She anchoreds works center and eventually down the stretch, the first weekly Horse Racing Program on Cable Television. She anchored rod casts of Kentucky Derby day, preakness the the breeders crown, and hamiltonian. She is the author of several books on racing, horse training, and the civil war. Why are you writing looks if you know so much about betting on horses . The connecticut civil war, a guide for travelers. Most recently, Stonewall Jacksons little sorrel. Please join me in welcoming sharon smith. [applause] sharon smith my main license to keep your money in your pocket. Dont do it. I do own horses and ive been distributed interested in the civil war for many years. Its a challenge to write a book about a single horse. They tend to not write their memoirs. , hehe case of little sorrel was owned by a man who did not live to write his memoirs. I doubt he would have if he had lived area to be did not write letters either. They were so celebrated, there was a remarkable amount of information about this horse. I will tell you why i started. Withcould that possibly do Stonewall Jackson or his horse. Of the 169 towns in connecticut, they have a marker. Thestate paid for construction. When they went to the tiny town of summers, the town chose these writings. You can see the initials. Its about halfway down. The information that Stonewall Jacksons favorite war house was cold in connecticut. I wrote a book just before the centennial about places in connecticut connected to the civil war. I came across this sign. After i was thinking about writing that book and updating it, i went back and said that this possibly be true . I will tell you about finding out if he was born in connecticut. Summers is a tiny town in a small state that has been bypassed by the interstate highways. Its a long drive to get there, depending on no place in connecticut is that far to get to. Its on the massachusetts border, which makes it more unlikely warhorse wouldve been born there. The beautiful town. It is probably best known now as the site of the only maximumsecurity prison. You dont want to say to your neighbor i was visiting a friend in summers yesterday. They will wonder about the company you keep. Thomas j Stonewall Jackson was one of the most accomplished generals of the civil war. Had a reputation as dean being peculiar. He was not dont or his appearance. He did not care what kind of horse he rode. He was a military genius. They picked a peculiar little horse. It was not impressive to look at. It was a kind of villa terry genius as a warhorse. If you havent seen the upgraded this isownstairs, Stonewall Jackson aboard little sorrel. He spoke to people who had seen jackson aboard little sorrel. He never saw the horse in person. We do not have a photograph, unknown photograph of Thomas Jackson aboard little sorrel. We have the artist renderings. This is probably the best before the current generation of artists. This is probably the best rendering. He was known to be alert during battle and sleepy the rest of the time. Jackson is probably not sitting in the saddle like you would have. He rode with his stirrups to short and road forward in the saddle, it was unusual then. When he get that method of writing . Ding . Jackson was born in clarksburg. He grew up as a young man and teenager in jacksonville. If you look on the left side of the picture, Thomas Jacksons uncle maintained a race course. As a boy, he rode racehorses. Thats where he got the short stirrups. In that era, jockeys road with long stirrups. They leaned over to the, but not very much. The 1840s, here is a nice drawing there. You see an upgrade upright rider with long stirrups. I think he got it in mexico. He did participate in the mexican war. These are two early styles of ing. Ng rid on the left is a style. This is from an italian book. Right, thethe knights in armor used to ride with very long stirrups. On the left is the style with shorter stirrups. This writer is not leaning forward. Is the starte left of the encased in doors primarily. The style was still in use in the 1840s when jackson was on duty in mexico city, right after the mexican war. He bought an expensive force there. Written likeve this on the left. I believe thats where he got his style. This is what a military officer should have written like. Back in the saddle, long stirrups, the toes are not pointed up like they would we today. Thats not what he looked like when he wrote a horse. I looked everywhere to find a picture of a military officer in uniform riding. This is an italian equestrian. , although some of his observers described him riding close to the horses mane, very short stirrups. Probably road very much like this. Lets skip over the two jackson with his riding style. He was a major of the virginia volunteers, just after the legislature voted or see session. Secession. Duty to mannyhe garrison, a virginia man to garrison, the virginia garrison. It turned out to be impossible to defend. He was there and he needed forces. He needed primarily artillery horses. He needed all force for himself. Virginiahe man from who made his quartermaster, he was tasked for finding horses did courses. Horses. He was not able to find out in the country suitable riding horses for Thomas Jackson. 