The value of pets in the Civil War

[Sally]

BettyO wrote:
But yes, I think that animals and pets played a BIG part for soldiers in the war and to the Victorians as a whole; sentimental beings that they were.... I know Arnold had his Dash; Herold had his hunting dog, Powell had his dogs, cats and a mule as a kid and a favorite mare as a Mosby Guerrilla; but does anyone know if Booth had any other pets besides his colt, Cola?

When I was reading the Hale family papers at the New Hampshire Historical Society last summer, I found a couple of letters wherein the teenaged Lucy Hale makes reference to a dog named Sancho Panza. (Interesting that they named a pet after a Cervantes' character, and ended up living in Spain some ten years later.) In one of the letters Lucy wrote to her father, she mentions that some friends had agreed to look after Sancho while the Hales were away (perhaps in Washington?) But she was afraid they would become so fond of him that they would refuse to give him back when they returned! She also appears to have acquired a little spaniel while in Spain. A photograph purported to be Lucy holding the dog has been posted on this site.

In her later life, when she was Mrs. William E. Chandler and a Washington Society Matron, she was very active in the work of the Washington D.C. Humane Society. Among her donations were several horse troughs that were to be placed in various parts of the city as a memorial to her father and her sister, Lizzie. That might seem like an odd memorial to some, but being an animal lover myself, I think it's kind of cute.