Saddle up! At Brown's Mill event in Georgia, three styles used during the Civil War

Over the seven years I’ve authored this blog, I’ve rarely delved very deep into the topics of military gear and weapons. (I don’t have the expertise, but sometimes I’ve spoken with experts.)

I traveled this past weekend to Newnan, Ga., for the 152^nd anniversary of the Battle of Brown’s Mill. Because it was largely a cavalry battle, the Friends group concentrated on “The Campaigner: Re-enacting the Life and Times of the Civil War Trooper.”

I spoke with a few participants who brought horses, mules and a 12-pound mountain howitzer and caisson. Those who are really serious about re-enacting turn to craftsmen and women for authentic reproductions of saddles and related gear.

Saturday’s re-enactors described some of their saddles, and I did some subsequent online research. Here’s what I came up with. My summaries barely scratch the surface. 

Grimsley saddle

Grimsley artillery driver's saddle on McClellan tree

Thornton Grimsley of St. Louis created a saddle that was adopted in 1847 for dragoons, mounted riflemen and officers and it remained popular for two decades. “The Grimsley was a vast improvement over the Ringgold saddle, which gave poor service in the war with Mexico,” according to Border States Leatherworks. “The Grimsley tree was covered in rawhide and the seat was stuffed with deer hair under the quilted seat.” A smaller version of the Grimsley was made for U.S. artillery service during the Civil War. Gens. Ulysses Grant and William T. Sherman rode on Grimsley saddles. The Society of the Military Horse says: “The Grimsley is known to have been an excellent and expensive saddle. Its construction shows a product that used a substantial amount of leather and brass fixtures (increasing its weight and cost).”

Hope (or Texas) saddle

One of Scott Wortham's horses

According to Glenn Pier Depot, a tack shop, the Texas-style saddle was used extensively by Southern troopers. “It was manufactured by the thousands by arsenals and civilian contractors." The Society of the Military Horse says this of the Hope saddle (named for James Hope): “This is a very specific name, associated with a particular Texas saddle maker, however the name Hope is merely one of a number of names that have been used for this style. It was much more commonly called a ‘Texas’ saddle, occasionally modified to ‘Texican.’ This Texas saddle was extremely popular and prized for its very light, strong yet inherently compromised construction. The pommel was usually made in two halves, with a wooden horn nailed to the top – covered with rawhide in the fashion of many American saddles coming from the Spanish/Mexican tradition.”

McClellan saddle

Bob McLendon of Phillips' Legion

The U.S. Army in 1859 adopted a saddle designed by George B. McClellan after a tour of Europe. It was the most popular saddle used by Union troopers. It was affordable, lightweight and sturdy and gradually eclipsed the Grimsley. “Used throughout the world, the McClellan is one of the most popular and enduring military saddle designs ever created,” says the society.” Glenn Pier Depot said the saddle was more comfortable for less-robust horses. It was used by both sides during the Civil War, and many Rebel troopers opted to use it rather than the heavier Jenifer saddle. The McClellan supported a rawhide-covered open seat and a thick leather skirt. Some argue whether it was based on a European style or a Spanish tree saddle design. Either way, it proved to be very serviceable. It has been modified since the Civil War and the Army still uses it for ceremonial purposes.

• Related: Veterinary care during the Civil War

Monocacy to display 'Lee's Lost Order'

Monocacy National Battlefield near Frederick, Md., will display Special Order 191, popularly known as "Lee's Lost Order," which gave a vital bit of intelligence to Union forces -- Confederate commander Robert E. Lee had divided his forces.

The copy of the order made for Confederate Maj. Gen. Daniel Hill, on loan from the Library of Congress, will be display at the battlefield visitor center from Aug. 1-Oct. 31.

The hill on the Best farm where the lost order was discovered was a key Confederate artillery position in the 1864 Battle of Monocacy.

