Gabriel's Horses

by Alison Hart

  Free! I can’t speak. The word free is ringing too loud in my head.

  “However, I would like you to stay and jockey for me, Gabriel,” he continues. “You have an incredible gift with horses. I’ll pay you a wage as well as part of the purse money.”

  “The boy will stay,” Pa declares. “He is a fine rider, but he needs to keep learning so one day he’s the best. And Woodville Farm is a good place to learn.”

  Ma nods in agreement. “’Sides, he’s just a chile who needs to be with his mama,” she adds.

  “Ma, I ain’t no chile,” I sputter. “Didn’t you hear Master Giles? He said I’m a free man.”

  “That’s right.” Master crosses his arms. “These past weeks you’ve proven that you have a strong voice, Gabriel. Your mother and father want you to stay at Woodville. But I believe you have a say.”

  My mind whirls. I’m free. Free to leave Woodville Farm and be what I choose. Free to follow Jackson and be a jockey at Saratoga. Free to follow Pa and be a soldier at Camp Nelson.

  I stare at the circle of them: Ma, Pa, Master, and Annabelle. I hear all their voices telling me about freedom. Then Aristo scratches his face on my shoulder as if reminding me that he wants a voice, too.

  My head stops whirling. “Mister Giles,” I say clearly. “Thank you for your offer. For now I’d like to stay at Woodville Farm and jockey your Thoroughbreds.” I stroke Aristo’s sweaty neck. “I want to stay and train this colt. I aim to build up ’Risto’s spirit again, so one day me and him will win such an important race that both our names’ll be in the Lexington Observer.”

  Mister Giles grins. “A fine decision!” he says. Ma and Pa break into smiles, too, and then they’re all chattering to each other.

  Sore and exhausted, I limp toward the barn with Aristo, who’s just as tuckered. Annabelle falls in beside me.

  “I’m glad you’re staying,” she says shyly. “And I do believe you may be right, Gabriel Alexander. One day, I will read your name in the newspaper!”

  I glance sideways at her. “That’s not the only reason I’m staying, Annabelle. Seems I remember someone told me that freedom ain’t just about leaving. It’s also about caring. I guess I ain’t ready to quit caring ’bout these horses yet.”

  Annabelle gives me a little smile, and as I walk Aristo into the dark barn, she steps back into the sunlight.

  The barn’s cool and quiet. I lead the colt past Sympathy, Daphne, and Arrow. Jase is grooming Savannah, and Tandy’s rubbing down Captain. Blind Patterson sticks his nose over the stall door, Tenpenny furiously munches hay, and Romance whickers deep in her throat.

  Happiness fills me. I’m free. Free to be whatever I want and go wherever I choose. Someday soon I’ll ride at a famous racetrack like Saratoga. And one day I’ll join Pa and the colored soldiers to fight for freedom for all slaves.

  But for now, I belong right here in this barn.

  With my courageous horses.

  The History Behind

  GABRIEL’S HORSES

  KENTUCKY, 1864

  IN THE BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL WAR, Kentucky was considered a “border state,” although many Kentuckians owned slaves. During the last two years of the war, Kentucky was under Union control. However, President Lincoln promised Kentucky that he would not free their slaves. This would later change when the Union army became desperate for soldiers.

  Toward the end of the war, Union troops took over the town of Lexington, Kentucky. Major buildings became military hospitals, prisons, and barracks. Otherwise, however, life in Kentucky was fairly normal compared to life in most of the Southern states, where fighting was heavy and losses in lives and property were great.

  Frances Peter, a young girl living in Lexington during the Civil War, discussed prices in her diary:

  Shoes $1.25 to $3.00 a pair

  Kid gloves $2.00

  A turkey $2.00

  One negro man $250.00

  AFRICAN AMERICANS, 1864

  Because Kentucky was loyal to the Union, the Emancipation Proclamation did not free Kentucky slaves in 1863. Life for young slaves like Gabriel, Tandy, Jase, and Annabelle was not easy. They were considered “property,” not people. They had no legal rights. They could be bought and sold at the whim of their owners, or “masters.” They could not go to school because it was against the law to educate a slave. Former slave Patsy Mitchner recalled many years later in an interview: “We was not teached to read and write. You better not be caught with no paper in your hand. If you was you got the cowhide.”

