- Joined
- Jan 16, 2015
Compiled below are knapsack references from soldiers at Gettysburg that provide some perspective on their frequency of use at this stage of the war, typical contents, and occasional transformation into a barrier against incoming projectiles.
An unidentified former Confederate noted that while most of his comrades had given up knapsacks earlier in the war in favor of storing their extra clothing and other personal items in a rolled blanket slung across their shoulders, he was an exception to the rule: "I rather hated to part with my old knapsack, though, and being a bit of a cobbler I cut it down to … only a foot square, and [weighing], with the straps, about a pound. I went through the three days' quarrel at Gettysburg with that on my shoulders and hardly knew I had anything on them. I had got down to business then, and all that was in the bag was a flannel shirt, a pair of drawers, a towel and a bit of soap. I used to wash my stockings every night and attend to the blisters on my feet, and when my stockings were worn out there were chances enough for new clothes after a battle. What did the dead fellows want of stockings? Yes, war is a savage business, and men who mix up in it live like savages." (The Oglethorpe Echo, Crawford, Georgia, May 14, 1886, p.2)
"While we were waiting for the command forward, I had a change of clothing in my knapsack. I [asked] some of the boys nearby if they thought I would have time to change my clothing. Someone answered that they thought it was a very risky undertaking. I decided not to make the attempt. … I had a plug of fine Virginia tobacco in my knapsack; I took it out and placed it in the bosom of my shirt and threw the knapsack away, clothes and all. Perhaps I did wrong in throwing away everything I had, but it was my custom not to hamper myself with a superfluous load when going into battle." (Color Corporal Samuel John Bowman, Company D, 2nd South Carolina, The Manning Times, South Carolina, July 13, 1904, p.5)
"I went through safe, but I lost my knapsack and all my clothes that you sent me. I had never worn the socks any, but I am very glad it is no worse." (July 8, 1863 letter of C. P. C. McKnight, Company H, 47th Alabama, to Mrs. Martha M. McKnight)
"The breastworks here were very slight, so much so in places, that the boys had filled their knapsacks with sand and laid them along the top of the stones that were piled up in front of them." (July 16, 1863 letter from an unidentified officer of the 147th New York, describing the center of the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge)
A member of the 12th Massachusetts who was wounded on July 1 recalled: "I unslung my knapsack and placed it upright against my head as a barricade. Strapped on the outside was a sheet iron frying pan and for the next hour or so bullets struck this as often as once a minute." (Stories of our Soldiers, War Reminiscences, by "Carleton," 12th Massachusetts)
"Before arriving at the place where we went into position, we were ordered to unsling our knapsacks. This we did, piling them in a heap, and left a guard to take care of them. We saw nothing further of these knapsacks until after the battle, when we discovered that they had been filled with sand by the Rebels and had been used by them as a breastwork." (Memoirs of Simon Hubler, 1st Sergeant, Company I, 143rd Pennsylvania)
"My knapsack, blankets and everything else except what I had on my back has, in soldier parlance, gone up, but I have picked up two rubber blankets and two fly kits, and that with a towel comprises my outfit." (July 4, 1863 letter of Hezron G. Day, Company C, 16th Vermont, to his parents)
"During the cannonade on July 3 the men lay down on the ground behind their knapsacks, filled with dirt and gravel, which afforded them fair protection against the canister from the enemy's artillery." (Address by Captain J. N. Searles, 1st Minnesota)
"I carried no blankets, but I carried my knapsack with a shirt and portfolio, some paper, your likeness and some little trinkets and a frying pan." (August 10, 1863 letter of Sergeant Amory K. Allen, Company C, 14th Indiana)
"June 18 [1863], Dave and I stick to our knapsacks yet and clothes and tent and blanket. A good many of the boys have got nothing but a gum blanket and a haversack, having thrown everything else away." (Letters Home, by Charles Gamble, 12th New Jersey)
"I took from the color bearer of the 8th Louisiana his knapsack, which was a very neat one, made of leather with a goat-skin cover. Being minus my own knapsack, I carried it a while, but the comrades made so much fun of me that I threw it away, for which act I have been sorry ever since." (Sergeant Nussbaum, 107th Ohio)
"June 17, 1863, turned in my knapsack, woolen blanket and some of the unnecessary clothing." (Diary of George H. DeVoe, 122nd New York)
"I stuck to my knapsack and blanket all through the fight. All I lost was my canteen. I could have picked up one but most of them was shot to pieces." (July 9, 1863 letter of Charles Engle, Company B, 137th New York, to his wife)
