A "Crack Team" of Mules.

Robert Gray

Sergeant Major
Joined
Jul 24, 2012
The "crack team" of the 1st Division, 6th Army Corps near Hazel River, Va., March, 1864.
Photograph by Timothy O'Sullivan

There is not much additional information about this photograph. One source indicates the officer standing by the wagon may be Captain S.H. Menning. By "crack team" we can assume the mules were either very fast or very efficient. A note on the image (B-407) in the National Archives refers to it as an "ambulance." So...this is all we have to go on. Any suggestions?

Negative: National Archives (NARA - 524827)
Prints in:
Metropolitan Museum of Art (33.65.245)
The Medford Historical Society & Museum (MHS1948-01-0692a)
Library of Congress (33600-33650v)

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The "crack team" of the 1st Division, 6th Army Corps near Hazel River, Va., March, 1864.
Photograph by Timothy O'Sullivan

There is not much additional information about this photograph. One source indicates the officer standing by the wagon may be Captain S.H. Menning. By "crack team" we can assume the horses were either very fast or very efficient. A note on the image (B-407) in the National Archives refers to it as an "ambulance." So...this is all we have to go on. Any suggestions?
Those are awfully long looking ears and small hooves. Are we sure they aren't mules? (My old eyes?)
 
Not an ambulance. That's a standard "Six-Muler" army supply wagon, design adopted in 1858. Perhaps whoever made the note was misled by the "X" painted on the wagon cover, thinking it a 'tilted' red cross. The 6th Corps badge was also a vertical cross ("+"), not a saltire as in the photo. So, I suppose it might not be 6th Corps, either. You do frequently find rather dodgy notes on these LoC photos.
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Not an ambulance. That's a standard "Six-Muler" army supply wagon, design adopted in 1858. Perhaps whoever made the note was misled by the "X" painted on the wagon cover, thinking it a 'tilted' red cross. The 6th Corps badge was also a vertical cross ("+"), not a saltire as in the photo. So, I suppose it might not be 6th Corps, either. You do frequently find rather dodgy notes on these LoC photos.
I think they had the photograph in mind when they created this illustration.

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That looks like a stone chimney on the side of the tent in the background, interesting. And a barrel on top, for showers??
The stone chimney is rather nicely made, so I suspect the tent was erected on the site of a previous building which had been torn down. As to the barrel in the distance, soldiers in winter quarters often used barrels as chimneys on their homemade fireplaces. The inside of the barrels were often coated with mud to prevent fires, but such fires were common.
 
Suppose I have two large photos, and show them to you one at a time. The first is the Budweiser beer wagon, bright paint, brass trim, Percheron draft horses all brushed out and showy, and then I show your the second photo, this photo of six mules hitched to a commonplace Army supply wagon, and I comment that this mule hitch is the "crack team" of this unit.

I also suggest that perhaps the "X" is not actually the wagon, but a mark placed on the photo to mark the spot where that named person is - note the pencil on the back of the photo shows an "X Capt. S H Manning"

Maybe not.

but I do think the "crack team" remark is meant to poke fun at these commonplace mules; mules don't get credit for their many good qualities.
 
Suppose I have two large photos, and show them to you one at a time. The first is the Budweiser beer wagon, bright paint, brass trim, Percheron draft horses all brushed out and showy, and then I show your the second photo, this photo of six mules hitched to a commonplace Army supply wagon, and I comment that this mule hitch is the "crack team" of this unit.

I also suggest that perhaps the "X" is not actually the wagon, but a mark placed on the photo to mark the spot where that named person is - note the pencil on the back of the photo shows an "X Capt. S H Manning"

Maybe not.

but I do think the "crack team" remark is meant to poke fun at these commonplace mules; mules don't get credit for their many good qualities.
Agree on both counts.
Nice pickup on the X.
And yeah no show/trailer divas in that pic. Just hard workers.
 
Suppose I have two large photos, and show them to you one at a time. The first is the Budweiser beer wagon, bright paint, brass trim, Percheron draft horses all brushed out and showy, and then I show your the second photo, this photo of six mules hitched to a commonplace Army supply wagon, and I comment that this mule hitch is the "crack team" of this unit.

I also suggest that perhaps the "X" is not actually the wagon, but a mark placed on the photo to mark the spot where that named person is - note the pencil on the back of the photo shows an "X Capt. S H Manning"

Maybe not.

but I do think the "crack team" remark is meant to poke fun at these commonplace mules; mules don't get credit for their many good qualities.
I'm going out on a limb here to defend these mules. I think you are making this judgement based on today's biases. In ancient times kings and popes rode them, especially white mules. They are superior to horses in a number of ways - strength, durability, and intelligence are a few. The Calvary on both sides switched to mules on occasion and there was no shame or embarrassment in that. Mules were more dependable.
These mules look to me like they are very well groomed - see how their tails are tied? Their heads are up and they look bright, alert, and eager.
This looks to me like a civil war version of Federal Express, "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight ." Hence they are indeed a Crack Team. Mules are what you use when horses can't do it.
 
I also agree that the title "crack team" was a compliment. If anybody would know a crack team, Quartermaster Manning would. There is even the possibility that some sort of contest was held in the 6th Corps among the team drivers for the honor of being proclaimed crack team.
 
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