List of horses of the American Civil War
This is a list of named horses and the senior Union and Confederate officers who rode them during the American Civil War.
Horse | Officer | Notes |
---|---|---|
Ajax | Robert E. Lee | Ajax was reportedly too large for Lee to ride comfortably and was therefore used infrequently |
Aldebaron | Philip Sheridan | Sheridan's first horse |
Almond Eye | Benjamin F. Butler | |
Bayard | Philip Kearny | Kearny's secondary horse; Kearny was killed at Chantilly while riding this horse |
Bill | Henry J. Hunt | |
Billy | George H. Thomas | Named for William T. Sherman |
Black Bess | John Hunt Morgan | |
Blackie | George G. Meade | Meade's secondary horse |
Blackjack | Jefferson Davis | |
Boney | William Rosecrans | Rosecrans' favorite horse |
Brown Roan (also referred to as "The Roan") | Robert E. Lee | One of Lee's secondary horses, Brown Roan went blind in 1862 and had to be retired |
Bucephalus | Sterling Price | Greek; βοκεφάλας. Bu- (Ox; βο) + -cephalus (head; κεφάλι): Bucephalus (Oxhead; βοκεφάλας), was originally, the Black Stallion of Alexander the Great that advanced Western Civilization from Greece to far east Asia. The original Bucephalus, led battle line penetrations, making infantry and horses catch up to him. If Bucephalus could not press forward, Alexander the Great would leap ahead from atop Bucephalus over the battle line and Bucephalus would leap after to his master. Bucephalus led the defeat of the Indian Elephant cavalry in the forest.
Alexander's Bucephalus, was buried with the highest honors in history for a horse. Ergo, Sterling Price named his horse after history's most eponymous battle horse name--a credit to Sterling Price's education in the Classics. |
Burns (also called Black Burns) | George B. McClellan | McClellan's secondary horse |
Butler | Wade Hampton | Hampton's favorite horse |
Captain | Wade Hampton | |
Charlemagne | Joshua Chamberlain | |
Cincinnati | Ulysses S. Grant | Grant's favorite and most famous horse, acquired in 1864; most paintings of and memorials to Grant depict him astride Cincinnati, including the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial at the base of Capitol Hill |
Cornwall | John Sedgwick | Sedgwick's secondary horse |
Daniel Webster | George B. McClellan | |
Decatur | Philip Kearny | Kearny's secondary horse, shot through the neck at the Battle of Fair Oaks |
Dixie | Edward Porter Alexander | |
Dixie | Patrick Cleburne | Horse killed at the Battle of Perryville |
Dolly | William T. Sherman | Sherman's secondary horse |
Don Juan | George Armstrong Custer | One of Custer's secondary horses |
Duke | William T. Sherman | In a letter in 1888, Sherman wrote that his favorite horse throughout the war was the one he rode in Atlanta |
Egypt | Ulysses S. Grant | One of many secondary horses used by Grant |
Fancy | John F. Reynolds | Reynolds' favorite horse |
Fanny | John Gibbon | |
Faugh-a-Ballagh | Patrick Kelly | |
Fire-Eater | Albert Sidney Johnston | |
Firefly | Robert E. Rodes | |
Fleeter | Belle Boyd | |
Fleetfoot | Walter H. Taylor | |
Fly-By-Night | James Longstreet | A gift from General Robert E. Lee in 1864 |
Fox | Ulysses S. Grant | Grant's primary horse |
Gertie | George G. Meade | Meade's secondary horse |
Grand Old Canister | Daniel Sickles | Sickles' secondary horse |
Grape | Daniel Sickles | Sickles' secondary horse |
Grey Eagle | John Buford | |
Handsome Joe | John Sedgwick | Sedgwick's secondary horse |
Harry | George Armstrong Custer | One of Custer's secondary horses |
Hero | James Longstreet | |
Highfly | J.E.B. Stuart | Stuart's secondary horse |
Jack | Ulysses S. Grant | One of many secondary horses used by Grant |
Jasper | Robert H. Milroy | [1] |
Jeff Davis | John Bell Hood | |
