Portage Wis., Saturday, September 13, 1969 PORTAGE DAILY REGISTER Tales of Old Portage: State Rights--a horse with a long tale by Dorothy G. McCARTHY Daily Register Special Writer Recent inquiries, comments and curiosity in an interesting roadside gravestone on the Old Military Road about five miles east of Portage have given cause to revive the circumstances of that burial just 80 years ago. The marble headstone stands over the grave of a horse, among whose other claims to fame is the fact that he was buried standing up! His history was further made more colorful first because he ran in unusually fast course on the race track, and secondly because he answered to the provocative name of "State Rights", given to him about the time of the Civil War by his devoted owner, Chauncy F. Roberts. When State Rights was born on the Roberts farm In 1861 (now owned by Edwin Breneman, Rt. 1, Portage), Roberts was an active participant In all the civic affairs of Portage. At one time he was an assessor and supervisor of Ft. Winnebago township and a member of the school board. Being strong-minded, politically biased and vehemently vocal whenever he became embroiled in political issues of the day, he held the reputation of standing for principles and doctrines which involved what he believed to be right and just. One of these issues which separated brothers, family and friends was the States' Rights doctrine, a fiery issue which proposed that individual states possessed inalienable rights as sovereign units that the federal government may not legally transgress. Its advocates have historically insisted that the Union was a federation of states, each one of which had the right to secede in the event that their will did not conform to that of the central government. States' rights was the justification given by the Southern states for withdrawing from the Union and which eventually led to the Civil War. Chauncy Roberts, a staunch Republican and a firm advocate of the doctrine, immortalized his own conviction by giving his new colt the name of "State Rights." History generally refers to it as "States' Rights" but apparently Roberts had one state in mind when he had the inscription on the stone cut as "State Rights Died July 9, 1889 Aged 28 Years". Of course the victory of the North destroyed the doctrine in its extreme form, but while it was being tested and tried in the market place, in legislative halls and eventually on the battlefield, there were as many "hawks" and "doves" voicing opinions as we bear today on the Vietnam issue. Credit for the preservation of this monument, which stands about 36 x 18 inches in a tiny triangular parkway along the Military Road, rests with the Columbia County Highway Department. Engineers and surveyors thoughtfully laid out the adjoining town road (now closed) so as to avoid building the thoroughfare over the grave. The plot is kept mowed, and recently the stone was reset more permanently when time and vandals had nearly destroyed it. The Roberts & W. Breneman families in turn have also contributed their share of effort and interest in its preservation. A 4-H group from Ft. Winnebago even spent part of one Saturday last spring In cleaning up the tiny "park". Only those who love their pets as devotedly as Roberts loved and admired their pacer can understand his reason for this final tribute to his favorite horse. He had laid out a half mile track on his farm across the road from the grave site where he trained horses for competition at fairs and exhibitions around the countryside. In addition to farming, he was a stock breeder and in time acquired an enviable reputation for the successful breeding of blooded horses. State Rights was a Hamiltonian bay stallion. He is said to have run the mile in 2:20, and because of his natural grace and beauty on the track, was indeed as favorite in hearts as well as at the parimutuel window. Roberts drove himself and he was a familiar sight on the high, two-wheeled sulky at county fairs. On July 9, 1889, Roberts took State Rights to Racine. In spite of his advanced age the horse was still attracting attention and winning blue ribbons for his spectacular performance on the track. On this day, however, his stout heart finally gave out and he fell to the ground, a fallen hero. Roberts could not bear to part with his dumb friend, much less see him lying prone in death. So he had the body brought back to Ft. Winnebago to be buried alongside the track upon which they had both exercised so often. The grave was dug large enough to accommodate the horse stand up on four feet, just as Roberts had remembered him during all of those 28 years. It is said that the burial was first located in a field which eventually was put to the plow. At this time another and final resting place was made for States Rights alongside the Old Military Road where strangers and the curious stop to ponder the lonely and strange tombstone with its even stranger epitaph.

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