"Fairweather Christian" Gun Belt /Cartridge Belt

[Boothill Bob]

BEUTIFUL rig CC

[TN Mongo]

Chaa,

Look at David Carrico's website.  He does "spot on" period military reproductions.  He has an example of the belt you asked about.

www.carricoleather.com

[Dr. Bob]

Chaa,

David Carrico is great to work with.  He has made me two 1870's Army holsters that are pictured in Packing Iron and his workmanship is TOP NOTCH!!  They are on page 23 & 26.

[Chaa Duu Ba Its Iidan]

Mongo...Dr. Bob!
Hey! I went over to David Carrico's website, where I've visited before, by the way.  But, I guess I missed these items in my past visits.

I am impressed and I am thinking of odering one or two of his things.
Thanks.....

[Kid Terico]

CC great looking rig. KT

[Chaa Duu Ba Its Iidan]

Just an update regarding the origin of the term, "Fair Weather Christian" or Fairweather Christian" (depending on how the original term was spelled), as it relates to the early cartridge or gun belts..

From what I read, this topic of the origin of the term for the cartridge belt or gunbelt has been around the block a few times.  I guess my reason for wanting to know is that I like historical sleuthing and just knowing origins of sayings and doings actually pieces together answers to questions that may arise later, regarding some other topics.  It's just a lot of fun.

In the end, as I think others have stated, it appears that no one theory of the origin of the term can be called exactly or even probably correct.  From my own readings here, in a few books and other sources on the web I agree that there is not a definitive answer.

However, one guy on the forums here came up with a new theory I haven't heard anywhere else and all things considered, it probably should be considered as a competitive theory.  The poster's name is "Two Flints" and for the life of me I cannot think now of where I found his post.............strange.  Anyway, here is what Two Flints had to say:

I'm gonna give this a try and it is my own interpretation as to how the expression "fair weather Christian" belts came to be used.  I apologize up front, if my ideas are too far fetched to be accepted and you have my permission to take me to the nearest hanging tree.

The photo below shows a design by quartermaster Christian S. Storms of New York N.Y.; his cartridge box/case was used by the military during the Civil War. It's called the Christian S. Storms cartridge box.

< photo not available >

But, soldiers may have discovered that creating a belt with loops or thimbles made carrying their ammo more convenient.  And just maybe as a "play on words" they called these new loop or thimble style belts (shown below) fair weather Christian belts as a pun to the previously used Christian S. Storms cartridge box.  (Get it???  Storms vs fair weather!!!!)

[Octagonal Barrel]

While poking around the internet on other quesitons, I first ran across a long quote from a book called, US Infantry in the Indian Wars, 1865-91, by Ron Field (Osprey Press).  I then ran across this old thread next.

According to Field (p.41), toward the end of the 1860's, frontier infantrymen made improvised cartridge belts, and it was these belts that were referred to as "scouting" or "fair weather Christian" belts.  (Field does not call them "Fariweather-Christian.")  Field quotes an anonymous soldier (The Army and Navy Journal, Nov. 6, 1869) who called himself a "Plainsman since '66."  In that quote, the soldier says there were infantrymen assigned to temporary mounted duty who had to buy their own modern breech-loaders - Henrys and Spencers - because the government wasn't issuing them yet.  These infantrymen "make for themselves a belt, taking for a pattern that in use by the mountaineers or hunters in their midst.  The men of entire regiments provided themselves with these belts when the new guns and ammunition were issued to them; and they made use of them when on escort duty, changing station, etc..."  The infantryman goes on to say the improvised belts replaced the cumbersome issue cartridge box, and that this was practiced by regiments in the Powder River area from 1866 to 1869.  Note that escort duty and station changes are singled out, and ammo storage is not.

Field goes on to quote Lt. Anson Mills (My Story), who claimed that while stationed at Ft. Bridger in 1866, he assigned mounted guards to protect the Overland Mail.  The guards found the new metal cartridges made too much noise inside the issue cartridge boxes (which had tin liners, I believe).  "So I devised a belt which the post saddler manufactured out of leather, with a loop for each of the 50 cartridges.  The men wore these belts around their waists, and they proved much more comfortable and efficient than any other method of carrying cartridges."  Mills was subsequently awarded a patent for the belt in August of 1867 (Field, p.41).  Note that comfort and efficiency are praised and escort duty is singled out, but no mention is made of recommending them for ammo storage.

To an extent, Mills' account and that of the "Plainsman" dovetail.  The Plainsman does suggest that the cartridge belt was a civilian invention that went hand in hand with the fact that the civilians got Henrys and Spencers before the military adopted them.  Mills mentions why he didn't like the issue cartridge box, but (as a patent holder) simply doesn't mention whether he happened to get the idea of a cartridge belt from mountain men or hunters who were scouting for the army at the time.  Maybe he did.  Maybe he didn't.  At least Mills has a documented patent grant to support his story.

In any case, the information Field presents in his Osprey book doesn't seem to support the idea that the cartridge belt was introduced to the Army by either a Mr. Fairweather or a Mr. Christian.  The info does make the origin of the name "scouting" belt clear, since the belt was seen on "mountaineers and hunters who were in their midst," such men being commonly employed as scouts.  Also, the belt was associated with escort duty and troop movement.  But it leaves a tantalizing void on the name "fair weather Christian." 

The only thing I think I can be sure of is that as a description, "fair weather Christian" has emotionally negative connotations.  My question is what the connotations could have been aimed at:

1) men (possibly the mountain men and hunters who may have first used the belt, and who could have been perceived as less "Christian" in the eyes of some – even Jed Smith, who was a truly pious man, feared being in the mountains too long made him less Christian, and wrote as much in his journal),

2) an object (like the belt itself – which caused verdigris on the cartridge cases – you couldn't store ammo in it all the time, so it couldn't be kept ready to go all the time, likely the reason it was singled out for escort duty and not mentioned for ammo storage – maybe the belt itself was the "fair weather Christian"), or

3) a circumstance (like when the belt was deemed best for use – escorting into dangerous territory that turned you into a fair weather Christian - when you found it more helpful to shoot someone and reload than to pray, forbear, and forgive).

I dunno.  Language can be a pretty funny thing, it's use isn't always straightforward.  I do think "fair weather" is likely descriptive, not a name.  And the description may not have anything to do with Jesus.  I think the meaning may have been more emotional content and less on the denotative level.

[Trailrider]

The term "prairie belt" and "mountain belt" was also applied to cartridge belts. Anson Mills not only was granted a patent for the belt, but also invented a machine to weave fabric belts with the loops integral with the belt body. His brother-in-law ran the factory for him, and Mills belts were adopted by the Army and by other countries well into the 20th Century.

The use of leather belts and loops was a temporary thing. As was stated, the leather caused vertigris to form on the cartridges, which contributed to jammed Trapdoor Springfield rifles and carbines. The Army shortly began fabrication and issued canvas belts, which took care of the problem.