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Civil War Knapsack With Frame Still Inside
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DESCRIPTION

Though usually called a "soft pack" by collectors, the 1853/55 pattern double-bag knapsacks were often issued with a wood frame for the box-shaped compartment of the pack. Most of this pattern that we see are from the vast stores of army surplus that were never issued, never had a wood frame inserted, and were stored and often sold in tall piles of stuck together tarred canvas. Those that were issued often had the frames removed by soldiers for comfort or for kindling. In any case, finding a real issued knapsack is tough, and finding one like this with the frame in place is very tough indeed.
As with most of these packs, there are some tears in the tarred canvas: the side flaps of the top piece are off or coming off; some of the leather straps are broken or missing; and the rawhide ties for the bag portion are gone. Still, it is a scarce issued example, not a lot worse than most of the surplus packs, and it retains the frame.
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