Feature Articles

THE STRANGE HISTORY OF BUFF LEATHER- ITS ORIGINS AND MILITARY APPLICATIONS

By David Jarnagin & Ken R Knopp Published in several periodicals, this article was the Journal of Military Collector’s and Historian winner of the William K Emerson Writing Award for the best article of 2016.       ...

19th Century Leather Definitions

By David Jarnagin Vegetable Tannage: “A generic term to cover the process of making leather by the use of tannins obtained from barks, woods or other parts of plants and trees, as distinguished from “mineral tannages”. Belt...

A Shortage of Haversacks & Canteens Among Western CS Cavalry?

     WAS THERE A CHRONIC SHORTAGE OF HAVERSACKS & CANTEENS AMONG WESTERN CS CAVALRY? OR WAS IT A SHORTAGE BY “CHOICE”? By Ken R. Knopp   (Second in a series of articles on Confederate Cavalry arms and equipment...

American Curry Combs: History & Identification

This was initially published in the 2011 Jan/Feb issue of North South Trader’s Civil War Magazine. The culmination of a fifteen year passion and effort, I was significantly assisted by resarch materials provided by my old Yankee friend Ralph...

British Saddlery and Horse Equipments Imported by the Confederacy

It is well known that the Southern Confederacy relied on foreign imports for a significant amount of its arms and material needs during the War between the States. Much less renown is the fact that foreign supply was also an important source of...

Civil War Federal Contractors of Saddlery, Horse Equipment & Hardware

By Ken R Knopp Author’s Note: The following information has been compiled over many years of my research in Confederate saddlery and documents. It sources are that of several readily available books, articles and artifacts. Since my main area of...

Civilian Bridles of Antebellum America

                     CIVILIAN BRIDLES      OF ANTEBELLUM AMERICA  By Ken R Knopp    As artifacts, 19th century civilian (non-military) bridles are very difficult to...

Commercial and Catalog Saddles of 19th & Early 20th Century America

COMMERCIAL & CATALOG SADDLES OF 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY AMERICA By Ken R Knopp (originally published NORTH SOUTH TRADER’s CIVIL WAR, Dec. 2008)   CRITICAL NOTE: The information contained in this article is very dated!  I have...

Confederate Cavalry Halters

This article originally published in the North South Trader’s Civil War, Sep.-Oct., 1996. For the collector, reenactor, and researcher, the “Confederate-made” halter has been one of the more obscure and elusive, items of cavalry...

Confederate Drill Manuals

  CAVALRY/ARTILLERY MANUALS USED BY MOUNTED FORCES OF THE CONFEDERACY                                                                 Compiled by Ken R Knopp The eleven manuals listed below are some of the known tactical manuals employed by the...

Confederate Horse in Camp & Field

                     THE CONFEDERATE HORSE IN CAMP AND FIELD...

Confederate Leather: Black or Brown? How and Where?

By David Jarnagin and Ken R Knopp (originally published in NORTH SOUTH TRADER’S CIVIL WAR Aug. 2007 and Camp Chase Gazette 2009)   As any artifact collector or reenactor knows there are two primary colors when it comes to Civil War era...

Confederate Saddle Stirrups and Other Common War Time Patterns

CONFEDERATE SADDLE STIRRUPS AND OTHER COMMON WAR TIME PATTERNS   By Ken R Knopp   I wrote this article sometime about 2005. This article ran in the North South Trader (I cant remember when?) as well as Camp Chase Gazette. I have learned a...

Hemlock Leather, The Federal Ordnance Department’s “Other” War

HEMLOCK LEATHER: THE FEDERAL ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT’S “OTHER”  WAR By David Jarnagin & Ken R Knopp (Originally published in the Company Journal of Military Historians in 2005. The by line went to David but it was a collaborative effort with...

Military Leather in the 19th Century – Its Methods & Secrets

By David Jarnagin and Ken R Knopp (originally published in the Journal of Military Historians)   Historians, collectors and reenactors are well aware that mid-19th century Federal military regulations required most leather equipment and...