"Borrowed" Horse Leads Meade Astray From Gettysburg Front

Bonny Blue Flag

1st Lieutenant
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Location
Grand Prairie, Texas
An interesting incident at Gettysburg concerning General Meade and a
‘borrowed’ horse:

On the afternoon of July 2, 1863, General Meade reacting to a report that indicated General Sickles’ III Corps, assigned to a position on the left flank of the Army of the Potomac along Cemetery Ridge onto Little Round Top, was out of position, caused Meade to call for his trusted war horse ‘Old Baldy’ to be brought to him, so that he could ride out to the area of contention, and view the lines for himself.

Old Baldy was, however, not ready for immediate use, at which knowledge, General Pleasonton, the Cavalry commander, then serving at Meade’s HQ offered his own horse to Meade to use, since he was saddled and waiting. This horse is reported to be named ‘Bill’.

General Meade mounted ‘Bill’ quickly and proceeded to ride out to the new line of Sickles’ Corps to meet the III Corps commander and iron out any expected difficulties. The following episode was observed by a staff officer of Sickles: Major Henry Tremain, who wrote of the incident in his memoirs in 1905:

“Suddenly, a little to the north of where we (Sickles and staff) were standing (thought to be near the Peach Orchard), a small body of horsemen appeared to my surprise on our open field … and at a place of all others most tempting to the enemy’s guns…Rapidly approaching us the group proved to be General Meade and a portion of his staff. General Sickles rode towards them, and I followed closely, necessarily hearing the brief, because interrupted, colloquy that ensued.

General Sickles saluted with a polite observation. General Meade said: ‘General Sickles, I am afraid you are too far out.’ General Sickles responded: ‘I will withdraw if you wish, sir.’ General Meade replied: ‘I think it is too late. The enemy will not allow you. If you need more artillery, call on the artillery reserve.’

“Bang”! a single gun sounded.

‘The V Corps and a division of Hancock will support you.’ His last sentence was caught with difficulty. It was interrupted. It came out in jerks, in sections; between the acts, to speak literally. The conference was not concluded. No more at the moment was possible to be heard.

The conversation could not be continued. Neither the noise nor any destruction had arrested it. Attracted by the group, it was a shot at them from a battery…The great ball went high and harmlessly struck the ground beyond. But the whizzing missile had frightened the charger of General Meade into an uncontrollable frenzy. He reared, he plunged. He could not be quieted. Nothing was possible to be done with such a beast except to let him; and run he would, and run he did.

The staff straggled after him; and so General Meade, against his own will, as I then believed and afterwards ascertained to be the fact, was apparently ingloriously and involuntarily carried from the front at the formal opening of the furious engagement of
July 2, 1863.

In relating this incident to General Pleasonton, the cavalry corps commander then tarrying at Head-quarters, he told me that there was a simple explanation of the horse feature of this affair.

General Meade has sent for his own horse and was impatient at the delay in bringing it to him. He had ordered it instantly. Pleasonton, who was standing near, said: ‘Take my
horse, General. He is right here.’ With minds preoccupied in battle neither general stopped to “talk horse”. General Pleasonton never thought to caution General Meade not to use his curb rein.

The men of the old regular army habitually used the curb. This was General Meade’s habit. This animal was bridled with a peculiar curb, which, as Pleasonton narrates, he seldom, if ever, used on this horse, reining him only by the snaffle. So it was probable that at his initial fright from the passing missile this horse suddenly felt an involuntary twitch of the curb (he was not accustomed to feel a curb bit) as the rider (Meade) may have carelessly seized his rein, and so the spirited animal made off with him.

There was no particular harm done by or to anybody in the whole affair, as far as I ever learned. But, it has always remained with me as a regretful thought that fifteen minutes longer of the presence that afternoon of the army commander near the lines, and upon the topography, which concerned the operations of the III Corps, might have made a great difference in the performances that day.”

Snaffle bit
800px-DeeRing.jpg



Horse with snaffle bit
Hunt_bridle_head.jpg



Union Cavalry Curb Bit
Expired Image Removed


Horse with Curb Bit
Expired Image Removed

Who would have thought that a simple matter of Horse Tack would have created this kind of frustrating event!

