The Press., 1898-06-02
HORSES OF THE WAR.
FAMOUS CHARGERS RIDDEN BY
 GREAT GENERALS.


 Battle Steeds of Grant and Sheridan-Ph1 Kearny's Moscow and KilpatricIk's Cali co Horse-Custer Had Seven Mounts Kill ed Under Him-Lee's "Chunky" Gray. General James Grant Wilson, in his | story of Famous American War Horses. has rescued from loss many interesting | facts and preserved for the future much | valuable information concerning the horses rode by the generals of the civil | war. Cincinnati, the famous battle steed of General Grant, was presented to him by | a citizen of Cincinnati who on his death bed sent for the general, then on visit to 1 that city after the successful siege of Vicks burg, and gave him the horse on condition | that he should always be treated kindly. Grant accepted the horse, naming him | Cincinnati. It is claimed that he was a son of the thoroughbred and great four mile runner, Lexington, that be had run | in several races, had a fast record, and l that the general was subsequently offered SIG, 900 for him. This was the bay horse that Grant rode almost constantly during the campaign of the Wilderness.
 Soon after the close of tho war Cincin- nati was retired to a farm in Maryland, where the general frequently saw him and where he died in September, 1874.
 During the war Grant also rode thor l oughbred from southern Illinois named Egypt, and one called Jeff Davis, which was captured on Davis plantation in Mis- | sissippi.
 l When Sheridan took his famous ride in l the valley of the Shenandoah, immortal ized in verse by T. Buchanan Read, he rode black horse, with small star, years old, named Rienzi, which had been pur- chased in Michigan by an officer of the Second Michigan cavalry and was present. | ed to Sheridan when he became colonel of that regiment in 1869. After the famous ride and the battle of Winchester the name | of the horse was changed to Winchester. | During the war he was in 90 battles and several times slightly wounded.
 | Writing of him in 1876, Sheridan said |:
 "He is over 17 hands in height, power fully built, with a deep chest, strong shoulders, has a broad forehead, a clear | eye, and is an animal of great intelligence. | I rode him constantly from 1862 to the close of the war; in all the actions and in all the raids, as we'll as campaigns, in | which I took part. He was never ill, and l his staying powers were superb. At pres | ent he is little rheumatic, fat and lazy, | and so long as I live he will be we'll taken | care of.''
 | That brave officer, General Philip Rear | ny, rode a handsome and spirited white horse named Moscow, but generally called by the soldiers Whitey. Kearny lost an arm in the Mexican war, and when wish | ing to draw his sword would take the | reins between his teeth. The general also | rode light bay called Decatur, which was shot through the neck at the battle of Fair Oaks and a brown, known as Bayard, which the daring soldier was riding at the battle of Chantilly, when he came sudden | 1y upon Confederate regiment, and, turn ing to escape, was struck by bullet at the base of the spine, killing him almost | instantly.
 Old Spot, an Arabian, and Beppo, a | chestnut and a superb jumper, were the two famous war horses of General Judson Fitzpatrick. At the battle of Aldie the general rode Beppo, and there the noble animal fell dead, shot through the heart. Spot was captured from Confederate colonel during the second year of the war. Sheridan once referred to him as "kilpat- | rick's celebrated calico horse.
 General Custer was one of the most ao- | complished riders of all the generals of the army, and in his four years service in the | civil war he had seven horses killed under him, which it is believed is larger mum | northern troops engaged in the war. Dur ing the war Custer rode a great many horses. Among them was thoroughbred stallion of great speed and spirit named | Don Juan. Jack Fucker was beautiful bay, which the general acquired while in command of the Michigan brigade, and he rode him in a large number of battles. Custer rode Jack Fucker at the battle of | Five Forks and was on him when he de- manded of General Longstreet the surren- der of the southern army. Dandy, horse purchased in Kansas, was a special favor ite with Custer and ridden by him on
 most of his Indian campaigns. The last horse which Custer rode, when at the head of part of the Seventh United States cav airy in the horrible nasSacre of the Little | Big Horn, June 25, 4~.o, was a chestnut thoroughbred named Vic from Kentucky. After the laIpentable death of the haxen haired soldier General Clusters father, at his home in Michigan; would spend hours at a time in the stable with one of the horses his brave son had ridden during the war.
 General Robert E. Lee. had one favor lre war horse Traveller, which he rode | throughout the entire war, having pur- chased him in 1861, and he roGa him on the day of the surrender at Appomattox. Sheridan, who saw Traveller that day, de- scribed him to General Wilson as a chunky gray horse," yet he is said to have been over 16 hands high, little above half bred, of great courage and kindness, not possessing speed and carrying his head | well up. For five years after the war, while General Lee was president of Wash ington and Lee university at Lexington, | Traveller: was ridden almost daily by the illustrious c9ldier of the Confectionery. General J. E. B. Stuart's chief war horse was the thoroughbred mare Vir- ginia, which he rode during the battle of Gettysburg. In the generals last battle, where he was 1nortally wounded he rode | @ gray horse. Another he had was hand some bay called Bu.let.'',
 General Wade. Hampton had several horses killed under him during the war. Described as one of the finest horses in the southern al my was Beauregard, a magnif- cent animal of great boldness and spirit, l16L hands high. Of him the general writes: "Es was wounded at Gettysburg, lnortally, at the same time that was. When was taken to thd hospital, Beaure- gard, after heing unsaddled and unbridled, followed ma there, lay down outside and died" ..- | One of tic hest known horses of the southern army was the beautiful dapple gray mare with white tail and mane, named Nellie Gray, the favorite war h. Sc of General | itz- Hugh Lee. She was killed in the battle of Winchester.
 | General Wilson, in his entertaining arti- cle, is silent regarding Sherman's famous horse Tecumseh, that he rode from At ln- l ta to the sea, and which is now in the University of Wisconsin at Madison.-Bos- ton Herald.
 | : |, Misapprehension.
 | Sal, 11