A pack for your back?
Oct 29, 2014 9:38:01 GMT -7
Post by marcus on Oct 29, 2014 9:38:01 GMT -7
Leifer, only a year after you raised the original post!
I doubt that the use of knapsacks or backpacks in the western fur trade was very common. Never the less the fact that Miller painted such leaves us with the question. Any way the "pack" that the fellow in the red/orange shirt sports on his back immediately brings to mind the knapsacks that were in use by the US military during the War of 1812 and later. Patented in 1808 by John C. Lherbrette The black painted canvas knapsack was standard issue to the regular army. Militia units often painted their knapsacks different colors including white, blue and red. The 1808 model was a "soft pack". Sometime in the 1820's the Army went to a "hard pack", very similar to Lhebrette's design but with a thin lightweight wooden frame inside. This pack was still in use by the army in the 1840's the design being changed in 1851 if memory serves me right. Somewhere around here I have documentation for, including the dimensions and construction details, of this pack but I can't put my hands on it right now. This is what it looks to me like Miller is illustrating in the image above, including the blanket rolled up and affixed to the top in regulation fashion, but it could be the earlier soft pack. Given the large numbers of this type pack that were in use it is certain that a good many were surplussed out or simply kept by the soldier on mustering out. It is entirely possible that one of these packs made it's way out west. You will have to decide if the use of such a pack is appropriate for your persona.
Note: IMO the hard pack is quite uncomfortable in use, the soft pack being much more practical.
Several articles about "military knapsacks" have appeared over the years in Military Collector and Historian (Journal of the Company of Military Historians)
I doubt that the use of knapsacks or backpacks in the western fur trade was very common. Never the less the fact that Miller painted such leaves us with the question. Any way the "pack" that the fellow in the red/orange shirt sports on his back immediately brings to mind the knapsacks that were in use by the US military during the War of 1812 and later. Patented in 1808 by John C. Lherbrette The black painted canvas knapsack was standard issue to the regular army. Militia units often painted their knapsacks different colors including white, blue and red. The 1808 model was a "soft pack". Sometime in the 1820's the Army went to a "hard pack", very similar to Lhebrette's design but with a thin lightweight wooden frame inside. This pack was still in use by the army in the 1840's the design being changed in 1851 if memory serves me right. Somewhere around here I have documentation for, including the dimensions and construction details, of this pack but I can't put my hands on it right now. This is what it looks to me like Miller is illustrating in the image above, including the blanket rolled up and affixed to the top in regulation fashion, but it could be the earlier soft pack. Given the large numbers of this type pack that were in use it is certain that a good many were surplussed out or simply kept by the soldier on mustering out. It is entirely possible that one of these packs made it's way out west. You will have to decide if the use of such a pack is appropriate for your persona.
Note: IMO the hard pack is quite uncomfortable in use, the soft pack being much more practical.
Several articles about "military knapsacks" have appeared over the years in Military Collector and Historian (Journal of the Company of Military Historians)