Day 595: 5 Minute Freewrite: Friday - Prompt: trot
In 1861, Papa finally got him a horse -- a big, brown, pretty horse.
Papa called him Big Hoss.
We called him Trot, because that horse was incapable of walking. Every ride was a bounce. Daddy let us ride him for fun when he wasn't working, but Trot didn't work that much, because again, he was incapable of really walking. He wasn't a plowhorse, although he did the job in his trotting way.
That wasn't why Papa had gotten him anyway, as we came to understand when he rode off to the war on him in 1861, and returned, a much older and sadder man, in 1865. However, he looked good in his blue, and it looked well with Trot's pretty brown. The Union had won the war. We were too young to understand then, but we thought victory was just that Papa came home.
Papa never talked to us about the war, except for one story. Papa would always light up, talking about how Big Hoss trotted into Saunders Field in 1864 -- the field was burning, but there was still a bare chance of saving some wounded men, so --
"He trotted on in there with me, just as brave -- for a little while we were one army with some folks wearing gray who had horses, pulling as many people out as we could before the flames got too high. Big Hoss did good, that day."
Good ol' Trot. When walking just wouldn't do, he was ready.
Good ol' Trot.
Photo Credit: Cristy Zinn on Unsplash
Well done! This is so polished and packed with so much meaning, I'd never look at it and think "5-miinute freewrite." Your prose is lyrical and memorable, especially those closing lines. I had to re-read to make sure Trot came home from the war too. Papa rode off to the war on him in 1861, and returned, a much older and sadder man, in 1865. "Big Hoss did good, that day." I trust he did not die that day. Love the photo, by the way!
Well, I am a published author, and a Civil War student. Trot is based partially on one of the war's most famous horses: Traveller, General Lee's very spirited gray horse. Partially, the story borrows from one of the war's saddest battles: the Battle of the Wilderness, in which a fire on Saunders Field burned up all the wounded men who could not be rescued... but you figure a brave man in either cavalry, with his own fast, brave horse, might have gotten involved to save who he could. I have MUCH longer manuscripts of historical fiction, presently being developed for publication, around this period in history, so I just thought about a little story that would fit in for someone to be telling in a quiet chapter, and THIS happened, in a little over five minutes -- just under six. I also did about ten minutes of editing.
Just so you know: yes, Trot lives to be "good ol' Trot," and we may safely imagine Papa and him held in honor by their community and all those whose lives they saved, into a golden old age, although of course, only the children know his name is REALLY Trot, not Big Hoss, his "hero" name...
I'm happy to hear that Trot did indeed survive the battle. Those Civil War stories are endless and heartbreaking. The eagle who scouted out the enemy, but died alone in a cage in a government building, in a fire, after the war... the little details can be the most heart wrenching. A "double" (replica, of sorts) of that eagle is on display in a museum in Madison, Wisconsin, and it breaks my heart to think of that great eagle spending his final years in a cage....war is terrible, and people can be terrible, but I applaud you for finding the redemptive side of it.
My heart hurts over that eagle... he became a living relic, and then they forgot the relic, and then he died needlessly ... animals and soldiers alike have suffered that fate... but there IS a redemptive side, and that is what I highlight!
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Thank you!
This can be made into one of those western movies of the war.
Am here with the Weekend Freewrite Prompt.
Take it, make it jingle.
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/weekend-freewrite-6-8-2019-single-prompt-option
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Pro, writers fromorld afar
Come, feast on this prompt very fast
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/weekend-freewrite-6-8-2018-part-1-the-first-sentence
Yes, Trot COULD be a longer story, and I may make that happen -- with music, and visuals! Thank you for the weekend prompt!