The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-25
HORSES OF FAMOUS GENERALS.
QUALITIES THAT COUNT IN 4.
WAR STEED.

President Roosevelt's bay That. He Took
TO Cuba-Gcn. Lees FayOrite-Gen.
Grants FOndness for q Good Horse
-%sherldan's Famous Black Charger.
Tho selection OF a war horse, one that
will stand the hardships OF an active cam
paign, requires keen discrimination and
Judgment. A mere horse will not do.
Aside from conformation, which should
be more or less compact, and bone, which
should be of dense quality and Of fairly
good size, he must have some pretensions to
good breeding.
Without the latter no horse can stand
the wear and tear of active service In the
Geld, a service more ~o1hausting than any
other known because frequently he must
20 on short rations while being ridden
desperately for hours at O time and fire.
quently compelled to go supperless to bed.
In addition to breeding he must have such
necessary qualities az intelligence, good
disposition and cheerfulness Of tempera-
ment and must respond promptly to his
masters commands, whether on the firing
line or on review. AS n general proposition
the better the war horse Ii bred the better
cited he Is for his arduous duties.
When President Theodore Roosevelt rode
10 the war with Spain, says the Washington
Star, he selected a Texas bred horse OF
medium size, a bay In color, and which he
called Texas in honor OF it's native State.
1t proved to be one of those wiry and tough
beasts for which the Southern plains are
noted and OF the breed Fremont rode in his
long and rapid trips in times of stress and
danger in southern California, sometimes
co vering more than one hundred miles a
day, the animals only forage being buffalo
grass. TO be historically correct, however,
the President took to Cuba two horses,
one Of which disc while being landed, the
survivor being Texas. The latter was the
Presidents mount during his services In
Cuba and returned with him to Oyster
Pay. There he died a few years ago,
and the President, out Of gratitude for the
70 1hfui service Of the beast, gave him decent
burial on Sycamore Hill.
Gen. Robert f.. Lees ~favorite war charger
was a cob built gray Gelding called TRAY;
eller, probably named after a celebrated
running horse that his father once owned,
which was a son Of thoroughbred Traveller.
The gray gelding wns foaled In West Vir-
ginia, where Gen. Lee d~iscovered him and
he rode him In every battle In which he
was engaged from the siege Of Richmond
until he surrendered the Army OF Northern
Virginia at ~Arpomattox Court House to
Gen. Grant. Traveller survived his master
one or two years, when his life was cut
punctured by a rusty nail. While at the
head of the Washington and Lee Univer-
sity at Lexington Gen. Lee was 10 the habit
OF taking daily outings on Traveller, and
quite frequently might be seen riding along
the streets Of the town with a little miss
perched In front Of him on the saddle bow.
Gen. Ulysses g. Grant had a great fond
ness for a good horse and was as prime q
Judge OF horsefesh as was his great an
taPonist, Lee. During the civil war he
had many mounts. but the horse he liked
beat and rrized most was a small sized bay
gelding, which was taken from the nlarta-
tton Of Jefferson Davis in Mississippi while
the General was engaged in the siege of
vicksbure, and which he named JEFF Davis.
JEFF, from the date Of ownership, was the
Generals constant companion. he rode
him on nearly all the stricken fields OF
the Southwest. The faithful beast carried
him safely through the morasses, hogs and
entar clements Of the Wilderness and along
the bloody trenches in the region around
Spottsylvania Court House; He witnessed,
with his master, the terrible slaughter at
Cold Harhor, where 1000 Federals turned
rigid faces to the sky in upward of one
, hour; he bore the General across the James
and in front Of Petersburg, he traversed
the long lines for months at all hours Of
the dav and RIGHT. When the end came he
shared his masters triumphs.
1t hns been demonstrated over ard over
that large horses, like large men, are not
as well fitted for the march and other
medium size. a single illustration will
suffice. During the four years OF civil
war Gen. Abe Buford Of Kentucky rode a
son Of the Thoroughbred Wagner, he that
defeated the pride OF Kentucky, Gray
Eagle, in n famous race Of three mile heats
along In the sos. This son, OF Wagner was
scarcely 1913 hands in height and weighed
onlv a tribe over 400 pounds. while Gen.
Buford stood six feet in his stockings and
weighed rs" pounds; It Is almost incredible
carry a man OF such bulk, especially when
it is to he remembered that. added to the
Generals weight must be taken into &C
count the saddle, blanket, and other neces-
weighed something over one hundred
pounds. Nevertheless 1t is stated that
he did all these things and came out Of the
service sound, as far as limb. and wind
are concerned.
s%tonewall Jackson was as picturesque
in the saddle as he was on foot. The grim
old Presbyterian elder had ridden in his
youth in West Virginia in races for an
not proud. At the beginning of the civil
war, or thereabouts, some Of his admirers
presented to him a war charger suitable
FOR a man Of growing fame and bright
military future. He had been riding IN to
that date a rather undersized sorrel geldlng
Of very meek appearance, which was one OF
a carload captured by his command at some
point on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
and consigned TO Washington.
This particular animal the General gave
the name OF Fancy, although from all &C.
counts Of Confederate soldiers it fell far
short OF the title in equine attributes, except
In one respect: he had a fancy whenever the
command halted for lying down and rolling
like a dog. What the General liked most
about him, aside from his quiet manners,
was his gait, which he himself described as
being as easy as a cradle" Evidently the
animal was OF the hobby horse species.
The mount selected for jackson was quite
another animal in blood, disposition and
spirit. On a certain. review the General,
dressed in a new uniform in place Of the
dincv Rrav he had long worn, appeared On
the field mounted on his blooded charger,
but when the band struck up Hail to the
Chief" and his men burst into loud cheers,
the horse bolted, threw "Old. jack and
trailed the new uniform in the dust. Fancy
was never thereafter displaced in his affec-
tiorata esteem.
He rode him in his valley and peninsular