Confederate Spanish Moss Saddle Blanket - Rarest of the Rare!

More Nashville relics: Of all the great relics we recovered, none were as rare as the Confederate Spanish Moss saddle blankets. Not even the KMI jacket with four KMI buttons could best these rarer than rare finds. Why you ask? Because up until that time (1990s) none were known to have survived after the war. Author Ken Knopp had just published an article about them in North-South Trader magazine and research had shown; "none survived after the war." Ken knows Confederate equipment. He authored "Confederate Saddles and Horse Equipment." One of his many skills is creating civil war saddles and he has purchased numerous saddle parts from me to be as authentic as possible. I found the very first blanket on a hot July night. My friend and I were digging through the piles of pit dirt when I pulled the first one out of the dark colored dirt. Having only a single Coleman lantern, I thought it was an old garage mat, made of hemp. As a side note, that black dirt had a smell that reminded us of burnt motor oil and ammonia, reinforcing my thoughts of being a discarded garage floor mat. Little did I realize in that dim lit night what I was tossing aside: twelve complete Confederate Spanish Moss saddle blankets!

I wound up with remnants of one (shown) and another that is almost complete. This one can use restoration and if done properly, it will be enough to cover the 16 x 20 inch frame I have it stored in. It is much larger than it appears in this photo. As I begin reducing my collection, I can only imagine the Confederate trooper that sat his saddle on this blanket. Local pick up only!