1861, the virginia militia hadps stopped a train that begun in the ohio river valley and was headed to baltimore. It was not a federal train. It was a livestock person who put these animals on a train. John harmon called after the train had been stop and found horses for his commander. 1863, two years later. Picturethe only wartime of the horse. These were taken off the train. This is the little one. It was about 15 hands. Its measured at the top of the shoulder. Quite small. People who looked at him thought he was in audit choice of course. Choice for a horse. People did not ink he was a suitable choice for an officer. There were confirmation characteristics that felt like his eat in the saddle was peculiar. His head was too big. The ankles were a little small. There were a couple of care to rest six that were felt by alleged experts that were wrong. Look at the tail to the top of the hip. , it was very sloping. It was not something that would be desirable in a horse. The shoulder is higher than the hip, that is not suitable for a writing riding horse. Reality, there was nothing wrong with this confirmation except he was not what a virginia gentleman would be looking at. This was not a horse that would trot. Its intermediate gate was a pace. At pacing horses from the mid19th century. You can see the legs on either side of the body go forward and backward at the same time. This is not the normal gait of a quadruped. Every war like an animal you can think of does the opposite. Left got leg and forward at the same time. This is a lateral gait. Look the next time your dog walks across the room. This is not what a quadruped does. This is another look at the modern one. Gate. A pacing like on the one side of the body, it goes back at the same time. This is a faster gate in the trot. Its not what was common in virginia in the mid19th century. A lot of people think that when he took off the train was a morgan. 1858. As drawn in this was just before the incident. You can see this is a completely different animal. Thisn morgan was dead at point. It was by someone who had contact. This is a good look at a real morgan on the right. This was the look sheridans favorite horse. Sheridans favorite horse. You cant really tell, i couldnt ride one with out a saddle. His weathers were below the hip. Another thing about little sorrel, the leg between the chest in the knee is typical of a pacer. What we have here is a good example of a horse that is not a morgan, but is something else. Earlye go back to the 18th century. Sent to rhode island from england. The reason he stood for this is example of abest pacer. It developed in southern rhode island. This is a map of the state of rhode island. See the yellow at the bottom is the land. The pacer had nothing to do with the indians. Baron, itto james max had a big head with tremendous endurance. He described it as able to work all day in the field and then pace to church in the evening. He was a great admirer of this read. Breed. I do believe that little sorrel was mostly a pacer. That its in fine with having been sold in connecticut. This was the town very much like this in 1850 when it was believed the horse was sold. Supposedlyre he was sold, the road goes off to the left. It is a halfmile down the road. When i went to try to get the from,about where it came that this little horse was brad in 1850, it fits in perfectly with the location. I asked some people in the historical society, Everybody Knows its true. Not quite enough. Finally, a wonderful woman who is a historian for the congregational church, she came up with a typescript. It was dated the early part of the 20th century, written by a man describing who lived in the houses and included the story bred how he had Stonewall Jacksons horse and horse. There was a horse named american traveling the not at the description of jacksons little pacing chestnut horse. They were used names a lot. His a little original name may have been american traveler. I cant guarantee any of the story. This was written by a man who bought a house across at the time little sorrel was supposedly born. He was not just in the neighborhood. The story was out while the principles were alive. The children were alive. Its pretty good evidence, but not group. I have come but not proof. This man is william collins. Ohio in to southern 1850. Army uniform. Nion i thought, this is it. He mustve seen little sorrel. He wrote back to his brother. He never came near Stonewall Jackson. He went west during the war. Fort collins colorado is named for him. He got a good friend who was involved in the Shenandoah Valley campaign. Ferry in 1862ers when jackson took Harpers Ferry. He came facetoface with Stonewall Jackson on his horse. He was very close to william were businessthey partners and went to the same church area church. It got back to noah collins thats with a horse came from. Here is another interesting bit worried this is a pacing mare named hottest. Pocahontas. You can see the characteristics. Largely a pacer as well. That was in southern ohio. That is where the story goes. I think its probably true that he did come from summers, but the proof is in there. This will horse that jackson called fancy but everybody referred to as the little sorrel, the first lacey saw real action he saw was at falling waters. 