Old Whitey, horse belonging to Rutherford B. Hayes

donna

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
Old Whitey was a war horse. He actually survived 19 Civil War battles. He was pure white which made him an easy target for sharpshooters. However, because of his speed, stamina and jumping ability he was able to survive the war. He had belonged to another soldier who was shot. After that the horse became possession of Rutherford Hayes.

After the war Old Whitey was brought to Spiegel Grove the home of Rutherford B. Hayes. He lived there until his death. He is buried next to President Hayes at Spiegel Grove.

Old Whitey has memorial on Find A Grave.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3096
 
I think Old Whitey's Obituary exaggerates a bit, crediting him as "hero of thirty battles":
hayes.png

New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 26, 1879​
 
So funny! Keeping your horse from the war being considered a political slap in the face? What was he to do, sell the dear old thing to the glue factory just to prove he had no animosity left? Goodness. Tough crowd!
 
So funny! Keeping your horse from the war being considered a political slap in the face? What was he to do, sell the dear old thing to the glue factory just to prove he had no animosity left? Goodness. Tough crowd!

The sadder part of that is very similar to the rhetoric used by modern political pundits, the only difference is that the fuss wouldn't be over a horse. Some things never change I suppose...
 
The sadder part of that is very similar to the rhetoric used by modern political pundits, the only difference is that the fuss wouldn't be over a horse. Some things never change I suppose...


Boy, you read era papers and realize those people were vipers! Modern methods of print warfare should be so lucky. It wasn't just politics- most hysterical thing Twain wrote was how editors would provoke each other printing the most vile libel in papers. Sue? Too easy. They'd go home and wait for the challenge to a darn duel. Being Twain, he loved it. I'm not sure how frequently it progressed to pistols across cold earth but printing tripe each knew was just libelous dreck was a ' thing '. A fun thing.
 
Old Ned, Old Baldy, Old Sam, Old Whitey...

Were there any civil war horses not named Old? :D
You will often find that civil war horses generally were named "Old -x-" after -x- had become ... well, "old."

During the war those horses were generally known as Ned, Baldy, Sam, etc. ... But, years later they were looked upon as old friends.
 
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