• War Horse Joey (november 2014)river Oak Saddlery Tack
• War Horse Joey (november 2014)river Oak Saddlery Company

The walls were covered in saddle racks and bridle hooks, the polished leather gleaming. The familiar smell comforted her, settled her nerves, as Charlie led her through, into what looked like a cross between a small office, and a living room. November 10, 2014. The war horse may be something of the past, but it still captures a reader’s interest. Layne Britton General Sales Manager 3361 Oak Street 250-475-1148. The Tale of Tartar the War Horse (Part II) October 30, 2013 October 26, 2018 by textmessageguest, posted in Civil War, Military Records Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher and is the continuation of last week’s post.

Joey's earliest memory is of being taken to the town marketplace with his mother while an auction that he did not fully understand took place around him. Two men bid feverishly against each other until the auctioneer brings down his hammer and Joey is led away. He has never been apart from his mother before, and he starts crying for her, hearing her cries for him becoming fainter as he is taken farther away.

Joey's new home is a farm, with plenty of land and a comfortable stable where he is given a stall next to a placid, motherly horse called Zoey. He likes her very much but dislikes the farmer who has purchased him. However, Joey forms a deep bond with the farmer's son, Albert: the two become soul mates as Albert works hard to transform Joey into a farm horse (his father threatened to get rid of Joey unless he could work with Zoey in the fields).

It is the onset of the First World War, and the British army is buying horses for the front; Albert's father takes Joey to market and sells him to an honorable soldier called Captain Nicholls. Too late, Albert rushes to market and is unable to reverse the sale. He tries to join the army with Joey but is too young, so he promises Joey that, as soon as he is of age to enlist, he will go and find the beloved animal. Captain Nicholls promises to take great care of Joey and also to keep in touch with Albert.

Joey misses Albert and his old life. He makes friends with Topthorn, a beautiful black thoroughbred, and the two are inseparable from that moment on. Joey does not like the man training him; that man, Corporal Samuel Perkins, is a former jockey. Although he is an excellent rider, he makes up for his short stature by bullying the horses in his care. Captain Nicholls comes to Joey's defense and instructs that he be given more food: he is to be the Captain's horse and therefore should not lose conditioning.

The cavalry regiment is eventually sent by boat to France, where the troops will join the front lines. The voyage is rough; the horses and their soldiers are seasick. The mood is one of fevered excitement; however, once the men and horses reach their encampment and the reality of the situation sets in, their high spirits dissipate. Topthorn, ridden by Captain Stewart, and Joey, ridden by Captain Nicholls, are at the front of the cavalry. The fighting is terrifying and confusing; Joey describes how he can feel Captain Nicholls riding him at one moment, while the next moment he cannot. Captain Nicholls ends up being killed in an early battle.

Joey remains at the head of the cavalry and is ridden now by Trooper Warren: a kind, gentle lad who is not a particularly good horseman but whose conscientious treatment keeps Joey going throughout the harshness of the winter. How is crack made on a spoon stainless steel. (Trooper Warren also has a tendency to pray aloud while riding into battle.) In one part of the campaign, Topthorn and Joey lead the regiment over the barbed wire defenses on the battlefield only to find themselves in enemy territory, as German soldiers appear from the trenches all around them. In an effort to save the remainder of his men from death in battle, Captain Stewart orders them to surrender. As he and Trooper Warren are led away in one direction, Joey and Topthorn are led the opposite way. Their German captors respect the bravery of the horses, and the captain orders his troops to treat them like the heroes they are. They are put to work as stretcher bearers, pulling the ambulance carts.

The two horses are stabled together. One evening, they are startled by the stable door opening. A man comes inside with a small girl. Emilie is a sickly child who lives with her grandfather on his farm, which has been taken over by the Germans for use as their base camp. Emilie, who has a strong and spirited personality, comes to consider the horses her own. The Germans also take a liking to these animals, and Joey is awarded a bloodied Iron Cross medal for bravery by a German soldier whom they rescue from the battlefield.