1861. As in early july of it was delaying action until the union force came across the Potomac River. I dont know if sorrel was there. He was not amos enough to have anybody note if he was there. Sounds like little sorrel later. I have a feeling he may have used them in this title. Nextorse he was on at the mapt, can see on this old jackson brought his troops in to the location on the railroad. I think the map shows the battle to lace, it was a tremendous victory for the confederacy. It was so important. They wanted a statue of jackson and what was supposed to be little sorrel. He stood firm against the union onslaught. He was giving the direction to include little sorrel and jackson aboard. We know who he was aboard at manassas. I dont know why little sorrel did not get there in time because of the rail transport. He is honored. Famous andel became became written about right the time after the battle of first manassas. Headquarters,o checking on his troops. We know that was little sorrel. In november, he moved up to winchester virginia. By then, it was clear that was his primary horse. An important event happened in winchester. Manas hooked up with a named jim lewis. That is the lack man second from the left in this picture. This is an imaginary scene that the place years later. Lewis was a slave. Older than the man is shown here. He was an adult. He was the camp serving for jackson for the rest of his life. His duties, he had the care of jacksons forces. Little sorrel was cared for by jim lewis, he was not only devoted to jackson but to the horse. He protected the horse throughout the remainder of the war. A terribly difficult or ice snow , this is what they had to cross to get there. This was the spot where jackson became extremely fond of little sorrel area. He never slipped it other horses were slipping and having terrible trouble. Little sorrel was always sure what did surefooted. It occurred to misses jackson that he became devoted to the sorrel. The first battle of the Shenandoah Valley campaign was the only presumed loss for jackson. Some of them were close area its important to the history of the horse because jackson attacked on bad intelligence about how many Government Troops were there. It was a disaster for them. At that point, he became determined he would see himself whenever possible. That became a challenge for little sorrel as well. We who are used to looking at maps, he went up the valley to the south. Troopsto keep the union occupied. Next panel of the shenandoah it delete. Ou can see this was before the battle. The hill. Sisted on they were within artillery range, possibly within long arm range. It was very difficult area. Jackson will leave his time would, when it would come. The exposed the horse who i dont take was a presbyterian. They survived to fight another day read that battle was. This is an early map of the late in the campaign, he found himself in the George Kemper house. He was a doctor in town. He chose this as his head orders. Not immediately accessible. The horses were in the pastures around the house. Over theops came ridge. Trapped. Own himself he was about to get out and realized he needed his own horse. They dashed down the street and got over the bridge just in time. Valleyuccess of the campaign, his goal was to keep the union troops occupied and make lincoln afraid he might, to washington. Come to washington. This was a very difficult situation for man and horse. So much happened during the seven days. You can see the swampy area marked on the map. It made it unusually difficult for horses. They get diseases, not malaria, just like humans do, and sloppy land is hard on their feet. Although he is often described as being rather grubby looking, especially in comparison to traveler, who this was their first major battle, he survived and he survived well. This is what the swampland looked like, that little horse was in and out of the swamp for a week and survived well enough so that when the battles were over, jackson and his staff headed north. This was the earliest picture i could find of a situation that was reported repeatedly when jackson was with little sorrel. He is asleep. He trusted his horse to get where he was going. This shows Staff Members helping him up. There are other pictures with jackson snoozing and the horse finding where to go. Cedar mountain was a relatively small battle that took place on the way north, but the top of that hill, this is a modern picture i took last year, the land has not changed much around there, it is south of culpepper. Jackson and the horse and some Staff Members and some calvary are at the top of that hill, certainly within range of the Union Batteries which are to the left of the picture. Imagine to the left, that is the union battery, imagine little sorrel and