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13. famous chargers
Theo. F. Rodenbough, Brigadier-General, United States Army (Retired)
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Three chargers that bore a nation's destiny: in the field with General Grant.
These three horses can fairly be said to have borne a nation's destiny upon their backs.
They are the mounts used by General Grant in his final gigantic campaign that resulted in the outwearing of the Confederacy.
When photographed in June, 1864, they were “in the field” with the General-in-Chief, after the ghastly battle of Cold Harbor, and before the crossing of the James River that sealed the fate of Lee's army.
On the left is “Egypt,” presented to Grant by admirers in Illinois, and named for the district in which he was bred.
The horse in the center, fully caparisoned, is “Cincinnati,” also a present from a gentleman in St. Louis, who on his death-bed sent for Grant and presented him with “the finest horse in the world.”
The little black pony to the right is “Jeff Davis,” captured in a cavalry raid on the plantation of Joe Davis, brother of the Confederate President, near Vicksburg.
“Jeff Davis” looks indifferent, but “Cincinnati” and “Egypt” have pricked up their ears.
Perhaps they were looking at General Grant. |
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The battle chargers of the
general officers of the
Confederate and Federal armies during the
American Civil War, wrote their names upon the scrolls of history by their high grade of sagacity and faithfulness.
They carried their masters upon the tedious march and over the bullet-swept battlefields, and seemed to realize their importance in the conflict.
The horse of the
commanding officer was as well known to the rank and file as the general himself, and the soldiers were as affectionately attached to the animal as was the master.
When the
Civil War broke out, my father,
1 General Grant, was appointed colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry and on joining the regiment purchased a horse in
Galena, Illinois.
This horse, though a strong animal, proved to be unfitted for the service and, when my father was taking his regiment from
Springfield, Illinois, to
Missouri, he encamped on the
Illinois River for several days.
During the time they were there a farmer brought in a horse called “
Jack.”
This animal was a cream-colored horse, with black eyes, mane and tail of silver white, his hair gradually becoming darker toward his feet.
He was a noble animal, high spirited, very intelligent and an excellent horse in every way. He was a stallion and of considerable value.
My father used him until after the
battle of Chattanooga (November, 1863), as an extra horse
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“Stonewall” Jackson's war-horse shortly after his master's death
The negative of this picture, made in 1863, not long after the terrible tragedy of General Jackson's death, was destroyed in the great Richmond fire of 1865.
The print is believed to be unique, and here reproduced for the first time.
All day long on May 2d of 1863, “Old Sorrel,” as the soldiers called him, had borne his master on the most successful flanking march of the war, which ended in the Confederate victory at Chancellorsville.
There have not been many movements in military history so brilliant and decisive in their effect.
At nightfall Jackson mounted “Fancy” for the last time, and rode out to reconnoiter.
Galloping back to avoid the Federal bullets, he and his staff were mistaken for foes and fired upon by their own men. Jackson reeled from the saddle into the arms of Captain Milburn, severely wounded.
The horse bolted toward the Union lines, but was recovered and placed in the stable of Governor John Letcher at Richmond. |
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and for parades and ceremonial occasions.
At the time of the
Sanitary Fair in
Chicago (1863 or 1864),
General Grant gave him to the fair, where he was raffled off, bringing $4,000 to the Sanitary Commission.
Soon after my father was made a brigadier-general, (August 8, 1861), he purchased a pony for me and also another horse for field service for himself.
At the
battle of Belmont (November 7, 1861), his horse was killed under him and he took my pony.
The pony was quite small and my father, feeling that the
commanding general on the field should have a larger mount, turned the pony over to one of his aides-decamp (
Captain Hyllier) and mounted the captain's horse.
The pony was lost in the battle.
The next horse that my father purchased for field service was a roan called “
Fox,” a very powerful and spirited animal and of great endurance.
This horse he rode during the siege and battles around
Fort Donelson and also at
Shiloh.
At the
battle of Shiloh the
Confederates left on the field a rawboned horse, very ugly and apparently good for nothing.
