How many Confederate knapsacks were there?

[major bill]

The summer issue of the Journal of the Company of Military Historians arrived this week. In it Austin J. Williams has "A Servey of Confederate Knapsack Production". Williams give a minimum number of 471,000 from the various Confederate arsenals. When imports and capture Union Knapsacks are added we might be look at well over 500,00 Confederate knapsack in total.

At 20 pages with 21 illitrations Williams appears to address the subject in some depth. Should more Confederate reeactors get Confederate pattern knapsacks? Is the Confederate use of blanket rolls over stated?

It does appear the various arsenals were busy supplying the Confederate armies with knapsacks. The arsenals put out several patterns and differnt types of knapsacks. Various materials were used in the manufacture of Confederate knapsacks.

 

[Mississippian1861]

I'm sure it's well over 500,000, if you count imports, captured knapsacks, and early war companies buying knapsacks from their local leather and hardware stores. Many CS knapsacks were copies of pre-1855 US knapsacks.

CS Knapsack production halted in the spring of 1864. Partly due to lack of materials and partly due to many soldiers preferring the blanket roll. By the late summer of 1864 there were very few knapsack in storage for issue, mostly imports being sold to line officers.

In the CS Army Knapsacks, haversacks, and canteens were issued by the Ordnance Department, unlike in the US Army, where they were issued by the Quartermaster Department.

 

[major bill]

It appears that enameled Osnaburg was the preferred cloth for making Confederate knapsacks, but pained cloth or duck and unpainted cloth or duck was also common. A few early Confederate knapsacks were made of rubber coated cotton. a few early Confederate knapsacks were made from leather. So some questions.

Weree enameled cloth knapsacks usually black? What color were painted cloth Confederate knapsacks? I take it unpainted Confederate cloth/duck knapsacks were off white. Was oilcloth (American cloth) or oilskin used to make Confederate knapsacks? Was tarred duck or cloth still used?

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

Just because a knapsack is issued, doesn't mean that soldier had it for a long period of time.

Things like knapsacks had a habit of getting lost very early in a campaign, often to a soldier's chagrin.

 

[captaindrew]

The most common CS produced knapsack was a simple single bag style. Reenactors call this the "Kibler Pack" because most of the reproductions of this style are based off a surviving example carried by James Kibler of the 10th Va. If you want to see the original just search Kibler Knapsack. Here is my reproduction example. Exterior is painted/oiled and the interior is not.

 

[captaindrew]

Are blanket rolls overstated? Maybe yes, but maybe no. A lot of that comes down to specific time and place and some comes to a soldier's personal preference. This goes for their northern counterparts as well. There were times when they had all their worldly possessions on their back and others they were ordered to travel as light as possible and leave unnecessary things including knapsacks with the baggage wagons. In those times they'd probably only have a blanket and/or gum blanket rolled over their shoulder. Then again some soldiers learned the hard way if you left things behind there's no guarantee you'd ever see them again so they'd still lug everything. Then comes personal preference, some prefered a bedroll, some a knapsack, some used both. To do a proper impression you really need to find some personal accounts of that particular time and place to see what they were carrying and what their orders were. Looking at the few period photos of Confederates in the field you definitely see both but I think the edge definitely goes toward a bedroll.

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

The most common CS produced knapsack was a simple single bag style. Reenactors call this the "Kibler Pack" because most of the reproductions of this style are based off a surviving example carried by James Kibler of the 10th Va. If you want to see the original just search Kibler Knapsack. Here is my reproduction example. Exterior is painted/oiled and the interior is not. View attachment 582342View attachment 582343

I love the "Kibler Knapsack" I really do but, and I'm saying this for the record, I think it is WAY over represented in reenacting.

The Confederates did make a lot of single bag knapsacks, but they weren't only copying the 1830's "Mexican War" knapsack. The Pritchard, and the one from West Point Jarnagin reproduced being good examples.

The Kibler is documented in Virginia, but I've seen them all over the place in reenacting with folks proclaiming it's THE Confederate knapsack. Even way out here in the Trans-Mississippi!

The benefit of a single-bag, is it was cheap and easy to make, and the skies were the limit on how many designs someone could come up with. I expect there's a lot of designs from smaller shops all over the C.S.A. that we'll never know what they looked like as none survive, or documentation of its design is nonexistent.

Just throwing it out there as a lot of folks go overboard on that particular knapsack in what they think.

 

[captaindrew]

I love the "Kibler Knapsack" I really do but, and I'm saying this for the record, I think it is WAY over represented in reenacting.

The Confederates did make a lot of single bag knapsacks, but they weren't only copying the 1830's "Mexican War" knapsack. The Pritchard, and the one from West Point Jarnagin reproduced being good examples.

The Kibler is documented in Virginia, but I've seen them all over the place in reenacting with folks proclaiming it's THE Confederate knapsack. Even way out here in the Trans-Mississippi!

The benefit of a single-bag, is it was cheap and easy to make, and the skies were the limit on how many designs someone could come up with. I expect there's a lot of designs from smaller shops all over the C.S.A. that we'll never know what they looked like as none survive, or documentation of its design is nonexistent.

Just throwing it out there as a lot of folks go overboard on that particular knapsack in what they think.

Of course there were many other variants out there. That's where doing your homework to fine toon your impression comes in. Yeah the Kibler is seen all over the reenacting world mainly because it's readily available with good reproductions being made. I would say if in doubt to what you're unit was actually issued use a captured Federal pack or stick with a bedroll.