Image courtesy of Almeron Newman/Library of Congress
Some claimed the photo was originally captured in 1916, while others said it was from 1918 and showed a “tribute to the 8 million horses, donkeys, and mules that lost their lives during World War I.”
An October 2015 article by British newspaper Daily Express was even headlined: “Never Forget: Incredible tribute to the 8 million hero horses killed in the First World War.”
In short, while the image itself is authentic, there is no record to suggest it was taken in memory of all the equine animals that were killed during WWI. Instead, the gesture was carried out in tribute to just one horse belonging to a WWI remount commander. It was also captured after the war, not during the conflict.
According to Library of Congress (LOC) records, photographer Almeron Newman captured the picture at Camp Cody, New Mexico, in 1919—after WWI. LOC describes the image as showing the “formation of soldiers into the shape of a horse’s head.”
The caption says 650 officers and enlisted men of Auxiliary Remount Depot No. 326 posed for the photo “in a symbolic head pose of ‘The Devil’ saddle horse ridden by Maj. Frank G. Brewer, remount commander.”
It does not mention the men posing for all of the equine animals that died during WWI.
Military historian Lucy Betteridge-Dyson addressed the image in a blog post titled “Hold your horses and check your sources,” published in May 2019:
Over the years the photo has been reused and watermarked multiple times with misleading information which has perpetuated the myths surrounding it [ … ] I have tried to find further information on Maj. Brewer without much luck. Interestingly the US National Archives has a copy of the photograph, recorded in 1921, where Brewer is referred to as Colonel Frank C Brewer, instead. In their version, there is also a photo of a horse. This was likely used by Newman to model the scene, perhaps it may even be ‘The Devil’ himself (or herself as the case may be!)
[…]
There is no evidence to suggest this photo was taken in tribute to the millions of horses who served in the Great War, but it is a stunning photograph and gives us an insight into one of the largest remount depots in America in the immediate post war period.
Newman also captured a panoramic photo showing Camp Cody officers of the 34th Division on June 23, 1918, according to Library of Congress records.
(Almeron Newman/Library of Congress)
Newman is credited with taking another similar picture, which is hosted by the Palace of the Governors Photo Archive at the New Mexico History Museum. Records show it was captured in 1918 and shows “16,000 men” in the form of an “animated crest of the 34th (Sandstorm) Division at Camp Cody.”
(Almeron Newman/Governors Photo Archive at the New Mexico History Museum)
Archives West Orbis is an online database that catalogs archival collections hosted by various institutions in the Western U.S. Its website describes Newman’s experience in the world of military photography.
