Kittens, Puppies, and Ponies? Why Not?
LC 01829 detail. Unhappy canine posterior, tail down.
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LC 02006. Bermuda Hundred, Va. Officers by their quarters near the signal tower. Dog assistant.
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General Willcox, Kearney, and Gyp
General Orlando Willcox with his horse Kearney and his puppy Gyp at the Friend house. Detail from drawing by Andrew McCallum.
"Then Elon has a new dog? I wonder if he is as funny as Gyp? Gyp is already getting watchful at night. He sits on his hind legs, runs after a chipmunk & cracks chestnuts like a squirrel."
"Gyp remains as funny & bright as ever. If the officers don't spoil him by playing with him, I think he will be a nice little fellow worth taking home. He is a perfect little beauty with long and silken black hair like feathers on his head & and his tail like a plume. At night he takes his place at the foot of the bed & keeps my feet warm after the fire in the tent dies down."
"It was a beautiful sunshiny morning & the troops & even the horses feel in fine spirits. My horse Kearney was full of life, but under perfect management with one hand."
-- General Orlando Willcox, from Forgotten Valor, Scott, ed.
"Gyp remains as funny & bright as ever. If the officers don't spoil him by playing with him, I think he will be a nice little fellow worth taking home. He is a perfect little beauty with long and silken black hair like feathers on his head & and his tail like a plume. At night he takes his place at the foot of the bed & keeps my feet warm after the fire in the tent dies down."
"It was a beautiful sunshiny morning & the troops & even the horses feel in fine spirits. My horse Kearney was full of life, but under perfect management with one hand."
-- General Orlando Willcox, from Forgotten Valor, Scott, ed.
Cats and Kittens at City Point
Telegraph cabin at City Point. Note cat and kitten.
LC cw 02958.
Detail from LC cw 02958, above.
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Horace Porter recalled President Lincoln playing with kittens at City Point, saying that it was a “curious sight at an army headquarters, upon the eve of a great military crisis” to watch the commander-in-chief “tenderly caressing three stray kittens. It well illustrated the kindness of the man’s disposition, and showed the childlike simplicity which was mingled with the grandeur of his nature.” -- Porter, Campaigning with Grant, 410
And the Avery House June 30, [1864] At the present time we are doing nothing here [with the 5th Corps at the Avery house], either to finish the war or fill my journal....Books we have none, so time hangs heavy; as one might judge when I took to playing chess, a game about which I know nothing and which I have never liked.... Another amusement is playing with a litter of kittens which have been dropped since we came here. Charles Wainwright, A Diary of Battle. |
This cat story is from W.W. Blackford, War Years With JEB Stuart, 1946.
Horse Racing -- Not always Approved Of
"Saint Patrick's Day Races," Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Charles Wellington Reed papers. Detail.
October 14th....A horse race track had been improvised near Fort Dushane, which many of the Generals, other officers and men visited on race days.... On the 19th, Lieutenant-Colonel Edwards called General Crawford's attention to the horse racing ... as having a demoralizing effect upon the army....On Saturday, the 22d, General Warren sent down and arrested all the enlisted men at the horse races. Several Generals and numerous other officers were present (PP276-277). -- History of the Twenty-Fourth Michigan, Curtis 1891.
March 17, Friday
St. Patrick, hys [sic] day, in whose honor the Irish brigade of the 2nd Corps gave races, near the Cummings house. There was a stand, gay with flags; and a band which discoursed sweet music from an army wagon. A large number of soldiers were allowed to be present and behaved most correctly. On the stand were Gens. Humphreys, Mott, Hayes, Warren, Crawford, Ayres Miles &c. & Gen. Meade was also there, and a parcel of ladies…. (pp. 345-346).
Meade’s Army: The Private Notebooks of Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman. Edited by David Lowe. Kent State University Press, 2007.
March 17, Friday
St. Patrick, hys [sic] day, in whose honor the Irish brigade of the 2nd Corps gave races, near the Cummings house. There was a stand, gay with flags; and a band which discoursed sweet music from an army wagon. A large number of soldiers were allowed to be present and behaved most correctly. On the stand were Gens. Humphreys, Mott, Hayes, Warren, Crawford, Ayres Miles &c. & Gen. Meade was also there, and a parcel of ladies…. (pp. 345-346).
Meade’s Army: The Private Notebooks of Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman. Edited by David Lowe. Kent State University Press, 2007.
LC 03676. Proud puppy owner, Commissary Department, 50th New York Engineers.
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Ah, there is some discussion as to whether this "puppy" is not actually a goat. What do you think?
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Quartermaster General Rufus Ingalls and his Dog at City Point
Army of the Potomac Quartermaster General Rufus Ingalls with horses and dog. City Point. LC cw 02000r.
