Walking Sticks

[Vuhginyuh]

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.

Read post # 9, 10, 11 & 13 carefully. None mention specific war-time use by a soldier. Tread carefully when using modern comparisons as well.

[2RIVB]

Re: Walking Sticks

Last I knew, people have been walking for a while. Common sense is common sense. If it is cumbersome now, it was cumbersome then. I don't think this is as much a conversation on modernisms as it is on the use of an impliment that has probably been around since before recorded time. I also don't think that it would be common practice for someone guarding a prisoner to go let them wander off or take them for a walk to find an appropriate stick to use as a walking stick. I am not trying to justify the use of non period equipment by the old phrase, "if they had had it, they would have used it." I am stating that we can use a little insight to see when an itme might be consider more troublesome than it was worth.

[dusty27]

Re: Walking Sticks

Josh, your last two posts seem to be based on modern thinking and little factual information.

The fact is that people walked infinitely more in the 19th century than we do in the 21st century. Comparing behavior between periods should be done with great care. Also, photography in the 19th century didn't capture motion like those of today, so pictures of people USING walking sticks probably don't exist.

My educated guess would be that the sticks that are pictured in prisoner photos would have been used as a crutch or at least an aid to walking based on an injury. The idea of a stick replacing a weapon for a prisoner seems a stretch.

[2RIVB]

Re: Walking Sticks

I am personaly going by my "educated guess" that walking stick would have been more trouble than they are worth, especially moving over tough terrain. The use of a stick as a crutch is a whole different topic, in my opinion. I feel there is little evidence to document either of our points, so I feel this is more a a speculative debate. By the evidence availible, there are far less images of troops with sticks than there are without. Like I have stated before, if it is cumbersome today, it would have been cumbersome then, especially over rough terrain. (I am assuming your post was from the standpoint of a forum user, rather than a moderator in this instance, if I am wrong, please correct me)

[Masked Battery]

Reference to walking stick used as crutch(?).

From a letter written by B.T. Cotton (34th NC) on 4/16/1863:

"Jason Russell is in the 28th Regiment hopping about with a stick. I don't think he will do the Confederacy much good."

This letter was published in "The Cry is War, War, War" edited by Michael W. Taylor.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Walking Sticks

Hallo Kameraden!

This has drifted off from being a "scholarly" topic...

There are several accounts of early settlers to Connecticut's Western Reserve (portions of eastern Ohio) having walked her FROM Connecticut.

The use of "walking sticks" among modern hikers and trekkers is quite common, and have evolved to models that telescope for adjustment and storage.

I have trekked sections of the Appalachian Trail, as well as the German and Austrian Alps using one and sometimes even two walking sticks for balance and support, on trails as well as on uneven ground and mountainous terrain.

None of that is relevent to the topic here.

Where this thead should be going is into the realm of research looking into period documentation FOR or AGAINST the use of walking sticks by soldiers.
A second thread would possibly be on the PECness of one or the other.

Please consider referring to the "How To Research" guides here on the Forum for how to take an idea or notion and turn it into a statement of belief, a hypothesis, and then research and document to support or deny it.

While "guesses" can be educated and even correct, they are not what the AC Forum strives to encourage or supports.

What does the historical record say about this?

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt

[bonniegreenflag]

Re: Walking Sticks

Curt-Im actually inclined to agree with you as I am unable to find much documention on the subject. I have only found four images featuring walking sticks, all of whom were of Confederate prisoners who were possibly wounded. I found quite a few mentionings of "crutches" in the Official Records being used for medical reasons. I dont know if cruthces could refer to walking sticks, but I doubt it sense all of the records were of Federal officers. I turned up alot of responses in the records though and am not done looking. I have been unable to locate any metioning of walking sticks in any correspondance, Confederate or Federal, excepting those posted on this thread. Maby I have found a dead end?

[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.

R. B. Parker's walking stick edited in. The stick is exactly 51 inches long and is believed to be Mulberry.

[MassVOL]

Re: Walking Sticks

I found quite a few mentionings of "crutches" in the Official Records being used for medical reasons. I dont know if cruthces could refer to walking sticks, but I doubt it sense all of the records were of Federal officers. I turned up alot of responses in the records though and am not done looking. I have been unable to locate any metioning of walking sticks in any correspondance, Confederate or Federal, excepting those posted on this thread. Maby I have found a dead end?

Andrew in your search of the records did you try swagger stick? You might find something using that term instead.

[RelicRoomGuy]

Re: Walking Sticks

An interesting thing about the photos of POW's with walking sticks: it certainly shows (in these specific cases!) a "loose hand" in the treatment of POW's (if these aren't needed for medical reasons - which they might be). A stick can be, after all, a very serviceable weapon - as was proved on the floor of Congress in one particularly spectacular case...it certainly seems counterintuitive to "arm" POWs, even lightly. Apparently the captors do not find the walking sticks extraordinary or they would not be permitted. Is that because they're PEC items or because of individuals' wounds or physical condition? (Not a rhetorical question. I don't know.)

An antebellum militia sword manual for South Carolinians recommends cultivating the habit of carrying a stick in civilian life, under the theory that the constant handling of a stick somehow translates into a superior feel for swordplay. That, however, is anything but PEC, and certainly wouldn't affect uniformed behavior in any case! I just mention it as a curiousity.

[hendrickms24]

Re: Walking Sticks

An interesting thing about the photos of POW's with walking sticks: it certainly shows (in these specific cases!) a "loose hand" in the treatment of POW's (if these aren't needed for medical reasons - which they might be). A stick can be, after all, a very serviceable weapon - as was proved on the floor of Congress in one particularly spectacular case...it certainly seems counterintuitive to "arm" POWs, even lightly. .

I think that the photo with the Confederate POW that has a walking stick is really a union soldier with a rifle. Look closely and you will see that a bayonet scabbard sticking out from the bottom of his haversack. That Walking stick is not a walking stick it’s a rifle. If you look there some lighter parts of the so called stick which is light reflecting the lock and hammer.


Mark

[dave81276]

Re: Walking Sticks

Thank you, Mark! I thought I was crazy 'cause I repeatedly scruitinized the fellow and he looked like a Union soldier with a rifle to me. Now I can rest easy in the delusion that I'm not mad as a hatter.

Dave Eggleston

[bonniegreenflag]

Re: Walking Sticks

I agree. Now Im down to three pictures. :confused_