U.S. M-1878 Haversack

[tj214]

Interesting speculation about the two letters under the crossed rifles. Makes sense. Since the first letter is obscured (at least to my eyes), perhaps it could be any state with a 2-letter abbreviation that ends in "A." Crosscheck could be to determine which states might have used the modern US postal "service" 2-letter codes as common abbreviations of their state's name at that point in history--again well beyond my expertise.

It appears to me the final letter in the "U.S.(x)." under the crossed rifles is more likely to be a "V" than "A" due to the spacing of the letters. The strong vertical stroke seems too far left, spacing wise, to have represented the strong vertical stroke of an "A" and about right for a "V."