  Slaves worked six days a week for no wages. Young children fed the chickens, swept the yards, churned butter, and watched the babies. By thirteen or fourteen they were working as hard as the adults. Silas Jackson, a slave during the Civil War, later wrote that they were “awakened by the blowing of the horn before sunrise . . . and worked all day until sundown.”

  Even free African Americans in Kentucky were not totally free. At all times they had to carry “free papers” that identified them by age, name, description, the county where they lived, and details of their emancipation. If a free African American went out without this document, authorities could throw him in jail.

  Like Gabriel’s father, free black men often saved up their money to buy their wives’ freedom. That way, their children would be born free. Freedom was so important that one African American traded the factory he owned for the freedom of his son.

  Young slaves at work

  Early Horse Racing

  Many historians have called horse racing America’s first national sport. Kentucky horse racing dates back to 1789, when the first racecourse was laid out in The Commons, a parklike area in Lexington, Kentucky. During the Civil War, most racing events were halted. But the racetrack at Lexington where Gabriel raced Tenpenny ran continuously, except in the spring of 1862 when Confederates camped on the racetrack.

  Races were hard on both horse and rider. A race for a three-year-old might be two or three mile-long “heats.” Handlers washed and cooled off the horses between heats. Still, by the end of the races, the horses were exhausted and often lame. One newspaper account mentioned a horse that had broken down after 9½ miles of racing. Newspaper accounts also described riders fainting from exhaustion and being beaten and battered by the other jockeys.

  Early Jockeys

  In Kentucky and the South, most of the early trainers and jockeys were slaves like Gabriel, who had been raised with horses. They groomed and exercised horses, cleaned barns and tack, and slept in the stalls. They began to ride in races as early as ten years old.

  Black trainer and jockey at the track One of the first great jockeys was Abe Hawkins, a freed slave. Some consider him to be the first African American professional athlete. He was well-respected and valued for his riding skills, and a favorite of newspapers. In 1866, the New York Times called Hawkins “that consummate artist in the saddle.” His crouched riding style became known as the “American seat” as compared to the upright “English seat.”

  In the late 1800s there were many talented and winning African American riders and trainers. Ansel Williamson, a slave, was a successful horse trainer for a variety of masters. Freed after the Civil War, he continued to train horses. He is best known for training Aristides, the winner of the first Kentucky Derby in 1875.

  African American Isaac Murphy has been called the greatest jockey in American racing history. He was born in 1860 in Kentucky. He became a jockey at the age of fourteen and won 628 races, including the Kentucky Derby three times.

  Isaac Murphy

  Camp Nelson, Kentucky

  Camp Nelson, where Gabriel’s father enlisted, was a Union military camp located south of Lexington. It contained over 300 buildings and covered more than 800 acres. Located within the camp were corrals, a prison, a hospital, a blacksmith shop, a bakery, a laundry, and a Soldiers Home. Set up as a supply depot for Union troops fighting in Tennessee, it also provided and trained horses and mule teams.

  Barracks at Camp Nelson Before 18
64, the workers who built and ran the camp were generally African Americans who were contrabands (escaped slaves) or those who had been impressed (forced into service) by the army. Recruitment of whites for the Union army began to slow, but the Yankees were still hungry for soldiers. In the Conscriptive Act of February 1864, President Lincoln authorized the use of black troops. Kentucky African Americans, free and slave, poured into Camp Nelson to enlist. In return, the slaves were given their freedom. Their masters were paid $300. Freemen like Gabriel’s father were given an enlistment fee.

  Camp Nelson soon became the third largest recruiting and training center for black soldiers in the country. From November 1864 to April 1865, nearly 5,400 Kentucky slaves enlisted at the camp. Most of the slaves left the farms without permission from their owners, who often took out their anger on the slave’s family. Wives and children were beaten or thrown off farms without clothing and food. Many ran away, following their husbands and fathers to Camp Nelson.

