WAR HORSES (Part Two) by VONN McKEE

"The history of mankind is carried on the back of a horse."

                                         –Author Unknown

In my previous blog, WAR HORSES: Part One, we took a look at notable horses ridden by prominent generals of the Civil War. This time, we travel further back in history to examine more war horses whose names and bravery in battle are nearly as legendary as those of their owners.

Alexander tames Bucephalus

     The year was 346 B.C. and Philip II of Macedon had just paid the exorbitant price of thirteen talents for a gorgeous black stallion, only to find that he could not be ridden. No one was able to even mount the huge beast. Philip’s ten-year-old son, Alexander, watched the proceedings and stepped forward, declaring the horse’s handlers spineless and challenging his father that he could ride the stallion. The boy was so adamant that he was granted the chance. Alexander took the horse’s reins, turned him to face the sun, and promptly leaped onto his bare back! Only Alexander had noticed that the stallion was afraid of his own shadow. He named the enormous horse Bucephalus and they became inseparable. Alexander the Great rode him into every battle from the conquest of Greece and Thebes through Guagamela into India.

Napoleon Bonaparte and Marengo

     Paintings of Napoleon Bonaparte often depict him on horseback (not surprising since the French general stood only five feet, six inches in height). A favorite mount was “Marengo,” a fierce, stocky grey who was wounded eight times without ever throwing his master from the saddle. It was aboard Marengo that Bonaparte met his Waterloo (1815), ending the Napoleonic Era of European history. His last horse was a white Arabian named Le Vizir, who lived to the age of thirty-three. He was mounted and is currently on display at the Army Museum in Paris.

     Closer to home, America’s founding father, George Washington was a revered horseman. Thomas Jefferson called him "the best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen on horseback." Most paintings of Washington show him astride “Blueskin,” a flashy white half-Arab with a dark mane. However, the General usually rode a chestnut gelding named “Nelson” into battle, since he was calmer under cannon fire. After his service during the Revolutionary War, Nelson lived out his days at Mt. Vernon and was reported to “…run, neighing, to the fence, proud to be caressed by the great master's hands.”

 

Washington on Blueskin

Washington and war horse, Nelson

     Speaking of the Revolution, Paul Revere’s midnight ride forever stands as the event heralding the beginning of the conflict between England and the fledgling colony of America. And who was the horse he rode? Unfortunately, we may never know. Revere borrowed a horse from a merchant named John Larkin for the hellbent-for-leather ride to Lexington. The steed’s name is lost to history.

Andrew Jackson and Sam Patch

     Tennessee native son Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson favored thoroughbreds, raising and training them himself. Most well-known was “Truxton.” A favorite story of Jackson is that he engaged in a duel after a local rival forfeited a race between Truxton and a horse named “Ploughboy.” Old Hickory caught a bullet near his heart and, since doctors were afraid to remove it, there it stayed throughout the future president’s life. “Sam Patch” is the white stallion shown in Jackson’s presidential portrait and the horse who holds the title of being the General’s true “war horse.” Sam Patch was named for a daredevil celebrity of the era, who died attempting a jump across the falls of the Genesee River.

Kit Carson and Apache

     The Plains Indian Wars from the 1850s through the late 1870s are possibly the most iconic of all conflicts between mounted opponents. Christopher “Kit”Carson was one of the earliest Indian fighters. He was another leader who lacked in stature at five feet, one and a half inches tall but possessed an abundance of daring. According to the first Carson biography, The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson, the Nestor of the Rocky Mountains by De Witt C. Peters, the “Fighting Trapper” rode a horse with the ironic name of “Apache.”

     General George Armstrong Custer’s most famous horses were “Dandy” and “Vic.” It was Vic, a stockinged sorrel with a blazed face, that Custer rode during the infamous Battle of the Little Bighorn. The Sioux claimed that Vic was captured after the massacre.

