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AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 ELIHU H. SHEPARD 
 
THE 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 Elihu H. Shepard, 
 
 FORMERLY 
 
 PROFESSOR OF LANGUAGES 
 
 : S-E^LjOUISrOtfLLL-BG-E?, 
 
 * - • •• 
 
 ST. LOUIS: 
 
 GEORGE KNAPP & CO., BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 
 I869. 
 
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 06 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The exhibition of an autobiography to a reader naturally 
 suggests the object of the author in writing and publishing 
 it, and an explanation is generally gratifying, if satisfactory. 
 The author of this commenced it at the earnest request of his 
 daughter, several years since, in a blank book that she had 
 provided for that purpose, that she might preserve an accu- 
 rate genealogy of her ancestry as far as possible, and the 
 chief incidents connected with their history, particularly that 
 of her father and mother. That history was written out with 
 his own hand, without the intention of publishing it in his 
 lifetime, to 1866. Many interesting events have subsequently 
 transpired, and he has traveled and observed much, which, 
 together with the expressed wish of a very large number of 
 his former pupils and friends to possess a history of the 
 incidents of his eventful life, seem to furnish a reasonable 
 excuse for him to essay their gratification. 
 
 In accomplishing this in his own peculiar style, he has 
 taken the original copy, written for his daughter, and added 
 thereto such notes as he has preserved of his travels and ob- 
 servations since. 
 
 The indulgent reader therefore, it is hoped, will pardon any 
 
 apparent egotism, as most of the manuscript was prepared for 
 
 the eye of his daughter only, and has been used without 
 
 alterations. 
 
 THE AUTHOE. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I— Birth and Parentage of the Author. 9 
 
 CHAPTER II— Reminiscences of Childhood, and Obsequies of General 
 
 Washington. 15 
 
 CHAPTER III— Early Attendance at School— Change of Fashions— Fourth 
 
 Presidential Election. 18 
 
 CHAPTER IV— Close of the Eighteenth Century and Commencement of 
 
 the Nineteenth. - 21 
 
 CHAPTER V — The Election of President Jefferson and his Inauguration — 
 
 the Purchase of Louisiana, the Greatest Bargain ever made by Men. 24 
 
 CHAPTER VI— The Pleasant Days of Childhood, etc. 26 
 
 CHAPTER VII— The Battle of Trafalgar and its Effects. 30 
 
 CHAPTER VIII— Reminiscences of the War of 1812. 38 
 
 CHAPTER FX— The Last Days of my Youth and the Death of my Father. 72 
 
 CHAPTER X— First Days of Manhood, and Last Days in New York. 76 
 
 CHAPTER XI — A Year of Wanderings, Explorations and Inquiries, with 
 
 New Scenes and Undertakings. 84 
 
 CHAPTER XII— Preparations for Spending a Lifetime in Missouri, and 
 
 Marrjage of the Author. 96 
 
 CHAPTER XIII — Assumption of Teaching as an Occupation, and its Entire 
 
 Success. 105 
 
 CHAPTER XIV— Four Years in the Office of Justice of the Peace. - 127 
 
 CHAPTER XV— Short Experience in Steamboating. 133 
 
 CHAPTER XVI— Reminiscences of Three Campaigns in the War of 1846 
 
 with Mexico. 138 
 
 CHAPTER XVII— Incidents at Santa Ft and on the March down the Rio 
 
 Grande. 149 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII— Entry into El Paso, and Incidents during our stay in 
 
 that Town. - 156 
 
 CHAPTER XIX— March from El Paso to Chihuahua. 162 
 
 CHAPTER XX — Incidents, Observations, and Duties of the Author during 
 
 a stay of three months in the City of Chihuahua. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XXI — Departure from Chihuahua, and the Incidents on the 
 
 March to Independence. 174 
 
 CHAPTER XXII — Arrival at Independence — Mustering out of my Com- 
 pany, and our Return to St. Louis. 184 
 
 CHAPTER XXHI — A Year of Traveling and Wanderings with all my 
 Family during the Cholera Season of 1849, leading to New Occu- 
 pations. - 186 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV — Incidents, Robberies, and Losses, resulting from the 
 
 Great Rebellion of 1861. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XXV— Sickness, Death, and Burial of Mrs. Shepard, with 
 
 Remarks on her Character and Exemplary Life. 193 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI — Burning of our Queensware Factory by a Federal 
 Soldier, and Robbery of my Person and Country Residence by 
 Guerrillas. 196 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII— Nine Months at Home— Volunteers in the United 
 States Army — Enlists in the " Old Guard " — Sees three of his 
 former Pupils on the same day Occupying the seats of Judges in 
 St. Louis. 201 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII— Last Days of the Great Rebellion— Death of two 
 
 Dangerous Enemies, and their Burial near Kaolin. 205 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX— Return to Kaolin after the Civil War— Desolation and 
 Appearance of the Place— Resumption of the Cultivation of the 
 Farms, etc. 209 
 
 CHAPTER XXX— Second Marriage of the Author— His Travels, with 
 
 Notes and Observations. - 213 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI — Incidents and Observations connected with an Euro- 
 pean Tour. - 217 
 
 CHAPTER XXXH— Travels in Belgium, Germany, Prussia, and Russia. 236 
 
 CHAPTER XXXHI— Incidents and Observations on a Second Visit to St. 
 Petersburg, and Travels to Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Ham- 
 burg. - - - 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV— Incidents and Observations on the Visit to England, 
 
 Scotland, and Ireland. - 257 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV— Return to St. Louis— Farming Essay —Family Incident. 270 
 
 249 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Elihtj Hotchkiss Shepard, the writer of this record, was 
 born on the 15th of October, 1795, at Halifax, Windham county, 
 State of Vermont, in the presidency of George Washington. 
 His father, Abel Shepard, was a merchant and trader in the 
 East Indies in the early part of his life, and a farmer in Jeffer- 
 son county, State of New York, during the last seven years of 
 his life. He was born at Plainfield, Connecticut, August 29th, 
 1766, and died at Henderson, Jefferson county, New York, 
 November 23d, 1815. He had been educated entirely by his 
 mother, of whom I will write hereafter, and was a fine scholar, 
 and spared no pains or expense to make his children such, 
 four of whom became eminent teachers after his death. 
 
 He left his family a great estate, the most valuable part of 
 which was a farm of three hundred acres on the shore of Lake 
 Ontario, on which is the Shepard family graveyard, in which 
 he, his wife, four daughters, three sons, one daughter-in-law, 
 and one granddaughter, are buried, and appropriate stones 
 set at their graves. In May, 1857, the eldest of his sons 
 returned, after a long absence in the State of Missouri, and 
 built a most substantial stone wall about the yard, and other- 
 wise improved the site, so that it is probable it will remain 
 for a long period. 
 2 
 
IO AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 The maiden name of the writer's mother was Sarah Dal- 
 rymple. She was born at Petersham, State of Massachusetts, 
 September 1st, 1775, and died at Crystal Lake, in McHenry 
 county, State of Illinois. She lived a long, useful, varied, and 
 somewhat mournful life, as she bore eleven fine, healthy chil- 
 dren, and lived long enough to follow seven of them, a grand- 
 daughter, and two husbands, to their graves. She was a small, 
 healthy, active, and industrious woman, and took great pleas- 
 ure in keeping her children clean and tidy, and advancing them 
 in the world. Her education was that of a common school of 
 New England in the days of the Revolution, while she was the 
 eighth in a family of twelve children, who all lived to have fam- 
 ilies of their own. She died in the 77th year of her age. 
 
 I come now to write of my grandparents, all four of whom I 
 recollect well. 
 
 Jonas Shepard, my paternal grandfather, in whose house I 
 was born, was the great grandson of Thomas Shepard, a 
 Welchmen of Caernarvon, a trooper of the British army in 
 1642, who, with two others, carried the petition of the army to 
 Charles I.'s Parliament for redress of grievances, which was the 
 first step towards Charles' dethronement, and to his own pro- 
 motion under Oliver Cromwell, and to finally being compelled 
 to quit his country and seek safety in the forests of Connec- 
 ticut, in the town of Plainfield, where my grandfather, Jonas 
 Shepard, was born in 1727. He was an industrious man, a 
 good farmer, but a poor economist. He could not stand it 
 with a young, growing family in the State of Connecticut, and 
 in 1767 sold his patrimony, which had descended to him 
 through his father, Caleb Shepard, born 1685, and his grand- 
 father, Haziel Shepard, born 1663, and his great grandfather, 
 Thomas Shepard, born in 1620, and the first of his family in 
 America, and removed to Halifax, Vermont. There he pur- 
 chased a farm of one hundred acres, and, with the assistance 
 of one of the best women of this world, reared his large family 
 of nine children : three by his first wife, and six by his last. 
 Six were sons, and three daughters, who all outlived him, and 
 took honorable and comfortable positions in society. "While 
 residing in this town, he witnessed the struggle of the Revo- 
 lution, in which his two eldest sons were actively engaged, 
 one as a captain of an armed ship of the State of Connecticnt, 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. II 
 
 and the other as an officer of the Massachusetts line of regu- 
 lars — or Continentals, as they were then called — and was 
 afterwards commissioned to suppress Shay's rebellion by the 
 then Governor of Massachusetts, which he did by dispersing 
 them at Springfield, and driving a large number into Ver- 
 mont. These men sought his assistance to obtain an interview 
 with his son, Gen. Shepard, which he refused, but allowed the 
 eldest by the second wife to accompany a young man who 
 carried an open letter to the general, asking the terms on 
 which they might return home. They met him on the march 
 northward, with 500 men, near Hatfield. He was much pleased 
 to meet his young brother and to hear that the rebels were out 
 of Massachusetts, and at or about his father's house, desiring 
 to return to their allegiance, but would not look at the letter or 
 have any communication with the bearer. He said, however, 
 to his brother, very pleasantly, on parting : "You may go home 
 and tell those gentlemen what you have seen, and assure them 
 that if they leave their arms in Vermont and return to their 
 families, who need their assistance this winter, they will not be 
 disturbed while they stay at home and mind their business." 
 
 It was satisfactory. They left their arms^with the old gen- 
 tleman, where they remained until distributed to the neigh- 
 bors, to be used at the obsequies of General Washington, 
 and returned quietly to their homes, where they were never 
 after molested, except, perhaps, by the jests of their friends 
 for their participation in that affair. 
 
 After having resided in Halifax more than thirty years, and 
 seen his children select their partners and occupation for life, 
 he sold his property and went to reside with Samuel Hill, a 
 farmer, who had married his youngest daughter, Esther, and a 
 very pious man, belonging to the Methodist Church, in the 
 town of Brookfield, Madison county, and State of JSTew York, 
 where four of his youngest children resided. He there, with 
 his wife and his four children, joined the Methodist Church, 
 and lived until 1809, when he died, without any apparent 
 sickness, in the night in bed with his wife, being eighty-two 
 years of age. He was a small, spare, black-eyed man, five 
 feet six inches high, and had never had occasion to call the 
 assistance of a surgeon or physician in his long, regular, but 
 active life. 
 
12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Of Ms first wife, I only know what his second wife said of 
 her, that " she was a most efficient and accomplished lady, 
 and the greatest fear she had on entering his family was that 
 she would be subjected to the criticisms of her neighbors" — a 
 fearful thing still among the New Englanders. 
 
 His second wife, my father's mother, was Esther Reed, born 
 in Plainfield, Connecticut, in 1730, and died at Brooklield, 
 Madison county, New York, in 1818. She was the daughter and 
 only child of Stephen Reed, an Oxford graduate and civil 
 engineer, who Avas sent by the British government to the pro- 
 vince of Connecticut to settle the western boundary of it, and 
 part of the eastern boundary of New York. It was a long 
 and troublesome job, and is a crooked line yet. 
 
 After finishing the boundary, he opened a boarding school 
 in Plainfield, Connecticut, where his wife died when his child 
 was but one year old. He continued his school, raised and 
 educated his daughter (who assisted him in teaching), died, 
 and left her his house and other property, where she continued 
 the school until her marriage, when she was about thirty years 
 of age. On her arrival at her husband's house, she set apart 
 one room and furnished it with her apparatus and library for 
 the education of his children, who had attended no other 
 school but hers. The two eldest were boys. She qualified 
 them well for business, taught them mathematics, surveying, 
 and navigation, and the use of the instruments pertaining 
 thereto. When the youngest was fourteen years of age, their 
 father engaged them good situations on merchant ships — the 
 popular place to seek fortunes at that day. At their parting 
 with her she gave the eldest her maps, charts- and navigator's 
 instruments, and to the youngest the chain, compass and books 
 on surveying. Her labors were not thrown away on either of 
 them. The eldest became a cruiser against the British during 
 the Revolutionary War, and brought home and deposited with 
 his father $60,000 in specie, and $200,000 in Continental money, 
 which he kept until the close of the war, and then purchased 
 a fine estate with a part of it on Hoosick river, and died on it 
 at an advanced age, leaving it to his children. 
 
 The youngest served his country faithfully, as related, and 
 died in Northampton, Massachusetts, where some of his nu- 
 merous family now reside and manufacture silk. 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 13 
 
 After the departure of the "boys, she continued to teach 
 their sister and her own children until they were all educated 
 in her own house, and qualified for the active duties of life. 
 Keziah Shepard, the only daughter of the first wife, was mar- 
 ried to Oren Smith, an attorney, and raised a large family in 
 Colerain, Franklin county, Massachusetts, where she died, 
 and where some of her descendants still live. 
 
 At the close of the Revolutionary War, my father and his 
 "brother Jonas were taken to Massachusetts by their father, 
 and the eldest put as a clerk in a store in Boston, and Jonas, 
 the younger, to a manufacturer of agricultural implements in 
 Hatfield, "because he had such a zest for fun and play that 
 he was unfitted for the trusty situation of clerk in a store, 
 and preferred the other less responsible, but more laborious 
 business. 
 
 In these situations each distinguished himself. The first 
 found himself, at the end of his apprenticeship, his master's 
 confidential clerk at Canton, in China ; the latter, a foreman 
 in the factory where he had learned his trade. He raised 
 a large family in Madison county, New York. 
 
 Soon after the boys last mentioned left home, their sister, 
 older than either of them, was married to Jonathan Angel and 
 went to reside at Exeter, Otsego, New York, where they raised 
 a large family on one of the best cultivated farms I have ever 
 seen. 
 
 The two youngest sons, Elisha and TVilliam, remained at 
 home and continued their studies, and cultivated the farm 
 until their sister Esther, youngest of the family, was married 
 to Samuel Hill, and went to reside at Brookfield. William 
 accompanied them, became a Methodist preacher, a circuit 
 rider, married and raised a large family in the western part of 
 the State of New York. 
 
 Elisha Shepard was never married. He came, when about 
 forty years of age, to my father's old mansion, before the 
 family had left it, sick with consumption, and said to my 
 mother, "I have come to die with my brother's family, and to 
 be buried in the yard with Aim." He lived but a few days and 
 was buried, as he desired, in the yard with his brother. He 
 was a very plain, friendly, sober and honest man. 
 
 I have been thus prolix that I might leave some memoranda 
 
14 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 where this branch of the descendants of Thomas Shepard may 
 be found. 
 
 My maternal grandfather, Andrew Dalrymple, was the son 
 of Scotch parents, his father being a Scotch officer of the Brit- 
 ish army, sent into Ireland to assist in keeping that country 
 in subjection, and where my grandfather was born, at Belfast, 
 in 1723, and brought by his father the next year to Boston, 
 Massachusetts, where his regiment had been ordered to watch 
 the French movements in America. 
 
 Andrew's father died while he was at school in Worcester, 
 Massachusetts, and he immediately joined the British army, 
 and continued connected with it until 1775, when he assisted 
 his son David in raising and victualing a company to assist in 
 driving the British Gen. Gage out of Boston. He had been 
 receiving the half -pay of a British captain from the close of the 
 French war, which, being stopped, he purchased a farm in 
 Petersham, Massachusetts, where my mother and four others of 
 his youngest children, of his large family of six sons and six 
 daughters, were born. Thinking agricultural pursuits to be the 
 most happy and independent mode of life, he wished none of 
 his children to become mechanics. He purchased a large 
 tract in Colerain, Franklin county, Massachusetts, and col- 
 lected his children there in 1788, where he died in 1803, and 
 was buried in what is called the New Graveyard, where a large 
 monumental stone, near the road, marks his grave, and states 
 that he was the first person buried in that yard. 
 
 His wife, my maternal grandmother, was Anna Winslow, 
 daughter of Kntlm Winslow, a farmer, of Worcester, Massa- 
 chusetts. He was the fifth in descent from a passenger on the 
 Mayflower, who landed at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, in 
 1620. She was born in 1728, and was educated in the schools 
 ,of that town, which has long been celebrated for the literary 
 taste of its inhabitants. Being married young to a British 
 officer, who delighted in good farming when not engaged in the 
 field, and having good public schools and libraries for her 
 children, she devoted very little time to their literary culture. 
 But no lady took more pains to fill her house with plenty and 
 comfort, or with better success, and none ever qualified her 
 children better for the active duties of domestic life. She 
 raised twelve children, who, like herself and husband, were all 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 15 
 
 above the common stature, except my mother, and, like their 
 parents, were all blue-eyed, well-formed, vigorous, healthy and 
 athletic, and all lived to raise families of their own. She died 
 at Colerain, Massachusetts, in 1820, being ninety-two years of 
 age, and was buried by the side of her husband. 
 
 Having mentioned these four grand-parents, and being 
 acquainted with most of their numerous descendants, I think 
 it proper to mention also some facts concerning them, which 
 may be interesting. 
 
 Of all this large connection there has not been a marriage 
 where there was the least consanguinity of the parties, nor one 
 without the full consent of parents. Nor has there been a 
 deformed child or an idiot born among them. No one has been 
 so unfortunate as not to be able to obtain all the comforts of 
 life in the circle of his own connection ; nor has any of them 
 ever been publicly convicted of a crime, although the piety 
 and even loyalty of some have not been very brilliant. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OE CHILDHOOD AND OBSEQUIES OF GENERAL 
 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 It is said by some that man is the creature of circumstances, 
 and all the distinctions among men arise from memory and 
 education. If this is so, the earlier the memory is cultivated 
 the better, if not over-tasked. In my education and employ- 
 ment of life, I have had great exercise for memory, and few, 
 probably, began it younger. Yet I have no recollection of 
 learning the alphabet, or a time when I could not read. 
 
 I recollect three occurrences very distinctly that took place 
 the summer before I was four years of age, as I have been 
 informed by my parents. I will relate them, and from their 
 nature it is probable most people will believe I would recol- 
 lect them, if I could recollect anything. 
 
I 6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 The first was my sitting on my father's knee and having a 
 double tooth extracted by Dr. Bemis, a Baptist preacher and 
 beloved friend of our family. His tall figure, the blood, and 
 my own reasoning about the pain, which I supposed had been 
 increased by his great size, are all vivid in my recollection to 
 this day. 
 
 The second was being pushed by another little child down a 
 flight of new cut-stone steps, and striking my forehead on the 
 sharp edge, cutting such a gash that it became necessary in 
 dressing to take seven stitches to prevent the danger of a per- 
 manent scar. 
 
 The third was my baptism in the Presbyterian church, by 
 Rev. Jesse Edson, in the presence of a full congregation, and 
 being led by my sister Esther, an older child. Nearly sixty- 
 five years have since elapsed, yet I cannot perceive that the 
 recollection of any of the circumstances has become in the 
 least obliterated during the last fifty years. All is still fresh 
 in my memory as the events of yesterday. 
 
 The first event in history that attracted my attention and 
 fixed itself in my memory, was the death of Gen. "Washington, 
 which occurred on the 14th of December, 1799, when I had but 
 just entered my fifth year. As it was the most prominent 
 event of the eighteenth century that I distinctly recollect, I 
 will mention what passed in sight of and about me, from the 
 receipt of the melancholy news to the close of the ceremonies. 
 
 Early on the morning after the receipt of the sad intelligence, 
 minute-guns began to be fired, and were continued during the 
 day, in sight of my father's house, which stood on an eminence 
 near the village. This drew together almost every man of this 
 patriotic town, for it was winter and good sleighing, and one- 
 half of them had been in the Revolutionary army, as it was but 
 sixteen years after the war, and Halifax never had a Tory in 
 it, and had put forth its whole strength in the struggle. There 
 was but one feeling — all were mourners, and, as one man, set 
 themselves to preparing for the obsequies in the most appro- 
 priate manner. Col. Bullock and Captains Gates and Farns- 
 worth, old officers of the army of the Revolution and our next 
 neighbors, were most prominent. As arms then were scarce 
 and all wished to participate in the ceremonies, my father 
 brought home a large party of men, and distributed among 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 17 
 
 them the arms that had been left with his father by Shay's 
 men many years before. They must have taken more than 
 one musket each, as they carried them off, not as soldiers do 
 their muskets, but as men do a shoulder-load of poles. 
 
 On a subsequent day the ceremonies of the obsequies were 
 performed. It was a fine, clear day, although winter, and at 
 an early hour my uncle, John Clarke, came with his wife (my 
 mother's sister) in a sleigh and took my mother, her nurse, and 
 all the children to the church where the oration was to be 
 delivered. 
 
 My aunt had brought a foot-stove well filled to keep us 
 warm. It was the first time I had seen one used, and I have 
 never seen one used since without recalling the scenes of that 
 day. Before that time there had not been a cast-iron stove in 
 a church in Yermont. 
 
 At length we began to hear the muffled drums ; the galleries 
 of the large church were filled to their utmost capacity, when 
 a large number of old gray-headed men entered the church 
 and slowly seated themselves about the pulpit. The orator, 
 Rev. Jesse Bdson, took his stand ; the Revolutionary veterans, 
 with reversed arms, filled the centre of the church, and the 
 younger military the isles and border seats. My mother 
 and family occupied a seat in front in the gallery at the left 
 of the pulpit. 
 
 All being silent, the ceremonies commenced. The orator 
 was a fine speaker, of much pathos, and his subject well suited 
 to the occasion, which deserved his best efforts. I was no 
 judge then of such a performance, but it was said he acquitted 
 himself well. I presume it was so from a circumstance I will 
 relate. 
 
 While gazing about on the audience, I observed many per- 
 sons in tears, and among the veterans who stood leaning on 
 their reversed muskets, Philip Crosier, my father's hired 
 man, a large, healthy, robust man, about forty years of age, 
 appeared also bathed in tears. I was astonished at that, as I 
 then supposed men never wept, and immediately called my 
 mother's attention to it. She said, "Philip's General, who 
 was like a father to him, is dead." I understood what she 
 said, and expected I should soon see him buried in the snow 
 in the grave-yard near by, where I had seen others buried 
 
Itf AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 before. In this, however, I was somewhat disappointed, for as 
 soon as the crowd withdrew my uncle took ns to a house in 
 the village, where, from the windows, we saw the procession 
 march by. We then returned and saw the smoke of the minute- 
 guns from our own windows during the remainder of the day. 
 The recollection of these scenes, at such a distance of time, 
 fills my mind with gloom, which is heightened by the sad 
 reflection, that all that great concourse of people are now 
 wasted away, and those who then loved and cherished me are 
 dead and in their silent graves, while I am old and must soon 
 follow them there. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 EAELT ATTENDANCE AT SCHOOL — CHANGE OF FASHIONS — 
 FOURTH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 
 
 When I had just entered my fifth year, William Starke, a 
 good friend of our family, taught the public school near my 
 father's house. He promised to see me safely home each night 
 if they would send me to the school. I was, accordingly, 
 promptly and regularly sent. 
 
 I was very fond of my teacher and he was very kind to me, 
 and often carried me home on his back. I presume he was 
 very kind to all his pupils, as I saw no one punished in his 
 school. I was not required to study my lessons, yet I learned 
 many things which I have never forgotten — some grave, some 
 useful, and some amusing. The grave ones were learned from 
 repeatedly hearing the recitation of the catechism contained 
 in the New England Primer. The useful were from his lectures 
 on the calendar or almanac. He taught its use to his pupils — 
 the true length of a year, the manner of ascertaining when it 
 is leap-year, and the difference between old style and new 
 style, and that the Presidential election took place always in 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I9 
 
 leap-year. The amusing was that the extended rights of 
 women were not to be recognized this year (1800), as there was 
 no 29th day of February in which to exercise their right. He 
 said, however, this would not occur again in the next hundred 
 years. These facts, and a few of the simple outlines of geog- 
 raphy and astronomy, I learned at that tender age from that 
 most kind and accomplished teacher. 
 
 The summer schools in New England were then generally 
 taught by ladies. Consequently, my next teacher was a lady — 
 a fine scholar, handsome, very accomplished, and the morning 
 star of fashion. Nothing attracts an infant's attention earlier 
 than a change of costume, and no person could have made a 
 more complete change in it than did my teacher, between the 
 close of her school at the end of the first week, and its opening 
 on the morning of the second, and yet kept within the bounds 
 of fashion. She had caused her long hair to be trimmed short 
 like a young girl's, laid aside the fashionable dress of 1798, 
 and assumed one that would be thought quite comely at this 
 day. In this new array she had entered the school-rooms 
 before us, and seated herself a little out of view from the door 
 of the ante-room, and where w6 left our hats, so that I was in 
 her immediate presence before I saw her. At first sight I had 
 no doubt of her being a stranger, and having been taught to 
 avoid staring at strangers, I gave her a broad berth on the way 
 to my seat, at a little distance from her side, and began to 
 take furtive glances at her and her attire. I soon recognized 
 my teacher, '' but, oh ! Avhat a change." 
 
 I was so young then, and am so old now, the occurrence 
 would have been forgotten long since, had not all other fash- 
 ionable ladies of that vicinity adopted the same fashion within 
 a very short time after. It seems to have been a time of 
 general change of fashion. Gentlemen of taste laid aside 
 their sharp-toed shoes and boots, their knee and shoe buck- 
 les, their long stockings and short breeches, their long 
 vests and ruffled shirts, their single-breasted coats and broad- 
 brimmed cocked hats, and used those of the fashions of the 
 present age. 
 
 These changes gave latitude to great garrulity among the 
 loquacious, some uneasiness among close-fisted fathers and 
 penurious mothers, but great zest and pleasure to the young, 
 
20 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 gay and fashionable, whose faces would now appear quite 
 changed if viewed at the present day. 
 
 As the summer of 1800 advanced, the two great political 
 parties, the Federalists and the Republicans, "began to array 
 themselves against each other and prepare for the Presidential 
 election. Political parties then went to as great extremes as 
 they have ever done since. There was no conservative party 
 to allay or check either faction ; every man seemed to select 
 his party and manifest a disposition to make his preference 
 known. 
 
 I was not capable then of understanding the principles of 
 either party, but a trifling circumstance taught me to distin- 
 guish the members of each party by inspection, and I often 
 put my knowledge into practice. The fashions having been 
 recently changed, the hats worn were mostly new, and the 
 Federalists adopted a distinguishing badge and wore it attached 
 to the side of their hats. It consisted of a small, black silk 
 rosette, about the size of a silver dollar, surmounted with a 
 gilt eagle. The badge at once attracted my attention, and 
 perceiving that my father, who was rather a fashionable gen- 
 tleman, wore none, I asked the cause. He explained to me its 
 design, and tried to make me understand the difference 
 between " Jefferson and liberty," and " John Adams and 
 gag-law," which I heard so much about at that time. 
 
 Thus I had my first lesson in politics. After the Presiden- 
 tial vote was cast the badge disappeared, but the clamor con- 
 tinued through this remarkable and garrulous year. The 
 result of that election may be found in our national history ; it 
 does not belong to this record. 
 
 The reader may, perhaps, have begun to fear that I had quite 
 forgotten my beautiful teacher, or that she had been lost in 
 the maze or blaze of fashion. Not so, I can never forget one 
 who taught me so many useful lessons. On the morning of 
 our surprise, she waited till the usual hour for opening school, 
 turned the hour-glass (the school time-keeper of that day), 
 and gave the signal for business. It Avas soon very apparent 
 she had not, like Sampson, suffered the loss of her ability by 
 being shorn of her hair. She seized this opportunity to intro- 
 duce a new branch of study into her school. 
 
 From the landing of the Pilgrims, in 1620, to about the close 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 21 
 
 of the eighteenth century, the people of New England followed 
 the peculiar pronunciation, it is said, which they used at Ply- 
 mouth Rock. In the latter part of the last century, Noah 
 "Webster had published his American spelling-book. It was 
 an excellent and popular work and had a great circulation. 
 My teacher adopted it in her school, and had, on the previous 
 week, discovered among her pivpils a great deficiency in their 
 knowledge of orthoepy, and determined to remedy it by 
 using that book and lecturing on its rules. The success she 
 met with was astonishing. She required of such as could read 
 that they should memorize the rules. This they cheerfully 
 did, and several who could not read learned them from those 
 who could ; so that this lady's school was the best instructed 
 I ever saw, except my own, in orthoepy ; and I learned how 
 to teach it of her. The name of this excellent teacher, Miss 
 Jane Smith, merits a place in this history. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CLOSE OP THE EIGTEENTH CENTURY AND COMMENCEMENT OE THE 
 
 NINETEENTH. 
 
