Famous War Chargers.

Woodville Examiner, Volume 3, Issue 284, 17 September 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

Famous War Chargers.

In an article commending the people of Virginia for providing a home for the warhorse of Stonewall Jackson till it died a few weeks ago at the age of thirty, the London Telegraph says: There is, perhaps, nothing connected with the “ romance of war” as to which the popular imagination indulges in more extravagant flights than the subject of chargers which once carried great soldiers upon the field of honor. We know from Plutarch that, with the exception of Alexander the Great, no man dared to mount Bucephalus, the noble war-steed, upon whose head a black mark resembling an ox was impressed, the rest of his body, like that of Napoleon’s favourite charger, being white. It was represented that Bucephalus always knelt down when approached by his master, and that, while the pair were taking part in the great engagement which was fatal to Poms, the Indian monarch, Bucephalus received a heavy wound, and dropped dead after carrying the Macedonian King out of battle and landing him in a safe spot. The horse was said to have been thirty years old when he died, and as an affectionate tribute to his memory Alexander built a jetty called after him upon the banks of the Hydaspes. Who, again, that has read Southey’s fascinating “Chronicle of the Cid” can have forgotten Bavieca, the charger whom Spain’s semi-mythical champion bestrode in a hundred battles ? It is related by Sonthey'that when Eoderigo Buy Diaz—commonly called “the Cid,” from an Arabic word meaning “ the chief” or “ lord” —was taken in his boyhood to choose a horse, he passed over the best steeds and selected a shabby-looking colt. His godfather accordingly called the boy "Bavieca”

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or a booby, for making such a silly choice, and thus the name devolved upon the horse, which survived his master for two years and a half, and finally was buried at Valencia. After the death of the Cid no man was permitted to get upon the back of Bavieca, who may, therefore, be said to have died ip odor of sanctity. Scarcely leas poetical is the legend adopted by the great Italian poet Ariosto in connection with Boiardo, or Bayardo, the famous steed of Rinaldo, and once the property of Amadis of Gaul. It is recorded by Ariosto that Boiardo was discovered ia a grotto by the wizard Malagigi, who gave him and the magic sword Fuaberta, which was found ia the same spot, to the wizard’s cousin, Rinaldo. Readers of Homer are aware that nearly every chieftain who fought for or against Troy had some celebrated horse or horses, which he drove in his chariot, and upon which Homer bestows a name or names. Coming down to our own times, what a wealth of affection has been lavished since ISIS upon Copenhagen, the thoroughbred chestnut charger bestridden by the Duke of Wellington at the battle of Waterloo ! We know from the “ Stud Book” that Copenhagen was a grandson of Eclipse, and that he was bred by General Grosvenor in 1808. After running unsuccessfully as a racehorse in 1811 and 1812, Copenhagen was sold by General Grosvenor to Lord Lon--1 douderry, who took him out to the peninsula, I where, shortly after the battle of Saalmanca, ' he was bought from Lord Londonderry by | the Earl of Wellington—such was then our

1 great captain’s title—for 400 guineas. | Copenhagen was—as the late Sir Tattoo Sykes often loved to remind his hearers—a little horse, standing about halt an inch over fifteen hands in height. The duke was in the habit of saying that no day was long

enough to tire him, and that no sight or sound, however unexpected, could make him start. It would perhaps have been better if Copenhagen had tired somewhat on that last and most famous day which saw him carry the Iron Duke upon a battle field. It is related by Colonel Gurwood that when the Duke descended from the saddle which he had occupied for eighteen consecutive hours Copenhagen let fly with both hind-legs and narrowly missed his master’s head and chest. The incident occurred in the little Belgian village from which the great battle, fought two miles away upon the plateau of Mont St. Jean, takes its immortal name. Despite his misbehaviour, Copenhagen was brought back to England and enjoyed what our transatlantic kinsmen call “a high old time” between 1815 and his death in 1825. He was seven years old when he carried the Duke at Waterloo, and seventeen when he died full of honors at Strathfieldsaye, Whenever the duchess was at the country seat in Hampshire, given by this nation to her illustrious husband, she made a point of carrying a bit of bread every day after luncheon to her favorite in the paddock. In addition, she frequently wore a bracelet made of Copenhagen’s hair, and when the old horse died he was buried with full military honors, the duke and duchess themselves being chief mourners.