As a joke, the officer who found this animal on the field, sent it with his compliments, to
Colonel Lagow, one of my father's aides-de-camp, who always kept a very excellent mount and was a man of means.
The other officers of the staff “jollied” the colonel about this gift.
When my father saw him, he told the colonel that the animal was a thoroughbred and a valuable mount and that if he,
Lagow, did not wish to keep the horse he would be glad to have him. Because of his appearance he was named “Kangaroo,” and after a short period of rest and feeding and care he turned out to be a magnificent animal and was used by my father during the
Vicksburg campaign.
In this campaign,
General Grant had two other horses, both of them very handsome, one of which he gave away and the other he used until late in the war. During the campaign and
siege of Vicksburg, a cavalry raid or scouting party arrived at Joe Davis' plantation (the brother of
Jefferson Davis,
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Meade's battle-scarred mount three months after Gettysburg
“Baldy” was the horse that carried General George G. Meade from September, 1861, to the end of the war, except when “absent on sick leave.”
His war record is remarkable for the number of wounds from which he recovered, reporting for duty each time he was convalescent.
He was wounded twice at the first battle of Bull Run, before he came into General Meade's possession.
Left on the field for dead at Antietam, he was later discovered quietly grazing, with a deep wound in his neck.
Again, at Gettysburg, a bullet lodged between his ribs and rendered him unable to carry his owner again until after Appomattox.
“Baldy” was a bright bay horse, with white face and feet.
This bullet-scarred veteran followed General Meade's hearse to his last resting-place in 1872, and survived him by a decade.
The photograph was taken in October, 1863. |
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President of the
Confederacy) and there captured a black pony which was brought to the rear of the city and presented to me. The animal was worn out when it reached headquarters but was a very easy riding horse and I used him once or twice.
With care he began to pick up and soon carried himself in fine shape.
At that time my father was suffering with a carbuncle and his horse being restless caused him a great deal of pain.
It was necessary for
General Grant to visit the lines frequently and one day he took this pony for that purpose.
The gait of the pony was so delightful that he directed that he be turned over to the quartermaster as a captured horse and a board of officers be convened to appraise the animal.
This was done and my father purchased the animal and kept him until he died, which was long after the
Civil War. This pony was known as “
Jeff Davis.”
After the
battle of Chattanooga,
General Grant went to
St. Louis, where I was at the time, critically ill from dysentery contracted during the
siege of Vicksburg.
During the time of his visit to the city he received a letter from a gentleman who signed his name “
S. S. Grant,” the initials being the same as those of a brother of my father's, who had died in the summer of 1861.
S. S. Grant wrote to the effect that he was very desirous of seeing
General Grant but that he was ill and confined to his room at the
Lindell Hotel and begged him to call, as he had something important to say which my father might be gratified to hear.
The name excited my father's curiosity and he called at the hotel to meet the gentleman who told him that he had, he thought, the finest horse in the world, and knowing
General Grant's great liking for horses he had concluded, inasmuch as he would never be able to ride again, that he would like to give his horse to him; that he desired that the horse should have a good home and tender care and that the only condition that he would make in parting with him would be that the person receiving him would see that he was never ill-treated, and
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General Sheridan's “Winchester”
“Winchester” wore no such gaudy trappings when he sprang “up from the South, at break of day” on that famous ride of October 19, 1864, which has been immortalized in Thomas Buchanan Read's poem.
The silver-mounted saddle was presented later by admiring friends of his owner.
The sleek neck then was dark with sweat, and the quivering nostrils were flecked with foam at the end of the twenty-mile dash that brought hope and courage to an army and turned defeat into the overwhelming victory of Cedar Creek.
Sheridan himself was as careful of his appearance as Custer was irregular in his field dress.
He was always careful of his horse.
but in the field decked him in nothing more elaborate than a plain McClellan saddle and army blanket. |
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should never fall into the hands of a person that would ill-treat him. This promise was given and
General Grant accepted the horse and called him “
Cincinnati.”
This was his battle charger until the end of the war and was kept by him until the horse died at
Admiral Ammen's farm in
Maryland, in 1878.
