By Lauretta Carroll

It's August, and the summer season is in full swing. Children are out of school, vacations are in the works. The Fourth of July celebration for America may be over for another year but it's never too late to salute the Founding Fathers, those daring men who took those first steps toward freedom. Or the unsung heros, their animal companions.

Thinking along these lines I began to think about our history, animals and how they both fit together. So let's meet some of the famous - and not so famous - critters in American history. We'll start with the obvious.

The Midnight Ride of Israel Bissell

Who? Don't you mean Paul Revere? No. That's right. Israel Bissell was a mail carrier who rode more miles than anyone delivering the message that "the British were coming." He traveled for four days and six hours, changing horses at each postal stop, for a total of 345 miles from Watertown, Massachusetts, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Paul Revere, on the other hand, traveled approximately 12 miles, rode on a borrowed horse, and was captured by British soldiers before reaching his final destination. But neither Israel, Paul, nor any of the other riders who spread the news would have made it anywhere without the magnificent horses that carried those men to their destinations.

General George Washington's beloved horse Nelson is the horse that carried the future first president when he accepted General Charles Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown, the battle that ended the Revolutionary War. It's also known that Washington had his horses' teeth brushed everyday.

Theodore's Bear

Many have heard this story before, but may I say it bears repeating.

Apparently, while on a bear hunt, then-president Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear in what he called an unsportsmanlike manner. He did, however, order a mercy killing of the poor injured animal. The hunt, Roosevelt and the bear became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902. Initially the bear was drawn to look fierce, but was later changed to depict a softer, cuddly cub. Due to the popularity of the illustration, it took less than a year for the "Teddy Bear" to find it's rightful place in the annals of history and toy boxes everywhere.

Continue the Article