"If I were an artist like you I would draw a true picture of Traveller--
representing his fine proportions, muscular figure, deep chest and
short back, strong haunches, flat legs, small head, broad forehead,
delicate ears, quick eye, small feet, and black mane and tail. Such
a picture would inspire a poet, whose genius could then depict his
worth and describe his endurance of toil, hunger, thirst, heat, cold,
and the dangers and sufferings through which he passed. He could
dilate upon his sagacity and affection, and his invariable response
to every wish of his rider. He might even imagine his thoughts, through
the long night marches and days of battle through which he has passed.
But I am no artist; I can only say he is a Confederate gray. I
purchased him in the mountains of Virginia in the autumn of 1861, and
he has been my patient follower ever since--to Georgia, the Carolinas,
and back to Virginia. He carried me through the Seven Days battle
around Richmond, the second Manassas, at Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg,
the last day at Chancellorsville, to Pennsylvania, at Gettysburg, and
back to the Rappahannock. From the commencement of the campaign in
1864 at Orange, till its close around Petersburg, the saddle was
scarcely off his back, as he passed through the fire of the Wilderness,
Spottsylvania, Cold Harbour, and across the James River. He was almost
in daily requisition in the winter of 1864-65 on the long line of
defenses from Chickahominy, north of Richmond, to Hatcher's Run, south
of the Appomattox. In the campaign of 1865, he bore me from Petersburg
to the final days at Appomattox Court House. You must know the comfort
he is to me in my present retirement. He is well supplied with
equipments. Two sets have been sent to him from England, one from
the ladies of Baltimore, and one was made for him in Richmond; but I
think his favourite is the American saddle from St. Louis. Of all
his companions in toil, 'Richmond,' 'Brown Roan,' 'Ajax,' and quiet