MA0830 Authentic Civil War Carpet Bag

Carpetbag “luggage” appeared first in 1840, six years following the U.S. patent for an in-grain carpet power loom. After the Reconstruction Act of 12867, the “carpetbag” became likened to the business and political opportunists who arrived in the war-ravaged South totin’ all their belongings in tapestry carry alls. The carpetbag’s reputation became so tarnished that its popularity waned and by 1884, was a thing f the past.

Our metal frame carpetbag is made in Ol’Virginny by Bob Porter, a Civil war re-enactor. The authenticity of the bag has been refined by Porter through many years of research and cooperation with other re-enactor/researchers. It is patterned after an artifact at the Stonewall Jackson House in Lexington, VA. A wooden bottom is fitted inside an outer shell of varied patterns of period upholstery and is secured with brass studs. Leather covered rope handles are attached with copper rivets and burrs; closure is a brass lock with antique key. It is lined with muslin and has two inside pockets. The bag is 16” deep X 20” wide X 6 ½” .