[Don@VB]

I never understood adopting “Cavalier” as UVA’s mascot. Cavaliers were so closely associated with the British Monarchy and Jefferson authored the document that severed this very association.

[Hiddigeigei]

I never understood adopting “Cavalier” as UVA’s mascot. Cavaliers were so closely associated with the British Monarchy and Jefferson authored the document that severed this very association.
The Civil War Virginia cavalry considered themselves the Cavaliers’ descendants. “If you want to have fun, If you want to smell Hell, ‘Jine the Cavalry’.” Two books written by former members: Bull Run to Bull Run by Baylor and Four Year in the Saddle by Gilmor.

[Verginius Rufus]

I think a lot of the so-called First Families of Virginia claimed to be descended from the English Cavaliers of the 1640s. George Washington’s first American ancestor apparently was a Cavalier but the Washingtons were lower down in the social pecking order in colonial Virginia. Likewise with the Jefferson family (although Jefferson’s mother’s family was one of the leading families).