 In November, 1800, 1 had just entered my sixth year, and was 
 sent with my sister, a little older than myself, to the public 
 school on the first clay of the winter term, when the New 
 England public schools are usually taught by gentlemen. We 
 expected, and were prepared, therefore, to meet a strange gen- 
 tleman for our teacher, but, having had no hint of his appear- 
 ance or size, we were quite astonished, on entering his presence, 
 at his stupendous size. He was the largest young man we had 
 ever seen, being well formed, having a well-defined Roman 
 nose, and of a sober countenance. In fact, he was a giant in 
 size, and also, as we found afterwards, in intellect and know- 
 ledge. He wrote a swift and beautiful hand, and was a pro- 
 found mathematician. But he lacked some of the most im- 
 
22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 portant requisites for a successful teacher — a fondness and 
 friendship for little children, and a familiar and easy way of 
 communicating knowledge to others. He delighted more in 
 exhibiting his erudition than in communicating it to his pupils. 
 Yet his taciturnity did not militate much against me, for his 
 scholastic pride prompted him to point out and show, and even 
 do things that were a lasting treasure in my memory in after- 
 life. So I cannot let the name of Thomas Miller, or his labor, 
 pass without particular notice. 
 
 Having announced to us on one occasion that on a suitable 
 moonlight night he would show us something pleasing in the 
 movement of the heavenly bodies, we waited with impatience 
 the promised exhibition. In the meantime he procured two 
 long, well-dressed spruce spars, like flag-staffs, and caused 
 them to be erected perpendicularly on a line with the west end 
 of the school-house, about one hundred and fifty feet from it, 
 and the same distance from each other, and waited for a clear 
 night when the moon had about completed her first quarter. 
 The wished-for time at length came, and all the scholars had 
 notice to be present in time. 
 
 "We were punctual in our attendance, and I passed one of 
 the most interesting evenings of my life there, viewing the 
 stars as they passed the poles, and hearing their names or the 
 name of the constellation to which they belonged, from him. 
 He taught us the difference between a fixed star and a planet, 
 and showed that the planets were nearest to us — Mars, Jupi- 
 ter, or Venus, being then in sight and eclipsing a fixed star 
 beyond it. 
 
 Mr. Miller being a man of very few words, all he said was 
 listened to and remembered. He said he was of the opinion 
 that the Pyramids, in Egypt, were built for a scientific and not 
 for a monumental purpose ; that the line of one of their sides 
 was exactly parallel with the poles of the earth, and that their 
 use in science was now lost, as also the means of transporting 
 the building materials to the site of the Pyramids. He con- 
 tinued to teach, at suitable times, the names of the different 
 constellations, and had engaged my attention so much that I 
 was unhappy when cloudy nights interfered with the coveted 
 lecture on astronomy. 
 
 The century was drawing near its close, and many persons 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1^ 
 
 made their remarks about it, so that children were given 
 to know and understand what was meant by a century. But 
 what made the children of our neighborhood notice the period 
 more particularly was, that old Doctor Rice, who had been a 
 surgeon in the British army, and was at the taking of Quebec 
 with Gen. Wolf, and was 103 years old, lived in Halifax and 
 was visited on the last day of the century by a large number 
 of his acquaintances, who congratulated him on being in good 
 health after living through the whole century. Almost all 
 gave him some substantial token of their desire to see him 
 enter on the nineteenth century in plenty. I think I shall be 
 able to recollect him if I live as long as he did, which was 107 
 years, and I may, possibly ; and if I do, I shall have lived 
 through this whole century, and witnessed the most wonderful 
 improvements and transactions of any man then likely to be 
 living. 
 
 On the first day of January, 1801, Rev. Jesse Edson preached 
 a sermon in the Presbyterian church, which was near the 
 school-house, when we attended and noticed that the greatest 
 attention was paid to old Doctor Rice. Some one conveyed 
 him and his wife, who was forty years younger than himself, 
 in a sleigh to his residence, half a mile distant. The crowd 
 detained the sleigh as soon as he was seated in it, so that all 
 might take him by the hand and wish him a happy new year 
 before he left them. He was a tall, spare-built man, without 
 teeth, his lips much fallen in, his head well covered with hair, 
 which was as white as snow, and, as my father said, a most 
 thoroughbred scholar and gentleman. 
 
 Our teacher kept us bright in all our previous studies except 
 the catechism, which he would not teach, or give a reason why 
 he did not. He used all the means in his power to teach 
 writing and arithmetic, saying that other studies were useless 
 withoirt them. 
 
24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE ELECTION OP PRESIDENT JEFEERSON AND HIS INAUGURA- 
 TION — THE PURCHASE OP LOUISIANA, THE GREATEST BARGAIN 
 EVER MADE BY MEN. 
 
 The electoral college had failed in 1800 to elect a President 
 of the United States, and, according to the Constitution, the 
 election devolved on the House of Representatives. This pro- 
 duced a period of painful suspense to all the politicians of 
 each party, for all knew the chances for success were about 
 equal to each. 
 
 The day for the election at length came and the balloting 
 commenced, when a most exciting scene followed. The ballot- 
 ing continued through the day, and to a late hour in the night, 
 when Thomas Jefferson was duly elected President, and Aaron 
 Burr as Vice President, to the great joy of most of the voters 
 of Halifax, which was a democratic town at that time. A day 
 of congratulation was determined on by the leaders, who fixed 
 on the day of the inauguration for the ceremonies, which con- 
 sisted of patriotic speeches and resolutions, made in the streets 
 near our school-house, where we heard the plaudits and cheers 
 of the rejoicing auditors for some time, and were then permit- 
 ted to go out of doors and see the crowd, who were cheering 
 and swinging their hats aloft, to our great amusement and 
 pleasure. 
 
 The public mind soon became quiet, and politicians found 
 subjects to engage their attention and conversation in specu- 
 lating on the great events which were then transpiring in 
 Europe, Asia and Africa. My teacher took great interest in 
 what was passing in those countries, and formed what was 
 called the "news class." It consisted of such as were able to 
 read tolerably well, and who brought the latest newspapers. 
 These were carefully read, and all obscurity explained. It 
 was an excellent and useful plan, and should be followed in 
 all the public schools, if the papers stated facts only, as they 
 usually did in those days, in relation to foreign affairs. 
 
 Thus the time passed on, and I became familiar with the 
 history of what was passing in the world, and had begun to 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 25 
 
 realize that the town of Halifax composed but a small part of 
 the globe, when the news came that President Jefferson had 
 purchased the whole of Louisiana from France. That roused 
 the Democrats to the highest point of enthusiasm and admira- 
 tion of their favorite President. A day of congratulation was 
 appointed, and ample preparations made to rejoice together. 
 The school was suspended and opportunity afforded to all who 
 desired to witness the proceedings. 
 
 The preliminary arrangements having been made, Jedediah 
 Stark, an eminent attorney, addressed the audience, and was 
 greatly applauded for his fine performance. He began by 
 stating the object of the meeting, which, he said, was to rejoice 
 .at the consummation of the greatest pacific act that was ever 
 performed by Democrats, living Democrats, whom they had 
 assisted to elevate to office. He then stated that the act was 
 the purchase of the whole of Louisiana. He next defined its 
 boundaries, its extent north and south, east and west ; its 
 latitude, rivers, climate, soil and productions, as far as was 
 then known. He then spoke of the advantage its possession 
 would be to the United States, both present and prospective, 
 and closed by saying there was good land enough iu the terri- 
 tory, if divided, to give every man, woman and child in the 
 United States a better farm than any one man owned in the 
 State of Vermont. 
 
 I noticed his statements and on the first convenient opportu- 
 nity asked my father to procure me a farm there. He suggest- 
 ed the propriety of my waiting a little until I became large 
 enough to chop the trees and help fight the Indians and bears 
 off it, and kill some of the mosquitoes. I asked if there were 
 such creatures there, for Mr. Stark had not mentioned them. 
 He said there were plenty of them there. That announcement 
 abated my ardor for farming in the new territory. 
 
 But forty years afterwards I travelled across the territory 
 from St. Louis to Santa Fe, when both those gentlemen were 
 dead, and passing through the present State of Kansas, then a 
 wilderness, I saw and realized that all which both those gen- 
 tlemen had said was strictly true. My desire for farming 
 revived, and I now probably possess what at that time would 
 have been considered by Mr. Stark about my share of the 
 purchased territory. 
 
l6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 When I had entered my eighth year, my mother desired my 
 father to provide her a more retired residence, as she had six 
 small children who wonld he more comfortable in a situation 
 where she could devote more of her time and attention to 
 them, and enjoy more of their society and the quietude of 
 domestic life. My father, therefore, purchased a small, well- 
 cultivated farm of ninety acres, in the township of Shelbourne, 
 Franklin county, Massachusetts, and removed his family to it 
 in the spring of 1803. It was a township of good rolling land, 
 situated on Deerfield river, well watered, productive, and well 
 cultivated, in farms of about one hundred acres, "by those who 
 owned them. The inhabitants were very industrious, moral, 
 well informed, and public spirited, and no town was better 
 provided with good public school-houses and teachers. There 
 existed a more perfect equality among the inhabitants of that 
 town than any other I was ever acquainted with, and I think 
 the most general happiness and contentment. 
 
 As my parents had resided many years but a few miles from 
 there, they seemed acquainted with every one, and we were 
 all welcomed as one of themselves. Their children came to 
 get acquainted and play with us, and we entered at once into 
 the full enjoyment of our new home and were happy. 
 
 When my father had established his family in their new 
 residence he left for the field of his labor in the East, and our 
 mother prepared my eldest sister and myself to attend the 
 summer school. On the day set for opening the school the 
 scholars were there betimes, and were amusing themselves in 
 a grove of trees in front of the school-house, when one of the 
 trustees came to us and said he came to open the school-house 
 and introduce our instructor. We followed him and our teacher 
 in, and he introduced her as Miss Fellows, of Amherst, and 
 hoped we would obey her. I had already resolved on doing 
 that, as I saw at first sight she was a friend to children — the 
 indispensable requisite for a good teacher. The whole school 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 
 
 n 
 
 seemed to have formed trie same judgment and resolution, and 
 adhered to them, and were a happy school. She required all to 
 occupy the same seats they did at the close of the last quarter, 
 which they did. This left my sister Esther, who was a little 
 over nine years of age, standing with myself on the floor, with 
 satchels full of hooks in our hands. Our teacher perceiving 
 we were strangers, as well as herself, asked my sister our 
 names and several other questions, and to show our books, 
 which we did. After seeing what we had, she asked, " Who 
 have been your teachers ?" My sister answered, " Our grand- 
 mother Shepard, our father's mother, and other teachers." She 
 then gave us writing-desks and seats together, and left us to 
 ourselves. This was as enviable a position as our ambition 
 soared to, and confirmed our affection for our teacher at once. 
 The exercises of the school then commenced, and we watched 
 attentively the performance of each individual, much the 
 largest number of whom were ladies, some nearly as old as our 
 teacher, and all well advanced. Our turn at length came, after 
 we had heard all the rest and had overcome the nervous sensa- 
 tion of a first performance. My sister read first, with her usual 
 confidence, and was attentively listened to ; she had read well, 
 and I followed ; and, if I had not read well, when I turned to 
 take my seat, I had pleased myself and had the pleasure of 
 seeing my sister's black eyes turned on me with a smile of 
 approbation. Those were moments of pleasure which can 
 never be forgotten or ever repeated. 
 
 For several days our lessons seemed to be a kind of examin- 
 ation or review, until one of the older scholars suggested to our 
 teacher that it had been customary here to be classed and 
 have a head and foot of class, and to be ranked according to 
 performance, as first, second, etc. Our teacher remarked that 
 she wished all her scholars to be at the head and no one at the 
 foot, and all number one ; and said she would try to make us 
 such, and hoped we would assist her, which we promised to do. 
 Any delinquent caught afterwards was reminded of the prom- 
 ise, and sometimes brought on the floor to renew it, and be 
 informed that honor, veracity and interest were now all at 
 stake. This was all the punishment that this child-loving 
 teacher ever inflicted upon any one of us. She taught an 
 excellent school, and quit in autumn with the applause and 
 
28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 approbation of all her employers, and the lasting remembrance 
 of her pupils. 
 
 Our capacity and scholarship in the meantime had become 
 known to all our schoolmates as well as theirs to us, and we 
 had formed such acquaintances and friendships as suited our 
 taste and condition in school. Among our new friends who 
 contributed most to our improvement and added zest to all our 
 school-day enj oyment, was Miss Melinda Long, a child of the 
 same age as my sister, and a fine, industrious scholar, possess- 
 ing all the attractions that nature bestows on children, and 
 emulous of attaining the highest point of literary excellence. 
 
 Classed with these two studious girls only, I commenced the 
 study of the English grammar in the next winter session, when 
 I was eight years of age. "We made good improvement 
 although our teacher seemed to pay very little attention to us. 
 This we observed and it prompted us to assist each other, and 
 developed all our capacity and knowledge. 
 
 Soon after the close of the session my sister died, which dis- 
 solved our class, as our next teacher — consulting her ease 
 rather than her pupils' improvement, and saying to us that we 
 were too young to study English grammar — separated us and 
 taught no grammar class during the session. We both have 
 since ranked as first-class teachers, but have found no children 
 too young to study the English grammar who could read well. 
 
 As the time drew near" for the winter school to open, I felt 
 great anxiety to know what kind of a teacher we were going 
 to have, and, hearing that he was at a neighbor's house, I went 
 to view him, not thinking of a formal introduction, as I was so 
 young. On my entering the house, Mrs. Riddle, the mother of 
 several of my schoolmates, introduced me in the most flattering 
 manner. I felt an overflowing of gratitude to her for it, and so 
 expressed myself to her, and told Mr. Stuart, to whom I had 
 been introduced, I feared I should not be able to make good 
 what had been said of me. He assured me that from what he 
 had heard and seen of me, we should enjoy ourselves well 
 together. 
 
 The winter session of 1804-5 soon opened without any for- 
 mality or regard to class or attainment, and we arranged our- 
 selves according to taste or circumstances, as best we could. 
 Some older scholars who had known my sister Esther, but had 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 29 
 
 not attended the summer school, represented to onr teacher the 
 position she occupied in this school and who her classmates 
 were. He immediately came to ns as we sat together, and, 
 sympathising with ns, promised to restore our class and enlarge 
 it "by such as we chose. I was not prepared for such a crisis, 
 and deferred it to my surviving classmate, who said, " Plenty 
 will join us of their own choice, if you thinly it advisable." 
 Two young men and five young ladies were then assigned us as 
 classmates. The Rev. Phinney Pisk, who died many years 
 since in the Holy Land, a Protestant missionary and fine 
 scholar, was one of them, and as his life and labors are made 
 a part of the church history of our country, I refer to it. The 
 others I have lost sight of in the interesting scenes through 
 which I have since passed, but will try to give some record of 
 Adam Stuart, the prince of teachers, and his labors of one 
 session, when I had just entered my tenth year. 
 
 His whole conduct and actions are worthy of imitation by 
 all who desire to make teaching their profession, or win the 
 affections of others. He had nothing about him to attract 
 attention, except good sense and a desire to make all easy and 
 happy around him. Yet these qualities shown so conspicu- 
 ously that an infant would not pass him without recognition 
 as a friend. Not having sufficient time in the short days of 
 winter to accomplish what he desired in the way of improving 
 his pupils, he opened a volunteer night school, in which he 
 taught elocution, modern history, and theatricals. France was 
 just formed into an Empire and other great changes being 
 made in Europe, which gave him a fine opportunity to be use- 
 ful, instructive and entertaining. This success — the gratitude 
 and affection of his pupils— seemed to be the only reward he 
 desired, and he had them in their fullest measure. 
 
 The parting scene of this most excellent school was a kind 
 of theatrical exhibition of our attainments, held in the grove 
 in front of our school-house, on a pleasant afternoon in April, 
 1805. My teacher showed his kindness to me by selecting a 
 declamation suited to my age and capacity, and, having trained 
 me well, placed me, to my great delight and gratification, to 
 open the exercises of the day, which he closed by one of the 
 most eloquent and cheering addresses to his pupils that man 
 could utter. 
 
3° 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 This performance added 4clat to his already finished task, 
 and he left ns amid the tears and good wishes of all his pnpils. 
 After the exercises I was accompanied a part of the way home 
 by my favorite classmate, Melinda, who said she was very 
 glad Mr. Stuart had given me such a fine opportunity of exhib- 
 iting my improvement ; that I had represented our class well 
 and distinguished it, and that she meant to remain in it as 
 long as possible and assist in sustaining its reputation. 
 
 I was much gratified at what she had said, as I believed it, 
 and we remained in the same class two years longer, and were 
 then as good scholars (in our own estimation) as could have 
 been found in Massachusetts, of the same age. She became a 
 good teacher, and died in the twenty-first year of her age, and 
 I called my only child Melinda, after her, to which her mother 
 prefixed her own name, Mary, and thus her full name is 
 Mary Melinda. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE BATTLE OP TRAFALGAR AND ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 In the autumn of 1805, the English fleet, under Lord Nelson 
 engaged the French and Spanish combined fleets, and nearly 
 annihilated them. 
 
 My father saw at once what the effect of this battle would 
 be, namely, that the English would be the rulers of the sea for 
 a long time, and he prepared to quit it and retire to a farm with 
 what he had left, after suffering immense losses by both 
 French and English depredations at sea. He sold all his inter- 
 est in ships, or merchandise in India, and was relieved of all 
 care and responsibility, and could begin the world anew. He 
 therefore selected a beautiful piece of uncultivated land on the 
 shore of Lake Ontario, in Jefferson county, New York, in 1806, 
 and on it saw the great total eclipse of the sun that year, while 
 I and the remainder of the family saw it in Massachusetts at 
 the same time. A total eclipse of the sun is such a rare occur- 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 3I 
 
 rence at any particular place on the earth's surface, that the 
 inhabitants within the space covered by total darkness gener- 
 ally pay great attention to it, and recollect theappearance of all 
 natural objects in view for a long time, and even make the 
 event an epoch. Such was the effect of this great eclipse at 
 the school which I attended at that time. 
 
 The obscuration began to appear at about half-past nine 
 o'clock A. M., and the total darkness occurred before twelve jr., 
 when, the sky being clear, all the stars then above the horizon 
 appeared as brilliantly as if it were midnight. The birds had 
 ascended their perches, the gloom of night seemed to pervade 
 all nature, the thermometer had fallen, and breathless stillness 
 everywhere prevailed, as if all feared this state of things was 
 in danger of being made perpetual. The total darkness lasted 
 about two minutes, and when the sun began to appear, hope, 
 joy and happiness seemed to beam in every countenance, as if 
 confidence was again restored from a lost state. 
 
 Early in the spring of 1807, my father began to improve his 
 farm and to build a house, and so constructed it that he could 
 have one room exclusively for the education of his children, 
 which he proposed to do himself, as his mother had done 
 before him, in her own house. Having finished his house, he 
 removed his family to it in October of that year, and entered 
 it on my birth-day, when I was twelve years of age. There 
 were then no public schools in New York, nor were there any 
 until 1811, when they were opened throughout the State. 
 
 As soon as my father and his family settled in their new 
 house, he opened his family school and continued it four years, 
 during which time his children improved to his apparently 
 entire satisfaction, and no man, probably, ever took more real 
 pleasure than he did in teaching his own children. His pleas- 
 ing and satisfied countenance when looking down on his little 
 
 i b 
 
 children and seeing their first efforts to read, is fresh in my 
 memory to this late day. Five sons and two daughters attended 
 his family school, and no one else, for, although solicited to 
 take other scholars, he always refused, saying his school 
 exactly suited him, and he did not wish to increase or dimin- 
 ish it. 
 
 In 1811, the public school was opened and Mr. Gordon Haw- 
 kins employed as teacher. He was a most amiable and candid 
 
21 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 gentleman and a very good English scholar. On opening our 
 public school, he viewed the books of several of the pupils, 
 and looked at mine and said : " These "books require a more 
 learned person than I ever expect to be to teach them," and 
 dissuaded me from spending any more time on the classics, 
 and advised me to go at once to the study of a profession. I 
 informed my father of Mr. Hawkins' views, and expected to 
 follow his directions ; but my father declined to give either 
 directions or advice, and said he had studied the law as a 
 profession when he was a young man, and yet had never prac- 
 ticed it a day ; that he saw our country on the very threshhold 
 of war, and it was doubtful what occupation would suit me 
 best. He, however, purchased a law library from a retired 
 lawyer and brought it home, and I commenced the study of 
 law under the directions of Judge Silas Stowe, of Lowville, 
 Lewis county, New York, and continued it at intervals for 
 eight years at home and abroad, and until I left that State for 
 St. Louis, Missouri, in 1819, having resided in the State of New 
 York twelve years and more. During this time I had passed 
 from childhood to manhood, and had watched closely what 
 was passing in the world, and had an excellent opportunity 
 of doing it, as I had access to all the best means of obtaining 
 information, and was constantly with literary men, who kept 
 the subject always fresh before me. I was well, busy, and 
 active, and attended to business every day ; and when I left 
 the State of New York, in my twenty -fourth year, I thought 
 myself well qualified to enter on the practice of law. 
 
 Besides studying industriously during those twelve years, 
 when not closely engaged, I had served in the army of my 
 country during the war of 1812, and taught in public schools 
 and academies three years. I had also taken all the degrees 
 in the Order of Ancient Free and Accepted Masonry, and 
 learned the lectures. I was therefore regarded as a profound 
 scholar, experienced soldier, and an accomplished Free Mason. 
 
 This condition in life differed widely from the picture drawn 
 to my childish eyes in 1805, before the great battle of Trafal- 
 gar (when I was expecting soon to accompany my father to the 
 Bast Indies, see the wonders of the world, and acquire the 
 riches of the East), and was produced by the result of that 
 conflict between foreigners whom I never saw. I therefore 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 33 
 
 have closely observed the effects of that victory on the Brit- 
 ish nation, and believe it was of greater benefit to them than 
 any other they have achieved in this century. They acquired 
 thereby a great augmentation of their military and naval 
 strength, while they reduced their only dangerous rivals to a 
 state of imbecility, from which they have not yet recovered. 
 Our own country suffered greatly by it, for to man their ships 
 they stripped our neutral merchant ships by impressment of 
 their men, and even took some from our men-of-war in time 
 of peace. It enabled them the next year to wrest the Cape 
 of Good Hope (then the gate to the Indies) from the Dutch 
 (and they hold it to this day), and to commit such dep- 
 redation on American commerce that our Congress laid an 
 embargo, in 1807, on all our shipping, and thus brought ruiu 
 upon thousands. It produced the non- intercourse act of a later 
 date, and the war of 1812. Its effects have been felt by almost 
 every nation of the earth, and by no family more than my 
 own to this time. 
 
 The war of 1812 was declared on the 18th of June, 1812, by 
 Congress, and on the 19th of July following, at dawn of day, 
 a British fleet of four sail, under Admiral Yoe, appeared in 
 front of my father's house, distant about two miles, going 
 directly toward Sackett's Harbor, distant five miles, where the 
 United States brig Oneida, of eighteen guns, lay guarded by 
 her crew and one company of militia, with one long thirty-two 
 pounder mounted on a platform, and without any protection 
 by rifle-pits or earthworks of any kind. An alarm was given, 
 and all the neighborhood rushed at once to the defence of the 
 place, with every kind of weapon and with the greatest alac- 
 rity, but before any effort was made to form a line of battle, 
 the British fleet, mounting sixty guns, had been beaten off by 
 that single long thirty-two pounder, under the direction of 
 Captain "Woolsey and his crew of the brig Oneida, without the 
 loss of a man on the part of the United States. 
 
 The cheers and joy of the assembling multitude surpassed 
 description. Every one was a patriot, filled with the greatest 
 enthusiasm and desire for battle. Beardless boys to grey- 
 headed veterans of the Kevolution were there, ready and will- 
 ing to defend their country, or to follow the insolent Britons to 
 Canada and punish them for their audacity. It was on Sun- 
 
34 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 day, and the thunders of the sixty pieces of cannon had been 
 heard over the whole country, and nearly all the men had 
 assembled to defend the place. The eighteen guns were imme- 
 diately taken from the brig Oneida and placed in a hastily 
 constructed fort, called Fort Tompkins, which overlooked the 
 bay and harbor. 
 
 This rendered the place safe from a naval force, but not from 
 an attack by land. It was therefore ordered that a party of 
 one hundred men should be sent to Cape Vincent, at the out- 
 let of Lake Ontario, to watch the movements of the British 
 and give notice of any movement toward the Harbor by a land 
 force. Sixty men of ouf company of infantry volunteered to 
 go, and forty riflemen of a company of Regulars joined us 
 under Captain McMtt, our company commander being a neigh- 
 bor. We left Sackett's Harbor on the 22d of July, 1812, in three 
 boats propelled by oars, as it was feared sails might be seen 
 by the British, and our boats captured. We arrived at dawn 
 on the morning of the 23d, and found the place entirely desert- 
 ed, and no one in the vicinity. We therefore occupied the 
 houses for our quarters, and hid two of our largest boats, send- 
 ing the third to the long island that lies at the upper end of 
 the St. Lawrence, (and which is about seven miles long) with 
 a squad of sixteen men to observe the British movements from 
 the further end of the island. When the party arrived at the 
 point assigned them, they saw a British boat leaving, with 
 about the same number of men they had themselves, and they 
 hailed them and asked the news. 
 
 The British said that they had just received the news that 
 Napoleon with his grand army of four hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand had left France to invade Russia. This we found in a 
 few days to be the truth. 
 
 The citizens of the United States had been leaving Canada 
 rapidly for several days with their goods and families, in com- 
 pliance with the proclamation of the Governor, when three cit- 
 izens came into our camp and stated that they and fourteen 
 other citizens of the United States came to the town of Ganan- 
 aqua, in Canada, thirty miles below Kingston, within the time 
 limited by the proclamation, and reported themselves to a cap- 
 tain in command at that place as aliens, desirous of crossing 
 the St. Lawrence into the United States. The captain said he 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 35 
 
 would send them, and all others who should arrive, over the 
 river on the next day, being the last day given in the proc- 
 lamation. They waited at the ferry during the next day, 
 and at sunset went to his quarters to get him to fulfill his 
 promise, Tbut found him too drunk to listen to them, and he 
 only said, "Come to-morrow." 
 
 Early the next morning the whole seventeen went again to 
 his quarters to get him to still perform his promise. As soon 
 as he saw them he ordered them all to be arrested and placed 
 in the county jail, and while on the way to jail, these three 
 who came to our camp ran away and got a Frenchman to put 
 them over the river, who also told them there were United 
 States soldiers at Cape Vincent, and they had come to inform 
 us of what had transpired. They had scarcely finished the 
 relation of this outrage before it was determined to release the 
 prisoners and punish the captain or burn the town. All were 
 clamorous to begin immediate preparations, so that instead of 
 ordering, our captain had only to consent to have everything in 
 readiness. All the boats were examined, and all the hooks, 
 poles, scoops, oars, and rigging put in place, and the oars 
 muffled. Then came our captain's most perplexing duty. All 
 wished to go and but sixty could be spared from the post, and 
 one of the three boats must also stay and good boatmen to 
 man it. It was, therefore, agreed between our officers that 
 Lieut. Riddle, of the Rifles, should stay at the post with twenty 
 of his best boatmen, and as many of the infantry who were not 
 boatmen. This settled the question that all of us who lived 
 near the lake could go, and also all who rowed well while com- 
 ma- down the lake. There was a well-timed proposition then 
 made, that a draft for the twenty to stay should be drawn by 
 the landsmen as they called themselves. This was accepted 
 and done, and all were satisfied. Lieutenant Riddle, of the 
 Rifles, did the same with the same effect. Those, then, who 
 were to stay, offered us the choice of arms, filled our haver- 
 sacks with the best they had, and our canteens with good whis- 
 key, for whiskey was a part of a soldier's rations in those days, 
 
 and none were afraid we would abuse ourselves with it. 
 
 We waited impatiently until darkness hid us from the oppo- 
 site shore, then embarked and glided down stream with the 
 stillness of fish, until we came within about one mile of the 
 
36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 town, where we landed, leaving the boats in charge of a corporal 
 and five men, and moved rapidly from the river to the road, 
 about forty rods distant, where we were halted and formed in 
 line, with the riflemen on the right and the three citizens who 
 were to act as guides on our left, and, as I was the smallest man 
 present, a corporal and myself stood next to them, and I feared 
 I would be kept in the rear and not see much of the affair. But 
 it ended quite otherwise, for I saw more than one hundred 
 British soldiers run out of their barracks, and some of them 
 nearly ran over me in their haste to escape, so completely were 
 they surprised and frightened by us. 
 
