This is a list of named horses and the senior Union and Confederate officers who rode them during the American Civil War.
Horse | Officer | Notes |
---|---|---|
Ajax | Robert E. Lee | Ajax was reportedly too large for Lee to ride comfortably and was therefore used infrequently |
Aldebaron | Philip Sheridan | Sheridan's first horse |
Almond Eye | Benjamin F. Butler | |
Bayard | Philip Kearny | Kearny's secondary horse; Kearny was killed at Chantilly while riding this horse |
Bill | Henry J. Hunt | |
Billy | George H. Thomas | Named for William T. Sherman |
Black Auster | William J. Hardee | |
Black Bess | John Hunt Morgan | |
Blackie | George G. Meade | Meade's secondary horse |
Blackjack | Jefferson Davis | |
Boney | William Rosecrans | Rosecrans' favorite horse |
Brown Roan (also referred to as "The Roan") | Robert E. Lee | One of Lee's secondary horses, Brown Roan went blind in 1862 and had to be retired |
Bucephalus | Sterling Price | The original Bucephalus was the black stallion of Alexander the Great on his journeys to Africa and Asia, after which Sterling Price named his horse. |
Burns (also called Black Burns) | George B. McClellan | McClellan's secondary horse |
Butler | Wade Hampton | Hampton's favorite horse |
Captain | Wade Hampton | |
Charlemagne | Joshua Chamberlain | |
Cincinnati | Ulysses S. Grant | Grant's favorite and most famous horse, acquired in 1864; most paintings of and memorials to Grant depict him astride Cincinnati, including the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial at the base of Capitol Hill |
Cornwall | John Sedgwick | Sedgwick's secondary horse |
Daniel Webster | George B. McClellan | |
Decatur | Philip Kearny | Kearny's secondary horse, shot through the neck at the Battle of Fair Oaks |
Dixie | Edward Porter Alexander | |
Dixie | Patrick Cleburne | Horse killed at the Battle of Perryville |
Dolly | William T. Sherman | Sherman's secondary horse |
Don Juan [1] | George Armstrong Custer | One of Custer's secondary horses |
Duke | William T. Sherman | In a letter in 1888, Sherman wrote that his favorite horse throughout the war was the one he rode in Atlanta |
Egypt | Ulysses S. Grant | One of many secondary horses used by Grant |
Fancy | John F. Reynolds | Reynolds' favorite horse |
Fanny | John Gibbon | |
Faugh-a-Ballagh | Patrick Kelly | |
Fire-Eater | Albert Sidney Johnston | |
Firefly | Robert E. Rodes | |
Fleeter | Belle Boyd | |
Fleetfoot | Walter H. Taylor | |
Fly-By-Night | James Longstreet | A gift from General Robert E. Lee in 1864 |
Fox | Ulysses S. Grant | Grant's primary horse |
Gertie | George G. Meade | Meade's secondary horse |
Grand Old Canister | Daniel Sickles | Sickles' secondary horse |
Grape | Daniel Sickles | Sickles' secondary horse |
Grey Eagle | John Buford | |
Handsome Joe | John Sedgwick | Sedgwick's secondary horse |
Harry | George Armstrong Custer | One of Custer's secondary horses |
Hero | James Longstreet | |
Highfly | J.E.B. Stuart | Stuart's secondary horse |
Jack | Ulysses S. Grant | One of many secondary horses used by Grant |
Jasper | Robert H. Milroy | [2] |
Jeff Davis | John Bell Hood | |
Jeff Davis | Ulysses S. Grant | One of many secondary horses used by Grant |
Jennie | Sullivan Ballou | Killed at First Bull Run, the horse Ballou was riding when he received his mortal wound at that battle |
Jinny | Isaac R. Trimble | |
Kangaroo | Ulysses S. Grant | One of many secondary horses used by Grant |
Kentuck | George B. McClellan | McClellan's favorite horse |
King Philip | Nathan Bedford Forrest | Forrest's favorite horse after the death of Roderick |
Lancer | George Armstrong Custer | Custer's favorite horse |
Little Sorrel (also Old Sorrel) | Stonewall Jackson | Jackson was fatally wounded while riding Little Sorrel at the Battle of Chancellorsville; Little Sorrel is buried on the Virginia Military Institute parade deck mere feet from Jackson's famous statue |
Lookout | Joseph Hooker | Named after the Battle of Lookout Mountain |
Lucy Long | Robert E. Lee | A gift from J.E.B. Stuart, Lucy Long was the primary back-up horse used by Lee |
Methuselah | Ulysses S. Grant | Grant's first horse upon re-entering the Army in 1861 |
Milroy | John B. Gordon | The horse was captured from Union General Robert H. Milroy at Second Winchester in 1863 and subsequently named after him. |
Moscow | Philip Kearny | Reportedly Kearny's favorite, though Kearny avoided riding him due to his conspicuous white color |
My Maryland | J.E.B. Stuart | Stuart's secondary horse |
Nellie Gray | Fitzhugh Lee | Horse killed at the Battle of Opequon |
Old Baldy (also simply Baldy) | George G. Meade | Meade's favorite horse, which he rode at the Battle of Gettysburg; Old Baldy was wounded at First Bull Run and Antietam |
Old Bob | Ambrose Burnside | |
Old Isham | Benjamin F. Cheatham | Horse was named after Isham Harris, the Confederate Governor of Tennessee |
Old Jim | Strong Vincent | |
Old Spot | Judson Kilpatrick | |
Pocohontas | George H. Steuart | |
Pretty | David McMurtie Gregg | |
Prince | John F. Reynolds | Reynolds' secondary horse |
Plug Ugly | Alpheus S. Williams | |
Rambler | John Sedgwick | Sedgwick's favorite horse |
Red Eye | Richard B. Garnett | |
Red Pepper | Patrick Cleburne | |
Richmond | Robert E. Lee | Richmond died in 1862 after the Battle of Malvern Hill |
Rienzi (later Winchester) | Philip Sheridan | Renamed after Sheridan's famous ride at the Battle of Winchester |
Rifle | Richard S. Ewell | |
Roanoke | George Armstrong Custer | One of Custer's secondary horses |
Roderick | Nathan Bedford Forrest | Forrest's favorite horse |
Rondy | Ulysses S. Grant | The first horse Grant used in battle |
Rosey | William P. Carlin | Named for William S. Rosecrans |
Sam | William T. Sherman | Sherman's secondary horse |
Shiloh | Daniel Ruggles | |
Skylark | J.E.B. Stuart | [3] |
Slicky | Alfred Pleasonton | |
Tammany | Daniel Sickles | Sickles' favorite horse |
Tobey | William Rosecrans | |
Tom Telegraph | Turner Ashby | [4] |
Traveller | Robert E. Lee | Lee's favorite horse; Traveller died a few months after Lee in 1871, and was later buried beside him at Lee Chapel in Virginia |
Virginia | J.E.B. Stuart | Noted in Gettysburg Campaign [5] |
Warren | Bryan Grimes | Pulled Grimes' coffin during his funeral procession |
Yorkshire | Alpheus S. Williams |
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