The Horse of America in His Derivation, History, and Development

by John Hankins Wallace

“I should think he was a very swift trotter from what I have seen, and very sprightly and nearly white. He has got a great number of fine colts in this town which are three years old; and the probability of their drawing on the old horse’s business is the reason of his being removed to Le Roy and Batavia.”

Whether Judge Porter was a horseman or not he certainly reflected, in this remark which I have emphasized, the leading quality for which Bush Messenger was distinguished in that region and in that day.

Although he was certainly a very fast natural trotter, it is not known that he was ever trained an hour in his life, neither is it known that any fast or trained trotters ever came from his loins. This was the period of fast mail coaches running from Albany to Buffalo, and as the old proprietors of those great lines were pushed westward from State to State until they finally were driven across the Mississippi, I have many times heard them talk of the great slashing grey Messenger teams that would carry their coaches along at ten miles an hour, and lament that there were no such horses nowadays. There were other sons of Messenger and many grandsons, all known as “Messengers,” but as a progenitor of horses suited to the stage coach this particular one that broke his neck in trying to get out of his inclosure was the premier. He probably came nearer filling the place in this country that his grandsire filled in England—English Mambrino—than any other one of the tribe, for we can truly say of him, as Pick said of his grandsire, “from his blood the breed of horses for the coach was brought nearly to perfection.”

Potomac was a bright bay, fifteen and a half hands high, and was bred by Daniel Youngs, of Oyster Bay, Long Island. He was foaled 1796 and got by imported Messenger; dam by imported Figure; grandam by Bashaw. He was put on the turf in the spring of 1799 and was a respectable race horse at short distances. He ran against and beat some of the best of his day. He was on the turf about three years. In the midst of his racing career he was purchased by Mr. Van Ranst for five hundred pounds. In 1802 he was owned by Major William Jones, of Cold Spring Harbor, and made some seasons there. In 1806 he was at New Windsor, Orange County, New York. In 1808 he was in charge of Thomas Jackson, at Rahway, New Jersey, and 1811 at Crosswicks, near Trenton, New Jersey. It is probable he died about this time, as we find no further trace of him. Most of his stock were bays, of good size, and very salable animals. Nothing can now be recalled that connects him with any of the trotting strains coming from his sire. He was not strictly running-bred on the side of his dam.

Tippoo Saib was a bay horse with one white foot and was fully sixteen hands high, with plenty of bone. He was foaled 1795, got by imported Messenger; dam Mr. Thompson’s imported mare by Northumberland; grandam by Snap, etc. His fine size and elegant pedigree made Tippoo Saib a very desirable horse to breed to, but for some cause he did not appear much on the turf. He ran a few races and went into the stud early, in the neighborhood of Trenton, New Jersey, and in the following year was at Goshen, Fishkill, and Pine Plains, New York. My impression is he was then returned to West Jersey and Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he was probably owned in his latter days. His sons Tippoo Sultan, Financier and others, acquired great fame on the turf. His connection with the trotting lines of descent is very distinct, but not very prominent.

Sir Solomon was got by imported Messenger; dam Camilla by Cephalus; grandam Camilla by imported Fearnought and out of imported Calista, etc. He was foaled about 1800, bred by General Gunn, of Georgia, who seems to have kept Camilla and perhaps others in the North for the purpose of breeding. The pedigree on the side of this dam is an excellent one and would seem to justify the owner in seeking to get the best crosses possible into his stud. When five years old he was sold to Mr. Bond, of Philadelphia, for two thousand dollars. His races were numerous and often successful, beating some of the best horses of his day, and among them the famous Miller’s Damsel, also by Messenger, over the Harlem Course in heats of four miles. Not much is known of his stud services, and he seems to have been kept several years in Union County, New Jersey. He seems to have labored under the disadvantage of having a greater horse of the same name—Badger’s Sir Solomon by Tickle Toby—in competition with him, and thus the son of Tickle Toby would steal many a chaplet from the brow of his namesake, the son of Messenger.

Ogden Messenger was a grey horse, foaled 1806, got by imported Messenger; dam Katy Fisher, by imported Highflyer; grandam a mare imported by H. N. Cruger in 1786, by Cottager; great-grandam by Trentham; great-great-grandam by Henricus; great-great-great-grandam by Regulus. The pedigree of this dam is correct, and she was doubtless entitled to rank as thoroughbred. This horse was bred by Mr. Cruger, and at three years old was sold to David Ogden, and that summer he was pastured on the farm of Major William Jones, of Long Island, from whose books we have the foregoing facts. Mr. David W. Jones remarks: “I retain a perfect recollection of him. He was at that time a large overgrown colt, not particularly ugly nor exceedingly coarse, but having no special beauty nor finish. I cannot better describe him than to say he was a coarse pattern of a fine horse, with marked traits of his lineage.” Mr. Jones evidently saw him at his worst age and before he fully reached his maturity.

Judge Odgen, his owner, was a large landholder in St. Lawrence County, New York, and in the spring of 1810 he removed from New Jersey to an island of eight hundred acres in the St. Lawrence river, opposite the village of Haddington, and took the horse, then four years old, with him. It is not known that he ever ran a race for money, and it is not probable he ever did, for it was his owner’s aim and object to improve the stock of the country as well as his own, in which he was successful. After five or six years he was taken to Lowville in Lewis County, and made several seasons there in charge of Charles Bush, and from this fact he came to be known there, locally, as Bush Messenger. Thus it happened that there were two sons of imported Messenger in the State of New York at the same time, and both known as Bush Messenger, and to these we might add a grandson and a great-grandson in the State of Maine, and at later date both named “Bush Messenger.” It was at one time supposed that Mr. Ogden’s horse while at Lowville became the sire of the famous Tippoo of Canada that became the head of a very valuable tribe of trotters and pacers, but later developments showed that this was a mistake. (He appears to have alternated in his services between Lewis and Jefferson counties, but whether weekly or yearly I cannot state. He was taken to Lowville as early as 1815 and was there five or six years.)

The facts about this horse have been developed from much correspondence with different parties, but more especially from Mr. V. Sheldon, of Canton, New York, and from Mr. P. F. Daniels, of Prescott, Ontario. Both men knew the horse personally, and Mr. Daniels was seventy-five years old when he wrote. He still had a very clear recollection of the horse in his appearance and style of action. In describing him he says: “He was peculiarly marked about his hocks and knees, having a series of dark rings about his limbs, continuing at intervals down to his hoofs, and many of his sons and daughters were marked the same way.” Having ridden him many times he says: “He; had a long flinging step and was a fast trotter. His action was high and not easy to the rider, and he could not widen behind as some of our modern trotters.”

When Mr. Daniels was a young man he was engaged in carrying the mail, and in March, 1821, he believes it was, Judge Ogden gave him an order to bring the horse home from Lewis County. He led him all the way behind his mail conveyance and delivered him safely to young Mr. Ogden, who gave him to an Irish groom named Daley, and Daley remarked he would soon make him look like another horse. That night he gave him an overfeed of corn and he died of colic. He was never advertised while at home and he was not very liberally patronized. The Freemans and the Archibalds, however, Mr. Daniels says, bred to him largely. His stock were good and many of them excellent, especially those descended through his sons Blossom and Freeman’s Messenger.