Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-10
FAMOUS WAR HORSES
Steeds That Have Carried
Noted Generals.
QUALITIES THAT COUNT
Must Possess Endurance, Good Temper
and Intelligence.
LARGE ANIMALS NOT THE BEST
Experience Recounted Of Grant, Lee,
Sheridan, Sherman, stonewaIl
jackson and Others.
LARGE ANIMALS NOT THE BEST

Sheridan, Sherman, Stonewau
jackson and Others.
will stand the hardships of an active cam
paign, requires keen discrimination and
Judgment A mere horse will not do. Aside
from this conforma ton, 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 field a service more exhaust
i've than any other known, because fire.
quently he must go on short rations while
being ridden desperately for hours at
time, and frequently compelled to go sup
PEERLESS to bed. In addition to breeding he
must have such necessary qualities as in
telligence, good disposition and cheerful
ness Of temperament and must respond
promptly to his master commands, whether
on the firing line or on review. AS a gen.
eral proposition the better the war horse
is bred the better fitted he is for his ardu-
Gus duties.
When President Theodore Roosevelt rode
to the war with Spain he selected a Texas
DEeu morse OF medium StZsf, d Day III GO1Ol,
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 south
ern plains are noted, and of the breed FIRE.
mont rode in his long and rapid trips In
times of stress and danger in southern
California, sometimes covering over one
hundred miles day, the animals only
forage being buffalo grass. To be histori-
caIy correct, however, the President took
to Cuba two horses. one of which died while
being landed. the survivor being Texas.
The latter was the Presidents mount during
his service in Cuba and returned with him
to Oyster Bay. There he died a few years
since, and the President, out of gratitude
for the faithful service of the beast, gave
him decent burial on Sycamore Hill Doubt
less some day the President will erect over
Texas remains a monument on which wiz
be Inscribed fitting words.
Gen. Lees Horses
Gen. Robert E. Lee, like nearly all the
Lees, was not only a splendid figure on
horse, but a fine horseman and good judge
of a horse. When a young man, and in
middle life he liked dash of thoroughbred
blood in his mounts. His father, the cele-
brated Light Horse Harry" of the revo-
lutionary war, was, next to Washington, the
best horseman in the continental army and
the most commanding figure. The Lees of
Virginia inherited their love for the horse,
and ease, grace and skill in the saddle from
a long line of ancestors who had served
their king in the field. It was one of Robert
E. Lees projenitors, Lionel Lee, who rode
to the Crusades with the lion-hearted Rich
ard, and il is related that the coat of ar
NOR worn by this Lee can still be seen in
the Tower of London 1t was Gen. Lees
father who imported into this section the
celebrated Lndsay's Arabian from New
England. The horse stood in the District
of Columbia one or two seasons subsequent
to the revolutionary war, and it is a mat
ter of turf history that his get were highly
r;.,i,
and Light Horse Harry had noticed dur
ing the war that the New England men
were mounted on horses of unusual beauty
strength, courage and endurance, and on
| inquiry learned that nearly all were descend
ants of q horse called Lindsay's Arabian.
Whether he was a full blood or not is not
known 1t was at Washington's suggestion
that Henry Lee purchased the stallion.
Pure-bred Arabians are classed in the stud
books as thoroughbreds and can be regis
tered as such.
Gen. Robert E. Lees favorite war charger
was a cob-built gray gelding called TRAY
eler, probably named after a celebrated
running horse that his father once owned
which was a son of thoroughbred Traveller.
The gray gedins was foaled in West Vir-
gfnia, where Gen. Lee discovered 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 Appomattox Court House to
Gen. Grant. Traveller survived his master
one or two years, when his life was cut
short by lockjaw, one of his feet being
punctured by rusty nail. While at the
head of the Washington and Lee Univer-
sity at Lexington Gen. Lee was in the habit
of taking daily outings on Traveller and
quite frequently might be seen riding along
the streets of the town with little miss
perched in front of him on the saddle bow.
Grant Fond of Good Horses.
General Ulysses s. Grant had a great
fondness for good horse and was as prime
judge of horsefesh as was his great an
tagonist, Lee. During the civil war he
had many mounts, but the horse he liked
best and priced most was a small-sized bay
gelding, which was taken from the planta-
ton of Jefferson Davis in Mississippi while
the general engaged in the siege of
Vicksburg, and which he named jeff Davis
Jeff, from the date of ownership, was the
generals constant companion. He rode
him nearly all the stricken fields of
the southwest. The faithful beast carried
him safely through the morasses, Dogs and
entanglements 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 HarSoor, where 1900 federaIs 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 day and night. When the end came he
shares his masters triumphs, and II q
dumb beast through the mercy OF God be
permitted to think as well as feel, shared
his hopes fer a restored Union and a
stronger bond between the states than had
existed from the hour of the adoption of
the federal Constitution.
1t has been demonstrated over and over
that large horses, like large men, are not
as well fitted for the march and other du-
ties of the field as horses and men of me-
dunn size, A single illustration will suf-
flee. During the four years of civil war
Gen Abe Buford of Kentucky rode a son
of the thoroughbred Wagner, he that de-
feated the pride of Kentucky Gray Eagle
IL famous race of three-mile heats along
in the ffties This son of Wagner was
scarcely 1873 hands Int height and weighed
only trifle over 900 pounds, while Cen
eral Buford stood six feet in his stockings
and weighed $50 pounds. It Is almost in
credible that horse OF such size and
weight could carry man of such bulk.
especially when Ii is to be remembered that
added TO the generals weight must be
taken into account the saddle, blanket and
other necessary Announcements, which must
have weighed something over 100 mounds