1878 pattern blanket bag marked to Engineers unit

[Bob Hudson]

Picked this up today. The stamp was interesting, but the pattern and construction details were unlike anything I'd handled before. Turned out to be a 1878 pattern blanket bag/backpack. It's in decent condition, but I can't find any makers marks. Anyone know anything about the 159th Engineers?

 

 

 

 

[atb]

"159" is the soldier's number within his unit. At the time that item was being used, there was only one battalion of engineerrs in the Regular Army, called the Battalion of Engineers. Your man was in Company H. Since there was but one unit, no number was necessary. I think a second battalion was formed for the Spanish-American War, but WW1 saw the advent of a mutitude of new Engineer regiments and battalions.

[Bob Hudson]

"159" is the soldier's number within his unit. At the time that item was being used, there was only one battalion of engineerrs in the Regular Army, called the Battalion of Engineers. Your man was in Company H. Since there was but one unit, no number was necessary. I think a second battalion was formed for the Spanish-American War, but WW1 saw the advent of a mutitude of new Engineer regiments and battalions.

 

Thanks for that info!

 

Following your leads, I did find that between the Civil War and the Span-Am War the Battalion of Engineers had five companies, and then in the Span-Am War they formed a provisional battalion which had a Company H, shown here in Puerto Rico in 1898.

 

[Bob Hudson]

I also found that there was a Company H, 2nd Battalion of Engineers with the Mexican Punitive Expedition. In looking at the documents from that, they are simply referred to a "Co. H., Engineers" and since there was apparently no duplication of Company designations among the 1st and 2nd Engineers, would this type of gear marking have still been used?

 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

 

[Bob Hudson]

The above photos were shot with my cell phone so I took some hopefully better ones this morning with my Canon.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

This was written on the inside pocket:

 

 

I need to clean off that verdigris ASAP. Beside that and a couple of small tears, it's in very good shape.

 

 

 

The shoulder straps and these braided leather loops are still nice in great condition:

 

[Bob Hudson]

The "Barlett Bros." written on the pack was apparently the "Bartlett Bros. Piano Company," which by 1900 was called "Bartlett Music Co."

[Bob Hudson]

It turns out that this had nothing to do with the music company: the William H Bartlett family were citrus farmers who arrived in Los Angeles County in 1894 after being successful farmers in Iowa and Nebraska. At the time of the Span-Am war their oldest son was 16: I suspect this bag was something acquired after the war and the "Bartlett Bros" refers to the three boys, Harry, William and Edward. The family home at 350 East Holt Ave. in Pomona was apparently quite the place (it's a parking lot now). My assumption is that the bag was basically Army surplus, possibly from a relative.