Horse Colors

[OParks]

I've heard that cavalry regiments usually had one horse color/type per company. Are there any existing records or common knowledge among CW cavalry buffs about the horses' colors in the Union? Did they have standard designation or did it just depend upon how many total horses they had to divide as to how they were assigned? Hope this makes sense. May seem like a silly question, but I'm doing research and may aspire to write a book at some point.

 

[major bill]

I have seen references to this. Cavalry companies with horses of matching colors would have only lasted a short time. I might be able to find some information about a Michigan Cavalry regiment doing this, but not until the Michigan State Library opens back up. If i recall right when 1000 horses were purchased for the regiment, they attempted to give horses of the same color to each company.

 

[OParks]

It would be interesting to know what you find!

 

[major bill]

I am sure some where in my pile of the notes I took I probably have the newspaper and date of the article.

 

[Tom Elmore]

Evidently some cavalry units made the effort early in the war:

The horses were sorted according to color, the intention being that each unit should have but one color, as near as practicable. Thus, as I remember it, troop "A" had bays; "B" browns; "C" greys; "D" blacks; and so on. This arrangement did not last long. A few months' service sufficed to do away with it and horses thereafter were issued indiscriminately. The effect, however, so long as the distinction could be kept up, was fine. It was a grand sight when the twelve hundred horses were in line, formed for parade or drill in single rank, each troop distinguishable from the others by the color of the horses. (James H. Kidd, Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman with Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade in the Civil War (online), 6th Michigan Cavalry)

But here are two later examples, from July 1863, during the Gettysburg campaign:

John Collins saw his own regiment – I could distinguish the companies by the colors of their horses, and knew the order of the squadrons in the line. The black horses of troop C and light bays of H formed the first squadron, the sorrel horses of E and the dark bays of G formed the next, and so on. The troops changed squadrons often to suit the seniority of the captains, and the squadrons changed positions in the regiment for the same reason, but the combination of companies before me now had been that of the regiment for a week at least. (John Collins, 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. 3)

A soldier described the 1st West Virginia Cavalry at Emmitsburg on July 1 as consisting of "about 600 men, all mounted on the finest black horses, many if not most of the men from Ohio." (William B. Southerton, Papers, 75th Ohio)

 

[James N.]

I've heard that cavalry regiments usually had one horse color/type per company. Are there any existing records or common knowledge among CW cavalry buffs about the horses' colors in the Union? Did they have standard designation or did it just depend upon how many total horses they had to divide as to how they were assigned? Hope this makes sense. May seem like a silly question, but I'm doing research and may aspire to write a book at some point.

As has been explained above, during the war the effort proved impactable. Postwar in peacetime it was more possible and regimental commanders like George Custer did it within their commands. Even at Little Big Horn the Seventh Cavalry's companies were so color--coded: blacks, bays, greys, and so forth. Even the band were mounted on matching light greys.

 

[Poorville]

As has been explained above, during the war the effort proved impactable. Postwar in peacetime it was more possible and regimental commanders like George Custer did it within their commands. Even at Little Big Horn the Seventh Cavalry's companies were so color--coded: blacks, beys, greys, and so forth. Even the band were mounted on matching light greys.

Evidently some cavalry units made the effort early in the war:

The horses were sorted according to color, the intention being that each unit should have but one color, as near as practicable. Thus, as I remember it, troop "A" had bays; "B" browns; "C" greys; "D" blacks; and so on. This arrangement did not last long. A few months' service sufficed to do away with it and horses thereafter were issued indiscriminately. The effect, however, so long as the distinction could be kept up, was fine. It was a grand sight when the twelve hundred horses were in line, formed for parade or drill in single rank, each troop distinguishable from the others by the color of the horses. (James H. Kidd, Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman with Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade in the Civil War (online), 6th Michigan Cavalry)

But here are two later examples, from July 1863, during the Gettysburg campaign:

