LoyaltyOfDogs.com

05/26/2026

"Sallie was a brave dog,
Remembered to this day,
And the only Yankee soldier
With a coat of brindle gray..."

Friends and , enjoy Sallie's story as told in song by the band Williamson Branch, courtesy of Pinecastle Records:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/4643911559264322

05/19/2026

With an instance of going AWOL on his record, along with apparent shirking, Eben Fiske of the 13th Massachusetts Infantry wasn’t a model soldier, as Ron Coddington recounts in this video from his terrific series “Life on the Civil War Research Trail.” But, he adds, Capt. Fiske was an accomplished artist. And he drew portraits of a few soldiers’ pets from the 13th, including Spot (and Virginia, his cat, along with Billy the pig). Friends and will find Spot at 2:17--Virginia at 1:33, and Billy at 2:03.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-eWt0yVkKM

05/16/2026

Dog-history trivia time, friends and !
The three dogs below are featured on sewing buttons in our Etsy shop's Vintage Dog Button Jewelry gallery. One of them belongs to an extinct breed. Which one is it?

Post your answer in the "Comments" below, and if you're correct we'll contact you by Messenger with a coupon good for $3 off any regular-price order of $15 or more at our shop. (And we have many items on sale too, including our popular Civil War dog greeting cards, the "Loyalty Of Dogs" poster featuring Sallie of the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, our latest framed "Lincoln's Farewell to Fido" silhouettes, and more!)

05/07/2026

You may not be surprised to learn, friends and , that we couldn't find Civil War dog greeting cards anywhere! So we made some--and some for you, too. They do double-duty as blank notes for keeping in touch with friends anytime, or, with the addition of greeting stickers that come with them, as birthday cards. Best of all, right now a set of four is on sale at our LoyaltyOfDogs Etsy shop:
https://loyaltyofdogs.etsy.com/listing/1470379433

05/04/2026

Many friends and will recognize May 4 as the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's final funeral observances in his hometown, Springfield, Illinois. There, Lincoln's neighbors and a grieving nation the nation laid him to rest after a solemn train route across much of the northern US. Along the way, as crowds paid tribute to Lincoln, a few dogs did, too. Read the full story at our LoyaltyOfDogs blog:
http://loyaltyofdogs.wordpress.com

04/25/2026

The Connecticut National Guard has honored one of the most famous of all US Army war dogs with a statue, just unveiled at a ceremony also honoring all Military Working Dogs. What a wonderful statue of Sgt. Stubby!

Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero

(By the way, friends and , if you've never seen the superbly animated movie "Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero, you should ! We give it 4-paws up, which around here would mean leaping for joy!)

04/22/2026

For Gettysburg visitors who wonder why is a dog statue on the monument to the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, you can read about the regiment's canine mascot, Sallie Ann Jarrett, here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallie_Ann_Jarrett

04/22/2026

Soldiers in Blue and Gray never forgot the dogs who accompanied them during the American Civil War. That's why so many wrote about their dogs in later years--even decades later, in regimental histories. Have you ever read any of those accounts, friends and ? You can read more about those loyal dogs and their soldiers here: http://loyaltyofdogs.com/ReadPosterTribute.htm

04/16/2026

In most cases, we'd say a dog’s loyalty is a blessing. But not so for a man at a plantation near Vicksburg, as Ron Coddington relates in this anecdote from the history of the 3rd US Colored Cavalry. From Coddington’s fascinating video series “Life On the Civil War Research Trail,” here is a story he’s titled “A Bloodhound Betrays His Own Master on a Mississippi Plantation.”

277 likes, 40 comments. "A Bloodhound Betrays His Own Master on a Mississippi Plantation"

04/11/2026

Happy , friends and ! James Garfield was one of several US presidents with Civil War connections who notably also had pets at the White House during their presidencies. His Newfoundland dog Veto is one of several Newfoundlands who were presidential pets. We don't know if Garfield had a dog as a wartime companion while he served with the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but we wouldn't be surprised if he did. Many Civil War soldiers had dogs, cats, or other animals as pets. You can read about Veto here, courtesy of the James A. Garfield National Historic Site: https://bit.ly/Garfield-Veto .

Followers who would like to read more about Civil War soldiers' pets may enjoy this outstanding 2021 article titled "They Are Truly Marvelous Cats" in the University of North Carolina Press "Journal of the Civil War Era." jstor.org/stable/27088821 . Historian Marcy S. Sacks discusses the popularity of pets for Civil War soldiers, not only for themselves but also to send home to family members. Providing loved ones at home with the companionship of an animal who had already shared a soldier's affection was one more way of strengthening bonds to home and family. It's as if the animal could convey the soldier's own love and care directly home to the loved ones he had to leave behind. The article is well worth the time to register for a free JSTOR account to read. Some of our friends may even be familiar with some of the dogs the author discusses, including Miff, the companion of the surgeon to the 55th Massachusetts (USCT); Old Carlo of the 3rd New York Volunteers; and Corporal of the 13th Massachusetts.

Happy National Dog Day!

Did you know James A. Garfield had a dog he named “Veto”? He named the puppy in honor of President Rutherford B. Hayes’s veto of appropriations bills during a tense standoff with Congressional Democrats in the late 1870s.

Garfield wrote about Veto in his diary on January 2, 1880: “I took the Mahoning train to Solon and went to Sister Mary’s. My dog ‘Veto’ was in transports of delight at seeing me. When I would no longer let him leap up on me, he lay at my feet and licked my boots. During my whole visit he followed me everywhere. There is something peculiarly touching in this affection of a brute”.

The image of Garfield and Veto is from "St. Nicholas: An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks" (1888).