After a summer working on the farm for Emilie's grandfather, the horses have to leave to follow the German army and pull artillery guns. Emilie is distraught at the loss of her horses. Topthorn is now ridden by Crazy Friedrich, a thoughtful man who has become very attached to him. As the horses are drinking from a stream, Topthorn stumbles and collapses. Joey realizes that he has lost his best friend. As Joey and Friedrich mourn Topthorn, the sound of shells exploding begins around them. Friedrich does not manage to get away and is killed a few paces from Topthorn. Joey stays with them for as long as possible, not wanting to be alone in the world, but the gunfire and shelling terrify him; he begins to run with no particular direction in mind. He runs all night, stumbling over craters and ditches until he feels barbed wire snag his leg. He rips himself free, but his leg begins to stiffen; as the sun rises, he hears excited voices on both sides of him. Joey has found himself trapped in No Man's Land between the British and German trenches. A man in a German uniform waves a white handkerchief and comes out off the trench on one side, and a British soldier follows suit. They agree to work together to free Joey; once they have done so, they flip a coin to decide who will take ownership of Joey. The British soldier wins, and Joey rejoins the British army. The two soldiers observe that if the war were left to them, they would be able to solve everything by communicating and trusting each other.

Joey's leg is extremely painful; he has blood poisoning, which leads to lockjaw. The huge man in charge of the camp orders that he be washed and tended to. The voice of the soldier who answers this man sends chills down Joey's spine: Joey realizes that his Albert is the soldier who was ordered to take care of him. As Albert and Albert's friend, David, clean the mud from Joey's legs, David tells Albert that this horse has the same perfectly equal white sock markings that Albert's farm horse had. Then he washes Joey's forehead and finds the white star marking that Joey had. To confirm that it really is Joey, Albert gives the owl-like whistle with which he always called Joey; Joey responds by going straight to him. Joey and his commanding officer, Major Martin, nurse Joey back from near-death to health.

The end of the war arrives suddenly; when the men are about to leave for home, Albert asks Major Martin about the fate of the horses. He learns that they will be auctioned off, likely to local butchers who will slaughter them for meat. Major Martin gives the men every penny of his salary to try to win Joey at auction. They are outbid by the butcher, but at the last minute another bid is received and Joey is sold to Emilie's grandfather. Emilie died after the horses left the farm, and the old man wants to keep Joey in her memory. When he hears Albert's story, the grandfather sells Joey to Albert for one penny, as long as Albert promises to keep Emilie's memory alive. Albert does so.

When Albert and Joey arrive home, Albert rides Joey into the village and they are welcomed as heroes. Albert subsequently marries his sweetheart, Maisie, but she and Joey never take to each other. Albert's father now dotes on Joey like a grandchild, and Joey resumes his life as a farm horse alongside his beloved old Zoey.

Traveller Immolation backgroundmr. beckers classroom. (1857–1871) was Confederate General Robert E. Lee's most famous horse during the American Civil War. He was a greyAmerican Saddlebred of 16 hands (64 inches, 163 cm), notable for speed, strength and courage in combat. Lee acquired him in February 1862, and rode him in many battles. Traveller outlived Lee by only a few months, and had to be shot when he contracted untreatable tetanus.

Birth and war service[edit]

Traveller, sired by notable racehorse Grey Eagle and originally named Jeff Davis,^[1] was born to Flora in 1857 near the Blue Sulphur Springs, in Greenbrier County, Virginia (now West Virginia) and was first owned and raised by James W. Johnston. An American Saddlebred, he was of Grey Eagle stock;^[2] as a colt, he took the first prize at the Lewisburg, Virginia fairs in 1859 and 1860. As an adult he was a sturdy horse, 16 hands (64 inches, 163 cm) high and 1,100 pounds (500 kg), iron gray in color with black point coloration, a long mane and a flowing tail. He was next owned by Captain Joseph M. Broun and renamed Greenbrier.^[1]

In the spring of 1861, a year before achieving fame as a Confederate general, Robert E. Lee was commanding a small force in western Virginia. The quartermaster of the 3rd Regiment, Wise Legion,^[3][4]Captain Joseph M. Broun, was directed to 'purchase a good serviceable horse of the best Greenbrier stock for our use during the war.' Broun purchased the horse for $175 (approximately $4,545 in 2008)^[5] from Andrew Johnston's son, Captain James W. Johnston, and named him Greenbrier. Major Thomas L. Broun, Joseph's brother recalled that Greenbrier:

.. was 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 roads 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.