  Since the women and children were still slaves, the Union army had no legal right to house them at Camp Nelson. Wives and children were repeatedly driven from the camp. On July 6, 1864, General Speed S. Fry ordered that “all negro women and children & men in camp unfit for service [should] be delivered to their owners.”

  Union soldiers

  The Real Confederate Guerillas

  During the Civil War, there were only a few battles fought in Kentucky. Horsemen in the Bluegrass region continued to breed, raise, and race horses. Wealthy horse owners from the South even brought their horses to Kentucky farms for safety.

  Throughout the Civil War, however, Kentucky was plagued by Confederate raiders, often called “guerillas.” These men were on the side of the South. Some considered them heroes. Others considered them criminals. Frances Peter wrote in her diary that Rebels “broke open stores and robbed the merchants of boots, shoes and hats.” The guerrillas destroyed telegraph offices and supply lines and raided towns and farms, stealing whatever they needed. And what they really needed was horses.

  Both the Confederate and Union armies needed horses. Horses and mules pulled supply wagons, cannon, and ambulances to and from the battlegrounds. They also carried cavalry soldiers and officers into battle. The Confederate guerrillas relied on them for raids, fights with Union soldiers, and quick getaways.

  One of the most feared Confederate raiders was Sue Mundy, whose real name was Marcellus Jerome Clark. In October 1864, Mundy and his band of guerillas raided Woodburn Farm, one of the largest horse farms in the Lexington area. They stole five valuable horses, including Asteroid, a famous racehorse. The five animals were recovered, but in 1865 Mundy joined with another guerrilla leader, William Clarke Quantrill, and raided the farm again. This time they stole sixteen horses. Asteroid was saved by Ansel Williamson, the farm’s trainer, who substituted a different horse. Six of the horses were never found again.

  Marcellus Jerome Clark, aka “Sue Mundy” The notorious Confederate raider John Hunt Morgan rode and fought from Tennessee to Ohio. On July 9, 1864, General Morgan and his band battled a small Union force in Lexington. There, “his men seized hundreds of valuable thoroughbreds, more than enough to mount every rider on a fresh horse.” The following lines from the poem “Kentucky Belle,” written by Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840–1894), portray the fear evoked by this famous raider:

  “I’m sent to warn the neighbors. He isn’t a mile behind;

  He sweeps up all the horses—every horse that he can find;

  Morgan, Morgan the Raider and Morgan’s terrible men,

  With bowie knives and pistols, are galloping up the glen.”

  Note: The quote from Patsy Mitchner came from MY FOLKS DON’T WANT ME TO TALK ABOUT SLAVERY: TWENTY-ONE ORAL HISTORIES OF FORMER NORTH CAROLINA SLAVES by Belinda Hurmence (John F. Blair, NC: 1984). The quote from Silas Jackson came from I WAS A SLAVE: THE LIVES OF SLAVE CHILDREN. The orders from Speed S. Fry and the quote about General Morgan came from CAMP NELSON. The quote from Frances Peter came from A UNION WOMAN IN CIVIL WAR KENTUCKY. The verse from “Kentucky Belle” came from www.civilwarpoetry.org.

  Bibliographical Note

  TO RESEARCH AND WRITE GABRIEL’S HORSES, I read more than two hundred books. However, the following sources were crucial:

  BOOKS:

  Clark, Thomas D. A History of Kentucky. J. Stuart Foundation: 1992.

  Hollingsworth, Kent. The Kentucky Thoroughbred. The University Press of Kentucky: 1976.

  Hotaling, Edward. Great Black Jockeys. Forum; Rockling, CA: 1999.

  Howell, Donna Wyant, ed. I Was a Slave: The Lives of Slave Children (Book Five). American Legacy Books, Washington, DC: 1997.

  Lucas, Marion B. A History of Kentucky: From Slavery to Segregation, 1760–1891. Kentucky Historical Society: 2003.

