Here we go again - the perennial "Civil War Officer's" saddle. Offered with no provenance perhaps other than it came out of a 'Virginia barn' or 'Virginia estate', these seem to popup frequently in one form or another. Some are just hopeful descriptions of people with no idea, all the way up to ones that would challenge even the best and experienced collectors. This example falls nearer the latter, in that it has key features that would convince those with knowledge gained from the usual published resources, such as Steffan's series' or some Civil War specific publication.

The real problem is that many of the students of these civil war items aren't interested in POST-civil war material, and this is critical knowledge when dealing with these sorts of objects. The objects were not hermetically sealed at some point in the past (for the most part) and events may have occurred between some point in the past (American Civil War) and the present. That is most likely the case with this saddle.

The tree, from it's outline and key points is probably a late war production tree, but that's where the civil war connection stops. The most obvious indicator of post-war work is the presence of those centerline folded welts (those seams along the center of the seat). They doesn't start showing up in military saddles (officers or otherwise) until the 1870s. There are no footman loops at all, or any other hardware that any military saddle must have. The two staples visible are round wire stock, while civil war staples were "barrel" staples, made from flat bar stock. The lack of a saddlebag stud or any evidence that there was ever one there is a big indication that this was never used by a military person, officer or otherwise. The skirts are abbreviated and have only a few screws holding them on - this is not at all typical of civil war era skirting - a good way to tell on this one would be to back one of these screws out and see if it was cast or machine-made. Civil war era brass screws were usually cast - these could be cast in a later era, but if they are machine-made, that would be a proof that this was a post-war saddle. The stirrups and straps are just not even worth considering - they are obviously post-war and perhaps even post-1900. The last kicker is that the rigging assembly appears to be original to the leather cover, and it is attached to the ROUND ring (not the civil war era D-ring) with split tubular rivets. These types of rivets don't show up on saddles until around the turn of the century.

If there is any guess to be made as to the vintage of this piece, it is very likely circa 1900, made by one of the many saddlery houses for the civilian market. McClellans were popular and usually cheap, since they were made with surplus civil war trees.