The Hunter’s Horn
December, 1954
Page Twenty-two &Twenty-three
The Early American Foxhound
By Wayne Sudderth
Greensboro, N.C.
More than a hundred and fifty yeas ago the Maupin and Walker families moved from Virginia to Kentucky and
brought their hound dogs with them. They hunted coons, cats and grey fox. These Virginia dogs were mostly
spotted, but some were black and tan and they had a few red ones. They were usually referred to as Virginia
hounds, and were a little better fox dogs as a rule than the native Kentucky stock. Along about the year 1850
the red fox migrated from the states to the north and east into Kentucky and the surrounding territory. The
hunters soon learned that their dogs were no match for these red fox.
Woods Walker’s book on Walker Fox Hounds, their origin and development, relates that in 1852 a man named
Tom Harriss, who lived in Kentucky, was passing through the mountains of Tennessee and caught a black and
tan dog that was leading a pack after a deer and brought him home to Kentucky. Harriss gave the dog to his
neighbor, Wash Maupin, and they named him Tennessee Lead. Mr. Maupin and another neighbor by the
name of John W. Walker both owned hounds and hunted together. Tennessee Lead probably deserves more
credit than any dog for the development and improvement of the various strains on American Fox Hounds. In
Mr. Walker’s book is a tin type picture of George Washington Maupin, Jason Walker and Tennessee Lead.
The dog is described as being a medium sized black hound with browns pots over his eyes and brown feet.
His ears were a little small and short in comparison with those on the native stock. He was soon rated by the
various fox hunters in that section as being the best red fox dog in Kentucky. They bred their local stock to
this black and tan and raised the best red fox dogs they had ever seen.
About the time they got Tennessee Lead, Wash Maupin and two or three other Madison County, Kentucky,
hunters ordered two dogs from England—a male and a female. They were black and white spotted. Their
names were Rifler and Marth. The female had been bred to another English dog before she was shipped and
soon after arrival whelped four pups—three males and a female. The three males were named Fox, Bully and
Brag. There is a little question as to the correct name of the female. Woods Walker says her name was
Mashfoot, but other historians have claimed that the famous Mashfoot was from a later litter sired by
Tennessee Lead. This all happened about a hundred years ago—long before they started making pedigrees,
and in establishing these records, they had to depend upon the memories of the Senior Walkers and Wash
Maupin. The three litter mates were not related to Rifler and this game them two families of English dogs for
breeding stock. These English dogs proved to be a little better after red fox than the native stock, but not so
good as the famous black and tan, and they had excellent conformation—bench show type. They bred the two
English females to Tennessee Lead and the cross was highly satisfactory. This gave them two strains of
hounds rich in the blood of the black and tan—the native stock crossed on Lead and the English and Lead
blend. The records seem to indicate that they merged the blood of these two families for future breeding,
crossing out on the English dogs and then line breeding back to Tennessee Lead. As time went on the
breeders realized that the more of the black and tan’s blood they put into their dogs veins the better they ran a
red fox. Lead lived to a ripe old age—about the end of the war between the states. Woods Walker lists fifteen
families who were participating freely in this breeding, crossing Tennessee Lead and the English dogs on their
native stock. John W. Walker was one of these breeders, and was the father of the five Walker brothers, who
went forward around the turn of the century with the Walker strain of fox hounds.
The records indicate that for the next forty years after introduction of Lead and the English dogs, these
breeders brought in very little new blood. They conducted various experiments with outcrosses which proved
to be unsatisfactory. In the meantime the sons and grandsons of Tennessee Lead, with black and tan blood in
their background on both sides, carried on. Spotted Top, whelped in 1867, became one of the famous studs.
He was out of a black and tan gyp named Aggie II, a granddaughter of Lead. Woods Walker expressed the
doubt that there is any Walker dog living which doesn’t come down through Spotted Top.
Old Boston, a black and tan, whelped in 1868, was another famous sire. He carried two crosses of Lead. It
may be of interest to some present-day hunters to hear that for a good while after the turn of the century there
were many black and tan Walker dogs. Woods Walker’s Cork 518 shows in the picture to be black, with no
white, and very little, if any, tan. He is registered in the stud book as a black dog—nothing said about tan. He
was whelped in 1915 and died in 1921. The owner refers to him as being the best hound he ever knew and
says, “Cork was bred to more extensively than any hound I ever owned.”
An English dog named Striver came into the stud in 1892 that proved to be a successful outcross, and
contributed considerably to the development of the Walker strain.
During the time that Gen. Wash Maupin and his Kentucky associates were breeding to Tennessee Lead and
the imported English dog Rifler, a Doctor Henry of Virginia had been breeding a strain of Irish hounds for
about 25 years. Mr. Geo. L. F. Birdsong of Georgia had got some of the Henry hounds. They had developed
a wide reputation for being able to catch the red fox. Dr. Henry’s health then failed, and he let Mr. Birdsong
have the balance of his breeding stock. These dogs were descendants of two Irish hounds named Mountain
and Muse.
Nimrod Gosnell of Maryland also had some Irish dogs that were becoming well known. A dog in his pack
named Red Tickler and a female named Lade had been exhibited as a pair that could catch a red fox by
themselves, and Gosnell said he had never seen two dogs that could match them.
