SECT. III.

Of Accoutrements

THE Accoutrements of a soldier, consist of a shoulder-belt, to which his pouch is fastened or buckled, and of a waist or sword-belt, carrying his bayonet, the leather of which is called buff, being the skin of the buffalo, and therefor strong, thick, heavy, and spongy. The shoulder and waist belt are each much of the same breadth, being about three inches and a half broad. The leathers of the pouch, such as the buckle-straps, flap and pocket, are commonly made of another sort off dressed leather, but equally thick and heavy as that of the buff. And as to the cartridge box of the pouch, it is made of wood or tin, and so contrived, as commonly to contain thirty-six cartridges, the whole weighing about five pounds eight ounces; and if to that, be added three pounds eight ounces more, the weight of the cartridges made up, with only single balls, together with the eight of the bayonet, and also of the flints and other convenient articles for keeping the firelock clean and in good order, the whole weight then taken together, will be very little short of eleven pounds eight ounces, hanging on the man’s body.

But the incumbrance of this weight, though great in itself, is not so intolerable, especially on a march or for any length of time, as the enormous breadth of the belts, which compresses the body to such a degree, an exudes so effectually every cooling breeze from it, that the man is a short space of time, is so overheated, as to become quite languid an fatigued, and incapable of every vigorous effort. When [25] this is the case, he naturally lays himself regardlessly down to rest, an in that oppressed condition, seldom escapes contracting some disorder or other, such as rheums, agues, fevers, &c. which commonly terminate either n the loss of his life, or the loss of his service for a considerable time. To remove then, as far as convenience will admit, a cause productive of such bad effects, I would make those belts considerably narrower, and that at the least a third more than they are at present ; The advantages of which alteration would be, first the man would feel himself more easy, cool, and light ; next, it would give him a sprightly and active appearance, instead of being like an unwieldy champion trussed up in a coat of mail ; an, lastly, by thus diminishing the breadth of the belts, the expence in the purchase of new Accoutrements would consequently be proportionably lessened, and that obtained without shortening in the least, the duration of the wear.

But before I conclude this article, I shall touch upon another point, relative to the preservation of our Accoutrements, of which we seem to be totally ignorant; what I mean, is or pernicious method of cleaning them. The rule we follow is this: when the Accoutrements want cleaning, the soldiers set the several articles to soak in water, after which they scrape them with a sharp knife, wash them afresh, and colour them with a stuff prepared for the purpose. The consequence of which is, that by thus scraping them with a sharp knife, they frequently, if not always, cut and mangle them ; and not only this, but the substance of the leather is so wasted and impaired, that they soon become quite thin and jagged at the edges; besides the coat o nap of the buff being entirely shaved [26] off, which makes the surface appear black and horny, so that in a short space of time the accoutrements are neither fit for service or appearance, and seldom last a third of the time they otherwise would. To avoid this bad effect, others have substituted another method, which is, that instead of scraping them, as before described, they cause the several pieces of leather to be rubbed or daubed over with a kind of putty, made of pipe-maker’s clay and size mixed together, which when dry, sticks so close, as not easily to be rubbed off; but to this method, there are two objections; the first is, that when the accoutrements come to be worn in wet weather, the rain so softens the coat of colouring upon them, as to make it run off, which spoils the cloaths, and disfigures their appearance. The other objection is, that as the colour is pure white, and not resembling the natural colour of the leather, it makes the cloaths and trimmings, after they are about half worn, to appear very shabby, and to great disadvantage, the colour being then too lively a contrast to the soil upon the lace and cloth.

Now what I would recommend, instead of either of the above methods, is, first to set the accoutrements to soak in water, and then to take out a piece at a time, and lay it flat upon a board, with the right side uppermost ; this being done, let it be rubbed over with some hard soap, and upon which sprinkle a little fine sand; then take a hard brush dipped in water, and with it rub sufficiently the piece to be cleaned; this method will not only take off all dirty and greasy spots, much quicker than by scraping the parts with a knife, but it will preserve [27] the coat of the leather, and prevent the injurious and bad consequences already described.

The several parts of the Accoutrements being thus prepared and handled, they are next to be well washed and hung up; and after they are about half dry, let them be dipped in the colouring tub and set to dry thoroughly; then they are to be well dusted and brushed, the buckles well cleaned and brightened, and the several parts put together, and fixed in their proper places.

The colouring made use of on this occasion, is a composition of whiting and ochre; the proportion of each I commonly adjusted by the fancy of the commanding officer; but the composition which I think the most proper, is that which approaches the nearest to the natural colour of the leather, or rather a degree brighter, which will be suitable to all stages of wear, which the clothes may have.