U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney now has a piece of Hillsborough in his Washington, D.C. office. And Mayor Anthony Ferrera soon will have a piece of Cheney's heritage in his municipal complex office.  Both own a painting — Cheney has the original, Ferrera a replica — created by Pennsylvania artist Jeffrey Trexler. The painting depicts Capt. Samuel Fletcher Cheney, the late great grandfather of Cheney, sitting atop a horse boarded at Black Horse Stables on River Road. Samuel Fletcher Cheney, then a 34-year-old lieutenant,

was enlisted with the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry Sept. 19, 1861. The soldier had fought in the Battle of Chickamauga in Georgia during the Civil War. The painting was a gift to Cheney from Lakeway Publishers Inc. and editors at the Morristown, Tenn.-based Civil War Courier, a Civil War magazine and the company's flagship publication. The magazine was sponsoring the 145th Anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga event being held on Sept. 19 in Georgia and had invited Cheney to be its guest of honor. "He's (Cheney) real interested in his family history — he has studied his great-grandfather and gone to  Chickamauga a number of times doing research on him," said Ed Hooper, editor and publisher of the Civil War Courier. "I felt it would have

been a great surprise (to give him the painting). I thought it would be great." The all-day historical event began at McLemore's Cove — one of the last scenic undisturbed battlefields left in the United States — with a ceremony and ended with one of the largest Civil War reenactments in the west this year. Ferrera said he on Friday, Sept. 26, will receive a replica of the painting to hang in his office. I am so proud that Black Horse Stables was selected as the backdrop for the commemoration portrait of the vice president's great grandfather — a Civil War hero," Ferrera said. "I was honored to be part of this exciting

experience and no matter what your political views, the fact that this occurred in our community, is something of which all Hillsborough residents can be proud."  Trexler, who lives in Morton, Pa., was hired by the Civil War Courier as a freelancer to recreate the oil painting based on vintage photographs of Cheney's great grandfather. Eager to meet Cheney, Trexler said Secret Service agents initially denied him the chance during the 1 p.m. ceremony, which opened the main event. However, once the vice president learned Trexler was in the audience, he called him up onto the stage and thanked him. "He was very happy with the piece," Trexler said, noting the painting wasn't even fully dried yet by the time it reached Georgia. Those assembled learned more about the figure in the painting from Cheney himself, according to transcripts of the vice president's speech. "Like so many of you here, I am a follower of military history, and as a descendant of a man who served at this very place, this obviously has special meaning to me," Cheney said. "Above all, I join you as a fellow citizen, who feels proud of the bravery shown among these hills and valleys exactly 145 years ago."