brass hardware on troopers bit???

[malachi]

I just received my three buckle confederate bridle from Karl Pepper. Karl is a great guy and I ride one of his saddles, so please don't think that this is a critism of his work. Its just that he went with brass horse shoe shaped buckles on a confederate model. Is this O.K.??? I had expected iron hardware. Please advise!
Thankyou in advance,
Greg Tucker

[malachi]

Re: brass hardware on troopers bit???

I had my head firmly lodged up some well known orifice when I titled it troopers bit...I meant headstall. Sorry!
Greg Tucker

[Ken Knopp]

Re: brass hardware on troopers bit???

In short, there is no summary, "one size fits all" answer to this question. The use of buckles and other hardware on CS horse equipment depends entirely upon many factors including time of the war, geographic location, supply issues, transportation issues, import availability, size of the buckles, location on the equipment piece that it was employed, etc., etc.

The South, tried to adhere to the ordnance manual in all of their hardware endeavors as much as possible.....i.e., what was officially called for in the way of iron bar buckles, roller buckles and horse shoe buckles depending upon the equipment piece, etc. The reality was that this was virtually impossible for the South to do.

The following applies only to horse equipment hardware. I make no opinions relative to other CS accoutrements:

In the early war 1861-1862, they purchased as much hardware as possible from civilian harness & saddle shops, and also, let out contracts for hardware to what foundries were up to the task. This usually resulted in a wide variety of brass and iron hardware including cast horse shoe, roller buckles, frame buckles, wire buckles- some well-made and quite fancy and others quite crude. Rollers were made in the eastern Confederacy but were not used exclusively above other types as iron supplies as well as production was limited. Rollers were not used much at all in the west as they did not have the machinery. Buckles were also imported from England in great numbers. Later shortages developed both east and west for a variety of reasons which required a step up of imports. Hardware was also re-used from worn out leather pieces and recycled from captured pieces too. As with anything CS, all of the above is not pervasive just generalities. Nevertheless, when applying CS hardware one should always first look to what was called for in the ordnance manual as a place to “start” then apply the above limitations.

In other words, it would be misleading to say either brass or iron (horse shoe, roller, frame, etc) was dominant on any piece of equipment (in fact, varieties could be found on the same piece!) . However, having said all this certain "generalities" can apply to arsenal-made horse equipments. For example, fancy brass buckles (including sold brass horse shoe, frame, brass foil sheathed, etc. “wherever” they came from) was generally but not always used on officer's bridles while.... simple cast iron or formed horse shoe and (sometimes) rollers were generally used on trooper's bridles. Remember, brass had other more critical employment.

Please understand I am not trying to be the “center of all knowledge” here. These are my opinions and observations. The basis for the above is the CS ordnance correspondence, circular orders as well as my personal long, multi-year study of CS horse equipment and excavated hardware.

I am kind of anal when it comes to hardware. You can have the finest made leather "whatever" but if the hardware is wrong then its just "farb junk". Sadly, what passes for "authentic" hardware today largely is NOT!


Please understand, I am also not being critical of any "makers" here.....If it were me, I would “prefer” an iron horse shoe buckle on a western arsenal-made, CS “trooper’s bridle BUT!!!....brass is not wrong it would just not be as common or, P.E. C. (period, everyday, common) or NUG (normally, usually, generally). For the same bridle in the east, one might prefer a wider variety of buckles including a roller.

Whew! Got kinda long on this answer but with hardware, which in my opinion is “absolutely critical” to making your cavalry impression either good, great or “crap” some “qualifiers” or understandings are always important.

For a more detailed read and explanation on saddle hardware I suggest you read the chapter on "lorinery" in my book and visit my web site for related articles including this one on Antebellum Civilian bridles...

http://confederatesaddles.com/cswp/?p=903

Ken R Knopp

https://www.confederatesaddles.com