The Death of Black Hawk

 Cold Case? The Death of Black Hawk

 

I was surprised that the intriguing details of the death of the great Black Hawk were missing from the excellent article in the January issue of The Morgan Horse.

As reported in the article, Black Hawk died in the stable of David Hill in Bridport VT. According to the report in the American Veterinary Journal, Volume 2, April 1857, the immediate cause of death was reported at the time to be congestion of the lungs after several attacks of “rheumatism” a few days prior. It was an excruciating death. In his final days, the pain for the horse “exceeded anything I had ever witnessed” wrote the veterinarian, Dr. G.S. Gale, who was present at the end.

On November 28^th, 1856, it was observed by Mr. Hill that the horse was not well and was pointing his front limbs like a foundered horse. He was bled at least twice by Mr. Hill and the horse was sweating profusely and getting up and down. On the morning of the 29^th, the horse was in so much pain in his front limbs that he could only move by throwing all his weight on his hind end which appeared to be unaffected. After being given linseed oil, Black Hawk’s bowels began to function after 24 more hours. He was then given enemas of soap water.  It was all in vain. His struggling and pain did not diminish and on the first day of December, 1856, after fighting for 3 days, Black Hawk went down for the last time and “died without a struggle”.

Upon his expiration, Black Hawk’s skin was removed to be “suitably preserved”. His head was removed and the remainder of the corpse was wrapped in stable blankets, laid on straw, covered with a large door and buried 6 feet deep. As this occurred, the men talked about what would happen next, whether there would be a monument built on the spot to commemorate the great horse or whether he would be exhumed and preserved by a ‘resurectionist’ and sent as a mounted specimen to the Museum of the Medical College in Albany NY as had been proposed well before his death.

Black Hawk’s body remained buried for 74 days prior to exhumation. He was basically dissected on the spot. It was noted that he had an enormous amount of fat, indicating that while alive he had been in a state of “adipose plethora”…..over fed, overweight, fat, obese. A rather curious state since Mr. Hill is quoted as saying he had “frequently driven him fifty miles in half a day, and once drove him sixty-three miles in seven hours and fifteen minutes.” Obviously, this was a fit horse at one time in the 9 years he was owned by Mr. Hill.

That his head had been removed after death and he had been bled multiple times in his final stages, explain the notation by the exhumers that there was little blood left in his body except in his lungs. It was reported that the horse was down many times prior to dying which placed doubt that the lungs were the true source of his problems. Horses with congested lungs do not normally lie down. The joints of his forelegs were intensely inflamed, not so in the rear limbs. It was surmised this was largely responsible for his intense pain. After this dissection, it was concluded by all that the horse had suffered from a disease of “rheumatic origin” and that he had been very much over fed in his lifetime which apparently was a much flawed yet common practice of the day.

As of April 1857, the skeleton and skin of Black Hawk were in possession of the Faculty of the Boston Veterinary College

Now we fast forward to the late fall of 2012 when Dr. Deb Bennett, PHD, the renowned authority on the classification, evolution, anatomy, and biomechanics of fossil and living horses examined a skeleton then housed at the University of Vermont’s stable. This skeleton is purported to be the bones of the great Black Hawk and indeed there are accompanying historic papers indicating that to be the case.

In her words: “If this is the skeleton of Black Hawk, it is a priceless relic and should be correctly preserved.” Emphasis on ”If”, for  no authoritative forensic evidence exists supporting that conclusion. At that point, the bones were mounted in a manner typical of anatomists of the 1930’s and had since been standing exposed to the air. Some bones were missing or broken and the skeleton was literally slowly disintegrating before our very eyes. Dr. Bennett demonstrated that the positioning of certain bones was wrong and that the posed position had been changed at least once since its original mounting. Few people caught the significance of her casual mention of this intriguing fact: there is a hole in the skull which she suggested could have been made by a bullet. At the time, no one in the room was familiar with the above descriptions of Black Hawk‘s final days.

So let me offer these thoughts: Black Hawk was arguably the most famous living horse in America was 23 years old at the time of his death. In the attempt to care for this wonderful, prolific animal that almost started a breed of his own, he was mistakenly over fed. The excessive diet contributed to his demise and most likely was the root cause of his acute founder. His pain and agony from founder lasted almost a week before he ’expired’. 

 As an attempt at a cure, he was bled repeatedly which, instead providing relief, severely depleted his strength and energy. Though no fault of those in attendance, nothing was done to really alleviate his true symptoms: inflammation and pain. They were following what were then the most modern protocols for a rheumatic condition. Even today, with all the anti-inflammatory and pain reducing drugs available to modern veterinary medicine, once a horse founders, early intervention is critical and if left to progress, it is an intense and often unsuccessful struggle to alleviate the pain and stabilize the horse. No such medications existed in rural Vermont in 1856. 

His suffering began at least a week before he died but in the end, after three full days of intense agony, these men in attendance realized the horse would not recover. I speculate that the humane decision was made to put him out of his misery and he was probably shot in the head. To protect the legacy of this great horse known to practically everyone alive at the time, it was reported that he went down and “died without a struggle” for no one wanted to be remembered as the man who ended the life of this most famous horse. The skin was removed. It eventually went to Boston and apparently disappeared. Upon his death, his head was removed. Why? The rest of the body buried but it is curious that no mention is made of whether his head was buried with the rest of the body or if and when it was rejoined with his remains.

Dr. Bennett recommended more forensic work be done on this skeleton. The critical question: Is it truly Black Hawk? If it is, this is, as she said, a priceless relic for the Morgan breed. Is it his original skull? Is the hole the result of a bullet? Perhaps we will never know. There are probably more answers to equally intriguing questions that could come of modern day forensic evaluation.

 The skeleton at least now is under glass in Vermont, protected from the environment, and has undergone some further preservation efforts, thanks to generous donations of interested parties and the Morgan Horse Heritage Foundation. The skeleton remains the property of the University of Vermont.