General Lee took a great fancy to the horse. He called him his 'colt', and predicted to Broun that he would use it before the war was over. After Lee was transferred to South Carolina, Joseph Broun sold the horse to him for $200 in February 1862. Lee named the horse 'Traveller'.

Lee described his horse in a letter in response to his wife's cousin, Markie Williams, who wished to paint a portrait of Traveller:

If I was an artist like you, I would draw a true picture of Traveller; representing his fine proportions, muscular figure, deep chest, short back, strong haunches, flat legs, small head, broad forehead, delicate ears, quick eye, small feet, and black mane and tail. Such a picture would inspire a poet, whose genius could then depict his worth, and describe his endurance of toil, hunger, thirst, heat and cold; and the dangers and suffering through which he has passed. He could dilate upon his sagacity and affection, and his invariable response to every wish of his rider. He might even imagine his thoughts through the long night-marches and days of the battle through which he has passed. But I am no artist Markie, and can therefore only say he is a Confederate gray.

Traveller was a horse of great stamina and was usually a good horse for an officer in battle because he was difficult to frighten. He could sometimes become nervous and spirited, however. At the Second Battle of Bull Run, while General Lee was at the front reconnoitering, dismounted and holding Traveller by the bridle, the horse became frightened at some movement of the enemy and, plunging, pulled Lee down on a stump, breaking both of his hands. Lee went through the remainder of that campaign chiefly in an ambulance. When he rode on horseback, a courier rode in front leading his horse.

After the war, Traveller accompanied Lee to Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. He lost many hairs from his tail to admirers (veterans and college students) who wanted a souvenir of the famous horse and his general. Lee wrote to his daughter Mildred that 'the boys are plucking out his tail, and he is presenting the appearance of a plucked chicken.'^[6]

Death and burials[edit]

In 1870, during Lee's funeral procession, Traveller was led behind the caisson bearing the General's casket, his saddle and bridle draped with black crepe. Not long after Lee's death, in 1871, Traveller stepped on a nail and developed tetanus.^[7] There was no cure, and he was shot to relieve his suffering.

Traveller was initially buried behind the main buildings of the college, but was unearthed by persons unknown and his bones were bleached for exhibition in Rochester, New York, in 1875/1876. In 1907, Richmond journalist Joseph Bryan paid to have the bones mounted and returned to the college, named Washington and Lee University since Lee's death, and they were displayed in the Brooks Museum, in what is now Robinson Hall. The skeleton was periodically vandalized there by students who carved their initials in it for good luck. In 1929, the bones were moved to the museum in the basement of the Lee Chapel, where they stood for 30 years, deteriorating with exposure.

Finally in 1971, Traveller's remains were buried in a wooden box encased in concrete next to the Lee Chapel on the Washington & Lee campus, a few feet away from the Lee family crypt inside, where his master's body rests. The stable where he lived his last days, directly connected to the Lee House on campus, traditionally stands with its doors left open; this is said to allow his spirit to wander freely. The 24th President of Washington & Lee (and thus a recent resident of Lee House), Thomas Burish, caught strong criticism from many members of the Washington & Lee community for closing the stable gates in violation of this tradition. Burish later had the doors to the gates repainted in a dark green color, which he referred to in campus newspapers as 'Traveller Green'.

The base newspaper of the United States Army's Fort Lee, located in Petersburg, Virginia, is named Traveller.

Traveller in verse[edit]

And now at last,

Comes Traveller and his master. Look at them well.

The horse is an iron-grey, sixteen hands high,

Short back, deep chest, strong haunch, flat legs, small head,

Delicate ear, quick eye, black mane and tail,

Wise brain, obedient mouth.

Such horses are

The jewels of the horseman's hands and thighs,

They go by the word and hardly need the rein.

They bred such horses in Virginia then,

Horses that were remembered after death

And buried not so far from Christian ground

That if their sleeping riders should arise

They could not witch them from the earth again

And ride a printless course along the grass

With the old manage and light ease of hand.

