Early American Military Rifleman’s Pouch Circa 1830

This pouch was found in the Berwick, PA., area sometime previous to 1971, when it
was published in the Military Collector and Historian. The pouch itself measures
about 9 ¼ inches wide an 8 inches deep and is actually a double pouch with a
common center piece and bound along the outside edges, and with a tooled leather
flap, pierced at its bottom point for a fastening button, now missing. A two-section
shoulder belt about 2 1/8 inch wide is sewn to the upper rear of the pouch, the
longer section measuring a bit over 41 inches and ending in a standing loop. The
shorter section has a flat oval brass plate measuring 1 ¾ by 2 9/16 inches affixed to
it by three-pronged wire soldered to the reverse. The shorter strap measures a bit
over 15 inches long overall. As the straps near the point where they are sewn into
the upper edge of the bag, the inner edge of each splits to form a narrow billet. One
of these is missing. The other has a small portion of another strap buckled to it. This
strap, and another probably attaching to the matching billet, would have held either
a powder horn or flask.
When first published, the pouch was labeled a prototype of the 1841 rifleman’s
pouch. Subsequent discussion in the Military Collector and Historian and elsewhere
posits that is a precursor to the 1834 pattern rifleman’s pouch, perhaps dating to
the 1820s. The tooling of the pouch suggests a militia origin, but it is useful to
remember that even the US pattern 1828 infantry box featured an elaborately
embossed outer flap.
The flask billet straps are detached and the edge binding of the
bag is gone in some places, revealing the stitched edges of the two bag elements.
Nevertheless the pouch is the only military rifleman’s pouch known that early and is
quite good condition with no attempt yet at conservation or treatment.