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MODEL 1899 NUTTER EQUIPMENT CARRIER – EXCELLENT
UNISSUED EXAMPLE - SPANISH AMERICAN WAR: As
described and illustrated in the US Patent Office
Application Diagram (see below), this Nutter Equipment
Carrier was invented by Charles P. Nutter of Malden,
Massachusetts, and was regarded highly enough to be
adopted by the army and manufactured at the Rock Island
Arsenal.
Captain Charles P. Nutter appears in the records as the
commanding officer of Battery C of the 1st
Massachusetts Volunteer Heavy Artillery Regiment – one
of the few volunteer heavy artillery regiments in the
United States at the time of the Spanish American War.
Nutter’s earliest commission in the Massachusetts
Volunteer Militia was granted on May 11, 1891, he was 34
years old when he was granted a commission in the United
States Volunteers on May 9, 1898, and he was mustered
out of the USV on November 14, 1898.
In 1903 under the newly enacted National Defense
legislation, the 1ST MVM Heavy Artillery
Regiment was redesignated under the Corps of Coast
Artillery and from 1906 – 1910, Colonel Charles P.
Nutter was the commanding officer of the corps.
Nutter’s experience with his heavy artillery soldiers,
who were equipped as any other foot soldier in the army,
apparently led to his design and development of this
Nutter Equipment Carrier. What would prove to be
THE last leather load bearing equipment harness
that the army would implement, the Nutter Equipment
Carrier incorporated a utilitarian arrangement of the
soldiers’ basic issue of life supporting equipment
without constricting their torsos and without
encumbering them with so much of the unnecessary
equipment their predecessors had been saddled. The
Nutter Carrier organized the minimal load of blanket,
canteen and one haversack in a single uniform
configuration for efficient marching order, kept the
load balanced and secure, and allowed for the rapid
dropping of the harness to free the soldiers to deploy
into a skirmish line should the need suddenly arise.
Courtesy of Walter Budd, the photographs below shows a
Nutter Equipment Carrier on a mannequin with the
blanket, canteen and haversack attached, and with a
carrier worn without the attendant equipment. The
carrier offered here is shown in the photographs without
the mannequin.
This is an excellent specimen, showing no signs of issue
or use, and is complete with all of the integral straps,
buckles hooks, and billets. All the straps are full
length, live and supple, and do not have any weak
points. The leather is overall smooth, with a bright
smooth finish and only very minor signs of storage and
age. There is a legible Rock Island Arsenal cartouche
on the right shoulder strap.
Not particularly common, especially in this complete,
excellent condition, this would be a nice set to add to
a late 19TH – early 20TH Century
equipment display. (0523) $200
NOTE:
This offering is for the Nutter Equipment Carrier
only – the blanket, canteen and haversack shown in the
photographs are only shown as an example of how the
carrier was worn.
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