Dandy (left) and Vic (right), belonged to Gen. George Custer

 Rough Rider Teddy Roosevelt and Little Texas

     During the Spanish American War, Theodore Roosevelt led the charge of the Rough Riders in the Battle of San Juan Hill (July, 1898) on “Little Texas,” a chestnut described as a “pony” by historians. After the war, Roosevelt brought Little Texas back to the family's Sagamore Hill estate on Long Island where he lived out his days as playmate to the five Roosevelt children.

Two legends: Villa, Siete Luegas

     In the early 1900s, Francisco “Pancho” Villa blazed a rebel’s trail across Mexico (and one raid on U.S. soil) on his stallion “Siete Leguas,” which translates to “Seven Leagues.” Villa was proud of the horse’s stamina and speed. Supposedly, Siete Leguas regularly covered seven leagues (about twenty-four miles) during conquests.

     I have barely touched on the history of horses in warfare. Since the Greek myth of the Trojan Horse, the majestic animals have been a part of military battle lore. Did you know that, soon after the 9/11 attacks, a small band of U.S. Special Forces soldiers secretly entered Afghanistan and went to war against the Taliban…riding horses? Isn’t that thrilling? Here is Doug Stanton's book about the raid.

"Look back at our struggle for freedom,

Trace our present day's strength to it's source;

And you'll find that man's pathway to glory

Is strewn with the bones of the horse."

- Unknown author

 All the best,

Vonn 

2015 Western Fictioneers 
Peacemaker Finalist (Short Fiction)

2015 Western Writers of America
Spur Finalist (Short Fiction)

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TREATING BULLET WOUNDS IN THE CIVIL WAR

THE DOCTOR'S BAG

the blog about the medicine and surgery of yesteryear

Keith Souter aka Clay More

Two of the earliest posts I wrote for this blog were  entitled Dig It Out Doc. Part one was about treating arrow wounds. It was based on a paper written by Dr Joseph H Bill, published in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences in 1862. Part 2 was about treating bullet wounds. It was essentially about the methods used by Dr George Goodyear, the surgeon to the gunfighters and was based on his papers on the subject.

In this blog I am going back to the Civil War to see what the eminent surgeon, Dr John Julian John Chisolm had to say. You might find this useful in your writing about the way bullet wounds actually heal.

Dr Julian John Chisolm (1830-1903)
Julian John Chisolm, often referred to as John Julian Chisolm, or as J.J. Chisolm was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1830. H obtained his MD medical degree from the Medical College of South Carolina in 1850, then travelled to Europe to study medicine and surgery in Paris and London.

Dr Julian John Chisolm (1830-1903)

He returned to Charleston in 1860 and took up the post of Professor of Surgery at the Medical College, from whence he had graduated a decade previously. He kept the position throughout the War and in 1861 published the first edition of his textbook A Manual of Military Surgery for the use of Surgeons in the Confederate States Army.

Here is what he says in his book:

In gunshot wounds the swelling of the soft parts, which commences a few hours after the injury has been received, usually continues to increase until the completion of the fourth day, when it has attained its acme, with commencing suppuration.  Should sloughing occur, it will show itself by the sixth or seventh. On the eighth or north day the slough has, in most cases, separated itself from the edges of the track of the ball, and in a few days more will have been disengaged. With the cleansing of the wound, when no complication with foreign bodies exist, the inflammation gradually subsides, the swelling diminishes, purulent discharge lessens in quantity, and the wound commences to contract. The middle portion of the track first closes, and with with utmost frequently the opening of the exit, leaving a funnel shaped canal, which diminishes from day to day, becoming more superficial, until no depth is left to the orifice of entrance. The wound cicatrizes (scars) with a depression, marking distinctly the nature of the injury which has been received. In the experience of many army surgeons the most dependant orifice heals last, without reference to the entrance or exit of the ball. Should the orifices, however, be situate at the same place, the orifice of exit is usually the first to close. This is the ordinary course which gunshot wounds take when judiciously treated in good constitutions. 

