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ORIGINAL MODEL 1885 CAVALRY SADDLE BLANKET – VERY
RARE INDIAN WAR CAVALRY SADDLE ACCESSORY: As
described in the Ordnance Department Memoranda No. 29,
and the last pattern issued during the Indian War era,
the Model 1885 Saddle Blanket was “made of pure wool…of
a gray color, with a yellow border 3 inches wide, and 3
inches from the edge…84 inches long, 72 inches wide”.
A little history of this saddle blanket is necessary to
place it into the historical and material context it
deserves. A number of years ago while attending a small
collector’s show in Central Texas I found a small
quantity of these blankets piled under a neighboring
dealer’s table. I recognized the color scheme and while
inspecting them I asked the dealer what he knew about
them and where he had found them. He explained his
family had owned a surplus store in San Angelo, Texas
and had purchased a large quantity of surplus material
from the US Army when the “old fort” closed. At this
point, he had my undivided attention. The “old fort” he
was referring to is Fort Concho, one of the more
historic Indian War posts in Texas, which is uniquely
located within the city limits of San Angelo. In fact,
the post is owned and maintained by the city and
survives today as one of the premier examples of an
Indian War period frontier post. The stories of surplus
equipment that was purchased from the army when the fort
closed are wide spread throughout Central Texas and I
have purchased Sibley stoves, M1872 Beds and a variety
of other useful items from farms and ranches that were
once used by the army at Ft. Concho. The majority of
the blankets the dealer had were in very poor condition,
having been ravaged by moths, rodents and heavy use, and
were now mere relics of their former selves. I was able
to find three or four that were generally intact and
brought them home.
Each of the blankets was configured in the identical
manner as follows: Each was a strip of a whole saddle
blanket, cut along the length of the original blanket.
The strip was then folded to just shy of half of its
length leaving an extension that could be folded over
and the sides were hand sewn with a whip stitch, forming
a pillow case shaped bag. All of the blankets had
traces of straw inside the “bag” and all had similar
rust stains on one side with adjacent wear points or
holes in the wool. I came to the conclusion that
surplus or worn saddle blankets had been cut and
fashioned into pads that could be stuffed with straw,
grass, or any similar material in the field, and likely
used to cushion pack saddles – either those designed to
carry the various pack artillery pieces, or the pack
saddles that were fashioned at the local posts for
carrying supplies to support the columns that patrolled
the frontier. I removed the stitching and when the
strips were folded end to end, the yellow stripes
matched as they would on an entire Model 1885 Saddle
Blanket, and of the size that a full saddle blanket
would be folded to place under a saddle. When displayed
under a saddle, as can be seen in the photograph below,
this blanket gives the same appearance of a full sized
blanket with the yellow stripes plainly visible.
While showing signs of use as described above, this
particular blanket is the “pick of the litter” of those
I was able to obtain. Measuring 61 ½” long and 26”
wide, this piece represents a strip approximately one
third the width and the full length of a full sized
blanket. With an overall strong gray color, the blanket
features yellow stripes woven into both ends of the
blanket. The stripes are 2.5” wide and 2.5” from the
ends of the blanket – when compared in relation to the
length of this piece, all of this blanket’s dimensions
are proportional to the original dimensions and well
within the range of shrinkage normally encountered in
these blankets as caused by the aging of the wool and
repeated washings through the years. One end of the
blanket shows virtually no wear at all and the other end
has some stains and three holes approximately ¾” to 1”
in size. None of the three holes nor the stains would
be visible when the blanket is displayed as shown in the
photographs below, and would not detract from the
appearance of the display.
Original specimens of the Model 1885 Saddle Blanket are
felt to be so rare as to be virtually nonexistent in
private collections and during the research we conducted
in preparation of The American Military Saddle,
1776-1945, we were unable to locate a specimen in
any public collection. As you can imagine, these
blankets did not survive in great numbers due to the
hard use they experienced in service during the late
Indian Wars and through the Spanish American War, and
any that did survive to pass on as surplus to the
multitude of post-army agencies, charities and retail
stores were simply used up with little to no regard for
their historical value.
To put the rarity of this
specimen in perspective, the discovery of these blankets
led to an interesting discussion among some advanced
collectors of horse equipment as to the value of an
original full sized saddle blanket of the Civil War
through Indian War era. The general consensus was that
if one were to surface – and at the time, of all the
saddle blankets from this era, only one Model 1885
Saddle Blanket was believed to exist in a private
collection – it would easily bring $2,000. This blanket
is a scarce piece of horse equipment, and it will
certainly add to your collection, displayed with an
Indian War or Spanish American War era saddle.
SOLD
NOTE: THE LIGHT STREAKS SHOWING ON THE BLANKET IN
THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE RAYS OF SUNLIGHT SHINING ON THE
BLANKET AND NOT FADING, BLEACHED AREAS, OR DISCOLORATION
IN THE MATERIAL.
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