The mystery trailing Gen. Sherman's horse One of the most famed war steeds in our nation's history is buried in Frankfort. But where?
By Colleen Mastony
Tribune reporter
January 31, 2008
FRANKFORT, Ill.
Vern Harvey's yard doesn't look like a historic site.
It's a neat rectangle of browning grass, with two maple trees, a stone wishing well and a few scraggly bushes, all enclosed by a wooden split-rail fence. But according to Harvey, somewhere under this humble patch of earth lies one of the most famed war horses in our nation's history.
That's right, a gallant steed ridden by Civil War Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman is believed -- by some people, at least -- to be buried right here in Harvey's yard. He isn't sure where, exactly; maybe under the birdbath.
"It could be anywhere in here," said Harvey, 73, a white-haired wisp of a man who walked along a cracked concrete pathway, waving a hand across a swath of his front lawn. He has considered having the land X-rayed. Others have suggested excavation. But "where would you dig?"
A village of 16,500 people about 30 miles southwest of Chicago, Frankfort doesn't have many -- OK, it doesn't have any -- historic attractions. But the body of a horse named Sam, who was retired to a farm in Frankfort around 1870, has landed this village in the footnotes of history and embroiled the locals in a curious historical debate. While everyone agrees that the horse is buried somewhere in Frankfort, no one knows where exactly. While Harvey insists the horse is interred in his yard, others argue the steed is buried under a nearby strip mall, or beneath a housing development, or atop a hill near Alsip Home & Nursery Super Store.
An 8-foot memorial to the horse was installed near the village's downtown in 2004, but that has only inflamed the debate about the grave and the monument.
"I think the statue should be where it belongs -- in my yard!" Harvey declared.
Harvey lives in an 1870s-era farmhouse that is likely very close to the area where Sam was buried about 1874. Yet most of the farm's 400 acres were sold and turned into a housing development in the 1960s, and it's quite possible that Sam is buried under one of those 500 ranch and split-level homes.
"Poor Sam. We think there's a house on top of him," said Judy Herder, president of the Frankfort Area Historical Society, who -- after carefully studying historical maps and land records -- believes the horse is under what is now the Connecticut Hills subdivision.
Though his final resting place remains shrouded in mystery, the life of "Old Sam" is surprisingly well-documented. A dark-chestnut-colored, half-thoroughbred bay, the animal stood about 5 feet 4 inches from hoof to withers, weighed about 1,000 pounds and was famed for its strength.
Sherman acquired the horse after the battle of Shiloh, when his previous mount was shot. Over the war's course, Sam was wounded several times but was said to be "as calm and steady as his master, even during the chaos of battle," according to the book "The Photographic History of the Civil War," first published in 1911.
Sam was believed by some to have carried Sherman on one of the longest and most difficult campaigns of the war, the brutal March to the Sea, though that has been disputed.
Nevertheless, by all accounts Sam served nobly, and Sherman eventually retired his faithful steed. He sent the animal to a farm in Frankfort that was owned by the family of an acquaintance, William Sanger.
'Hungry and fat'
In the years that followed, the horse became a familiar sight in the village. The Sanger grandchildren often rode to town on Sam, who was known to be loyal. When left, the horse would stand for a few minutes or an hour, waiting for his masters' return. In 1874, the horse died and was buried near a grove of oak trees not far from the Sanger home.
"He was always hungry and fat -- never got lame and was never on the sick list," Sherman wrote after hearing of the horse's death, according to the book "Citizen Sherman," published in 1995 and written by Michael Fellman. The general described Sam as so steadfast that even when a musket ball passed through the horse's neck, "he didn't complain and went right along at his work as though he was used to it."
"I can only hope that he now rests from his worldly labors in the place where good horses go," Sherman wrote.
As time passed in Frankfort, the story faded from memory. Farmland gave way to housing developments; the population more than doubled between 1990 and 2007. Many of the newcomers had never heard the story of Sam.
So in 2004, in an attempt to preserve the history, a group of local organizations commissioned a metal sculpture -- depicting Sam, Sherman and two Sanger grandchildren -- and placed it near the downtown. At the dedication, a Civil War re-enactment troop honored the horse with a gun salute.
Wonder and intrigue
In the Connecticut Hills development, residents sometimes look out their windows and wonder if the Civil War horse could be buried beneath their children's sandboxes or under their vegetable gardens.
"I thought, how cool would it be if Sam was buried under my pool?" said resident Rachel Gilmore, 39, who is writing a book about the horse's life.
Many in town would like to solve the mystery. But Teresa Stinnett prefers the ambiguity. For her, every patch of grass offers a chance to wonder and every oak tree presents a bit of intrigue. Because no one knows exactly where Sam is buried, all can claim the horse is buried on their property. In the afternoons, Stinnett likes to look out her own yard and think of the possibility. "There's a great field out there. I look out the window and know that Sam just might be there."
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cmastony@tribune.com
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