 We did not attempt to stop one or take a prisoner, but fired 
 on them as they ran down the street to a bridge over a stream 
 that divides the town, most of them without clothes, except 
 their pantaloons, and many without their arms. Capt. McMtt, 
 with the riflemen and about twenty infantry, guarded the 
 bridge, while the remainder of our men opened the jail, 
 released all the prisoners, and destroyed the British arms in 
 their barracks. 
 
 We killed six of their men in the streets, and wounded about 
 a dozen, and we had one man killed by the sentinel, by the 
 first shot that was fired, and one badly wounded in the foot. 
 We were then ready to return, but knew the enemy had twice 
 the men we had and that they could give us trouble if we let 
 them have possession of the bridge before we were all embarked 
 in the boats. Our captain, therefore, sent a flag of truce (of 
 which I had the honor of being the bearer) to the commandant 
 of the post, stating that none of his party had entered a private 
 house and that he. did not wish to do so, and, if he would 
 assure him that no military force should pass to the west side 
 of the stream for one hour, he would leave the town within that 
 time and do no further damage ; but if he did not give the assu- 
 rance at once, he would burn that part of the town he was in 
 possession of, and leave when he got ready. 
 
 On passing the bridge I was conducted into a store where 
 the commandant was, who took and read the letter, and imme- 
 diately commenced writing a reply and asking me questions, 
 which I answered and in turn asked others. In answer to my 
 question as to the invasion of Russia, he said that Napoleon 
 had an army of four hundred and eighty thousand men with 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 37 
 
 him on the march to Russia. Having prepared his reply, he 
 gave it to me, and directed an officer to escort me to the bridge 
 and wait until he saw me pass it, and then report to him. I at 
 once accompanied the officer to the bridge, bade him "good 
 morning," passed the bridge and delivered the reply. Our 
 captain said, " All is well," and ordered his lieutenant to let no 
 one pass the bridge for thirty minutes, and then to march the 
 twenty men he had at the northwest corner immediately to the 
 boats, but if any armed men appeared on the west of or on 
 the bridge, to fire upon them and march by quickstep imme- 
 diately to the boats. He then marched the riflemen back to 
 the British barracks, where the United States prisoners, four- 
 teen in number and twelve others, had armed themselves with 
 what the British soldiers left in their sudden flight, and where 
 our men who released the prisoners had procured two one- 
 horse carts and drivers, to carry our dead and woiindecl to the 
 boats. All these marched with the captain to the boats with 
 all speed, and such as were not soldiers, together with the dead 
 and wounded, were embarked with twenty soldiers and landed 
 on the United States shore to secure them from the possibility 
 of a disaster. 
 
 The thirty minutes having elapsed, our lieutenant formed us 
 in a platoon in open order and marched us out of town, then 
 by files to our waiting boat. On our arrival at the boat, we 
 were immediately embarked and crossed to the United States 
 shore, where our comrades had already landed. Here a gene- 
 ral congratulation and feast of joy followed. The delivered 
 and the deliverers were there, and none else. It was such a 
 scene as is seldom enacted by men, and can never be forgotten 
 by those who were present and actors in it. 
 
 Our next duty was a sad one, that of burying our dead com- 
 rade, who was a stranger to all of us at the time he joined the 
 company, but a few days before. His name was Orvice, a young 
 man from Vermont, and he was the first man I ever saw killed. 
 He was shot about two yards ahead of me, as he was pushing 
 down a rail-fence near the British barracks to let us through. 
 We buried him in the woods with the honors of war, wrapped 
 in his blanket (as is the fashion among soldiers where coffins 
 are not at hand), and then made a rude tomb of poles over his 
 grave. 
 
38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Our party being too large to ride in the boats up stream, 
 we were divided into three reliefs, each one of which was to 
 navigate the boats and walk on shore in turn, boating two 
 hours and walking four. We left the burying-place at ten 
 o'clock in the morning, going up stream near our own shore 
 and observing the movements on the Canadian shore, as 
 that was well settled, while our shore was without inhabitants, 
 and arrived at Cape Vincent before sunset on the next day, 
 being less than forty-eight hours from the time we left. 
 
 On our arrival, our friends in camp were much elated by otir 
 success, and examined with interest the twenty new muskets 
 we had brought with us, besides many sets of accoutrements, 
 and all the knapsacks, clothes, and blankets the barracks con- 
 tained. Our surgeon, Dr. JSToah Tubbs, had also brought off 
 the British captain's coat, commission, sash, sword and belt. 
 These, with the twenty-six living witnesses released from 
 prison, formed quite an imposing collection for examination 
 and discussion among a hundred raw, inquisitive and idle Yan- 
 kee soldiers. 
 
 Our thirty days' term of service having expired, our com- 
 pany of infantry returned to Sackett's Harbor, and were dis- 
 charged. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 KEMISTSCENEES OE THE WAR OE 1812. 
 
 1 had made my first essay in war, and was pleased with the 
 excitement of battle and active service, but I had no taste for 
 garrison duty, and therefore would not enroll myself in Gen- 
 eral Dodge's brigade of six months men then at Sackett's Har- 
 bor, as I knew he had been ordered there for that purpose, and 
 returned home and. resumed my studies. 
 
 The British fleet appeared almost daily in sight, and other 
 causes of excitement retarded my progress so much that it was 
 thought best for me to go from home to study, and as one of 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 
 
 39 
 
 our neighbors was going to Genesee river for a load of fruit 
 with a keel "boat, I took passage with him, intending to go to 
 Rochester. On our arrival at the mouth of the Genesee river, 
 a United States quartermaster pressed the boat for the use of 
 the Government, and told James White, the master of the boat, 
 he would pay him three dollars a day for himself, and seven 
 dollars per day for his ten-ton boat, and pay for the boat if he 
 lost it, besides feeding all his people as long as they stayed 
 about the boat, and also pay them their wages. This he 
 accepted, which left me without any conveyance, with a heavy 
 trunk, which his two men (all he had) helped me to carry to a 
 farmer's house near the river, where I waited until the next 
 rl .i,y for a conveyance toward Rochester. Finding none toward 
 noon, 1 walked back to the boat and found the men cooking 
 dinner. They bid me stay to dine, and said White would soon 
 be back, as he was going up the lake that evening. I there- 
 fore waited until he came, as I was desirous of knowing what 
 use would be made of his small boat. On his return, he told 
 me the quartermaster had pressed all the small boats in Gen- 
 esee river and sent them up the lake to carry the army under 
 General Van Rensselear into Canada and he would sail imme- 
 diately. I had no time for deliberation, and walked on board 
 at once, determined to see the embarkation of the army and 
 view the Falls of Niagara before my return. 
 
 We were soon under way, with a light south wind, while our 
 course was nearly west. Our boat had a good sail, but being 
 fiat-bottomed, and having no freight, we seemed soon in a very 
 fair way of landing in Canada before General Van Rensselear, 
 notwithstanding our men exerted themselves at the oars to the 
 best of their ability during the whole afternoon to prevent our 
 making lee-way. At sundown they struck the sail and we 
 took our supper, experiencing meanwhile great anxiety for our 
 safety, as the boatmen estimated that we had sailed fifty miles, 
 and were then twenty miles from our true course. 
 
 After supper and while the men were discussing the manner 
 in which the night could be most profitably spent, it was dis- 
 covered that the wind had changed and was now fair. No time 
 was lost in making sail, and, although the wind was very 
 light, it relieved me of great anxiety and restored my hopes. 
 The waves being nearly parallel with our course, the boat 
 
40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 rolled and tossed me into a most disagreeable fit of sea-sick- 
 ness, which compelled me to sit up during the night, although 
 the agitation lasted but a short time after the wind became 
 settled in our favor. 
 
 As the day dawned we saw our own shore but a few miles 
 distant, and soon came within hailing distance of another of 
 the quartermaster's boats which had left the Genesee river six 
 hours before us. This cheered our people very much, and they 
 were still more pleased when told we were only twenty miles 
 from the mouth of the Niagara river, our destination. We 
 soon after saw it, and arrived there before twelve o'clock, where 
 we all landed and found the people very busily engaged in 
 conveying boats by land to Lewistown. As I had no interest 
 in the enterprise, nor any business to detain me, and having 
 no baggage, and knowing that a few miles' walk would remove 
 all the unpleasant sensations of my recent fit of sea-sickness, 
 I bid adieu to my friend White, and left for town on foot to 
 " see the show." 
 
 The walk, however, proved to be much longer than I antici- 
 pated and I was unable to reach Lewistown that night, and 
 spent the night three miles from town. It being cloudy in the 
 morning and fearing rain, I started early, so that I was near 
 the picket-line of the army at sun-rise. After breakfast I 
 walked down to the river to begin my examination of the 
 place and its surroundings, and to my astonishment saw the 
 boat in which I had come up the lake, and others I had seen the 
 evening before ; I also soon saw my friend White, who told me 
 that soon after I left him the previous day, the wind rose, and 
 being still fair, all the boats not on wheels started and passed 
 Fort George unnoticed in the almost total darkness of the 
 night ; and that as soon as it was light enough for his men to 
 see the British cannon staring them in the face yonder, they 
 ran off and left him to watch his boat alone, and he wished I 
 would stay with him until he could get some assistance. 
 
 I told him I would stay with pleasure, as it would afford me 
 an excellent opportunity of viewing the opposite shore through 
 his fine telescope. He immediately handed it to me, and I 
 examined every spot within the reach of my vision as well as I 
 could have done had I stood upon the same ground, and even 
 better, for, being at a distance, I could at the same time view 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 41 
 
 its relative position with respect to all other places. Had it 
 been incumbent upon myself to direct an attack on the place, 
 I could not have been more careful in my observations, and I 
 felt satisfied that I knew how every house and fence in the 
 village of Queenstown was situated at that time. 
 
 After noon, two officers came and inspected the boats and 
 tackle, and directed them to be numbered as they lay at the 
 landing, beginning with the one highest up stream. This 
 being done, the one I was in was designated " No. 5," and Capt. 
 White was told to examine the opposite shore and determine 
 how and where he could best land. A certain cedar tree was 
 pointed out as the highest point at which a landing was 
 expected to be made, and directions were given to steer for 
 that point. Soon after several men came and said they had 
 been detailed to aid in navigating the boats, and they wished 
 to know to which boat each man was to be attached ; that 
 there was to be one boatman to each ton the boat carried, 
 and some came on board and began to put the boat in order. 
 
 Seeing the boat had plenty of hands, I left, telling the cap- 
 tain I would be back to see him start. I then went up on the 
 hights above Lewistown, and viewed the lunette battery 
 above the village of Queenstown, and Gen. Van Rensselaer's 
 camps about Lewistown, and was back at the boat about sun- 
 down. There I was introduced to Lieut. Gansevoort, of the New 
 York militia, by Captain White, who also gave the lieutenant 
 quite an overdrawn account of me, saying that I was at the 
 battle of Sackett's Harbor, and helped surprise the British gar- 
 rison of Gananaqua and released the American prisoners, and 
 could assist him if I would, as I knew the opposite shore as 
 well as the Canadians themselves. This statement rendered 
 the lieutenant's importunity for me to join him quite irresist- 
 ible, and I consented to join the company, went with him to 
 his quarters, was enrolled, weighed, measured, and described, 
 as is usual in armies. 
 
 This was on the evening of the 12th of October, 1812. I then 
 measured five feet and five inches, and weighed one hundred 
 and twelve pounds. I was an entire stranger to every man in 
 the company, and was therefore formally introduced to it at 
 roll-call by the lieutenant, who made some remarks, to the 
 effect that he was responsible for my doing my duty. I then 
 4 
 
42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 found the cause of his prominence was, that the captain had 
 gone home sick and was not expected to return, and that he 
 commanded the company. All had volunteered to invade 
 Canada, and were ready to embark at the shortest notice in 
 Captain White's boat, "No. 5," and all had their arms loaded, 
 their cartridge-boxes filled, and forty cartridges each in their 
 pockets. 
 
 We were then informed that, unless it rained at three o'clock 
 next morning, we would be formed silently as we then stood, 
 and be marched by the left flank to the boats, and that no one 
 was to leave the ranks while on march. 
 
 We were then dismissed, and I went to the lieutenant's 
 quarters to receive my arms and a blanket. After receiving 
 my outfit, we took supper and strolled about camp to learn the 
 views of our friends concerning the coming invasion, and what 
 orders had been given. All seemed anxious to participate, 
 and desirous of being in the first embarkation, yet we met 
 but few who knew what boat they were to go in, or at what 
 time they would embark. In short, there were 2,500 men in 
 readiness to cross, and only eleven boats at the place of embark- 
 ation, and these capable of carrying but 600 men at one trip. 
 All, however, appeared to have been ordered to be paraded at 
 the same time, and all were in readiness. 
 
 At the usual hour we went to rest. I slept well, and arose at 
 the appointed hour and took my place in the ranks without 
 any incumbrance except my arms and ammunition. While 
 waiting in silence here a few moments for the order to move, 
 I called to mind home and all my friends there, my beloved 
 class-mate Melinda and others. A minute seemed like an 
 hour. I asked myself if I could be doing right. In an instant 
 the thoughts of the effects of the battle of Trafalgar rushed 
 into my mind and prepared me for the work I was soon to 
 engage in, and that same train of thought has often since urged 
 me to the performance of acts that I would not otherwise have 
 dared to attempt. 
 
 It was now the 13th of October, 1812, when the desired order 
 to march and embark came, and we obeyed it with alacrity. 
 Being the smallest member of the company, and marching by 
 the left flank, put me in the starboard bow of the boat, and, 
 as we were obliged to land and disembark from that part of 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 43 
 
 tlie boat, I was one of the first who landed. Our boat was well 
 manned and well navigated, and meeting with no accident or 
 opposition from the enemy, was one of the first moored to the 
 shore, and landed highest up the river. The fleet of boats, all 
 started at the same time, and as the transactions of the day are 
 fully and truly related in history, I will only state that part of 
 them in which I personally acted, or saw acted by others. 
 
 On landing, we were all instantly formed, and told that our 
 business and duty was to ascend these hights and spike the 
 cannons, or as many of them as possible ; that in doing so we 
 must obey orders, and give orders if necessary to accomplish 
 it ; that all were to consider themselves as officers until it was 
 done ; that they had spikes to do it with in their pockets, and 
 courage and ability in their persons to accomplish their task, 
 and that we should strive constantly to pass the man we saw 
 highest up or above us. 
 
 It was yet dark, about the first of the dawn of day, and the 
 battle progressing at the ferry landing, when we began to 
 ascend the steep ascent covered with low scrubby cedar brush. 
 The cannon balls from the lunette battery were then passing 
 over our heads toward the place of our embarkation and other 
 points. We were about twenty minutes in groping our way 
 and pulling ourselves up the steep acclivity by catching hold 
 of the cedar brush through which we forced our way. About 
 ten had already arrived before me, and were examining the 
 condition of affairs, but none had as yet discharged a gun or 
 created alarm, but were peering through the embrasures arid 
 crouching under the battlement. My proper place being at the 
 extreme left, I ran a little further around to the west of the 
 lunette and looked into it, as at every discharge it was as light 
 as noonday. I thought I saw about one hundred and fifty men 
 at the guns and in the rear of the battery, most of them 
 matrosses with sabres. The flashes were very frequent and we 
 had a much better opportunity of seeing them than they had of 
 seeing us, as they were at their pieces and we a little distance 
 from them. When about one hundred had assembled around 
 the southern or front part of the lunette, an officer, whom I had 
 not observed at any time before, gave the word " charge !" 
 With shouts and yells we instantly rushed into the lunette, 
 some over the battlement, some through the embrasures, and 
 
44 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 others around trie eastern end of the lunette, firing at will, and 
 attacking with bayonets and swords all opposers ; so that in 
 the space of five minutes every gun was in our possession and 
 being spiked. "We then quickly, without regard to our com- 
 pany organization, and without orders, formed in line just in rear 
 of the spiked guns, gave three cheers, then loaded and shoul- 
 dered arms. The British in the meantime had run down into 
 the village, where the firing was still brisk, at and near the 
 ferry landing, and where our assistance might be wanted to 
 counteract theirs. Several more men had arrived up the hights 
 and all were formed in line of battle and marched to the upper 
 houses of the village, which was all on one street parallel with 
 the river. The British had left about a dozen wounded in the 
 stone house on the north of the street, and ours were placed in 
 a wooden house opposite. 
 
 It was now light and we could see the enemy retreating in 
 good order from the ferry landing to an orchard half a mile off, 
 and followed by our people to the first field, where they halted ; 
 we then cheered, and our officers separated us into our respec- 
 tive companies, our company being formed on the right of the 
 line north of the street or road. 
 
 The captain next on our left then congratulated us on our 
 exploit and victory, to which we responded by three rousing 
 cheers for the captain. Our lieutenant then ran out in front of 
 the company, and slapping his hands together, yelled out, "My 
 men, I am proud of you!" We instantly replied as loudly, 
 "Three cheers for Lieutenant Gansevoort!" and gave them with 
 a will, being joined by the whole line. Soon after some of the 
 troops who landed at the ferry landing marched up to us, and 
 the wild excitement abated so that we could look about and 
 see what had been done. 
 
 Several had been killed and more wounded, myself among 
 them ; yet I was active, resolute and courageous as ever. I had 
 received a severe cut across the outside of my right leg from 
 a sabre in the hand of a matross while on the battlement, and 
 a stab with the same weapon in the inside of the left thigh 
 when within the lunette ; and had a bayonet thrust between 
 my wrist and musket, by one of my comrades in attempting 
 to assist me while engaged with the British matross. 
 
 This state of quiescence was of very short duration, for the 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 45 
 
 British were "being reinforced rapidly, and soon began to 
 manoeuvre as if on drill or to make a display ; and finally, being 
 formed in front of us in the shape of the letter E, with the bar of 
 the letter in front, with music playing the British tune called 
 " Shoveherup," they advanced at quickstep about half way 
 to us and halted at the distance of about two hundred yards, 
 where we had a good view of them and their arms. 
 
 I had torn my cravat in two pieces, and cutting a hole for my 
 thumb through one piece, a comrade dressed my wrist, so that 
 I participated in all the fighting of that day, until Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Winfield Scott, of the artillery, late venerable Lieu- 
 tenant-General Scott, assumed the command and drove the 
 British from the field, ordering all the wounded soldiers to be 
 conveyed across the river and the boats to return for the 
 remainder of his command. 
 
 We had scarcely arrived at the boats when the battle was 
 renewed, and no boat returned after we landed. I walked a 
 little way up the river to see the battle rage and learn how it was 
 progressing, and there saw several of our men rush headlong- 
 down the steep precipice on the opposite side as if running 
 from their pursuers. They had come to a place so steep that 
 they could not stop when they saw their danger, and were 
 killed instantly. 
 
 This battle was soon ended and I took a view of the British 
 examining their spiked guns and replacing their colors and 
 sentinels, then shouldered my musket and walked toward 
 camp. My arms, dress, and sad plight, soon attracted notice, 
 and I was followed by several persons questioning me about 
 the battle and what part of it I had been in. This provoked 
 me, and I stopped and asked why they had not gone over and 
 seen what part of the battle I had been in. I walked on then 
 a few yards without being followed, when a man stepped out 
 of a small shoe-shop, and, looking at me, said hurriedly, " Here, 
 come into my house ; I see you are bloody and have been in 
 the battle and been hurt, and we will take care of you." This 
 seemed friendly and reasonable, and I went in with him. In 
 this humble cobbler's house I was treated with the kindness of 
 a mother and the liberality of a prince. He assisted me to 
 wash, and furnished me with his Sunday suit, while his wife 
 washed, dried, and mended mine where they had been cut with 
 
46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 a sabre. He also washed my boots, which were soaked with 
 blood, and dried, stretched and polished them until they 
 appeared quite new ; had my wounds and hat dressed, and gave 
 me such a recuperation, that on my birthday, two days after, I 
 was enabled to bid adieu to my generous and humane bene- 
 factors, Peter Mason and his kind and tidy wife, with my usual 
 gaiety, to their great joy and gratification. 
 
 With a clean dress and my military trappings well adjusted, 
 I shouldered my musket, walked slowly toward the lieutenant's 
 former quarters, and enquired for him or some other member 
 of his company, as everything seemed changed. I was told 
 by a soldier standing by that Lieutenant Gansevoort and all his 
 company were either killed, wounded or taken prisoners, and 
 that he helped carry all their property to the quartermaster's 
 store on the day after the battle, and would go with me to it, 
 which he did, and I there saw it being inventoried. 
 
 While looking on, an officer asked me what I wanted. I told 
 him I could not say that I wanted any thing ; but that as the 
 property once belonged to my comrades, I wished to know it 
 was safe. He then asked where I was on the day of battle. I 
 told him on the company's left flank, until I was ordered to 
 quit the field and cross the river. He said, " Come with me," 
 and took my musket and conducted me to General Stephen Van 
 Rensselaer's quarters, asking me my name and place of resi- 
 dence. There he introduced me to him and several other 
 officers. The general asked me to state what I had seen and 
 knew of the battle. I stated in substance what I have written 
 in this book. He then remarked that I was the first he had 
 seen that had assaulted the battery, and fought through the 
 forenoon, that could give a clear account of what transpired ; 
 that the principal actors had been made prisoners, and the rest 
 were so badly wounded, or in such a hurry to get home, that 
 nothing satisfactory could be gotten out of them. He asked 
 me how I, being so young, got into the army. I answered that 
 I was not quite sure that I was in ; that I had been enrolled 
 but not mustered. I then related what had been done in the 
 matter, and why. He remarked, " The sport is now all over ; 
 stay a day or two with us, and we will provide you a convey- 
 ance on to Rochester or back to the Genesee river." I said I 
 would accept either with pleasure and gratitude, and would go 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 47 
 
 and return my arms to the armory. An officer said he would 
 do it ; so I cast loose my belt and laid aside my scabbard and 
 cartridge-box, and they examined the contents to find the num- 
 ber of rounds I had fired. It appeared, on inspection, I had 
 used forty-seven rounds in the three several and distinct encoun- 
 ters of that day in which our company was engaged, and the 
 dirty condition of my musket assisted to corroborate it. 
 
 It was now my birth-day. I was seventeen years of age, but 
 I had only the appearance of a lad of fifteen years. I was a 
 stranger to all about me, and they occupied elevated positions, 
 yet they treated me as their equal, and bid me to come and be 
 at home in their quarters. As I knew I was under no hallu- 
 cination then, I asked myself what it was that these persons 
 saw in me that induced them to treat me with so much atten- 
 tion. I came to the conclusion then — which I have ever since 
 entertained, and have often seen exhibited — that it was the inde- 
 scribable polish which education gives, to the countenance, 
 words, actions, and even dress, of the persons who possess it. 
 Having mentioned dress, I should, perhaps, describe it, as it 
 was fashionable at that time. It consisted of a high bell- 
 crowned and narrow-brimmed beaver hat, a brown or snuff- 
 colored broadcloth straight-bodied coat, a striped swansdown 
 vest, grey satinet pants fitting closely below the knee, fine 
 tasseled top-boots, a ruffled shirt, and a white cravat. 
 
 A captain of infantry, whose quarters were near the general's, 
 asked me to accompany him to his quarters. I accepted his 
 invitation, and spent four days with him. We visited Niagara 
 Falls and Black Rock together, so that I left Lewistown at the 
 end of the week very well satisfied with what the five senses 
 had enabled me to enjoy during the time, and I left very confi- 
 dent I should not soon forget it or the kind friends I had left 
 there. As promised, a passage was provided for me to Gene- 
 see river in one of the boats, which had been returned by the 
 quartermaster to its owner. After expressing my gratitude 
 to General Van Rensselaer for his kindness, and bidding adieu 
 to him and friends, I was accompanied to the boat by Captain 
 Stanfort, with whom I had been staying, and who, on parting, 
 presented me with a blanket and his best wishes. 
 
 We then embarked, and under cover of darkness passed 
 silently out of the reach of British cannon into the lake, where 
 
4-0 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 we felt safe. The wind being tolerably fair, we made good 
 speed and arrived in the Genesee in the afternoon, where we 
 found an armed United States schooner, commanded by a 
 young naval officer in search of men to man the fleet then 
 fitting out at Sackett's Harbor. He was a second-lieutenant, 
 named Osborn, and on our landing came to us with his proposi- 
 tion. Our people seemed shy of him ; he then addressed 
 himself to me, asking what business the boat was in. I told 
 him what it had been in of late, and that neither the boat or 
 hands could do much more until spring, and that if he would 
 suggest that to them after they had eaten, he might get some 
 of them to enlist, as they were idle. "While he waited, I tried 
 to get a conveyance to Rochester, but found none for that 
 day, so I returned to the boat for my blanket, and then 
 started in the direction the boatmen had gone, and soon met 
 them returning to it. Wishing well to the young man, I turned' 
 back, and from the crew of our boat, and another lying along- 
 side, I assisted him to ship nine good hands that evening. I 
 had passed through so much excitement within the last few days 
 that I felt no disposition to study, and therefore accepted the 
 lieutenant's invitation to accompany him back to Sackett's Har- 
 bor ; so getting my trunk on board, we sailed the next morning, 
 and arrived at Sackett's Harbor on the 23d of October, when I 
 returned home and during the remainder of the year resumed 
 my studies. 
 
 General Dodge's brigade garrisoned Sackett's Harbor until 
 February, 1813, when their six months' term of service expired. 
 They had suffered much from sickness ; and when they were 
 discharged nearly every man returned to his home, being mostly 
 Federalists and opposed to the war, as the Federalists all were 
 at that time. 
 
 The whole American navy of Lake Ontario was then at Sack- 
 ett's Harbor, and it was of the greatest importance it should 
 be preserved. The militia were therefore called upon to serve 
 until other troops could be collected. Their private interests 
 brought forward a good army and caused it to be disciplined,, 
 so that all the men of the country were prepared for battle. 
 This induced the officers of the regular army to confide in them, 
 and was undoubtedly the cause of a battle being gained there 
 the next year by their assistance. The ice on Lake Ontario 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 49 
 
 was thicker that winter than ever before known, and remained 
 firm until April. There was also plenty of snow, and the larg- 
 est cannons, cables, anchors, and gun carriages, to equip the 
 fleet, were conveyed on sleighs from Albany to Sackett's Har- 
 bor. Yast quantities of arms, ammunition, provisions, and 
 other warlike stores, were collected there, both for the army 
 and navy. 
 
 Early in March the regular troops began to assemble, under 
 the command of General Dearborn, and every preparation was 
 made to invade Canada. I observed the progress and desired 
 to participate, but I saw no suitable opportunity until the expe- 
 dition was ready to sail. I then consoled myself by reflecting 
 that there had been two expeditions fitted out and both were 
 failures, and that if this should be like them, it would be all 
 for the best. 
 
 The fleet was waiting for a favorable wind, and I was wait- 
 ing for the opening of the mail, when a rifleman accosted me, 
 asking how I was, and what I had been doing since we parted at 
 Cape St. Vincent. I told him I had been up the lake to Queens- 
 town, where I had seen something more flush than at Ganana- 
 qua. He said he had seen an account of it, and how basely 
 some of the militia had acted, and asked me if I was taken 
 prisoner. I answered him, " No. They gave me a blow or two, 
 and let me off." He said I ought to go and return it now ; that 
 I would never have a better opportunity ; that there were no 
 militia going, and his captain would suit me. I therefore determ- 
 ined to see his captain and hear what he had to say. Having 
 obtained the papers, we went to Captain Forsyth's quarters, 
 where I was introduced and the object of my visit made known, 
 which was to learn on what terms volunteers would be received 
 in his company for the campaign. He said he would receive 
 them as recruits or volunteer soldiers ; that all such would be at 
 liberty to leave the service at any time when not under orders 
 or arrest, and receive pay and rations according to rank, and 
 clothing as needed. I accepted his proposition and enrolled, 
 promising to be at his own quarters at ten o'clock the next 
 morning. I was punctual in my attendance and procured my 
 outfit. 
 
 On moving about among the company, I found all the rifle- 
 men who were with us at Cape St. Yincent, who appeared glad 
 
50 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 to see me with them ; so I felt quite at home. At 2 o'clock p. 
 m. the order was given to embark with three days' cooked 
 rations, which was received with shouts of gladness, and cheer- 
 fully obeyed ; so that we were all on "board the fleet "before 
 dark and ready to sail, the weather being very calm. 
 