Lee issued the order September 9, 1862, during the Maryland Campaign. It outlined his plans for the Army of Northern Virginia during the campaign and divided the army into four sections to secure garrisons and supplies, and capture Federals at Martinsburg, Harpers Ferry, and Boonsboro, while Lee went to Hagerstown.

According to the National Park Service, copies of the orders were written for each of Lee's commanders. One of the orders, written for Hill, was lost. Hill had already received his orders from Major General Thomas Jackson, (his immediate superior until the next day when he would have his own command), thus did not realize another order had been sent to him from Lee's camp. In fact that order was lost. How it was lost remains a mystery.

On Sept. 13, 1862, members of Company F, 27th Indiana Volunteer Infantry discovered the orders in an envelope with two cigars.

Here is the LOC's summary of the order's significance.

"Following his tactical success in the Battle of Second Manassas (Second Bull Run, August 28–30, 1862), Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia into western Maryland to secure supplies and recruits -- and in the vain hope of winning its people to the Confederate cause. His Special Order No. 191, popularly known as “Lee’s Lost Order,” was discovered by Union troops at an abandoned Confederate campsite near Frederick and turned over to McClellan. Armed with the knowledge that Lee had divided his forces, McClellan realized he could destroy Lee’s army piece by piece. However, once again McClellan’s overly cautious nature proved his undoing, giving Lee enough time to reconcentrate his forces."

While McClellan subsequently stopped Lee at Antietam, many historians contend he failed to fully utilize intelligence gleaned from the lost order.

• Panel discussion on order set for Aug. 4

Summer of '62: Impact of Seven Days Battles

Over seven days -- June 26, 1862 through July 1, 1862 -- Confederates under Robert E. Lee engaged in a series of six fierce clashes with Federals bent on taking Richmond, Va.

Historians sometimes argue that Gen. George B. McClellan didn't seem too bent on the taking the Southern capital -- given his caution and tendency to inflate enemy numbers. But on this occasion, he and Lee did fight, with significant consequences.

Writing this month in the Weekly Standard magazine, Geoffrey Norman details Lee's swing to the offensive outside Richmond.

The culmination of the Union's Peninsula Campaign, however, appeared to be inconclusive. Some 36,000 casualties later, McClellan left the field despite his subordinates urging him to press the attack after repelling Southern forces at Malvern Hill (above).

"The Seven Days is, in this regard, analogous to the Battle of the Marne in the First World War: Confused, inconclusive, and a tragically missed opportunity for both sides, after which the war would not merely go on, but take over and become a force beyond human control," writes Norman, spending much of his article taking McClellan to task for his hubris.

The Seven Days Battles is the subject of an upcoming lecture by Civil War historian and author Gary W. Gallagher (right).

The July 11 program in Richmond, co-sponsored by the National Park Service and the Virginia Historical Society, is entitled, "More Important Than Gettysburg: The Seven Days' Campaign as a Turning Point."

Gallagher, editor of "The Richmond Campaign of 1862: The Peninsula and the Seven Days" (2000), will discuss ramifications of McClellan's failure to take Richmond and where the armies went next as a result.

The Civil War Trust's summary of Seven Days says Lee's strategic victory would mean three more bloody years of war.

And Thomas Donnelly, also writing in the Weekly Standard, says between the conclusion of Seven Days and Gettysburg, "the course of the war, the fate of the American continent, and the prospects for human liberty hung by a thread."

Malvern Hill illustration, courtesy of Library of Congress. Gallagher's lecture is set for 5:30 p.m.- 7 p.m. July 11 at the Virginia Historical Society, 428 N. Boulevard, Richmond, Va. For more informaton: RICH_Interpretation@nps.gov or call 804-226-1981.

McClellan: A legend in his own mind

George B. McClellan, once one of the most celebrated Union generals of the Civil War era, is a mere footnote in the American consciousness today. But McClellan's story of an unraveling career and reputation, as told by North Texas historian and author John C. "Jack" Waugh, is one that's impossible to forget, according to a review. • Article