Original Item: Only One Available. Dating from the Indian Wars in the 1870s and 1880s, this is known as a Model 1874 Waist Belt, as used by the U.S. Army for the last decades of the 19th Century. It is of simple sturdy leather construction, with a heavy U.S. Brass Belt Plate Buckle, with a hook on the back that attaches to the end fitting on the other end. The belt could be used to suspend holsters, ammunition cartridges, and other field gear items for use in combat.

The belt has a lovely color and patina, with only some heavy finish cracking, and no real tears or other issues, as shown. The brass buckle and end fitting have a lovely aged patina. The front of the buckle is stamped with 26, which could be a regimental designation. Possibly the 26th North Carolina Infantry.

A very nice example, ready to add to your Indian Wars collection!

More About The Indian Wars
The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, the First Nations Wars in Canada, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settlers, against various American Indian and First Nation tribes. These conflicts occurred in North America from the time of the earliest colonial settlements in the 17th century until the early 20th century. The various wars resulted from a wide variety of factors. The European powers and their colonies also enlisted allied Indian tribes to help them conduct warfare against each other's colonial settlements. After the American Revolution, many conflicts were local to specific states or regions and frequently involved disputes over land use; some entailed cycles of violent reprisal.

As settlers spread westward across North America after 1780, armed conflicts increased in size, duration, and intensity between settlers and various Indian and First Nation tribes. The climax came in the War of 1812, when major Indian coalitions in the Midwest and the South fought against the United States and lost. Conflict with settlers became much less common and was usually resolved by treaty, often through sale or exchange of territory between the federal government and specific tribes. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 authorized the American government to enforce Indian removal from east of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory west on the American frontier, especially what became Oklahoma. The federal policy of removal was eventually refined in the West, as American settlers kept expanding their territories, to relocate Indian tribes to reservations.