ca. 1880 US ARMY SADDLERS
REPAIR & HOLSTER MODIFICATION KIT:
This original US Army Harness/Saddler’s Repair Kit is
one of the small quantity of these kits recovered from
the basement of one of the surviving buildings of Ft.
McIntosh, situated on the banks of the Rio Grande River
in Laredo, Texas. Ft. McIntosh was established in 1849
and continued as an active post until it was closed in
1946, at which time the installation was turned over to
the City of Laredo. The old buildings now serve as the
home of the Laredo Junior College and the Laredo State
University. When these kits were found, they were in a
wooden crate marked SAQD indicating they were issued
from the San Antonio, Texas Quartermaster Depot at Ft.
Sam Houston.
These kits were originally
issued during the late Indian War period to company
saddlers to affect the belt loop modification of the
Model 1881 Holsters in order that the belt loops would
accommodate the wider Mills Woven cartridge belts.
These kits continued to be carried in inventory, and
were pictured in the Quartermaster Corps Field Equipment
Catalogs through at least 1917 (see the photograph below
from the catalog listing), where they were listed as
“Harness Mender Kits” (the army’s nomenclature) and were
issued for a variety of uses until the stocks were
expended.
Years ago I was fortunate
enough to get in on the “ground floor” of the original
discovery of these kits and was able to purchase a small
quantity of them. In one of those kits was the original
holster modification instruction sheet and I kept a copy
of the sheet in my files. A facsimile of the original
sheet is included with this kit, reproduced in the
original size. Although the instruction sheet is dated
1896, and refers to an issue of new, larger belt loops
with which to execute the holster modifications, these
kits may well predate the instruction sheet as it is
known surplus Civil War and early Indian Wars holsters
were being issued concurrently with the earlier patterns
of the Model 1876-79 Prairie belts and the Mills woven
looped cartridge belts. The belt loops on those early
holsters – designed to be worn on the two inch wide
leather sabre belts - would have required modification
as well in order to accommodate the larger cartridge
belts.
This kit is in excellent
condition. The tin box, which measures 5.5” long, 3”
wide, and 2.25” high, contains the complete contents as
shown in the Quartermaster Catalog, including: the
needles, awls, awl handle and wrench, rivet punch, rivet
set, thread, a cube of beeswax, and a carton of rivets
and burrs. The rivets in these sets are the well known
copper rivets with five pointed star on face of the
rivet.
Of special note, the awl
handle is stamped “R.I.A.”, indicating that at least the
awl set was manufactured at Rock Island Arsenal,
providing a definite affirmative link to these sets
having been manufactured and assembled within the
Ordnance Department’s supply system.
Originally found in very limited quantity, even when
fresh on the market these kits were never common, and
once sold into collections they have all but
disappeared. (0303) $250
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