Guys,

A young man in my Company was asking about buying a quality blanket. I use Charlie Childs blankets; but this young man is still in school and doesn't have a lot of money.

Any suggestions on a quality blanket that is less expensive than the Childs blankets? Oh yeah, he does a Confederate impression.

Thanks,

I have two Childs and a Pat Kline. Have him look for used...at fall events you can't go wrong with a good quality blanket.

At Bristoe I used an old dark maroon blanket I found in my mother-in-law's basement when we were cleaning it out a few years back.  It's at least sixty years old so I'm fairly confident it doesn't have any synthetic content.  Not that I really care that much when it's cold.  The moth holes kinda bug me though.

I guess I mention it because from what I know about army supply during the civil war the one item the US army had trouble supplying from domestic sources throughout the war was woolen blankets.  In at least one case enlistees were encouraged to bring blankets from home to the recruiting depot.  Officers could have a variety of blankets -- Sherman's secretary Hitchcock had a couple of Hudson Bay blankets, among others.  To me this argues for a much greater variety than we can currently attain just by relying on the few purveyors of pedigreed authentic repros.  

What's true for the US has to be even more the case for the Confederacy.

So until the CR covers the subject in their next compendium, or someone else posts reasonable event standards on the subject, I'd advise your friend to find something ideally about five and a half feet by seven, weighing in the neighborhood of five pounds, in a color likely to have existed at the time, that he doesn't mind getting dirty.  

I don't see anything wrong with the Woolrich "Gettysburg" blanket, but that's me.  He can probably find something less expensive in a thrift shop.

I've got an old(ish) Hudson Bay point blanket of about that size and weight. The color is part of the fabric, not added afterwards. Are you saying that that would most likely work even for a Federal impression?

I think so, but I'm not saying you won't get called names anyway.

A passage from "Marching With Sherman" by Henry Hitchcock (p. 285)-- who has earlier mentioned a blue blanket and a "double Mackinaw" -- reads "The brilliancy of that gay new red blanket contrasted finely with the 'sombre hues' of the gray ones bought of the Quartermaster, as well as set off the *subdued white* -- we won't call it *dingy yet -- of the 'Hudson's Bay' blanket with its answering gaiety of stripes at either end."

Hitchcock was a staff officer and had to buy his own blankets anyway, but he mentions them a number of times and it's interesting to contemplate what one might see in Georgia in those days.

FWIW, the government price for a woolen blanket in 1863 was $3.60, compared to a monthly clothing allowance of $3.50 for volunteers.  By August, 1864 (per contracts 336 & 337 with Dimick & Higgins in NYC) the cost had gone up to $7.50 (vs. an allowance that eventually reached the princely sum of $4 a month), which leads me to suspect they wouldn't have laughed at you back then.

The moth holes kinda bug me though.
ba da boom...tsing!

Mel, I'll explain the basic "do's" and "don't's" when we next meet up.

Here's what I remembered -- it's from General Order No. 120, dated August 29, 1862:

As the sudden call for volunteers and militia has exhausted the supply of blankets, fit for military purposes, in the market, and it will take some time to procure by manufacture or importation a sufficient supply, all citizens who may volunteer or be drafted are advised to take with them to the rendezvous,
if possible, a good stout woolen blanket. The regulation military blanket is 84 by 66 inches, und weighs five pounds.
As all clothing, blankets, and shoes issued by the United States to its troops are charged at average cost, and no soldier who furnishes his own blanket is required to draw one, it is to his interest to supply himself, and thereby avoid much discomfort, as it is impossible for the United States to supply all the
troops immediately.

The source is available on Google Books:
General Orders of the War Department, Embracing the Years 1861, 1862 & 1863 ... - Page 384
by United States War Dept, Oliver Diefendorf, Thomas M. O'Brien - 1864

The 5lb rule was enforced with extreme thoroughness, and I will post an image of the receipt book from the New York Depot.

It is well known by now, that the variations of Federal Blankets could be endless. What the following document shows is that there were variations even within the SAME contract.


Sorry for the copyright watermarks, but there was a recent for profit book published using items gleaned off of the internet.

Nick,

Thanks for that contract. Very interesting. Do you know in which year this contract was let. I see it was supposed to be filled by September 1st, but I didn't notice a year.

Those blankets weren't exactly cheap were they! Four blankets were worth as much as a contract rifle-musket. Compared to what we pay for a rifle today, a quality blanket is a pretty good deal.

It's great to see you back here.  

The contract date is August 22, 1862. The public advertisement which invited proposals for the contract, as noted on the envelope, was August 15th.