In the general treatment of gunshot wounds, interfere with the general health as little as possible. The commonly prescribed antiphlogistic (anti-inflammatory) remedies are, with but rare exceptions, not required. The endless list of emetics, purgatives, diuretics, and diaphoretics, to which some European writers still cling with wonderful tenacity, can, with decided benefits, be dispensed with. 

Guthrie, who represents this class, in speaking of the inflamed stage of gunshot wounds, says that the treatment for subduing this should be active: "The patient, if robust, ought to be bled (if no endemic disease prevails), vomited, purged, kept in the recumbent position, and cold applied as long as it shall be found agreeable to his feelings; when that ceases to be the case, arm fomentations ought to be resorted to, but they are to be abandoned the instant the inflammation is subdued and suppuration well established."

From this tract you can see that he strongy disagreed with Professor George James Guthrie, a British surgeon who had seen service in the Peninsula and the Napoleonic Wards and who was regard as the founder of British Military Surgery. He did not disagree with his surgical techniques, but with his use of bleeding, blistering and purging, which had been the accepted testament up until then. I will be returning to Professor Guthrie in a later post.

Professor George James Guthrie (1785-1856)

Give them whiskey
Chisolm goes on to discuss aftercare.


We have, therefore, abandoned the plan of starving wounded men, or, by mistaken policy of a rigorous diet, to keep off inflammation. We look upon inflammation as always depressing in its character - nature requiring assistance from without to enable her to cope successfully with disease. We do not hesitate, therefore, as soon as the stage of reaction has passed, to feed the wounded with strong, nourishing diet, and also further to support the system by the use of stimuli. Whiskey has been freely given to our wounded, particularly during the suppurative stage, and with decided benefit. 

_____

THE DOCTOR'S BAG - MEDICINE AND SURGERY OF YESTERYEAR has been published by Sundown Press, available on ebook or paperback.

THE DOCTOR'S BAG - medicine & surgery of yesteryear

Clay More's novel about Dr George Goodfellow is published in the West of the Big River series by Western Fictioneers. 

Available at Amazon.com:

THE DOCTOR by CLAY MORE

Dodge City and Me

Dodge City and Me

Troy D. Smith

I love me some Gunsmoke.

And I’m clearly not the only one. Gunsmoke is the 

longest running dramatic series in television history 

–broadcast from 1955 till 1975, for a total of 20 seasons. 

Law and Order, a show I also love, managed to tie this feat 

–but with a caveat. The cast of L&O turned over several 

times during its run, with none of the original ensemble 

group making it the whole time. In fact, the longest tenure 

of any original first-season L&O character was five seasons 

(Mike Noth’s Det. Logan, although he did appear several 

seasons in the spinoff Criminal Intent.)








On the other hand, the four main characters introduced 

in the first episode of Gunsmoke had staying power. 

Marshal Matt Dillon remained the central protagonist for 

all 20 seasons. Doctor “Doc” Galen Adams also appeared 

for 20 seasons, although he missed most of Season 17 due 

to heart surgery. Miss Kitty made it for 19, leaving before 

the final year. Even the short-timer, Chester Goode, made 

it partway into the ninth season.










Kelsey Grammer’s “Frasier Crane” character tied Matt 

Dillon for longest run of an actor in a television role 

–but there is a similar caveat there. Frasier was not 

introduced on Cheers until the third season, and for two 

years was only a recurring guest rather than a featured 

cast member. James Arness brought Matt Dillon to the 

small screen as the main character of a program for 

twenty consecutive years –plus a series of TV movies, 

from 1987 till 1994. So in a way, James Arness played 

Matt Dillon for closer to 40 years.













But even twenty years is a big chunk of time. When 

Gunsmoke premiered my father was eleven years old. 

When it was cancelled I was almost eight –and when 

the final TV movie featuring retired marshal Matt Dillon 

aired, I was 26 and a father myself. To this day, love of 

Gunsmoke continues to be one of the bonds between my 

father and me, and we discuss it often.








