Traveller's Stable Memorial

Traveller, the celebrated horse of General Robert E. Lee, accompanied his master throughout much of the Civil War and later carried him to Lexington following the conflict. During Lee's presidency of Washington College, Traveller was a familiar sight on the streets and roads on Rockbridge County. Following Lee's death in 1870, Traveller remained at the Lee House stables until his own death in 1871. The stable and stall where he spent his final years became a point of interest for visitors for decades to follow.

On October 3, 1930, the Virginia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy unveiled a memorial tablet on the exterior wall of the Lee House stables. The ceremony was organized by the Mary Custis Lee Chapter, whose president, Mrs. J. S. Moffatt, introduced the speakers. The tablet was unveiled by Robert Gaines ’45, son of President Francis P. Gaines, and Joe Moffatt, son of Mrs. Moffatt. Accepting the memorial on behalf of Washington and Lee, President Gaines declared, “Surely in ‘The Kingdom of the Horse’ Traveller deserves to be remembered not only for the fidelity of his association, but for the merit of his character.” The Virginia Military Institute band concluded the ceremony with a rendition of ‘Dixie.’

University officials removed the original memorial from the Lee House stables on July 8, 2023, and announced plans to relocate it to a permanent exhibit in Lee Chapel. In January 2024, the University installed a new marker at the same location, omitting the original tablet's acknowledgment of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The original memorial's present location has not been publicly disclosed.

THE LAST HOME OF
TRAVELLER
THROUGH WAR AND PEACE THE FAITHFUL,
DEVOTED AND BELOVED HORSE OF
GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE
PLACED BY THE VIRGINIA DIVISION
UNITED DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY

In a July 16, 2023, statement, Washington and Lee University declared that its campus was “neither a museum nor an appropriate repository for Confederate artifacts.” The university identified four historical plaques recently removed from campus, including two from Payne Hall and two memorials to Traveller, which it announced were “being installed” in a “new permanent exhibit” in Lee Chapel titled The Power of Memory: Remembering Robert E. Lee.

The university never installed the promised exhibition. When the renovated chapel galleries reopened in June 2026, none of the four plaques appeared on display. In an August 21 response to The Generals Redoubt, Museum Director Matt Davis explained that “the exhibition plans changed with the establishment of the Department of Institutional History Museum and Galleries in July 2024.”

The university has not responded to subsequent TGR inquiries concerning the whereabouts and future exhibition of removed plaques. However, in September 2026 correspondence with The W&L Spectator, Davis stated: “Our storage facility is not open to the public, nor do we make a list of our collections inventory available to the public.” He further explained that “the size and weight of some of these artifacts are not conducive to public viewing.” Regarding their future exhibition, Davis wrote: “It is possible that some or all of these artifacts will eventually be incorporated into temporary or permanent exhibits once the new museum is open, and we hope to have online databases and viewing rooms in the future.”

1. https://www.virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=LG19301007.1.1

2. https://digitalarchive.wlu.edu/islandora/ring-tum-phi-october-3-1930

3. https://www.wluspectator.com/articles/2023/7/12/traveller-plaque-on-stables-removed-grave-marker-to-be-replaced

4. https://columns.wlu.edu/statement-regarding-the-relocation-of-plaques-to-a-new-exhibit-in-university-chapel

5. https://www.thegeneralsredoubt.us/press/promises-made-plaques-missing