The Joys of a Rubber Blanket

[RJSamp]

Probably underrepresented in the hobby is the use of rubberized canvas as a shelter as opposed to using white canvas. Many regiments marching off in September 1862 had NO CANVAS with them, instead they were back on the wagons and didn't catch up with them for weeks.

An officer in the 6th WVI bedded down IN a corn row the night before the Battle of Antietam near the Poffenberger farm....it rained that night...the next morning he stirred.....this lowered the edge of his rubber blanket that had created a DAM for water draining down the corn row...and he was immediately flooded out. What a way to start the day of the biggest single day battle of the war!

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Canvas-less Tent Shelter
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Banks of the Potomac near Sharpsbug (MD), Sept. 21st, 1862

My Dear Brother (Nathaniel Melcher):
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"We are encamped here near the Potomac with the rest of Porter's (V) Corps. Encamped I say, though we have not been in a tent since we left Portland (Maine!). But we substituted our rubber blankets. Two of us tie them together, they being provided with eyelet (grommet) holes, then draw them over a frame, they make a tent high enough to sit up in but not to stand, and with straw on the ground, and our woolen blankets we get along very well. We shall get our tents, which are at Arlington,.......

Truly
H(olman). S. Melcher

(he was a Corporal at the time).

page 5 "With a Flash of His Sword" edited by William Styple, The Writings of Major Holman S Melcher, 20th Maine Volunteers.
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"10 Year in the Army (US)" has similar stories of the rain shedding wonderfulness of a rubber blanket"

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"Memories of a Dutch Mudsill" John Henry Otto. particularly in the winter of 1863 after Murfreesboro.....speaks of the sleet and SNOW shedding abilities of their rubber blankets.

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My guess is that we think of modern uses/tentage/materials....that a plastic drop cloth is great for keeping out the ground dampness/dew/cold....there fore a rubber blanket's primary use is as a black side down on the ground tarp/cloth.

That they regularly used them as tents, shelter, and rain coats can be gleaned from the writings.....something to think about the next time you gaze down your company street/regimental camp "awash in a sea of canvas".

[Poor Private]

I have seen on the net that there is a vendor who sells rubberized shelter halves/dog tents wish I could remember who now. I nmay have to go back and find it.

[Poor Private]

Found it Haversack Depot. rubberized ponchos that can be put together for a dog tent. Price per half is $95.00

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

I own one and have used it, and it is quite handy, but I caution you that there were so few originals issued, and those all early war according to the research of Fred Gaede, author of "The Federal Shelter Tent". When in comparison to the millions of gum blankets and ponchos issued and the millions of cotton drill or duck shelter halves , there is only evidence of a few thousand from a government contract for the rubberized or painted shelter ponchos. I believe the government, just like I have found, is that the rubber or paint comes off rapidly everytime you fold it and put it back in your knapsack, so it wasn't economical to treat shelter halves.

[GrumpyDave]

A fairly handy shelter can be made from one gum blanket. I've done it many times, out of necessity, sleeping rolled in a blanket on the ground. Long ways, one end on the ground and the other about 24 inches off in sort of a "lean too" fasion. This keeps you fairly dry in a steady rain. If your filemate sets his gum up attached to yours, and a third puts theirs on the ground, three can sleep reasonably comfortably in a reasonable dry place.

I think this is whare RJ was heading. Not to some specialty, rarely issued item.;)

[E. J. Thomas Mercantile]

And with all this talk of rubber blankets, why not own one of the best reproductions out there. I have one left from N.J. Sekela's last run of rubber blankets. I have reduced the price as well! It can be purchased online through our website by clicking this link:

Goodyear Rubber Blanket (http://www.ejtmercantile.com/catalog/item/5196039/5315523.htm)

Feel free to email or pm with any questions.
Regards,
Bill Lomas

[RJSamp]

A fairly handy shelter can be made from one gum blanket. I've done it many times, out of necessity, sleeping rolled in a blanket on the ground. Long ways, one end on the ground and the other about 24 inches off in sort of a "lean too" fasion. This keeps you fairly dry in a steady rain. If your filemate sets his gum up attached to yours, and a third puts theirs on the ground, three can sleep reasonably comfortably in a reasonable dry place.

I think this is whare RJ was heading. Not to some specialty, rarely issued item.;)

Zactly! .......................................

[TimKindred]

Dave,

I've done exactly the same thing many a time. It's especially easy if you have stopped along the road to bivouac, as you simple tie one end off to the middle rail of a fence, then peg the other down just about a foot off the ground. I did this last McDowell, in fact. I've laso rigged by running two thin saplings from the niddle rail, then tying the gum blanket off to them, sort of like a litter leaned up against a fence. That works well also.

Respects,