I remember watching “The Deadly Innocent” with my 

grandma –and IMDB.com informs me this was on 

Dec. 17, 1973. I distinctly remember watching “The Tarnished 

Badge” –in which Victor French, whom I recognized as the 

kindly Isaiah Edwards from Little House on the Prairie, played 

a vicious sheriff that Matt had to bring to justice. The next day I 

re-enacted the story with my Marx cowboy action figures on the 

red clay banks behind our home (Johnny West was Matt Dillon, 

and Pat Garrett was the evil sheriff.) Whenever I think of that 

episode, I smell that red clay. That was Nov. 11, 1974.








That year my mom was in the hospital for awhile. My 

step-father, my older cousin, and I were on our own for 

several days. I remember our efforts to make breakfast 

that Sunday morning… the result being biscuits so hard 

you could break a window with them, and gravy so thick 

it was hard to pull the spoon out of it. And we watched 

the two-part episode “Island in the Desert,” in which 

Festus was held captive by a crazed prospector played by 

the great Strother Martin (who had a pet rattlesnake named 

Homer.) In a bizarre sort of family tradition, for years 

afterward we delighted ourselves in imitating Martin’s 

distinctive nasal voice: “Bite’im, Homer!” “I’ll cut ye, Festus, 

and I’ll cut ye good!” That was early December, 1974.








When I was 18 I had a job buffing floors at Wal-mart 

–back in the days when such stores actually closed at 

night, from 9pm till 9am. The floor guys would be locked 

in overnight. The other floor guy became my best friend 

–and he was a huge Gunsmoke fan. Syndicated repeats 

showed on the local Fox outlet at 10 pm every weeknight… 

when we were at work, yet before the rest of the employees 

went home and got out of our way. We had a contraband 

VCR tape that we kept hidden above the ceiling tiles in the 

janitor’s closet… every night, just after we got to work, we’d 

secretly stick it into one of the display TV/VCR’s, turn it to 

the proper channel, and push record. Every morning at 2am 

we’d retrieve it and watch Gunsmoke on our lunch break. 

Those are some great memories. And beyond that, the steady 

western diet contributed to me writing my own western stories 

at night while locked in those stores, never dreaming that I 

would one day be a published author.








I’m willing to bet that many of you have your own Gunsmoke stories, 

and I invite you to share them in your comments.


It’s hard to get out of Dodge.

LOST SISTER-- MY FAVE WESTERN SHORT STORY--BY CHERYL PIERSON

Hi everyone! Sorry for the re-post, but this one bears repeating and you may have missed it the first time around--I ran out of time and thought I'd put up this "oldie but goodie" about this wonderful, wonderful Dorothy M. Johnson story rather than totally miss my blog date! Heaven forbid! Hope you enjoy--even if you may have seen it before. What's YOUR favorite short story?

I know we’ve talked before about Dorothy M. Johnson, the iconic western short story writer who penned such classics as The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Hanging Tree, and A Man Called Horse; but today, I wanted to tell you about another short story of hers that I read a few days ago. Quite possibly, the best short story –in any genre—that I’ve ever read.

You may never have heard of it. It wasn’t made into a movie, because it too closely mirrored the true life of a real person, Cynthia Ann Parker, mother of Quanah Parker. The story is called Lost Sister.

I’d heard this story mentioned before by a couple of friends, and thought, “I need to read that—I’ve never read much of Mrs. Johnson’s work but the movies have all been good.” I know. I hate it when people say that, too. Anyhow, I bought a collection from Amazon that contained the three stories I mentioned in the first paragraph and Lost Sister as the fourth. Of course, I had to read The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, since that’s tied for my all-time favorite western movie, along with Shane. I was so disappointed. The characters in the short story were not the same as my beloved Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne! Hmmm. Well, even though I was disappointed, I decided to give Lost Sister a shot.

