Page 258 - Showsight April 2013

HISTORY OF THE
AMERICAN FOXHOUND
T he first mention of
hounds in the New
World was in a diary
of one of the men with
Fernando de Soto, who
in 1539 came from
Cuba to the continent with 600 men, hors-
es, hogs and hounds. No further mention
is made of hounds, although Captain John
Smith mentions the native gray fox among
animals he wrote about in a letter in 1613.
A work of Theodore DeBrys shows the
sport was enjoyed in Virginia, and there is
an engraving of a horseman and a single
hound chasing a deer. This book was pub-
lished in 1619, a year before the Mayflower
set sail for the New World. These early
hounds can be found in the background of
the Old Native Virginia Hound.
Robert Brooke is credited with bring-
ing the first pack of hounds to the colonies.
He landed at what is now Calvert County
in Southern Maryland on June 30, 1650.
Robert Brooke is the first Master of Fox-
hounds in America. Roger Brooke Taney,
Chief Justice of the United States spent the
winter of 1795-1796 at his ancestor’s home
and wrote an article on foxhunting. It was
from this pack that the Brooke hounds
of Maryland developed. They have been
famous for over 200 years. These hounds
have had material influence as the tap-root
of a number of American strains both pack
and field trial hounds. There is reference
of these hounds in letters and records of
Messrs. Trigg, Maupin, Wade and Walker.
Reference can be found in the American
Turf Register and other sporting magazines
from 1794-1864. Among Robert Brooke’s
pack was a magnificent hound, “Brooke’s
Barney.” He stood 26" at the shoulder, an
immense size for that time, and was heav-
ily coated with steel grey hair.
In 1730, the red fox of England was
imported to the Eastern Shore of Mary-
land. Until that time the hounds had only
Hazira’s Billie Joe—an excellent head study of this multiple Best in Show hound.
Ch Hazira’s Cecil—Multiple Best in Show Hound and 2nd Generation Breeder/Owner/Handled.
By Mrs. Robert D. Smith
258 • ShowSight Magazine, April 2013