Medical Knapsack or Medical Field Companion?

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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The US Army went off to War with the medical knapsack adopted in 1859 and this was replaced in many cases with the 1862 Medical Knapsack. In 1863 the Coolidge Field Companion came out which was worn on the on a shoulder belt at the waist (inspired or based on the British model). There is/are examples of a similar belt pouch with hair on the outside , kind of like a Berdan Sharpshooter pack.

Would it be safe to assume that the Confederate medical service used simular packs and belt pouches? Did the medical orderlies who had to tote this things have a preference? The knapsack is heaver, but the weight of the pouch on but one strap may have not made up for the lighter weight.
 
The US Army went off to War with the medical knapsack adopted in 1859 and this was replaced in many cases with the 1862 Medical Knapsack. In 1863 the Coolidge Field Companion came out which was worn on the on a shoulder belt at the waist (inspired or based on the British model). There is/are examples of a similar belt pouch with hair on the outside , kind of like a Berdan Sharpshooter pack.

Would it be safe to assume that the Confederate medical service used simular packs and belt pouches? Did the medical orderlies who had to tote this things have a preference? The knapsack is heaver, but the weight of the pouch on but one strap may have not made up for the lighter weight.

The 1859 Medical knapsack, the 1862 Regulation Hospital Knapsack, and 1863 Coolidge Field Companion were US Army issue, so unless one of these items was captured by CS infantry or cavalry and turned over to the brigade medical officer, most Confederate surgeons would not have had them. Im guessing that they made their own improvised versions that contained what was needed on the field.

The knapsack and the Field Companion did not include amputation knives, bone saw, bullet probe, etc. - they contained basically the equipment necessary to stop bleeding long enough to get the wounded back to the field hospital where the surgeon would have had a surgical kit - the kind in the wooden box with the knives and saws.
Contents of the 1862 knapsack:
One piece of white wax, 8 oz. simple cerate, 12 oz. chloroform, 5 yds. adhesive plaster, 2 yds. isinglass plaster, 1 oz. persulphate of iron, 100 compound cathartic pills, 150 blue mass pills, 150 opium pills, 100 opium and camphor pills, 150 quinine pills, 8 oz. aromatic spirit of ammonia, 16 oz. brandy, 4 oz. laudanum, 10 bandages, 10 binder's boards, 4 oz. charpie, 2 medicine glasses, 1 (spirit) lamp, 12 oz. lint, 1 box matches, 1 paper of pins, 1 spool of surgeons' silk, 4 pieces of sponge, 4 (Dunton's) field tourniquets. 2 spiral tourniquets, 1 piece of tape, 1 spool of lead wire, 1 spool of silver wire, and 1 spatula.

http://civilwarrx.blogspot.com/2015/12/a-civil-war-medics-knapsack.html

Contents of the full 1863 Surgeon's Field Companion:
Chloroform, ipecacuanha in pill and liquid form, ginger, persulphate of iron, whiskey, opium in pill and liquid form, cathartic pills, colocynth, sulphate of quinine pills, isinglass plaster, lint, muslin and a towel, as well as a medicine cup, scissors, teaspoon, pins, two dozen bandages, and corks.
https://www.woodlibrarymuseum.org/museum/item/946/surgeon's-field-companion
 
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