Help Identifying Old Saddle?

[hbsherwood]

Hello, folks!

I was hoping you'd be able to help me out.

I was rooting around in an abandoned farmhouse in Neersville, Va., and I found a rather dilapidated saddle and salvaged it -- with the caretaker's permission, of course. This area saw heavy Civil War action during both the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns (it's a few miles south of Harpers Ferry), and it's rich with artifacts from that era.

I'm not trying to influence anybody's assessment; it would just be very cool if it was from that time. My intention is to donate it to a local museum. (In fact, by the time you read this, it'll already have been donated. I just would like to tell the museum staff what it is.)

I've examined it with an inexpert eye, and found no markings that would indicate a military saddle. No maker's mark that I could see. Small embossing marks. The horn was repaired at one point with what looks like a modern shoestring that hasn't rotted away, so must have been in use in living memory. The farm was abandoned after a fire destroyed the main house in the early 1980s.

Here it is:

Side view 1:

Side view 2:

Top view:

Underneath:

Front view:

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Harrison

[Yonatan]

Beautiful and great find, Harrison. Thanks very much for posting it.

My first guess is that it's a Confederate "Texas Saddle", in use by

rebel forces west of the Mississippi. Similar to the Hope saddle.

Most people don't know this, but Southern California broke with

Northern California, and joined the Confederacy. About the time

the war broke out, Los Angeles sent mounted forces to Texas,

where the Los Angeles forces met with their Texan brethren,

and together they rode to Virginia to meet up with General Robert

E. Lee, who made the leader of the Los Angeles mounted forces

a general. So it's not unlikely that some California and Texas saddles

are still hidden in some old barns over there in Virginia.

I'll be very interested to see what others have to say about this

fine old rig. I could be wrong about my guess. I'm posting this without

reviewing any history books or saddle references.

JD

[Yonatan]

www.confederatesaddles.com

Examples of Confederate "Texas Saddles":

Below, Texas saddle found at the site of the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky:

General Johnston's Texas saddle:

General John Hunt Morgan's Texas Saddle, Kentucky Confederate Cavalry