Uniforms and equipment of American volunteer militia companies from 1790 to 1860 are a great combination of “gutsy visual impact” in John Hamilton’s words, along with historical interest, and social, political, and even ethnic significance. Although legally chartered, their range of choice for uniforms and gear was only limited by their pocket books and stood in contrast to the minimally equipped enrolled militia. They formed an “elegant elite” that could advertise its social status, patriotism, politics, ethnicity, etc. in their uniforms, painted flags, drums, canteens, and knapsacks.

This is a nice example of a painted knapsack dating 1820-1840. Since the companies were seldom called up for real campaigns in the field, they could indulge in more decorative than functional gear (hence, for instance, some rather small canteens.) In this case the company decided the back flap of the pack should carry an eagle with slightly raised wings and some impressive claws, looking up to the viewer’s right. It is perched on a miniature landscape of thin trees with bright yellow foliage on what appear to be some narrow islands rendered in brown and green, with the blue used for the background being water at the bottom and used for sky above and behind the eagle, rendered in brown, black, green and yellow, with an array of five-pointed white stars in the background. The pack uses an outer black border and an inner red border with small fans in the corners.

We have not examined the knapsack out of its shadow box frame, but the condition appears very good. The tops of two plain web shoulder straps are visible at the upper corners. The paint has subdued, age tones, as is appropriate, and is very good, with no in-painting and just scattered rubs or paint loss from the flexing of the canvas fabric over time. We see only one narrow separation line on the lower left edge, about two-thirds of the way down. We count 21 stars, which in theory would date the pack to 1819, but we may have missed one and the painter may have been less concerned with a precise number than the general picture.

This is a great looking piece, framed and ready to hang. It looks good on its own and would be a centerpiece in a militia display or an addition to a collection of American folk art. We recommend John Hamilton’s article, “The Elegant Elite” in Man at Arms and Bill Guthman’s article “Decorated military Americana” in the Magazine Antiques as good starting points for the interested collector. The field is pleasing combination of history and art.  [sr] [ph:m]

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