jackson on top of that hill risking themselves tremendously. This is a description by a calvary officer, jackson dashed down the hill and jumping the fences, an interesting challenge for that horse, and down the road and they saved the day. It was a good factory victory for the confederacy. The other thing important about Cedar Mountain is the first significant photograph of dead artillery horses after a battle, this shows what a hard war it was on horses. Another interesting thing about jackson and Cedar Mountain is it was the first instance of people stealing the horses hair. The south and even some in the north often have hair or more hairs or a chunk of hair. They would do that with generals horses in general, but apparently little sorrel was particularly popular. You will see in their catalogs, tail hairs from Stonewall Jacksons horse. There is a story of a Union Sergeant who had been captured, jackson wanted to interview him about an intelligence matter and caught them caressing little sorrells romp and discovering he was taking out pair and he claimed the hairs were worth one dollar each. The story is repeated again and again at other points during the war that they would have plucked him clean if they had the chance, the horse was so popular and so famous. This incident i will tell you about took place on august 28 of 1862. It is considered the first day of the battle of second manassas or a battle that took place before the two days of second manassas. There is discussion about that. Jackson was about two thirds of the way up on a hillside with the Union Division marching west to east which would be left to right in front of him. There is the hill where jackson was, it is not a high hill that it is exposed. When jackson rode up from the left to take a look at this spot to look at what was marching below him, it was a Union Division. His staff was concerned about him exposing himself but he did it anyway. He was spotted there by Abner Doubleday who did not invent baseball, but he did see Stonewall Jackson on the hillside with in range of rifles and artillery, he claims. There is doubt about it. He claims officers were looking up at the scruffy looking man and a scruffy looking horse they figured was a local farmer. Doubleday claims he knew it was somebody important, he knew it was an officer. They were not shot, they lived to have a Great Success at second manassas. There was a battle that day which was a draw. After second manassas lee gets the courage he always had the courage, gets the idea that this would be a good point to invade the north. He had been thinking about it, jackson was thinking about it. Here they are crossing the Potomac River but jackson is not aboard little sorrel here. One of the mysteries of his life is why little sorrel was not there. A man who wrote a great book on it says little sorrel was stolen or missing. I do not think that is true, i think he may have been wounded. They did find a story of one of jacksons bodyguard holding little sorrel and the courier was hit by a the horse was out of action for a while. He was back in action for the battle of Harpers Ferry which took place on september 15, shortly before antietam. He is described as being there as a scruffy looking little horse. Then we go to antietam where jackson and little sorrel were up in the northern part of this map, which wouldve been the left wing of the Confederate Army at this point. The day before the battle, joseph hookers troops across the antietam creek. The confederates knew they were there. Jackson was up on the hill watching it happen and stayed there all night, exposing himself and his horse again and they survived to fight the battle of antietam. It was not a success, he had to turn around and go back to virginia. Here are jackson stood in the middle of the water as their entire corps crossed to safety. This is where they spent the next few months, this part of Berkeley County which is down west virginia. Bunker hill was the primary spot of where they changed. This was a good time for little sorrel. Lots of grain, not much work. He became plump and happy which was a good thing because they were about to fight a cold battle, the battle of fredericksburg in december of 1862. Jackson and little sorrel were up on the hill as the union troops were crossing on pontoon bridges. The hill was named Dead Horse Hill for a good reason, it was hard on the horses, primarily artillery horses, but others as well. After pleasant winter quarters, not much food but present, it was on to chancellorsville where jackson and little sorrel made their famous flank movement to the side and jackson and lee met up, with jackson on the left and little sorrel on the right, they found themselves here after a successful battle, they found themselves here, jackson on little sorrel as usual. This is not exactly plank road and mountain road. This debate on the significant incident at chancellorsville happened on the plank road or mountain road, i do not think it matters. What did happen is jackson was shot by North Carolina troops who apparently thought it was union calvary, little sorrel