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MODEL 1872 MEAT CAN – EXCELLENT SPECIMEN:
A combination Meat Can and Cup that was part of the
unique Model 1872 Equipment Set, with the lid intended
to serve as the soldier’s cup in the field. The Model
1872 Meat Can is probably the rarest of the Indian Wars
mess equipment, only having been made for 2-3 years
before being replaced by the Model 1874 Meat Can.
These have always been eagerly sought after as one of
the more interesting pieces of early Indian Wars
equipment and they have become quite scarce on the
current market – these are is the first specimens I’ve had in a
long time.
HISTORICAL
NOTE: Some years ago, more than
I care to recall, I was visiting a frontier fort which
is now owned by the State of Texas. As a matter of
historical fact, as the army moved out in 1875,
civilians moved in and occupied the buildings. This
occupation by squatters had the unintended benefit of
many of the buildings surviving as a result of the
continued maintenance by the "new owners". Some
modifications of the buildings occurred as one would
expect, such as the original hewn floor planks being
covered in modern linoleum flooring. When the
state reclaimed the fort as a historical site they began
to remove all the modern additions to restore them to
their original form as when the army was still in
occupation.
When the linoleum was removed from the floor of one of
the barracks buildings, a sheathing of tin squares
approximately 8" by 5"were found nailed to the floor in
an obvious effort to seal the cracks in the floor
against rats, snakes, scorpions and all the other
critters which occupy West Texas. Each of the
squares featured an embossed "US" in the center, albeit
somewhat flattened by hammering and foot traffic.
The state archeologists opined that the pieces of tin
were army issued food cans and at that time, I had yet
to see a Model 1872 Meat Can. It wasn't until some
time later that I came to understand that the floor - at
least in that one building - had been sheathed with
surplus Model 1872 Meat Cans probably when they were
replaced with the Model 1874 Meat Cans. Some time
later, the archeologists found hundreds of these same
Model 1872 Meat Cans, completely flattened and in
advanced stages of corrosion, in the fort's dump site.
Seeing how they were disposed of - either through
repurposed as flooring or disposed of in the dump -
explains why they are so rare today.
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