The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-27

perSonlncatlon or the sturdy war
horse.
Many warriors of the blue and gray
would not have to read the .placard on
the base of the figure to recognize this
horse. He was known alike in the
Southern and Northern armies. In life
he was Winchester, the famous war
horse of General Phil Sheridan. He
died in 1878, and General Sheridan en-
ployed a noted taxidermist to remove
the skin and mount it exactly as Win
chester looked in the war days. Many
poets have been fired by the deeds of
Winchester to pen ringing rhymes of
of the war, for the horse was in AZ en-
gagements. some of the hottest and the
most bloody in the long struggle. Many
soldiers thought that he had charmed
life. Horses and men, all around him
and his rider, were shot down day af-
ter day, but when the scene at Apo
mattox closed the war, he had scarcely
a scar as a memento of the many con-
flicts.
WINCHESTER'S BIOGRAPHY.
General Sheridan presented the stuff
ed body of Winchester to the Govern
or's Island museum, and penned the
following biography of the horse
Winchester was of Black Hawk
blood, and was foaled al or near Grand
Rapids, Mich, late in the fall of 1859,
according to the best of my informa-
ton. He was brought into the service
by an officer of the Second Michigan
cavalry, of which regiment / was ap-
pointed colonel on the 18th day of May
1862. Shortly afterward, and while the
regiment was stationed at the little
town of Reinzi, in the state of Missis-
sippi he was presented to me by Cap
toll " hall In he If bin Off
GERS of the regiment, and from that
date until the close of the war he was
ridden by me in nearly every engage
ment in which took part. At the time
he was given to me he was rising three
Years old. so that he must have been
i'm his 10Th year when he died, on Oct.
2, 1873. He was an animal of great in
telligence and of immense strength
and endurance. He always held his
head high, and by the quickness of his
movements, gave many persons the
idea that he was exceedingly impetu-
Gus. This was not so, could at any
time control him by a firm hand and
few words, and he was as cool and
quiet under fire as one of my old SOL
diers. l doubt if his superior as a horse
for field service was ever ridden by any
one"
A list of the AZ battles and engage
ments in which Winchester figured is
appended to the biography, but to re-
peat them would only be to chronicle
the best known battles of the war.
A few of the old soldiers who follow
ed Sheridan in all his famous rides and
who have reverence for the old war
horse, make the short journey yearly
to Governors island and place some
loose flowers around the hoofs of the
charger. 1t is a simple little task un-
accompanied by the flying Of flags,
waving banners, or the strains of mar
tial music. but 1t bespeaks a volume of
tender feeling and loving memory.
on the second and top floor of the
building are many relics of the war.
The first to catch the eye of the old
soldier are a score or more of battle
flags some of them faded and worn
almost to the thinness of tissue paper.
Old muskets, twisted swords, broken
pictols, chips of wood, pieces of straps,
and an endless array of things are
grouped about. They are old and I'M
important looking. but about each lin
gers a chapter of history. The bits of
wood. for instance, were cut from the
famous apple tree which figured at APP
pomattoX court house. One of the mus
kets. the barrel twisted almost into a
circle. figured i'm one of the most un-
happy minor tragedies of the war.
1t was one of stack of muskets be-
IoflSlnS 10 the Ninety SIKH infantry
regiment of the Pennsylvania volun-
teers at the battle of Spottsylvania
court house on May g. 1864. shell
from a confederate battery struck the
muskets. bending the barrels of the
relic and discharging the other guns.
The bullets flew into a group of officers
and men standing near by killing six
of them outright and, wounding many
others
OF the flags. the most interesting is
one belonging to the Fourth United
States artillery. II has so many bullet
holes in il that little of the flag is left.
But IL figured in four successful wars,
and that is a record unsurpa ssed by
only very few battle flags. Attached to
IL is an inscription of the battles in
which IL figured, and they tell their
own stories as follows: Chippewa, c.
w: Niagara, n. Y; Fort Erie Qsl2):
Fort Drane, f. F. QSS9); Palo Alto.
Resaca de la Palma, Moline del Rey.
Chapultepec. City of Mexico QSi6-'4O:
Green Brier River. Cheat Mountain,
shiloh. Port Republic. White oak
Swamp. Malvern Hill. Antietam.
Chapel Hills. Fredericksburg. / Muir
freesboro. Charlottesville. Gettysburg.
Chickamauga Spottsylvania. Peters
burg. Bethesda Church. Cold Harbor,
Franklin. Hatcher's Run OS6l-'65D
Another interesting flag is one pre-
scented by General Hancock with an
autograph letter. Ii was his headquar-
tiers flag. and the fact that il has a
score Of bullet holes and is in a badly
battered condition shows that its own
er was not in the habit Of locating out
side the range Of danger. General Han
cocks letter says that the flag was car
ried At the head Of the Second army
corps. Array Of the Potomac. in all tho
battles OF the Wilderness and The last
fight IL figured in was the assault on
the confederate works at Spottsyiva-
MIA court house. May II. 1854
Aside from the relics OF The civil WIZ