bolted toward the union troops, was brought back by jackson, his hand was hurt the least bad, jackson was taken off the horse, even the best of the jackson biographers believe little sorrel then ran into the union lines. I do not believe there is any evidence he was ever out of the confederate hands. There is some evidence he was used for a day or two before they realized this was Stonewall Jacksons horse and it was treated better. I think there is good evidence that he was wounded himself. This man, whose narrative is parts of his narrative are accurate, others are not. I will show you why later it is possible. This is an imaginary courier and ives. He was in a house on a plantation when he died. In spite of this lovely picture on the left, little sorrel was not there when he died, he was in the custody of jeb stuarts soldiers at the time he died. Anna jackson got control of Stonewall Jacksons estate and took the horse, she was given the horse, took him home to her home in North Carolina. There he lived and lived and lived. An interesting figure in the later story of little sorrel was a nephew of mrs. Jackson. She was a distinguished doctor in virginia later in the century. He tells the story of how he was a young boy who was sent out to recover little sorrel and the rest of the horses that were taken by calvary troops connected to shermans march. Some People Discount his story, i actually believe it is true. There were troops from ohio among the contingent that took little sorrel. It is possible that is how the story got back to hillsboro and up to summers. This is little sorrel at about age 30. You can see scars on his neck. Could they be wounds from chancellorsville . Dont know. Mrs. Jackson tried to raise money off of him. This is the back of the car, she would sell it for a couple of dollars. In 1884 she felt she could no longer keep him, she donated him to vmi where he was treated extremely well. At this point he was 34 years old, that is really old for a horse. They sent him an early 1885 to the cotton expedition in new orleans, he was very popular there on his train trip there and back. This is an elderly horse and the idea of sending him on a trip is interesting. I took this from an atlanta newspaper about him supposedly getting stuck in the mud on the way back. He did not go home to vmi, he went to the soldiers home where he was lovingly cared for by the old confederate soldiers, and in march of 1886 he died. The most famous taxidermist in the country had been hired to do the taxidermy on him when he died, and this is what he came up with. This is the websters mount of little sorrel at the vmi museum, you can see them today. His bones were buried in 1997, so part is in the museum, part is out front very he had a funeral with hundreds of people that showed up in 1997. So we get to the statues, this is the chancellorsville statue but this is the copy that is in Harrison County and clarksburg, west virginia, a wonderful equestrian statue, probably the best in terms of the size and shape of the horse of any of them, as you notice the gate is wrong. I am going to end with this one, this is out front, this is in honor of the horses and the equines who did not survive the civil war. I think current historians believe 2 million horses and mules died in that war. It was hell on soldiers and double hell on horses. They starve to death which soldiers dont, they died of every disease you can imagine. There are no amputee horses surviving the war, if they were injured in the lake they were dead. I will end with that, we should honor the horses who survived, little sorrel lived to 35, these guys did not. Thank you very much. [applause] i will leave this one on the screen, it is better to look at. If there are any questions, i would love to answer them. I was raised with pacers, so this makes a lot of sense as to the confirmation of the horse and the riding. We did ride them as well as drive them. It makes a great deal of sense to me. Sharon there is been recent research that is isolated the gene in pacers and it is a genetic mutation that causes some horses to paint. If you look on the cave paintings in france, there are pacing horses there. The earliest woodcut of the canterbury tales shows the wife of bath on a pacing horse. There are plenty of them still around. I was wondering if the soldiers home mentioned was the one right here . Sharon it absolutely is. That is where he went in 1885 and he lived for a year, well cared for. The soldiers there loved him and were devoted to him. They probably kept him alive longer than they should have. The story of his demise is that at one point he cannot stand anymore and was jacked up with some kind of a truss that kept him up right and he finally fell out of it and whether he was put down or just died i do not know. They loved him. He was a connection to jackson and other lost comrades. I grew up with morgans. I swear there is morgan blood in that horse somewhere. The personality of a morgan, that stout, hardworking. Sharon i think it is more likely there is pacer blood in a morgan. Some devoted morgan person, george lindsay, wrote