Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice and unusually complete set of U.S. WWI Model 1912 Experimental Cavalry Ration Bags, part of the short lived Model 1912 Cavalry Equipment system and later repurposed by medical personnel for carrying supplies in the field. The set retains its original leather straps, shows clear wartime use, and is faintly maker marked RIA 1917 for Rock Island Arsenal.

The Model 1912 Cavalry equipment system represented an effort to modernize mounted field gear in the years before and during WWI. Among the components were these paired ration bags, designed to carry rations, personal equipment, and items associated with the mounted soldier and his horse. The two bags were made to lace together and could be suspended from the soldier’s pistol belt by spring clips, allowing them to be worn together on the back.

In practice, the system proved awkward and was not especially successful for cavalry use. The paired bags were cumbersome compared with other field gear, and the overall Model 1912 equipment system never achieved the long term acceptance hoped for.

The bags did, however, find an important second life.

Examples are known to have been repurposed by Medical Department personnel and corpsmen, who valued the quick access afforded by their side opening format. Compared with the standard M1910 haversack, which was less convenient for rapid access to small supplies, these bags could be opened and worked from more quickly in the field. Surviving examples are sometimes encountered with Medical Department or unit markings, supporting their wartime reuse in that role.

This set is especially appealing because it survives with its original leather straps, which are often missing from loose examples.

The front is marked:

U.S.

twice, and the underside of the front flap retains a faint maker marking for:

RIA 1917

indicating manufacture at Rock Island Arsenal.

The metal fittings show heavy verdigris, an expected result of age and long term interaction between brass hardware and leather. The bag bodies themselves remain in great overall condition, showing staining, surface wear, and clear signs of field use without serious structural failure.

The surviving straps are an important part of the set and greatly improve its display value. They help show how the bags were originally intended to be worn and give the piece far more context than an isolated single pouch.

This is a particularly interesting example of experimental U.S. equipment that outlived its original purpose. What began as part of a cavalry gear system later found practical value with medical personnel in the field, where accessibility mattered more than the original design intent.

For a collector of U.S. WWI cavalry equipment, Medical Department gear, experimental field equipment, Rock Island Arsenal material, or original web and leather gear, this is a strong and unusually complete example with excellent historical character.