 We spent the night in port, and on the next morning, April 
 25th, sailed with a light, fair wind, not knowing our destina- 
 tion, hut supposing we were to attack Kingstown, Upper Can- 
 ada. The fleet, however, bore west during the day and night, 
 and about midday of the 26th came in sight of Toronto, or Little 
 York as it was then called, and, passing the town, came to 
 anchor about three miles from it and one from the shore. 
 
 On the following morning, it being calm, the boats were 
 filled with infantry and riflemen and rowed toward the shore, 
 with the infantry in line on the right and the riflemen on the 
 left. When about five hundred yards from shore, the line was 
 halted and the infantry ordered to advance, which they 
 attempted, but were ordered to halt at sight of strong lines of 
 infantry in front on the bank a short distance from shore. 
 The riflemen were then ordered to land and attack their 
 lines in flank. This was promptly done. Captain Porsythe, 
 on landing, said, " Men, follow me ! " and ordered the buglers 
 to sound the charge ; then, running up the bank and directly 
 out from the lake until we were all on the bank, he ordered, 
 "Halt at will — right face — Fire!" This gave every man a 
 chance to dodge behind any cover, and also to shoot when he 
 thought best. But, as all will perceive, the company was 
 fighting from its rear, and its right had become its left in the 
 movement. At our first fire the infantry landed, and the Brit- 
 ish retired to a position near their magazine, where a stand for 
 a short time was made by them ; and when they were forced 
 from it, they put a slow match to their magazine, which 
 contained fifty thousand pounds of powder, and exploded it, 
 killing General Pike and many others, and wounding still 
 more, myself among the rest. 
 
 I have no recollection of hearing the explosion, and was 
 probably knocked down, as on the return of consciousness 
 I was leaning on a stump and my rifle lying on the ground 
 several feet from me. My first impression was that I had just 
 awakened in some strange place, and could not conceive how 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 51 
 
 I came there, and began to look about, when I saw my rifle 
 on the ground at a little distance, and, on taking it up, a man 
 took hold of my arm and said, " Let us go to the shore." I 
 went with him, and saw men crawling on the ground on their 
 hands and knees ; others dead, dying, and moaning ; while 
 some were carrying men off toward the shore. At a short dis- 
 tance from us we saw six men carrying one in a blanket, two 
 of whom were field officers. Knowing they carried an officer 
 higher than themselves, we followed them to the shore, where 
 an officer brought the British colors to them and said, " Gen- 
 eral Pike, the British have surrendered the town, and here is 
 their flag." He replied, "Put it under my head." It was 
 done, and he immediately expired, while we stood round him. 
 
 I was then taken, with many others, to the surgeon on one of 
 the vessels, where our wounds were dressed. My right shoul- 
 der was broken, and I had a severe cut in my forehead above 
 the left eye. The surgeon dressed my forehead carefully, so 
 that but a small scar appears ; yet he so far neglected my 
 shoulder that it is sunk one inch lower than the left, which 
 caused me to wear a coat padded inside over the right shoulder 
 to conceal the deformity of my person in after-life. 
 
 The riflemen had been extended so far to the left in the bat- 
 tle that they suffered but little by the explosion. The loss 
 fell mostly on Colonel King's regiment and other infantry, so 
 that I found only infantry for companions among the wounded. 
 The vessel was quite small for hospital purposes, and we fared 
 but moderately and suffered much. 
 
 After we had been on board about a week, and nearly half 
 of our original number had died, our heartless surgeon re- 
 turned about half of the remainder fit for duty, and sent us 
 on shore to our respective companies. 
 
 Fort George had been taken, and our companies had been 
 sent out to the village of Newark, so that when we were land- 
 ed we found ourselves without a home for the night. Although 
 perfectly safe, with new clothes, and well armed, I was as 
 helpless as an infant, for I had a knapsack and rifle, a lame 
 shoulder, and but one hand to do anything. All the others 
 seemed better off, and, as there was a large body of infantry 
 near, they took their baggage and went to them. I laid my 
 rifle and accoutrements on my knapsack and walked off for 
 
$2 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 assistance toward some people I saw on the shore at work 
 setting np a fishing windlass. Soon after a man came with the 
 fishing sein to them and said he was going back to Newark 
 with his wagon. I asked him if he would carry me there. He 
 said he would, and be glad to do so in order to have company 
 home ; and went with me and helped pnt my property in his 
 wagon. At the first tavern he stopped and invited me in. I 
 went in and he wanted me to drink with him, and on my de- 
 clining, he said, "Very well; then you have to stay with me 
 to-night." I answered promptly, as he had done, "Very 
 well ; I take all such punishments. " I spent the night with 
 him, and left my knapsack with him until after our return 
 from the shameful surprise of General Winder, when "both he 
 and General Chandler were taken prisoners, and many of 
 their men butchered by the Indians. This man, John Saddler, 
 had been twenty years in the employment of a British fur 
 company, and appeared to have a better knowledge of all 
 British America and the northern part of the Louisiana pur- 
 chase than any other man I have ever met with. His descrip- 
 tion of the Western prairies gave me the first real know- 
 ledge of their vast extent and fertility I had received. He 
 said : " Look at the great lakes when frozen over in winter and 
 covered with snow, and you see exactly how a prairie appears 
 in winter when the grass has been burnt off in autumn and 
 then covered with snow in winter. Then suppose the lake to 
 be as fertile earth as you have ever seen on a large farm, well 
 covered with good nutritious grass as high as your waist, and 
 interspersed . with flowers of every size, shape and hue, on 
 stalks and stems from six inches to six feet high, and you will 
 have some idea of the appearance of a prairie in summer." 
 He had retired from business, purchased a fine suburban resi- 
 dence, fished, hunted and took pastime with his neighbors, 
 and seemed to pass an easy and happy life. It was on one 
 of these excursions he met and brought me to his house, 
 where he treated me with the kindness of a father, as also, at 
 sundry times, many others of our army ; yet he was permitted 
 to enjoy his property but a little longer, as I will relate here- 
 after. 
 
 After partaking of an early breakfast — leaving my rifle, 
 knapsack and blanket — I hastened forward to the place where 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. £3 
 
 Iliad been directed to meet our company, and found the ground 
 vacated. On inquiry, I learned quite a large part of the army 
 was in motion, going west, and our company among the fore- 
 most ; I therefore pressed forward to overtake it. 
 
 About ten o'clock, we began to hear rapid firing, and soon 
 afterwards, for a short time', volleys, as if by platoons retreat- 
 ing in good order. We quickened our step, but soon perceived 
 that the firing was receding as fast as we advanced. I was 
 with the Sixteenth Eegiment Infantry, about two hundred of 
 whom broke ranks and ran toward the front. I joined in the 
 race to see what was doing, and soon passed British knap- 
 sacks, blankets and overcoats ; and, a little further on, mus- 
 kets, accoutrements and coats ; and finally, British soldiers, 
 tired out, and sitting on the ground, prisoners. We spent no 
 time with them, but pushed for the front, which we came up 
 with about twelve o'clock m., where our men were forming a 
 line in a field, and where the British were attempting to make 
 a stand, and showing about five or six hundred men, militia 
 and regulars. While this line was being 'formed, General 
 Chandler and staff came into the field and assisted us, there 
 being very few officers present. Before the line was formed, 
 the British began to retreat, and the pursuit was resumed with- 
 out much order but with great spirit, and continued until four 
 o'clock, when another feint of the same kind was made by the 
 British on the apex of a hill in front. Here General Chandler 
 and staff assisted to form the line again, and cautioned the 
 men against pursuing in such hot haste and disorder, and bid 
 us wait for orders. The line being formed, many officers came 
 up and took their places ; and at length General Winder came, 
 and, superseding General Chandler, took command of us, 
 elated as we were, as if just from a great victory. 
 
 The British were retreating in view through the valley ahead 
 of us, and were being met by a reinforcement, also in plain 
 sight. Here we were detained, viewing them and making our 
 observations, until five o'clock, when we were ordered to march 
 back to the stream we had passed, and encamp for the night, 
 as there was no water where we were. Here our murmurs and 
 misfortunes began. Many of the men said, " Yonder is water 
 nearer, where the British are, and we are the lads who will get 
 it for you, if you will let us." But back to the stream — that 
 
54 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 slaughter-yard for hundreds, and field of disgrace— we were 
 doomed to go. An account of the affair is given in history ; 
 "but I shall not have done what my daughter has desired of me, 
 if I only say I was there and then refer to the history, without 
 stating in my own language all I saw within twenty -four hours 
 after I left the hospitable mansion of Mr. Saddler. 
 
 We started hack in ill-humor, murmuring and saying, "If 
 Winder had only stayed away, General Chandler would that 
 day have taken every man we had now seen of the British, or 
 driven them all into Burlington Bay." As we passed down 
 the road, we saw a one-story house that had been used for a 
 school-house and meeting-house, now being used as the 
 generals' headquarters, and an ambulance near by, loaded 
 with three demijohns, several wine-baskets, a keg, and sundry 
 boxes. This explained the cause of our unnecessary halt ; 
 and some of the men peeped in at the door and saw the 
 generals drinking, or said they did ; and it was the last we 
 heard of them in that army, or for a long time after. 
 
 Half a mile further down, we came to the stream, a little off 
 the road, where it was about fifty yards wide and apparently 
 eighteen inches deep, with yellow sandy bottom. Here on its 
 woody bank we were to encamp, without tents or camp 
 equipage of any kind, and the ground quite damp. 
 
 I had kept in company during the day with a good-sized 
 young man of the Sixteenth Infantry, who had all that a 
 soldier should have on the day of battle, while I was without 
 a rifle, blanket or provisions ; yet now I was the most inde- 
 pendent of any, for I had my tomahawk and a rifleman's long 
 heavy knife, and all wanted them to cut brush to avoid lying 
 on the wet ground, and I accommodated as many as I could 
 by lending both. They soon prepared long brush beds, built 
 fires, ate from their haversacks of cooked rations, and discussed 
 the conduct and folly of our generals very freely. 
 
 When the sentinels were set, we noticed none were stationed 
 along the stream, and we went and examined it, fearing the 
 Indians might attack us from that quarter. On examination, 
 it was asked why we had not crossed the bridge and encamped 
 on the dry bank opposite. Some answered, " Because we are 
 left to protect the generals' demijohns." 
 
 At roll-call, we were directed to sleep upon our arms, and in 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 55 
 
 case of an alarm to form instantly on the same gronnd we then 
 occupied, and wait for orders. Our beds of brush were all in 
 rear of this line, between it and the creek, and this line was 
 the one the regiment was to form on, in any emergency. 
 Another regiment was encamped in the same manner on the 
 side of the road opposite, and the British prisoners — about 
 two hundred in number — occupied a space between them on 
 the road at the end of the bridge, in rear of the camp guard 
 off post. The generals' headquarters I have described as up 
 the road, distant half a mile. This was the state of the camp 
 when my new friends spread some of their blankets on the 
 brush for beds, retaining others to cover us with, and, with the 
 kindness of brothers, invited me to lie down, while some 
 covered us. 
 
 I took an outside berth, with my boots on, and, being tired, 
 was soon asleep. I awoke after all the fires had died out, and 
 rose and contemplated the stillness and profound darkness of 
 the forest; then lay down and slept till about two o'clock, 
 when I was awakened by a noise like cattle running. I 
 instantly roused the man next to me, and said, " I think there 
 is an alarm." He sat up in bed and listened. I put my hand 
 on his shoulder. He said, " I think you have heard a stack of 
 arms fall down." I felt him lying down, and then saw the 
 first flash of a sentinel's gun, quickly followed by the sentinel 
 running in among us, screaming " Indians ! Indians ! " and 
 followed by them with yells that pen can fully never describe 
 nor white men imitate. 
 
 A few sentinels fired while on their posts, and then ran in ; 
 but most of them ran from their posts into camp without 
 firing, the British pursuing them quite into camp with their 
 bayonets along the whole front line, and shouting and firing 
 as they met opposition. This roused the sleepers in a moment. 
 Some seized their weapons and called loudly " To arms !" — 
 some tried to form in line — the British firing after the sentinels, 
 and our own men firing among the crowd in their confusion of 
 mind, affording all the light we had. The British shouting, 
 Indians yelling, arms clashing, men screaming, begging, 
 groaning, dying, swearing and fighting, created a state of 
 affairs that satisfied me no line could be formed ; and I waded 
 across the stream with great difficulty, the bottom being quick- 
 
$6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 sandy. On rising the bank, I placed myself behind a tree, 
 and looked back on one of the most frightful scenes that it is 
 possible for the same number of men to make, and the most 
 noisy. The light from the firing enabled me to discern our 
 men and the British commingled ; some holding each other, 
 fighting, stabbing and cutting ; others, with clubbed muskets, 
 thrashing the enemy down with the buts ; others running, or 
 trying to run, across the stream, and all making the most 
 hideous and indescribable noise imaginable. 
 
 This continued but a very short time, and the noise changed, 
 so that the screams, implorations, cries and groans of our 
 soldiers being murdered by the Indians, was all that could be 
 heard, and that was fast passing away in death ; when I began 
 to seek a place of greater safety by groping my way up the 
 ascending bank, and away from the stream, as I knew that 
 removed me from the enemy. 
 
 In the mean time, I heard occasional discharges of artillery, 
 at the distance of about two miles, between me and the lake 
 on my left ; but, not knowing they were signal-guns to show 
 their position, I bore more to the right toward the road we had 
 gone out on, and soon came near it, and halted to learn who 
 were there, as I heard voices and footsteps. I soon satisfied 
 myself they were two of our own men who had escaped; I 
 therefore hailed them and told them who I was, and that I was 
 alone. One said, "Let us be silent, and leave as fast as 
 possible ;" which we did until daylight, when we overtook a 
 lieutenant and about twenty men, nearly all wet, mostly 
 unarmed, and some wounded. 
 
 A hewed-log-house was soon seen on the road, surrounded 
 by about twenty acres of cleared land. We soon arrived at 
 it, and were ordered to halt, which all did, though some mani- 
 fested some reluctance, but which was altogether useless with 
 such a man as the lieutenant, as he had three dry soldiers who 
 had been guards at the bridge and were driven from it after 
 all fighting had ceased elsewhere. He said he was going to 
 stay at that house until he had collected all who could hear a 
 musket from the house, and ordered one fired then and at in- 
 tervals of three minutes, and also immediately after each 
 discharge of the cannon. Loopholes were made in the house 
 by knocking out the chinking, the doors filled with rails about 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 57 
 
 breast-high, and other preparations made for defence. In the 
 meantime others arrived, so that at sunrise our party num- 
 bered over one hundred, all in about the same plight. 
 
 All that had been wounded, and all who had lost their 
 muskets, were ordered to leave their ammunition and hasten 
 back to the wagon-train and report themselves to the first 
 officers they met. Having no baggage or arms, we traveled as 
 might be expected of men who knew their proximity to the 
 most relentless enemies ; and, as the news of our disaster had 
 already out-traveled us, we met no one until we were within 
 five miles of Newark. Here we made a short halt, to examine 
 the ground held by our enemies the day before, when they 
 were attacked by our troops. It was difficult to realize the 
 change that had taken place between the two armies in the 
 short space of twenty hours after that point of time ; and yet 
 I could see but one cause to which to ascribe the change and 
 sad disaster, and that was the bad behavior of General Winder. 
 
 After viewing the ground and making our reflections, we 
 moved forward and soon met many officers, to whom we 
 attempted to report ourselves ; but all seemed so desirous of 
 hearing the story of each individual, that we dispersed as if 
 by general consent, and walked into the camp of a regiment 
 of infantry lying in tents about one mile from Newark, where 
 we spent the night resting ourselves. 
 
 I rose early in the morning, intending to go to Newark for 
 breakfast ; but, meeting with an officer I had seen the fall 
 before, I was willingly persuaded to stay with him during the 
 intense excitement that prevailed in the camp, and ascertain 
 where my own company was. After breakfast, we went to the 
 adjutant's office — the place of news in all armies — and heard 
 about the same statement that now appears in our history of 
 that sad affair, and that the remainder of our army was on its 
 return. I therefore went, with another soldier, to get my rifle 
 and knapsack left with Mr. Saddler. 
 
 We found him at home, and he appeared glad to see us, and 
 insisted on our dining with him, which we did, and I stated 
 to him what I had seen after I left him. He said he was very 
 sorry for it ; that he knew how the Indians acted on such 
 occasions ; that he once saw a war party butcher more than two 
 hundred defenceless women and children of another nation he 
 5 
 
58 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 was trading with, but he dared not betray the least compassion 
 for them. They did not molest him because he was a trader. 
 On our parting with him, he bid us come again and visit with 
 him. 
 
 I have mentioned on another page that I would relate how 
 this man was deprived of his happy home. It was in this 
 wise : Our army spent the summer of 1813 in idleness, in 
 the vicinity of Newark, and in September left to make the 
 disgraceful campaign of General Wilkinson down the St. Law- 
 rence to French Mills, and on leaving Newark wantonly set 
 fire to the whole town and reduced it to ashes, Mr. Saddler's 
 splendid mansion among the rest. 
 
 Accompanied by my martial friend, who carried my rifle 
 and knapsack, we returned to camp, and soon after saw the 
 remainder of General Chandler's shattered brigade pass by in 
 a truly deplorable plight, one-half without shoes or caps, and 
 many without arms. Having all my property together, I 
 began to get it put in order, and had no difficulty or delay in 
 doing so, as all seemed to regard me as a pet boy astray, 
 and willingly helped me to clean my arms, clothes and boots. 
 
 Two days after, my own company, and that part of the army 
 which had not been with General Chandler on the night of the 
 disaster, came into the vicinity of Newark, and spent the 
 summer in drilling and idleness. I immediately repaired to 
 the camp and reported myself, and where I had been in search 
 of the company since I was landed. The whole company 
 appeared glad to see me, and expressed sorrow at my misfor- 
 tune. But that could not relieve me, and I was discharged, 
 under a surgeon's certificate, on the 24th of May, 1813, with 
 one month's pay, and sent to Sackett's Harbor, on the small 
 swift schooner called " Lady of the Lake," arriving there on 
 the second night afterwards. 
 
 I had been at home in quiet but one day, when the British 
 fleet appeared in view, creating great alarm in the neighbor- 
 hood. All the able-bodied men in the vicinity ran to the 
 defence of Sackett's Harbor, except a few of the inhabitants 
 along the shore where my father resided, who could see all the 
 manoeuvres of the British, and that, although the wind was 
 fair for them to sail into the harbor, they were landing men 
 on the western peninsula. 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 59 
 
 But we soon learned the cause of the men being landed 
 there. A regiment of. United States troops, in fourteen boats, 
 were coasting along the peninsula, going to Sackett's Harbor, 
 and the British placed some troops and Indians there to 
 prevent the boats from landing, that they might capture them. 
 The United States soldiers, seeing this, knew at once the fleet 
 they saw was not ours, but belonged to the enemy, and ran 
 their boats forthwith on shore, and made their escape as best 
 they could through the enemy, passing round the. bay and by 
 my father's house that day to Sackett's Harbor, where they 
 assisted in fighting them the next morning. 
 
 The British spent three hours in this manoeuvre, while there 
 was a good fair wind to carry them to Sackett's Harbor, and 
 then directed their course thitherward ; but the wind was fall- 
 ing fast, and soon ceased to blow, so that when their fleet 
 was six miles from the town the lake became as still as a pan 
 of milk. 
 
 Some superstitious persons present attributed this state of 
 things to a special interposition of Providence to prevent the 
 effusion of blood, but some others regarded it as a common 
 yet very fortunate circumstance, as it gave us more time to 
 prepare for their reception in a proper manner. It was very 
 gratifying to our family, who all happened to be at home, as 
 it afforded them a view of one of the grandest naval exhibi- 
 tions ever presented to mortal eyes on this continent. A 
 whole British fleet prepared for battle, becalmed in the bosom 
 of one of the prettiest bays of the globe, with every sail 
 spread, yet all hanging as loosely as a lady's apron, was a 
 sight worth risking life to see, and will never be forgotten by 
 any of us. 
 
 The British fleet remained in front of my father's house 
 from five o'clock p. m. until dark, distant between two and 
 three miles, while thousands viewed it from the shore on all 
 sides, and wished our fleet that was gone up the lake would 
 return and find these fellows here, thinking it would improve 
 the scene. 
 
 There was no unnecessary alarm, as we all could see the 
 full extent of the danger, and knew the necessity of the most 
 prompt and energetic action, and all seemed willing to do 
 whatever appeared necessary for the public safety. Before 
 
60 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 the sun set, all the women and children were removed from the 
 vicinity of the lake, and all the men able to fight were in 
 ranks on their way to the points designated for defence. My 
 father had command of the picket-boat guard, and I proposed 
 to go on duty with him, but he refused because I was able to 
 row with but one hand. I therefore placed myself once more 
 under command of Captain McNitt, whom I had been with at 
 Gananaqua, and who then commanded his own company, 
 posted to protect the left flank of the line of battle near the 
 shore. This line of battle was formed by. the late Major-G-en- 
 eral Jacob Brown, then a brigadier-general of the New York 
 State militia, and was composed of such men as had been 
 called out without formality on the same day, and others, old 
 and young, who had come voluntarily to the defence of the 
 place and put themselves into the ranks, without the hope of 
 fee or reward, and in full view of the enemy prepared for 
 battle. Their hearts were patriotic and true, but they lacked 
 discipline and confidence in each other and in themselves, as 
 not one in twenty ever saw a battle. The only shelter or 
 defence they had was an irregular ridge or bank of sand and 
 gravel, which the waves of the lake had thrown up on its shore, 
 from one to three feet high. Behind this bank, 1,200 of this 
 kind of troops, lying on their bellies, were to receive the 
 attack and shock of 2,000 British troops, landing from forty 
 barges and supported by the whole British fleet of Lake Onta- 
 rio. The result was as might have been expected. The whole 
 line gave an irregular and premature fire, and fled without 
 order or halt to the woods in their rear. Captain McISTitt had 
 about one hundred men in his company, and over thirty of us 
 had seen service ; the result was, he received a more compli- 
 mentary notice in the general's report than any other officer, 
 and we shared the honor with him, for not one of us left him, 
 but took fourteen prisoners, which showed we were not idle 
 spectators of the scene. He has since been partially rewarded 
 by being appointed keeper of the light-house erected near 
 where the British landed, which office he has held since the 
 establishment of the light, and although now above eighty 
 years of age, takes pleasure in walking over the ground and 
 showing visitors and strangers the different positions we occu- 
 pied on the morning of the 29th of May, 1813, while fighting 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 6l 
 
 and defeating the British and killing their commander, General 
 Grey, at the "battle of Sackett's Harbor. 
 
 The particulars of the "battle may be found in history of the 
 war, and an account of the burning of the navy barracks and 
 all the spoils taken at York. 
 
 Immediately after their defeat, the British hurried on board 
 their fleet and sailed for Kingston, while we buried the.ir dead. 
 On the following day, which was Sunday, we buried our own 
 dead, and returned home, having no further trouble with the 
 British that summer, which was passed in making preparations 
 for the fall campaign' by the army in our vicinity and on the 
 Niagara frontier. 
 
 In the following autumn, General Wilkinson began his ill- 
 fated campaign down the St. Lawrence river, and concentrated 
 his army in the vicinity of Sackett's Harbor, which roused the 
 ambition of the war-loving youths of our neighborhood, and 
 many volunteered for the campaign, myself among the rest. 
 
 I had become acquainted with an officer of the first regi- 
 ment United States dragoons, who was recruiting at the village 
 of Brownsville during the summer and wished to have me 
 with him, and said his servant should groom my horse for me 
 if I would enlist with him for the campaign, which I did most 
 willingly. Three days after, we were ordered to rendezvous at 
 Sackett's Harbor, and, on our arrival, were mustered in, it 
 being the 30th of September, and left the next morning, with- 
 out any drilling, for the active duties of the field. 
 
 The first thing learned in my new situation was to groom 
 my own horse to avoid riding a poor one, and next to let no one 
 ride it but myself. By attending to these two duties strictly, 
 only transient and light duties were assigned to me, and heavy 
 ones were avoided. My officers soon discovered I had a lame 
 shoulder and how I came by it, and never called me forward 
 to drill, but appeared to favor me as much as possible. I can 
 never forget their kindness. 
 
 The autumn of 1813 was the most wet and rainy of any with- 
 in my recollectiou. It commenced raining on the 20th of Sep- 
 tember where I was, and rained more or less every day, but 
 one, for six full weeks. No soldier of General Wilkinson's 
 army on that expedition will ever forget that rainy season 
 while he recollects anything. 
 
Si AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Grenadier Island, near the lower end of Lake Ontario, was 
 the rendezvous of all the troops traveling in boats, and here 
 the army was detained three weeks by a continuous rain ; 
 and it was said among the privates, in their tents, that our 
 chief officers were as well soaked in brandy as we were in 
 water while it lasted. 
 
 At length, when energy, patience and patriotism seemed 
 quite exhausted, the order was given to advance down the 
 river, the cavalry along the river by the road nearest the 
 bank, the boats near our own shore to avoid any detention 
 by the British, as they were moving down the river opposite 
 us with a good army, and a lot of small armed boats to annoy 
 our rear and pick up stragglers. 
 
 As the boats proceeded, their insolence would become 
 unbearable, and a detachment of boats would have to be 
 sent to drive them off, when they would shout, laugh and 
 run back, or run to their friends on shore and offer battle, and 
 when the detachment left them they would at once follow and 
 renew their mischief. Thus we passed on to the vicinity of 
 Ogdensburgh, opposite Prescott. Here the British had a good 
 garrison, and we expected trouble in passing it, but for once 
 our generals succeeded beyond their most sanguine expecta- 
 tion in passing it without the loss of a boat or a man in the 
 profound darkness of the night and rain. 
 
 Ogdensburgh stands opposite Prescott, and the river Oswe- 
 gatchie runs through the town and is crossed by a broad 
 bridge. I was under command of Major Walback that night, 
 and his command was in the rear of the column while passing 
 through the town, and had just reached the bridge, when the 
 British opened fire on the boats and on the town, but it was 
 too late to injure us or the boats. We had passed them. 
 
 We had moved but a few miles further down the river before 
 it became necessary to land and try the strength of the enemy 
 in the field on their own territory. That part of the army in 
 boats landed without seeing the enemy, and the scows that 
 had brought the artillery came back and carried the cav- 
 alry over. After landing and being formed, we were imme- 
 diately dispatched in search of the enemy. They were not 
 hard to be found, and offered us business at once. 
 
 Not being of ourselves their equals, our officers reported 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 63 
 
 their position and appearance at headquarters, and we were 
 sent in an opposite direction on a similar errand and with a 
 similar result. It was found we were between two armies ; 
 we had seen them both, and a battle was inevitable. 
 
 We were in the township of Cornwall, on the farm of one 
 Chiystler, a wealthy citizen, whose lands were divided by a 
 considerable stream, then impassable except by bridges, of 
 which there were two about two miles apart, one on the river 
 road, the other farther north. Our army had landed below 
 this stream, and prepared to stop the British above it on 
 the west or right bank; but Ckrystler had a stone house 
 standing on an eminence near the river road, which, if held by 
 either party, would command the passage of the bridge, and 
 British infantry occupied it, apparently without support. 
 This induced our generals to attempt to dislodge them. A 
 battery of artillery was ordered over the bridge, and a column 
 of infantry to support them, and our squadron of horse 
 (held in readiness to follow any fugitives from the house) 
 was immediately in rear of the infantry. 
 
 All being formed and in readiness, the march began at 
 quickstep in the rain, and in less than twenty minutes the 
 artillery had taken its position and began to unlimber, when 
 a heavy column of British infantry appeared from behind the 
 house and at once attacked the artillery before the infantry 
 could be deployed to protect it, took several prisoners, and 
 forced the whole column back in the greatest disorder. 
 
 This changed the movements of the day from attack to 
 defence, and we were immediately sent to the upper bridge to 
 stop the British crossing there and attacking us in flank, 
 arriving just in time to save it from the possession of the 
 enemy, who attacked us while we were tearing up the planks 
 on it and drove us back, until a regiment came to our assist- 
 ance from General Covington's brigade, who, hearing in that 
 direction a brisk fire, came himself to learn what was the cause, 
 and while he sat on his horse looking at us demolishing the 
 bridge, he was mortally wounded and carried to his boat, 
 where he died the next night. We were kept a short time in 
 the same place, and then sent eastward to see what was being 
 done there, and found that General Bissel had met the enemy 
 coming up from Montreal and driven them back seven miles ; 
 
64 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 but that General Wilkinson had ordered the army to embark 
 in their boats and cross to the other side of the St. Lawrence, 
 and that it was being done rapidly. 
 
 There was no time to be lost. We galloped back to report, 
 and found all the general officers had gone, and that Colonel 
 Winfield Scott (the late veteran Lieutenant- General Scott) was 
 commanding the twenty-fifth regiment of infantry which had 
 been left to cover the retreat of the whole army. 
 
