| The following communication from
Major Thomas L. Broun, Charleston, Kanawha county, West Virginia,
appeared in the Richmond Dispatch August 10, 1886:
"In view of the fact that great
interest is felt in the
monument about to be erected
to General Lee, and
that many are desirous that
his war-horse should be
represented in the monument,
and as I once owned
this horse, I herewith
give you some items respecting
this now famous war-horse, Traveller.
"He was raised by Mr. Johnson,
near the Blue Sulphur Springs, in Greenbrier county, Virginia (now West
Virginia); was of the 'Gray Eagle,' stock, and, as a colt, took the
first premium under the name of 'Jeff Davis' at the Lewisburg fairs for
each of the years 1859 and 1860.
He was four years old in the
spring of 1861. When the
Wise legion was encamped on
Sewell mountain, opposing the advance of the Federal Army under Rosecranz,
in the fall of 1861,
I was major to the Third regiment
of infantry in that legion, and my brother, Captain Joseph M. Broun, was
quartermaster to the same regiment.
"I authorized my brother to purchase
a good serviceable horse of the best Greenbrier stock for our use during
the war.
"After much inquiry and search
he came across the
horse above mentioned, and I
purchased him for $175 (gold value), in the fall of 1861, from captain
James W. Johnston, son of the Mr. Johnston first above mentioned. When
the Wise legion was encamped about Meadow Bluff and Big Sewell mountains,
I rode this horse, which was then greatly admired in camp for his rapid,
springy walk, his high spirit, bold carriage,and muscular strength.
"He needed neither whip nor spur,
and would walk his
five or six miles an hour over
the rough mountain road
of Western Virginia with his
rider sitting firmly in the saddle and holding him in check by a
tight rein, such
vim and eagerness did he manifest
to go right ahead so soon as he was mounted.
"When General Lee took command
of the Wise legion
and Floyd brigade that were
encamped at and near
Big Sewell mountains, in the
fall of 1861, he first saw
this horse, and took a great
fancy to it. He called it his
colt, and said that he would
use it before the war was
over. Whenever the general saw
my brother on this horse he had something pleasant to say to him about
'my colt,' as he designated this horse. As the winter approached, the climate
in the West Virginia mountains caused Rosecranz's army to abandon its position
on Big Sewell and retreat westward. General Lee was thereupon ordered to
South Carolina. The Third regiment of the Wise legion was subsequently
detached from the army in Western Virginia and ordered to the South
Carolina coast, where it was known as the sixtieth Virginia regiment, under
Colonel Starke. Upon seeing my brother on this horse near Pocotalipo,
in South Carolina, General Lee at once recognized the horse, and again
inquired of him pleasantly about 'his colt.'
"My brother then offered him
the horse as a gift, which
the General promptly declined,
and at the same time
remarked: "If you will
willingly sell me the horse, I will
gladly use it for a week
or so to learn its qualities.' Thereupon my brother had the horse sent
to General Lee's stable.
In about a week the horse was
returned to my brother,
with a note from General Lee
stating that the animal
suited him, but that he could
not longer use so valuable
a horse in such times, unless
it was his own; that if he
(my brother) would not sell,
please to keep the hose, with many thanks.
This was in February, 1862. At
that time I was in Virginia, on the sick list from a long and severe attack
of camp fever, contracted in the campaign on Big Sewell mountains.
My brother wrote me of General Lee's desire to have the horse, and asked
me what he should do. I replied at once: 'If he will not accept it,
then sell it to him at what it cost me.' He then sold the horse to general
Lee for $200 in currency, the sum of $25 having been added by
General Lee to the price I paid
for the horse in
September, in 1861, to make
up the depreciation in
our currency from September,
1861, to February, 1862.
"In 1868 General Lee wrote to
my brother, stating that
this horse had survived the
war--was known as 'Traveller' (spelling the word with a doubled in
good English style), and asking for its pedigree, which was obtained, as
above mentioned, and sent by my brother to General Lee."
The following account of "Lucy
Long," another war-horse of General Lee, appeared in the Abingdon Virginian,
of February 13, 1891:
"There have appeared from time
to time during the past year announcements in Southern newspapers of war-horses
ridden during the war by some Confederate soldier, with the caption, 'The
Last War-horse of the Confederacy;' or something similar.
"It will be learned, doubtless
with surprise by some, that there is yet living and gin good health, save
for the infirmities common to old age, a horse ridden in battle
during the war by General Robert E. Lee. It is 'Lucy Long,' a little sorrel
mare, which many will recall having seen ladies ride through the streets
of Lexington alongside of General Lee astride of his more famous
war-horse 'Traveller.'
"Lucy Long was a present to General
Lee from
General J. E. B. Stuart in 1862,
when the former was
conducting the Sharpsburg campaign.
That summer
George Lee was standing in a
skirmish line holding Traveller.
"The horse was high-spirited,
impatient and hard to
hold and pulled the General
down a steep bank and
broke his hands. For a time
he found it necessary to
travel in an ambulance.
It was then that General Stuart
found Lucy Long, bought her
and gave her to him.
"She was a low, easy moving,
and quiet sorrel mare.
General Stuart purchased her
form Mr. Stephen Dandridge, the owner of 'The Bower,' a country place
in Jefferson county, famous in that day for its hospitality and a
famous resort of Stuart with his staff when in
that locality.
General Lee rode Lucy Long for
two years until, when in the lines around Petersburg, she got with foal,
and he sent her to the rear, and once more mounted Traveller. She was stolen
just before the close of the war, and after the surrender was found
in the eastern part of the State, and Captain R. E. Lee brought her
to Lexington to his father.
"Several years after General
Lee's death, and possibly thirteen years ago, while running at large
in the grounds
in the rear of the University,
by some unknown means Lucy Long got the leaders of her hind legs cut. She
was henceforth of no service, and General Custis Lee got the late
John Riplogle, the greatest horse lover in Rockbridge
in his day, to take charge of
her on his farm on Buffalo. On Mr. Riplogle's death, a few years
ago, she was turned over to the care f Mr. John R. Mackay, who lives in
the same neighborhood, and there she is at this time.
"When purchased by General Stuart
she was said to be
five years old. She is probably
now in her thirty-four year. She is thin in flesh, though her eye has not
lost its wonted brightness and her health apparently is good. She eats
dry food with difficulty, hence her present condition. During the
grazing season she fattens on the soft grasses of the pasture."
* Taken
from the Southern Historical Society Papers, Richmond, Va, Volume
18, January-December, 1880 Pages 388- 391
Return
to Main
Return
to Tales of South
Return
to Monument
|