The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-10
HELEN BLAZES.
The story of Jeb Smiths Great
W -FIRhting Marc.
BY Frederick Van Rensselaer,.

Ae Fighting Mare.
BY Frederick Van Rensselaer,.
This is the story of a mare that made
her reputation during the weeks of al
most incessant fighting before Peters
/ burg and Bermuda Hundred. She lost
her life in a scrimmage in which she
was nearly the whole thing, for she had
a way of taking matters into her own con-
troll and carrying her rider into the thick
est of the fight whether he liked il or
not. She was SUCH a warrior herself,
that when she got worked up to the prop
er pitch she paid no attention to bugle
calls or orders. and always staretd in to
thrash the enemy single handed That
was one reason why she was called Hell
en- Blazes;' but there was another-her
temper The name was not spelled just
that way by the boys of the Third New
York Cavalry, but Jeb Smith, the man
who rode her-and the only man who ever
could ride her-was a minister before the
war broke out, so he changed the original
three words of her name into two. thus
quieting his conscience aud satisfying the
boys at the same time.
She was picked up one night on a scout
ing expedition. Wink Tomkins brought
her into camp the next morning; and he
was a sight Blazes had struck him half
a dozen times with her fore feet. ana his
uniform was in tatters; she had kick ID
and bitten the horse he rode until it was
fit only TO be mus tered out Of service for
repairs, and she had utterly destroyed
what little temper Wink possessed. You
could hear him swearing at Blazes when
they were mile away, and between his
curses and the laughing of his compan-
ions, and the plunging and Kicking. Bit
ing and striking of the mare as they ap
proached, il made pretty sig1lt for tired
cavalrymen. BY the time they rode up,
we were all out waiting for them, and We
had the greatest circus of the who-e war
right then and there.
There, by thunderi' said Wink, I've
landed her here, GOSH said l would. The
fellow that can ride her, can have her, for
all | care" and he pitched the lead rope
to me. Blazes was a beauty, there was
no denying that, and old McNan1ara-our
captain-had his eye on her from the mo-
ment he saw her. Wink saw that Old Mac
coveted her the minute he dismounted,
and he saluted and said:
I've brought We one now, cap'n, sure's
You're born If she amt he'll an blazes, l
don't know what It is"
Well there's no use in describing all
tnaI happened tnen. IL COOK SIX OF US 10
get a saddle and bride on her. and three
out of the six were laid up unfit for duty
for a week after il; and after that she
threw one after another pretty near the
whole company Nobody could ride her
until Jeb Smith came along. He had just
been relieved from guard and was tired,
but when his eyes lighted on the mare he
frightened up.
That's beauty. boys" he said, for he
was a great lover of horsefiesh, If he was
parson. The mare was standing idle al
that moment, as docile as kitten, and no.
body in the world would have guessed
what devil there was in her The fellows
looked at one another and winked know
ng9y, while Tompkins drawled out:
Get on her back, parson. and try her."
Mind you, there was not one in the crowd
who had not tried her, and who could not
show a substantial bruise for his temerity.
But the parson never caught on at all,
and we all stood back while he handed his
piece to a comrade, and without "a mo-
ments hesitation walked straight up TO
the mare and began TO rub her nose; and
what's more she seemed to like IL.
You could have purchased the whole
company for a very small sum a that
moment. for we felt mighty cheap. We
didn't know whether II was jugglery. or
what &c was but the fact remained that
the mare did not treat him as she had
treated us.
SAY parsou.v bawled Wink Tompkins,