Knapsack/strap question

[tenthmo]

A question I've always had concerns those two little dangly black leather straps on the front of double-bag knapsacks. I see so many reenactors just latching the two ends together in front of them across their chest's, but have always wondered if this is correct. It looks to me like the straps are long enough and with the metal hooks on the end, they could hook them onto the waist belt and take the weight of the knapsack off the wearer's shoulders.
What do you think?

[CaptainUCSB]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

You are right about the straps! That is how they were intended to be used. They originally fastened to the rifleman's belt. However, the majority of soliders I have seen in pictures tended to hook them accross their body. Sometimes I hook onto my belt...if the belt has stretched and needs a new hole.

[79th N.Y.S.M.]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

Here is a picture that shows a soldier with the knapsack straps like that. I also think it is an authentic way to wear them.

http://members.aol.com/qmwoolens/ <-- THE PICTURE IS UNDER "Standards"

[ThehosGendar]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

Attached to the belt:


Across the chest:


So, do it whichever way floats your boat best. Or, I suppose, whichever way causes your shoulders to burn the least.

[Matthew.Rector]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

Here is an example of the straps being worn hooked to the belt.
Attached is a photo of Patrick Henry Taylor, First Minnesota Infantry.

The following website credits the photo as such: "Picture Credit U.S. Army Military History Institut
No Additional photographs."

http://firstmn.phpwebhosting.com/SearchResults.php3?ID=0732

However, in The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers (Henry Holt and Co., Inc. 1993), Richard Moe credits the photo as coming from a private collection.

[hardtack1864]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

How do you keep the belt from going up the body though :confused_ and when I put the straps on the belt, that is what happened.

[HOG.EYE.MAN]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

I wear my knapsack straps attached to my belt and I usually never have any problems with my belt hiking up real high. (maybe slightly depending on my body position). Once my belt is on fairly tight, I find the appropriate level to attach my straps with enough slack so it don't hike up.

If you're a bigger person, then attaching your straps to your belt may not be a good idea. Your straps must be long enough to reach your normal belt level to do this properly.

[Shockoe Hill Cats]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

Though this thread is old, hopefully I can dust it off a bit with a question. Does anyone know a vendor who makes the "Rifleman's Waist Belt" to attach knapsack straps to? I am just interested for future reference.

Thanks,

[Chris Suppelsa]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

I just took mine off.

[boozie]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

Cousin Garrett Larew, 86th Indiana, seems to have liked his hooked on the belt. According to his diary, this image was made on May 2, 1863. He had been in the Kentucky campaign and was a member of the Pioneer Brigade at the battle of Murfreesboro. My point is that at the time of the image he was some what of a veteran, so it must have been common practice for Garrett to attach the hooks to his belt.

As other posts show, each to his own. I just let mine hang, it feels to tight either way.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

Does anyone know a vendor who makes the "Rifleman's Waist Belt" to attach knapsack straps to? I am just interested for future reference.

Although not an approved AC Forum vendor, the old master leatherworker himself, Butch Myers, has made them in the past, and is located in your neighborhood. His contact info is online.

[Rock Creek Mess]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

Scott, interesting picture. Thanks for sharing that one. The details are great.

I let my straps just hang as well. Being barrel-chested, I find that the most comfortable way to travel.

[John E. Tobey]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

If you just let the straps hang, sooner or later they are going to get caught on something.

One thing that the soldiers did and is seldom represented today is to take the hooks off, and run the strap through the buckles on the load-bearing straps. This is occasionally seen on original knapsacks that haven't been "restored" by collectors or museum personnel. The brass hooks come in handy for latching your gum blanket around your neck, as a stop to keep your bayonet scabbard from sliding around your waistbelt, etc etc..

John Tobey

[Bummer]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

I've long since lost the hooks off mine and let the straps hang. When on a long march I find myself sorta hanging onto those straps with my hands. I don't know why, but somehow it makes it more comfortable. These are the sorts of things we as campaigner reenactors find out that no doubt some original boys did as well--not all of course, but doubtless some did any number of different things with them--and about everything else.
To each their own...and that's what we discover too by doing as they did with what they had. My time in the modern infantry taught me that there is any number of things soldiers do with most everything. Not much is ever a hard and fast rule when in the field.

[pvt. hardscrable]

Re: Knapsack/strap question

I have always worn mine on my belt too & have never had a problem with the belt getting pulled it also does take some of the strain off your shoulders.