Saddle Blanket

[hta1970]

I have been looking through the compiled military service records of the CS. There have been a number of sales to officers of one item in particular around the summer of 1863 as I recall. This cost $10 and was really hard to determine what was being written becasue the receipts were all filled out by the same military store keeper in Richmond and I couldn't make out all the letters. Finally from another depot I found "saddle blanket (nammah)." This would now make sense with what I saw the other military store keeper selling.

Again, these were being sold to officers for $10 out of the Richmond Arsenal and as I am researching artillery and medical, I have found sales to both groups of officers.

Any thoughts or information as to what this item is exactly?

Thanks!

[Hank Trent]

Re: Saddle Blanket

"saddle blanket (nammah)."

Well, I'd guess the mystery word is numnah. But no idea on its exact appearance.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Marylander in Grey]

Re: Saddle Blanket

numnah




num·nah [ núm n ]


noun

Definition:

pad for saddle: a pad placed under a saddle


[Mid-19th century. Alteration of Urdu namdā< Persian namad "felt, carpet"]

[hta1970]

Re: Saddle Blanket

Chris and Hank,

Thanks so much! Looks like you caught a spelling error but we were all headed in the same direction.

Does anyone know what the composition or appearance of such items were?

YOS,

[Marylander in Grey]

Re: Saddle Blanket

Harry,
From what I found is they were either felted wool ie: boiled roving pressed layer upon layer or of sheep skin. Either way they are cut to the shape of the saddle and fasten to the saddle with straps.
Used as extra padding between the saddle and the blanket, or pad.
Thier purpose is to help prevent "Fistula in the Withers" caused by ill fitting saddles.
This is an abscess which if left untreated becomes a fistula.
I have a book on animal husbandry, ( The American Eclectic Practice of Medicine as applied to the Diseases of Domestic Animals) that was printed in 1861. It covers mostly horses, although there are other animals in also.
It is fastenating as it give the disease, the symptom, the cause, and the cure. Both through Materia medici and others.
I think you would find it as facinating as I have,

[Ken Knopp]

Re: Saddle Blanket

Gents,

The numnah was a very common British military saddle blanket imported in some numbers to the Confederacy for sale to officers. The following is a excerpt from my book CONFEDERATE SADDLES & HORSE EQUIPMENT which describes them.............


"Numnahs: The numnah was Russian in origin but was adopted by the British Army from India. (Fig. 6) Period (1850's-60's) British military numnahs were made of thick woolen or felt, cut to fit from the shoulder to the hips of the horse and meant to be worn under the saddle. It weighed 5 lb, 6 oz. 25. Several thousand of these were imported in "bales" by the Ordnance Bureau beginning early in the War through 1864. 26. Numnahs were sold with each set of officer’s equipment and replacements could be purchased, generally for $25 each. 27. British numnahs and blankets may have been occasionally issued to the enlisted trooper when supplies permitted."

Anyway, for some additional information the following is an excerpt from an early post on this forum about this subject...........


“..........One thing I should point out, however. It seems some people believe that this item could be used for a Confederate "trooper" impression. This would be incorrect. Through most of the war, the numnah was an import item ““purchased”” from the arsenals by officers ““of means”” (normally field grade officers of all branches, Lieutenant and up or, staff officers, surgeons, etc.,). From what I can tell, it was not normally issued to privates until the very last weeks of the war when the arsenals were apparently purging their stores. Therefore, in most scenarios it would not be appropriate for you to have a numnah in the field unless you are an officer as noted above.”


For clarity, I'd also like to add that from what I can learn the common Crimean war numnah (and those likely sent to the South) were made in the shape of a typical saddle pad but with leather trim around the edges and a cut-away area at the withers. They were generally about 1/4 to 1/2 inches in thickness and appear to have a leather "safe" area where the girth/cinch would be located when under saddle. Later period British numnahs were "attached" to the fans (bars) of the British saddles and not a seperate item as I describe above.

A couple of years ago I was attempting to have these war time era numnahs reproduced but ran into difficulties finding a good quality reproduction of the correct wool felt material and someone to make them. Finally, after alot of research and effort I was able to discern what I believe was the proper appearance and dimensions (noted above) and had one made but it did not suit me very well. Since then, I became distracted and dropped the effort (sorry).


Hope this helps!

Ken R Knopp

https://www.confederatesaddles.com