A Horse's Tale

It has been 150 years since the brave men of Montgomery marched off to war. Uncovering their stories, the great diaries and letters written home by these men, has been rewarding. Their stories, as they unfold, give us a unique glimpse into their hearts and minds. 

However, one story, which touches our village, has so far been unknown to us.

The tale began in the beautiful bluegrass hills of Kentucky, on Woodburn Farm in Midway/Spring Station, 15 miles from Lexington. Woodburn Farm was owned by Robert A. Alexander and managed by Lucas Brodhead. 

There, during the waning months of the Civil War, a band of Confederate guerrillas, needing fresh horses for their troops, raided the Woodburn Farm and stole 42 of the best horses. They were pursued and overtaken, and in the fight that followed, two prize stallions were destroyed. Among the horses spared was Pilot Jr., the king of all the trotting stallions in the Bluegrass.

Pilot Jr. was a pure-gated gray trotter, fast for his day, but he was never raced. In his prime he reportedly could trot a mile in two minutes and 35 seconds. In the book The Kentucky Harness Horse, author Ken McCarr said Pilot Jr. was "the first Kentucky-bred trotting sire to gain a national reputation." Eight of his offspring were on the two-minutes-30 list, all begotten before 1860.

In 1865 Alexander, who had suffered greatly during the Civil War, posted an advertisement: "On account of unsettled conditions in Kentucky…. a large number of thoroughbreds and trotting horses….to be sold."

Apparently, he had a change of heart and decided instead to ship his horses to a farm outside of Montgomery, in the care of Mr. Lucas Brodhead. Pilot Jr. was his finest broodmare sire, and the offspring were highly regarded in the racing world. He, along with 42 other trotters, was shipped via railroad cars to Illinois in February of 1865.

The Alexander Farm was located directly across the Fox River from the village of Montgomery. In April of 1865, while the horses were here in Montgomery, Pilot Jr. died of apoplexy at the age of 21. He is buried on the property where the present day Austin Park is located. 

Sometime after the death of Pilot Jr., Mr. Alexander moved his operation back to Kentucky, and Woodburn became one of the greatest horse breeding establishments in the country.

Mr. R.A.  Alexander died in 1867 at age 48. His son A.J. Alexander carried on the business, along with Brodhead. In the book Reflections of Men and Horses by Hamilton Busbey, Lucas Brodhead is quoted from 1901: “We are doing nothing at present in the way of breeding horses at Woodburn…..grazing beef cattle and raising sheep quite extensively, but my outside interests in Chicago and other places are so great…..no time for breeding horses.” 

Hoof Beats magazine, May of 1994, reported that a proposal had been made to the Illinois Historical Preservation Society to erect a permanent historical marker at the park in Montgomery where the horse was buried, and to commemorate the accomplishments of Pilot Jr.  Further the magazine reports that the exact site of Pilot Jr.’s grave is not known, but property deeds have established that it does lie somewhere in Montgomery (Austin) Park.

A. J. Alexander, the son, died in 1902. Mr. Lucas Brodhead bought a tract of land outside of Versailles and built a house for his friends and for himself.

During the search for information about this grave, information was uncovered that opens further questions about Lucas Brodhead, the manager of Alexander’s farm, and his cousin Upshaw Hord co-owners of the mill.

Thanks to the diligent research of Barbara Peck, this information was uncovered, and new information is coming to light regarding the Brodhead family and their further connections to Montgomery. Lucas Brodhead was village clerk in Montgomery in 1867, before returning to Kentucky. More questions have been raised, and as the answers come to light, a follow-up article on the Hord/Brodhead connection is planned.