Traveller (thing)

"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."

Stephen Vincent Benet

Traveller was a horse owned by General Robert E. Lee throughout most of the Civil War.

Born 1857 in Greenbrier County of West Virginia, Traveller was christened Jeff Davis (probably after Jefferson Davis) by Andrew Johnston, the man who reared him. Among the horse's early accomplishments was winning the Lewisberg Fair's first place premium prizes in both 1859 and 1860. He was first purchased by Captain Joseph M. Broun and renamed Greenbrier. In 1861, Lee happened upon Captain Broun in South Carolina and bought the horse for $200, redubbing him Traveller. Traveller was an American Saddlebred (perhaps best known as being the breed of the Lone Ranger's horse, Silver). He had a sturdy build, was 16 hands high and weighed 500 kilograms. General Lee once described his horse in a letter to an artist friend who wanted 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 grey.

Lee rode Traveller consistently throughout the Civil War. With the Second Battle of Bull Run, however, their smooth relationship was interrupted by an unfortunate accident. As General Lee dismounted and held Traveller by the bridle during intense combat, the horse got spooked and dove to the ground, causing Lee to fall onto a stump. The fall smashed both of Lee's hands, and the general supposedly spent the remainder of the campaign directing his troops from the bed of a field ambulance. Afterwards, when he did deign to descend from the ambulance to ride Traveller, it was only with a courier riding before him and leading the horse.

There seem to have been no hard feelings about the incident, however, and after the war ended, General Lee brought Traveller with him to Washington College, where the retired general was given the position of university president. The renowned horse lost many tail hairs to students eager for a souvenir, inspiring Lee to write to his daughter Mildred that "the boys are plucking out his tail, and he is presenting the appearance of a plucked chicken." When Lee died in 1870, he was outlived by Traveller, who marched in his funeral procession clad in black crepe and with reversed boots in his stirrups. A year later, in 1871, the horse that had survived so many battles of the Civil War was finally done in by a rusty nail, which he trod upon and contracted lockjaw. As there was no known cure for the disease, he was euthanized and buried alongside General Lee at Washington College. He was thirteen.