It more than made up for my lukewarm feelings for The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Lost Sister is the story of a woman who has been kidnapped as a young child by “the hostiles”. She has an older sister, who remembers her well from childhood, and loves her with the devotion that most older sisters have for a younger sister. Through the forty years she has been gone, the oldest sister, Mary, has cherished memories of her younger sibling.

There are three younger sisters, as well, who have no recollection of the Lost Sister, Bessie. The older sister doesn’t live with them, but in a different town a thousand miles away. The three sisters are notified that their sister, Bessie, has been “rescued” and is being brought back to them. The story is told from the eyes of a nine-year-old boy, whose mother lives with the sisters. She is the widow of their brother, who was killed by the Indians. The boy has dreams of growing up and avenging his father’s death, but something changes once his Aunt Bessie comes back to live with them.

Up until Bessie is returned to them, they have gotten much attention from the neighbors, and have been pitied as being the family who had a sister stolen by the savages so many years ago. Once Bessie is returned, their standing in the community takes a subtle twist. The other sisters don’t know how to handle Bessie’s homecoming. They make plans to go into her room and “visit” with her every day. One of them decides to read to Bessie from the Bible for thirty minutes each day. The others come up with similar plans, none of which include trying to understand Bessie’s feelings at being ripped away from her Indian family.

The oldest sister, Mary, comes to visit. What’s different? Mary loves Bessie, and accepts her; and Bessie loves her—they both remember their childhood time together. The language of love overcomes the barriers of the spoken language that neither of them can understand, for Bessie has forgotten English, and Mary doesn’t know Bessie’s Indian dialect. But Bessie has a picture of her son, and Mary admires it, and by the time Mary is to go home, she has made arrangements for Bessie to come live with her—a huge relief to the other pious sisters who had made such sympathetic noises about her being reunited with them in the beginning.

In a fateful twist, Bessie makes her own decision about what she will do, taking her own life back, and helping her son avoid capture. This is one story you will not forget. Once you read it, it will stay with you and you’ll find yourself thinking about it again and again. It doesn’t fit the mold of a romance story, except for the fact that I think of Bessie being in love with her husband, having children with him, and then being “rescued” and forced to live in a society she had no ties with any longer…except one—the love and understanding of her older sister, Mary.

No specific Indian tribe is mentioned in the story, probably for a purpose. I think, one of the main reasons is to show us the cultural differences and how, in this case, the “civilized” world that Bessie had come from and been returned to was not as civilized as the “savages” who had kidnapped her. Also, as I say, Cynthia Ann Parker’s story, at the time this story was published, was not that old. There were still raw feelings and rough relations between whites and Indians. But by leaving the particular tribe out of the story, it provides a broader base for humanity to examine the motives for “rescue” and the outcome for all concerned, of a situation such as this in which it would have been better to have let Bessie (Cynthia Ann) remain “lost.”

I’ve posted the link below for the story as it was printed in Collier’s Weekly on March 30, 1956. It’s also available on Amazon in several collections.
http://www.unz.org/Pub/Colliers-1956mar30-00066

Do you have a favorite short story to tell us about? Please share--I'm all about making an ongoing reading list!

More Old West Recipes

Your Old West characters would have been interested in reading about many of the same things that interest modern folk: the latest news, expert advice, and of course, looking and feeling good. People back then worried about the same things we do, too: clear skin, gray hair and no hair. This particular list of recipes is from The Ladies' and Gentlemen's Etiquette (Mrs. E.B. Duffey, 1877).

Some terms explained:

      Ambergris: a wax-like substance that originates as a secretion in the intestines of the sperm whale; found floating in tropical seas and traditionally used in perfume manufacture.

      Attar of Roses: the essential oil extracted from the petals of various types of rose.

      Bandoline: a mucilaginous preparation used for smoothing, glossing or waving the hair.

