Mule Halter

[John Thurston]

Hello, my first time on this site. I have been collecting Civil War and Fur Trade Era items for about 30 year now. I have some things I am looking feedback on that I've acquired over the years. attached are some photos of what I believe is a Civil War period mule halter. All metal pieces are made of brass, with no iron used. Brass has a reddish tone to it, indicating a higher copper content. I was wondering if anyone thinks this could be a Southern Wagon or Artillery Mule halter? The brass loops for the reins show lots of use and heavy pulling wear that bent them pretty good. Any information on this would be appreciated. Item came from the Dalton Georgia area. I've seen some CW period horse halters with lots of brass decoration similar to this.

 

[EJ Zander]

The blinder attachments to the crown dont look period to me. They look rolled and stitched rather then flat strap. Can you provide some measurements? This will help narrow down what size horse/ mule it would fit.
Measure from top of crown down to ring where bit attaches, just one side. Leave buckles attached where they are. Also measure across brow band (part with all the square decorations).
I can see an adjustment was made during its life at one of the buckles but the leather wear seems to indicate it was used in a same size configuration for most of its service.
Blonde hair stuck in top buckle of your 5th picture.

 

[John Thurston]

Thanks for taking a look at it. It's 18.5" from the top of the crown to the bottom ring. Brow band with Squares measures 15.75" from side to side. Images of the sides of the straps that the blinders are attached to. Blonde hair is my wife's not horse or mule hair.

 

[John Thurston]

It looks like it has a much heavier construction then what a typical Cav. horse halter has from what I've seen of examples.

 

[shooter too]

Not to intentionally to divert the thread, but this brings up and interesting question to me.

What happened to those literally thousands of harness outfits and for that matter wagons after the war? Were they liquidated ala Bannerman? Repurposed for western settlement and/or farming?

And the adornments on the above halter look far from war time standard issue to me, maybe postwar GAR or UCV?

 

[JOHN42768]

Hello, my first time on this site. I have been collecting Civil War and Fur Trade Era items for about 30 year now. I have some things I am looking feedback on that I've acquired over the years. attached are some photos of what I believe is a Civil War period mule halter. All metal pieces are made of brass, with no iron used. Brass has a reddish tone to it, indicating a higher copper content. I was wondering if anyone thinks this could be a Southern Wagon or Artillery Mule halter? The brass loops for the reins show lots of use and heavy pulling wear that bent them pretty good. Any information on this would be appreciated. Item came from the Dalton Georgia area. I've seen some CW period horse halters with lots of brass decoration similar to this.

View attachment 464540

View attachment 464541

View attachment 464542

View attachment 464543

View attachment 464544

View attachment 464545

View attachment 464546

View attachment 464547

Welcome, enjoy

 

[bobinwmass]

Not to intentionally to divert the thread, but this brings up and interesting question to me.

What happened to those literally thousands of harness outfits and for that matter wagons after the war? Were they liquidated ala Bannerman? Repurposed for western settlement and/or farming?

And the adornments on the above halter look far from war time standard issue to me, maybe postwar GAR or UCV?

Here are a couple pages from an 1889 Bannerman catalog.

 

[EJ Zander]

It looks like it has a much heavier construction then what a typical Cav. horse halter has from what I've seen of examples.

I agree and this would have used by an animal in harness work. From the dimensions you gave it shakes out to a full horse size/ large horse but not up to XL or draft size. The check chains would have run thru the half ovals depicted in your sixth picture and with those being present would have been used in conjunction with a collar as opposed to a driving harness with a breast plate.
Cant help on exact age but a harness shop def. could. The openings for the ears in the crown are unusual in size and could potentially irritate the ear during daily work use. Always used a single crown behind the ear myself.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

What happened to those literally thousands of harness outfits and for that matter wagons after the war? Were they liquidated ala Bannerman? Repurposed for western settlement and/or farming?

I recall an account of excess material of that nature being auctioned off by one officer - per his orders - who was stationed in one Southern town following the collapse of the Confederacy. He stated that one man, who bought a wagon, had friends help him pull it to his farm some miles away from the town. They did not have a horse or mule yet. Owing to the lack of adequate funds (greenbacks) by the townspeople, the items were sold for much below their likely market value, but with the goal of putting them to good use and assisting the locals.

 

[John Thurston]

It seems Lee used around 7,000 horses and 14,000 mules every 15 months for artillery transport. I know his wagon train during the retreat from Gettysburg was like 57 miles long. That's a lot of animals and a lot of tack. Where id all the mules go? Don't seem to be that many around these days? Curious?

 

[John Thurston]

Yes, I found the head piece with the holes to be pretty strange, I can't imagine you'd want to put the animal's ears in the holes, but maybe they did? Seems very different from most styles of halter.

 

[John Thurston]

Also don't understand why it has brass letters on the blinders? Seems strange if it was being used as a farm draft horse or mule.

 

[John Thurston]

I read some accounts where they tried using Mules too near the front battle lines, but they spooked so bad that they only used horses going forward in close up battle situations.

 

[John Thurston]

It's a shame there are hardly any decent photos of mules being used during the war or in that time period. Not many surviving examples either that I could find after years of looking. Very little to go on as far as researching them it seems.

 

[shooter too]

It's a shame there are hardly any decent photos of mules being used during the war or in that time period. Not many surviving examples either that I could find after years of looking. Very little to go on as far as researching them it seems.

You and I may be quickly surprised by what some of the wizards here can dig up. Stay tuned.

 

[John Thurston]

Apparently 1,500.000 Horses and Mules were killed or wounded during the CW as compared to 970,000 military casualties.

 

[John Thurston]

It find it amazing Lee was able to manage escaping Gettsyburg with 57 mile long wagon carrying tons of foraged materials and wounded men after Gettysburg. A monumental feat for sure! Could not have happened without lots of horses, mules and wagons.
Wagon team drivers too.

 

[John Thurston]

Think I read that during Lee's retreat they were cornered prior to crossing river in Williamsport and the teamsters of the wagon trains had to pick up weapons and assist try in driving off attacks. Also think I read that something like 30,000 or so of the mule train supply wagon drivers were African Americans. Not sure if they were forced into CS service or did it voluntarily? Probably forced into service I would think. Not sure?

 

[John Thurston]

I would like to find out if it's for a mule or for a horse? Has some real age to it, but not sure what period it's from or what use it was used for. Think it's pretty cool either way.

 

[bankerpapaw]

Welcome from NW Georgia.