Erik Visits an American Grave, Part 302/Dead Horses in American History, Part 19
By This is the grave of Traveller, the horse of the traitor Lee.
Traveller was born in 1857 in Greenbrier County, Virginia, which is now part of West Virginia. He won several awards in show contests in his early life. In 1861, the South committed treason in defense of slavery. The military effort of this was eventually led by the traitor, Robert E. Lee. In committing treason, Lee and his men needed good horses. His quartermaster, Joseph Broun was sent to buy a good Greenbrier County horse for himself and Traveller was the unlucky choice. The traitor Lee took an instant like to the horse and bought it off Broun the next year, paying significantly more than Broun did, although presumably it was in the Confederacy’s soon to be worthless treason currency. Mostly, Traveller was a pretty chill horse in combat. But once he got scared and while the traitor was dismounting during Second Manassas, it pulled Lee down and broke both his hands. Too bad he didn’t just flop over on the treasonous bastard and kill him. Anyway, after the traitors lost, Lee somehow did not end up hanging from a gallows. Instead, he went to Lexington, Virginia where he became president of Washington College. The traitor died in 1870. The next year, Traveller stepped on a nail, developed tetanus, and had to be put down.
When Traveller died, he was buried on the campus of what became Washington and Lee University. But soon, collectors dug up his bones and soon they were on display in Rochester. In 1907, a Richmond journalist named Joseph Bryan paid to have the bones returned to Lexington, where they were displayed on campus. Over time, they deteriorated and finally, Traveller was reburied on the campus of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia.
If you would like this series to visit other dead horses, you can donate to cover the required expenses for this highly worthwhile project here. Secretariat is buried in Paris, Kentucky while Trigger was last on display at the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in ever classy Branson, Missouri, although that museum is closed so not sure where he is now. Previous posts in this series are archived here.