"British backpacks" Topic

I can't decide what colour to paint the backpacks for my British troops. I've looked at previous TMP threads and from what I can gather they were made of canvas and may have been painted in the unit's facing colour.

Has anyone tried doing this? I'm worried that blue, green and yellow backpacks might look a bit odd.

I'm not sure they were painted in facing colours. The idea to paint the knapsack was to waterproof it. One of the more cutting edge re-enactment units is currently making new knapsacks and I beleive they are painting them in an oxide red color, which was common to the period. Good question though. Let me do some more snooping on that.

Carl Franklin's British Army Uniforms 1751 to 1783 say at page 135 "… some units adopted a goatskin cover during the War of Independence. The early issue was made of canvas or course linen with the outside usually painted to make it weatherproof and the rear face embellished with a regimental badge or other identity". No mention of colour of the paint, the plate shows the inside of the knapsack off white and the outside a light tannish buff.

My library of books on the AWI is a bit limited – the only illustrations I've found show brown fur knapsacks.

I am not aware that backpacks were painted in facing colors. I would be interested to see the source on that.

I know of an original backpack that was painted a reddish brown color. The fur traders waterproofed their canvas with some type of concoction that was a reddish brown color as well.

Even if they were painted in facing colors, the colors would be much more muted than brightly colored paints.

The fur knapsacks referred to are the goat skin ones – so should be off white. They were not very big or practical. I know some who wear they say they are hot and uncomfortable.

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I'd have to look for paintings that even show British soldiers in packs, as they usually dropped them before going into battle (same for the Americans).

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I painted mine black. They were not the fur looking kind. I guess when I get to some of those, I will paint them brown.

Matthew

Having had a quick scan of the RevList re-enactors/living history forum, it seems the picture is not at all clear. There is a belief that some regiments wore canvas knapsacks painted with tinctured linseed but contemporary evidence seems to be lacking. This uncertainty applies to knapsacks painted in facing colours as well.

As History gamer mentioned, there is a surviving pack painted in red, but perhaps from after the AWI period, and there other references on Revlist to packs painted blue, black, and buff, but again the evidence seems to be vague. This is an image of the British pack now coloured a deep maroon red. What colour it was when freshly painted is open to speculation.

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The question becomes more complicated as the conflict wore on. We know that simple blanket rolls slung over one shoulder became common.

There is also the pack covered with goatskin to consider (fur side out). There are suggestions that these became less common in later years due to shortages of goat skin.

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A generation later, it is recorded that two Foot Guards regiments wore packs painted blue and the other, some sort of buff colour. This was to replace the 'old packs' of goatskin.

For those battalions that retained the knapsacks and who might have officially ordered them to be painted in facing colour, you would also need to consider the availability of paint in the relevant colour and the weathering effect of campaigning.

I shall be interested to see what else Historygamer turns up. You could probably do worse for your purposes than go for packs coloured a non-specific buff, slightly tinged green to suggest dirty, weathered oilskin, perhaps with blue for royal regiments, together with some regiments using the oxide red. No strange clashes of colour there and no one could really argue with you.

Possibly worth remembering that the British certainly used facing color knapsacks in the next generation--KGL for instance, and there are references to 1813 Hanoverians in old surplus "yellow" British knapsacks. But yes, I'd avoid the gaudier colors absent clear evidence. 42flanker makes sense.

Also, do not forget that certain paint colors were quite expensive in the 18th century. Red oxide was amongst the cheapest. Some colors were not even available. Take a look at how they paint historic houses in the US now. White was not paint. It was white-wash. Yellows are yellow-ochre. Lots of bieges and browns.

I would lean towards red-oxide or browns. Maybe black or dark grey for tar based sealants (as in the navy). Or "natural".

I know the 17th Regt is working on new knapsacks painted in the oxide red/brown color. They found some references in period papers of lost knapsacks, though I don't recall it said what they were constructed of (in fact, I doubt it did).

During the F&I/SYW period, at least some were thought to be cowhide and carried over the shoulder.

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Again, I'd have to do a bit more research on that one too.

Thanks for the replies everyone. It turns out the answer is a lot more complicated than I expected. But then that seems to be true of everything associated with the American Revolution.

Ugh. I did some research last night but my internet service crashed. I saved the post and will repost what I found out later today. :-(

So the answer is simple. Kind of. :-)

Cutherbertson recommended white goat skin knapsacks with white straps. But….

… it appears they often wore linen ones (likely with the flap painted for some water proofing) of a variety of patterns, according to Kemp (he says grey linen) and Neumann (he shows the different types, crediting at least two patterns worn by both sides) with the painting reference.

Gale in his work shows the Morier paintings of the previous war, with brown fur ones (likely cowhide), but offers no specifics that I could find.

Troiani (and Kochan) show a variety of knapsacks carried, from the goatskin to the canvas/linen types.

In Lawson there is a drawing (likely based on a painting he say) showing a soldier with a blanket roll with the straps of the goat skin knapsack over the blanket.

There was no Royal Warrant on knapsacks, so they could vary from year to year, at the colonel's whim.

The blankets were likely carried on a tumpline over the shoudler with the blanket on the lower back (what we currently carry in our unit).

One of the references (Kemp?) suggests the linen knapsacks may have been worn instead of the goatskin in order to preserve the later. Personally, I favor the linen/canvas ones as they have more room.

I doubt they were painted in the facing color during this period. One re-enactment marine unit painted theirs (canvas) in a bright yellow ochre as they said they found a reference the ship's company of marines used left over paint from the ship they were serving on.

You could use black to represent blackball for waterproofing, of the red/brown oxide paint that was common to the period, or leave them linen off white/light grey color.

Thanks historygamer,

I appreciate all the research you have done. I think I will go for mainly off-white but will also try out some red oxide and see how it looks (with my painting skills it will probably end up looking like the men are carrying rusty iron boxes on their backs).

I happened across this image which I believe is taken from the 47th Regiment's re-enactment site (It was posted on pinterest so it is hard to tell).

boatnerd.com/47th

These men are largely in the Royal Warrant kit, which is a bit unusual since this unit was part of Burgoyn's army that had to modify its kit. That is a canvas knapsack painted with an oxide red color for water proofing. There is no official pattern for these sorts of things and undoubtedly they changed during the course of the war. Point being, it is not likely knapsacks would look the same from regiment to regiment.

You can go with a smaller unit emblem on the pack and no one could say you were wrong.

I like the look of the red oxide cover and regimental badge so I'm going to have a go at it (in 15mm the regimental badge will only be a daub anyway). It is interesting to see that the packs they are using are really just sheets of material rather than actual backpacks.

No, they are backpacks with separate sections inside.

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jarnaginco.com/revwarframe.html

Not sure if they post pictures of their spiffy new knapsacks or not:

17thregiment.com

Thanks historygamer,

Those are great sites. I must admit I'm sorely tempted to get myself what Winston would call a 'pimp hat' – just to wear while I am painting. Mind you, it looks like you have to supply your own feather.

Just talking with the commander of the 17th recreated regiment. He said they have found that contracts were issued to have backpacks made over here during the war. Also, they often had to replace them as the men would be ordered to drop their packs prior to going into battle and they often could not recover them. The packs they made – by hand – are of canvas with a painted outer flap for waterproofing.

The 17th would have lost theirs at Princeton, then.

"The 17th would have lost theirs at Princeton, then."

Yes, I'm guessing that after they broke out there probably were not a lot of volunteers to go back and get them.