Knapsacks & Blanket Rolls Redeux

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Two gum blankets??

I would like to see quartermaster records of units drawing more than one rubber blanket. Keep PEC in mind.

[brown]

Re: Two gum blankets??

I would like to restate that I have seen documentation for it only ONCE (of course that's all the proof I need to get my leopard pants!) and that it was NOT an issue of two. Let's just say I don't carry two, and I wouldn't recommed it without a great deal more documentation. HOwever, it is a good question to bat around here (but not other places where seeing another guy do it is evdence enough...)
Respectfully,
Lindsey

[Guy Gane III]

Re: Two gum blankets??

Unless you are doing a specific unit - IMO I would have to assume that if the soldier felt he needed an extra blanket and the QM was stocked, what would prevent you from buying another one?? That is if the damn Paymaster showed up recently.... :sarcastic

[Pvt_Jack_Bauer]

Re: Two gum blankets??

Here is my whole view on "comfort authenticity" questions that are usually brought up. I just imagine myself as a soldier back in the 1860's...I am sure they had wet streaks back then and after some mornings waking up moist, what would stop me for searching around for an extra gum blanket. Whether picking it off a dead comrade or winning it in a card game, I am sure I could find one somehow. The beauty of the whole situation is that I could always dump it on the roadside whenever I wanted. We have to think that they were still human beings and had needs. If I was able to carry an extra gum blanket on the march and not complain then who am I hurting? Just my thought on it.

[Hoosier Yank]

Re: Two gum blankets??

When my g-g-g-g grandfather Wesley Chambers died on November 11, 1863 down in Vicksburg, the inventory of his personal effects listed two gum blankets.

[Kevin Hall]

Re: Two gum blankets??

Just to take a different angle on this; most soldiers then and now are much more likely to document or comment on the things that they do without, insted of things that are commonplace or excepted. Its human nature if you ask me. Sailors in the days of old would complain about missing their grog ration but you usually didn't hear a word about the normal ration, it was expected. How many times did a soldier in France during WW2 ever make mention of the cigarrette ration being normal today. You usually can't document creature comforts during the war like shaving even though we see from the photos that troops in all theaters of war did it on a regular basis. Its probably an oversimplification but I think a lot of time we expect CW troops to comment on things that where just a normal part of life. And as anyone that has kept dry with gum blankets can attest to its nice to have but you wouldn't write home about, it especially if it was everyday life.

Just my words for the birds,
Kevin Hall

[dbuckley]

Re: Two gum blankets??

Please note that the Nisbett fellow had his father send him one from home. He didn't draw one from the QM, and I agree that that probably wouldn't happen too readily, but winning one in a card game or any of those other methods of procurement are also just as valid. We all know they don't weigh much, and it sure would increase the comfort level of any soldier in the field.
I served over twenty years ago in the Army. I defy anyone 100 years from now to "document' the creative ways we modified our gear, purchased extras and carried "unauthorized" stuff. We wore it differently than designed, had mismatched gear ISSUED to us right from boot or the QM, and had very creative uses for black duct tape on everything from our web gear to our m-16's.
For only one minor example of our deviant behavior our rain ponchos could be folded flat on the rear of our web belts, rolled round and strapped with blousing bands, or not carried at all, and during formation and inspection not a word was said about these choices. Yet 100 years from now someone "in the know" will state that a rolled poncho is farby and unless someone can come up with proof they did it that way, no one should. Yet today I couldn't produce one picture or letter to home proving I did do that.
Hondreds of thousands of soldiers served in the Civil War, and needless to say when it came to comfort, anything and everything was probably tried, and they stuck with what worked for them as individuals.

[MPDoughBoy153]

Re: Two gum blankets??

I think if you want to carry two carry two. If you want to carry two extra pairs of socks carry two extra pairs of socks. It simply boils down to the fact that there is documentation anywhere you look of different types of occurances like the one in question. As I always say "we don't know cause we were'nt there". I don't think there is alot of documentation of size 50 fatique blouses but reenactors do wear them.

As a soldier in the modern US Army when I want something extra I can always get it somehow. Soldiers preference. Just my .02.

[Parault]

Re: Two gum blankets??

I agree on what ever works for the soldier at that time( meaning that week or night not that year or years). I know that Iwould do what it took to be comfortable any way I could . We must be careful though, Is there any documentation on size 13 EEE Brogans ? I am just happy to have one blanket and a pancho in the field.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Two gum blankets??

I posted this before but I think it got lost in one of the crashes. This comes from:

On Campaign with the Army of the Potomac, The Civil War Journal of Theodore Ayrault Dodge, Stephen W. Sears, ed., Cooper Square Press, NY 2001

p. 109 December 12th, Dumfries “I carry 4 blankets and 2 India rubber ditto on my horse, rolled up & strapped to my saddle before & behind; so I sleep warm.”

Dodge was an officer, so maybe that doesn't count.

Having two gum blankets would not necessarily result from drawing two from the quartermaster, though in theory at least you could. You could also purchase one at auction from the effects of a dead soldier, or have one sent from home.