2
About this time (January, 1864) some people in
Illinois found a horse in the southern part of that State, which they thought was remarkably beautiful.
They purchased him and sent him as a present to my father.
This horse was known as “
Egypt” as he was raised, or at least came from
southern Illinois, a district known in the
State as
Egypt, as the northern part was known as
Canaan.
The most famous of the horses in the stables of
General Lee, the
Confederate commander, was “Traveller,” an iron gray horse.
He was raised in
Greenbrier County, near
Blue Sulphur Springs, and, as a colt, won first prize at a fair in
Lewisburg,
Virginia.
When hostilities commenced between the
North and the
South, the horse, then known as “
Jeff Davis,” was owned by
Major Thomas L. Broun, who had paid $175 (in gold) for him.
Lee first saw the gray in the mountains of
West Virginia.
He instantly became attached to him, and always called him “my colt.”
In the spring of 1862, this horse finally became the
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General Alfred Pleasonton and his horse
This is the horse which General Pleasonton brought with him from Utah in 1861.
This charger carried him through the Peninsular campaign when he was a major in the Second Cavalry, commanding the regiment and covering the march of the Federal army to Yorktown, August 18 and 19, 1862.
It bore him at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, where Pleasonton distinguished himself by checking the flank attack of the Confederates on the Federal right, and perhaps it stepped forth a little more proudly when its owner was given command of the entire cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac on June 7, 1863.
This photograph was taken at Falmouth, Va., in the latter year.
General Pleasonton is riding the same charger in the photograph of himself and Custer used to illustrate the battle of Gettysburg on page 237. |
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property of the general, who paid $200 in currency for him. He changed the name of his charger to “Traveller” and from the date of purchase it became almost a daily sight to see the commander astride the gray, riding about the camp.
There were a number of battle horses in
Lee's stables during the war. There were “Grace
Darling,” “
Brown roan,” “Lucy long,” “
Ajax,” and “
Richmond,” but of them all “Traveller” became the especial companion of the general.
The fine proportions of this horse immediately attracted attention.
He was gray in color, with black points, a long mane and long flowing tail.
He stood sixteen hands high, and was five years old in the spring of 1862.
His figure was muscular, with a deep chest and short back, strong haunches, flat legs, small head, quick eyes, broad forehead, and small feet.
His rapid, springy step and bold carriage made him conspicuous in the camps of the
Confederates.
On a long and tedious march with the Army of Northern Virginia he easily carried
Lee's weight at five or six miles an hour, without faltering, and at the end of the day's hard travel seemed to be as fresh as at the beginning.
The other horses broke under the strain and hardships; “Lucy long,” purchased by General “
Jeb” Stuart from
Stephen Dandridge and presented to
Lee, served for two years in alternation with “Traveller,” but in the fall of 1864 became unserviceable and was sent into the country to recuperate.
3 “
Richmond,” “
Ajax,” and “
Brown roan” each in turn proved unequal to the rigors of war.
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General Rufus Ingalls' charger
Like General Grant's “Cincinnati,” this horse was present at Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
Major-General Rufus Ingalls was chief quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac.
After the surrender he asked permission to visit the Confederate lines and renew his acquaintance with some old friends, classmates and companions in arms.
He returned with Cadmus M. Wilcox, who had been Grant's groomsman when he was married; James Longstreet, who had also been at his wedding; Heth, Gordon, Pickett, and a number of others.
The American eagle is plainly visible on the major-general's saddle-cloth, which the charger is wearing.
The whole outfit is spick and span, though the double bridle is not according to army regulations, and General Ingalls even enjoyed the luxury of a dog at the time this photograph was taken. |
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But “Traveller” sturdily accepted and withstood the hardships of the campaigns in
Virginia,
Maryland, and
Pennsylvania.
When in April, 1865, the last battle of the Army of Northern Virginia had been fought, the veteran war-horse was still on duty.
