Presidential Pet Museum

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Sam Patch, Andrew Jackson’s Horse

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Andrew Jackson named one of his favorite horses, Sam Patch, after one of America’s first celebrities.

Never heard of Sam Patch? Well, the original Sam Patch — a daredevil — certainly had his 15 minutes of fame.

That first Sam Patch became a household name in 1829 after he leapt into the Niagara River near the base of Niagara Falls. In an event designed to draw visitors to the falls, a 125-foot ladder was built over the river. As luck would have it, about an hour before the man’s scheduled jump, the chain that secured the ladder to the cliff wall broke.

Although Patch successfully made the jump later that day, the delay and bad weather caused the crowd to be disappointingly small. When Patch made a second jump a few days later, however, about 10,000 people showed up to watch.

Unfortunately, the daredevil died about a month later, during yet another jump.

Even so, Sam Patch and his trademarked slogan “Some things can be done as well as others” became so popular that when the city of Philadelphia gave President Andrew Jackson a white stallion in 1833, the president named him Sam Patch.

Sam Patch at the White House

Jackson, a noted horseman since his boyhood, became fond of his own Sam Patch, and a presidential portrait shows him astride the white horse.

Sam Patch was one of the residents of the new brick White House stables Jackson had built during his presidency. His racehorse Truxton likely was another.

Why did Jackson have new stables built? After the British burned the White House in 1814, a temporary wood frame stable was constructed near the rebuilt East Wing. James Monroe moved the stables near the West Wing in 1819.

But when Jackson brought his collection of horses and racehorses to the White House, those stables were overflowing, so he asked Congress to approve construction of a freestanding brick stable trimmed with sandstone about 100 yards east of the East Wing, at a cost of about $3,600.

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Editor’s Note: During the course of our research for this presidential pet, we found that some sources claim that Sam Patch was Jackson’s wartime mount (War of 1812) and was brought with Jackson to the White House nearly two decades later. We spent quite a bit of time checking, and conclude that although Jackson might have had a white mount during the War of 1812, his horse named Sam Patch was actually given to him as a gift during his presidency — most likely 1833, as noted in this newspaper article. (Not to mention, it’s very unlikely that Jackson would name his horse Sam Patch around the year 1812, because the original Sam Patch, whom his horse was named after, didn’t make his world-famous Niagara jump until 1829.)

Thruxton, Andrew Jackson’s Racehorse

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Thruxton might have looked like this. Stock photo of vintage racehorse.
Thruxton might have looked like this. Stock photo of vintage racehorse.

“Old Hickory” was a fitting nickname for our seventh president, Andrew Jackson, in more ways than one.

The War of 1812 hero was known for his physical and mental toughness. But did you know Andrew Jackson had a disagreement over a racehorse that led him to fight in a deadly duel?

Passionate About Horses

Jackson was passionate about horses and horse racing. As a young lawyer — well before he became president — Jackson became famous as the leading breeder and owner of thoroughbreds in his native state of Tennessee.

Interestingly, in the early 19th century, horse racing was the leading sport in the country. Tennessee alone had 10 established tracks by 1839.

Jackson was part-owner of Clover Bottom, a track near his home, and he trained his horses there, including Thruxton, his prized Virginia born racehorse. Thruxton, born in 1800, was sired by Diomed, a thoroughbred brought to this country from England, where his lineage was directly traced to the Godolphin Arabian.

“I Challenge You to a Duel!”

The famous gunfight over a horse.
The famous gunfight over a horse.

In March 1806, a match race between Thruxton and Joseph Erwin’s undefeated horse Ploughboy was canceled.

According to the rules, Erwin was supposed to pay Jackson a forfeit fee. As the story goes, Erwin and his son-in-law Charles Dickinson disagreed with Jackson about the amount of the fee.

In the midst of the ensuing argument, Dickinson insulted Jackson’s wife, Rachel. Things escalated until Dickinson wrote a letter to a Nashville newspaper calling Jackson a coward. That prompted Jackson to challenge Dickinson to a duel. It was Jackson’s third duel so far.

Because Dickinson, age 25, had the reputation of being a good marksman, friends of Jackson, age 40, advised him to let Dickinson fire first in the hope that the first shot would not be fatal and Jackson could then take his time to return a shot.

On the morning of the duel, Dickinson did indeed strike first, hitting Jackson in the chest. Jackson struggled but was able to hit Dickinson in the abdomen, and that wound proved to be fatal.

According to Jackson biographer Jon Meachem, the over-sized coat Jackson wore may have interfered with Dickinson’s aim.

Left With a Bullet Inside Him

Jackson’s doctors were afraid that they would kill him by trying to remove the bullet, and with the wound never completely healing and causing Jackson chronic discomfort, the bullet remained lodged near the future president’s heart for the rest of his life.

Many people criticized Jackson for killing Dickinson, but Jackson never apologized for the duel.

As for Thruxton, Andrew Jackson’s racehorse, he was said to have accompanied the president to the White House upon election in 1828. Jackson had another famous horse named Sam Patch.

Apollo, Zachary Taylor’s Pony

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You’re probably well aware of Old Whitey, the trusty war mount belonging to President Zachary Taylor. But have you ever heard that he also had a former circus pony?

Through research, the Presidential Pet Museum has recently uncovered new details.

A doctor named Simon Pollak told the St. Louis Globe-Democrat that he had given Taylor a black pony some time before the general became president.

According to Dr. Pollak, Taylor went on to take the pony, named Apollo, with him to the capital:

“When President Taylor was inaugurated, Apollo went to Washington along with Old Whitey…and, I think, died there,” the newspaper quoted Dr. Pollak as saying (many years later in 1898).

