Traveller and Lucy et al

Salvete omnes,
  so today a little foray into the American horses' history of Civil War 1861-85, and the famous war leader  & general on the rebel side  Robert E. Lee  who had many horses during the war of rebellion as any war leader must.
Perhaps it was  the most famous Civil War horse, that is  general Lee's horse, a grey American saddlebred  named Traveller.

During the  Civil War general Lee had four other mounts in his 'remuda,' 
a mare -Lucy Long -
-bay Richmond, a  stallion that died from his wound after the battle of Malvern Hill in 1862.
- brown The Roan, went blind in 1862, Lee gave him to a farmer who promised to care for the blind horse.
-a sorrel Ajax - seldom used being too tall for the general, remained in his care after the war.
the following  pages, describing Lee's horses, come from the  Southern Historical Society Papers available on Archive -

  





After this death, especially during the later XIX century and first half of the XX century Lee has been subject of many public artworks etc. One of them is an equestrian monument in Richmond. It was created by Antonin Mercie in France and unveiled in Richmond in 1890.
There, at 1700 Monument Ave in Richmond  idealized Lee sits astride his idealized war steed (they claim it is not Traveller) and until June 2020 this pair was resplendent in their setting and scope.
Since then it has been the subject of a political and media dispute including the  current Virginia governor. The monument has been defaced by the opponents.
Perhaps it will be removed as the political voices against this artwork are powerful and vocal.



valete

Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee Monument

Salvete omnes,
I love monumental sculpture, especially when it contains horses and /or horsemen.
Long time ago I visited Baltimore and among the places where we walked was the area of the J. Hopkins University and Wyman Park (no mention of it in the Wyman Park Wikipedia page)  where there are two very interesting monuments
- Union Soldiers and Sailors Monument
- Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee Monument
The two Southern rebel (Confederate United States) generals monument is a great equine sculpture, powerful and full of emotions.
But it carries more than the beauty, for its symbolism and uncertain fate is part of the hot and divisive quarrel about the place of the monuments to the Civil War in the current American society and culture.
The city wants to remove this monument, along with 3 more monuments including the monument to the US Supreme Court chief judge who authored then famous or nowadays infamous case of Scott vs Sanford of 1855.
While I do not like the idea of the removal of these monuments, especially the beautiful Jackson & Lee, it is the way democracy works, without any regard towards history or beauty, whatever it useful to the politicians at the moment.
Some articles and voices supporting the idea here, here , here and here. Including here is the piece authored by the historian[sic!] of the official proposal to remove Jackson & Lee monument.

Ad rem, the sculptor of this fine monument was a woman named Laura Gardin, who married the famous sculptor James Earl Fraser, hence she is known as Laura Gardin Fraser. (interestingly the Wiki Commons page about the artist does not show any photos of her Jackson & Lee monument).

Nota bene, their studio in Westport, Connecticut, where they both had worked since the early XX century, when they died without heirs was demolished and many sculptures and casts there were destroyed, in the true American fashion of total disregard of history and beauty.

A short article about the monument by Scott L. Mingus, with photos. Scott also put his 2 cents about the issue of the monuments removal.

A piece by James LaFond against the removal, with many insights into the Baltimore politics. (interview with LaFond about living in a failed modern city, could be pretty scary to most)
enjoy