When
Lee rode to the
McLean house at Appomattox Court House, he was astride of “Traveller,” and it was this faithful four-footed companion who carried the
Southern leader back to his waiting army, and then to
Richmond.
When
Lee became a private citizen and retired to Washington and Lee University, as its president, the veteran warhorse was still with him, and as the years passed and both master and servant neared life's ending they became more closely attached.
4 As the funeral cortege accompanied
Lee to his last resting place, “Traveller” marched behind the hearse, his step slow and his head bowed, as if he understood the import of the occasion.
While
General McClellan was in command of the Army of the Potomac, in 1862, he had a number of war-horses.
The favorite of them all was “Daniel Webster,” soon called by the members of the
general's staff “that devil
Dan,” because of his speed with which the staff officers had great difficulty in keeping pace.
During the battle of the
Antietam the great horse carried the commander safely through the day.
“Daniel Webster” was a dark bay about seventeen hands high, pure bred, with good action, never showing signs of fatigue, no matter how hard the test.
He was extremely handsome,
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General Rawlins' mount
It is a proud little darkey boy who is exercising the horse of a general — John Aaron Rawlins, the Federal brigadier-general of volunteers, who was later promoted to the rank of major-general, U. S. A., for gallant and meritorious services during the campaign terminating with the surrender of the army under General Lee.
The noble horse himself is looking around with a mildly inquiring air at the strange new instrument which the photographer is leveling at him. |
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with more than ordinary horse-sense.
He was a fast walker, an important requisite in a commander's charger, but a disagreeable quality for the staff officers whose horses were kept at a slow trot.
After
McClellan retired to private life, “
Dan” became the
family horse at
Orange, N. J., where he died at the age of twenty-three.
McClellan said: “No soldier ever had a better horse than I had in ‘Daniel Webster.’
”
McClellan also had a charger named “
Burns,” a fiery black, named after an army friend who gave the horse to
McClellan.
His one failing was that at dinner time he would bolt for his oats regardless of how much depended on
McClellan's presence on the battlefield at the critical moment, as in the battle of the
Antietam.
Running at dinner time became so much an obsession with “
Burns” that
McClellan was always careful not to be mounted on him at that hour of the day.
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General Sherman's best war-horse was killed early in the
Civil War, at the
battle of Shiloh, where he led the right wing of the
Federal army against
General A. S. Johnston's Confederate legions.
Two of his other chargers were killed while being held by an orderly.
Of the many horses that carried
Sherman through the remaining years of the struggle, two had
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General Butterfield, a well-mounted infantry General
This is a photograph of the well-mounted chief-of-staff and corps commander of the Army of the Potomac.
It was the custom of generals who had been infantry officers to set their own pace, regardless of their cavalry escort.
A cavalryman detailed to escort him tells the following story: “We started out with General Butterfield one day upon the Potomac to meet Confederate officers in relation to the exchange of prisoners.
My regiment was ordered out to escort him. The infantry officers, accustomed to riding alone, made their way regardless of their escorts, and inside of half an hour my column was distributed over two miles of road; General Butter-field did not adapt his riding to the pace of the escort and made it very difficult for the cavalry to follow him.”
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a particular place in the general's affections--“
Lexington” and “Sam.”
The former was a Kentucky thoroughbred, and his fine action attracted the admiration of all who saw him. When the
Federal forces finally entered and occupied
Atlanta, in 1864,
Sherman was astride of “
Lexington” and after peace was declared, in 1865, the general rode the same horse in the final review of his army in
Washington.
“Sam” was a large, half-thoroughbred bay, sixteen and a half hands high.
He possessed great speed, strength, and endurance.
The horse made one of the longest and most difficult marches ever recorded in history, from
Vicksburg to
Washington, through the cities of
Atlanta,
Savannah,
Columbia, and
Richmond.
He had a rapid gait, and could march five miles an hour at a walk.
While under fire “Sam” was as calm and steady as his brave master.
He was wounded several times, while mounted, and the fault was usually due to
Sherman's disregard of the horse's anxiety to seek cover.
In 1865,
Sherman retired “Sam” to a well-earned rest, on an Illinois farm, where he received every mark of affection.