The “Young Ladies” Loved This Pony

zachary-taylor-pony-apolloDr. Pollak wrote in his autobiography, published in 1904 after his death, that Apollo was once a trick pony from the circus. The doctor said his pony, back in those early days, was quite popular — Apollo “was in constant demand by the young ladies.”

And how did Apollo come to be in Zachary Taylor’s possession? Taylor’s daughter wanted the pony. And it seems that what Taylor’s daughter wanted, she got.

Dr. Pollak recalled: “I had vowed I should never sell [Apollo]…. But I had no place to keep him [after floods in 1844]. Miss Bettie Taylor, daughter of the general, was very anxious to get him, and offered me a good price. But I could not sell him, and I made her a present of him.”

“She kept him tenderly, and he made his triumphal entry into Washington with Old Whitey, the general’s war horse,” Dr. Pollak continued. “They both occupied the stables of the White House….”

That’s all we’ve been able to uncover so far about the mysterious Apollo.

Old Whitey, Zachary Taylor’s Horse

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Although he led the country for only 16 months before dying in office, our 12th president, Zachary Taylor, had a reputation as a war hero.

The press compared him to George Washington and Andrew Jackson in terms of his cool and steady leadership in battle in the Mexican-American War.

Nicknamed “Old Rough and Ready,” Taylor was known to sit calmly astride his beloved horse, Old Whitey, while bullets whizzed by his head in battle. The horse is prominently featured in several portraits with Taylor.

And Old Whitey? He is revered in horse circles, according to historian Barry Landau, author of The President’s Inauguration — 200 Years of an American Pageant. “When he would hear parade music, he would start prancing and would want to get into the action.”

A Common Sight at the White House

According to several sources, Taylor purchased Old Whitey from Capt. George McCall at Fort Smith, Arkansas.

President Jackson brought Whitey with him to Washington, D.C. in 1849, where the former war horse became a common site grazing on the White House lawn. By that time, Old Whitey really was old (and described as “shaggy”) — so grazing lazily on the lawn was just about his only activity.

Maybe the horse was a little too famous for his own good, though. In the days before the Secret Service, visitors to the president’s mansion frequently pulled a hair or two from the horse’s tail for a souvenir.

President Taylor, 65, died in 1850 of what doctors called “acute indigestion” not long after eating a bowl of cherries. Four days later, Old Whitey marched in a funeral procession, directly behind the wagon carrying Taylor’s casket.

What Happened to Old Whitey After That?

Old Whitey, the presidential horse who loved parade music, died at an old age. That’s what we know. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess.

Pat Granstra of the website Civil War Primer did some digging around to try to separate fact from fiction about what exactly happened to Old Whitey after the president’s death. She says she found a January 1897 article apparently quoting Taylor’s youngest daughter, who said:

“You ask about Old Whitey; he was a great pet to us all, and was never ridden after my father’s return from Mexico, and when he went to Washington the horse was sent to his plantation. During his term as President there was so much interest and curiosity expressed to see the old charger that he had him brought to Washington, and after my father’s death, he was sent back to the plantation, then the home of my brother Richard, where Whitey lived to a good old age.”

Old Whitey wasn’t the only horse in President Taylor’s stables. The Presidential Pet Museum has discovered details about a pony named Apollo with an interesting back story.

Algonquin, Teddy Roosevelt’s Son’s Pony

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Quentin Roosevelt and Algonquin the pony

In 1908, the Washington Evening Star reported:

“There is no home in Washington so full of pets of high and low degree as is the White House, and those pets not only occupy the attention of the children, but the president is himself their good friend, and has a personal interest in every one of them.”

The president in question was none other than Teddy Roosevelt, and one of the more endearing White House pet stories involves his son Archie’s pony, Algonquin.

Nine-year-old Archie, the fifth of six Roosevelt children, received the Shetland pony from Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock as a gift.

Secretary Hitchcock imported the animal from Iceland, and the 8-year-old pony was described as a beautiful specimen of his breed.

Measuring 33 inches in height at the withers and weighing in at 350 pounds, Algonquin was described by The Washington Post as “iron gray or dun with spots and compactly built with round barrel, small ears, clean pony face, and stocky limbs.”

Apparently, he was photogenic as well because the pony and Archie became favorites of White House photographers. “Algonquin is a very good-natured, though spirited little beast,” the Post went on to report. “And when carrying his youthful master, the two are a picture calculated to inspire an artist.”

Archie Roosevelt, son of President Theodore Roosevelt (1901–09), poses with Algonquin the pony, June 17, 1902. Photos from the Library of Congress.

An Elevator Ride Fit for a Pony

The story goes that when Archie was recovering from the measles in spring 1903, he asked his mother if he could visit his pony.

After Mrs. Roosevelt said Archie was not strong enough yet to venture to the stable, White House footman Charles Reeder came up with an alternate plan. He decided to bring the pony to the boy by walking Algonquin into the White House and into the elevator.

Reeder later recalled that Algonquin shivered and looked around wildly when the elevator began to move but then settled down for his journey.

Archie was delighted to see his friend and let out a loud whoop when he saw him. One report of the encounter says the pony startled and slipped on the bedroom floor with a large crash that sent the entire family running.

Special Treatment

That summer, Algonquin accompanied the First Family to Sagamore Hill, their home on Long Island. Once again, the press couldn’t resist the story.

One Washington, D.C. columnist wrote, “The question now agitating the mind of the groom in charge [is] whether Archie will ride in the box car with Algonquin or whether Algonquin will be accorded a section of a Pullman with Archie.”

Another Roosevelt son had a famous macaw named Eli. You can read all about it here.

Presidential Pet Museum in the News