![]() Every Man is to disembark with a Blanket, in which he is to carry three days provisions, one Shirt, one pair of Socks, & one pair of Shoes. Here are a series of British narratives or general orders mentioning blanket slings, or occasions when blankets were to be carried without knapsacks.Ĩ4th Regiment, “point au Trimble,” Quebec, 18 August 1776, “Every Man to be pervided With a Topline if Wanted and to prade Opisite the Church, on Thursday Morning With thire Arms Accutements and packs, properly Made up as for a March.” 2īrigade of Guards, orders, 19 August 1776, “When the Brigade disembarks two Gills of Rum at most must be put into each Man’s Canteen which must be fill’d up with Water. That said, British troops certainly used slings, and likely used rolled blankets slung over the shoulder, as well (see image of 25th Regiment soldier at Minorca, below). He said his business every night before he slept was to see that no soldier in his company laid down without a blanket.” 1 One of the officers, a subaltern, observed to me that his soldiers were infants that required constant attendance, and said as a proof of it that although they had blankets tied to their backs, yet such was their laziness that they would sleep in the dew and cold without them rather than have the trouble of untying and opening them. Benjamin Rush’s observations while tending to American wounded after the Battle of Brandywine: ![]() ![]() While British troops used blanket slings instead of knapsacks during several campaigns, one reason being the “ill Conveniency” of their packs (whatever that might mean), slung blankets had their own inconveniences, one of those being having to undo them every night and re-roll them before marching. Part 3 to A Hypothesis Regarding British Knapsack Evolution Read Parts 1 & 2.
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