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Often used “Can’t tell one thing ‘tother.

About this time (January, 1864) some people in Illinois found a horse in the southern part of that State, which they thought was remarkably beautiful. They purchased him and sent him as a present to my father. This horse was known as "Egypt" as he was raised, or at least came from southern Illinois, a district known in the State as Egypt, as the northern part was known as Canaan.

"Cincinnati" was the son of "Lexington," the fastest four-mile thoroughbred in the United States, time 7:19 3/4 minutes. "Cincinnati" nearly 'equaled the speed of his half-brother, "Kentucky," and Grant was offered $10,000 in gold or its equivalent for him, but refused. He was seventeen hands high, and in the estimation of Grant was the finest horse that he had ever seen. Grant rarely permitted anyone to mount the horse --two exceptions were Admiral Daniel Ammen and Lincoln. Ammen saved Grant's life from drowning while a school-boy. Grant says: "Lincoln spent the latter days of his life with me. He came to City Point in the last month of the war and was with me all the time. He was a fine horseman and rode my horse 'Cincinnati' every day." Grant rode Cincinnati to negotiate Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House. ….you see a statue of me and today and it’ll likely be Cincinnati that I’m riding. 
Grant was always fond of fast horses. He was mounted on his race horse, Nellie, a very fleet-footed animal when he performed his daring ride to the camp of Gen. Taylor during the Mexican war. I have heard him describe the wonderful speed this horse exhibited when he made that perilous trip of two and a half miles exposed to showers of bullets from the rifles of the enemy. He appeared to look upon Nellie's conduct as more courageous than his own...”

First horse on re-entering the Army in 1861…Methuselah Rondy…first horse in battle Robert E. Lee was buried with his horse Traveler is father sent young Grant to purchase the colt. “Offer him fifteen,” his father said, “and let him bargain you up if you must, but don’t go over this twenty-five I’m giving you.” And Grant, buttoning the money in his breast pocket, galloped to Maysville. He was always the fastest boy with a team, the handiest with a wild mare; his mother always said, “Horses understand Ulysses.” When he arrived he was nervous, never before having been asked to handle his father’s business. Grant looked up at the horse’s owner, a hammer-headed man with blacksmith’s hands. Behind the man’s head the sky was bright blue, with a dark tree branch reaching across like an eager hand. Grant opened his mouth and blurted out everything his father had told him. “And so I’m supposed to bargain with you for this here colt up to but not over the twenty-five I have in my pocket.” You can imagine what he paid for the animal. Two years later the colt went blind and Grant sold it, glad to be free of a reminder of the incident.

Indomitable….the finest horse in his father’s stables. . once swam a stream with him to visit Julia. They say that over a million horses were killed during the war. . .we burned them, burying being to much of a job. York…his horse at West Point Abraham Lincoln, in conversation, 1864:
"He's the quietest little fellow you ever saw. He makes the least fuss of any man you ever knew. I believe he had been in this room a minute or so before I knew he was here. Grant is the first general I have had. You know how it's been with all the rest. As soon as I put a man in command of the army, they all wanted me to be the general. Now it isn't so with Grant. He hasn't told me what his plans are. I don't know and I don't want to know. I am glad to find a man who can go ahead without me. He doesn't ask impossibilities of me, and he's the first general I've had that didn't." • Like Mr. Lincoln, Grant was devoted to his family. Like Mr. Lincoln, he liked to have his family around him. Like Mr. Lincoln, he married a woman from a slaveowning family with a strong character – but without the flakiness of Mr. Lincoln’s wife Mary. Julia Grant was known among family members as “the boss.” • Like Mr. Lincoln Grant was a good and loving father. Like Mr. Lincoln he had some trouble with their formal education. Like Lincoln he had four children. Grant was more concerned about his children’s formal schooling than was Mr. Lincoln. • Like Mr. Lincoln, Grant had problems with his father. In his Grant’s case, he was a disappointment to his father. But he appears to have been ashamed of his mother for some reason; she did not attend his inauguration. Neither did Mr. Lincoln’s stepmother attend his in 1861. • Like Mr. Lincoln, Grant had a strong sense of duty. Like Mr. Lincoln, he did what had to be done without a great deal of superfluous commotion. • Like Mr. Lincoln (in Congress), Grant endured a prolonged separation from his wife (while on army duty in California in the 1850s). • Like Mr. Lincoln, Grant could exercise extraordinary self-control. Like Mr. Lincoln, he was modest but not humble. • Like Mr. Lincoln, Grant put more store in telegraph traffic than in making speeches during the Civil War. • Like Mr. Lincoln, Grant was concentrated on defeating the Confederate army in Virginia, rather than capturing Richmond.

