The Haversack Depot is the creation of Philip and Donna Cavanaugh of New Braunfels, Texas. It started out just making haversacks for friends and progressed to a full time retirement job.

Donna and Philip Cavanaugh

Philip has been active in living history, and reenacting since 1962, his first reenactment was the Gettysburg Centennial in July 1963. He has been a curator or director of several U. S. Army museums including, West Point, Carlisle Barracks, Fort Knox, and finally the U. S. Army Quartermaster Museum at Fort Lee, Virginia. He is a retired U. S. Army Reserve chief warrant officer and his awards include the Legion of Merit, Master Parachutist’s Badge, and the Special Forces Tab. He was elected a Fellow of the Company of Military Historians in 1967. His hobbies are collecting and sewing with Civil War and earlier period sewing machines, driving his 1924 Ford and muzzle loading shooting. Philip is a private in Company K, 6th Texas Infantry and is a member of the staff of the Mississippi Valley Brigade.

Donna has been active in living history since 1983. She has been employed by Living History Associates, the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, and the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia for first person interpretations. Her hobbies are collecting ivory handled parasols and vintage ladies clothing from the 1850’s to the 1920’s.