As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
I wonder sometimes why some horses are remembered and others are not. I always enjoy the anecdote about war horse which are the prizes of the great leaders as they many times take on a human life of their own.
General Stonewall Jackson had such a horse, but he was not this dashing thoroughbred warhorse one envisions, but was instead part of a seized shipment of Cavalry horses bound for Washington in the war, and thus confiscated, the General purchased two horses.
The one which endured was Fancy as he was called.
There was nothing fancy about this horse as Mrs. Jackson relates the story, as the little horse was purchased for her, as the General hoped for a short war and to present her to his wife.
Fancy was one of those rare horses who was more dog than horse. He would lay down at rests and became the favorite of the General, as he rode like being rocked in a cradle.
He was a fat sorrel who General Jackson indulged by hand feeding him apples often.
This was the horse which Stonewall Jackson was riding the day he was wounded mortally. The horse was lost for some time on the battlefield, but a Confederate Soldier found him, and kindly Virginia Governor Letcher shipped the horse to North Carolina where Mrs. Jackson was staying with family.
The horse was ridden by all, and used in carriage, and had a reputation that no gate could not be opened with his mouth nor any rail could remain in place with this horse around.
He seemed to enjoy company as he would march to the barn, open gates, and set free mules and horses who would then follow him to the grain fields to indulge in.
He had a great attraction at county and state fairs as much as the old Soldiers, and his final residence was the Old Soldiers Home in Richmond, where he lived to 1886 AD in the year of our Lord.
A taxidermist mounted the horse and there he was on display in the library for all the old Soldiers to gaze upon.
A General who had horses presented to him, but he always preferred that little sorrel, even unto death.
agtG
