Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 35.djvu/115

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Gen. R. E. Lee's War-horse.
101

added by General Lee to the price I gave for the horse in September, 1861, to make up for the depreciation in our currency from September, 1861, to February, 1862.

In 1868 General Lee wrote to my brother stating that his horse had survived the war and was known as "Traveller" (spelling the word with a double 'l' in good English style), and asking for its pedigree, which was obtained as above mentioned and sent by my brother to General Lee.

Thomas L. Broun.

Charleston, W. Va., August, 1886.


FROM GEN. FITZHUGH LEE'S BOOK ON GEN. ROBERT E. LEE, 1894.


"Traveller," the most distinguished of the General's warhorses, was born near Blue Sulphur Springs, in West Virginia, and was purchased by General Lee from Major Thomas L. Broun, who bought him from Captain James W. Johnson, the son of the gentleman who reared him. General Lee saw him first in West Virginia and afterwards in South Carolina, and was greatly pleased with his appearance. As soon as Major Broun ascertained that fact the horse was offered the general as a gift, but he declined, and Major Broun then sold him. He was four years old in the spring of 1861, and therefore only eight when the war closed. He was "greatly admired for his rapid, springy walk, high spirit, bold carriage and muscular strength." When a colt he took the first premium at the Greenbrier Fair, under the name of Jeff Davis. The General changed his name to Traveller. He often rode him in Lexington after the war, and at his funeral Traveller followed the hearse. He was appraised by a board in August, 1864, at $4,600 in Confederate currency.