Thornton Grimsley was born on the 20th of August 1798 in Bourbon County, Kentucky where his father had recently immigrated to with his large family. Both his parents died before 1807, leaving a helpless family of eight children. After a short time he was apprenticed in 1808 to the saddlery business of John Jacoby, in…
One of the distinctive characteristics of a civil war McClellan saddle are the four saddle rings, ‘holdin down the corners’. On reading the Ordnance Manual of 1861 and it’s description for how these were to be installed, it was a little bit confusing. The rings were to be installed with iron staples driven through the…
In 1859, the McClellan model cavalry saddle specifications were extensively revised from the previously tested Pattern of 1857 McClellan (commonly referred to as the Trial Saddle). One of these alterations was the substitution of the hardware used for the bridle, saddlebags, carbine loop and coat straps with that made of ‘blued malleable iron’. Many collectors…
Anyone that has worked with a number of surplus war contract M1904 McClellans will likely have run across this variation in the brass mortice plates, also known by the manufacturers name as ‘saddle ovals’. In general, nearly all McClellans used the smaller, slightly elongated form. Occasionally, you’ll find a mortice plate that is rounder shape,…
A J.M. Hays Wood Products Co. makers label, commonly found on their WW1 McClellan contract saddletrees. This is about 1″ tall and complete is about 4″ long. This was applied on the paint applied to the tree, before the rawhide cover was sewn on. As you can see with this particular example, the paper label…
By Lieut. Colonel Edgar M. Whiting, Cavalry The horse equipment of the cavalry trooper has been improved in a number of ways during the past twenty-five years, but its improvement has not kept pace with the improvement of weapons and other articles of equipment. Although a better saddle than the McClellan might be devised,…
