Images(2)

British sergeant's cartridge pouch

Date1770-1790

OriginEngland

MediumLeather, wood, thread (gut?), tinned iron

DimensionsOW: 8 1/2"; OH: 5 1/4"; OD: 2 1/4" Bock holes; about 19.5 mm

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2010-60

Label TextDuring the colonial period, a soldier's ammunition was in the form of a "cartridge," essentially a paper tube filled with a measured charge of gunpowder and an appropriately sized lead ball. One of the ways ammunition was carried was in the leather "cartridge pouch," which was slung over the soldier's left shoulder so it rode above his right hip.

Inside the pouch was a wooden block drilled with neat rows of tightly spaced holes, each meant to hold a cartridge upright and easy to grasp by a soldier focused on loading his firearm in battle.

While most pouches used by the British forces of the period held either 26 or 29 cartridges loaded with larger musket balls, this example's block is drilled with only 18 holes sized for smaller cartridges. Therefore, we know this box was intended for use by a soldier who carried a smaller-bored firearm, like a sergeant, who carried a carbine or fusil.

Its flap is of heavy black leather and is "smooth side out" so that it can be polished. Under the flap at the front of the pouch is a small pocket meant to hold things like extra gun flints. Although its buff leather shoulder belt is missing, both tinned iron buckles, meant to secure it, remain. Its original leather flap button is intact, as are the two sling keepers stitched to the back of the pouch.