Horses In Civil War Letters
During the Civil War, men as well as horses faced hardship and suffering. Below are letters or excerpts from letters that mention horses in battle. If you have any more Civil War era quotes or letters about horses, let me know.

 

"Old Plug Ugly" was the mount of General Alpheus S. Williams. In one of his letters Williams wrote:

"For a year and a half we have been daily companions. We get up a great love for even brutes under such circumstances. I should grieve to part with old Plug Ugly, with all his faults."

You can read more letters about Plug Ugly here.

 

John D. Billings (part of the Army of the Potomac) gave this account of the bravery of the horses, and the sad death they faced:

August 1864

"In this battle, the 57 horses beonging to my company stood out in bold relief, a sightly target for the Rebel sharpshooters who, from a wood and cornfield in our front, improved their opportunity to the full. Their object was to kill off our horses, and then by charging, take the guns if possible.
It was painfully interesting to note the manner in which our brave limber horses -- those which drew the guns -- succumbed to the bullets of the enemy.
A peculiar dull thud indicated that the bullet had penetrated some fleshy part of the animal, sounding much as a pebble does when thrown into mud. The result of such wounds was to make the horse start for a moment or so but would finally settle down as if it was something to be endured without making a fuss, and thus would remain until struck again. I remember having my eye on one horse at the very moment when a bullet entered his neck, but the wound had no more effect on him than to make him shake is head as if pestered by a fly. Some horses would go down when hit by the first bullet, and after lying quiet a while would struggle to their feet only to receive additional wounds. When the bullet struck the bone of a horse's leg it made a hollow snapping sound and took him off his feet.
I saw one pole horse shot thus, fracturing the bone. Down he went at once, but all encumbered as he was with harness and limber, he soon scrambled up and stood on three legs until a bullet hit him vitally.
It was sad to see a single horse left standing with his five companions all lying dead or dying about him, himself the object of a concentraded fire until the fatal shot laid him low.
I saw one such brute struck by the seventh bullet before he fell for the last time. Several received as many as five before succumbing.
We took but four of our fifty seven horses from that ill-starred fray."'

Captain Charles Adams of the First Massachusetts Cavalry, Potomac Creek, May 12, 1863, in a letter describing the hardships that cavalry horses face: (these are excerpts -- link to the full letter below)

"The suffering is trifling for the men and they are always well in the field in spite of wet and cold and heat, loss of sleep and sleeping on the ground. In the field we have no sickness; when we get into camp it begins to appear at once. But with the horses it is otherwise and you have no idea of their sufferings."

"I do my best for my horses and am sorry for them; but all war is cruel and it is my business to bring every man I can into the presence of the enemy, and so make war short. So I have but one rule, a horse must go until he can't be spurred any further, and then the rider must get another horse as soon as he can seize on one. To estimate the wear and tear on horseflesh you must bear in mind that, in the service in this country, a cavalry horse when loaded carries an average of 225 lbs. on his back. His saddle, when packed without a rider in it, weighs no less than fifty pounds."

"Every night after a march, no matter how late it may be, or tired or hungry I am, if permission is given to unsaddle, I examine all the horses' backs myself and see that everything is done for them that can be done..."

"Imagine a horse with his withers swollen to three times the natural size, and with a volcanic, running sore pouring matter down each side, and you have a case with which every cavalry officer is daily called upon to deal, and you imagine a horse which has still to be ridden until he lays down in sheer suffering under the saddle."

"Poor brutes! How it would astonish and terrify you and all others at home with your sleek, well-fed animals, to see the weak, gaunt, rough animals, with each rib visible and hipbones starting through the flesh, on which these "dashing cavalry raids" were executed. It would knock romance out of you. "

Read the full letter here

Brigadier General John Gibbon wrote this:

"One thing which forcibly occurred to me was the perfect quite which horses stood in their places. Even when a shell, striking in the midst of a team, would knock over one or two of them or hurl one struggling in his death agonies to the ground, the rest would make no effort to struggle or escape but would stand stolidly by as if saying to themselves, 'It is fate, it is useless to try to avoid it.'"