Hermaphroditic Civil War Horse Statue Links Heroism to Maleness

These are pictures of a statue in Lexington, KY, in honor of Civil War general John H. Morgan. It depicts him on his favorite horse, Black Bess. The inscription is "Gen. John H. Morgan and His Bess."

Here's what's interesting about this: Bess, as you might guess, was a mare--a female horse, for those of you totally out of touch with farm life. Notice that the horse has a relatively small frame and head--it's not a huge horse with rippling muscles, as horses in statues so often are (and, of course, always rearing up with mane and tail flying in the wind).

However, the statue has testicles. You can't see them in either picture, unfortunately. The sculptor gave Bess testicles because he considered a mare an unworthy mount for a general--despite the fact that Morgan himself seemed to think she was just fine.

I found out about this in Lies Across America: What Our Historical Sites Get Wrong by James W. Loewen.