By Vitora
Traveller is an intriguing narrative by
Richard Adams, author of Watership Down. Published in 1988, the book is 270 pages long
and sports a beautiful full-color cover illustration of Confederate General Robert
E. Lee on his horse—at least, the copy I read does. It is an authentic historical fiction novel
that is fascinating in its own right.
Traveller,
General Lee’s famous mount, is the narrator of the tale. Starting out as a simple colt in the fields,
his character develops when a captain purchases him and takes him from his home
to become a part of the Confederate cavalry during the Civil War. As he understands little of battle and the
outside world, Traveller is restless and uneasy at first, but once he comes
under Robert E. Lee’s steady guidance, he is a changed animal. The general is portrayed as a kindly, quiet
man who leads his army on brilliant campaigns and holds the men’s respect and
trust. Other generals, such as
“Stonewall” Jackson and “Jeb” Stuart, come to be known to the reader by
Traveller’s nicknames for them:
Traveller starts out with the horse’s
own account of his young life: his friends, his home, and his happiness. Soon his master, Jim, goes off to join the
war and takes his prized steed with him.
A captain in the army offers to purchase Traveller, and so the horse
changes masters. Eventually, General Lee
encounters Traveller and the captain and offers to buy “his colt”. From there the battles are hard and long as
the desperately weak Confederate army tries to defeat the Union troops.
The climax
of the novel is the battle of Sayler’s Creek, where the Federals attack the
exhausted though confident Rebels during a march and split the Southern forces
into two. At the small
This was an
excellent book, although somewhat repetitive; some experiences are described in
almost exactly the same way. Now and then,
it is long-winded and tiresome, but most of the time it is difficult to put it
down. If you like historical fiction—and
animals—you will enjoy Traveller.