Cowboy bedroll

The cowboy bedroll was a significant item in Old West culture, not simply because it was one of the precursors of the modern sleeping bag (combining, as it did, padding, coverings, and a weatherproof shell), but because it was the cowboy’s trunk, safety box, and portable seat as well as his bed.

It is unclear when or how the roll developed. Nothing like it can be found in Mexico (the source of much cowboy equipment, notably the saddle, bridle, lariat, chaps, wide-brimmed hat, high-heeled boots, and spurs), or in the Southern United States, the birthplace of many cowboys (the classic Confederate soldier carried his bedding rolled into a soft cylinder and fastened diagonally across his body). Nor is it prefigured in the history of the Midwestern United States, where several of the older states, notably Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, were noted c. 1830-65 as breeding and finishing grounds for great numbers of cattle, and from which these cattle were routinely "walked" to markets as far east as New York City, until the wholesale introduction, in the postbellum era, of farming machinery caused an economic shift toward grain culture, primarily wheat and corn. Photographs exist of it, notably one in Albert Marrin’s Cowboys, Indians, and Gunfighters, but they tend not to be specifically dated. Will James, writing 1924-42, referred to the bedroll and portrayed it in his sketches, as did Stan Lynde. Louis L’Amour, who took some pride in the authenticity of his backgrounds, suggested in The Cherokee Trail (set c. 1863) that the roll may have existed as early as the Civil War, as he has a character say he’ll "just throw my bed under that tree." It may have developed from the elementary bedding used by the mountain man, who generally used only a Mackinaw blanket and a buffalo robe or bearskin, cured with the hair on. The one certainty is that it was widespread, as authors on the subject generally agree that most roundups and trail drives had at least one "bed wagon" (sometimes more), specifically intended for the transport of cowboys’ personal beds and other belongings.

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Wikipedia