Sharpe's Pack

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Odigan
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Sharpe's Pack

Post by Odigan »

So, having a fondness for the BBC television series Sharpe (based on the novels by Bernard Cornwell and starring Borom... er, Sean Bean), I was browsing along for related information. While it takes place during the Napoleonic era, I believe the following article may be of some use, or failing that at least offer some enjoyment.

Practical Observations on the Military Knapsack: An adventure in ‘experimental archaeology’ with some philosophical observations.
http://www.95thrifles.com/95th/history/ ... -knapsack/

There is some good succinct info with regards to necessities, sleeping arrangements, etc. For those who don't care to read through it all, here's what he carries:

"I carried as a British Rifleman in my French calfskin knapsack the following; my forage cap (to sleep in, and very useful for carrying eggs in), a spare shirt ( put on dry after a sweaty march rather than risk getting a chill, the damp shirt hung to dry on a bush ); a pair of flannel drawers (worn in cool weather but more often on a hot day with the legs rolled up as ‘bermuda shorts’ in chopping wood and preparing campsites in the late afternoon after a march); a white cotton-duck fatigue jacket (which was nice to slip into to enjoy a warm evening and could be worn as a waistcoat for added warmth in autumn); spare worsted socks (doubling as mittens in cold weather); liquor flask (which should’ve contained brandy but was mostly vodka due to the circumstances); tobacco pouch and a handmade wooden pipe (clay pipes break); tin cup (in which any dried stuff and jerk soaked overnight) and both a horn spoon for eating and a small silver spoon for stirring hot liquid; tinder box; shaving razor, strop, a small sharpening-stone and toothbrush; a length of rope (for tying-up goats, making camp sun-shelters, securing odd bits of gear dangling on the outside of the knapsack); bits of rag for washing-up and for making charcloth; my greatcoat strapped on top of the pack. Rifle tools sat in the front belt pouch or ‘out-of-action’ got packed away in the knapsack. In my haversack - a tompion and lock-cap for the rifle; a small but necessary bankroll of hard currency; a selection of ration-bags, a pinch of salt and some flour, a bag of rice and a bag of dried vegetables, twice-baked rye bread or ‘hard-tack’ and whatever other nibbles and savouries in the form of carbohydrates came my way. Fresh meat because of the difficulty in both carrying it and the hazard of getting any form of looseness in the bowels from food poisoning I generally roasted to well-done and ate it as soon after I found/was given/bought a supply keeping a small wrapped-up cooked dry portion for supper and breakfast; tea leaves or coffee beans wrapped in a linen cloth and a small tin of lard or grease for both rifle-lock and boots."

Those items which are not ME-related, such as the rifle and accessories can have analogues in the bow and its accoutrement, etc., as well as making simple fabric/material substitutions, though much is similar or can be argued as such.
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