— Passage from John Brown's Body, a poem by Stephen Vincent Benet^[8]

Their sleepless, bloodshot eyes were turned to me.

Their flags hung black against the pelting sky.

Their jests and curses echoed whisperingly,

As though from long-lost years of sorrow - Why,

You're weeping! What, then? What more did you see?

A gray man on a gray horse rode by.

— Passage from Traveller, a novel by Richard Adams

Lee's other horses[edit]

Although the most famous, Traveller was not Lee's only horse during the war:

• Lucy Long, a mare, was the primary backup horse to Traveller. She remained with the Lee family after the war, dying considerably after Lee, when she was thirty-four years old. She was a gift from J.E.B. Stuart who purchased her from Adam Stephen Dandridge of The Bower. Notably, she was ridden by Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
• Richmond, a bay colored stallion, was acquired by General Lee in early 1861. He died in 1862 after the Battle of Malvern Hill.
• Brown-Roan, or The Roan, was purchased by Lee in West Virginia around the time of Traveller's purchase. He went blind in 1862 and had to be retired.
• Ajax, a sorrel horse, was too large for Lee to ride comfortably and was thus used infrequently.

James Longstreet, one of Lee's most trusted generals, was referred to by Lee as his Old War Horse because of his reliability. After the Civil War, many Southerners were angered by Longstreet's defection to the Republican Party and blamed him for their defeat in the Civil War. However, Lee supported reconciliation and was pleased with how Longstreet had fought in the War. This nickname was Lee's symbol of trust.

In popular media[edit]

• Moonrunners (a 1975 movie that spawned the TV series The Dukes of Hazzard) featured a dirt-track racing car, a 1955 Chevrolet, with a Confederate flag on the roof, named 'Traveller'. (Traveller was later transformed into the painted up street car, a 1969 Dodge Charger, known as the 'General Lee' in the TV series.)
• Adams, Richard. Traveller New York: Knopf, 1988. ISBN0-440-20493-3. A fictional first-person narrative, in dialect, by Traveller. His equine memoirs are told to a cat in the stable of the retired general.^[9]
• In Bronco Benny, from the Belgian comic Les Tuniques Bleues, Traveller has a major role. Only Bronco Benny, best horse tamer of the Union, is able to break in the proud horse. His capture causes war with Native Americans who see Traveller as a divinity. In the end, when the heroes fake death, Lee doesn't notice them but Traveller does and displays a little affection for them.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^ ^ab'Robert E. Lee and His Horse Traveller'. HistoryNet. World History Group. June 12, 2006. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
2. ^American SaddlebredArchived 2011-09-10 at the Wayback Machine magazine, November/December 1998.
3. ^Dickinson, Jack L. Tattered Uniforms and Bright Bayonets: West Virginia's Confederate Soldiers. Huntington: Marshall University Library Associates, 1995
4. ^Broun, Thomas L. Letter to Annie Broun. 16 Sept. 1861. Southern Historical Collection. Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
5. ^Inflation counterArchived 2007-08-08 at the Wayback Machine
6. ^'Robert Lee letter to Mildred Lee, 29 October 1865'. Family Tales. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
7. ^Cavin, Tom (August 5, 2014). Reckless: The Racehorse Who Became a Marine Corps Hero. Penguin. p. 52. ISBN9780698137202.
8. ^http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700461.txt
9. ^New York Times book review.

References[edit]

• Southern Historical Society Papers, Richmond, Va., January–December, 1890.
• General Lee's Traveller, On the Campus of Washington and Lee, brochure published by the Lee Chapel Museum, 2005.
• Magner, Blake A. Traveller & Company, The Horses of Gettysburg. Gettysburg, PA: Farnsworth House Military Impressions, 1995. ISBN0-9643632-2-4.
• From War Horse To Saddle Horse, American Saddlebred, November/December 1998.

External links[edit]

War Horse Joey (november 2014)river Oak Saddlery Tack

• General Lee and Traveller, a poem by Rev. Robert Tuttle

War Horse Joey (november 2014)river Oak Saddlery Company