|
Source: Aberdeen Daily News
Date: Feb. 19, 1898
A Famous Charger The Horse That
Led the Light Brigade Died on an Ohio Farm
The noted White Arabian steed ridden by
Captain Nolan in the charge of the Light brigade at the
memorable battle of Balaklava of the Crimea was quartered for
several years in the immediate vicinity of Cincinnati and died a
natural death at a ripe old age in the neighborhood of Morrow, O.
When the blundering order for the charge of the Light
brigade was given, Captain Nolan was in command. As the
man charged into the "valley of death" Nolan, on his
conspicuous white Arab, spurred far in advance of all - a fine mark
for a Russian rifleman. With his sword high uplifted and a
sneer on his lips, he was struck in the breast by a fragment of
shell, thrown in the Russians' first discharge, and instantly
killed. His sword dropped from his hand, but the arm retained
its upright position and his left hand the bridle rein, as his horse
instinctively turned back and galloped toward the brigade. As
the files opened to let him pass an unearthly shriek rent the air,
said by some to have been the last agonizing cry of Nolan in vain
effort to turn the brigade from its impending doom, but thought by
others to be the result of no human will, but due rather to those
"spasmodic forces which may act upon the form when life has ceased."
Straight into the Russian guns, which were opened full
upon them, dashed the brigade and "then they rode back, but not the
600." The immense loss was "only counter balanced," says one,
"by the brilliance of the attack and the gallantry, order and
discipline which distinguished it."
The remnant of the Light brigade was sent over to
Quebec to recuperate, and with them Nolan's white Arab, with
two slight saber cuts in his side. He carried the marks to his
death. After his master's death the horse was called Nolan.
While in Quebec, Lester Taylor, a wholesale cotton
merchant of Cincinnati, purchased him and brought him to Cincinnati,
where he shortly afterward sold him to August Le Broot.
Le Broot was a Frenchman. The Le Broots
owned a pretty summer house at South Covington, Ky., on the cliffs
of Licking river, and now known as Dinmore park. Luxurious
quarters were fitted up for Nolan. A French zouave was
brought from France to care expressly for him and a handsome jet
black stallion, called Sultan, purchased in Algiers by M. Le
Broot on one of his numerous trips to Europe. Nolan
was a magnificent creature, 15½ hands
high, snow white, with mane and tail like strands of burnished
silver, and nostrils like pink satin; fleet as the wind under the
saddle - the only use to which he was put - with a swinging, easy
gait, most inviting to the equestrian lover; high spirited, yet
gentle withal as a fawn. Both Nolan and Sultan
were regularly exercised in a ring laid out on one part of the
grounds for that purpose. So docile was Nolan that the
two little daughters of the house were much given to climbing upon
his back during this exercise. If either chanced to slip and
fall beneath the fact of the horse while in motion, he would stop
instantly, and, with the zouave cry to the child, "Tranquiel!
Tranquiel!" meaning be quiet would, with rare intelligence, bend his
head and carefully push the little one from his path.
On one of the foraging expeditions of the Union troops
stationed at Fort Mitchell, a few miles distant from the Le Broot
residence, both horses were taken from the stables. M. Le
Broot was away from home. Upon his return, with the
impetuosity and decisive action of the typical Frenchman, he started
at once with his zouave in hot pursuit of the animals. Some
four miles from home he came across them, tethered in charge of a
subaltern. Le Broot covered the man with his pistols while
the zouave deftly secured the horses. Then he directed
the latter to take them across the Ohio river into Brown county, O.,
he himself riding on into Covington, Ky., and straight to the old
Planters' House, where the commanding officer of the troops,
General Stanhope, was stopping. There he defiantly
challenged the general's interference in the case. Nothing
came to the affair, however, and after a time the horses were
returned to their old quarters. Loath to dispose of Nolan
and not wishing to ship him to France, Le Broot left him for
some months to the care of Colonel Mason, finally pensioning
him to a farm near Morrow, O., where he lived his life out in
peaceful retirement. - Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. |