CANTLE OF A GRIMSLEY PATTERN ARTILLERY DRIVER’S SADDLE FROM CITY POINT

$395.00

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 2022-467

Shipping: Determined by Method & Location of buyer

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Located at the confluence of the Appomattox and James Rivers, City Point was the site of Grant’s headquarters in the Petersburg campaign and also a massive supply depot and transportation hub with wharves, warehouses, etc.  It is little wonder that Confederate agents tried to blow it up. In the course of its operation tons of equipment was lost in the waters, damaged, or simply abandoned. This is part of an artillery driver’s saddle recovered in the area, consisting of the cantle, the high, rear portion of the seat, lacking its brass frame but with its front-facing slotted brass shield bearing a raised “US” still in place and the rear-facing guard plate and iron foot staple, along with pieces of its wood interior and leather covering.

Based on the comfortable Spanish saddles used in the American southwest, Grimsley improved upon earlier adaptations by better shaping of the tree, but most by using wet rawhide sewn over and allowed to shrink around the tree to hold it tightly together rather than heavy iron brackets. In the cavalry his saddles gave way to the 1859 McClellan, but the artillery used them from the mid-1850s through the Civil War. This is the driver’s version, seating the rider on the left horse of each pair drawing the guns and limbers or the caissons, with a smaller version on the right hand horse designed to carry a valise carrying the driver’s personal items.

With the US embossed shield this makes an interesting small display, both as an artillery relic and, from the find location, a reminder of the vast logistical effort necessary to prosecute the war.  [sr]  [ph:m]

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