are just normal soldiers and not old or rich fellows! As I am an artilleryman and therefore not held down my a muskett(like the men in the sketch), would carrying a walking stick be correct? It is possible that they are injured. I think I might have seen walking sticks in other sketches.

[markj]

Re: Walking Sticks

Hi,

Look at the bottom image on the attachment below, which was taken of Confederate POW's at the Chattanooga Rail Depot circa 1864. Sure looks like the guy with his back turned to the camera, and with a bag hanging from his belt, has a walking stick.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[bonniegreenflag]

Re: Walking Sticks

Thanks for the pic Mark. It certainly makes sense that only POW's would have walking sticks sense otherwise they would have to tote musketts. Does anyone know of any documentation reagrding artillrymen using them? There is the pic of two escaped fed Lt.'s carrying them. They would be useful items in rough or wooded terain. perhaps even to ward off the occasional plantation dog?

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Walking Sticks

Hallo Kamerad!

"It certainly makes sense that only POW's would have walking sticks sense otherwise they would have to tote musketts."

???

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt

[kemper_rifles]

Re: Walking Sticks

Hallo Kamerad!

"It certainly makes sense that only POW's would have walking sticks sense otherwise they would have to tote musketts."

???

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt

I think he means that it makes sense that POW's would have walkings sticks, because it would be rediculous for their captors to allow them to have muskets. Walking through sticks using walking sticks, I reckon.

[MassVOL]

Re: Walking Sticks

In the above photo it looks more like a crutch to me. Just my two cents though.

p.s. It also looks like the tail end of the second one is next to his right boot.

[hendrickms24]

Re: Walking Sticks

Does anyone know of any documentation reagrding artillrymen using them?

One of my many hobbies is backpacking and I still don't understand why anyone would want to use a walking stick. The only thing a walking stick does is make you expend more energy and add unnecessary weight for you to carry.
The only thing you will get out of having a walking stick is blisters on your hands. I really don't think any soldier in there right mind would us a walking stick during forced marches.


That just my two cents,
Mark

[2RIVB]

Re: Walking Sticks

I would agree. Walking sticks are more of a bruden. In all the hiking and backpacking I have done, walking sticks only got thrown into the woods after about the first 5 minutes. If they lasted the whole hike, they ended up in the fire. I don't think any smart trooper would carry a walking stick, hell, he may have even had some comfort in being a POW, in that he didn't have the burden of his rifle anymore.

[RelicRoomGuy]

Re: Walking Sticks

Our collection includes a number of postwar walking sticks - making them from gun carriages, flag staff fragments, or something else with "souvenir" significance was popular. None were carried during the war - but picking up a stick and walking with it is pretty deep in our genes, whether or not it makes much sense (please don't reference Freud here...) and walking sticks were certainly a well-established civilian habit among some segments of society. Perhaps more a habit to be indulged, an "accessory" reminding one of more peaceful times, than an actual aid to the soldiers...

Tell you what, though, I was on some marches years ago in Basic with tendonitus in my ankles, and a stick would have lessened the misery a bit. Ditto for blisters, minor sprains and such. I would think a soldier with a stick would have a foot or leg problem, an upperclass civilian habit of carrying a stick already, or maybe just a little bit of pretentiousness about him...

One of the last and most deliberate Victorians (GK Chesterton, a Brit) wrote an essay in his "What's Wrong With The World" in which he discussed the civilian walking-stick habit, and his observation that men often forgot their umbrellas in the "umbrella stand" while visiting but never their sticks.

"The stick is not merely a sword, but a court sword; it is a thing of purely ceremonial swagger. One cannot express the emotion in any way except by saming that a man feels more like a man with a stick in his hand....An umbrella is a necessary evil. A walking stick is a quite unnecessary good....it is missed even when it is not needed. When my right hand forgets its stick may it forget its cunning. But anybody may forget an umbrella....Anybody can forget a necessary thing."

This quote is British and from a later period but captures nicely, I think, the Victorian stick-as-accessory attitude. A man with this level of attachment to carrying a "walking stick" from civilian life might well retain the habit when practical in the Army.

[Masked Battery]

Walking sticks? I vote "yes."

Having grown up around rural Southerners of past generations, I can relate that walking sticks were favored by them when "knocking around" in the woods. Granted, these were not true Johnny Rebs, but they were their direct descendants, and I wouldn't think that the advent of the use of the walking stick was a post-war occurence.

Just my opinion.

Neal

[SparksBird]

Re: Walking Sticks

I think that some good points have been brought up about walking sticks. Yes, they would have been a burden for a soldier to carry, and could have been a necessity for a wounded man. However, I would simply go back to the original pictures you have seen. What is the context of them using a walking stick, and how common does it appear to be? Based upon the cases brought up so far, I would say that you might want to examine some more pictures before you decide to carry one as an artilleryman. Thats my two cents.

Rick Musselman
Buckeye Mess
GHTI

[bonniegreenflag]

Re: Walking Sticks

Thanks for the info, I did not expect such a good response.To aleviate any misunderstandings, I ment that since POWs would not have been carrying arms(:) they might have picked up a walking stick. The only pictures with walking sticks I have seen have been of POWs. I have not seen any Federal troops or CS artillerymen carrying them. Does anyone know of a soldier mentioning them in a letter/memoir? I have been unable to find one as of yet. Although I will probably continue to research this topic, I dont think it would be appropriate to add one to my impression unless I happen to be portraying a POW. Another small item, what is the most appropriate term for POW? Should I just call them "prisoners?"

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Not a walking cane!

When Sgt. Richard B. Parker, Co A 27th NC Troops arrived home to rural Wayne County in June 1865, he was using a long Mulberry walking stick.

I have to say that I think the domestic use of walking sticks is strictly regional and hard to pin to war time use. They were quite common in this area and had many uses from balance in rolling terrain to using their length to judge the height and fall of a tree when cruising timber. Steadying a hunting rifle with a stick was widespread here too. I have no written documentation of the use of walking sticks or staffs in war time and I suggest none.

I do think it is unreasonable to discount a period civilian practice because certain modern hikers and backpackers don't like them today.

I will edit in an image of the R. B. Parker stick today. I’m moving a bit slow right now but I will get it in.

[Dignann]

Re: Walking Sticks

Andrew,

A quick search of the Official Records... reveals the use of the term "prisoner of war," but does not turn up any use of the abbreviation "POW."

Eric

[2RIVB]

Re: Walking Sticks

I think we should also remember that a civilian habbit is just that, a civilian habbit. What one would do or carry at home, or walking down a street or country lane is much different than what a person would have with them on campaign. civilian preference may just not be practical in military life. A modern backpacker Common sense is common sense, and if it doesn't work well today, chances are it may not have worked well then. I think a person of the 1860s would have found a walking stick just as troublesome, on a tough trail, as a person of today would.