Civil War Oddities #112

In November 1863 men of the First South Carolina Colored Troops were forced to retreat from a site near Pocotaligo, South Carolina. Bloodhounds were brought to track them down, but the soldiers whom they chased were ready and waiting when the dogs drew near.

According to the Rebellion Record, the contest between men and animals was brief and bloody: Dogs dashed into the party in advance of their comrades, the rebels. One hound was shot, and left with broken legs upon the field. Five others were impaled upon their bayonets of the Union troops, and brought as trophies into their camp.

Civil War Oddities #111

Colonel Arthur Rankin, a Canadian abolitionist eager to fight for the Union, secured permission to raise a large regiment. From the beginning, Rankin made it clear that he expected his men to fight with lances.

Newspaper editors in Toronto soon accused him of deliberately setting out to violate the Neutrality Act. Authorities refused his request for a leave of absence as commander of the Ninth Military District, Canada West. Because of these rebuffs, the sixteen hundred Canadian lancers expected by Washington to help put a quick end to the fray never entered it.

Civil War Oddities #110

Late in the war, Egyptian dignitaries decided to send a blooded stallion to Jefferson David as a gift. Shipped across the Atlantic on the Banshee, a British owned blockade-runner, all went well until the vessel tried to slip into Wilmington, North Carolina, under cover of darkness. When the neighing of the white Arabian horse was heard aboard a Federal blockading vessel, its crewmembers moved into action.

Chased into shoal water twenty miles southwest of Beaufort by the USS Grand Gulf, the captain of the Banshee chose to surrender to men aboard the transport steamer Fulton rather than to the captain of the pursuing warship. As senior military officer on the vessel, Major James E. Bailey of the Third Rhode Island Artillery formally accepted the surrender.

Bailey’s December 24, 1863, report stressed that the Banshee and her cargo were prizes of war belonging to the men who were on the Fulton at the time of her capture. However, his account of the capture failed to mention the blooded Egyptian horse bound for Richmond. As a result, official records do not indicate what became of the animal that crossed the Atlantic safely, but never bore on its back the president of the Confederacy.

Civil War Oddities #109

As a member of a wealthy New York family, Philip Kearny had nearly everything he wanted, except a military career. Forced by family pressure to become an attorney, he stuck to that vocation until his grandfather’s will made him a millionaire.

As soon as he got his hands on his fortune, Kearny went to France to study at the Samur cavalry school. From that installation he went to Africa as a cavalry leader and fought with such distinction that he won the French Legion of Honor. Back in the United States, he fought in the Mexican War before returning to Europe to take part in the Crimean War.

When the Civil War erupted, Kearney’s commission as a brigadier general of volunteers was backdated to May 17, 1861. Having led with distinction at Williamsburg, Seven Pines, and during the Seven Days, he was made a major general.

Few men on either side had a combat record to match that of Kearny. Still, he managed to ride into Confederate instead of Union lines at Chantilly and realized his blunder too late to spur his mount to safety. A volley from Virginians in gray brought an end to his distinguished career, and his rider less horse was captured.

When Robert E. Lee learned what had taken place, he told aides that “a gesture of courtesy” was essential. When they nodded in agreement, the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia dispatched Kearny’s horse and gear to the distraught widow of his opponent.

This sculpture is located in Arlington Cemetery near the Custis House, also known as the Arlington House / Robert E. Lee Memorial.