 He soon rode up to Major Walbach, and after a few min- 
 utes' private conversation we were marched slowly to the river, 
 dismounted, and ordered to detach our swords from our per- 
 sons and carry them in the scabbards in our hands. A few 
 words of encouragement and caution were addressed to us, 
 and then the order was given to mount and follow in open 
 order by twos. We were already wet, and had often washed 
 and swam our horses before ; so we had nothing new to en- 
 counter but the intense coldness of the water and the greater 
 weight on our horses than they had been accustomed to in 
 swimming, which sank us lower in the water. There was no 
 effort made to swim in a straight line to a particular point on 
 the opposite shore, but to swim straight across the current ; 
 consequently we were nearly two miles lower down the river 
 at landing than at our starting point. The infantry, having 
 landed from their boats, saw us coming, and ran to assist us in 
 rising from the water to the bank, which was of very difficult 
 ascent at that place. On landing, the whole army was con- 
 centrated at French Mills, having accomplished nothing, and 
 worse than nothing, for all the boats of the whole expedition 
 were in a position that rendered them entirely useless, and 
 the army in a worse condition, as it was at a great distance 
 from its supplies, and in a wild and nearly uninhabited coun- 
 try, the St. Regis tribe of Indians being the chief inhabitants 
 for many miles. 
 
 The whole army at once began to prepare rude winter quar- 
 ters, except the dragoons, who were ordered to return to Sack- 
 ett's Harbor to spend the winter. There, and in the vicinity, 
 we were employed on patrols, scouts, and express lines, as 
 there were no telegraphs, railroads, steam engines or balloons 
 used by the army of 1813 in conveying intelligence. While 
 engaged on one of the express lines, I assisted in conveying 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 65 
 
 to the army the news of the burning of the Niagara frontier 
 in retaliation for our burning the town of Newark. 
 
 In February, 1814, the army was removed from French Mills 
 to the Niagara frontier, and that became the seat of war for 
 the summer, while the strife at the east end of the lake was 
 in ship building, some monuments of which remain to this day 
 in the frames of two ships-of-the-line on their stocks, one at 
 Dexter and the other at Sackett's Harbor, both on the same 
 bay. The guarding of these two ship-yards formed the chief 
 business of our army in that vicinity until about the 10th of 
 June, when we were greatly relieved in the following unlooked 
 for manner: 
 
 The British, having the superiority on the lake, blockaded 
 Sackett's Harbor with their whole naval force, the American 
 fleet lying within, waiting for the armament of the frigate Mo- 
 hawk, which was in a fleet of boats coming by way of Oswego 
 on Lake Ontario. The commander of the fleet of boats, fear- 
 ing trouble on the -lake, hired a band of Oneida Indians to 
 escort the boats along the shore, and had proceeded to within 
 twenty miles of Sackett's Harbor, opposite the mouth of Sandy 
 Creek, when he discovered the whole British fleet at anchor 
 but six miles ahead of him in his only passage. He therefore 
 ran the whole of the boats into and up the creek about two 
 miles, and placed the Oneida Indians in ambush along the 
 west bank, within thirty yards of the deep narrow channel, 
 and sent for assistance to the fleet and army. This was im- 
 mediately dispatched. It consisted of two light pieces of 
 artillery and our squadron of horse. 
 
 We arrived at the boats about two o'clock in the morning, 
 and soon found there was to be no effort made to defend the 
 boats, but to capture the enemy's, which consisted of one gun- 
 boat and six barges, manned with four hundred sailors and 
 marines from the British fleet. They had waited during the 
 night very silently, watching the mouth of the creek and 
 searching the shore for a pilot, and had taken a very tall, thin, 
 old gentleman and his three sons, by the name of Whittier, 
 from their beds, to pilot them. But the Whittiers had just 
 removed from Connecticut to that vicinity, • and knew no 
 more of Sandy Creek than of the river Senegal ; and so the 
 gunboat, followed closely by the barges, came into the deep, 
 
66 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 narrow creek, studded thickly on each, side with alder — in 
 which skulked the Indians, near the lake, on one side, and 
 the neighboring militia, the dismounted dragoons, and artil- 
 lerymen, crouched near the boats, on the other — -just as the 
 sun was rising, firing a large pivot-gun, charged with grape, 
 canister and round shot, at random in all directions until they 
 got near the boat landing, when the word "fire ! " was given, 
 and all immediately fired. The effect was terrible — one-fourth 
 of the British had been killed or wounded. 
 
 Among the killed was the commander, who, when the gun- 
 boat first entered the creek, placed old Mr. Whittier in front of 
 him, and at the firing, a musket-ball passed through the waist- 
 band of the old gentleman's pantaloons into the commander's 
 abdomen, which killed him and threw him backwards into the 
 hold, while he had so fast a grasp on the old shadow of a man 
 (Mr. Whittier) as to pull him after and on him into the bottom 
 of the boat, quite out of harm's way, and without injury to the 
 old gentleman. The English immediately struck their colors, 
 and screamed out, "Quarter!" "Murder!" and "Shame!" 
 while the miserable Indians continued to fire until some of 
 our officers ran up to the ford and actually knocked three of 
 them down before they could be made to desist. 
 
 One hundred and thirty Britons were found to be killed or 
 wounded, and two hundred and seventy were marched that day 
 to Sackett's Harbor as prisoners. This loss of men reduced 
 the strength of the enemy so much that Admiral Yoe with- 
 drew his fleet to Kingston the next day,, and we enjoyed quite 
 a respite from the alarms of war in that vicinity up to the 
 close of hostilities. 
 
 As soon as it was ascertained that the whole British squad- 
 ron had withdrawn to Kingston, I was sent to General Brown's 
 headquarters to inform him of what had transpired, and to 
 return with his answer. I arrived at the general's headquar- 
 ters on the 10th day of July, and delivered the message to 
 him in person, he being an intimate friend of my father, and 
 well acquainted with me. After reading the dispatches, he 
 informed me that I would be kept at headquarters until the 
 condition of our army should become changed, and act as 
 guide, as I was well acquainted with the roads and country in 
 that vicinity. 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 6j 
 
 Two weeks followed before any change was attempted in 
 our position, and I was each day on duty with the scouts, to 
 learn the position of the enemy, and afford aids-de-camp 
 Worth, Austin and Spencer opportunity to view and map the 
 roads and farms in the vicinity, and on the direct road from 
 Chippewa through Lundy's Lane to Queenstown, General 
 Drummond's headquarters at that time. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 25th of July, two aids-de-camp 
 called on General Brown and received orders to approach as 
 near the camp of the British as they should think prudent, 
 estimate their numbers, and report what they might discover 
 of their movements, positions or intentions. They were soon 
 in their saddles, and, accompanied by four dragoons and my- 
 self, proceeded down the road about two miles, when, emerging 
 from a narrow strip of woodland, the British army appeared 
 in line of battle, slowly advancing in the most perfect order 
 and beauty before us, with their left wing reaching to and 
 protected by the Niagara river, and their right extending into 
 the woods northwardly. Lieutenant Spencer and one dragoon 
 immediately returned to report at headquarters, while Lieu- 
 tenant Worth proceeded to the front of the enemy's right 
 wing, then in the woods, to learn their intentions. We soon 
 met their scouts, who drove us back, but not before we had 
 seen their pioneers cutting a new road by which to advance 
 their artillery. 
 
 It was then evident the enemy had chosen this spot for their 
 battle-ground, and that there would be no time lost on our 
 part to begin the fight. The tremendous roar of the mighty 
 Niagara, the din of preparation for battle, the rough voices of 
 officers marshaling their battalions, the cracking of the whips 
 of drivers and prancing of steeds, kept from the mind all con- 
 templation of the impending dangers that threatened, and 
 qualified all for the bloody struggle that followed. There 
 appeared no disposition in either army to hurry or delay until 
 all appeared in readiness. The weather was fine and clear, 
 the ground dry and nearly level, and, all things considered, 
 the strength of the two armies about equal. At about two 
 o'clock p. m., our skirmish line in the woods on the British 
 right wing commenced a brisk fire on a party who were 
 protecting the enemy's pioneers while cutting a new road, and 
 
68 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 drove them all behind their flank, who returned the fire, and 
 continued to fight until the action, became general. 
 
 My duty was to act as guide, as I was well acquainted with 
 the woodlands as well as farms in that vicinity, and while the 
 sun was above the, horizon I was kept very active in guiding 
 different officers to and from that part of the field to General 
 Brown's headquarters. On one of these trips, Lieutenant 
 Spencer was mortally wounded, and fell from his horse, 
 between mine and his own, holding to the bridles of both — 
 one of the most painful sights I had ever seen, as he was a 
 young and most amiable man, and one of my dearest friends. 
 After his fall, I was under the immediate orders of Lieutenant 
 Worth during the battle, and witnessed some of its most 
 exciting episodes — that is, as much as a person could see on a 
 field where ten thousand men were fighting ten hours with 
 each other on one square mile of ground, in a perfect calm of 
 the atmosphere, while a dense cloud of smoke hung over us, 
 hiding both sun and moon (which was nearly full) from our 
 view. 
 
 It is difficult to bring the imagination to realize the tremen- 
 dous roar of the Falls of Niagara, the thunders of the artillery, 
 the crash of musketry, and the shouts of battle, and yet con- 
 sider the actors sane who could voluntarily participate in it 
 with pleasure. Yet such was the case on that day. No one 
 was ever charged with dereliction of duty on that memorable 
 occasion, or with failing to exert his whole ability to achieve a 
 victory. 
 
 The line of battle had been formed by General Scott's 
 brigade, composed of the ninth, eleventh and twenty-second 
 regiments of infantry, and Captain Towson's battery of 
 artillery, with the twenty-fifth infantry to support it, near the 
 river, at right angles with Lundy's Lane, or Queenstown road. 
 When the battle had raged with the utmost fury for more than 
 two hours, without any visible effect other than the loss of near 
 one-fourth of those engaged, General Brown interposed the 
 second brigade between the first and the enemy, and, bring- 
 ing forward the whole corps of Major Hindman's artillery, the 
 greatest exertions were made to break the British line, until 
 it began to be too dark to write an order, when Lieutenant 
 Worth (afterwards the celebrated General Worth), being 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 69 
 
 wounded, sent me around the British right wing to ascertain 
 if their artillery — then posted on a little hill "before our left — 
 were receiving reinforcements. 
 
 Being in the woods near our extreme left, I took an old tim- 
 ber road, and soon passed round their artillery and down a 
 ravine in rear of their line of "battle, "beyond its centre, where 
 I halted a moment to view the grandeur of the scene, which 
 was sublime beyond description, the shot from Towson's artil- 
 lery passing over my head, the earth trembling under my feet 
 by the falling of the waters of Niagara and the thunders of 
 the battle. As I mounted my horse to proceed, I saw a group 
 of men between me and the British line, and as I gazed one of 
 them turned round in such a position that by the light of the 
 flashes I saw a star on the breast of his coat, and other 
 badges of distinction about his person. Immediately after, I 
 rode toward the river, and soon found myself among a detach- 
 ment of our troops under Captain Ketchum, who had passed 
 round the British left wing ; and on my informing him what I 
 had seen, he took me back to the group, with his party, as a 
 guide. On our approaching them, I pointed out the man, and 
 he called out to us, " What the devil are you falling back here 
 for ? " Captain Ketchum sprang on him, saying, " Hush ! you 
 are a prisoner ! " Others seized five more of the group, and, 
 throwing all six on their horses, forced them as fast as possible 
 through and behind our line, when one of the^ British asked 
 why we had not brought the " old man ; " and, upon our 
 inquiring who he meant by "old man," he said he meant 
 Lieutenant-General Drummond, who was in the group, and 
 we had only brought off Major-General Bial and one of his 
 aids, and one of General Drummond's aids, and their grooms, 
 and let the largest game escape— which was true. But it was 
 useless to murmur, and no time was spent in that way. 
 
 It was then near nine o'clock, and every man present that 
 could be expected. Two vigorous efforts had been made with- 
 out effect to gain possession of the enemy's artillery. Col. 
 James Miller then placed his command directly in front of it, 
 and by a steady, quick, unfaultering movement swept over the 
 hill, capturing every piece of it, and giving the most deafening 
 shout I ever heard. It was instantly taken up and repeated 
 by our entire line and the whole reserve. 
 
70 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Total darkness and silence for an instant followed, for a 
 thick cloud of smoke hid the full moon. Soon, however, Tow- 
 son (as General Brown said) " illuminated the heavens with 
 the constant blaze of his artillery," and the battle continued 
 another hour with great slaughter on both sides. 
 
 The British seemed to think they could not fight without 
 their artillery, and returned and made two desperate efforts to 
 retake it, but failed. They had taken off with them the horses, 
 limbers, rammers and matches, and thus kept us from using 
 them against themselves that night. 
 
 During this last exciting hour I had been on several trips 
 for Lieutenant Worth (who was wounded) to and from General 
 Brown to General Scott on the left, and General Ripley still 
 farther to the left in the woods on our extreme left wing, and 
 in every place I heard sad complaints of thirst, but not a word 
 of fatigue or hunger. 
 
 Each army had now in turn had possession of the little hill 
 that the strife had been for, and each had been twice foiled in 
 attacking it ; each had lost about one thousand of their best 
 men for it, and now neither of them desired it. The British 
 had come first on the ground, and they left it first, but in good 
 order, carrying off their dead and wounded; and, on their 
 leaving, our army did the same, leaving all their cannon 
 except two small pieces, in good order, and retired to our 
 former camp through a narrow strip of woods that was imme- 
 diately behind our line of battle and had afforded shelter to 
 our wounded from the commencement of the action. 
 
 About two hours after the firing ceased, I accompanied Gen- 
 eral Brown's aid-de-camp, Austin, over the field by moonlight. 
 The dead and wounded had been removed from that blood- 
 stained field, which had so lately been the scene of such fright- 
 ful conflict and slaughter, and naught was heard but the roar of 
 Niagara and the tread of our horses. The ground was nearly 
 covered with the debris of battle, dead horses, torn clothes, 
 broken arms, cartridge wrappers and torn-off ends of car- 
 tridges, for about three quarters of a mile, which was the whole 
 distance on the road where so many brave men fell. We lin- 
 gered about the neighborhood until after daylight, expecting 
 General Ripley to return with our army, but were disappointed ; 
 he did not return. 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. J J 
 
 After daylight, a party of British horse appeared in sight, 
 and we retired unseen into the woods to observe their move- 
 ments. They examined their artillery, and about sunrise the 
 limbers and artillery horses arrived, when all the guns but 
 two were hurried off, and a little later two ox teams hauled off 
 those still without horses, and the dragoons followed them. 
 
 No signs of our army appearing, about nine o'clock Captain 
 Austin returned to camp, and found Generals Brown and Scott 
 had both gone to Buffalo, wounded. Thus terminated the 
 battle of Bridgewater, or Lundy's Lane. 
 
 It may be a gratification to some of the survivors of that 
 army to know that one of their number has since served three 
 campaigns in the war with Mexico, and is yet in as good health 
 as when he participated in that sanguinary struggle, and has 
 written this account of it, in 1867, in his own autobiography. 
 
 This sanguinary battle having been fought without any 
 very apparent advantage to either army, all due honors were 
 paid the dead without the least molestation. All who had 
 escaped wounds appeared thankful, and those who had re- 
 ceived any seemed equally thankful that they were no worse. 
 
 Several days passed quietly, but a strict watch was kept on 
 the enemy to learn their designs. This gave me a pleasant 
 duty — to ride about the neighborhood and guide the scouts — 
 until our army fell back to Fort Erie, when 1 was sent back 
 again to Sackett's Harbor with a full report of the battle of 
 Lundy's Lane, and spent the remainder of the campaign in 
 bearing orders and messages from one officer to another at 
 different places. 
 
 About the close of the campaign of 1814, the New England 
 States began to elect the delegates to the celebrated Hartford 
 Convention, and it was soon whispered that our regiment was 
 to be concentrated at Greenbush to observe their traitorous 
 movements, and disperse them when necessary. 
 
 In the hight of our anticipation of such a trip, the news of 
 peace, the adjournment of the Hartford Convention, and the 
 victory of New Orleans, arrived about the same time. The 
 news of peace was received without any great demonstration 
 of joy ; and the victory at New Orleans was so very unexpected 
 and complete that it appeared fabulous at that juncture, and 
 we waited for a confirmation of its truth until it would have 
 
72 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 been in bad taste to rejoice, as the ba.ttle was fought three 
 weeks after the treaty of Ghent had been signed. At the sound 
 of peace, the delegates to the Hartford Convention skulked so 
 quickly out of sight, and shrank from public notice, that it 
 has ever since been considered quite a feat to find one of 
 them and compel him to acknowledge it. 
 
 Thus ended the war of 1812, and all of us who had enlisted 
 for the war were discharged, and I returned home to prosecute 
 the arts of peace. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE LAST DAYS OP MY YOUTH AND THE DEATH OF MY FATHER. 
 
 During the war of 1812, there existed in the United States 
 two great political parties. The first and largest had declared 
 the war and prosecuted successfully their declaration, and 
 was denominated the Democratic party. The second and 
 smaller, but still a large party, opposed the declaration of war, 
 and was called the Federal party, and between the two parties 
 a hostility existed little short of civil war. To such length 
 was this spirit carried, that every person was presumed to 
 belong to one party or the other, and to conceal his predilec- 
 tion was to incur the contempt of both and endanger his own 
 popularity. My father belonged to the former, and was well 
 known ; while I, being yet in nonage, and having served in the 
 army through the war, was regarded as an active partisan 
 waiting to enter the arena on the same side, and possessing 
 some influence with young men. 
 
 I had not laid aside my uniform clothing when my father 
 advised me to review my classic studies before I prosecuted 
 the study of a profession any further. I therefore made appli- 
 cation to the faculty of Hamilton College, Oneida county, New 
 York, to enter the junior class, then nearly half through that 
 year's studies. I was informed I would be required to undergo 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 73 
 
 an examination, and if my education was quantum sufficit, and 
 I deposited the tuition fee for the whole junior year, I would 
 be admitted. I at once assented, and deposited the required 
 thirty dollars. 
 
 The next morning at nine o'clock was appointed for my 
 examination by the President, who began a very studied 
 inquiry into my father's pecuniary circumstances and his 
 political views, which, in the frankness of my heart, I honestly 
 and truly answered. He seemed pleased with the favorable 
 account I gave of his condition in life, and suggested that "a 
 part of it could now be used to great advantage for his son's 
 advancement," and gave other hints that I could have under- 
 stood at a later period in life, but did not then, as I did not 
 dream that ten eagles would have more weight with that son 
 of Minerva than ten months of assiduous study in advancing 
 a student's position, and therefore left without leaving him a 
 bribe, and retired to my hotel, where I anxiously waited for 
 the appointed hour. I was punctual in my attendance, but 
 after long delay learned that the Doctor had gone sleigh- 
 riding, leaving no message for me. I was much disappointed, 
 and at great loss to account for this strange conduct in the 
 President of a college, and so expressed myself to Mr. Strong, 
 Professor of Languages, there present, who then asked me to 
 read and translate a page in Homer's Iliad, which I did (as he 
 said) satisfactorily, and left. An hour later the President 
 entered, and said, "Your studies are spread through all the 
 field of science. I advise you at the next commencement to 
 take the degree of Master of Arts, and not class." Having 
 no knowledge of the real definition of these words, I made 
 no reply, but warmed my feet at the fire. The Doctor then 
 asked for my certificate of studies and character. I told 
 him my father had been my teacher, and that he would be 
 there the next week. This ended my education at this 
 institution, as I was informed that my father's certificate 
 would not be recognized as proof of the character or quali- 
 fications of his own son. I therefore withdrew and reviewed 
 my studies alone, and am indebted to no college for a certifi- 
 cate that I am a scholar or a graduate of it. 
 
 My father and mother arrived the next week, on their way to 
 visit my paternal grandmother, then eighty -five years of age, 
 6 
 
74 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 at Brookfield, New York. I accompanied them, and spent 
 about ten days with this most learned of my ancestors, who 
 alone had educated my father, and could at that advanced 
 age read and translate both Greek and Latin like any 
 professor of those languages. Her mind and memory were 
 yet brilliant, and she expressed the pleasure and satisfaction 
 she felt on hearing me read Latin and Greek, saying I was the 
 only one of her grandchildren she ever expected to hear trans- 
 late the ancient languages. At that late period of her life, she 
 related to me most of the brief history of her family found in 
 this book. 
 
 After my return home, I prosecuted my studies with great 
 diligence, until September, 1815, when I went to Lowville, 
 Lewis county, New York, to study law with Ela Collins, Esq., a 
 counsellor of great learning and merit. I had been but a few 
 weeks there, when my father sent a messenger, with a horse, 
 and a request that I would return home and take charge of 
 his business. I had observed before I left home that my 
 father's health seemed on the decline ; but I could not believe 
 that so great a change in his appearance, as I saw on my 
 return, could have been, effected in so short a space of time, 
 though he was each day walking about his house and garden. 
 I expressed to him the alarm I felt at his feeble appearance 
 and frightful cough. He replied, " The doctor has taken me 
 through a regular salivation, which is the cause of my apparent 
 prostration. I hope to be more free of the cough in a few 
 days, and regain my strength. Lest, however, I should be 
 disappointed and leave my business in confusion, I wish you 
 to settle with every one. Pay all balances I may owe, and 
 take notes for what is due me." 
 
 I did as he directed, while he was gradually sinking each 
 day, having received his directions how to act after his death. 
 One evening, shortly after this, as I was holding him up in 
 my arms in his bed, he said, " Lay me down, my son." As I 
 did so, I saw he was expiring, and immediately called our 
 family and friends from adjoining rooms, as I had been left 
 alone with him a few moments while his watchers took a little 
 refreshment, it being eleven o'clock at night, November 23d, 
 1815. He died apparently free from pain, and without a 
 struggle or groan, in the forty-ninth year of his age, leaving a 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 75 
 
 widow and eight children, of whom I was the eldest, having 
 hut just entered on the twenty-first year of my age. This 
 was a sad affliction, and was deeply felt by every member of 
 the family ; yet as we were left with plenty of good productive 
 property, we had it still in our power to select onr own occu- 
 pation in life. 
 
 I had already elected to become a scholar, and was well 
 advanced. My eldest brother, Samuel, then in his nineteenth 
 year, determined to become a farmer, and was well qualified 
 for the occupation. We have both since distinguished our- 
 selves in our respective occupations, and are in affluence ; but 
 we did not, at that trying season, forsake our mother or our 
 brothers and sisters in their affliction, but remained at home 
 and cultivated the farm one season, and then procured one of 
 our cousins to take charge of it. We then divided an unpro- 
 ductive piece of land, detached from the old estate, as our 
 shares, and left the family in plenty and entirely free of debt 
 or any embarrassment. My brother cultivated his land as a 
 farm, while I sold mine for funds to prosecute my studies. 
 
 During the twenty-first year of my life, I was very much 
 exercised on religious doctrines, and I gave the subjects then 
 presented to my mind a full and careful examination, the 
 result of which was that I became as firmly established in my 
 religious belief as I ever can be ; and so, on the 9th of March, 
 1816, was baptised by immersion, and united with the Baptist 
 church of the town of Henderson, Jefferson county, New 
 York. I continued a member of that church more than three 
 years, when they gave me a letter of dismission, which T still 
 retain, with the fellowship of all Baptists. 
 
j6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FIRST DAYS IN" MANHOOD AND LAST DAYS IN NEW YORK:. 
 
 When I arrived at the age of twenty-one years, on the 15th 
 of October, 1816, I had taken a survey of the world and 
 formed a plan of life, which had been greatly deranged by 
 the death of my father, and the loss of a year from my 
 studies in arranging his estate so that no part of it would be 
 liable to waste. I had also felt the crushing weight of disap- 
 pointment by the death of my beloved classmate, and my 
 arrangements were of necessity to be formed anew. Still I 
 was not discouraged. I had now to rely solely on my own 
 exertions. I therefore resolved to use the means yet left in 
 my power to acquire that knowledge which places its pos- 
 sessor in the front ranks of society and usefulness. 
 
 In my intercourse with men of all ranks and conditions of 
 life, I had observed with what silence and tenacity Free 
 Masons adhered to, aided and assisted each other and their 
 families in all the ramifications of life and business ; and I 
 determined to become one, and learn what this great secret 
 was that so many persons desired to know. Accordingly, on 
 the day of my arrival at majority, I presented my petition 
 where I was best known, to Lodge No. 356, in the town of 
 Henderson, Jefferson county, New York. I was accepted, and 
 initiated November 16th, 1816. I found the Order what I sup- 
 posed it was, and the brethren found in me what they sup- 
 posed I was, so far as I ever learned, since I spared no 
 expense or pains to make myself acquainted with all the 
 different degrees in their order, and the lectures appertaining 
 to each, as fast as the rules of the Order permitted, and have 
 always communicated that knowledge to others entitled to it 
 without fee or reward. 
 
 I was the first Free Mason who taught the lectures on the 
 degrees of Royal Arch and Knight Templars on the west side 
 of the Mississippi river. I taught them first to the late George 
 H. C. Melody, while I was the High Priest of Missouri Royal 
 Arch Chapter, in the year 1823. I was again High Priest of 
 that chapter in 1846 ; and in whatever position I was called to 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 77 
 
 act, I was always sustained by the whole weight of my breth- 
 ren Companions or Sir Knights ; so that a brother's widow's 
 tear or his orphans' cries were never heard or seen by my 
 wife, who was always near me (with an open hand, like a 
 Quakeress, as she was) to alleviate the wants and distresses 
 of the poor. And now, since she has "gone to that bourne 
 from whence no traveler returns," I trust that, in like manner, 
 my only child may escape that pain ; but if, in the course of 
 human events, she should not escape so painful a scene, she 
 may take the same pleasure in performing her duties as her 
 parent has done before her in the same Order of which she 
 now has the honor of being a member. 
 
 About the 20th of November, 1816, I returned to study with 
 Mr. Collins, whose father-in-law — the Rev. Isaac Clinton, 
 of the Presbyterian Church of Lowville, a most profound 
 scholar — was at that time the preceptor of the academy 
 at that place, a Mason, and a most influential literary 
 gentleman, and had in his private residence one of the 
 very best libraries I ever visited. It was always open to me, 
 because my father and he were scholars and very good friends, 
 and, my father being dead, I fell as a son under his advice 
 and direction — although I was a Mason much in advance of 
 him — and enjoyed the advantage of his life-long experience 
 and acquaintance, as well as that of his literary friends and 
 men of that taste who visited his house and the institution. 
 
 This introduced me as a teacher into the town of Martin- 
 burgh, about three miles distant, at a good liberal salary. 
 I had been in ten battle-fields, but never had felt such 
 trepidation or want of nerve as when I was introduced into 
 that school and walked forward to address it. There were 
 about sixty scholars present, of all ages from seven to seven- 
 teen, in their best attire and most pleasing countenances, 
 a good majority of whom were ladies. The opening of the 
 school was by prayer, and with profound decorum, which was 
 always observed, and no Sunday school preserved better 
 order than did my day school for four months, at the end of 
 which term I closed it with an exhibition, and, on parting, 
 received many tokens of kindly regard from my pupils and 
 their parents. 
 
 This school established my character as a teacher, and I 
 
78 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 afterwards taught two years in Lowville academy, Lewis 
 county, New York, with Stephen W. Taylor as principal, and 
 studied law at the same time. After a while I relinquished 
 that situation for a much larger salary in Adams, Jefferson 
 county, where I was untrammeled, as I was near my own 
 home, in the vicinity of which I was well known. In this 
 school I taught Ezekiel W. Robbins, afterwards a Senator in 
 the State of Illinois, and his two brothers, both of whom 
 subsequently distinguished themselves in their profession, as 
 well as several others, who taught in St. Louis, and in Alton, 
 Illinois, with great credit to themselves. 
 
 In the spring of 1819, 1 had all the arrangements made 
 to leave for Missouri, to spend my life in the West ; but while 
 I was waiting for a passage on some vessel going to Niagara, 
 I was invited to deliver a course of Masonic lectures to 
 the Masonic Brethren and Companions of the forty-ninth 
 regiment of British infantry at Kingston, Upper Canada. 
 The invitation was accepted, and I accompanied the commit- 
 tee of invitation on their return, and was by them intro- 
 duced to the assembled Brethren and Companions, and heard 
 their report read, accepted, and the committee discharged. 
 An adjournment was then had for dinner, and as I was 
 invited to dine with so jnany I was for a moment perplexed 
 for an answer as to whom I should accompany, but soon 
 rallied, and taking the arm of him I thought the eldest, I 
 told the brethren I would accept all their invitations in the 
 order of the age of those giving them. This seemed satisfac- 
 tory to all, and I remained with them four months, until the 
 1st of October, 1819, lecturing every day on the several 
 Masonic degrees, from the lowest to the highest. 
 