  Mangum, William Preston. “Disaster at Woodburn Farm.” The Filson Club History Quarterly, April 1996, Vol. 70, No. 2, pp. 143–185.

  Mangum, William Preston. My Kingdom for a Horse. Harmony House Publishers, Louisville, KY: 1999.

  Marrs, Elijah P. Life and History of the Reverend Elijah P. Marrs. Louisville, KY: 1885.

  Peter, Frances. A Union Woman in Civil War Kentucky: The Diary of Frances Peter. University of Kentucky Press: 2000.

  Renau, Lynn S. Racing Around Kentucky. Antiques Consultant Inc. Louisville, KY: 1995.

  Sears, Richard D. Camp Nelson, Kentucky. The University Press of Kentucky: 2002.

  WEBSITES:

  www.campnelson.org

  www.kyhistory.org

  THE FOLLOWING BOOKS will help you learn more about slavery and life during the Civil War:

  Bial, Raymond. The Strength of These Arms. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston: 1997.

  Damon, Duane. Growing up in the Civil War. Lerner Publications, Minneapolis: 2003.

  Diouf, Sylviane. Growing up in Slavery. The Millbrook Press, CN: 2001.

  Greene, Meg. Slave Young, Slave Long. Lerner Publications Company, NY: 1999.

  Hart, Alison. Fires of Jubilee. Aladdin Paperbacks, NY: 2003.

  Hurmence, Belinda. Slavery Time When I was Chillun. GP Putnam’s Sons, NY: 1997.

  Kalman, Bobbie. Life on a Plantation. Crabtree Publishing Company, NY: 1997

  Kamma, Anne. If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America. Scholastic, Inc., NY: 2004.

  Moore, Kay. If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War. Scholastic, Inc., NY: 1994.

  About the Author

  ALISON HART enjoys writing about history and horses, two of her favorite subjects. “I’d love to go back in time,” she says, “and meet people like Gabriel who followed their dreams, no matter what the hardships.” Researching GABRIEL’S HORSES took her to the Bluegrass region of Kentucky and its rich Thoroughbred racing and Civil War history. She soon realized that the suspenseful story of Gabriel and his family wouldn’t fit in one book. The other titles in the Racing to Freedom trilogy will be GABRIEL’S TRIUMPH and GABRIEL’s JOURNEY.

  Ms. Hart, a teacher and author, has written more than twenty books for children and young adults. Many of her titles—including ANNA’S BLIZZARD, an IRA Teacher’s Choice and WILLA Finalist, and SHADOW HORSE, an Edgar Nominee—feature horses. Her historical mystery FIRES OF JUBILEE is also set at the time of the Civil War.

  Published by

  PEACHTREE PUBLISHERS

  1700 Chattahoochee Avenue

  Atlanta, Georgia 30318-2112

  www.peachtree-online.com

  Text © 2007 by Alison Hart

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  Cover design by Loraine M. Joyner

  Print book design by Melanie McMahon Ives

  Photo credits: Young slaves at work, Black trainer and jockey at the track, Isaac Murphy, Marcellus Jerome Clark, Union soldiers, courtesy of
the Library of Congress; Barracks at Camp Nelson, courtesy of the National Archives.

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

  Hart, Alison, 1950–

  Gabriel’s horses / by Alison Hart. — 1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: In Kentucky, during the Civil War, the twelve-year-old slave, Gabriel, deals with a new cruel horse trainer, skirmishes with Confederate Soldiers, and pursues his dream of becoming a jockey.

  ISBN 13: 978-1-56145-398-6 / ISBN 10: 1-56145-398-6 (hardcover)

  ISBN 13: 978-1-56145-528-7 / ISBN 10: 1-56145-528-8 (trade paperback)

  [1. Horses—Fiction 2. Horse racing—Fiction. 3. Slavery—Fiction. 4. African Americans—Fiction. 5. Kentucky—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Fiction. 6. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.H256272Gab 2007

  [Fic]—dc22

  2006027697