American Military & Naval Belts by R Stephen Dorsey

Table of Contents

The result of over 30 years' study and collecting, this book is the most comprehensive work on the subject ever presented to the collecting fraternity. Containing examples of SWORD BELTS; SABRE BELTS OF THE DRAGOONS; CAVALRY AND MOUNTED ARTILLERY; WAIST BELTS; SHOULDER BELTS and LOOPED AND NON-LOOPED CARTRIDGE BELTS; this work is an indispensable collectors' guide to the History, Construction, Materials, Dimensions, Buckles and Belt Plates and Special Notes of this most important accoutrement. With over 800 photos and illustrations, most of them in full colour, and with over 400 pages, this book establishes a new high-water mark on the subject.

Belts from some of the finest private and public collections in the country are shown in the detail needed to identify and understand their place in American history. NUMEROUS OVERVIEWS provide the development and reasoning behind the experimental, prototype and production belts and put them into the perspective that allows the collector to appreciate the belts in his and other collections. Great attention was given to draw upon ORIGINAL ARMY DOCUMENTATION, CORRESPONDENCE and SPECIFICATIONS, never before published in one collector-friendly volume.

For the first time, the HISTORY OF THE MILLS WOVEN CARTRIDGE BELT COMPANY is also made available to the many collectors who have these belts. The reader can read about Anson Mills, the man, and the creation of the company and its key personalities. A major research effort allows us to present a detailed listing and discussion of the MILLS CONTRACTS with the Ordnance Department, allowing the collector, for the first time, to understand the belts of the Indian War and Spanish American War. Mills' relationship to the WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS CO. is discussed as well as the reasons behind the adoption of the several CARTRIDGE BELT PLATES of the Indian War period. Many heretofore unanswered questions are answered about the belts of MILLS, SPALDING and HULBURT, and the parts they played in wartime. And, EXPERIMENTAL MILLS BELTS such as the Pattern 1902 and the Parkhurst Device Belts are shown and discussed, quoting original army documents.

For the collector, the museum and the historian, this book fills a long-awaited need.