[10TnVI]

Re: Two gum blankets??

From "With Sherman to the Sea" -the C.W. letters, diaries, and remininscences of Theodore F. Upson-100th Indiana

Nov. 1862- Ft. Pickering, (near Memphis, TN)
" We have drawn rubber blankets(or 'ponchos' as they are called); they are about 6 1/2 ft. long and 3 1/2 ft. wide with eyelet holes in the sides and ends. We can lace two of them together at the sides and then with a forked stick at each end and a straight piece for a ridgepole can make a little tent that two can sleep under. If we have an extra one to close up one end and one to put on the ground it makes it better, so Taylor and I have drawn two each, which we are allowed to do."

So at least once in the war drawing two was officially sanctioned.

[AZReenactor]

Who are you depicting?

Ok, so we've found evidence for a few individuals carrying multiple gum blankets on occasion. I never doubted we would. However, I'd still like to revisit the larger, more philosophical question of what that actually means to us as we strive to present as accurate a picture of history as possible.

The question that really needs to be asked isn't whether a few soldiers here or there managed to scrounge an extra "comfort" item on occasion or not, but whether or not our doing so helps us to more accurately represent the soldiers of the Civil War. As regards multiple gum blankets, certainly if they'd have had them they'd of used them, there is indeed documentation that some did. However, as some have pointed out there is a heck of a lot of abnormalities that might be documented if we look hard enough. Just because one or a few soldiers were able to do something, does that indicate that many or most were able to?

The philosophical question, the attitude issue, comes down to why, as a reenactor, might someone choose to carry two gum blankets (or any other extra or odd piece of equipment). Is it because that choice improves and enhances the authenticity and accuracy of the impression and more closely approximates the experience of Civil War soldiers? Or is it simply because they just want to have two and are willing to grasp at the thinnest shred of evidence in order to rationalize and justify the action as possibly being authentic? I heartily agree that it is authentic human nature to seek comfort when and where possible and have no doubt that the men we depict did so as well. I just don't see some of the many comfort choices being made by reenactors as having been as readily available to them as they are to us today and suggest that such choices be made with the most careful self-examination of one's motives.

Jaguar chaps, braces of pistols, cast iron cookware, four blankets, two gum blankets, and a multitude of other abnormalities can and have been documented as having occurred at select times and locations during the war, but that in no way translates that such items are then somehow typical for every other time and place during the war. If you are portraying James Nisbett, Wesley Chambers, Theodore Ayrault Dodge, Theodore F. Upson, or Taylor I would suggest that two gum blankets isn't only an option but probably a necessity. However, how common was it for the other 3.5 million or so Union and Confederate soldiers to have two gum blankets and is two gum blankets the best choice to accurately depict their experience.

I can't say with certainty whether or not two gum blankets might or might not be appropriate for your impression. (Heck, it maywell turn out that nearly everyone at certain times or places ought to carry two.) However, I would suggest that it is well worth careful consideration regarding its appropriateness for your specific impression before rushing out and buying that second gum blanket because you read on the AC that at least a few soldiers did..

[ScottCross]

Re: Two gum blankets??

Probably the easiest thing to do is what the soldiers actually did. Two men "Pard-up together", one rubber blanket on the ground, one woolen blanket next, (insert two soldiers here), the other man's woolen blanket above, and the other man's rubber blanket on top of all...in other words, "spoon". There is ample documentation for this practice, considerably more than for caring two rubber blankets. I did this in the field with my "Pard" for twenty-five years and it is the best method of all. Those boys weren't stupid.

[prestontoprail]

Re: Two gum blankets??

Just to chime in real quick I would say that this would have to be a situation that cannot be deamed regarding to "only a few" or even commonplace. As some one said earlier it is something that cannot be documented and should not be rediculed either. Soldiers hardly wrote home about the quantity of their issue apparel. You can't tell how many soldiers carried a tin cup or a mucket, if they still had leather shoe laces or had to replace them with cotton laces, what they tied their blanket rolls off with or what alterations were made to their jackets/pants. I think that if you wish to have 2 gum blankets and don't mind the extra weight, then there is just as much assumption to go ahead and do it considering it was an individuals circumstance either way.

I have run across a couple of mentions with soldiers carry two gum blankets in the "echoes of battle: the atlanta campaign", i'll see if I can dig up the documentation. However it cannot be nailed down as common or uncommon and it probably never will. Troy does have a point in stating that you should stick with what your issued to achieve the standard impression, but I still feel like this practice could very well have been common. We do know that the federal gum blanket was sought after from confederates, so the item itself was profitable to own. I would think if you had two of these then you may not need a blanket and it would help for every climate condition. But as Scott said, if your spooning then it shouldn't matter anyhow considering that you can split up the blankets/gum blankets however you like. Was it common to have the tin cup on the haversack strap? Inside the haversack? On the canteen strap? ON the blanket roll strap? On the knapsack strap? It can get rediculous with trying to classify these "custom" ideas that each individual soldier decided upon. Don't make it a fad, but don't be afraid to DO IT.

[paulcalloway]

Frequently asked questions that drive you batty

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