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Sources:
-Horse Tack/Equestrian Supplies & Equipment
www.horsetackinternational.com

-Wikipedia, Snaffle Bit

-"Images of photo of curb bit and bridle", page 12

-Wikipedia, Old Baldy (horse)

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--BBF
 
There's something fishy about this...why would Pleasanton have the curb on him in the first place if he's standing right there ready to go--if he never used it? Sounds like a government coverup!

But the idea of the "Old Goggle-Eyed Snapping Turtle" being run off with is pretty darned amusing. :smile:

Great post, Ma'am!
 
There's something fishy about this...why would Pleasanton have the curb on him in the first place if he's standing right there ready to go--if he never used it? ......Great post, Ma'am!

I agree, it does not make sense. A horse is only bridled with one bit at at time. If the "curb bit" (it looks like an artillery bit to me in the picture) was in the horse's mouth, then when Meade stopped the horse to talk to Sickles, he would have "reined in" and the horse would have felt the bit at that time and any other time that the horse was told to stop. Curb bits have that loop, Artillery bits have an even higher loop than any other bit, and are extremely painful. The story just makes no sense, that loop sits under the horses tong and the horse feels it *all* of the time as it puts pressure against the *bottom* of the tong with every bump and jiggle, and is used to stop the horse (unless it is trained to respond to commands given by placement and movement of the rider's feet instead of the reins). A horse that is used to a snaffle would likely go nuts as soon as you put an curb bit in its mouth. We acquired a horse that was used to a Hackamore (no bit) and tried once to insert a snaffle bit into its mouth. The horse practically went beserk, so I can not begin to picture how severe a horse would react if it is not used to an curb bit especially if an artillery bit was used. So I agree that the story does not make any sense.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackamore

Here is a picture of an 1850s Dragoon Curb bit, sorry I am having trouble finding a decent picture that clearly shows the loop on a cavalry bit, most of the pictures seem to mislabel artillery bits as cavalry. Please note how small the loop is.
 

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  • 1850s Dragoon Cavalry Bit.jpg
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Pleasonton's explanation has to mean that his horse was fitted with a double bridle - a curb bit, and a bradoon snaffle, each with its own set of reins. Meade must have put too much pressure on the curb. Most horses so sensitive to the curb normally react by throwing their head up; even rearing. This horse sought to run away from the discomfort of the unaccustomed pressure of the curb (and the old goggle eyed snappin' turtle).
double_bridle_illustration_200.jpg
220px-Curb_and_bradoon.jpg
220px-BitAndBradoon22.jpg
 
Funny, I keep hearing my name... "Lies and prevarications! I demand satisfaction!" Sickles DID pay him to say it!
Interesting thread.
 
That's probably what happened to Stonewall Jackson, too much pressure on the curb. He was given an unfamiliar horse just before Antietam - it inexplicably reared and fell on him. (He just laid there for about half an hour - they saw his eyes blink so they knew he was alive!)
 
That's probably what happened to Stonewall Jackson, too much pressure on the curb. He was given an unfamiliar horse just before Antietam - it inexplicably reared and fell on him. (He just laid there for about half an hour - they saw his eyes blink so they knew he was alive!)
Well I can see that with Jackson, riding around with one hand up in the air like he did.
 
That's probably what happened to Stonewall Jackson, too much pressure on the curb. He was given an unfamiliar horse just before Antietam - it inexplicably reared and fell on him. (He just laid there for about half an hour - they saw his eyes blink so they knew he was alive!)
So, the plot thickens!
 
That's probably what happened to Stonewall Jackson, too much pressure on the curb. He was given an unfamiliar horse just before Antietam - it inexplicably reared and fell on him. (He just laid there for about half an hour - they saw his eyes blink so they knew he was alive!)

I heard the same thing about Jackson at a dinner party, however. :smile:
 
There's something fishy about this...why would Pleasanton have the curb on him in the first place if he's standing right there ready to go--if he never used it?
I was just going to post this very thing. Not that it was a coverup, but it sounds like excusifying with regards to a guy who just found himself overmounted and was embarrassed about it.

Then again, Pleasonton would not be the first rider to have excessive and unnecessary hardware hanging on his horse's head.
 
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