Fieldcraft Knapsacks?

[afrie000]

Greetings gentlemen.
I'm looking for information on alternative ways to carry equipment. From my understanding, the most common ways for a soldier to carry his extra shirt, socks, drawers, personal items, etc. would be either in a knapsack or blanket roll. I've tried blanket rolls, (both horse collars, and hobo rolls) and I must say, I don't care for either of them. I don't have the money to secure a good knapsack, so I decided to get creative. I turned my groundcloth into a knapsack. It didn't take much work, and everything used in construction would have been at least, I think reasonably easy for a soldier to obtain. Thread, a few strips of cloth, and a cartridge box sling. The whole thing can also be undone in seconds, reverting back to a groundcloth. However, as one of the guys in my unit said, we are trying to impersonate the 999, not the 1. So my question is, is there any historical backing (photos, stories, personal accounts) to using groundcloths like this? Is this too modern of a solution? If so, I can always go back to a blanket roll. But it would be nice to justify all the sewing. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

- Aaron Frie

[PMFerringer]

Re: Fieldcraft Knapsacks?

I've never seen any documentation of this. Blanket rolls were by the far the most common way to carry items beyond a knapsack. If you look close at period images they don't appear to have s lot stuffed in the rolls. They likely opted out of some of the "luxuries" and went bare bones with extra socks and maybe drawers or a shirt. In many images it appears the blanket is very thinly folded and doesn't contain anything. It should also be noted that the reenactor habit of twisting blanket rolls was not common based on images. Most mule collars are flatly folded and do to have a twist to them making them even more comfortable.