MESSENGER'S SONS. 



not apologize for tbe length of this statement, being desirous of giving you all 

 the information here possessed and probably all that can now be obtained." 



I am not . aware that in the past sixty years any question has 

 ever been raised as to the truth of the universally accepted state- 

 ment that Engineer was a true son of Messenger, and I would 

 not have disturbed it now, nor thought of doing so, had it not 

 been for that remarkable advertisement discovered in the obscure 

 Long Island paper. That was contemporaneous history, how- 

 ever, and it must either be explained or accepted. The question 

 has been examined down to the bottom by one of the most con- 

 scientious and capable men of his generation, in this department 

 of knowledge. His verdict has been accepted as the truth by all 

 parties of that day, and I cannot reject it. 



It is not known that any of his immediate progeny attained 

 distinction on the trotting turf. Several of his sons bore his 

 name in the stud and while their blood seemed to be helpful in 

 the right direction, only one of them made any mark as a sire of 

 speed, and that was the horse known as Lewis' Engineer, the 

 sire of the world beater, Lady Suffolk. Burdick's Engineer, 

 another son, was taken to Washington County, New York, and 

 got the dam of the famous Princess, which produced the great 

 Happy Medium. In all these instances there was commingling 

 with other strains from Messenger. 



COMMANDER. This was a grey horse, fully sixteen hands high 

 and of massive proportions. He was a son of imported Messen- 

 ger and out of a mare by imported Kockingham. This Rocking- 

 ham was not a thoroughbred horse. Commander was bred in 

 Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and found his way to Long Island 

 about 1812, where he was liberally patronized. His name fre- 

 quently occurs among the remote crosses of good pedigrees, but 

 his fame rests wholly on the progeny of his son, Young Com- 

 mander, who was the sire of Screwdriver, Screws, Bull Calf and 

 other good ones. This horse Young Commander was sometimes 

 called "Bull" and sometimes "American Commander." 



MESSENGER, (Busn's), generally known as BUSH MESSENGER. 

 This son of Messenger was bred by James Dearin, of Dutchess 

 County, New York, and was foaled 1807. His dam was a Vir- 

 ginia mare, named Queen Ann, by Celer, son of imported Janus, 

 and out of a mare by Skipwith's Figure, son of imported Figure, 

 and she out of a mare imported by Colonel Miland, of Virginia. 

 This pedigree was not accepted without some misgivings, but as. 