LC 02288. Another view of General Ingalls' Dalmation, posing with what appears to be a pile of Civil War dog doo. Does this dog look guilty or what?
LC 3b11843. "General Ingalls' Coach Dog" at City Point, doing a creditable job of freezing for the camera.
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LC 3b11843. General Ingalls with family and pampered pooch.
LC 02002. General Ingalls' saddle horse and dog.
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Other Proud Horses, Grooms, and Officers at Petersburg
Ulysses S. Grant's horse, Jeff Davis, at City Point. LC cw01998.
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Ulysses S. Grant's horse, Cincinnati, at City Point. LC
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Alice Mason Collection, Boston Athenaeum 433865. No date. Photographer unknown.
"As we sat there an unexploded spherical case came near taking off the hind legs of Grant’s 4000-dollar horse." -- Theodore Lyman, near Hatcher's Run, October 27, 1864.
Barlow is a Softie
"A Confederate colonel was captured during the fight [Jerusalem Plank Road]. He was mounted on a superb gray horse which General Barlow afterwards purchased and rode in battle. The splendid animal became very fond of the General and would follow him around the camp begging for the lumps of sugar that the General would be pretty sure to have in his pocket with which to treat his equine friend".
St. Clair A. Mulholland, The Story of the 116th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, p.278. Winslow Homer, Special Artist
Miranda Tries to Desert
My duties kept me on the picket line most of the time. On one occasion I was lying down drawing in a notebook, the vedette looking on, when suddenly he cried “Your horse is gone!” There, walking across the open field, straight towards the Yankees was Miranda. I ordered the man to bring her back as he should have been holding her. Off he dashed and within probably not fifty yards of the Yankee Vedette, he caught her and brought her back. I rather expected the Yank would fire on him, but he did not….I was ashamed of my old warhorse for trying to desert to the enemy. I think she hoped to get full rations on the other side, for about this time both men and horses were slowly starving on the Confederate side (pp 98-99).
In the Saddle With Jeb Stuart: the Story of Frank Robertson Smith of Jeb Stuarts’s Staff, edited by Robert J. Trout.
Barlow is a Softie
"A Confederate colonel was captured during the fight [Jerusalem Plank Road]. He was mounted on a superb gray horse which General Barlow afterwards purchased and rode in battle. The splendid animal became very fond of the General and would follow him around the camp begging for the lumps of sugar that the General would be pretty sure to have in his pocket with which to treat his equine friend".
St. Clair A. Mulholland, The Story of the 116th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, p.278. Winslow Homer, Special Artist
Miranda Tries to Desert
My duties kept me on the picket line most of the time. On one occasion I was lying down drawing in a notebook, the vedette looking on, when suddenly he cried “Your horse is gone!” There, walking across the open field, straight towards the Yankees was Miranda. I ordered the man to bring her back as he should have been holding her. Off he dashed and within probably not fifty yards of the Yankee Vedette, he caught her and brought her back. I rather expected the Yank would fire on him, but he did not….I was ashamed of my old warhorse for trying to desert to the enemy. I think she hoped to get full rations on the other side, for about this time both men and horses were slowly starving on the Confederate side (pp 98-99).
In the Saddle With Jeb Stuart: the Story of Frank Robertson Smith of Jeb Stuarts’s Staff, edited by Robert J. Trout.
LC 03844. "Petersburg, Virginia. Lt. Vane and horse, Army of the Potomac"
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LC 03905. "Major George W. Ford and horse, 50th New York Engineers"
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LC 03806. " Surg. Charles N. Hewitt and horse, 50th New York Engineers"
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LC 03808. "Capt. Edward A. Flint's horse. Headquarters, Army of the Potomac"
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Salute to Working Horses and Mules
LC 05622 detail. Wagons queued up at the Sutlers' tents in City Point. One wagon reads 7th New York.
Some Doggie Anecdotes
Chasing Bullets
While the Reg. was here by the river [the Appomattox], a ' liver and white ' pointer dog used occasionally to get between the Union and Confederate lines in Mr. John Hare's field, and mistaking the flying bullets for bees, would run
hither and thither, giving up the chase of one when he heard the hum of another, tacking and darting after them every which way for an hour at a time — a clear case of ignorance proving to be bliss (p. 414).
-- 13th New Hampshire Regiment. Millett Thompson.
Dog Express
The dog express will ever be memorable in this winter's annals, since a certain canine of strictly impartial sentiments had been taught to respond to a whistle from either side. Thus with a can of coffee suspended from his neck he would amble over to the Johnnies, and when they had replaced coffee with tobacco he would return in obedience to Union signals, intent only on the food reward both sides gave him.
The Ninth New York Heavy Artillery: A History of Its Organization.... Alfred Seelye Roe, 1899.