 In the meantime, a military school was in session in the 
 building adjoining, four days in each week, for the instruc- 
 tion of young officers and officers' sons, and I was invited 
 to attend and enjoy all the advantages the school afforded, 
 which invitation I accepted, and there studied the British 
 rules of war under Masonic brethren. 
 
 Having determined to visit the cities of New York and 
 Washington on my way to the West, I left Canada and 
 arrived in New York about the 10th of October, 1819, and 
 began to explore the city. I visited a Masonic Lodge on the 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. Jg 
 
 evening of my arrival, and formed several new acquaintances 
 there, among them two who were assisting in fitting out a 
 ship for the Columbian Republic. They informed me that 
 an agent of that republic was in the city, and would, they 
 thought, be pleased to form my acquaintance ; and one of 
 them insisted on my going home with him and being intro- 
 duced to the agent that night. Being idle, I was easily per- 
 suaded ; so I went and was introduced to him, was sworn to 
 secrecy in the whole transaction, and had the entire scheme 
 explained to me, which 'was to fit out three ships in New 
 York for the republic, and with them and a few landsmen 
 seize Texas, make it a State of that republic, and a naval 
 depots — cruise about Cuba and take all the Spanish ships 
 possible and run them into the State, and so draw a great 
 population of North Americans thither — destroy the Spanish 
 commerce and assist in compelling Spain to acknowledge the 
 independence of all her American possessions, and then make 
 a peace and commercial treaties with them. War with Spain 
 and the United States seemed inevitable at that time, and their 
 cooperation was expected in the enterprise. The inducements 
 presented to me to enter into it were so great that I aban- 
 doned my journey to Missouri and accepted the appointment 
 of purser in the Columbian navy, and entered at once on the 
 discharge of the duties of the office for the three ships then 
 fitting out in New York. 
 
 I was quite ignorant of the duties of the office, but having 
 procured an experienced clerk, who had been in the United 
 States navy six years, I was enabled to give good satisfaction 
 to those above me, and we had the three ships nearly ready 
 for sea, when, on the 28th day of December, we learned that 
 Don Mateo de la Serna, Charg6 d' Affaires, had complained to 
 our government that we were fitting out three ships in New 
 York to cruise against Spain, which he represented at Wash- 
 ington and demanded our arrest. With the demand he 
 assured our Secretary of State that Spain would ratify the 
 treaty made by the Spanish Minister, Don Onis, ceding Florida 
 to the United States and receiving Texas in exchange. This 
 ruined our enterprise, as the United States marshal of New 
 York had orders to stop and search the ships and arrest all 
 concerned in fitting them for sea. 
 
80 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 I was notified of my danger by a Knight Templar, and 
 retired to another part of the city, sent a Masonic brother 
 to the marshal's oflice to procure a list of the names of those 
 to be arrested, notified all the officers of the state of onr 
 affairs, and appointed a place in the upper part of the city 
 for a general consultation to be held there to determine on 
 future action. I had in my possession seventy-one Colum- 
 bian bonds of one thousand dollars each, seventy of which 
 I made a special deposit of in bank, where they remained 
 more than sixteen years. One I kept with me all that length 
 of time, and sold it with the rest in May, 1836, for sixty-eight 
 cents on the dollar and interest for seventeen years at seven 
 per centum per annum, which amounted to nearly seventy- 
 three thousand dollars, with which I paid every dime due for 
 fitting, arming and victualing those ships. 
 
 Having procured a suitable room for our purpose, about 
 sixty assembled, all of whom had been studying the Spanish 
 language and drilling with muskets preparatory for the 
 Columbian service, or who had advanced funds to fit out the 
 expedition. I had procured a full list of the names of those 
 to be arrested, numbering forty-three, of which number my 
 name was placed the fifth. On the meeting being called to 
 order, one of the eight captains present stated the object of 
 the assemblage to be to make known to each individual our 
 true condition, and to adopt a course of future action, either 
 jointly or severally. A committee was then appointed to state 
 in a preamble our true condition and present resolutions for 
 our future course. I was named second on the committee, and 
 saw at a glance I was expected to extricate the whole party 
 from this difficulty, and that I could not avoid the task. Being 
 in possession of all the facts and all the funds, I thought they 
 constituted sufficient force, if well managed by me, to accom- 
 plish it, and therefore made no excuse, but set myself about it. 
 
 I paced the committee room and dictated the preamble and 
 resolutions, while another wrote them out in full. The pream- 
 ble set forth our true condition, and the necessity for speedy 
 action 'and united effort to relieve ourselves from it. The 
 resolutions were, that we would as one man abandon the expe- 
 dition and accept of forty per centum in full for all we had 
 advanced for fitting out the expedition ; that we would never 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 8 I 
 
 separate until we had thrown into the East river all our arms, 
 consisting of a battery of eight pieces of field artillery, thirty 
 pieces of naval artillery, sis hundred muskets, four hundred 
 pistols and sabres ; that the purser should sell so much of the 
 stores as would raise the amount of the forty per centum 
 advanced for the outfit, and that when we should have 
 received the said forty per centum we would leave the city of 
 New York and not re-enter it until the 10th of February, 1820 ; 
 and that the purser should have our consent and authority to 
 return the three ships to their original owners on such terms 
 as he should think just and equitable. The preamble and 
 resolutions passed unanimously. It was eleven o'clock at 
 night when we adjourned to meet at twelve o'clock on board 
 the Eagle, at the foot of Twenty-fifth street, on the East river, 
 going there by twos on different streets. 
 
 The first thing done after being on board was to awaken 
 the sailors, some fifteen in number, who, with about the same 
 number of our party skilled in naval affairs, worked the ship 
 from the wharf into the middle of the river, partly by sails 
 and partly by barges with oars, where it was anchored about 
 opposite Eighteenth street, and the cable paid out at different 
 times to scatter the arms and shot so that they could not be 
 recovered. Two cold and anxious hours of my life passed 
 there, when the hold was thrown open and the stevedores 
 descended and began to raise the arms and shot to the deck, 
 and we to cast them overboard. This employed us five hours, 
 until sunrise, when we had thrown everything overboard that 
 was thought likely to confiscate the ship. 
 
 The other two ships had no arms of any kind on board, and 
 the uniform clothing for one thousand men of all arms, in a 
 warm climate, was all that could excite suspicion. The arms, 
 ammunition and clothing had all been purchased in England, 
 and no part of it opened since its importation. It had been 
 immediately transferred from the deck of the ship in which it 
 was imported to the decks of the ships of the Columbians, as 
 we denominated ourselves. 
 
 Having finished our task, all went into the cabin, and most 
 of them assisted the captain as much as we could in consum- 
 ing the liquid part of his stores provided for the contemplated 
 but abandoned voyage. They also adjourned to meet again, 
 
82 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 according to my request, at seven o'clock in the evening at 
 the same place where we had last met, to hear my report of 
 what I should be able to do in the way of raising funds to be 
 distributed. We were then landed in the city by the ship's 
 barges in three parties, and dispersed. A revenue cutter 
 boarded and searched the ship before noon, but discovered 
 nothing, and left her unmolested otherwise. 
 
 On landing, I repaired immediately to one of my Masonic 
 brethren for advice and assistance. He said I needed only to 
 employ a commercial brother, and with such a large job to 
 operate on, I could raise twenty -five per cent, on my invoices. 
 He went with me and introduced me to one who was an English- 
 man and a Mason, and made known my business. The broker 
 advised to move the two ships at once alongside of British 
 ships loading for Liverpool, and to transfer the stores to them, 
 and send them for sale to firms there who had houses in New 
 York, and have the house here advance the funds necessary, 
 as it was a very common way of doing business. I consented 
 to this, as I was too ignorant to attempt anything else, and 
 dared not venture into a public place for other suggestions. I 
 therefore sent written requests to the two captains to move the 
 two ships and transfer the stores to two British ships which 
 were named. The messenger returned with an answer to the 
 effect that the captains were both absent, and the ships could 
 not be removed without their order ; but as the freight was 
 under my control, they would deliver it to whomsoever I 
 directed from their decks. The broker then made arrange- 
 ments with the British to receive the stores from our decks. 
 This manceuvering consumed so much time that it was two 
 o'clock p. m. before the ships were alongside each other. 
 However, late as it was, sufficient stores of rice, peas, beans, 
 flour and pork had been transferred to enable me to obtain an 
 advance of six thousand dollars, with which I was able to 
 pay the forty per centum of the amount furnished by eleven 
 captains and forty-eight lieutenants, who had advanced 
 fifteen thousand one hundred dollars to purchase the arms we 
 had thrown overboard in the morning. 
 
 Fearing some accident or miscarriage if I took that money 
 into my own possession, I persuaded the broker to accompany 
 me, with the money in his pocket, to our place of meeting, and 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 83 
 
 had him pay it over. All seemed well satisfied with my action 
 that night as they took their pay, and I thought that I 
 deserved their good will at least, for I had done what they 
 directed by resolution. But it resulted otherwise, and a very 
 trivial act seemed to Toe the cause of great annoyance to me 
 afterwards. I had a full list of all engaged in the expedition 
 in alphabetical order, and their rank, and paid them in that 
 order, and took their receipts in full from each separately. 
 There being fifty-nine present, it was midnight before we were 
 through. 
 
 In the meantime, some of those first paid had returned half 
 drunk or more, and no one having authority to keep order, all 
 was hurry and noise until we came to the last one to be paid, 
 when he saw there yet remained but two twenty dollar notes 
 of the six thousand dollars, he having been out drinking with 
 those first paid. He seemed to think we intended to pay him 
 no more, and although I took forty dollars from my own 
 pocket and gave it to the broker, who paid him (without 
 taking his receipt) the whole eighty dollars due him, yet, 
 instead of leaving the city, as he promised to dp, he visited all 
 three of the ships on the next day inquiring for me, and 
 having a stranger with him, who I suspected might be a 
 United States deputy marshal, to arrest me. His presence in 
 the city, his knowledge of all our transactions, his causeless 
 apparent hostility to me, and the evident uselessness of a 
 longer stay in the city, determined me to leave at once and 
 seek a place of greater safety. I took the broker to the three 
 principal creditors and stated as near as I could the condition 
 of all that was left for them ; that I was going to take only one 
 hundred and twenty dollars more of the broker, which would 
 leave me exactly as great a sufferer as the rest of the party, 
 and that when I sold the seventy-one Columbian bonds I 
 would pay them what remained due after they should have 
 collected the net proceeds of the sale of the stores and forty 
 thousand pounds of powder concealed in flour barrels in the 
 hold of the Eagle, and seven thousand pounds of lead. 
 
 The creditors were all Masons, and each had my receipt for 
 the stores furnished by himself, and it was agreed that each 
 should collect the balance of the proceeds after six thousand 
 one hundred and twenty dollars was deducted from it pro 
 
84 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 rata on the invoices I held, and I gave orders for the Ibills of 
 lading to he made in the name of those who furnished the 
 stores, and returned to them their own bills to enable them 
 to do it correctly. I also gave the largest creditor an order for 
 my purser's books and papers, and authority to discharge my 
 clerk then on the Eagle and pay him out of funds in the office, 
 and credit me with what remained. 
 
 The utmost confidence at that day prevailed among us. 
 There was no such thing as secession thought of then among 
 us. My brethren did not even ask me what I had done with 
 the Columbian bonds which they knew were delivered to me 
 when I gave bond and took the oath of office as purser in the 
 navy. It was then the last day of the year, on Saturday. I 
 had done, as I thought, all I could for my friends-*-I had spent 
 ten weeks uselessly in the city — expended nearly one half of 
 the money I had started with — was bound to leave the city 
 to seek a new home and dared not appear in the public 
 streets of New York. Perplexed as to the road I should take 
 from the city, I spent the remainder of the day in endeavoring 
 to determine on some fixed course of future action. It was 
 winter, the day cold and cloudy, and my spirits and hopes at 
 a low ebb, when I determined to leave the city and State by 
 crossing the ferry into JSTew Jersey, which I did in a barge, it 
 being the usual conveyance of pedestrians at that time, and 
 took lodgings near the ferry landing for the night. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A TEAR OP WANDERINGS, EXPLORATIONS AND INQUIRIES, WITH 
 NEW SCENES AND UNDERTAKINGS. 
 
 On the first day of January, 1820, I was without any 
 employment or fixed plan for the future. It was winter, cold 
 and cloudy. The shipping was lying in the river before the 
 town apparently idle, and my future prospects seemed as 
 dreary and barren as the scenes about me ; for it was Sunday, 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 85 
 
 and I kept within doors to avoid meeting any of my late 
 comrades. 
 
 In the evening, a gentleman from Patterson came over from 
 New York, where he had spent the day, and left a friend 
 whom he had brought down in a dearborn wagon (as the 
 vehicle was called), and was to return home the next morning. 
 There being two beds in my chamber, he was introduced as a 
 kinsman, and we soon formed an acquaintance as Masons, 
 spent the night like two old friends together, and started for 
 Patterson at daylight toward his home, as he was in a great 
 hurry to return to his business. I was so entirely without 
 occupation that I could start on the shortest notice, my 
 baggage being all contained in a pair of saddlebags and the 
 pockets of my overcoat. When this gentleman found I was 
 so familiar with the Masonic lectures, he flattered himself 
 he could learn them in a very short time ; but being a 
 machinist, and having several journeymen at work for him, 
 he had very little time to devote to anything else, the ten 
 hour system of labor being then unrecognized in the world. 
 The con sequence was, I had to stay a week of Sundays, or 
 seven weeks, to gratify him and his friends there. He man- 
 ufactured, among other things, carding machines, and had 
 two ordered to be sent to Elmira, in Chemung county, New 
 York. When the wagons came for them, I was introduced to 
 the owners, who were also brother Masons, and they invited 
 me to go with them and see the country. As the wagons 
 were comfortably provided with painted water-proof covers, 
 I gladly accepted the invitation and accompanied them, and 
 nearly forgot my disappointments on the hilly road and 
 interesting journey, arriving at Elmira in far better spirits 
 than I had left the last three places. 
 
 Soon after my arrival, I met with Dr. Tiffin, of Clean, 
 Cateraugus county, New York, who was at Elmira, and on 
 the point of returning home alone in a sleigh. This gentleman 
 invited me to ride home with him, which I did. We reached 
 Olean on the 2d of March, and I waited there until April 
 15th, assisting him in collecting his debts in lumber, amount- 
 ing to ten thousand dollars, as money was very scarce and he 
 could obtain his payments in nothing else. This amount of 
 lumber formed two large rafts of one hundred thousand feet 
 
86 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 each, which, he brought into the Ohio river and sold at 
 Marietta and Maysville. I was obliged to stay with him 
 until he sold this last raft, as I had lent him all my money 
 at Olean to enable him to run his rafts to Pittsburgh, 
 and had taken this as security, which he sold on the 3d 
 day of July, at Maysville, Kentucky, and paid me back 
 my money, and as much as I would take for the use of it 
 and four months' time in assisting him in his business. He 
 then took me by my hand and said he wished to testify his 
 gratitude to me by presenting me with a complete suit of 
 clothes, which he immediately purchased at a clothing store 
 near by. 
 
 On our way to the store, a tailor named Ephraim Harris, 
 with whom Dr. Tiffin was acquainted, met us, and the doctor 
 took him along with us to assist in selecting the clothes. 
 After being fitted to my satisfaction, and my friend had bid 
 me a final adieu, Mr. Harris accompanied me to my lodgings, 
 and, being aware that I did not intend leaving town that day, 
 he invited me to go to a family boat he was occupying and 
 spend the afternoon, to which I acceded, and was not long in 
 discovering the object he had in view when inviting me there. 
 It was to afford himself a better opportunity of making his 
 situation and wants known to me than he then had or could 
 have anywhere else, and, by presenting all the facts before 
 me, to be able to induce me to render him that assistance 
 which he stood so much in need of, among strangers at that 
 time. He had his wife with him, to whom he had been 
 married about six or seven months. They had both been 
 born and raised in the city of Norwich, Connecticut, had 
 never travelled before, were very religious, had done no other 
 business than tailoring, and knew very little more of the ways 
 of the world when they left their native city to make this 
 journey by themselves, than Adam and Eve did when the 
 serpent made his appearance in the garden. The consequence 
 was they had been cheated, robbed, delayed, imposed upon 
 and swindled out of their money, and finally left penniless 
 among strangers, with their scanty baggage, on a small family 
 boat, in which they had stayed two days, and had each in turn 
 been through the whole town in search of work, but had found 
 none. This was their condition. Yet their confidence in 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 87 
 
 God was as firm as ever, and it seemed He did not forsake 
 them ; for they persuaded me to purchase the family boat 
 they then were in and accompany them to the end of their 
 journey at Belleville, Illinois, and pay all their expenses on 
 the way. I saw they were like two little helpless children 
 left in a wilderness, while I had all the means necessary to 
 relieve them and make them happy ; and the providence of 
 their God, in whom they had so much confidence, had caused 
 them both to see it while I was busily measuring plank on 
 the shore near them. 
 
 I had intended to purchase a horse and visit Chillicothe, 
 Xenia, Dayton, and Cincinnati ; then, taking the road west- 
 ward, to pass through the States of Indiana and Illinois, and 
 so arrive at St. Louis, Missouri. This had all to be abandoned 
 if I attempted to assist them. I had had no introduction 
 to either of them, but from their appearance I gave credence 
 to their statements and told them I would assist them. This 
 seemed to complete their earthly happiness and more firmly 
 establish their reliance on the providence of God, if it were 
 possible to make it stronger than it was before. I therefore 
 purchased the family boat, took my baggage and a small 
 quantity of provisions on board, and pushed the boat into 
 the current of the Ohio, which moved then at the rate of 
 about two miles per hour. 
 
 We had scarcely floated out of sight of the town when Mr. 
 Harris reminded his wife of their especial indebtedness to 
 providence vouchsafed to them by God for their relief, and 
 that now was the proper time to acknowledge it. They then 
 brought forward their old Bible and hymn books, and he read 
 one of David's psalms and selected a hymn, which they 
 both joined in singing in the most devout manner. They 
 then knelt down, and he first and she secondly offered the 
 most humble and sincere thanks to Almighty God for his 
 kindness and protection that I have ever heard uttered in my 
 long life. I have since been present on great occasions when 
 solemn Te Deum has been sung, but never when such piety 
 and sincerity were manifested as was exhibited by those two 
 humble christians on that little boat as we floated down the 
 Ohio. 
 
 How far the prayers of those two pious people offered up 
 
58 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 on that voyage have effected my welfare I have no way of 
 learning now, hut that that meeting with them has affected my 
 course in life, and those now around me, more than any other 
 single circumstance, I have no doubt ; and that it will continue 
 to affect not only my own family hut others, and even genera- 
 tions of families who will never see or hear of me or either of 
 them, I am equally sure. 
 
 The current of the river was so gentle and its bosom so 
 smooth that there was not the least danger of an accident, 
 and we all went to sleep at night and let the boat float, feeling 
 the same security as if our homely craft had been tied to a 
 tree on the shore. The boat seldom struck anything, and 
 if it did it was but lightly, when it at once gently reversed 
 its ends, and, being forced a little further into the current, 
 moved forward as usual. In this easy, cheap and lazy way 
 of traveling we reached Shawneetown, Illinois, on the 1st 
 day of August, 1820, having stopped to view all the towns on 
 the river that we came to in the daytime, but not failing to 
 float every night, as our light boat traveled one-third faster 
 by night than by day on account of a daily south or head 
 wind blowing in summer. 
 
 Wishing to view the interior of the State of Illinois, we left 
 the Ohio river at Shawneetown and took passage to Belleville, 
 St. Clair county, in a four-horse wagon, at about one o'clock 
 p. m. When putting our baggage into the wagon, the driver 
 asked me where our provisions were. I looked at him to 
 learn what he meant, and said, " What do we want with provis- 
 ions ? " He replied, " Well, I don't know, but should suppose 
 you want them to eat ; that is what I expect to do with mine 
 there," pointing to a large side of bacon and a box of hard 
 bread. I asked if there were not plenty of taverns along 
 the road. He said, " No. If you are going to eat anything 
 for a week, you must get it here, for after to-day we will be 
 obliged to perform the whole journey by traveling in the 
 night, to avoid the prairie flies, and can stop at no house, as 
 there are but three on the road for one hundred miles of the 
 distance." Mr. Harris and his wife heard this conversation 
 and looked sad. I asked the wagoner to show me where he 
 got his goods, which he did, and I also procured a sufficient 
 supply, together with a tin tea-pot, a loaf of sugar and some 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 89 
 
 tin cups. On our return we found Mr. Harris and his wife 
 cheerful as ever ; so, putting our supplies in the wagon, we 
 started on our journey, traveling during the remainder of 
 that day through a heavily-timbered section of country, and 
 about dusk encamping for the night. 
 
 "We rose betimes the next morning, got a hasty breakfast, 
 and started ahead of the wagon on foot, and, just as the sun 
 had risen, came, at a short turn in the road, in full view of an 
 Illinois prairie, about ten miles long and six broad, level, and 
 surrounded by a fringe of as yet unbroken timber, and 
 covered with a growth of prairie grass, interspersed with a 
 luxuriance of wild flowers of every size, shape and hue, 
 all in full bloom ; and, to add to the beauty of the scene, 
 five deer were feeding near the road, which, on seeing us 
 approaching, raised their heads, and, after viewing us, showed 
 their white hairs, then bounded off among the flowers out 
 of sight. I had read descriptions of the Western prairies 
 and of the Elysian fields of the ancients, but they had given 
 only a faint idea of the beautiful and happy fields here 
 spread out and as yet tenanted only by the untamed inhab- 
 itants of the wilderness. I thought it then the most beautiful 
 scene I had ever viewed, and would think so still if I had 
 not since seen other prairies in Illinois of vastly greater 
 extent and beauty. 
 
 We traveled one hundred and thirty miles, over a smooth, 
 unwrought road, without seeing a stone or an acre of land 
 that was not suitable for a garden, and arrived at Belleville 
 after a journey of six days, having seen the heart of the 
 garden State of the Federal Union. 
 
 Here at Belleville we met with the brother of Mr. Harris, 
 who took us to his house and introduced me to his family, 
 which consisted of a son and five daughters, several of whom 
 have since become the ornaments of some of the best families 
 of the State, the youngest being now the president of the 
 Female Charitable Society of Belleville. Mr. Harris, his 
 brother, and all his family, have always manifested a great 
 interest in my welfare, and appeared to take pleasure in my 
 success, as if they thought me the greatest of benefactors, 
 and as if they could never do too much for me. 
 
 Mrs. Martha Harris, wife of Ephraim Harris, died a few 
 7 
 
90 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 weeks after her arrival at Belleville, with bilious fever, so I 
 never saw her after I came to St. Louis. Mr. Harris lived 
 many years after, and "bought a half acre lot near the court- 
 house in Belleville, improved it, and finally left it to his 
 niece, Mrs. Hill, who kept house for him latterly. 
 
 Having recuperated a little at Belleville, I came over to St. 
 Louis on the 10th of August, 1820, and took lodgings at the 
 boarding-house of Mr. Pitzer, on Third street, a little south of 
 Market street, and began to explore the village, as it then 
 was, until near sundown, when we took tea and had an 
 opportunity of seeing the guests of the house. 
 
 Three distinguished personages were at the table, who were 
 all waiting to enter on the duties of the offices they each 
 afterwards held, and the admission of Missouri into the 
 Union was the whole theme of their conversation at table. 
 The first was Judge David Barton, afterwards United States 
 Senator from Missouri; the second was Judge Peck, United 
 States Judge for the District of Missouri; the third was 
 Judge Alexander Stewart, afterwards Circuit Judge of the St. 
 Louis district, which included other counties. From the 
 positions I understood they were to occupy, I had supposed 
 I should derive much information and pleasure by being in 
 their company, but in this I was entirely disappointed. I 
 learned nothing useful or entertaining from either of them, 
 and they prevented my learning anything from any one else, 
 by engrossing the whole conversation and consuming the 
 whole time on egotistic subjects connected with the admission 
 of Missouri into the Union. I was quite disgusted with their 
 selfish and supercilious manners, and at the end of the week 
 I removed my lodging to the house of Mr. Joseph Charless, 
 Sr., the most fashionable family in town, and whose dining- 
 room was a high school of etiquette and learning. Here I 
 became acquainted with three other learned gentlemen, whose 
 manners and morals were quite unlike those I last mentioned. 
 They were Judge McGirk, of the Supreme Court of Missouri, 
 Judge Lawless of the Circuit Court of St. Louis, and Mr. 
 Farris, District Attorney of the St. Louis Circuit, each respec- 
 tively filling these offices afterwards. These gentlemen and a 
 few merchants of the town formed our social family circle, 
 together with Mr. Charless' two sons and two daughters. As 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 9I 
 
 I had been introduced to Mr. Charless by Mr. Beck, a Mason 
 of high rank, lie introduced me to his family and his boarders 
 in such a manner that it put me at once quite on a par with 
 any and all of them, and I was no longer a stranger in the 
 family. The consequence was, that within the next two 
 weeks I had been introduced to almost every prominent 
 American in the town, and several of the French. Among 
 them were Governors Clark and McNair, General Ashley, 
 Colonels Easton, O'Fallon, Farris, and Loper, Majors Guy 
 and Christy, Doctors Farrar, Lane, and Merry, of the Ameri- 
 cans ; and Judges Lucas and Ledue, the two Colonels Paul, 
 and Messrs. Clnmie, Lebarge, Soulard, and Brazeau, among 
 the French. The most remarkable personage, however, that I 
 became acquainted with at this time was the late Colonel 
 Thomas H. Benton. He quite eclipsed all the rest, and left a 
 lasting fame and example to us. 
 
 After having spent three weeks in examining the condition 
 of affairs in St. Louis, and seeing how flat and dull business 
 was, I determined to return to Ohio and visit Xenia and other 
 towns ; so bidding adieu to my new friends and St. Louis, for 
 the present, I started back, advancing ten dollars to a wag- 
 oner to carry me to Shawneetown. He started at eight o'clock 
 in the morning from Illinoistown, and drove twenty-five miles 
 to his own house that night. We stayed over night at his 
 house, and he rose early the next morning and killed a lot of 
 chickens, which his wife cooked for our breakfast. After 
 breakfast we loitered about an hour or two, and I supposed 
 he had been waiting for his wife to bake bread for his jour- 
 ney, as he said I had brought plenty for myself on the trip. 
 At length, about nine o'clock, I began to think he would wait 
 until evening and drive by night, to avoid the flies, as the 
 other wagoner did who brought me out, and asked him if that 
 was his intention. He slowly said, " I have given up the trip." 
 It is easier for any one to imagine my disappointment and 
 vexation at this announcement than for me to describe it. I 
 had no written contract or receipt to show for the ten dollars 
 paid him. Before I had time to complain, however, he offered 
 to refund the money I had paid him, and give me a return 
 passage to St. Louis, or carry me back three miles to the forks 
 of the Shawneetown and Vincennes road, at the place where 
 
gl AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 the town of Mascoutah, in St. Clair county, now stands, or I 
 might stop with him until I got a passage in some other direc- 
 tion that would suit me better. These offers, and the fact that 
 a copious shower of rain had fallen and prepared his twenty 
 acres of wheat land for the seeding, which he wished to do, 
 reconciled me to my fate. After spending another night with 
 him, and receiving back a reasonable portion of my money, 
 he carried me back and left me at the forks of the road, at the 
 house of Mr. John Deaton, where I waited for a passage one 
 week without finding one in any direction. 
 
 Mr. Deaton had, in the meantime, seen me reading a Greek 
 and Latin testament, and supposing I could teach a school, 
 solicited me to defer my journey for the present and teach a 
 school for them, promising that he would take all the trouble 
 of collecting the scholars, and guaranteeing the payment of 
 a good salary. Being idle, I accepted the proposition, and he 
 obtained a subscription for a good school that very day, and 
 told me they would build me a house the next Saturday. It 
 was then Thursday evening, and I doubted his ability to 
 build a house in one day suitable for the purpose. But on 
 Friday he and two or three others rode around through that 
 part of the Looking-glass Prairie, giving notice to the settlers 
 that a house was to be built the next day for school and 
 religious purposes, and all the men must come with their 
 wagons, teams and tools, and all their wives must come to 
 cook, and bring all the utensils to do it, and plenty of pro- 
 visions. 
 
 Early on Saturday morning the neighbors began to assem- 
 ble, and by nine o'clock there were fifty men and about half 
 as many women, and plenty of teams and tools, so that it 
 looked as if there was to be a great camp meeting here. The 
 number continued to increase until nearly sunset, when the 
 house was ready for use, with seats, tables and door, and this 
 house was the nucleus around which the now flourishing town 
 of Mascoutah has grown up with its thousands of inhabitants. 
 
