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INDIAN WAR MODIFIED PISTOL CARTRIDGE POUCH – A
RARE CUT LOOP VARIATION FOR USE ON THE MODELS 1870
-1880’S CARTRIDGE BELTS: Further proof that the
Indian War soldiers continued to use the thousands of
Cap Pouches remaining in inventory from the Civil War,
this Civil War Cap Pouch was one of those used during
the Indian Wars as a Pistol Cartridge Pouch and is
evidence of the frugality of the financially constrained
Ordnance Department. Although the Model 1874 Dyer
Pistol Pouch had been approved and adopted by the 1874
Cavalry Board, rather than expend the funds necessary to
produce a new pattern, the army decided to make do by
utilizing the Civil War pouches on hand. While many of
the cap pouches were modified by several different
methods for use as pouches for the metallic pistol
cartridges during the Indian Wars, the most simple and
expedient answer was to issue the cap pouches “as is”
and in their original form they would and did serve the
purpose quite well. Such cost saving measures were
necessary and encouraged due to the recession then
plaguing the country in the post Civil War years.
What makes this pouch stand out from other modified
pouches is that it has been adapted for wearing on the
looped cartridge belts by cutting the belt loops and
punching a hole in the ends of the now separated loops
to allow the loops to fit over the wider cartridge belts
and be tied in place with leather thongs. This
modification is known to have been executed on a number
of different cartridge boxes such as Civil War carbine
cartridge boxes, Dyer pouches and McKeever boxes in
order to supplement the number of cartridges the soldier
could carry in his belt loops, but this is the first
such pistol cartridge pouch with cut loops that I have
encountered. Such an addition to a cavalry or light
artillery soldier’s belt given that he was armed with a
pistol would make perfect sense, and would have been an
immediate solution. When I found this pouch in a
handful of items from an old collection, the cut loops
had been secured and had the appearance of being
rejoined by the application of a layer of modern leather
behind each belt loop attached with a pair of modern pop
rivets. This is one of the few occasions when the
application of such a simple repair was a fortunate
intervention, as the support provided by the leather
saved the loose ends of the cut loops from being torn
away or damaged. This piece is a significant artifact
and important evidence of the modifications executed by
the Indian War soldiers to meet their needs on the
frontier and collectors are fortunate that it has
survived to tell the story.
Other than the loops being cut, this pouch is in
excellent condition. It is in full form with the
original tab intact, still secured by the single line of
stitching, and is not torn. All of the seams of the
pouch are intact. The leather is still very supple and
pliable, and overall the leather surfaces of the cover,
inner flap and body of the pouch are smooth, shiny, and
bright with no crazing or flaking. There is no maker’s
stamp, but given that this is an early war production
pouch evidenced by the single line of stitching used to
attach the separate closing tab, and the absence of the
reinforcing rivet found on the later production pouches,
the lack of a maker’s mark is not unusual. The
application of a maker’s stamp was not ordered by the
Ordnance Department until 1863 and those accoutrements
made prior to that order are seldom found marked.
Indian War Pistol Cartridge Pouches of any kind are
fairly scarce on the market and is the one accoutrement
most often missing from a belt display of that period.
As stated above, genuine pistol cartridge pouches that
were obviously used with the Fair Weather Christian
Belts, the Prairie belts or the Woven Looped cartridge
belts are almost non-existent and this is a rare
opportunity to complete a frontier belt set.
SOLD
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