A man in Georgia got a pair of pups out of Lade and Red Tickler. They were whelped in 1858, he called them
July and Mary. I can’t find the man’s name who ordered these two pups, but as I remember the story, the local
hunters were there to see them upon arrival, and found them to be a peculiar reddish grey color, with heavy
coats and short, sharp ears. They had always been led to believe that a dog was not all hound unless his
ears would lap around the end of his nose, and they expressed the opinion that this Maryland dog breeder
had played a joke on their neighbor. When these funny looking hounds started catching red fox a mile ahead
of the long eared packs, they soon developed a reputation, and the local hunters needed some of their blood.
This dog became famous as the sire known as Old July. He was bred to so extensively by the owners of the
Irish hounds that they became known as the July strain. As the story goes, he could catch a red fox by himself,
and as a sire, had the ability to transmit his good qualities to his offspring. Old July was only about seven
years younger than Tennessee Lead. He died with old age in the kennel of George L. F. Birdsong.
Mr. Haiden C. Trigg of Glasgow, Kentucky hunted with Wash Maupin and the Walker. He had what he called
the Maupin strain of dogs, close up on Tennessee Lead and with the imported English cross. He also brought
a good number of the Irish hounds from Mr. Birdsong. The following is a quotation from Mr. Trigg’s book, The
American Fox Hound:
“In 1866 we opened correspondence with George L. F. Birdsong, of Thomaston, Ga., and purchased of him
that year and in 1867 the following dogs, paying these prices: Chase and Bee (by Longstreet) $100.00;
George, $100.00; Rip, $100.00; Fannie, $100.00. Lee was presented to us. In 1868, we visited Mr. Birdsong
and spent a week with him. He was then feeble, in fact threatened with that terrible disease, consumption,
from which he died the 18th of August the following year. He was able to take us on but one hunt, when we
caught a red fox in 45 minutes. We suspected the fox was not in condition to run, and held a post mortem, but
found nothing wrong with him.
“Mr. Birdsong then had in his kennel—we had him in the hunt—a dog that has been talked about a great deal
in late years, July. We also had in the pack three of his get, I think then about three years old. i.e. Madcap,
Lightfoot, and Echo. He also had three yearlings out of Echo by his celebrated dog Longstreet, i.e. Delta,
Dumas and David. By begging two days and paying $500, he let us have Lightfoot and Delta. In addition to
these we purchased Forrest, Boston, and Emma, paying $100 each.
“In 1867 we visited General G. W. Maupin, of Madison County, Ky., and were present at the great match race
between Ben Robinson of Montgomery county and General Maupin. This meet took place at the Oil Springs,
in Clark county, and was much talked about by the hunters everywhere at that time. After the race, we
accompanied General Maupin home, spending several days hunting with him. On our departure we
purchased of him a young bitch called Minnie that was one or two crosses from his celebrated dog called
Tennessee Lead on one side and the imported English dogs on the other.”
Then Mr. Trigg talks about crossing a Tennessee Lead dog named One Eyed King on some bitches by
Longstreet out of Echo by Old July, and getting some superior dogs that were the fastest he ever owned. Mr.
Birdsong called Longstreet the best dog he ever owned. Longstreet was of the Henry strain, and not
supposed to be related to old July, although they were both Irish hounds and descendants of Mountain and
Muse, who were imported into Maryland during the year 1814. It seems to me that Mr. Trigg had for his
foundation breeding stock three of the best strains in existence at that time. They also appeared to be as
good as anything we have today.
It is interesting to note that such good breeders as Gosnell, Henry, Maupin, the Senior Walkers, Goodmans,
Trigg and Bidrdsong all lived at the same time, almost all knew each other, and traded breeding stock. They
lived in Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky and Georgia, and transportation facilities were poor at that time. When
July and Mary, as puppies, made their trip from Maryland to Georgia, they were carried in a sack, on horse
back, a distance of 700 miles. Those men were real dog breeders, and they were always hunting better blood
for out crossing. They were not hampered by pedigree lines as we are today. They bred the best ones to the
best ones, regardless of strain.
I have been talking here about fox dogs and breeders who lived between 1850 and 1900, and have been
discussing the best ones. I am sure they had plenty of the other kind. You hunters who like to make
comparisons between the old time hounds and those of today should read about the get of Tennessee Lead
and old July, and then write a story. Those two dogs have been dead 90 years, but you can find the history of
their families in Mr. Trigg’s book, “The American Foxhound”, and George J. Garrett’s book, “Fifty Years With
Fox and Hounds”. On page 36 Mr. Garrett quotes from the Turf Register as follows: “The Pollock pack of Irish
foxhounds caught four red fox in one day during December, 1836, by two o’clock in the afternoon.” That was
118 years ago. I doubt if those fox had been eating plenty of good greasy cracklins like Mr. J. F. Manning and
I feed our fox here.
I recently came down with a bad knee that put me in the hospital. My neighbor, Mr. Reuben Windsor, brought
me his hound dog library. He had it all, from the first stud books of the American Foxhound Breeders down to
date. I started with 1850 and didn’t get much past the turn of the century, so the last 54 years is till open for
discussion.