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- May 4, 2014
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- Baltimore,Ohio
Sometimes the most interesting things are the ones that don't get discussed or thought about such as the logistics of providing feed for the horses. until you do the numbers, it's hard to get a grasp on just how large of a problem this could be.
(note: I'm not a horse person, but know just enough to be dangerous from my son who has done harness racing)
while it does not state this in the manual, I think those feed allotments would have been based on active duty in the field.
I just checked to see if anything was mentioned about varying the amounts but found nothing. but I did see that I left out one item: 100 lbs/month straw for bedding. it also specifies 4 gal. water/day.
In research I am doing on the original guns at the Ohio State House, I have letters from 1864 concerning the horses for one Ohio National Guard battery. In December 1864, General Hooker requested that a battery be made available in Cleveland. The Ohio Adjutant General wrote back to the Federal officials in Cleveland stating that "we had planned to send the horses to the country for the winter on 1/2 rations, but if you feel they should remain in Cleveland, we will do that but request assistance in provisioning them". So it appears that they were willing to reduce the feed by 1/2 while they were inactive, only keeping them on full rations when the battery was on active duty.
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