Canvas blanket strap

[Tkessen]

Dear everybody,

I was wondering if anybody had documentation that soldiers ever had canvas straps to hold a short roll/ hobo roll. I know these would not have been issued, but soldiers may have made something like this? I wanted to make this to minimize the chaffing effect of rope rubbing on my shoulder. I was thinking to make the strap about the thinkness of a haversack strap. I have some heavy canvas that I planned to use for the strap. Again, does anybody have any documentation of ANYTHING like this? Thank You all.

Tkessen

[Coatsy]

Re: Canvas blanket strap

Taylor, I cannot think of anything that pops out. But, try looking through the Library of Congress ACW photos and check the photos of soliders in the field. I don't know if you are looking for Federal of Confederate accounts, but try looking at the Confederate prisoner photos. The Chattanooga and Overland Campaing photos come to mind first. Use the high resolution pics too.

This is a really facisnating subject for me. "Field Modified" gear on the campaign is something of a dark area for ACW with regards to a lot of first hand accounts. I was poo poo'd by some self appointed "in the know" folks about 5 years ago regarding field modified haversacks, but my theory, and it is only a theory, is that the men of both armies were adept at taking care of themselves and their gear. Repairing or rigging equipment is something I "think " that they did. My one big example is the Hamilton Branch trousers in the AHC down in storage. Gordon Jones showed Branch's field worn trousers which was basically one pair of trouers with another pair's' legs sewn in to reinforce the seat and cover the frayed and open areas. It is almost trousers sewn into another pair trousers. These are not the trousers in E.o.G attributed to Branch. When I get time I'll look through the LOC photos too and see if anything pops at me.

Sorry this isn't a straight answer, but it is a good subject.

[Citman05]

Re: Canvas blanket strap

So your questions is, "Did any solider, North or South, take a piece if canvas and use it to help tie their blanket roll?" I would be interested to hear if someone could tell you "no, no one ever did that." As Herb said, they could take care of themselves. Look at the picture of Confederates halted in Fredrick Maryland. There are tons of ways guys carried their gear, bed rolls, folding into belts, tied and secured in many ways. Same with pictures of prisoners, although they may know they are on their way to prison so they may be loaded down with more stuff than normal.

I think Federals may have more issue items to work with and would be under stricter guidelines in general. Again, if you want to look up a unit and see during the war if they were issued knapsacks, or if they carried bedrolls, etc.

[Silas]

Re: Canvas blanket strap

Consider materials other than rope which were readily available. Cartridge box slings, waist belts and musket slings are the first things which come to my mind. The first item would make a dandy sling for a hobo roll. Insert your sling in the roll, and through some trial and error, you'll figure out what would be the correct length for you. Stitch it together. Viola. You're good to go with a much more comfortable sling than some length of rope which cuts into your shoulder.

[mtodriscoll]

Re: Canvas blanket strap

What kind of rope are you using?
Hemp rope is actually pretty soft compared to sisal.
(That's not to say Hemp won't cut in on a long march...)

[Gallo de Cielo]

Re: Canvas blanket strap

I've been known to use a pair of "poor boy" suspenders and run a knapsack strap through the buttonholes on the end of each to secure a short roll to the braces.

As Herb and others have said, it's a bit of a slippery slope but to claim that no field modification took place is bunk. Getting too outlandish seems like bad practice but using what you had on-hand readily makes good sense. I recall Joe Smotherman mentioning at least one original waistbelt he had viewed in which a bayonet (clearly recognizable by the triangular hole it punched) was used to put new holes in a belt as it stretched or needed to be brought in for another reason.

When I first started falling in with the Ground Hornets back in the day, several of the fellers had field made haversacks constructed from a rubber groundsheet which had worn out. The straps were made of canteen straps if my memory is correct.

Again, I don't think this is artistic license to go crazy with limitless cobbled together bits of gear but the fact is the everyday items wore out and a feller needed something to remedy the loss of the arse-end of his pants, a blown-out haversack, etc.

My two cents.

[FloridaConscript]

Re: Canvas blanket strap

I'll jump in on this and side with my friend Herb. I've often thought if we could crank up the time machine and walk through a CW bivouac there would a lot of "oh, cool", "i have on of those", and "what the hell is that"!?

In our pursuit to be normal, every day, common soldiers, I think we lose sight of the individual and independent nature of the fellows that we study. In the Confederate army, most soldiers were of a rural up bringing. Finding a way to make things work (country boy engineering) and finding a way to do with out were second nature to these guys. I'm all for documentation, but you can't quite put into paper the attitudes and common sense of hundreds of thousands of men who found better ways to cope with their daily life as soldiers.

Steve Acker posted this account not long ago:
http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...ighlight=Acker

2 things stand out.
1)If a fellow showed up to a Chancellorsville preservation march looking like that, he would catch the stink eye from a lot of folks.
2) He said (paraphrasing) "most guys in my company carry more weight than I do, and in a different fashion".

to tie that in to the original poster's question, I'd say if you can find a way to sling a hobo roll with a little rope or old suspenders and a canteen sling, go for it. However, I'd be leary of several messmates with matching set ups.

[Tkessen]

Re: Canvas blanket strap

Thank you for all the replies. I will continue my search for any soldiers wearing short rolls and try to see how they did it. Thanks again!