      Cantharides: extract of crushed blister beetle

      Deliquated: dissolved or melted.

      Drachm: a unit of weight formerly used by apothecaries, equal to 60 grains or one-eighth of an ounce.

      Felon: also known as a whitlow; a deep, usually pus-filled inflammation of the finger or toe, especially around the nail.

      Gill: a unit of volume equal to 4.16 fluid ounces

      Goulard's Extract: a solution of lead acetate and lead oxide; commonly used as an astringent up until the early 20th Century.

      Grain: A unit of weight formerly used by apothecaries, equal to 60 milligrams. 1 gram is equal to 15 grains, and 1 dram is 60 grains.

      Isinglass: a kind of gelatin obtained from fish, especially sturgeon, and used for making glue, etc.; also used of transparent sheets of mica.

      Muriate: a chloride compound.

      Rectified Spirits: highly concentrated ethanol, which has been purified by repeated distillation (rectification).

      Spermaceti: a waxy substance found in the head cavities of the sperm whale (and, in smaller quantities, in the oils of other whales).

      Tragacanth: a natural gum made from the dried sap of several Middle Eastern legume plants.

To Cure Chilblains:

·      When indications of chilblains first present themselves, take vinegar three ounces, camphorated spirits of wine one ounce; mix and rub.

·      Rub with alum and water.

·      Put the hands and feet two or three times a week into warm water in which two or three handfuls of common salt have been dissolved.

·      Rub with a raw onion dipped in salt.

To Prevent the Hair from Falling Off:

·      Vinegar of cantharides half an ounce, eau-de-cologne one ounce, rose-water one ounce. The scalp should be brushed briskly until it becomes red, and the lotion should then be applied to the roots of the hair twice a day.

·      A quarter of a pint of cod-liver oil, two drachms of origanum, fifteen drops of ambergris, the same of musk.

·      Boxwood shavings six ounces, proof spirits twelve ounces, spirits of rosemary two ounces, spirits of nutmeg one-half an ounce. Steep the boxwood shavings in the spirits for fourteen days at a temperature of 60 degrees; strain, and add the rest.

Hair-Curling Fluid:

The various fluids advertised and recommended for the purpose of giving straight hair a tendency to curl are all impositions. The only curling-fluid of any service is a very weak solution of isinglass, which will hold the curl in the position in which it is placed if care is taken that it follows the direction in which the hair naturally falls.

One of the fluids in use is made by dissolving a small portion of beeswax in an ounce of olive oil and adding scent according to fancy.

Bandoline:

This essential for the toilette is prepared in several ways.

Simmer an ounce of quince seed in a quart of water for forty minutes; strain, cool, add a few drops of scent and bottle, corking tightly.

Take of gum tragacanth one and a half drachms, water half a pint, rectified spirits mixed with a equal quantity of water three ounces, and a little scent. Let the mixture stand for a day or two, then strain.

It may be made of Iceland moss, a quarter of an ounce boiled in a quart of water, and a little rectified spirit added so that it may keep.

Lip-Salve:

This indispensable adjunct to the toilette may be made by melting in a jar placed in a basin of boiling water a quarter of an ounce each of white wax and spermaceti, flour of benzoin fifteen grains, and half an ounce of oil of almonds. Stir till the mixture is cool. Color red with a little alkanet root.

Rose-Water:

Rose-water may be made by taking half an ounce of powdered white sugar and two drachms of magnesia; with these mix twelve drops of attar of roses. Add a quart of water and two ounces of alcohol, mixed in a gradual manner, and filter through blotting-paper.

Burns:

An application of cold, wet common whitening placed on immediately, is recommended as an invaluable remedy.

Sticking-Plaster:

Stretch a piece of black silk on a wooden frame, and apply dissolved isinglass to one side of it with a brush. Let it dry, repeat the process, and then cover with a strong tincture of balsam of Peru.

J.E.S. Hays

www.jeshays.com

hays.jes@gmail.com