6 Making the American Thoroughbred 



lish thoroughbred made the Turkish cavalry invincible 

 although opposed by trained and disciplined troops. 

 The efficient aid rendered by Light Horse Harry Lee's 

 cavalry to Gen. Greene, in time of stress, was made 

 possible by the speed and endurance of the thoroughbred. 

 In the Florida wars it was demonstrated that he could 

 stand heat and hardship better than a mule and live on 

 less. While scrubs died by the hundreds every son of 

 Pacolet and Tennessee Oscar and other Tennessee 

 thoroughbreds came through in good condition and was 

 turned back to the Government at Tampa Bay. 



These views were more than confirmed a quarter of a 

 century later. "Never did blood tell with more effect 

 than in the beginning of the late Civil War when the suc- 

 cesses of the Southern cavalry proved more than equal 

 to the North, two to one. But towards the close of the 

 war when the well-bred horses of the South fell into the 

 possession of the Northern cavalry this superiority 

 failed to appear. A thorough scrub is incapable of either 

 speed or endurance." 



In this opinion, expressed by Gen. W. G. Harding, ex- 

 Confederates and ex-Federals, generally will concur. 



Gen. Forrest had similar views. In his pursuit and 

 capture of Gen. Straight he demonstrated the superi- 

 ority of the thoroughbred over the draft horse of the 

 North. Gen. Morgan owed his escape on one occasion 

 to Black Bess, a Kentucky thoroughbred, and her cele- 

 brated 20-mile run from Lebanon to Carthage, under a 

 burning sun. The wonderful achievements of Stuart's 

 cavalry would have been impossible without the use of 

 thoroughbreds. Success and life itself often depended 

 upon the slender thread of a pedigree. 



From Tennessee the thoroughbred industry passed on 

 to North Alabama where it secured a strong hold. It 