 On the Monday following, I opened my schoool with about 
 forty scholars, of all ages from five to twenty years, who had 
 assembled from the surrounding country for the distance of 
 five miles, as there had then never been a school within that 
 distance of the place. Many of the scholars came on horse- 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. g^ 
 
 back, usually two or three on one horse. Several fathers and 
 mothers brought their children to school three and four miles 
 on horses. . Often a wagon came that distance filled with 
 scholars, and, waiting through the day,- returned at night. I 
 found plenty of employment in my school, for I was under 
 the necessity of teaching the alphabet to fourteen of my 
 pupils, which was a very irksome task to a classic teacher of 
 my rank. But the scene was varied each Saturday by the 
 neighbors joining in a hunting party to shoot deer and 
 grouse, or hunt bee-trees, and I was always furnished by them 
 with a good horse and outfit for the occasion. Horses and 
 company were always ready on Sunday to travel in any 
 direction I chose within ten miles, or as far as we could and 
 return the same day, for horses were plenty, labor cheap, and 
 no one in haste about business of any kind. Corn was plenty 
 at ten cents per bushel, wheat at twenty-five cents, and pork 
 at two dollars per hundred weight on the farms, and would 
 not sell for cash at that price. 
 
 I succeeded well in giving my patrons satisfaction in teach- 
 ing, and invited them to be present at the close of the quarter, 
 and the parents of nearly every scholar were present. As I 
 was closing my school, a man named Gaskill rose, and, 
 addressing me and my scholars, went on to give the most 
 florid account of my success in teaching, and my pupils' 
 improvement, that it was possible for him to do, and ended by 
 declaring that he felt that such a teacher and such scholars 
 should not be separated. This opened the way for other 
 speakers, who all expressed their satisfaction and their desire 
 to support the school. I, however, dismissed my school, not 
 intending to stay in Illinois any longer. Standing near me 
 was a Mr. Land, the poorest man in the house, who, as he saw 
 me disengaged, handed me a handful of silver dollars, the 
 amount of his tuition bill. Colonel Brown, seeing it, said, 
 "Mr. Land, you have acted unwisely. This gentleman does 
 not need money, but we need his assistance. It is now winter, 
 and we- can spare our sons and have them taught to some 
 purpose if we can keep him ; but if not, we shall lose what 
 has been accomplished." This brought my pupils thick 
 around me, who, seizing my hands and clothes, and prbmpted 
 by the example of their mothers, clamored until I said I 
 
94 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 would teach tliem another quarter ; which promise I fulfilled, 
 with equal success and satisfaction to all concerned. My 
 success and long stay at this place gave me a reputation far 
 beyond my circuit of travels in the vicinity, and 1 had propo- 
 sitions for opening school at Lebanon and Belleville, with 
 very flattering prospects. Similar inducements were held out 
 to me for opening a school at Turkey Hill, a settlement of 
 wealthy farmers, four miles east of Belleville. 
 
 The reminiscences of my short sojourn in St. Louis made 
 such an impression on me that I could make no engagement 
 until I had paid another visit to that town, which I did in 
 March, 1821, and again put up at Mr. Pitzer's. I found St. 
 Louis as dull as ever, and all or nearly all the politicians gone 
 to Washington City to secure the admission of Missouri. At 
 this time, Mr. Pitzer urged me to open a school in St. Louis, 
 and said he would board me for the tuition' of his two sons, as 
 his wife was dead, and they were being ruined by idleness ; 
 and at last put them under my sole care, to take them from 
 town, to board and teach them where I pleased. I at once 
 determined not to take two such promising boys to a village, 
 but to the country. I therefore opened a school in the Metho- 
 dist meeting-house at Turkey Hill, St. Clair county, Illinois, 
 and procured board for the two boys with the Rev. Samuel 
 Mitchell; while, to accommodate the other scholars, requisi- 
 tion was made on, and hospitably granted, by almost every 
 house in the vicinity, so that I soon had as many unexception- 
 able pupils as I could advantageously teach. This created a 
 kind of selfish uneasiness in the minds of some, lest I should 
 make too much money, or not give all my attention to their 
 particular children, and led to an incident I will relate. 
 
 "When my school had been in operation about a month, and 
 nearly every young lady in the vicinity was in attendance, a 
 widow lady by the name of Elizabeth Hill, who had a small 
 farm and six young children, sent her son, ten years of age, to 
 ask me if I would teach his sister, in consideration of having 
 my wardrobe kept in good order, this being her only means 
 of remuneration. To this I cheerfully consented. While 
 I was gone to my dinner, two of my scholars went and 
 brought her to the school and introduced her. I saw at once 
 she was a favorite among them. She was about fourteen 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 95 
 
 years old, and very intelligent. The other young misses soon 
 elicited from her that her sister was not coming, and the 
 cause why she would not. It was that her mother was unable 
 to pay me. I therefore told her to bring her sister and brother 
 the next day, and I would not charge for them. She, however, 
 only brought her sister, who was twelve years old, saying 
 that her brother could not get off without another brother, 
 who was only eight years old, being left in great distress. I 
 told her to bring both the next morning, and they accordingly 
 came. The boys had just been seated,'when a wealthy man 
 who had some children there walked in, and after staring a 
 moment, exclaimed, " Oh ! Mr. Shepard, you have spoiled our 
 school." I was provoked at his conduct, but determined to 
 act with coolness; so I smilingly said, "Well, if I have 
 spoiled it, I must make another." He replied, " You have 
 scholars enough for two schools." I asked him to take one 
 half of them and teach them this forenoon. He replied, "I 
 am no teacher." I told him I thought he was quite out of his 
 place, then, as this was a private school and not a public 
 arena. He stood a moment as if in search of a suitable 
 answer, and then remarked, " I believe you are right," and 
 walked out of the house without bidding me adieu. This was 
 the only complaint that I ever heard was made against me 
 while I taught nine quarters in Illinois. 
 
 During the first part of the time in which I taught in 
 Illinois, the Rev. Dr. John M. Peck taught a private school 
 at Rock Spring, in his residence. Having been introduced 
 to each other as scholars, we compared notes and found 
 ourselves about equal in point of classic studies ; he had 
 studied divinity, I law, and neither had a collegiate diploma, 
 and needed none to show our respective attainments. After 
 continuing his school two or three quarters without much 
 success, he abandoned it, and advised his most advanced 
 scholars to finish their education at my school, several of 
 whom followed his advice and became my pupils. The most 
 prominent among these was Miss Mary Thomas, who, about 
 eighteen months afterwards, became my wife, while I was 
 professor of languages in St. Louis College, then studied 
 three years under my instruction, next assisted me in teaching 
 my popular school eleven years, and finally spent the bal- 
 
g6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 ance of her life in assisting me in acquiring one of the largest 
 estates in Missouri, and died on the 6th of June, 1864, after 
 living with me above forty years, and was Tburied in the 
 Shepard family-graveyard in the township of Henderson, 
 Jefferson county, State of New York. I shall have occasion 
 to mention her often in the next chapters of this record. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR SPENDING A LIFETIME IN MISSOURI, AND 
 MARRIAGE OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 While spending two years in Illinois, I often visited St. 
 Louis, and became acquainted with many of its inhabitants, 
 particularly with the Free Masons. I was anxious to enter 
 upon the practice of law, hut my friends advised me to open 
 a classic school. I therefore was induced to open Belleville 
 Academy, under a board of trustees, intending to review my 
 law studies in the meantime with Mr. Blackwell, of St. Clair, 
 Illinois, which I did, and at the end of the quarter to come 
 to St. Louis and engage in one or the other occupation, I had 
 not then determined which. I had, however, engaged to go into 
 partnership with my pupil Miss Mary Thomas, and we were 
 to have. been married on my return from St. Louis, after 
 securing there a suitable house for our residence. With this 
 intent, and for the purpose of forming acquaintances with 
 persons of station and influence, I came over to St. Louis, and 
 took lodgings at the Missouri Hotel. 
 
 While at this house, Colonel Joshua B. Brant, a Free Mason 
 and United States quartermaster, arrived from Sackett's 
 Harbor, where he had been stationed, and where we knew 
 each other well, both as Masons and soldiers. We had been 
 with Generals Winder and Chandler when they were surprised 
 and made prisoners, and narrowly escaped sharing the same 
 fate ; and both of us served through the war of 1812. He 
 
/«, TvHfc 
 
 I 
 
 y\ ZT^ze^a^^cy 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 97 
 
 introduced me to his wife, who was the sister-in-law of 
 General Leavenworth, and afterwards the mother of Mr. Henry 
 Brant, of St. Louis. Our wives became intimate with each 
 other, and remained so until the death of Mrs. Brant. 
 Subsequently, her son Henry became one of the promising 
 pupils who gave such great £clat to our school on Fourth 
 street. Colonel Brant and myself were always good friends. 
 It will not, therefore, be thought flattery for me to state, so 
 long after his death, how he attained such distinction in the 
 United States army. 
 
 In 1814, the American army was closely besieged in Fort 
 Erie, and at a council of war it was determined to make a 
 sortie early the next morning, and each officer had a par- 
 ticular duty assigned him. One colonel was directed to select 
 the bravest lieutenant and twenty of the most determined 
 men of his regiment as a forlorn hope, and to assault and 
 take a block-house, two-stories high, that stood just at and 
 outside the angle of the British intrenchments at the head 
 of a ravine, and which contained four pieces of cannon and 
 forty men and officers. Colonel Brant was then a quarter- 
 master's sergeant, writing in the council room at the time, 
 and, hearing the order given to the colonel, whispered in his 
 ear that he wished to have the leading of the party, and could 
 furnish the lads who would delight in the task. The colonel, 
 having obtained the general's consent for the change, gave 
 the sergeant the command, and he immediately repaired to 
 his company, saying he wanted twenty of the swiftest and 
 stoutest of them for a desperate expedition which he would 
 lead. The whole company at once offered themselves, from 
 which he made the selection of his party and led them to 
 the sallyport, where they all heard their final orders and 
 had leave to retire if they chose; but all were anxious to 
 participate. The whole garrison being under arms, the sally- 
 port was opened and the party marched out, followed by the 
 army. 
 
 It was about two o'clock in the morning when the party 
 passed the last of their own intrenchments and moved silently 
 and swiftly to the foot of the ravine about half a mile distant, 
 thence up the ravine some forty rods to within one hundred 
 yards of the block-house, when a British sentinel discovered 
 
98 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 them, fired Ms musket, and ran for the block-house ; but 
 Brant overtook him, knocked him down, and got to the block- 
 house door just in time to thrust his musket between the door 
 and doorpost as it was being closed by those within. A 
 great struggle then ensued, those within striving to close the 
 door, those without to open it. At length the door was forced 
 open, and Brant, thrusting his loaded musket into a box of 
 cannon cartridges, called on the British to surrender instantly, 
 or he would blow them all up at once, They immediately 
 surrendered. 
 
 Sergeant Brant was made an officer on the battle-field for 
 his conduct on the occasion, and continued in the United States 
 service until he attained the rank of colonel. I should 
 state, perhaps, that after the surrender it was found that 
 seventeen of his men had been killed or wounded in the 
 assault on the block-house, and before its capture. 
 
 After renting a* house and advertising that I would open a 
 school in St. Louis on the 23d of February, 1823, 1 was offered 
 a situation as professor of languages in St. Louis College, a 
 Catholic institution supervised by the bishop of the diocese, 
 and conducted by the reverend gentlemen who officiated in 
 the cathedral. The salary offered was low, but I was assured 
 it should be increased in the ratio of their ability to pay me. 
 I therefore accepted the proposition, and continued with them 
 until January, 1826, perfectly satisfied with their treatment, 
 and, as far as I could ever discover, they were equally well 
 pleased with my conduct and services. In short, we lived 
 together as brothers ; and now, when they are all dead, I must 
 say I never saw a better company of gentlemen. I spent with 
 them three of the happiest years of my life, and laid the 
 foundation of my subsequent prosperity. 
 
 Having completed my arrangements for housekeeping, I 
 returned to Belleville, Illinois, and obtained of the clerk of 
 the St. Clair County Court a license to marry Miss Mary 
 Thomas, and went to her the nest day to consummate our 
 marriage and make arrangements for removing to St. Louis. 
 When she was informed that I was to become professor of 
 languages in the St. Louis College, she said we ought to 
 postpone our marriage until I should become well established 
 in my new situation and have my arrangements made to 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 99 
 
 correspond with it. This seemed so reasonable that I acqui- 
 esced in her wish, and we postponed our marriage to the 10th 
 of August following, which was the first Sabbath in the 
 summer vacation, when we were married by the Rev. Edward 
 Mitchell, a Methodist preacher, at the house of her father, 
 John Thomas, Sr., in presence of both parents, seven brothers, 
 and three sisters. 
 
 During the interval of the postponement and final consum- 
 mation of our marriage, Miss Thomas taught a private school, 
 and then, after her arrival in St. Louis, commenced the study 
 of the classics under my instruction, and continued it about 
 three years with good success, when she reluctantly and 
 gradually relinquished it in order to assist me in teaching my 
 private school, which had become quite large and required 
 another competent teacher. Having once commenced assisting 
 me, it seemed I could never after dispense with her labors in 
 our school-rooms. 
 
 The 23d of February, 1823, is an epoch in my life, and will 
 be distinctly recollected for many years hereafter by many of 
 the best business men, jurists and scholars that ever adorned 
 the society of St. Louis, as the day when I commenced 
 teaching them, and others now dead, in the old St. Louis 
 College, situated on Second street, between Market and 
 Walnut streets, near where the old cathedral then stood. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Niel was president of the college and curate 
 of the parish ; the Rev. Mr. Day, the Rev. Mr. Saulnier, and 
 the Rev. Mr. Odigio, were professors in the college, and also 
 officiated in the clerical duties in the cathedral ; Colonel R<m6 
 Paul, as a volunteer professor, instructed the class in mathe- 
 matics, and I had charge of the English department. The 
 whole institution, however, was under the supervision and 
 control of the bishop of the diocese. 
 
 The students were all young, none being over seventeen 
 years of age, and very few younger than twelve years. They 
 were all present, thirty-seven in number, when I was intro- 
 duced, and were just through the recitation of their lessons 
 in the French language for that morning, and appeared to be 
 waiting for me. 
 
 Having some knowledge of physiognomy, I took a scruti- 
 nizing view of their faces and heads, and thought I had never 
 
IOO AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 before seen such, a fine collection of intellectual youthful 
 countenances, and that if I did not succeed in improving thern 
 rapidly I should he greatly disappointed. 
 
 As I continued to teach all of them until they left that 
 institution, and have watched with much care and solicitude 
 their progress in after life, and seen with the greatest pleasure 
 and satisfaction their success and usefulness in society, I 
 should do injustice both to them and myself if I neglected to 
 name those of them who now stand as ornaments, pillars, 
 and guides in the business transactions of St. Louis. I will 
 first mention three who married ladies who had been pupils 
 in our private school, and for whom we had the same solicitude 
 for their prosperity that I had for their husbands. They have 
 each fine, promising families, and I feel much the same 
 interest in their parents. 
 
 The first of the three was that well-known, reliable business 
 man Theodore Labeaume, who married Miss Hammond, and 
 who needs no eulogium to place him among the very first 
 citizens in integrity and usefulness. The next was Judge 
 Wilson Primm, of the Criminal Court, who married Miss 
 Guion, and resides in Carondelet. The third was Captain 
 Edmund* Paul, who married Miss Amelia St. Train, and 
 commanded Company E of the Missouri batallion of infantry 
 volunteers in the Mexican war, in the years 1847 and '48, and 
 was with me in New Mexico and Chihuahua. 
 
 Another who was present that morning, and has had the 
 most busy and tranquil life of us all, is Sograin A. Robinson, 
 at present cashier of the Bank of the State of Missouri, and I 
 think he has never done any business outside of a bank, and 
 not excelled in purity of character by any man living. 
 
 I wish to mention also the following named gentlemen as 
 then among my pupils : The Hon. William Ferguson, Judge 
 of the Probate Court of St. Louis county ; Mr. Edward Tesson, 
 the well-known banker; Mr. William L. Ewing, the whole- 
 sale merchant ; the two Messrs. Berthold ; General ~R6n6 Paul, 
 a distinguished officer of the United States army ; Hon. French 
 Strother, late Speaker of the House of Delegates of the State 
 of Virginia, and a member of Congress from that State before 
 the civil war ; the late Joseph Walsh, long the clerk of the 
 St. Louis Circuit Court; Hon. Jesse Benton, who was a 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. IOI 
 
 member of the Texan Congress while a republic ; James 
 O'Toole, a good classic scholar, who became a successful 
 merchant at Weston, Platte county, Missouri; Lewis M. 
 Clark, late Surveyor-General of the United States at St. Louis. 
 
 Besides these, there were the four sons of Governor McNair, 
 then the chief Executive of the State, who would at that, time 
 attract the attention of the most casual observer by their 
 manly bearing and conduct, and each afterwards took honor- 
 able positions in active life. Dunning, the eldest, entered the 
 United States service in the Indian department, and was 
 killed by lightning on a western prairie while in the line of 
 his duty, at the age of about twenty-one. Frederick died at 
 New Orleans with yellow fever, at about the same age, and 
 Alexander died at the close of the Mexican war from disease 
 he had contracted while performing his duty in the United 
 States army. Mr. Raigh McNair is now the only survivor of 
 Governor McNair's five sons, and resides in the city of New 
 York, where I have no doubt he maintains the same high 
 character for probity and honor that he and the whole McNair 
 family have always sustained in St. Louis. 
 
 There are still living, I hope, other very deserving men of 
 the thirty-seven present on the occasion referred to, but more 
 than forty years have since elapsed, and I have heard of the 
 deaths of more than one half of the whole number, and all 
 the professors except myself are also dead. 
 
 The next week after I commenced teaching in the college, 
 five of my former pupils, from Illinois, came and made appli- 
 cation for admission. They were Edward Mitchell, now a 
 merchant of Philadelphia; William Mitchell, a well-known 
 Methodist clergyman of Illinois ; Oscar Rapier, of the same 
 place, and the two sons of Mr. Pitzer, who had come (as they 
 informed the president) to be as much as possible under my 
 control and tuition. This was regarded as a good omen of my 
 scholarship by the other students ; and it went further than 
 that when they heard them recite a lesson, and found the 
 youngest of them more advanced in English than any of the 
 oldest of the former students of the college. 
 
 Nicholas Bolvin, one of the most agreeable persons that I 
 ever had the pleasure of instructing, as soon as he heard the 
 judgment of the class, hastened to the president and informed 
 
102 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Mm of what had transpired, and I was not long kept in igno- 
 rance of the pleasure it gave him to learn that the whole body 
 of students were satisfied with his selection of me for their 
 instructor ; and if they ever changed their minds, I was not 
 informed of it. 
 
 M[y first engagement was to teach four hours only in each 
 of the recitation days in the week, and to be confined to 
 English branches alone ; but I was applied to so often to hear 
 the Greek and Latin classes, that the students soon discov- 
 ered that the other professors considered me quite as good a 
 linguist as any among themselves. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, Governor Edwards, then United States 
 Senator from Illinois, sent his son Mnian (since attorney- 
 general of that State) to me with letters, in which he offered 
 me a greater salary to teach his three sons in Edwards- 
 ville than I was then receiving, _ and to furnish me with a 
 house and allow me to take as many other scholars as I 
 might think proper ; but if I could not consent to accept his 
 proposition, to place his son in the St. Louis College for 
 instruction in the classics. 
 
 I" accordingly placed Mnian in the college, and as he had 
 learned the contents of his father's letter to me he communi- 
 cated the same to other students, so that the president heard 
 of the proposition, and early the next morning asked me if I 
 had received such a letter. I told him I had, and gave it to 
 him to read, which he did ; then casting an anxious eye on 
 me, said, "Well, it is a very liberal offer. What will you do 
 with regard to it?" I replied, "I have, as you know, by my 
 placing Governor Edwards' son in your college, declined to 
 accept the offer, as I am engaged here for twelve months." He 
 said, " That pleases me. It is just what I have said I was sure 
 you would do. You shall lose nothing by it. I will add a 
 hundred dollars to your salary, and give you five per cent, of 
 all we collect this year besides." With this addition to my 
 income, I had a very comfortable salary, and, with but light 
 duties to perform, passed the time very pleasantly, as the 
 bishop had a very fine library for our use. 
 
 Soon, however, the number of students increased so rapidly, 
 and the duties of the other professors were so much inter- 
 rupted by their more important duties in the cathedral 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1 03 
 
 during Lent, that I was asked to teach the Greek class until 
 after the Easter holidays, which I did ; and when Easter was 
 passed, I could not get the students to return to their former 
 teacher, for they also brought their Latin hooks and insisted 
 on "being taught both the languages by me, so that, in order to 
 retain their friendship ever after, and to gratify them, I was 
 obliged to teach them. 
 
 I must now begin to mingle the history of St. Louis with 
 my own. 
 
 The Legislature of Missouri had authorized the inhabitants 
 of St. Louis to make it an incorporated city if a majority of 
 them should so decide at an election to be held on the first 
 Monday in April, 1823. Accordingly, preparations were made 
 to test the question fairly on that day. There were then 
 about five thousand inhabitants in the town, one half of whom 
 spoke the French language, and were opposed to its becoming 
 a city, and voted against it, while all others (Jews and Gen- 
 tiles) voted for it; and the majority in favor of its becoming a 
 city was, I think, but seventeen votes. There was then not a 
 yard of side-walk or pavement in the whole town, or a mac- 
 adamized road or turnpike leading to it. There was no 
 steamboat owned here, and but one steam engine. Wood 
 was the only fuel used by the inhabitants, and there was no 
 public school or court-house at that time. The first pavement 
 in St. Louis was laid on Main street, between Market and 
 Walnut streets, in October, 1823. 
 
 It was in the spring of this year that the late General Ash- 
 ley fitted out his well-appointed boat expedition to the Rocky 
 Mountains, which met with a bloody disaster on the Missouri 
 river, by the A'Rickaree Indians, for which they were after- 
 wards severely punished by the United States. As one of my 
 former military comrades was going, I went to see the boats 
 start. He was sadly wounded in the battle with the Indians, 
 and returned to New York in the fall after; yet he fared 
 better than a near neighbor who was employed for the same 
 expedition. The latter was directed by General Ashley to take 
 a two-horse cart load of the best rifle powder from a store in 
 town and bring it to St. Charles. He hired a Mr. Lebarge, 
 who lived near the college, to go with him, and another 
 
104 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 man accompanied him on foot. This party were observed by 
 Mr. Saulnier and myself as we were walking leisurely near 
 where the court-house now stands. After they had got a little 
 ahead of us, they stopped and took up the man who was 
 walking, and went on. Mr. Saulnier remarked, in bad English,. 
 " They are careless men ; one is smoking." We kept on about 
 three blocks further, at which time they were probably five 
 hundred yards from us, on what was then called St. Charles 
 street, when we were suddenly startled by a terrific explosion. 
 The powder had by some means been ignited and killed all 
 three. We ran to them, but they never moved after we arrived 
 there. Mr. Saulnier was much distressed by the accident, 
 and predicted disaster to the expedition, as the party had 
 mostly neglected their religious duties, and started with too 
 much ardent spirits and too little piety and prudence ; and it 
 turned out as Mr. Saulnier had said it would, but without 
 establishing his character as a prophet. 
 
 After the Easter holidays, the college had as many stu- 
 dents as could possibly be accommodated ; and as the govern- 
 ment of them fell chiefly on me, I was kept very busily 
 employed until the vacation in August following. 
 
 About three weeks before the vacation, all the other pro- 
 fessors began to prepare their classes for an examination and 
 exhibition of their acquirements, and suggested to me the 
 advantage it might be to me to be putting my classes in prep- 
 aration. I at once answered in Latin, " Semper paratus," and 
 continued my usual course of recitation to the day of the 
 exhibition without any change. There being then no hall 
 in the city suitable for such an occasion, a platform and seats 
 were erected in the college yard to accommodate a large 
 audience, and, it being as fine a day as could be desired, a 
 very large number of the inhabitants attended. 
 
 It was arranged to have each class examined by its own 
 instructor, but I prefered to have my classes examined by 
 some one else, as I had confidence in their ability to acquit 
 themselves well, and asked the president to excuse me, which 
 he did, and at the request of the president, Mr. Neil, my 
 classes were examined by Mr. Horatio Cozens, then the most 
 profound and accomplished scholar in Missouri. He gave all 
 my classes a most careful and thorough examination, and 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I05 
 
 closed with the Latin and Greek classes. Having finished, 
 and closed the books, he rose and said he wished to address a 
 few words to the classes he had just examined, and hoped 
 the scholars would give attention to what he would say to 
 them. He was a fine orator, and a man of most pleasing 
 countenance and address ; hut it is not possible for me at this 
 late day to repeat his words, nor, if I could, to give them that 
 beauty and strength he did. The substance of his remarks 
 was that they had distinguished themselves by the accuracy 
 and readiness of their answers, and had demonstrated their 
 perfect knowledge of the meaning of the authors they were 
 studying, and had reason to congratulate themselves on 
 having been placed under such a competent instructor as 
 they were favored with, as was evident from their performance 
 without his presence. He then stated that he had never seen 
 me to his knowledge, but he had seen my scholarship in 
 them, and that had given him full proof that I was a first- 
 class scholar, and ended by a most flattering eulogium on the 
 performances of all my classes. 
 
 A cart load of diplomas from all the colleges of the United 
 States could have added nothing to my reputation as a teacher 
 in St. Louis after that, as Mr. Cuzens' scholarship and judg- 
 ment were known to the whole community to be of the very 
 first order, and he had assigned me my rank among scholars. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ASSUMPTION OF TEACHINGS AS AW OCCUPATION, AND ITS ENTIRE 
 
 SUCCESS. 
 
 My arrangements having been made for teaching in the 
 college an indefinite length of time, and as my duties then 
 required me to take my meals there, I procured rooms and 
 boarding in the house on Second street, nest north of the 
 
106 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 college, in which Mrs. Elliot kept a female boarding-school, 
 the only one then in St. Lonis, and removed my wife from 
 Illinois to it, where she commenced the study of the classics 
 under my instructions, and intended to stay there while I 
 remained at the college. 
 
 She had been there hut two or three days when Governor 
 McNair and his wife called on her and invited her to come to 
 their house and stay as one of their children, while I taught 
 their sons. They could not prevail on her to accept their kind 
 proposal, but she consented to take a suite of rooms in the 
 west wing of their residence on Spruce street, between Main 
 and Second streets, and there we commenced housekeeping 
 October 16, 1823. 
 
 As Mrs. Shepard was an entire stranger in St. Louis, Mrs. 
 M&Nair introduced her to her lady friends as she would have 
 done had she been her daughter, and thus she became 
 acquainted with almost all Mrs. MclSTair's friends in the city, 
 who were very numerous, as she was the first in the rank 
 of female society in St. Louis at that time, and maintained 
 that position during her long residence here. 
 
 Mrs. Shepard has often said in my presence that Mrs, 
 McNair was the most accomplished lady and most exemplary 
 mother she had ever met with in St. Louis or elsewhere. She 
 assisted in forming the first female charitable society in St. 
 Louis, and was one of its first officers, and other acts of her 
 benevolence are still remembered by her old neighbors, while 
 she is doubtless gone to reap the harvest of her labors. 
 Among those whom we often met at the McNair residence 
 were Mrs. Auguste Chouteau, Mrs. Thomas H. Benton, Mrs. 
 Wm. Carr Lane, Mrs. George F. Strother, Mrs. Daniel D. 
 Page, Mrs. Henry Yon Phul, Mrs. Chenie, Sr., Mrs. Joseph 
 Roubideau, Mrs. Brazeau, Mrs. Bernard Pratte, Mrs. Soulard, 
 Mrs. Dr. B. G. Farrar, Mrs. Dr. Walker, Mrs. Billon, the two 
 Mrs. Papin, Mrs. Hunt, Mrs. Dr. Simpson, Mrs. Christy and 
 daughters, Mrs. Benoist, Mrs. Cozens, Mrs. Gamier, Mrs. 
 Bosseron, Mrs. Gratiot, Mrs. Lebarge, Mrs. Berthold, Mrs. 
 Sarpy, Mrs. Danjen, Mrs. Tesson, Mrs. Dumaine, the two Mrs. 
 Paul, Mrs. Forsythe, Mrs. St. Vrain, Mrs. Peter Ferguson, Mrs. 
 Labeaume, Mrs. English, Mrs. Ortis, Mrs. J. Charless, Mrs. 
 Robinson, Mrs. E. Tracy, and Mrs. Massie, a constellation of 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. IO7 
 
 ladies who have done so much, for St. Louis that their names 
 should be preserved in memory as long as the city retains its 
 name. 
 
