CIVIL WAR GAUNTLETS OF LIEUTENANT, CAPTAIN AND BREVET MAJOR MAURICE LEYDEN, 3rd NY CAVALRY

CIVIL WAR GAUNTLETS OF LIEUTENANT, CAPTAIN AND BREVET MAJOR MAURICE LEYDEN, 3rd NY CAVALRY

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$1,250.00

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Item Code: 282-471

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This is a tightly identified pair of Civil War cavalry officer’s gauntlets from the effects of Maurice Leyden, a Lieutenant, Captain and Brevet Major in the 3rd New York Cavalry with service from June 1861 through November 1865. His regiment was very active near Washington, in the Department of North Carolina and the 18th Corps, and then in Kautz’s cavalry division in the Army of the James with Phisterer listing more than 100 actions to their credit. Leyden’s service included duty as a company commander, battalion Adjutant and five months in Confederate prisons at Libby, Danville and Salisbury after his capture at the Darbytown Road, near Richmond, in October 1864, until his parole in February.

The gauntlets are constructed of buff color doeskin in excellent condition, with no holes or tears, tight seams, with just expected dirt and soiling on the fingers and palms from his very active service. He wrote his name inside the cuffs, but natural rubbing by his coat cuffs and sleeves have left only faint traces, but there is no doubt about the identification. These were part of a large trove of his effects that came out the family about 1998, with most ending up in the Texas Civil War Museum, though these gauntlets, his vest, and at least one reunion ribbon, were separated and are only now offered with the chance of reuniting them with other material from his estate. We show an early war photograph of him wearing what might be this very pair.

Born in New York in 1836, Leyden was a dentist before the war and continued in that profession afterward, along with the manufacture of dental instruments and other pursuits, including acting as County Clerk for a time. He was active in the G.A.R. and the regimental veterans’ association. He died in 1906. According to Phisterer, he enlisted in the 3rd NY Cavalry at age 24, enrolling June 13, 1861, at Syracuse to serve three years and mustered in as 2nd Lieutenant, Company B, on July 19, but did not receive his commission until December 4, 1861, which gave him rank from July 30, 1861. Some sources refer to him as initially a 3rd Lieutenant to resolve the problem. In any case he was acting Adjutant, 3d Battalion, March, 1863, then commissioned as 1st Lieutenant Co. C on June 29, 1863, with rank from June 12, his official date of muster. He was captured in action Oct. 7, 1864, near Richmond and spent almost six months in Confederate prisons, before been released on parole Feb. 22, 1865. The exact date of his exchange and return to duty is unclear, according to a secondary source was April 1, 1865, which would correspond to official the date of his muster as Captain, Co. B, though his commission had come through on Dec. 22, 1864, and gave him rank from October 10.

The 3rd NY Cavalry was consolidated into five companies in July 1865, with Leyden commanding Co. B. These five companies were transferred into the 1st NY Mounted Rifles in September 1865, and that regiment was in turn redesignated as the 4th NY Provisional Cavalry before mustering out Nov. 29, 1865. For his wartime service Leyden was breveted Major, with an effective date of March 13, 1865. The wartime combat losses of the 3rd NY Cavalry were 3 officers and 29 men killed, another 19 men mortally wounded, and 138 officers and men wounded, who recovered to some degree. Some of Leyden’s letters are available online and make interesting reading. He was not one to easily forgive and forget, witnessing wartime and postwar suffering, and expressing a willingness to shoot Lee if he ever got the chance.

Please see our other offerings from the estate of this interesting cavalry officer.  [sr][ph:L]

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