The gallant warhorse died of extreme old age, in 1884.
General Thomas J. ( “
Stonewall” )
Jackson, the great Southern leader, had his favorite battle charger, which at the beginning of the war was thought to be about eleven years old. On May 9, 1861, while
Jackson was in command of the garrison at
Harper's Ferry, a train load of supplies and horses, on the way to the
Federal camps, was captured.
Among the horses was one that attracted
Jackson's attention.
He purchased the animal from his quartermaster's department for his own personal use. The horse, named “Old Sorrel,” carried
Jackson over many of the bullet-swept battlefields and was with
Jackson when that officer fell before the volley of his own men at the
battle of Chancellorsville.
During the swift campaign through the
Shenandoah, in 1862, when
Jackson
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An “aide” of General Grant
A photograph of little “Jeff Davis,” a pony that won General Grant's approval at the siege of Vicksburg by his easy gait.
General Grant was suffering with a carbuncle and needed a horse with easy paces.
A cavalry detachment had captured a suitable mount on the plantation of Joe Davis, brother of the President of the Confederacy, and that is how the little black pony came by his name.
The great Union general was more apt to call him “Little Jeff.”
The general used him throughout the siege, but he felt that the commanding general on the battlefield should have a larger mount, and “Jeff Davis” in this photograph is apparently saddled for an orderly or aide.
The little horse remained with General Grant until he died. |
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marched his “foot cavalry” towards the citadel at
Washington, the horse was his constant companion.
In 1884, a state fair was held at
Hagerstown, in Maryland, and one of the most interesting sights was that of the veteran war horse, “Old Sorrel,” tethered in a corral and quietly munching choice bits of vegetables and hay. Before the fair was ended nearly all the mane and hair of his tail had disappeared, having been plucked by scores of relic hunters.
For many years after the cessation of hostilities,
Jackson's gallant old war-horse was held in tender esteem at the
South.
When the veteran battle charger died, admirers of
Jackson sent the carcass to a taxidermist and the gallant steed now rests in the
Soldier's Home in
Richmond, Virginia.
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General Sheridan's charger was foaled at or near
Grand Rapids, Michigan, of the
Black Hawk stock, and was brought into the
Federal army by an officer of the Second Michigan Cavalry.
He was presented to
Sheridan, then colonel of the regiment, by the officers, in the spring of 1862, while the regiment was stationed at
Rienzi, Mississippi; the horse was nearly three years old. He was over seventeen hands in height, powerfully built, with a deep chest, strong shoulders, a broad forehead, a clear eye and of great intelligence.
In his prime he was one of the strongest horses
Sheridan ever knew, very active, and one of the fastest walkers in the
Federal army.
“
Rienzi” always held his head high, and by the quickness of his movements created the impression that he was exceedingly impetuous, but
Sheridan was always able to control him by a firm hand and a few words.
He was as cool and quiet under fire as any veteran trooper in the Cavalry Corps.
At the
battle of Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864, the name of the horse was changed from “
Rienzi” to “
Winchester,” a name derived from the town made famous by
Sheridan's ride
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Mounts for all the cavalrymen
Behind this mixed command grouped in front of the Camp stand a great number of horses.
There is at least one for every cavalryman in the picture, a state of affairs that did not last long; the photograph was evidently taken before the union armies were using up five hundred horses a day. The picture illustrates one of the few quiet hours that the Federal Cavalrymen enjoyed.
Infantry boys are evidently fraternizing with their comrades of the cavalry at an advanced post.
The horn that shows on the cap of the second man at the left on the photograph is the insignia, adopted from European light infantry, of the infantry of the Army of the Potomac.
The drummer boy also belongs to the infantry arm, and the leather scabbard of the officer kneeling near the center of the picture likewise indicates the infantry.
Such photographs as these are rare.
Both horses and men were resting for once. |
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to save his army in the Shenandoah Valley.
Poets, sculptors, and painters have made the charger the subject of their works.