everything that was known about the establishment of the morgan in 1857, 1850s anyway, a look at the sons of justin morgan, though progenitor of the breed, many of them were bred with pacer mayors. Justin morgan stamped his offspring, which means they look like him. That is one of the reasons died out. There are some socalled gaited morgans that do gait like a pacer. By 1850 there would not have been a full bred pacer. I enjoyed the talk. I read that little sorrel never panicked in battle. He always kept his cool and never panicked. Sharon i think that is true except for when jackson was hit. It could be explained by that when a horse is attached to his rider and something happened to the rider could cause a panic. That is why i think he may have been hit. Perhaps not severely, because he obviously survived. He was not present in the funeral procession for jackson which took place on may 12, a couple days after his death. The riderless horse was jacksons other horse, superior, who was a much handsomer horse but who jackson did not ride in battle. Maybe little sorrel was recuperating, i do not know. He was not at the funeral, should have been. Because of his bolting during the shooting incident i believe he was hit. There is one other incident of a canon shot landing close to him where he jerked away, that was it, he was calm, he was not stupid, it is just tell he was. Like jackson himself, he was an unexpected genius at what he did. I notice you do not have an image of the equestrian statue of jackson that is a few hundred feet from here. Is that an accurate representation, is that little sorrel he is riding and is that an accurate representation . And your thoughts on the current statue controversy . Sharon it is not little sorrel, it is superior. As for jackson, that is the traditional military seat, he was probably capable of riding that way, if he ever posed on horseback he mightve set up and lowered his stirrups. It is not accurate in that it is not the horse and not accurate in terms of how jackson looked in the saddle. It is a magnificent statue. As to the statue controversy, ive mixed feelings. I understand how it could be offensive to people to honor men who fought for a system that would perpetuate slavery, on the other hand i think the statue are histories in themselves. Especially here. It is part of the fabric. I wish i knew what the compromise would be. Maybe alternative signage might work, additional statues, adding arthur ashe was a good thing. I am personally sad to see the equestrian ones go, but it is difficult. Could you tell me what happened to the groom afterwards . Sharon he went off to one of jacksons favorite aids and was his camp servant until pendleton was killed a year later and went back to lexington virginia where he was from and he apparently died shortly after that. We do know where he was buried, but there is very little known about him and he was extremely important in this horses life, i wish we knew more. He did not long survive the war. Did the black man that took care of sorrel in the field have any other involvement in the war . Sharon that is who we were talking about. Sandy pendleton was one of jacksons favorite aids so he joined pendleton. Pendleton was killed as well in 1864 and then lewis went back to lexington. The cemetery where he is believed to be buried does still exist and there are efforts to spruce it up and give some attention to it. Hopefully they will do that for him. Is there any documentation as to little sorrel ever siring anything . Sharon i did not mention it, impossible, he was a gelding. [laughter] that took care of that. Sharon anything more . We have time for one more. I have a story. In 1966 i was at vmi and they would assign you a study place outside a barracks where you could study, and mine was in the third subbasement of the library. When i took my books, i discovered little sorrel was sitting next to my desk. When you are studying, you lean back in your chair and you want to put your feet up, and i would hope my feet on the stirrups. I guess little sorrel helped me pass chemistry. [laughter] sharon they may have known you were doing that because notice the saddle is off him in the latest refurbishment. [laughter] lets all thank sharon. [applause] interested in American History to be . Tv . Visit our website. ,ou can view our schedule preview upcoming programs and watch lectures, museum tours, archival films and more. American history tv at cspan. Org. Cspan where history unfolds daily. In 1979 cspan was created as a Public Service by americas table Cable Television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. On lectures in history, Temple University professor Andrew Eisenberg teaches a class about the rise of the Environmental Movement in the 1970s and how it impacted consumer and production practices. He describes the Keep America Beautiful campaign, the different ways the United States has dealt with waste and the start of the recycling program. This is about 45 minutes. Prof. Isenberg good morning. Im going to start off with a brief one minute video. This ran for the first time in