Making the American Thoroughbred : Especially in Tennessee, 1800-1845
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M A KIN G £^ N»tf> c- / <! JOHNA.SEAVERNS <C>^ -U47-. 'fif/ MAKING THE AMERICAN THOROUGHBRED "Every age and every nation has certain characteristic vices, which prevail almost universally, which scarcely any person scruples to avow, and which even rigid inoralists but faintly censure. Succeeding genera- tions change the fashion of their morals, with the fashion of their bats and their coaches; take some other kind of wickedness under their pat- ronage, and wonder at the depravity of their ancestors." — Macaulay. "// / were to begin life again, I would go on the turf to get friends. They seem to me the only people who bold close together. I don't know why; it may he that each knows something that might hang the other, but the effect is delightful and most peculiar." — Harriet, Lady AsHBURTON, to Lord Houghton. GREAT BRITAIN embraces part of the Foaled 1910, at Edenwold Stud which Middle Tennessee, Donelson' farm where Grey Medley first stood in of the thoroughbred made by in 1800. A modern illustration succeeding pages. See long established methods set forth in the pages 94, 287. MAKING THE AMERICAN THOROUGHBRED Especially in Tennessee^ 1800-1845 BY JAMES DOUGLAS ANDERSON INCLUDING REMINISCENCES OF THE TURF BY BALIE PEYTON WITH NOTES BY THE AUTHOR PRINTED BY THE PLIMPTON PRESS, NORWOOD, MASS. 1916 COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY JAMES DOUGLAS ANDERSON PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY THE PLIMPTON PRESS, NORWOOD, MASS. TO MR. WALTER O. PARMER WHOSE GENEROUS ASSISTANCE MAKES POSSIBLE THIS BOOK IT IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED THIS BOOK AND BALIE PEYTON The original purpose of this volume was to show the extent to which the raising and racing of thoroughbreds was carried on in Tennessee during the first half century, or more, of the State's existence. Investigation developed that the breeding and turf interests of Tennessee were so interwoven with these interests in other states, the scope of the volume had to be enlarged to the point indicated by the title. Most books about thoroughbreds of the period con- sidered here are devoted chiefly to the science of breeding and methods of training and to the physical well-being of the horse, and are of interest only to horsemen. This volume endeavors to emphasize the eff"ect that all these theories and experiments had on the customs and habits of the people. The labor system, the code duello, the rehgious camp- meetings and the open-house hospitahty, of the "ante- bellum" South have all been given their just share of attention by historians. But the origin, growth and ex- tent of the thoroughbred industry have not, as far as I have observed, received any consideration whatever by any book purporting to treat of fife in any Southern state. In this volume will be found material upon which the historian of the future may base a chapter on "The America of Sir Archy," or "The Tennessee of Leviathan," that will rival in interest Green's chapter on "The Eng- land of Shakespeare." In the absence of available facts viii This Book and Balie Peyton to support such a chapter it would not be credited. Hence the details. In all the literature of the period under consideration it appears that the then widespread interest in the thor- oughbred was largely due to the generally known record of distinguished ancestors, both in America and England, on the race course, and in the stud. It is, therefore, nec- essary, in order to know the thoroughbred as our ante- bellum forefathers knew him, to present him not alone as an individual, separate and apart from others, but as the representative of a hne running back through many years of honorable achievement. Both the subject matter and the index have been prepared with special reference to this point; and the accomphshments of all the prin- cipal progenitors in America and England, of almost every horse named in this volume, may be easily ascertained and the meaning of a pedigree fully understood. Interest in these pedigrees will be enhanced by the illustrations of noted foundation sires, among which the most prominent American families of the post-Revolutionary and later periods are fairly represented. In the matter of pedigrees I have consulted Weath- erby's Enghsh Stud Book, Joseph Osborne's (Enghsh) Hand Book and Breeder's Guide; and American Stud Books by Edgar, Skinner, Wallace and Bruce; also cer- tificates contained in advertisements not accessible to any of these authors. All the material differences found in the statements of pedigrees in these publications are duly noted. By using the same source of information — news- paper advertisements — from which hundreds of ancient pedigrees have been collected into stud books, I have added to the list of stalHons that stood in Tennessee many names not mentioned in any other volume. The body of the book, I think, will show the extraordinary This Book and Balie Peyton ix care I have taken to avoid errors, which tlie duplication of names and the mistakes of other writers make it al- most impossible to escape. Whatever maj' be the demerits of the book I claim for it the fruits of original investigation. No one of the six stories I have written is in any sense a rc-hash of any other account in any pubhcation similar to tiiis. In col- lecting material I have been rendered great assistance by many persons in various sections of the Union, to all of whom I express my deepest gratitude. Among this num- ber are Capt. B. M. Hord, Maj. George B. Guild, Hon. J. W. Byrns, Dr. John M. Bass, and Messrs. Percy Kinnaird, John H. DeWitt, W. E. Beard, R. C. Brien, Robert Dyas, M. L. Lewis, Clark Kirkman, Franc M. Bath, John Donelson, and Calvert Brothers, photogra- phers, all of Nashville; Dr. J. C. Baker, CoL J. B. Malone and Mr. Harry Frankhn, of Sumner County; Mr. Dun- can Kenner Brent, of Baltimore; Mr. James P. Needham, of Washington, D.C.; and Messrs. H. M. Lydenberg and V. E. Schaumburg of New York. Mr. C. R. Kilvington, of Nashville, and Mr. B. A. Rowe of the Plimpton Press, have been of valuable aid in advising as to the details of manufacture. There is one other whose influence is most manifest by what does not appear in the book; but for fear that what remains of my inferior capabilities should be accepted as the full measure of her judgment and superior attainments it is perhaps best that I should not call her name. Of Hon. Balie Peyton, whose pen and predilections for the turf have given to this volume many interesting fea- tures, it is appropriate that I should speak. The record of his public services has been written in several books and need not be followed here in detail. He w^as lawyer, orator, diplomat, statesman, patriot, soldier, breeder and X This Book and Balie Peyton turfman. His most notable gift was that for public speaking; his most prominent traits integrity, affability, courage and kindness; his strongest passion love of country; next to that, love of a race horse; and next to that, love of a horse race. In his first campaign for Congress he practically won his election by his opening speech; at the end of his second term, in 1837, he voluntarily retired; and although he was but 34 years old he had distinguished himself throughout the Union as an orator, and as a leader, bold in initiative and inflexible in execution. Personally, there was not a more popular man of his day. In dedicating one of his publications to Peyton, J. S. Skinner said of him: "He is in his own spirit and char- acter exemplary of what is best and most excellent in men." "Few lives," wrote one of his fellow townsmen, "have exhibited more of the excellencies of human character and fewer short comings than did the fife of Balie Peyton." "He had a richly gifted intellect," wrote another of his contemporaries, "but his heart seemed always greater and deeper than his mind. Free from all jealousy, he gloried in the triumphs of his political and personal asso- ciates and was always exuberant in heralding their achieve- ments, while apparently forgetting his own." In his "Reminiscences" he did not exploit his own achieve- ments, and turf literature is much the poorer by his modesty. In several Presidential campaigns his talents for public speaking and statesmanship were drafted into service in many states North and South. In New Orleans, he was made President of one of the Jockey Clubs. Four Presidents of the United States, by tendering him appointments, attested to his character This Book and Balie Peyton xi and ability. Tyler asked him to become Secretary of War, but the position was not to his liking. When war came with Mexico, Iiowever, lie did not wait to be asked to go to the field of action. There he became Chief of Staff of Gen. W. J. Worth, after his own regiment of Louisiana and Alabama men had been recalled by Presi- dent Polk. At Monterey it became necessary for Gen. Worth to communicate with General Taylor on the opposite side of the city, and Peyton was chosen for this errand. Mounted on a thoroughbred by imp Fop, presented to him by his friend, Lucius J. Polk, Peyton, though con- tinually under fire, his horse bounding at the bursting of each shell near him, performed the trip at a dead run and in safety. For this and other acts showing his courage and efficiency he was favorably mentioned in Gen. Worth's reports and was voted a sword of honor by the State of Louisiana.