Randy Steffen - United States Military Saddles, 1812-1943
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A large part of American history was written from the seat of a military saddle. While the United States Army used horse-mounted fighting men from the very beginning, it was in the nineteenth century - from the decade before the Mexican War through the Indian wars - that the dashing cavalry units captured the American imagination.The horse solders remained part of the army until 1943, when the military converted them to mechanized forces. Even so, West Point did not tear down its stables and abandon its riding-proficiency requirement until 1947. The long retention of the cavalry was due to affection for the memory of the glorious role of the cavalry in American military history.
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Nomenclature of the saddle. The saddle shown is the Model 1847 Grimsely and equipment.
Page iii
United States Military Saddles 18121943
by Randy Steffen
illustrations by Randy Steffen
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS NORMAN
Page iv
Washington, D.C. 12 April 1973
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
The Company of Military Historians, through its Review Board, takes pleasure in sponsoring United States Military Saddles, 1812 1943, by Randy Steffen, as an accurate and useful reference work in American military history.
George S. Pappas President
Review Board
Harold L. Peterson Carter Rila Lee A. Wallace, Jr. Brooke Nihart, Editor in Chief
By Randy Steffen
Horseman's Scrapbook, 3 vols. (Colorado Springs, 195965) Horsemen Through Civilization, All (Colorado Springs, 1967) United States Military Saddles (Norman, 1973) The Horse Soldier, 17761943, 4 vols. (Norman, 197779)
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Steffen, Randy, 1917 United States military saddles, 18121943. I. SaddleryHistory. I. Title. UC667.S76 357'.188 729268 ISBN: 0806110740 ISBN: 0806121025 (pbk.)
Copyright 1973 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division of the University. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the U.S.A.
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Page v
Preface
From the time of Philip II of Macedon, who used cavalry troops in Europe three hundred years before Christ, until they became obsolete in World War II, horse soldiers were pre-eminent in warfare. Many nations have risen to greatness on the strength of their cavalry.
In any era three items have been indispensable to the cavalryman: his horse, his weapon, and his saddle. Without any of the three he was doomed to defeat or death. Millions of words have been written about the horses and weapons of conquest, but very little has appeared in print about the saddlethe equipment that delivered the horse soldier to the battlefield. This book represents a years-long effort to depict in words and illustrations the evolution of the saddle of the American cavalryman, who ranks among the greatest of the horse soldiers of history.
The saddles described and pictured in the following pages bore American cavalrymen in countries all over the worldin Europe, in the Orient, in Latin Americaeverywhere the United States displayed its military might. Horse soldiers crossed the Ro Grande in the Mexican War, fought one another dur-
Page vi
ing the tragic, bloody years of the Civil War, charged up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War, defended American interests in China during the Boxer Rebellion, galloped across the hilly deserts of northern Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa, and charged across the muddy fields of France in World War I. They were an indispensable arm of American might until World War II, when the cavalry was converted to armor and the creak of saddle leather was replaced by the clank and roar of tanks and the odor of horse sweat was replaced by the stench of gasoline and oil.
Of all the achievements of the United States Cavalry, perhaps the most notable took place when its men, mounted upon sturdy horses, equipped with McClellan saddles and deadly carbines, surged across the western frontier and, in subjugating the Indians, assured the fulfillment of the American dream of manifest destinya country extending from coast to coast, a new power among nations.
History records comparatively little cavalry action in America's first wars, the Revolution and the War of 1812. Though the first official saddles were commissioned in 1792, mounted American troops played but a small role in those days. Mounted forces were then largely volunteers, civilians lacking government support or equipment. It is possible that military saddles were designed and contracted for at that time, but in more than ten years of intensive research I have been unable to discover any information about them or, indeed, concrete evidence of their existence.
After the War of 1812, the United States Congress became aware of the importance of mounted forces and began contracting for horse equipment. It is
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those contracts, patents issued to servicemen and private saddlers, and other government documents on which this book is based. To the best of my knowledge every saddle issued as standard equipment by the United States Army is described and illustrated in the pages that follow. The saddles, uniforms, and other equipment were drawn from actual specimens in my own and other private and public collections or from descriptions in official records in the National Archives and War Department records. The sources of my research are indicated in the text or in the legends accompanying the illustrations.
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