he South furnished - involuntarily - many horses to the North. Most of the fighting was done on Southern soil, and the local horses were easily seized by Northern troops. While Confederates had opportunities to take Northern horses during Robert E. Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania and upon the occasional raids into Northern territory, the number taken was small compared to the thousands commandeered by Union troops, who occupied large areas of the South for several years. The Northerners were not the only ones to make off with horses. Both the North and the South soon began to take horses that belonged to enemy allies. This was often done not out of necessity but simply to deprive the enemy of horses. Early in the war, the Confederate cavalry was superior. The theory was that in the South the lack of good roads had forced Southerners to travel by horseback from boyhood, while in the North a generation had been riding in carriages and other wheeled vehicles. Although this may have been true, rural young men in the North were also horsemen by necessity, but unlike many of the Southern boys, they had to bear the tedious burden of caring for their animals after plowing behind them all day. Young Northerners who knew horses seemed to have little desire to assume the responsibility of taking them to war, and instead joined the infantry. In the South, long before the war, young men organized themselves into mounted militia companies, often with passionate names. Although these may have been more social than military, the men learned how to drill, ride daringly, and charge with the saber. Southern cavalry horses were also superior to Northern horses, largely because of the Southern penchant for racing. Nearly every Southern town had a track, and the sport developed a superior stock of pure-blooded, fleet-footed animals. In the North, the stocky, strong draft horses were preferred because of their ability and willingness to work long hours.

"The horse for artillery service should be from fifteen to sixteen hands high ... should stand erect on his legs, be strongly built, but free in his movements; his shoulders should be large enough to give support to the collar but not too heavy; his body full, but not too long; the sides well rounded; the limbs solid with rather strong shanks, and the feet in good condition. To these qualities he should unite, as much as possible, the qualities of the saddle horse; should trot and gallop easily, have even gaits and not be skittish." Horses that were between the ages of five and seven years old were usually selected. John Gibbon carefully portrayed what was wanted, but horses with these qualities were not always available. Horses became scarce and stayed in short supply in areas of continuing conflict. At the conclusion of the training, the horses had to pass one final test that determined if they would become army horses. On a signal, the riders dismounted and directed their horses to lie down. Machine gunners at the other end of the field would open fire, scattering bullets over the prone men and animals. The horses that panicked and jumped up were killed promptly and released from duty. Artillery and saddle horses had to endure ample danger in battle. An effective tactic used when attacking a battery was to shoot the horses harnessed to it. If the horses were killed or disabled, moving the guns was impossible. Unfortunately for the horses, they could take much punishment. They were difficult to bring down and keep down, even with the impact of large-caliber Minie bullets. An example of this tactic was brutally shown at Ream's Station in August 1864. The Tenth Massachusetts Battery was fighting from behind a makeshift barricade with the horses fully exposed. There were six guns, and five soon came under fire. In minutes, only two of the thirty horses were still standing; both animals bore wounds. One horse was shot seven times before it went down. Others were hit, went down, and struggled back up only to be hit again. The average number of wounds each horse suffered was five. Despite the thousands of horses killed or wounded in battle, the highest number were lost to disease or exhaustion. The Tenth Massachusetts Battery lost 157 horses between October 18, 1862, and April 9, 1865. Out of these horses, 112 died from disease. Forty-five of these succumbed to glanders. Glanders, a highly contagious disease that affects the skin, nasal passages, and respiratory tracts of a horse, was most widespread. Another forty-five horses from the same battery were lost to fatigue; they simply became too exhausted to work and were put to death. The capacity of a healthy horse to pull a load was affected by a number of factors. Chief among these was the nature of the surface over which the load was being hauled. A single horse could pull 3,000 pounds 20 to 23 miles a day over a hard-paved road. The weight dropped to 1,900 pounds over a macadamized road, and went down to 1,100 pounds over rough ground. The pulling ability was further reduced by one-half if a horse carried a rider on its back. Finally, as the number of horses in a team increased, the pulling capacity of each horse was further reduced. A horse in a team of six had only seven-ninths the pulling capacity it would have had in a team of two. The goal was that each horse's share of the load should be no more than 700 pounds. This was less than what a healthy horse, even carrying a rider and hitched into a team of six, could pull, but it furnished a safety factor that allowed for fatigue and losses.