Transporting horses from Canada

[Cazm]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Carol Mackay and I hail from Toronto, Canada.

I am writing a novel set in 1864, about horses that were shipped from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to serve in the Civil War. Research confirms that horses became more and more valuable/expensive towards the end of the war, making the cost of shipping them from Canada a viable proposition.The blood of some of these Canadian horses runs through the veins of mustangs out west today, and my story is a fictitional account of the ocean/land journey they took. So far, I haven't found much written to support the transportation of horses from Canada, even though we know it happened, and I'd appreciate any help/pointers you can give me. Many thanks indeed! ~Carol

 

[major bill]

If horses from Canada come in through Detroit it might have made the local newspapers. The Civil War newspapers of Detroit are indexed and I see no entry for Canadian horses. There are a few entries for Army horses from Michigan.

 

[Tom Elmore]

The only story I know of a horse acquired from outside the U.S. involves England:

When the civil war broke out, Marsena Patrick (who would become a general) was living in central New York and "the New York State Agricultural Society, of which he was President, sent to England and imported the finest English hunter they could get" and presented it to Patrick. The horse would be named "Snowball" - it was a black horse with one white foot. (Source: A Chatauqua Boy in '61 and Afterward, by David B. Parker, p. 114)

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

I don't know if the couple of sources referenced in this 2018 post by @Nortern Light might be helpful, but she briefly discusses the huge role the specific breed known as the Canadian horse played in the American Civil War. Maybe the authors she cites mention transportation of the horses into the US.