6 May, 1962
McMeen ' s Traveler Called Greatest of War Period
( Continued from Page 5)
ville, Marshall County; Nolan ' s Copperbottom at Mooresville, Marshall County; Clardy’ s Copperbottom near old Berlin, Marshall County; and Day’ s Copperbottom, near Culleoka, Maury County.
" Big Bigby Creek flows Irom South to North through the mid-western section of Maury County, and drains a belt about five miles wide that for fertility is probably noL excelled on the globe. It is from this section that millions of dollars worth of phosphate has been shipped in the past 25 years. And this being the richest portion of this section, it was accordingly the first settled. That it was a veritable canebrake 20 feet high has been passed down by the generation.
Bigby Stock Company
" And in the 40s there was organized in this community what was known for years as the Bigby Stock Company, to study breed, and develop the saddle horse. It was here that Commodore, Stookpole, and Mc- Meen ' s Traveler held forth. In 1851 this company imported from Canada a gray Canadian pacer by the name Tecumseh. But he arrived out of season and before the opportunity came to use him, a jack killed him....
" Now to return to the four Copperbottoms. We find that by far the most notable were Morrill ' s and Nolan ' s Cooperbottoms.
" Morrill ' s Copperbottom, who figures in some of our best pedigrees, was the founder of the Slasher family. He sired the grey horse, Mountain Slasher, who sired Pointer’ s Slasher, who in turn got Granbery’ s Slasher.
" Mountain Slasher a showy, dapplegray horse, out-sold McMeen’ s Traveler in the same sale at Cornersville when he was purchased by Capt. Sam Pointer, who later became the breeder of Hal Pointer, Star Pointer, etc. Morrill’ s Copperbottom, like his sire, Old Copperbottom, was a chestnut or liver roan. Aside from being a great saddle horse, he was said to have speed at the pace.
" Nolan’ s Copperbottom came on just a little later than Morrill’ s, and as speed at the pace about this time began to figure in the saddle horse rings, he became prominent through his races under saddle with Brooks, the sire of the trotter, Boneselter 2:19.
McMeen’ s Traveler Outstanding
“ Interviews with older inhabitants, covering a period since my childhood, has brought forth tire fact that Mc Meen’ s Traveler was and still is the outstanding horse in the creation of the best qualities found in this strain of horses. Such was the prominence of his potency that anything by him was sought as superior to the best of any oilier sire. It was said that he never got a bad one, and so great was the demand for his sons as riding horses by those able to own one, that very few of them were left entire.
“ McMeen’ s Traveler was a real red sorrel, with one white ankle behind, 15 hands, 1 inch high, and very muscular. Such was his finish that it is said he was always taken for a Thoroughbred when standing still, but his saddle gaits were perfect and distinct and he could outpace any horse of the decade.
“ He was bred by Neely McMeen on Carter ' s Creek, Maury County, and foaled in 1849. When he was a yearling Mr. McMeen moved to Missouri then to Illinois and Kentucky, carrying this colt with him. He was away about five years when he returned to Maury County, bringing this colt back with him; and a few months later we find him in an auction sale with Mountain Slasher at Cornersville, Marshall County.
" Representatives of the Bigby Stock Company attended the sale for the purpose of securing Mountain Slasher, They ran him to Sl, 750, but he was bought for $ 1,800 by Capt. Sam Pointer of Spring Hill, Maury Coun ty-
Bought For SI, 500 Bid
" Failing to secure the dapple-gray Slasher, they then bought McMeen’ s Traveler at $ 1,500, which in the years to come proved most fortunate.
" Little is known of the breeding of Lhis horse further than being by Sugg ' s Stump, son of Stump The Dealer, son of Timoleon. But as far as the writer has been able to ascertain, Sugg’ s Stump and Stump The Dealer were one and the same horse.
" In either event both were Thoroughbreds and handled by the same man over the same period of years. It was claimed by some that Traveler was a half Copperbottom; but if so he must have been out of a mare by the Old Copperbottom brought over from North Carolina in 1843 as he was foaled in 1849 and could have gotten it only through a young daughter of the former, there being no Copperbottoms here until his advent.
" In Wilder’ s Raid of 1864, Mc Meen’ s Traveler with six or eight of his two and three-year-old sons were carried North. Traveler was then 15 years old, and so great was the disturbance over losing him that Mrs. W. J. Webster( grandmother of the writer) who was quite a horsewoman, rode ten miles over to get Maj. Ben Harlan, who was a Union man, to go with her and overtake the raiders, and intercede with Gen. Wilder to give up Traveler, who was too old to be of enduring service.
( Note— That must mean for saddle use— because Traveler was in his prime as a sire. At age 15 he was still two years younger than Allan F-l was when he was bought by J. R. Brantley and started siring Tennessee Walking Horses of record.)
" This fact( of Traveler’ s death) knocks in the head the one-time discovery that he founded the Blue Bull family in the Middle West although several of his sons carried off in the above-mentioned raid were later found doing service in Illinois.
Progeny In Forrest’ s Cavalry
“ Capt. Ned Lee( Confederate veteran then age 98) tells me there were 47 horses by McMeen’ s Traveler in General Nathan Bedford Forrest’ s Cavalry, and that not a single one of them was lost during the war.
( Note— An article by Jimmy Joe Murray later listed the number at 57 sons and daughters. He made no mention about all the horses surviving. It appears unreasonable that all did survive as horse dcaLhs were most numerous— especially in Forrest’ s band noted for daredevil tactics.)
“ Although these get carried some age at the close of the War several of them sold at very fancy prices. A 12- year-old gelding was sold for $ 1,000 in
( Continued, on Page 7)