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SCARCE CIVIL WAR INDIA RUBBER BLANKET OR PONCHO FRAGMENT PONCHO FRAGMENT

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Excavated portion of a Civil War poncho or rubber blanket. This is a rough rectangle, preserving one edge with its binding intact and one of the brass grommets, with its diamond/square shaped reinforcing piece, used to join blankets or ponchos together for shelter or improvise sleeves or a hood. This comes from the excavations at Fort Pembina in North Dakota, an army post garrisoned from 1870 to 1895, and supplied with typical Civil War uniforms and gear as the army used up its vast stocks of wartime supplies well into the 1870s, with the Civil War ponchos and rubber blankets, not subject to much improvement or change in fashion, still being issued long after, with the government only selling off its stocks in the 1880s as they realized storage conditions could lead to hardening of the rubber, cracking, etc.

This shows wrinkling, stains and dirt, but Civil War ponchos and rubber blankets are extremely scarce despite being widely used and valued by troops in the field. They were recommended private purchases in early-war handbooks for budding soldiers, issued by some states to their early volunteers, and finally adopted in November 1861 by the US government, which had initially adopted the poncho only for mounted troops to replace the long “talma,” but left foot troops reliant on their cloth overcoats for waterproof clothing and made no provision for a ground cloth. Their usefulness, however, could not be denied. By war’s end 1,703,401 rubber blankets and 1,160,133 ponchos had been supplied on contract, and a large, but unknown, number purchased privately or supplied by the states. Their very utility in military and civilian life, and problems of storage has made any example scarce.

Situated in the Red River Valley in North Dakota near the Canadian border, Fort Pembina was established in 1870 and in operation until 1895. Trading posts existed earlier in the area as part of the fur trade, and the first U.S. military post there was temporary- manned by a detachment of Minnesota troops in 1863-1864 following the 1862 Sioux uprising. In March 1870 a new fort was established south of the Pembina River and about 200 yards west of the Red River, completed by July and named in honor of Gen. George H. Thomas. The name was changed to Fort Pembina in September and the initial garrison consisted of two companies of the 20^th US Infantry. Their main duty was to provide security for settlers worried about Sioux returning south from Canada, but the troops were more occupied with escorting boundary surveys along the Canadian border and preventing Fenian raids heading north into Canada.

The fort included enlistedmen’s barracks, officers’ quarters, guard house, ordnance storehouse, company kitchen, root house, laundress’s quarters, quarters for civilian employees, hospital and hospital servant’s house, a barn for the “hospital cow,” quartermaster and commissary offices and storehouse, stables, wagon shed, etc. The garrison reached peak strength in 1878 af 200, but the average was about 125 enlisted men and 8 officers. An October 1885 return listed 97 men, 2 field pieces, 1 mountain howitzer, 100 rifles, 19 pistols, 23 mules, and 9 wagons. By 1890 the post had just 23 men, and after an 1895 fire destroyed some 19 buildings it was decided to abandon the fort rather than rebuild, the last detachment left in September. The property was turned over to the Interior Department and later sold in 1902.

This is in very good condition for an excavated piece, displayable, and has a tight provenance to an Indian War post garrisoned by the U.S. army for a well-defined period that encompasses the 1870s and 1880s Indian Wars. It would also display well in a Civil War context. This was likely salvaged at first by a soldier from a damaged piece for some other use, before being discarded. We have seen more than one poncho or rubber blanket showing small pieces removed to make a small pouch or help water proof saddlebags or the contents of a soldier’s knapsack or haversack.    [sr] [ph:m]

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