Thomas Buchanan Read was inspired to write his immortal poem, “
Sheridan's ride,” which thrilled the
North.
From an account of this affair in “
Scribner's Magazine,” by
General G. W. Forsyth, who accompanied
Sheridan as aide-de-camp, the following is quoted:
The distance from Winchester to Cedar Creek, on the north bank of which the Army of the Shenandoah lay encamped, is a little less than nineteen miles. As we debouched into the fields . . . the general would wave his hat to the men and point to the front, never lessening his speed as he pressed forward.
It was enough.
One glance at the eager face and familiar black horse and they knew him and, starting to their feet, they swung their caps around their heads and broke into cheers as he passed beyond them; and then gathering up their belongings started after him for the front, shouting to their comrades farther out in the fields, “Sheridan!
Sheridan!”
waving their hats and pointing after him as he dashed onward. . . . So rapid had been our gait that nearly all of the escort save the commanding officer and a few of his best mounted men had been distanced, for they were more heavily weighted and ordinary troop horses could not live at such a pace.
In one of the closing scenes of the war--
Five Forks--
Sheridan was personally directing a movement against the
Confederates who were protected by temporary entrenchments about two feet high.
The Federal forces, both cavalry and infantry, were suffering from a sharp fire, which caused them to hesitate.
“Where is my battle-flag?”
cried
Sheridan.
Seizing it by the staff, he dashed ahead, followed by his command.
The gallant steed leaped the low works and landed the
Federal general fairly amid the astonished Southerners.
Close behind him came
Merritt's cavalrymen in a resistless charge which swept the
Confederates backward in confusion.
The horse passed a comfortable old age in his master's stable and died in
Chicago, in 1878; the lifelike remains are now in the Museum at
Governor's Island, N. Y., as a gift from his owner.
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Two fine horses — the provost-marshal's mounts
A couple of examples of the care given to horses at Giesboro.
These two serviceable chargers belonged to Colonel George Henry Sharpe, Provost-Marshal of the Army of the Potomac.
The provost-marshal of a great army must be well mounted.
It is the duty of the provost-guard to arrest all criminals, take charge of deserters, follow the army and restore stragglers to their regiments.
This was no easy matter with an army of 120,000 men. Prisoners of war were also turned over to its care to be sent back to the institutions in the North.
It is no wonder that the chief provided himself with powerful mounts.
This photograph was taken at Brandy Station just before the strenuous campaign of the Wilderness. |
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The battle horse, “Highfly,” carried General “
Jeb”
Stuart through many campaigns and had become his favored companion.
The intelligence and faithfulness of the steed had many times borne the dashing cavalier through desperate perils.
In the summer of 1862, at
Verdiersville on the
Plank Road between
Fredericksburg and
Orange, in Virginia,
Stuart was stretched out upon a bench on the porch of the tavern, awaiting the arrival of
General Fitzhugh Lee with whom he desired to confer on the next movement of the cavalry.
“Highfly” was unbridled and grazing in the yard near the road.
The clatter of horses aroused the
Confederate general, and he walked to the roadway, leaving behind on the bench his hat, in which was a black plume, the pride of
Stuart's heart.
Suddenly, horsemen dashed around the bend in the road and
Stuart was within gunshot of Federal cavalry.
He was nonplussed; he had expected to see
Fitzhugh Lee. Mounting his faithful and speedy bay he soon left the chagrined cavalry far behind, but the foe carried away the hat with its black plume.
In the first great battle of the
Civil War, at
Bull Run, there was a bright bay horse, with white face and feet.
His rider was seriously wounded.
The horse was turned back to the quartermaster to recover from his wounds received that day. Later, in September,
General Meade bought the horse and named him “
Baldy.”
Though
Meade became deeply attached to the horse, his staff officers soon began to complain of the peculiar pace of “
Baldy,” which was hard to follow.
He had a racking gait that was faster than a walk and slow for a trot and compelled the staff, alternately, to trot and then to drop into a walk, causing great discomfort.
“
Baldy's” war record was remarkable.