John Collins saw his own regiment – I could distinguish the companies by the colors of their horses, and knew the order of the squadrons in the line. The black horses of troop C and light bays of H formed the first squadron, the sorrel horses of E and the dark bays of G formed the next, and so on. The troops changed squadrons often to suit the seniority of the captains, and the squadrons changed positions in the regiment for the same reason, but the combination of companies before me now had been that of the regiment for a week at least. (John Collins, 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. 3)

A soldier described the 1st West Virginia Cavalry at Emmitsburg on July 1 as consisting of "about 600 men, all mounted on the finest black horses, many if not most of the men from Ohio." (William B. Southerton, Papers, 75th Ohio)

I made the following note a year or so back regarding the immediate post CW era, but like a lot of my hand written notes the source is missing!!

The cavalry preferred solid-colored horses, and assigned them by color so that a regiment would have a bay company, a sorrel company, a chestnut company, etc. M company, the last in the military alphabet, received the leftover roans, piebalds and pintos, along with the nickname the "Calico troop" or the "Brindles."

 

[OParks]

I had to giggle at this. Apparently soldiers didn't care for the gray horses! Source: The Photographic History of the Civil War in Ten Volumes: The Cavalry, Francis Trevelyan Miller, Ed. https://archive.org/details/photographichist04mill_0

 

[mofederal]

I read an article recently that the Army prewar and during the war preferred to have dark colored horses, something to do with them not being so much of a target in a battle. Prewar they also liked Morgans, although the war ended that idea, as they needed healthy horses in large numbers. Post war the Army actually did just that have, certain colored horses per troop, like gray, black, brown, etc. The 7th Cavalry is one example of a regiment which did put the idea into use. Another example post war is the Black Horse Troop from Chicago.

 

[Rhea Cole]

Grierson's Raiders photographed by Southern Spy
​

The Photographic History of the Civil War, In Ten Volumes, The Cavalry pages 130-131 shows seventeen hundred men & horses photographed in Baton Rouge by Lytle, a Confederate Secret Service agent. The men have dismounted & unsaddled their horses. The light colored horses scattered throughout troop camera right & along the line argue against any effort to have the same colored horses in a troop. I thumbed through the book & found images of light colored horses here & there. Judging by those photos, there doesn't appear to have been any attempt to sort the horses by color. I would suppose the constant need for replacements left no space for being picky about the color.
After the war, troops did have horses of the same color. Supposedly, that was so that a single man on a different colored horse would not become a target. That may or may not have been true, but it did look nice.

 

[Kurt G]

Traditionally white or light gray horses were issued to musicians . This goes back to at least the Napoleonic era .I found a reference that mentions grays were issued to artillery battery buglers "per regulations " during the Civil War , but I doubt regulations were followed for long.

 

[Sgt. Tyree]

As has been explained above, during the war the effort proved impactable. Postwar in peacetime it was more possible and regimental commanders like George Custer did it within their commands. Even at Little Big Horn the Seventh Cavalry's companies were so color--coded: blacks, bays, greys, and so forth. Even the band were mounted on matching light greys.

This is so.

For instance, E Company, 7th Cavalry was known as "Gray Horse Troop" within the regiment. Native accounts tell of meeting and repulsing a body of troopers all mounted on grays at Medicine Tail Ford, some of them on the west side of the river. So apparently E Troop had gone down Medicine Tail Coulee to the river and had at least got the lead element across before meeting Native resistance and having to withdraw under pressure.

If you've ever seen Medicine Tail Coulee you know that it's not big enough to get an entire troop deployed on line. So what they probably had was a troop of cavalry attacking on a four-horse front. Not ideal.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

There's an image somewhere of the 6th US Cavalry, or one company post war, all on grays. I won't post it because I'm not clear where the original came from.

@Eric Wittenberg , question on cavalry mounts please? Somewhere in the back of my head Don may have touched on this but haven't done my annual re-read of his book, memory's faint.

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

What's the question, Annie?