American Militia Cartridge Box Ca 1790-1810

The Militia Act of 1792 specified that every member of the militia would provide himself with a cartridge box holding “not less than 24 suitable cartridges,” so most boxws holding that number of rounds will date to that period. This one some very early characteristics, though, that could conceivably date it as early as  the Revolution. A black 1-1/2″ wide bridle leather shoulder belt as been sewn into the rear upper seam of the box. It is full length, with no breaks, and measures about 49 inches long from the points at which it enters the seam. The block is drilled for 24 cartridges of .69 caliber, arranged 8-8-8. The flap is scalloped and has a tooled edge line. The lower center point is about 6-1/2″ from the upper folded edge of the flap. A line of vertical stitching about 1-3/4″ long high up on the flap secures a long leather fastening tab that is broken at the bottom, but would have engaged a thong and button, no longer present, sewn to the bottom of the box

In addition to the narrow shoulder belt, which shows up on several Revolutionary War boxes, the wood block has been nailed into the leather, which has a pronounced bag at the bottom. A horizontal slit running 5-1/4″ was then cut along the face of the leather even with the bottom of the wood block to give access to the bag section where flints, rags, and gun tools could be kept. There are no side ears or inner flap, or sign of any. For some possible parallels that mark it as an earlier box, see Neumann, Battle Weapons. The flap measures about 6-1/4″ across at the top front edge, and is about 3″ front to back. The block is about 2-3/4″ tall. The bag bottom extends about 2″ below that. The box and sling are solid and untouched, slightly dry, but flexible, and have never had any dressing or preservative applied. There is minor finish loss overall and some flaking, but generally in excellent condition.