He was wounded twice at the
first battle of Bull Run; he was at the battle of Drainesville; he took part in two of the seven days fighting
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The halt
On this and the opposite page are shown types of the horses for which the Northern States were ransacked to furnish mounts for the staff and regimental officers of the Union armies.
Small wonder that this magnificent, well-groomed animal has excited the admiration of his own master who is critically looking him over.
The officer is Captain Harry Page, quartermaster of the Headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, subsequently colonel and chief quartermaster of the cavalry corps under Sheridan.
This was one of the most arduous posts of duty in the entire service, and one whose necessities during the severe campaigns up the Shenandoah Valley, and around Richmond, kept the young colonel always upon his mettle.
He has cultivated the ability to rest and relax when the opportunity arrives.
He is evidently awaiting the arrival of his wagon-train, when he will again become active at the pitching of the tents and the parking of the wagons. |
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around
Richmond in the summer of 1862; at
Groveton, August 29th, at the
second battle of Bull Run; at
South Mountain and at
Antietam.
In the last battle the gallant horse was left on the field as dead, but in the next Federal advance “
Baldy” was discovered quietly grazing on the battle-ground, with a deep wound in his neck.
He was tenderly cared for and soon was again fit for duty.
He bore the general at the battles of
Fredericksburg and
Chancellorsville.
For two days “
Baldy” was present at
Gettysburg, where he received his most grievous wound from a bullet entering his body between the ribs, and lodging there.
Meade would not part with the gallant horse, and kept him with the army until the following spring.
In the preparations of the Army of the Potomac for their last campaign, “
Baldy” was sent to pasture at
Downingtown, in Pennsylvania.
After the surrender of
Lee's army at
Appomattox,
Meade hurried to
Philadelphia where he again met his faithful charger, fully recovered.
For many years the horse and the general were inseparable companions, and when
Meade died in 1872, the bullet-scarred war-horse followed the hearse.
Ten years later “
Baldy” died, and his head and two fore hoofs were mounted and are now cherished relics of the
George G. Meade Post, Grand Army of the Republic, in
Philadelphia.
General thomas' “billy”
The “Rock of
Chickamauga,”
General George H. Thomas, possessed two intelligent war-horses, both powerful and large, and able to carry the general, who weighed nearly two hundred pounds. Both horses were bays; one named “Billy” (after
Thomas' friend,
General Sherman) was the darker of the two, about sixteen hands high, and stout in build.
He was, like his owner, sedate in all his movements and was not easily disturbed from his habitual calm by bursting shells or the turmoil of battle.
Even in retreat, the horse did not hurry his footsteps unduly, and provoked the staff by his deliberate pace.
“Billy” bore
General Thomas through the campaigns in
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An officer's mount
Captain Webster, whose horse this is, showed a just pride in his steed.
Observe how the reins are hitched over the saddle to exhibit the arched neck to the best advantage.
The equipment is regulation except for the unhooded stirrups.
It has the preferable single line, curb bit, no breast strap and no martingale.
The saddle is the McClellan, so-called because adopted through recommendations made by General George B. McClellan after his official European tour in 1860, although it was in reality a modification of the Mexican or Texas tree.
It was an excellent saddle, and in an improved pattern remained after fifty years of trial still the standard saddle of the United States regular cavalry.
In its original form it was covered with rawhide instead of leather, and when this covering split the seat became very uncomfortable to the rider.
Captain Webster used a saddle cloth instead of the usual folded blanket.
His horse's shiny coat shows recent thorough grooming. |
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middle Tennessee and
northern Georgia.
He was on the fields of
Chickamauga and
Chattanooga, and marched with the
Federal host in the advance upon
Atlanta.
From
Atlanta, he next moved to
Nashville where his master engineered the crushing defeat to the
Confederate arms in the winter of 1864, the last battle in which
Thomas and “Billy” participated.
General hooker's “lookout”
General Hooker first became acquainted with his famous charger, “Lookout,” while the animal was stabled in New York, and when
Louis Napoleon, the
French emperor, and an English gentleman of wealth were bidding for its purchase.
