Henry W. Oliver

BiographyHenry W. Oliver was a saddler in Pittsburgh who received multiple federal contracts to produce Civil War cartridge boxes for the Army in 1863 and 1864. Although Oliver declined an Army contract on April 8, 1863, he did have contracts on May 18 and November 11,1863 for a total of 45,000 .58 caliber infantry accoutrements. Oliver first appears as a saddler in 1850 at 275 Liberty. He was on Craig St in 1852 and at 167 Wood from 1854-1862. The firm was apparently Lewis, Oliver and Phillips from 1863-1865, but they were nut and bolt manufacturers with Oliver having a separate operation as Oliver, Holstein & Co. He seems to get out of the saddler business after the Civil War.

Henry W. Oliver was the father of the Henry W. Oliver, Jr. who became known later for the Oliver Iron and Steel Company, which was not in existence at the time of the Civil War. Henry Oliver, Jr., who would go on to start that company, served in the Civil War at the age of 23 when he was employed by the iron firm of Graff, Bennet and Company.