Rifle

Ewell and his horse

General Ewell and Rifle:

"Ewell has his headquarters bivouac on the Pike, and I suppose his flea-bitten gray, Rifle, that Major Stiles claimed resembled him, if so, Rifle must have been a lank, serious-looking horse, with a high broad forehead, rather bony eye-sockets, and lean, scooped-out cheeks, for such were the prominent features of Ewell's face, Rifle, more or less visible on account of his chalky color, is not far away, tied to a sapling; and, as his rider has lost a leg, he, out of sympathy or weariness, is probably resting one hind leg on its toe and dreaming."
(Morris Schaff, The Battle of the Wilderness, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1910, p. 214 - 215)
 
When you have a horse or a dog or a cat, you do tend to become forgivining its ugliness. So Rifle was a rather sorry example of horsedom? I'm going to suppose that Ewell liked that horse.

We have this dog. It is dumber than a rock. But it is our dog. I'll assume that Rifle was an equivalent.
 
Will here appeal to M E Wolf. When you spend some time on the back of a horse, you quickly learn which is an easy ride. Didn't much matter what the horse looked like. General Grant had Cincinnati for when it mattered that he looked really good. When it didn't matter, he was riding Little Jeff. Much easier on the butt.
 
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