Napoleon repeatedly offered the owner a thousand dollars for the horse.
Hooker finally obtained him and rode him in the campaigns in which he later participated.
“Lookout” was raised in
Kentucky, and he was a three-quarters bred, out of a half bred mare by Mambrino.
He was of a rich chestnut color, stood nearly seventeen hands high, and had long slender legs.
Despite his great height, the horse was known to trot a mile in two minutes and forty-five seconds. When the
battle of Chattanooga occurred, the horse was seven years old. It was here that the animal received its name of “Lookout.”
The grandeur of “Lookout's” stride and his height dwarfed many gallant war-horses and he has been termed the finest charger in the army.
General Philip Kearny was a veteran of the
Mexican War, with the rank of captain.
It had been decided to equip
Kearny's troop (First United States Dragoons) with horses all of the same color, and he went to
Illinois to purchase them.
He was assisted in the work by
Abraham Lincoln and finally found himself in possession of one hundred gray horses.
While engaged in battle before the
City of Mexico, mounted upon one of the newly purchased grays, “
Monmouth,”
Kearny was
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When sleek horses were plentiful — Yorktown, 1862
Confederate winter quarters near Yorktown, Virginia, which had passed into Federal hands.
When McClellan moved to the Peninsula in the spring of 1862 he had but few cavalry, but every officer was provided with a handsome charger on which he pranced gaily up and down the lines.
“Little Mac” himself rode preferably at full speed.
His appearance was the signal for an outburst of cheering.
It was to be a picnic parade of the well-equipped army to the Confederate capital.
It is presumable that the portly officer in the center of the picture had lost some weight, and the chargers some sleekness before they were through with Lee and Jackson.
To such an extent had overwork and disease reduced the number of cavalry horses during McClellan's retreat from the Peninsula that when General Stuart made his raid into Pennsylvania, October 11th of the same year, only eight hundred Federal cavalry could be mounted to follow him. Under date of October 21st, McClellan wrote to General Halleck: “Exclusive of the cavalry force now engaged in picketing the river, I have not at present over one thousand horses for service.
Without more cavalry horses our communications from the moment we march would be at the mercy of the large cavalry force of the enemy.”
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wounded in an arm, which was finally amputated.
During the
Civil War,
Kearny had many excellent animals at his command, but his most celebrated steed was “
Moscow,” a high-spirited white horse.
On the battlefield, “
Moscow” was conspicuous because of his white coat, but
Kearny was heedless of the protests of his staff against his needless exposure.
Another war-horse belonging to
General Kearny was “
Decatur,” a light bay, which was shot through the neck in the
battle of Fair Oaks or
Seven Pines. “
Bayard,” a brown horse, was ridden by
Kearny at this battle, and his fame will ever stand in history through the poem by
Stedman, “Kearny at seven Pines.”
At the
battle of Chantilly,
Kearny and “
Bayard” were advancing alone near the close of the struggle, when they met with a regiment of Confederate infantry. “
Bayard” instantly wheeled and dashed from danger, with
Kearny laying flat upon the horse's neck.
A shower of bullets fell about the general and his charger.
They seemed about to escape when a fatal bullet struck the general.
The leader of the
Southern legions in the
West,
General Albert Sidney Johnston, rode a magnificent thoroughbred bay, named “Fire-eater,” on the battlefield.
The steed stood patiently like a veteran when the bullets and shells hurtled about him and his master, but when the command came to charge, he was all fire and vim, like that Sunday in April, 1862, the first day of the bloody
battle of Shiloh.
Among the hundreds of generals' mounts which became famous by their conspicuous bravery and sagacity on the battle-fields, were
General Fitzhugh Lee's little mare, “Nellie gray,” which was killed at the battle of
Opequon Creek;
Major-General Patrick R. Cleburne's “Dixie,” killed at the
battle of Perryville;
General Adam R. Johnson's “
Joe Smith,” which was noted for its speed and endurance; and
General Benjamin F. Butler's war-horse, “
Almond eye,” a name derived from the peculiar formation of the eyes of the horse.
