This leather bucket is marked “Young America 1.” “Young America” was a name commonly used by fire companies. For example, Philadelphia and Salem both had engines named “Young America,” while there was a Young America Fire Company in Sacramento and a Young American Engine Company in San Francisco. Such names allowed volunteer firemen to present themselves as heartily patriotic. This bucket may have been painted red to further emphasize this theme. Fire companies envisioned themselves as “embodiments of the body politic,” and this was especially evident in their language of naming and in the decoration of their equipment.