Battlefield Burial
During the battle {February 7, 1865] Lieutenant Colonel Edwards noticed that his men had ceased firing in one place They were helping the Seventh Wisconsin men bury their pet dog which had followed them from camp to field and was always sharing his chances in battle with the men knowing no fear This day a minnie ball killed him and the men suspended their shooting long enough to give their pet dog an honorable but hasty burial amid showers of bullets from the enemy (p. 292).
-- A History of the Twenty-Fourth Michigan,Known as the Iron Brigade, Orson Blair Curtis. 1891.
Hunting Deserters
There is a Captain Young who is famous as a Rebel Scout and always goes attended by a large white dog, who is a terror to their men. He spends his nights between the lines, and has caught many of their attempted deserters. He spends his time spying out our lines, and General Meade, it is said, has offered a large reward for his capture. Last night the dog, who is his precursor, was seen by two of our pickets. I immediately took five of our men and set out in pursuit. We prowled around between the lines an hour or so, and not meeting him or finding any trace, we had to give it up as a bad job (pp 321-322).
--Recollections of the Civil War; with many original diary entries and letters written from the seat of war, and with annotated references. by Mason Whiting Tyler and William Seymour Tyler, 1912.
Dr. Claiborne and Jack retreat from Petersburg in April 1865
…on the heights of Ettrick took one last look at Petersburg- as it was. Here I overtook my cortege. And, mustering them, found one absentee. This was a yellow, bob-tailed, bob-eared, rough haired Scotch terrier, about twelve years old, who had seen no little service and showed it. He was irritable, selfish, self-asserting, frail as to virtue, his name disagreeably associated with any number of scandals, but full of faith in his master, and irrevocably attached to his master’s fortunes, or misfortunes. I had given my chief of ambulance orders that, whoever should be left behind, Jack should go, and proper transportation should be furnished him. He had always had too high an appreciation of himself to walk, and had ridden more thousands of miles, had fallen out of more vehicles, and been run over oftener, than any other dog in the world. I assert this without fear of contradiction.
He had but few friends, and but little capacity to make friends. Some incompatibility of temper, I suspect, had occurred betwixt him and the chief of ambulance, on the subject of riding, before the start from Petersburg, and hence Jack was left behind. I said to the chief: ”Return at once to the city and find me my dog, or fall into the hands of the enemy with him.” The man looked at me for a minute as if he would question such an order, but four years of discipline and obedience had not lost its force on the first night of the retreat, and he turned off and retraced his steps to Petersburg. I never expected to see him again, but late at night and after we had gone into camp, he returned on horseback… and was leading Jack by a chain of white handkerchiefs. I did not inquire where he got the horse, but having some curiousity as to where he got the handkerchiefs, I ventured to ask him. “Well, Sir,” he said, “they are breaking up everything in town and robbing the stores, and I found these handkerchiefs at the head of Old street.”…. One tremendous explosion caused such panic in our little party that Jack, who had slept on my blanket at my side, became demoralized and sought individual safety in individual flight. As he disappeared in the darkness I never expected to see him again, and never did until after my return, some two months later, to Petersburg, when he was the first one of my acquaintances to meet and greet me. His subsequent history, though not without interest or detail, would lead me away from my subject, and henceforth he will appear in this narrative no more. He was a poor soldier, always left the line when the firing began, impelled by thirst or some other consideration of a personal character; but his services in civil life entitled him, in my belief, to the right of civil sepulture, and you will find his grave in the section marked “Claiborne”, in the old Blandford Cemetery, and his epitaph in the 3rd chapter of Ecclesiastes, 20th and 21st verses (pp 241-242). [The author visited the Claiborne plot in Blandford cemetery and located the good doctor's grave, but did not find a stone engraved "Jack" or the beautiful epitaph cited below. Perhaps one of the unmarked foot stones commemorates this "poor soldier"-but-beloved companion.]
Dr. John Herbert Claiborne, War Talks of Confederate Veterans, compiled by George S. Bernard, 1892
Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3:
20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
While the Reg. was here by the river [the Appomattox], a ' liver and white ' pointer dog used occasionally to get between the Union and Confederate lines in Mr. John Hare's field, and mistaking the flying bullets for bees, would run
hither and thither, giving up the chase of one when he heard the hum of another, tacking and darting after them every which way for an hour at a time — a clear case of ignorance proving to be bliss (p. 414).
-- 13th New Hampshire Regiment. Millett Thompson.
Dog Express
The dog express will ever be memorable in this winter's annals, since a certain canine of strictly impartial sentiments had been taught to respond to a whistle from either side. Thus with a can of coffee suspended from his neck he would amble over to the Johnnies, and when they had replaced coffee with tobacco he would return in obedience to Union signals, intent only on the food reward both sides gave him.
The Ninth New York Heavy Artillery: A History of Its Organization.... Alfred Seelye Roe, 1899.
