Early American Military Rifleman's Pouch Circa 1830

This pouch was found in the Berwick, PA., area sometime previous to 1971, when itwas published in the Military Collector and Historian. The pouch itself measuresabout 9 ¼ inches wide an 8 inches deep and is actually a double pouch with acommon center piece and bound along the outside edges, and with a tooled leatherflap, pierced at its bottom point for a fastening button, now missing. A two-sectionshoulder belt about 2 1/8 inch wide is sewn to the upper rear of the pouch, thelonger section measuring a bit over 41 inches and ending in a standing loop. Theshorter section has a flat oval brass plate measuring 1 ¾ by 2 9/16 inches affixed toit by three-pronged wire soldered to the reverse. The shorter strap measures a bitover 15 inches long overall. As the straps near the point where they are sewn intothe upper edge of the bag, the inner edge of each splits to form a narrow billet. Oneof these is missing. The other has a small portion of another strap buckled to it. Thisstrap, and another probably attaching to the matching billet, would have held eithera powder horn or flask.When first published, the pouch was labeled a prototype of the 1841 rifleman'spouch. Subsequent discussion in the Military Collector and Historian and elsewhereposits that is a precursor to the 1834 pattern rifleman's pouch, perhaps dating tothe 1820s. The tooling of the pouch suggests a militia origin, but it is useful toremember that even the US pattern 1828 infantry box featured an elaboratelyembossed outer flap.The flask billet straps are detached and the edge binding of thebag 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 isquite good condition with no attempt yet at conservation or treatment.