"E pluribus unum" bridle

[ClayB]

At work we are putting up a building for a guy that collects old saddles and tack, chaps, spurs etc. Someone called him and wanted him to look at a bridle they had. He hasn't seen it yet, but they said the cheek pieces on the bridle have brass plates on them with the saying E Plurbus Unim (sp) on them. The guy was wondering if anyone knew anything about a bridle like that. I figured I'd ask here. I'd appreciate any info anyone might have.

[Don101]

not 100% sure,

but it was used for the millitary motto, cavallry officers had it on there swords, an eagle with a banner with E Pluribus Unim written in it you also find it on the officer silver reathed belt plate same again eagle with a banner above with E Pluribus Unim, so it might be a millitary bridal? as i said not 100% sure but its the only thing that springs to mind right now without seeing a pic,

one other thing it could also have a masonic connection to it as this motto was also used by the masons, and going back in history at that time if you were a mason you were proud to show it and it wasnt a kept secret as of nowdays, lots of presidents or high ranking officers or even well known people like buffalo bill were masons, buffalo bill even had a masonic walking stick to show how proud he was, anyway thats another story and theory but a possable conection, Don

[ClayB]

Thanks Don,

That's was my first thought but I don't know alot about calvary stuff and military history. The area where we are working has a lot of history to it. It is on the trail that Custer used on his way to the Little Bighorn battle. It is also the trail used by messengers carrying mail from Fort Lincoln (near present day Mandan, ND) to fort Keogh (near present day Miles City, MT). It is also near one of the ranches that Theodore Roosevelt had here in ND before he went back east and got into politics. The guy we are working for said back when he was a kid, someone found a jeweled handle off a Spanish sword and a metal breast plate in that area. When we finish up the building, he is going to use it to store his collection of over 100 old saddles, 70 pairs of chaps (20 of them are woolies) and pickup loads of bits and spurs, hitched horsehair bridles etc. I cant wait to see the whole collection. So far we have only seen bits and pieces of it that he shows us when we go in for lunch.

[Admin]

"e pluribus unum" is Latin, and means, "from many, one". It is on the Great Seal of the US, as well as a lot of our currency. It will be interesting to know what you find out about the bridle.

Johanna

[Don101]

Clay when the room is finished dont forget to take your camera along and put some pics in your albums, the chaps and saddles and spurs would be great to see, i really am envious as i got to the states once through work and got to go down the east coast to boston which has a lot of history but to get to where you live would be like winning the lottery for me as its so rich in cowboy history , Don

[Johanna]

There has to be some irony here, because me and many other Americans would gladly skip a trip to North Dakota in favor of a German or European tour. I mean, if North Dakota and lots of other places were so great they'd be more crowded, right? People who live on the east coast of the US think of 'out west" as a giant black hole from Illinios to California. We know there are buffalo on Ted Turner's land, The Grand Canyon is in Arizona, and Las Vegas is in Nevada. Past that, not much is known. Having been out west myself, I cannot imagine loading up the family in a wagon and fighting Indians and bad guys to follow the sunset on an endless hostile plain. I am in awe of the hardy can-do American spirits that did. But I still wanna go back to Europe to explore!

Johanna