Over the summer, the Washington and Lee Board of Trustees removed Traveller’s commemorative plaque from his stable and his grave. For those living under a rock, Traveller was Robert E. Lee’s horse and perhaps the most famous animal of the American Civil War.
The so-called desecration of his grave has widely been considered an unpopular and foolish move from donation-giving alumni and W&L’s surprisingly large horse girl community.
“I know he was a Confederate, but the horse really didn’t have a choice in the matter,” said Daisy Mayhew, ’24, captain of the equestrian team. “It seems kind of racist towards horses to remove mention of Traveller and not his owner.”
“Getting rid of the horse sign is only the first step in this WOKE war!” commented James Edward Thomas Sheasby Hughes II, great-grandfather of a ’26, on an angry Facebook thread, despite only having heard about Traveller a minute before.
In order to make amends and encourage donations to resume, the BoT has started a new initiative to honor Lee’s other, less battle-involved pets by renaming campus landmarks and organizations after the companions. Here are the changes currently confirmed:
Coop to be renamed Nellie’s
Once a wild hen, the chicken known as Nellie was adopted by Lee during the Civil War for her ability to reliably lay at least one egg a day for the Confederate general. Lee was so fond of his chicken that he brought her to every battle – so much so that she is sometimes referred to as a “war chicken.” Historians say that the Battle of Gettysburg was lost partly due to Lee’s distress at Nellie going missing that morning, making her perhaps a key component in the Union victory.
Renaming Coop to Nellie’s was a no-brainer for the BoT. After all, those sunrise sandwiches serve the same purpose as Nellie’s eggs did all those decades ago. Some students remain skeptical.
“In my opinion, Nellie’s still a war criminal and collaborated with traitors,” said College Dems president Josh Brooks, ’24. “We shouldn’t be celebrating any members of the Confederacy, even if they are birds.”
“If it had been old, homey Coop, I would’ve welcomed the new name,” said General’s Redoubt student liaison Tim O’Malley, ’25. “But calling this sterile space Nellie’s feels like an insult to President Lee and his family man values.”
Srat Row to be renamed Dart Row
Robert E. Lee was reportedly something of a crazy cat lady, surrounding himself with scores of stray cats that he would find in his journeys. According to his son, his favorite cat was a Maltese mouser named Dart who kept disease-carrying rodents out of the household.
To celebrate the favorite cat and the school’s recent triumph against Covid-19, the BoT has introduced a gray Dart-lookalike to Srat Row and renamed the alley to Dart Row in honor of the cat. Students are encouraged to visit and pet the cat when they can for exam luck in lieu of tossing pennies or leaving apples on Traveller’s grave.
PubSafe to be renamed Spec
Every school has a Public Safety, the BoT said in their e-mail, but not every school has the ability to honor Spec, Lee’s trusty guard dog and companion to his family. With that in mind, our trusty men in blue (gray?) now bear a new name to invoke the loyalty and liveliness of the general’s canine companion.
We find it important to mention that Spec spent a majority of his time jumping out of windows or napping for hours in the family home, with only a fraction of his life spent actually protecting the Lee family.
The BoT is still working on implementing the new changes, and are always welcome to additional suggestions. They might not change the university’s name, but everything else? Fair game.
The Radish 