402 RACEALONG 



Johnson rode back and forth in front of his troops 

 assuring the soldiers that they would win. His staff 

 remonstrated with him for unnecessarily exposing 

 his person to the enemy but he remained in the thick 

 of the fight and received the wound which resulted 

 in his death. 



Thomas Wilson, the breeder of Bettie Wilson, died 

 very suddenly and as his widow could not use a race 

 horse she sold the mare to Nicholas Barker. He 

 lived on the Russellville Pike, his house being almost 

 opposite the blacksmith shop of Joe Thomas. 



This blacksmith was busy at his forge one day in 

 the early months of 1862 when a bunch of cavalry 

 men rode up and ordered him to rough shoe their 

 horses so that they could travel over icy roads. One 

 of the soldiers had a mare that was heavy in foal. 

 He was leading her. Before leaving, this man whose 

 name was Wells, traded her to the blacksmith for 

 a big gelding that was in the field back of his shop. 

 This mare was Lady Bess, the first foal got by Lex- 

 ington. She was bred by T. J. Wells of Alexandria, 

 La. 



A few weeks after the cavalry men rode away 

 Lady Bess dropped a black colt which Thomas raised 

 and finally sold as a three-year-old to Samuel John- 

 son of Clarksville. Lady Bess was retained by him 

 for a saddle mare. When he passed on his son kept 

 her for that purpose until she was retired by age. 



The colt which Samuel Johnson purchased was 

 named Creole and broken to saddle. The following 

 spring he stopped at Nicholas Barker's place and 



