Original blanket - CW or IW?

[Chihuahua]

Friends:
This may be the wrong forum, but I'll give it a go...
Several months back I bought a very old army blanket. It is wool and measures 66" by 80". The centered US appears to be machine stitched. Three inch end stripes are woven, not painted. It has numerous holes and repaired areas.
My thinking is Indian War or possibly Span Am. But, weave is a match for my Sekala CW issue.
Any opinions?

Mark Warren
Hairy Nation Boys
Bloomfield, Iowa

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Re: Original blanket - CW or IW?

Just an educated opinion, but when a few of us down here in Tampa were gearing up for the 100 year anniversary of the SpanAm war, there were a few guys who geared up with some original blankets found from a site, and as they arrived, the first thing we noticed was their resemblance to CW blankies. As more research was done, it was discovered there were several items that were issued to the boys of '98 that the boys of '61-65 got, including blankets, canteens (retrofitted to a different strap and stopper, etc), trousers, and some shirts. I would would be willing to say you may have received one of those original surplus blankets that never saw CW issue but was made for the conflict and reissued either during the Indian Wars or SpanAm.

[Citizen_Soldier]

Re: Original blanket - CW or IW?

Mark,
It may possibly be an early 20th century military blanket. Here's a link to an excellent article written by Vincent Petty concerning the subject.

http://www.hardscrabblefarm.com/80th/ww1-blankets.html

I'll see you this coming weekend at Athens!

Darrek Orwig

[BrettKIllinois]

Re: Original blanket - CW or IW?

Also beyond blankets, a pard of mine picked up a span am knapsack which for all intesive purposes was an untarred late war style double bag. Identical to CW double bags as far as my eyes could tell, but just plain canvas.