NEWSPAPER EXCERPTS

Source: Aberdeen Daily News
Date: Feb. 19, 1898

A Famous Charger The Horse That Led the Light Brigade Died on an Ohio Farm
     The noted White Arabian steed ridden by Captain Nolan in the charge of the Light brigade at the memorable battle of Balaklava of the Crimea was quartered for several years in the immediate vicinity of Cincinnati and died a natural death at a ripe old age in the neighborhood of Morrow, O.
     When the blundering order for the charge of the Light brigade was given, Captain Nolan was in command.  As the man charged into the "valley of death" Nolan, on his conspicuous white Arab, spurred far in advance of all - a fine mark for a Russian rifleman.  With his sword high uplifted and a sneer on his lips, he was struck in the breast by a fragment of shell, thrown in the Russians' first discharge, and instantly killed.  His sword dropped from his hand, but the arm retained its upright position and his left hand the bridle rein, as his horse instinctively turned back and galloped toward the brigade.  As the files opened to let him pass an unearthly shriek rent the air, said by some to have been the last agonizing cry of Nolan in vain effort to turn the brigade from its impending doom, but thought by others to be the result of no human will, but due rather to those "spasmodic forces which may act upon the form when life has ceased."
     Straight into the Russian guns, which were opened full upon them, dashed the brigade and "then they rode back, but not the 600."  The immense loss was "only counter balanced," says one, "by the brilliance of the attack and the gallantry, order and discipline which distinguished it."
     The remnant of the Light brigade was sent over to Quebec to recuperate, and with them Nolan's white Arab, with two slight saber cuts in his side.  He carried the marks to his death.  After his master's death the horse was called Nolan.  While in Quebec, Lester Taylor, a wholesale cotton merchant of Cincinnati, purchased him and brought him to Cincinnati, where he shortly afterward sold him to August Le Broot.
     Le Broot was a Frenchman.  The Le Broots owned a pretty summer house at South Covington, Ky., on the cliffs of Licking river, and now known as Dinmore park.  Luxurious quarters were fitted up for Nolan.  A French zouave was brought from France to care expressly for him and a handsome jet black stallion, called Sultan, purchased in Algiers by M. Le Broot on one of his numerous trips to Europe.  Nolan was a magnificent creature, 15½ hands high, snow white, with mane and tail like strands of burnished silver, and nostrils like pink satin; fleet as the wind under the saddle - the only use to which he was put - with a swinging, easy gait, most inviting to the equestrian lover; high spirited, yet gentle withal as a fawn.  Both Nolan and Sultan were regularly exercised in a ring laid out on one part of the grounds for that purpose.  So docile was Nolan that the two little daughters of the house were much given to climbing upon his back during this exercise.  If either chanced to slip and fall beneath the fact of the horse while in motion, he would stop instantly, and, with the zouave cry to the child, "Tranquiel! Tranquiel!" meaning be quiet would, with rare intelligence, bend his head and carefully push the little one from his path.
     On one of the foraging expeditions of the Union troops stationed at Fort Mitchell, a few miles distant from the Le Broot residence, both horses were taken from the stables.  M. Le Broot was away from home.  Upon his return, with the impetuosity and decisive action of the typical Frenchman, he started at once with his zouave in hot pursuit of the animals.  Some four miles from home he came across them, tethered in charge of a subaltern. Le Broot covered the man with his pistols while the zouave deftly secured the horses.  Then he directed the latter to take them across the Ohio river into Brown county, O., he himself riding on into Covington, Ky., and straight to the old Planters' House, where the commanding officer of the troops, General Stanhope, was stopping.  There he defiantly challenged the general's interference in the case.  Nothing came to the affair, however, and after a time the horses were returned to their old quarters.  Loath to dispose of Nolan and not wishing to ship him to France, Le Broot left him for some months to the care of Colonel Mason, finally pensioning him to a farm near Morrow, O., where he lived his life out in peaceful retirement. - Cincinnati Commercial Tribune.

This was sent to the Quaker list by Kim Townsend Spangrude<kimspangrude@mac.com>:
My John and Elvira Cain Townsend left South Carolina and moved to Warren County Ohio, and later, Wayne County, Indiana.

Obituary:
Townsend, Mrs, Elvira died March 11, 1870 of paralysis at the home of her son-in-law in West Elkton, age 102 years 4 days.
Born in North Carolina, March 7, 1768 and moved to South Carolina when about 8 or 10. At the close of the Revolution she formed acquaintance with and married John Townsend, a soldier, May 6, 1783. Joined Friends.
In 1803 moved to Warren County, Ohio near where Waynesville now is and stayed a few years, moving to Wayne County, Indiana. staying until August 25, 1853 when her husband died.
She then came to live with her son-in-law, Elisha and Elizabeth Stubbs in West Elkton. She retained her mental and physical faculties quite well until some 18 months ago when she had a light attack of paralysis.
She raised 12 children, all dead but 2.
In the fall of 1815 or 1816, in company with others she rode horseback from Wayne County, Indiana to Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson County, 0hio, a distance of over 200 miles to attend Friends Yearly Meeting.
(From the Ruth Lilly Special Collections and Archives, IUPUI University Library 755 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46202(317) 274-0464)

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More about John Townsend:
From an article "Old One-Room Schools" written by Dick Tiernan, Staff writer for 'Senior Life" July 1995, Richmond,Wayne Co., Indiana:"  When Richmond decided to build the C.R. Richardson school they uncovered the old JOHN TOWNSEND cabin. Wise administrators made the decision to move the cabin to the grounds of the P.C. Garrison School just north of Boston (Wayne Co. Indiana). Following the location of the cabin and during the bicentennial (1776-1976), a teacher's group headed by Supt. John Egger and Bob Rehmel, a crew of volunteers decided to turn the cabin into a school. A smoke house, well pit and rail fence was added to the grounds. Today's children at Garrison school have the unique advantage of re-living history. Principal Tom Catlett says that every fall they have what is know as Cabin Days. A festival runs for five to eight days and each year a different theme is used. Indians, Pioneer Life and Americans All are some of the themes. Other elementary schools are free to use the cabin-school for field trips and day long visits. So the former Townsend two-story cabin is now serving as a school. John Townsend was a Revolutionary War veteran whose family came to Indiana in 1803." John Townsend, though raised Quaker, joined up with the Army during the Revolution. He later came back to the Society of Friends, and he and his wife Elvira refused the military pension due him, on grounds of conscience. Some of the Townsends - Quaker cousins and other relatives of my John Townsend - later assisted in the Underground Railroad. It is amazing to me how much of the history of America was formed by the Quakers, but you don't hear about it too often.