You did not want to be General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain‘s horse… The job application really should’ve included something like “extreme hazardous conditions; great risk to life and limb.” As the story goes, six horses were shot while Chamberlain was riding them. A bad luck rider?
Chamberlain’s horse toward the end of the American Civil War was Charlemagne. Really for all the things this amazing horse did, he ought to be in more paintings and sculptures. Continue reading
Horses! They seem to be everywhere and yet forgotten in some Civil War studies. Just for fun, we thought it would be nice to spend a whole month of Fridays talking about some horses of the Civil War era that belonged to famous generals.
Of courses, horses had many tasks during the conflict – pulling artillery, supply wagons, ambulances, cavalry mounts, officers’ steeds. Horses are immortalized in the statues that grace battlefields, memorial parks, and cities. And – still we focus more on the man than the beast. That’s natural – after all, the generals fight the battles; the horse just carries them so they can see the battlefield and plan the strategy. But it’s time for some of those horses to get some extra attention and love!
Starting January’s historical theme of the month is General Robert E. Lee’s most famouse horse: Traveller. Continue reading
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