When Colonel Washington accompanied General Braddock as aide-de-camp in
the Virginia campaign against the French and their Indian allies, he
took with him three war-horses. Of these his favorite was “Greenway,” a
fiery steed of great speed and endurance. In the disastrous battle of
July 9, 1755, Braddock was mortally wounded, after having five horses
killed under him, a record, so far as the writer is aware, unequaled
in the annals of war. Washington lost two horses. One of these was
replaced by the dying general, who presented to him his best charger,
which had escaped the carnage. A week later the young colonel wrote of
the engagement to his brother John:
By the all powerful dispensation of Providence, I have been
protected beyond all human probability or expectation: for I have
had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet
escaped unhurt, although death was on every side of me.
After the capture of Canada and the close of the war, Washington
frequently followed the foxhounds mounted on “Braddock,” as he named
that soldier’s powerful dark bay, or on “Greenway,” which was a dark
gray, and it was seldom that the Virginian was not in the lead.
On June 20, 1775, Colonel Washington received his commission as
Commander-in-Chief of the American Army, and on the following morning,
accompanied by Generals Charles Lee and Philip Schuyler, he set out for
Cambridge, Massachusetts. He took with him five horses, his favorite
being a spirited stallion called “Douglas,” on which Washington first
appeared before the army at Cambridge, charming all beholders with
his manly grace and military bearing. Jefferson called him “the best
horseman of his age.” Before the close of the Revolutionary War the
general acquired by gift or purchase seven additional chargers. His
bay horse “Fairfax” was so badly wounded at the battle of Trenton that
he was left behind. At the battle of Monmouth, Washington rode a white
steed presented to him by William Livingston, Governor of New Jersey.
Such was the excessive heat on that June day, as well as the deep and
sandy nature of the soil, that the spirited charger sank under the
general, dying on the spot. His portrait is preserved in Trumbull’s
full-length painting of Washington, in the City Hall of New York. He
then mounted a high-bred chestnut mare with long, flowing mane and tail
named “Dolly.” Lafayette said of her and her rider:
At Monmouth I commanded a division, and it may be supposed I
was pretty well occupied; still, I took time, amid the roar and
confusion of the conflict, to admire our beloved chief, who,
mounted on a splendid charger, rode along the ranks amid the shouts
of the soldiers, cheering them by his voice and example, and
restoring to our standard the fortunes of the fight. I thought I
had never seen so superb a man.
Another of Washington’s war-horses, and the last to be mentioned, was
“Nelson,” a light chestnut, sixteen hands high, with white face and
legs. He was a gift from Governor Thomas Nelson of Virginia, and was
named in his honor. He was used for the last time at the surrender of
Lord Cornwallis, afterward leading a life of leisure at Mount Vernon
and following Washington’s bier in the funeral procession. Before the
Civil War, while on a visit to the general’s adopted son, Mr. Custis of
Arlington, I was informed that when a youth he had ridden “Buckskin”
and “Nelson,” and that the handsome white horse that fell on the field
of Monmouth was painted from memory by Colonel Trumbull. Mr. Custis
said:
Among the many troublesome and unbroken horses ridden by
Washington, he was never thrown, and he was perhaps the strongest
man of his time. Mounted on “Buckskin,” I occasionally accompanied
the general when making his daily morning rounds at Mount Vernon,
riding “Yorktown,” the youngest of his war-horses, and the last
mounted by him, only a few days before his death. On one of those
occasions Washington saw with displeasure two stalwart negroes
vainly endeavoring to raise a heavy stone to the top of a wall.
Throwing “Yorktown’s” bridle to me, he sprang from his saddle,
strode forward, pushed the slaves aside, leaned over, and, grasping
the huge stone with his large, strong hands, slowly but surely
raised it to its place, and remounted without any remark.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON’S FAVORITE WHITE CHARGER “LEXINGTON,” AT THE
BATTLE OF MONMOUTH