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VERY GOOD EARLY WAR .69 CALIBER US M1839 CARTRIDGE BOX AND SLING BY BOYD

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The cartridge box rig is complete with the shoulder sling and all loops and buckles in place, with both belt plates, and with both magazine tins. It has not been treated with any polish, dressing, or preservative and retains good color to the finish, which shows just expected age crackling and some rubs in places or some flaking at points of flexing, like the lower portions of the shoulder sling, top edge of the outer flap, etc. Please see our photos.

The box is a US Pattern 1839 cartridge box measuring about 7 inches wide and about 5-1/2 inches tall, made for wear on a shoulder sling only, and designed to carry 40 cartridges for the .69 caliber musket, either round ball or buck and ball, i.e., containing buckshot as well. These were held in two tinned iron “magazines” inside that would each hold a package of ten cartridges in reserve in a bottom compartment and ten loose cartridges for ready use in an open tray in the top, each with a divider, separating them into a group of six and a group of four. The box is made with a long outer flap fastening to a brass finial on the bottom of the box by a sewn leather latch tab sewn, and also with a shorter inner flap fitted with sewn, half-circle “side-ears” to help seal the box and protect the ammunition. The front face of the box is also fitted with a pouch and separate flap and fastening tab for gun tools. The reverse has two horizontal flat loops near the top through which the sling passes, to buckle into buckles sewn to the bottom of the box. Later versions of the box incorporated vertical loops as well, for wear on a waist belt.

The shoulder sling is a wartime, blackened bridle leather belt, the type of leather officially used for these belts from 1862 on, measuring about 2-1/8” wide, a slight age shrinkage from the original regulation 2-1/4” width officially used until mid-1864, when it was officially narrowed to 2-inches. The finish shows rubs, crackling and some flaking loss as mentioned above and shown in our photos, but is solid and carried the round eagle shoulder-belt plate regulation for these cartridge box rigs, only being officially eliminated very late in the war, and even then still commonly seen in period photos. This is secured by a strip of leather run through the loops on its reverse that is certainly a modern replacement, few of the original thongs surviving on these rigs. The box flap also still has its rolled brass, die-stamped and lead-solder filled oval US plate, an ornament with the practical function of keeping the flap down if the soldier should forget to latch it. This is held by a correct leather thong on the reverse, though we hesitate to guess the age. The stitching and seams are good. The only defect we see is that the very tip of one of billets on the end of the sling, pierced with holes for the tongues of the sling buckles apparently broke off is in the bottom of one of the tins. The sling, however, is firmly in place and the other tabs are all complete and full length.

The inner flap is clearly and boldly marked by the maker: “J. BOYD & SONS / BOSTON” at the top and bottom of large oval with stars separating the upper and lower lines, and an inner marking in three lines: “MANUFACTURERS / OF ARMY / ACCOUTREMENTS.” The color and finish of the leather is good and the stamping is very visible and fully legible, just a tad light on the very left side. It is hard to think of any US accoutrement maker with a bolder or more impressive marking. The Boyd firm was in business from 1818 to at least 1885 as saddlers. Military accoutrements were a natural extension. The firm gained its first army contract as early as 1845, was one of the four principal accoutrement contractors in the 1850s and dealt with the U.S. government as well as various states. For Union Army Civil War cartridge boxes, we strongly recommend Paul Johnson’s 1998 book on the subject. For the Boyd firm we also recommend Bazelon’s two volumes on US military goods makers and dealers.

This is a nice cartridge box rig, complete, well marked by a respected maker, and with the possible exception of the thongs for the plates, original and untouched.  [pe][ph:L]

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