Strange as it may seem, the history of the Hammond Gordons could be written in a single sentence, for the Gordons were made from two well known strains, but since many versions have been given as to the true origin of the two strains from which the Gordons were made I shall endeavor to give a correct history of both.
It is a peculiar fact that if a man report something he has seen with his own eyes there are those in a distant land who will rise up to deny the report of the eye witness, so, even though I was intimately acquainted with the men who were most prominent in founding and establishing the reputations of the strains I am about to mention, I do not expect everyone to agree with me. As I am nearing my three score and ten you will realize that it was not impossible for me to have firsthand knowledge of many of the facts I shall presently set forth, but in the outset I want it distinctly understood that I will not take issue with those who refuse to accept as authentic the events herein enumerated. I have but two reasons for writing this article; First, to comply with the wish of Grit and Steel; and, Second, to do what I can towards establishing a permanent record of the strains that have been, and are famous today. If through my feeble efforts just one man is benefited then I shall be adequately compensated.
First I shall endeavor to give you, as briefly as possible, a correct account of the origination of the great strain known as Warhorses.
In Augusta, Georgia, there once lived a man by the name of Barney Dunbar, who, in that particular period, was considered the wealthiest man in that entire section. Mr. Dunbar was a great fancier and lover of game cocks, though he never fought them. About 1850 he sent to John Stone, of Marblehead, Massachusetts, and purchased a trio of Stone’s Irish Gilders. These fowl were placed with Mr. Tom Wilson at Beech Island, S. C., where they were to be bred for Dunbar. After a trial of a few seasons these Gilders proved to be absolutely game.
In the meantime, Col. Thos. G. Bacon, of Edgefield, S. C., discovered some wonderful fighting cocks in Baltimore, Maryland. Col. Bacon brought some of these cocks to his Carolina plantation and they turned out to be the greatest winners shown in that section up to that time. Occasionally one would run away despite their wonderful fighting and cutting qualities. Col. Bacon and other prominent cockers decided to try a cross of these Baltimore fowls on the Irish Gilders, thinking they would probably get the fighting qualities of the Baltimore fowl, (Burnt Eyes) together with the staying qualities of the Gilders, and thereby produce a great strain of fowls.
So the Burnt Eye cock from Baltimore was put over the Irish Gilder hens that came from Massachusetts and a number of stags were raised from this mating.
It will be remembered that the Irish Gilder hens were placed with Tom Wilson and so it was he who raised the stags from the Burnt Eye cock and the Gilder hens. Wilson was known to his friends as “Fowl” Wilson on account of his consumate fondness for game fowl. It so happened that Tom wanted a saddle, which, in that day and time, was a most important item in every would-be “traveling” man’s equipment In “the good old days” a man seldom bought or traded for anything as it was the custom then to “swap.” At this time, about which I write, one Peter Sherron, a policeman in Augusta, Georgia, had a saddle for which he had no particular need, but being a fancier of game fowl he very much wanted one of the stags of the Burnt Eye-Gilder cross. So, it naturally followed that Tom and Peter “swapped.”
In 1856 at the Old Shades on Ellis Street in Augusta, Georgia, Bacon and Bohler fought a main against Franklin, of Columbia, S. C. Bacon and Bohler used a number of these half Gilder, half Burnt Eye birds, among them being the Sherron stag for which the saddle was traded, now grown to a cock and making top weight at 6.04. This cock met his opponent high in the air; both came to the ground shuffling and fell apart as if in a dying condition, whereupon the half Burnt Eye, half Gilder vomited a mouthful of blood, staggered over to the Columbia cock and shuffled. The Sherron cock killed the Columbia cock in this terrific shuffle. Peter Sherron, the proud owner of this wonderful bird, was so enthused he did not wait for Henry Hicks, the handler, to handle the cock, but jumped in the pit, grabbed the cock up, raised him above his head and yelled: “Be faither-rs! But ain’t he a War-rhorse?”
This Sherron cock was a typical Burnt Eye in appearance: Black body, dark legs, black eyes, lemon hackle. In blood he was, as has been explained, one-half Burnt Eye, one-half Irish Gilder. This was the cock, and this was the occasion, of the origin of the strain of fowls called “War-horses”
The Burnt Eyes and Gilders were so entirely different in every detail of appearances that the off-spring from this cross (the birds that were destined to become Warhorses) came many colors: Some black-breasted reds with the white fluff, coloring after the Irish Gilder cocks; some brown-red with red eyes and some with black eyes; others exactly the same as the Sherron cock, a description of which has been given.
Col. Bacon seemed to have fancied the brown-reds, and on my visits to his yards most of the fowls I saw there were of that type. Old Col. John Fair also fancied this type. Hopkinson fancied the darker fowl; his hens came jet black and cocks the type of the original Warhorse founder—the Baltimore Burnt Eye cock. And so it was that many people had these fowls (Warhorses) just as they carried them from that yard, of just such color as appealed most to the taste of each purchaser. And so it is, too, that many people today may have pure Warhorses, yet strikingly different in appearances.
