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Six Grey Horses. This week that Army honored him with the most impressive military funeral Washington had witnessed since the burial, in 1921, of the Unknown Soldier. While silent crowds massed in a drenching rain along Washington streets, a caisson bearing his flag-draped casket was drawn by six matched grey horses to Arlington Cemetery. Thousands of troops, armored cars, and howitzers followed to the beat of muffled drums; the procession entered the cemetery to the slow booming of a 19-gun salute.
The President, Cabinet members and virtually every top-ranking general of the Army were present. The old soldier's coffin was borne to a grave near that of the Unknown Soldier. A squad of riflemen fired their sharp volleys. A staff sergeant sounded the slow, sweet notes of taps.
* The nickname stemmed (according to the most persistent story) from his period as a West Point instructor (1897-98). A cadet from the South whispered it angrily after hearing his frequent-praise of one of his early commands, the 10th Cavalry, a Negro regiment.