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 )