Jeff Davis | Ulysses S. Grant | One of many secondary horses used by Grant |
Jennie | Sullivan Ballou | Killed at First Bull Run, the horse Ballou was riding when he received his mortal wound at that battle |
Jinny | Isaac R. Trimble | |
Kangaroo | Ulysses S. Grant | One of many secondary horses used by Grant |
Kentuck | George B. McClellan | McClellan's favorite horse |
King Philip | Nathan Bedford Forrest | Forrest's favorite horse after the death of Roderick |
Lancer | George Armstrong Custer | Custer's favorite horse |
Little Sorrel (also Old Sorrel) | Stonewall Jackson | Jackson was fatally wounded while riding Little Sorrel at the Battle of Chancellorsville; Little Sorrel is buried on the Virginia Military Institute parade deck mere feet from Jackson's famous statue |
Lookout | Joseph Hooker | Named after the Battle of Lookout Mountain |
Lucy Long | Robert E. Lee | A gift from J.E.B. Stuart, Lucy Long was the primary back-up horse used by Lee |
Methuselah | Ulysses S. Grant | Grant's first horse upon re-entering the Army in 1861 |
Milroy | John B. Gordon | The horse was captured from Union General Robert H. Milroy at Second Winchester in 1863 and subsequently named after him. |
Moscow | Philip Kearny | Reportedly Kearny's favorite, though Kearny avoided riding him due to his conspicuous white color |
My Maryland | J.E.B. Stuart | Stuart's secondary horse |
Nellie Gray | Fitzhugh Lee | Horse killed at the Battle of Opequon |
Old Baldy (also simply Baldy) | George G. Meade | Meade's favorite horse, which he rode at the Battle of Gettysburg; Old Baldy was wounded at First Bull Run and Antietam |
Old Bob | Ambrose Burnside | |
Old Isham | Benjamin F. Cheatham | Horse was named after Isham Harris, the Confederate Governor of Tennessee |
Old Jim | Strong Vincent | |
Old Spot | Judson Kilpatrick | |
Pocohontas | George H. Steuart | |
Pretty | David McMurtie Gregg | |
Prince | John F. Reynolds | Reynolds' secondary horse |
Plug Ugly | Alpheus S. Williams | |
Rambler | John Sedgwick | Sedgwick's favorite horse |
Red Eye | Richard B. Garnett | |
Red Pepper | Patrick Cleburne | |
Richmond | Robert E. Lee | Richmond died in 1862 after the Battle of Malvern Hill |
Rienzi (later Winchester) | Philip Sheridan | Renamed after Sheridan's famous ride at the Battle of Winchester |
Rifle | Richard S. Ewell | |
Roanoke | George Armstrong Custer | One of Custer's secondary horses |
Roderick | Nathan Bedford Forrest | Forrest's favorite horse |
Rondy | Ulysses S. Grant | The first horse Grant used in battle |
Sam | William T. Sherman | Sherman's secondary horse |
Shiloh | Daniel Ruggles | |
Skylark | J.E.B. Stuart | [2] |
Slicky | Alfred Pleasonton | |
Tammany | Daniel Sickles | Sickles' favorite horse |
Tobey | William Rosecrans | |
Tom Telegraph | Turner Ashby | [3] |
Traveller | Robert E. Lee | Lee's favorite horse; Traveller died a few months after Lee in 1871, and was later buried beside him at Lee Chapel in Virginia |
Virginia | J.E.B. Stuart | Noted in Gettysburg Campaign[4] |
Warren | Bryan Grimes | Pulled Grimes' coffin during his funeral procession |
Yorkshire | Alpheus S. Williams |
See also[]
- Horsemanship of Ulysses S. Grant
- War horse
References[]
Further reading[]
- Cozzens, Peter. Shenandoah 1862: Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8078-3200-4.
- Magner, Blake A. Traveller & Company, The Horses of Gettysburg. Gettysburg, PA: Farnsworth House Military Impressions, 1995. ISBN 0-9643632-2-4.
- Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause: A Biography of J.E.B. Stuart. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7432-7819-5.
External links[]
Categories:
- Military equipment of the American Civil War
- Warhorses
- Individual warhorses
- American Civil War-related lists