Originally aired on February 02, 1996 - In part 75 of our Civil War series, Virginia Tech history professor James Robertson talks about the most famous horse in American history.
#75 – Traveller
He is the most famous horse in American history. His name is an easy answer in any Civil War trivia contest. He is instantly recognizable, even though the man who rode him through the nation’s great struggle was General Robert E. Lee.
The horse came from Greenbrier County. Lee first saw the animal when on assignment in the mountains of western Virginia in the autumn of 1861. The original owner told Lee that the stallion “needed neither whip nor spur, and would walk his five or six miles an hour” over any manner of path. The man added that it was necessary to hold the animal in check with a tight rein because of the eagerness it always possessed to jump ahead.
In February, 1862, Lee purchased the horse for two hundred dollars. The iron-gray stallion was four years old and extremely handsome. He stood a full five and a half feet tall, with black points, dark mane and tail. The original owner had given it the name “Jeff Davis”. Lee decided to call it “Greenbrier”; but after riding the horse thirty-five miles in one day, Lee settled instead on the name “Traveller”, and Traveller he remained thereafter.
The love affair between horse and master was instantaneous and never-ending. Lee once commented that the sight of the stallion “would inspire a poet”. Staff officers noted that whenever Lee passed Traveller, he always gave the animal a gentle pat. What one aide called “a peculiar low whistle” from Lee would get Traveller’s immediate attention.
For more than three years in the Civil War, Traveller bore Lee faithfully. All but immune to battle sounds, the animal had a calm disposition that belied its strength. Traveller also seemed to reflect Lee’s feelings: nimble and powerful when the General was excited, quiet and slow when Lee seemed downcast.
A few months after Appomattox, Lee assumed the presidency of Washington College in Lexington. Traveller became a favorite of veterans and students alike. Souvenir-hunters were constantly attempting to pluck hairs from the horse’s tail – a pursuit that caused Traveller to become skittish whenever anyone walked behind him. The horse lived in the stable of the presidential home on campus, but he spent much of his time grazing in the front yard. When Lee came in sight, Traveller would toss his head in the same way that he had acknowledged the cheers of soldiers in battle.
Because the horse was a silent veteran of Lee’s campaigns, he held a special place in the General’s heart. Lee’s affection for the animal became deeper in those autumn years of life. Once away on a trip, Lee wrote home: “How is Traveller? Tell him I miss his dreadfully and have repented of our separation but once and that is the whole time since we parted.” The General gave the horse sugar cubes. Many times in Lexington, Lee was seen gazing silently at the horse, as if remembering countless scenes and hardships they had shared together.
At Lee’s funeral procession in October, 1870, Traveller walked slowly behind the hearse. Crepe emblems of mourning adorned the saddle and bridle. Many bystanders insisted that the horse’s face was a picture of utter sorrow.
Traveller survived his master by only two years. At the age of fifteen, the animal stepped on a nail that imbedded itself too deeply to be extracted. Tetanus developed and was fatal. Thoughtful citizens buried Traveller just outside the southern wall of the Washington College chapel. To outsiders, it seemed a strange thing to do. Yet only a few feet away, on the other side of the wall, lies the horse’s beloved master.
It is fitting that for the journey through eternity, Lee and Traveller would be close together.
