Attendance at periodic musters and drills was required of militia members and fines were levied for non-appearance or deficiencies in arms or equipment. This is a good example of a basic infantry waistbelt that still retains a sliding frog for a bayonet and crude vent pick and brush. The belt is intended to give a neat appearance without an expensive belt plate: a narrow billet sewn inside one end of the belt secures it to an iron buckle on the other and the loose end of the belt proper laps over it and is retained by a sliding belt loop.

A sliding frog for a bayonet scabbard is still in place. This is simply constructed, but has slightly scalloped edges to the belt loop and shield-shaped throat. The belt loop is intact, but there is a slit in the hole for the bayonet scabbard stud or hook. Also present, and looped through one hole of the fastening billet, is a piece of twine that holds a pick and brush to clear the vent and pan of a flintlock musket. The pick is a simple piece of wire and the brush consists of a small bundle of horsehair tied at one end. The belt is solid. The surface is somewhat dry, but showing just age cracking and no large areas of finish loss. The bayonet frog has a small tear at the stud hole and along a short line of stitching at the side, but is not missing anything. Militia rigs like this are tough to date precisely, but generally fall into the Federal period or about 1790-1830, though it was not until about 1840 that militia musters faded away under general ridicule and the “enrolled militia” of the community began to be replaced by volunteer uniformed militia. In any case, this is a good example of a basic accoutrement of the citizen soldier with a nice primitive or frontier look that would go well in a collection of early arms and equipment.  [sr]

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