Original Item: Only One Available. Dating from the Indian Wars in the 1870s and 1880s, this is known as a Model 1876 Prairie Belt which is a leather and webbed ammunition belt with a single prong, square brass buckle and corresponding leather tab with six punched holes. It was designed for the Springfield trapdoor rifles and carbines in .45-70 caliber. It is offered in heavily worn and tattered condition and is nicely stamped on the leather section Watervliet Arsenal with inspector's stamp, A.R. SMITH.

The belt is offered in fair condition with the leather cracking heavily, and the fraying in several places, and the metal d-hangers are starting to come out of their spots. This is a really well-worn example of what has become one of the scarcest belts on the market. A good example, ready for further research and display.

From the earliest European visitors to the Westward Expansion of the United States, settlers often encountered the American Indians. Though many of these meetings were peaceful, the cultures often clashed, resulting in hundreds of battles and skirmishes between the Natives and encroaching pioneers upon their lands. The pioneers weren’t the only ones to clash or have conflicts with the Native tribes, the U.S. Army did as well. Though confrontations with the Natives virtually occurred ever since the first European explorers and settlers set foot in the “New World”, the “Indian War period” is primarily referred to as occurring between 1866 and 1890. These many conflicts are often overshadowed by other periods of U.S. history like the American Civil War for example.

By the early 20 century, the American-Indian Wars had effectively ended, but at a great cost. Though the Natives helped colonial settlers survive in the New World, helped Americans gain their independence and ceded vast amounts of land and resources to pioneers, tens of thousands of Native and non-native lives were lost to war, disease and famine, and the Indian way of life was almost completely destroyed.
Who knew that an item as simple as a cartridge belt would carry that much history behind it? This is a must have in any collection!