Post Boy vs. John Bascombe 167 



on Argyle against $15,000 on the choice of Bill Austin, 

 Lady Nashville, Bolivia or John Bascombe, in a little 4- 

 mile heat affair between friends. 1 



This challenge was accepted and the race set for April 

 12, 1836 at Augusta, Georgia. 



In training for this match Bill Austin and Bolivia broke 

 down and Lady Nashville fell amiss. To Col. Crowell 

 it was a ground hog case John Bascombe or forfeit 

 and, what was worse, a back down. To John Bascombe 

 it was Opportunity knocking loudly at his stable door. 

 The hearty response he made showed he was prepared 

 for the call. Carrying 102 pounds he distanced Argyle 

 in the first heat; time 7:44. 



A new light had come into the South. 



That everybody felt that way about it is clearly shown 

 by what followed. 



Col. Crowell, as soon as the race was over, tendered 

 John Bascombe to Col. W. R. Johnson to contend with 

 Post Boy, and the offer was promptly accepted. 



Simultaneously with the news of Bascombe' s discovery 

 the word went northward that Post Boy would have a 

 competitor worthy of his fame. 



Bascombe, who had been in hard training since the 



1 Bolivia was by Gen. Andrew Jackson's Bolivar and Lady Nash- 

 ville was by Stockholder. Both mares had been foaled in Davidson 

 County, Tennessee, as the property of Maj. A. J. Donelson, Bolivia 

 being owned subsequently by President Jackson. After both mares 

 had been trained in the White House stables by Hammond they 

 were sold to Col. Crowell. In a letter to Stockley Donelson written 

 in Washington, July 24, 1835, A. J. Donelson said he had received 

 a letter " from Col. Crowell of Georgia in which he says of Lady 

 Nashville: 'she can run under a hard press the first and second heat 

 of four miles ' and he believes the third without giving back one inch 

 and I am satisfied if Johnson had her he would not give her for two 

 Trifles. Crowell has refused three thousand for this mare and the 

 same price for Bolivia." 