"Some men have knapsacks, but most do not have that bulky and unserviceable structure." (Samuel Toombs, Reminiscences of the War, 13th New Jersey)
An unidentified former Confederate noted that while most of his comrades had given up knapsacks earlier in the war in favor of storing their extra clothing and other personal items in a rolled blanket slung across their shoulders, he was an exception to the rule: "I rather hated to part with my old knapsack, though, and being a bit of a cobbler I cut it down to … only a foot square, and [weighing], with the straps, about a pound. I went through the three days' quarrel at Gettysburg with that on my shoulders and hardly knew I had anything on them. I had got down to business then, and all that was in the bag was a flannel shirt, a pair of drawers, a towel and a bit of soap. I used to wash my stockings every night and attend to the blisters on my feet, and when my stockings were worn out there were chances enough for new clothes after a battle. What did the dead fellows want of stockings? Yes, war is a savage business, and men who mix up in it live like savages." (The Oglethorpe Echo, Crawford, Georgia, May 14, 1886, p.2)
"While we were waiting for the command forward, I had a change of clothing in my knapsack. I [asked] some of the boys nearby if they thought I would have time to change my clothing. Someone answered that they thought it was a very risky undertaking. I decided not to make the attempt. … I had a plug of fine Virginia tobacco in my knapsack; I took it out and placed it in the bosom of my shirt and threw the knapsack away, clothes and all. Perhaps I did wrong in throwing away everything I had, but it was my custom not to hamper myself with a superfluous load when going into battle." (Color Corporal Samuel John Bowman, Company D, 2nd South Carolina, The Manning Times, South Carolina, July 13, 1904, p.5)
"I went through safe, but I lost my knapsack and all my clothes that you sent me. I had never worn the socks any, but I am very glad it is no worse." (July 8, 1863 letter of C. P. C. McKnight, Company H, 47th Alabama, to Mrs. Martha M. McKnight)
"The breastworks here were very slight, so much so in places, that the boys had filled their knapsacks with sand and laid them along the top of the stones that were piled up in front of them." (July 16, 1863 letter from an unidentified officer of the 147th New York, describing the center of the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge)
A member of the 12th Massachusetts who was wounded on July 1 recalled: "I unslung my knapsack and placed it upright against my head as a barricade. Strapped on the outside was a sheet iron frying pan and for the next hour or so bullets struck this as often as once a minute." (Stories of our Soldiers, War Reminiscences, by "Carleton," 12th Massachusetts)
"Before arriving at the place where we went into position, we were ordered to unsling our knapsacks. This we did, piling them in a heap, and left a guard to take care of them. We saw nothing further of these knapsacks until after the battle, when we discovered that they had been filled with sand by the Rebels and had been used by them as a breastwork." (Memoirs of Simon Hubler, 1st Sergeant, Company I, 143rd Pennsylvania)
"My knapsack, blankets and everything else except what I had on my back has, in soldier parlance, gone up, but I have picked up two rubber blankets and two fly kits, and that with a towel comprises my outfit." (July 4, 1863 letter of Hezron G. Day, Company C, 16th Vermont, to his parents)
"During the cannonade on July 3 the men lay down on the ground behind their knapsacks, filled with dirt and gravel, which afforded them fair protection against the canister from the enemy's artillery." (Address by Captain J. N. Searles, 1st Minnesota)
"I carried no blankets, but I carried my knapsack with a shirt and portfolio, some paper, your likeness and some little trinkets and a frying pan." (August 10, 1863 letter of Sergeant Amory K. Allen, Company C, 14th Indiana)
"June 18 [1863], Dave and I stick to our knapsacks yet and clothes and tent and blanket. A good many of the boys have got nothing but a gum blanket and a haversack, having thrown everything else away." (Letters Home, by Charles Gamble, 12th New Jersey)
"I took from the color bearer of the 8th Louisiana his knapsack, which was a very neat one, made of leather with a goat-skin cover. Being minus my own knapsack, I carried it a while, but the comrades made so much fun of me that I threw it away, for which act I have been sorry ever since." (Sergeant Nussbaum, 107th Ohio)
"June 17, 1863, turned in my knapsack, woolen blanket and some of the unnecessary clothing." (Diary of George H. DeVoe, 122nd New York)
"I stuck to my knapsack and blanket all through the fight. All I lost was my canteen. I could have picked up one but most of them was shot to pieces." (July 9, 1863 letter of Charles Engle, Company B, 137th New York, to his wife)
"Some men have knapsacks, but most do not have that bulky and unserviceable structure." (Samuel Toombs, Reminiscences of the War, 13th New Jersey)
Bringing the