Indian Wars carbine thimble

[Pat Holscher]

The following was posted for Rick Throckmorton, who will add the discussion.

DCL marked thimble 1.jpg (109.12 KiB) Viewed 3557 times

[Rick Throckmorton]

Thanks for posting these, Pat. I asked that these be posted because this just isn't an example of a common Civil War period carbine thimble, but one reissued during the Indian Wars period. Notice the "D.C.L.", inspector's stamp. D.C. Leonard was a civilian worker in the harness shop at Rock Island Arsenal in the late 1870s and 1880s. This very stamp is found on some samples of the the M1874 McClellans, M1884 Carbine Boots, M1887 Carbine Boots, as well as belts, etc. I checked this particular stamp against some of the items in my collection. It is the same, down to the slight backwards slant and size. This particular carbine thimble is an example Army Ordnance being thrifty, and drawing useful items from the immense amount of Civil War manufactured surplus still warehoused. Since the warehoused items were becoming aged and were from a period where there was known "shoddy" workmanship by some suppliers, the items pulled from the warehouses, were closely inspected and marked before reissue. This particular thimble has some "memory" shaping the leather attachment billet, showing that it had been mounted on a quarter strap for some time, as well as being a little ovaled from the weight of the a carbine bearing on it.

I also find it interesting that given the piece had Leonard's stamp on it would indicate fairly late issue and use of a carbine thimble, again 1870s and 1880s. Then on the other hand, the Army was experimenting with the M1879 Hartman Thimble, with the gap in it to allow a carbine to disengage if a fall happened, to prevent serious injury to a rider.

I only recently found this thimble, and it dawned upon me as to what it was. I am sure I have seen others out there before.

[Pat Holscher]

Really interesting example Rick, thanks for posting it!

[Pat Holscher]

The use of Civil War materials post Civil War itself is an interesting topic. With so much of it, no wonder use of various items continued. At the same time, at least with some things there was an effort to separate out stuff that fell below peace time standards. I recall reading once an account of two enlisted men who were detailed to go through Spencer carbines, for example, and found that most were not really serviceable under the post war standards. I wonder how much was kept, and how much caste off?

For that matter, I wonder when the last Civil War manufactured item was finally phased out of post war use?