Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Civil War Oddities #108


According to newspapers reports from Aiken, South Carolina, the oldest surviving four-foot veteran of the war was living there in 1894. Having been sired in Sevierville, Tennessee, Old Jim took a bullet in his neck somewhere in his native state. Lieutenant McMahon later rode him to the battle of Atlanta, then to Savannah, and into South Carolina.

When the nine hundred pound horse became rider less in a skirmish, he wandered to the plantation of W. T Williams. Identified long afterwards by brands and saddle markings, Old Jim spent his declining years as a crowd pleaser in parades of Civil War veterans.