Having established the facts as to the foundation of the strain of Warhorses we will no longer refer to these chickens as Burnt Eye-Gilder cross, but will call them by their rightful name: Warhorses. As proof of the splendid fighting qualities of the Warhorses, and as a tribute to one of the greatest feeders and handlers it has ever been my privilege to know, I want to state that the Warhorses were used in 42 important mains, winning 40 and losing 2. Forty-one of these mains were fought by Bacon and Bohler, with Henry Hicks, half brother to Bohler, feeding and handling. Of this number only one was lost, this to Dr. Gee at Selma, Alabama, about 45 or 46 years ago. About 25 years ago the Warhorses lost one main to S. S. Moore, but Bacon and Bohler were not interested in this main; Hicks fought the main on his own account, using the Warhorse cocks. Right here I would like to say that while Hicks fed and handled all the mains for Bohler and Bacon, it is my belief that Hicks never
bred any cocks. He was not a breeder, not even a fancier in the true sense of the word, but as a feeder and handler he ranked among the very best the world has ever known.
Some years ago I had the misfortune to lose my house by fire, at which time all letters and notes I had were destroyed, so I am, of necessity, writing entirely from memory. It is possible that there may be some little inaccuracies in dates, but the sum and substance of this history is correct. And this represents one side of the Gordons. The other side of the Gordons is represented by Col. Alfred Aldrich’s Mugwumps, and these two strains make up the blood lines of the Hammond Gordons except a thirty-second infusion of Rood Warhorse, which, no doubt, was a direct descendant of the same Warhorses used by me in founding my Gordons. The Rood cock resembled very much the Bacon cocks and I am sure there was little difference in the blood except that this Rood cock had a round head, and it was from him that the round head is now seen in the Gordons. In color he was brown-red.
Greenwood, S. C., March 1, 1919.
Mr. C. R. Wilson,
Allendale, S. C.
Friend Wilson:—The request that you have made of me to write out for publication the origin and breeding of the Mugwump strain of game fowls is one that has frequently come to me within the last five years, but leisure and inclination would never come simultaneously and so I have never complied until now.
Referring to the origin of the Mugwump strain of game fowls, I will say that back in the distant past there was a turfman and cock fighter of this state by the name of Col. Thos. G. Bacon who bred and pitted the most successful cocks of that age. His original stock came from John Stone, of Massachusetts. About the same time Major Burnett Rhett, of Charleston, S. C., bred and fought a strain B. B. red cocks that had the reputation, deservedly, of being the gamest cocks of their age.
I got a pair of Bacon fowls and a trio of Rhett’s and crossed them and by selection produced a strain which I named Mugwump. Mugwump is an Indian name and in the Algonquin language it means Big Chief.
About the year 1890 I crossed into my strain a B. B. red cock with yellow legs that I got from Baltimore. I do not know who bred this cock or what strain he came from. This cock was a spangle in his third year, a white at the fourth moulting and remained white until his death. Before I bred any of his sons to a yard of my Mugwump hens, I satisfied myself that he was a game cock.
The first and only one of his sons that I used as a brood cock was a black with yellow legs and beak, had a few white feathers in his tail and wings. I fought him in a main at Hibernia Park, Charleston, S. C., where a number of fine cocks fought in the two days of the main, and the concensus of opinion was that he outclassed any cock shown on either side. He was a high flying cock and never tried to bill as long as his adversary could stand on his feet. In several of his fights, he killed his opponent without ever touching him with his mouth.
It was invariably my practice to breed from the best fighter of his year and never to breed from any cock until he had fought several battles, in order that I might determine his quality. I bred this black cock to a yard of my choicest pure Mugwump hens and he sired several black stags and occasionally a white stag or pullet. From him I got my white and black Mugwumps. Always the white and black Mugwumps were bred exactly alike.
Note the statement that I am about to make, namely: that no Mugwump of the present day, no matter where he or she may be found, has any blood in its composition save what came from that black cock. He was the only son of the Baltimore cock that I bred from and I never used any of the daughters of the Baltimore cock for breeding purposes. If I used a son of the black cock he was invariably mated to pure Mugwump hens.
I once shipped a coop of five cocks to Sr. Bustamente, three reds, 1 black and 1 white, all brothers, and all acted alike in the pit In the foregoing I have given the origin of the Mugwumps, as many of the cock fighters in the South know it to be.
You are at liberty to give this history to any game fowl paper for publication, if you see fit to do so, on my responsibility.
In conclusion I will say my main reason in giving you the foregoing information is that I have replied to many letters asking to find the purest Mugwump, to the effect that, in my judgment, your yards will come nearest filling the bill If you use any part of this communication in a game fowl paper, kindly say that I am out of the game and have no fowls for sale.
Your friend,
(Signed) Alfred Aldrich.
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