Battlefield Burial
During the battle {February 7, 1865] Lieutenant Colonel Edwards noticed that his men had ceased firing in one place They were helping the Seventh Wisconsin men bury their pet dog which had followed them from camp to field and was always sharing his chances in battle with the men knowing no fear This day a minnie ball killed him and the men suspended their shooting long enough to give their pet dog an honorable but hasty burial amid showers of bullets from the enemy (p. 292).
-- A History of the Twenty-Fourth Michigan,Known as the Iron Brigade, Orson Blair Curtis. 1891.
Hunting Deserters
There is a Captain Young who is famous as a Rebel Scout and always goes attended by a large white dog, who is a terror to their men. He spends his nights between the lines, and has caught many of their attempted deserters. He spends his time spying out our lines, and General Meade, it is said, has offered a large reward for his capture. Last night the dog, who is his precursor, was seen by two of our pickets. I immediately took five of our men and set out in pursuit. We prowled around between the lines an hour or so, and not meeting him or finding any trace, we had to give it up as a bad job (pp 321-322).
--Recollections of the Civil War; with many original diary entries and letters written from the seat of war, and with annotated references. by Mason Whiting Tyler and William Seymour Tyler, 1912.
Dr. Claiborne and Jack retreat from Petersburg in April 1865
…on the heights of Ettrick took one last look at Petersburg- as it was. Here I overtook my cortege. And, mustering them, found one absentee. This was a yellow, bob-tailed, bob-eared, rough haired Scotch terrier, about twelve years old, who had seen no little service and showed it. He was irritable, selfish, self-asserting, frail as to virtue, his name disagreeably associated with any number of scandals, but full of faith in his master, and irrevocably attached to his master’s fortunes, or misfortunes. I had given my chief of ambulance orders that, whoever should be left behind, Jack should go, and proper transportation should be furnished him. He had always had too high an appreciation of himself to walk, and had ridden more thousands of miles, had fallen out of more vehicles, and been run over oftener, than any other dog in the world. I assert this without fear of contradiction.
He had but few friends, and but little capacity to make friends. Some incompatibility of temper, I suspect, had occurred betwixt him and the chief of ambulance, on the subject of riding, before the start from Petersburg, and hence Jack was left behind. I said to the chief: ”Return at once to the city and find me my dog, or fall into the hands of the enemy with him.” The man looked at me for a minute as if he would question such an order, but four years of discipline and obedience had not lost its force on the first night of the retreat, and he turned off and retraced his steps to Petersburg. I never expected to see him again, but late at night and after we had gone into camp, he returned on horseback… and was leading Jack by a chain of white handkerchiefs. I did not inquire where he got the horse, but having some curiousity as to where he got the handkerchiefs, I ventured to ask him. “Well, Sir,” he said, “they are breaking up everything in town and robbing the stores, and I found these handkerchiefs at the head of Old street.”…. One tremendous explosion caused such panic in our little party that Jack, who had slept on my blanket at my side, became demoralized and sought individual safety in individual flight. As he disappeared in the darkness I never expected to see him again, and never did until after my return, some two months later, to Petersburg, when he was the first one of my acquaintances to meet and greet me. His subsequent history, though not without interest or detail, would lead me away from my subject, and henceforth he will appear in this narrative no more. He was a poor soldier, always left the line when the firing began, impelled by thirst or some other consideration of a personal character; but his services in civil life entitled him, in my belief, to the right of civil sepulture, and you will find his grave in the section marked “Claiborne”, in the old Blandford Cemetery, and his epitaph in the 3rd chapter of Ecclesiastes, 20th and 21st verses (pp 241-242). [The author visited the Claiborne plot in Blandford cemetery and located the good doctor's grave, but did not find a stone engraved "Jack" or the beautiful epitaph cited below. Perhaps one of the unmarked foot stones commemorates this "poor soldier"-but-beloved companion.]
Dr. John Herbert Claiborne, War Talks of Confederate Veterans, compiled by George S. Bernard, 1892
Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3:
20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
PUPPIES!! Detail from Library of Congress 04055v. Petersburg, Va. Group of the quartermaster department, 1st Division, 9th Corps, at leisure. We see at least three puppies- two are squirming and photograph as blurs. Also, decent looking bread.
Was this pup a Lincoln man?
Scene at the polls, Army of the Potomac- Soldiers voting. Sketch by Joseph Becker, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, December 3, 1864.
Odds and Ends, including Farriers and Roosters
LC 33510. "Army forge in front of Petersburg, Va.," photograph by David Knox. Farriers at work.
Cockfighting at the HQ of Orlando Willcox. See letter below, which describes the occasion when the photo was taken. Detail from Library of Congress 03895.
Francis W. Knowles, a clerk attached to Orlando Willcox's Division of the IX Corps, describes the circumstances surrounding this photograph in his diary. Manuscript Collection, East Carolina University.