 Having spent one of the pleasantest years of our lives, we 
 removed, as Governor McNair had sold his house and was 
 about to vacate it. I then rented the most northern house 
 on Fourth street, which stood between Green and Morgan 
 streets, removed to it and put it in fine order, paid the rent 
 and improved the garden ; but before the time had half 
 expired for which I had rented it the landlord contrived to 
 oust me from the premises, and I had taken him through a 
 lawsuit and recovered back my money and costs, besides 
 learning to appreciate real estate more than I ever had before. 
 This lesson was useful to me in after-life, as I then determined 
 to invest my spare means in real estate as soon as I had 
 sufficient to purchase a lot and built a small house. In 
 pursuance of that resolution, in the summer of 1825, I pur- 
 chased a lot of forty-five feet front on St. Charles street, 
 between Fifth and Sixth streets, and built a small house on 
 it that fall. "We removed to our new home in November, 1825. 
 Being entirely out of debt, and both in fine health, our hopes 
 ' and expectations were very buoyant, as we knew almost 
 every person of any distinction in the city, and were regarded 
 as permanent residents. 
 
 Several of the original professors having left the college, 
 and their places being filled by strangers who manifested less 
 interest in the institution than their predecessors, I determined 
 to withdraw at the end of the year, and notified the president 
 of my intention, that he might have due time to engage 
 another teacher to supply my place. He at once offered to 
 increase my salary to as much as they could pay and lessen 
 my duties. I then informed him I thought I could make more 
 money alone than we all could together, and the result verified 
 the prediction. 
 
 I advertised that I would open a private school on the first 
 Monday in 1826, at the southwest corner of Market and Third 
 streets, and solicited public patronage. 
 
 On the day appointed, I opened my private school with 
 about thirty-five scholars, many of whom were- from the 
 college, three of Governor McISTair's sons, three of Judge 
 
108 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Bent's sons, George Knapp, William Ewing, and the two 
 youngest brothers of F. L. Billon, among the number. 
 
 With such a promising lot of youths it needed no prophet 
 to foretell the fate of the school. It was full at once. The 
 Rev. Salmon Giddings then had a private school in his own 
 house, which stood on the south side of Market street, opposite 
 the court-house, and being about to marry Miss Collins, and 
 wishing to do a favor to his Masonic brother and friend, he 
 offered to transfer his school and furniture and rent me his 
 school-room, as I desired it. 
 
 I accepted his proposal, and, without any unpleasant occur- 
 rence, united the two schools. This sudden enlargement of 
 my school rendered it necessary to have an assistant, and 
 then it was that my wife began to assist me in my school, and 
 continued to teach more than twelve years, being one or two 
 years after I left the school to engage in other business. 
 
 I had no ladies in my school when Mrs. Shepard began to 
 teach, but as soon as she made her appearance there our 
 school was overflowing with applications by young ladies to 
 be admitted, and Mrs. Shepard took a few from mothers with 
 whom she was at that time acquainted. 
 
 The first she received was Miss Garnier, the wife of Hon. 
 John Hogan, member elect to Congress ; the second, Miss 
 Caroline Bobb, her intimate associate, now wife of Mr. Alex. 
 Lyle ; third, Miss Martha Farrar, daughter of Dr. B. G. Farrar 
 and wife of Mr. Sweringen ; soon afterwards, Miss Ann Simp- 
 son, daughter of Dr. Simpson and wife of Major- General 
 Smith, United States army, and Miss Julia Page, daughter of 
 D. Page and wife of H. D. Bacon. Others were soon added to 
 the number, until our house was quite too small for our school, 
 and I rented a house near the southwest corner of Second and 
 Walnut streets, and removed my school to it on the 1st of 
 October, 1826. 
 
 Having, as I supposed, a suitable house for my school, I 
 employed my brother-in-law, William Thomas, to assist me, 
 and all went on well until the Circuit Court of St. Louis 
 county commenced its session in the next house south, with 
 Judge Stuart (a great lover of whisky and tobacco smoke) on 
 the bench, a grog-shop in front, and vacant ground all around 
 for teams, talk, noise, and play — which put an end to all 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. IO9 
 
 pleasure, order or progress while it lasted, which, was about 
 five weeks. This quite disgusted me with my new location, 
 and I sought in vain for another, for there were no other 
 private rooms as large in the city at that time. 
 
 The year 1827 had now commenced, when a memorable 
 event occurred in our family — it was the day of the birth of 
 our only child, 
 
 Maey Melinda. 
 
 She was born on Sunday, January 21st, 1827. There were 
 three neighbors present at the time, but none of them now 
 survive. They were Dr. Bernard G. Farrar; Mrs. Metta, a 
 French lady, and Mrs. William H. Pococke, an English lady. 
 Our residence being remote from our school, we leased our 
 house and boarded with Mr. Phineas Bartlett, on the opposite 
 side of the street from our school-house. Here we were well 
 and comfortably situated, and had as fine a school as could 
 be desired, but the noise, bustle and proximity to the court- 
 room incommoded us. To obviate that inconvenience, I 
 purchased a lot on Fourth street, immediately in front of the 
 court-house, thirty-six feet front by one hundred and fifty- 
 five feet in depth to an alley, for four hundred dollars, on 
 which I built a brick school-house during the summer of that 
 year. At that time, Mr. Horatio Cozens lived in a house on 
 the east side of Second street, a little south but nearly oppo- 
 site our school-room; consequently, the crowd about the 
 court-house endangered his little children, as well as those in 
 my charge, and thinking his son William (now the well- 
 know civil engineer) would be more safe with me, he placed 
 him, when about five years old, in my school, where we 
 taught him to read. Kept in this state of anxiety, we were at 
 all times on the alert for the safety of our small pupils, and 
 particularly for him, as he seemed the most exposed, when, 
 not long afterward, a black boy ran to my door and said in 
 great alarm, "A man is killing Mr. Cozens!" Supposing it 
 must be at his own house, I ran in that direction ; but seeing 
 no one about the door, I turned my eyes towards Elm street 
 and saw people running eastwardly in the direction of Judge 
 Penrose's office, and hastened there, where I saw the lifeless 
 body of Mr. Cozens still bleeding, and his murderer, French 
 Strother, a young lawyer, standing near the middle of Elm 
 
IIO AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 street, between Main and Second streets, but a few feet from 
 where he had murdered Mr. Cozens, and appearing the only 
 unconcerned person present, although he was surrounded by 
 a dozen persons watching him to prevent his escape, and one 
 holding the dirk with which he had committed the murder. 
 After viewing this horrid scene, I returned to dismiss my 
 school and get my hat, and then saw a crowd going with the 
 murderer to Justice Peter Ferguson's office, and followed it 
 there to hear the examination of the case. 
 
 On the examination, no cause of irritation or of previous 
 unkind feeling was elicited, nor has any cause since been 
 disclosed ; and as both parties are now dead, the true cause 
 will probably never be fully known. It appeared in the 
 examination that a trial before Justice Penrose, by a jury, was 
 in progress, in which Mr. Cozens was engaged on the part of 
 the defendant, and while addressing the jury, Mr. French 
 Strother walked alone into the office and stood nearly behind 
 Mr. Cozens until he was through with his defence, when, 
 either by low words or signs, he indicated to him that he 
 wished to have a private interview with him outside of the 
 office, and walked out, Mr. Cozens following him to the side- 
 walk. A moment afterwards, Mr. Sutton, a juror, who sat in 
 a window near the door, heard Mr. Cozens say, "You are 
 acting like a savage," and looking out of the window he saw 
 Strother striking at Mr. Cozens with a dirk, which the latter 
 was trying to ward off with his hands and arms. All the 
 people in the office immediately rushed to the door, but before 
 any one got out Mr. Cozens had fallen on the side-walk and 
 was dying, while his murderer was slowly stepping back- 
 wards to the centre of the street, where he was arrested by the 
 constable then present. Thus fell by a base assassin one of 
 the best scholars and brightest ornaments that ever adorned 
 the St. Louis bar and the society of the State, leaving a widow 
 and several little children and a great circle of admiring 
 friends to mourn his irreparable loss, being taken from them 
 in the very meridian of usefulness and life. The murderer 
 was committed to jail to. await his trial, but found means to 
 escape and fled to the Mexican States, where he has lived 
 until within a few years, when he died at Matamoros, in the 
 State of Tamaulipas, with mania potu. 
 
 This was an eventful and prosperous year with us, and our 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. Ill 
 
 patrons seemed to participate in it as well as ourselves, for 
 we had built a good, permanent school-house in a fine loca- 
 tion,' out of noise and danger, and removed to it in October, 
 1827. 
 
 I cannot let this opportunity pass without mentioning with 
 gratitude several persons who patronized us during this year 
 and enabled us to build a house suitable for our business and 
 their children's education. The most prominent among them 
 were Dr. Simpson, Dr. Farrar, Dr. Carr Lane, Messrs. Antoine 
 Chenie, D. D. Page, J. P. Spencer, John Cowie, David Massie, 
 Mr. Mullikin, Elkanah English, David Shepperd, Mr. Lebarge, 
 Lucien Dumaine, Mr. Mills, P. Bartlett, D. B. Hill, James J- 
 Purdy, George Morton, Joseph C. Laveille, S. Mount, Judge 
 Bent, Thornton Grimsley, William Grimsley, Beriah Cleland, 
 Mr. "Walker, John Goodfellow, Major E. Dobyns, Colonel J. 
 B. Brant, Edward Charless, Peter Primm, Mr. Philipson, Mr. 
 Guion, Samuel Hawkins, Ephraim Town, William Renshaw, 
 Joseph Roubideau, A. E. Orme, Mr. Wetzel, Colonel Easton, 
 Joseph Montaigue, Mr. McDonough, St. A. Michau, Jabez 
 Warner, Jacob Cooper, Mrs. Verdrn, B. Mount, Joseph Wal- 
 ton, John Bobb, Mr. Papin, William Mull, Mr. Maddox, Mr. 
 Collet, Thomas Andrews, Mr. Mountrup, Mr. Galletin, R. Hall, 
 P. Dejardin, and Wm. Piggott, to which I must add the name 
 of the late Judge Mary P. Leduc, for he sold the lot to me on 
 a credit, and by his influence among the Papin connections, 
 which is the largest of any in St. Louis, kept most of them in 
 our school while we continued to teach. 
 
 At the time we removed our school to our house on Fourth 
 street, there was no court-house in front, nor was Fourth street 
 graded or passable to Olive street, for a deep gully ran down 
 Fourth street to Pine, then turning south-eastwardly it crossed 
 the block in front of the Planters' House nearly diagonally, 
 and intersected Chesnut street between Third and Fourth, 
 making Chesnut street impassable at that point ; therefore we 
 had no dangers to fear from travelers, nor noise or disturbance 
 from any cause. Our scholars were well pleased, and their 
 parents seemed satisfied and paid me promptly, as my school 
 was full, and the scholars saw I was unable to accommodate 
 one half of those who made application for instruction. Our 
 pupils were industrious, and gave us but little trouble, for 
 
112 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 they were often informed they conld leave the school when 
 they had as mnch knowledge as they desired, and we wonld 
 take some of the many applicants they daily saw refused to 
 fill their vacant places. Thus the time passed pleasantly 
 and profitably to all concerned, and it is very satisfactory 
 to recall those hours and scenes to my memory at this 
 distant day, as I know so many of the pupils have made 
 good use of the knowledge imparted to them. 
 
 At that time banks and banking-houses were but little 
 known in St. Louis ; United States bank notes and coin 
 were the circulating medium, and all or nearly all the business 
 transacted for cash in hand. Lead and peltries were the 
 chief exports. The money in circulation was mainly 
 brought into the country by immigrants, and, as there was 
 no homestead act then, much of it was paid at once into 
 the land offices for government land, which left but little in 
 circulation among the people, and kept prices low and 
 business dull. These causes greatly retarded the growth 
 and improvement of the city ; but far the greatest obstruction 
 was the fact that nearly all the ground lying west of Seventh 
 street (the old western city limits), bounded by Franklin 
 avenue, Grand avenue and Lafayette avenue, belonged to 
 four old gentlemen, who had long used the same as farms, 
 and were unwilling to break them up into town lots, and then 
 spend the evening of their days in disposing of them, collect- 
 ing the money, and watching it. The example of Henry 
 Shaw had not then taught the people of St. Louis how to 
 expend money for refined, rational pleasure ; nor had Benton 
 said, " There is the East — there is India ! " Neither had 
 Chouteau's Pond been filled, over which is now built a 
 railroad leading to the Pacific Ocean; or Morse taught the 
 world to telegraph. But St. Louis has had a John Mullanphy, 
 an Ann Biddle, and Anne L. Hunt, to donate and endow 
 hospitals, asylums and schools for the poor, and a Bryant 
 Mullanphy to provide a home for immigrants to the "West. 
 Their names are now immortal. 
 
 I must snatch the name of the venerable Elijah Hay den 
 from oblivion for what he has done for the St. Louis Public 
 Schools. When a boy, he acted as guide to General Marion 
 in the war of the Revolution, and when he was older he was 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. II3 
 
 one of the earliest advocates for the levying of a tax to build 
 school-houses and support schools. He was long one of the 
 directors of the Board of Public Schools. I hope a public 
 school-house in St. Louis may yet be embellished with his 
 name, since he has been long removed to the great city of 
 the dead, and has left no more worthy or lasting record of his 
 life than may be found on the records of the St. Louis Public 
 School Board. 
 
 Besides teaching a day school, I also taught an evening 
 school for the instruction of such as could not attend the 
 former, and among the evening pupils were several who have 
 since distinguished themselves as our most industrious and 
 enterprising citizens. The most remarkable and successful 
 among these was Colonel George Knapp, one of the youngest 
 and smallest of the school, but by his industry in a day 
 school in the two preceding years had become well qualified 
 to make good use of an evening school. He had nothing 
 about him very encouraging more than other scholars, except 
 the affection and good-will of all who knew him for his kind 
 and friendly disposition, and his frank and open countenance. 
 His mother was a widow, with seven young children entirely 
 dependent on their own exertions for their support, and on 
 which they always entirely relied. He had been under my 
 instruction in the St. Louis College about one year, and 
 about the same time in my private school, during which time 
 he had made reputable progress, when his mother requested 
 me to select for him some suitable trade, and procure for him 
 a good situation. It was the first and only task of the kind I 
 have ever undertaken; but as he seemed much attached to 
 me, I was very anxious to obtain the most suitable place. I 
 did not much fancy the occupation of printing for Mm because 
 it required a large capital to begin business ; but I was well 
 acquainted with all the Charless family, and I knew there 
 were no better people. I was also intimate with the family of 
 Dr. Stoddard, the father of Mrs. Charless (now widow of the 
 late Senator Geyer), and that they were all honorable people, 
 and would be kind to a dutiful and well-behaved apprentice 
 boy, and teach him the manners of a polished gentleman. I 
 therefore applied to Mr. Edward Charless to teach him the art 
 of printing, which he said he would do if the boy should 
 
114 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 suit him and the occupation suited the boy. Accordingly, 
 George was sent to the office. 
 
 After a few days, Mr. Charless met me and told me the boy 
 was less than he supposed, not being tall enough to reach the 
 types for setting. I suggested a temporary platform being 
 provided until he grew taller, as he was so young. A few 
 days elapsed, when he met me again and said, " The boy is 
 quite too young for my business ; he cannot carry a full 
 bucket of water, and we use a large quantity in washing the 
 types." I replied, " I suppose your bucket is a heavy oaken 
 one, holding five gallons. Why not get a light tin one suited 
 to his strength ? " He said he would try it, as his wife was 
 pleased with him and his workmen also. After this I heard 
 no want of capacity complained of, nor dereliction of duty. 
 
 When G-eorge had been two or three years with Mr. 
 Charless without any indenture or special contract whatever, 
 and had become very expert and useful, Mr. Charless called 
 on me, and with a very serious countenance informed me that 
 the boy was progressing very well in acquiring a knowledge 
 of his trade, but as he was not indentured, there was great 
 danger that he would be misled and ruined by outsiders, and 
 it would be better to have him bound by indentures. I did 
 not seem to manifest so much interest in the binding part as 
 Mr. Charless, and suggested that the boy was young and 
 might yet prefer some other trade. Mr. Charless replied, 
 " He will never wish to learn any other trade, for he knows 
 that he is worth as much to me as any other person in the 
 office, and all that is wanting is to keep him from roving ; and 
 you can do it, for he will do whatever you say is right." As 
 I found it impossible to persuade him otherwise, I promised 
 to consult with G-eorge and his mother and do as as they 
 should desire, but that I would do nothing that either objected 
 to or were not consulted on, or which I thought objectiona- 
 ble. On viewing the subject in all its phases, it was agreed 
 I should become George's guardian, with his and his mother's 
 approbation, Mr. Charless to be my security on the guardian's 
 bond and pay all the fees, and I, after the appointment, 
 to apprentice George to Mr. Charless until he should become 
 twenty years of age. 
 
 All this was accordingly done, and George returned to the 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPAKD. II5 
 
 Missouri Republican printing office, where that veteran prin- 
 ter and editor, Mr. Nathaniel Paschall, was foreman, and 
 really conducted the whole "business of the office, and, with 
 him as his instructor,, and guide, completed his apprenticeship 
 and formed his character. In all the vicissitudes of the last 
 forty years, these two gentlemen have remained generally 
 engaged in printing the same paper, and, although in different 
 positions, still together so far that the history of that great 
 paper is their history. 
 
 The Missouri Republican, under their direction and skill, 
 has grown from a weekly sheet of medium size, worked off by 
 hand, to the mammoth-sized daily issued Missouri Republi- 
 can of the present day, worked off by steam on one of Hoe's 
 largest rotary presses. 
 
 Soon after Mr. Knapp had arrived at his maj ority, he mar- 
 ried Miss Eleanor McCartan, who had been one of our 
 scholars, and now has ten as fine children as adorn any gen- 
 tleman's family. Seven are sons and three daughters. Mr. 
 Knapp's industry and economy have enabled him to acquire 
 an ample estate and do much for his friends and the public. 
 His brother, Colonel John Knapp, another of our scholars, 
 appears to have fallen but little behind his brother in enter- 
 prise and energy, and nearly with equal success. He also 
 married one of our scholars, Miss Wright, and is one of the 
 present proprietors of the Missouri Republican. They both 
 volunteered and served rinder General Taylor in Mexico, and 
 are now in the full tide of usefulness and enterprise in this 
 city, where no men are better known. 
 
 While I mention those who have so remarkably distin- 
 guished themselves, I must not overlook others whose sterling 
 worth, industry and perseverance have carried them into the 
 first rank of useful, enterprising and eminent citizens. I will 
 first mention four who have passed away at mid-day of life in 
 the full tide of hope, success and usefulness, and all left 
 among us wives and young children to mourn their irreparable 
 loss and bereavement. They were Chauvin Lebeau, Charles 
 Sanguinette, John Spence, and Edward Tracy, who were all 
 so well-known, and have left us so recently, that their names 
 will recall their virtuous actions without my recounting them. 
 
 To these I should add the name of the late William Simp- 
 
Il6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 son, son of Dr. Kobert Simpson, an artist, who, although he 
 died young, has left specimens of his skill in the portraits of 
 several of our well-known citizens that will compare favorably 
 with those of our most celebrated artists. 
 
 Among the living who have often of late attracted my 
 attention by their prominent position in the business and 
 society of St. Louis, and have often been mentioned with 
 pleasure by Mrs. Shepard as having been our scholars, are a 
 large number whom I occasionally meet with in the streets 
 and greet with great pleasure, for it recalls the days of my 
 activity and many pleasing reminiscences of the scenes 
 through which I have passed in preparing them for. that 
 theatre of usefulness and honor in which they all seem so 
 actively engaged. It will not, I hope, be expected of me that 
 I can record the names of all the deserving or successful ones, 
 but I will mention a few of the prominent scholars in both 
 the male and female schools who seem at present to have 
 been successful in life beyond their fellows, and leave it for 
 others to point out the causes of the difference between the 
 most successful and those who appear less so now, but are 
 still active and hopeful. 
 
 While engaged in my professional duties, I endeavored to 
 teach and treat all my scholars alike, and I think all the 
 causes of the difference in their success has arisen from 
 circumstances outside of my school-room or my acts. I will 
 here state the remarkable fact that I taught above fourteen 
 years in St. Louis, and always with a full school, yet of all the 
 great number I taught in the St. Louis College, or in my pri- 
 vate schools, not one has been indicted and convicted of a 
 crime, nor has one of my female scholars so far misconducted 
 herself as to exclude her from the society of honorable ladies ; 
 so that to be recognized as one of the pupils of Shepard's 
 school has long been a sufficient passport to place any one 
 in the best society of St. Louis. And now, that more than 
 twenty-five years have passed since we closed our schools, it 
 is not probaSle that there will be any great changes in the 
 character of our scholars hereafter. 
 
 One of my most successful and enterprising scholars, Louis 
 Primeau, a fur trader, is now little known among his old 
 associates ; but in the mountains, and also among all the red 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. II7 
 
 men of the west, no one is better or more favorably known ; 
 and his schoolmates, the Labarges and Brazeaus, are equally 
 as well-known by those who navigate the Missouri river. 
 Messrs. Turner Maddox and James Verdin have gained their 
 positions in society by their own exertions alone. Captain 
 Ezra English has shown what can be done by persevering 
 industry and economy. 
 
 Mrs. Shepard, who was a close observer of boys, used to 
 remark that John Piatt and George Knapp resembled each 
 other more in disposition and industry than any of our pupils, 
 and that they would be successful in business because they 
 relied on nothing else. They have both shown that her judg- 
 ment was correct, and she lived to see it verified. 
 
 It was a pleasure to teach such scholars, and we had whole 
 families like them, which greatly relieved the toil of teaching. 
 Such families as Messrs. Tracy, Wetzel, Mills, Simpson, 
 Papin, White, Letcher, and Dumaine, I never was tired of 
 teaching, and they seemed never wearied by learning. 
 
 To these I should add a great number of others, who, 
 although they did not complete their education with us, 
 remained sufficiently long for us to observe their capacity and 
 traits of character. Among the prominent of those who dis- 
 tinguished themselves in their several avocations by their 
 assiduity, are Messrs. Frederick Colburne, the railroad agent ; 
 Honorable Barton Bates, Judge of the Supreme Court ; Robert 
 Hall, and the Glasgow Brothers, wholesale grocers ; Jotham 
 Bigelow, the builder ; Samuel Mills, the portrait painter ; Mr. 
 Speck, importer of fancy German goods ; Jerome and Napo- 
 leon Mulliken, steamboat officers ; Z. Wetzell, the wholesale 
 druggist ; August Pococke, the tin and copper manufacturer ; 
 John Middleton, the iron dealer and clerk ; Br. Spence ; Br. 
 Horine, the dentist ; John Yates, the plasterer ; Charles Klunk, 
 the United States mail agent ; Mr. Ortise, the writing master ; 
 Mr. Hawkins, the gunsmith ; Mr. Floyd, merchant of Potosi ; 
 and I might add pages of names of others who deserve my 
 long and grateful remembrance for their dutiful conduct in 
 school, and the kind and affectionate attention they have 
 always paid to Mrs. Shepard and myself since we ceased to 
 be their instructors. 
 
 By the year 1829, the giant strides of St. Louis towards 
 
I I 8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 becoming a great city had been noted by even the casual 
 observer. The pillory and whipping-post, which had stood on 
 the public square in front of my school-house, had been 
 removed, and a new court-house erected on its site; a new 
 market-house was being built, and a branch of the United 
 States Bank established. Encouraged by so many signs of 
 prosperity, I built the two-story brick house now standing on 
 Fourth street opposite the east front of the court-house, in 
 which we taught our large schools many years with uniform 
 and unparalleled success. 
 
 In the meantime, the city grew apace, and the old land- 
 marks were broken up and removed to give place to the new 
 improvements and new order of things. Several of the great 
 landholders died, and their estates were divided and sold. 
 Others, being more liberal and far-seeing, divided their lands, 
 sold a part and improved a part, and thus the opening was 
 made for the wide-spread improvement that followed. Having 
 been impressed with the conviction, even long before I had 
 seen it, that the site of St. Louis was the best. adapted of any 
 on this continent for a large inland city, I have, to the extent 
 of my ability, tried to act in unison with that impression, and 
 to identify myself with its best interests and welfare. 
 
 As I am writing my own biography, and not the history of 
 St. Louis, I intend only to touch upon so much of its history 
 as will show the part I have acted in it ; and I will take this 
 opportunity to say, I have never taken an active part in 
 politics, or been present at a caucus or political convention of 
 any kind, in my long and eventful life. Yet I took interest 
 enough in the welfare of my country to go forward and vote, 
 and act decisively in any emergency; and as a volunteer 
 fireman and soldier, very few are better known in the city. At 
 the formation of the Central Fire Company, I was appointed 
 on the committee to draft its constitution, which I did, and 
 acted as its secretary as long as that office was without emolu- 
 ment, and no longer. 
 
 In the erection of the Planters' House, I took an early and 
 lively interest, and paid the first money advanced toward its 
 completion, and had twenty-five shares of one hundred dol- 
 lars each in it. I therefore watched its progress with care and 
 anxiety, and having discovered that the directors first elected 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I 1 9 
 
 had mismanaged what funds had been advanced, and wonld ■ 
 render the company insolvent, and thus be unable to finish 
 the house with the one hundred thousand dollars subscribed, 
 I endeavored at the second election to have a more efficient 
 board elected ; but having failed in the effort, I was beginning 
 to expose the acts of the board, when one of their warm 
 friends desired me to be silent, and accept ten building lots 
 on Easton, Victor and Anna streets for my twenty-five shares 
 in the new hotel, on which I had paid two thousand five hun- 
 dred dollars. I therefore desisted, and accepted the ten lots as 
 proposed. Soon after, the whole interest of the stockholders 
 was sold to pay the debts of the company, and the building 
 was finished by the purchasers without the stockholders real- 
 izing one dollar for what had been paid on their shares. 
 
 In the autumn of 1832, the' Asiatic cholera made its appear- 
 ance in St. Louis, and many of the citizens left town. One 
 writer of the history of St. Louis states that all the 
 citizens left who were able to do so, which was not the fact, 
 for many remained and did their duty by assisting their own 
 families and their neighbors as usual. It was a gloomy 
 season indeed, but Mrs. Shepard was a philosopher who could 
 not be panic-stricken or alarmed at unavoidable dangers ; 
 and although we had it in our power to leave as much as any 
 other family, we remained at home and continued our schools 
 as usual, except when called away to assist our neighbors. 
 We, in turn, spent alternate nights with our sick neighbors 
 while the disease prevailed, which was about four weeks. 
 The disease returned the next year, but with less virulence, 
 and its treatment was better understood, so that although it 
 prevailed much longer than in the previous year, it did not 
 create a panic as before, nor much alarm. One of the latest 
 subjects of the epidemic at this second visitation was Mrs. 
 Shepard, who was attacked while I was absent from the city, 
 and had passed the crisis of the disease before my return. 
 Dr. Call, her attending physician, informed me that although 
 her attack was very sudden and severe, she met it with the 
 same coolness and intrepidity she had always exhibited when 
 attending her neighbors suffering under the same frightful 
 malady, and which seemed quite as important as medicine to 
 carry patients successfully through the trying ordeal. 
 
120 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 • My school was very full notwithstanding this awful scourge 
 was in our house, and to show the condition and good order 
 of our school at that time, as well as the affection of our 
 pupils, I must relate what transpired in it immediately after 
 the announcement of Mrs. Shepard's sickness, which was 
 on Saturday morning. On the Monday morning following, all 
 her eldest pupils came to visit her, and, seeing her prostrate 
 condition, knew she would not be able to resume her labors 
 in school for several weeks. Regretting the necessity of the 
 suspension of the school, they undertook to obviate it, and, 
 selecting one of their number as best qualified to instruct, 
 urged Mrs. Shepard to let Miss Priscilla Spence (now Mrs. 
 John T. Martin, of Brooklyn, New York) take charge of her 
 department of the school, and all would assist her. She 
 consented. The school then proceeded as usual until the 
 health of Mrs. Shepard permitted her to resume her labors, 
 when Miss Spence took her place in class, and all rejoiced 
 together at their teacher's return. This kind and accomplished 
 scholar, after leaving school, was married to Mr. John T. 
 Martin, then a well-known clothing merchant of St. Louis, 
 who soon removed to New York, where he acquired a princely 
 estate and raised a fine family of most industrious and 
 enterprising children, and has since retired to a splendid 
 mansion he has purchased in the city of Brooklyn, opposite 
 New York. 
 
 In 1834, the estate of Mr. Aug. Chouteau having been 
 divided, and a considerable portion having found its way into 
 the hands of speculators, sales of real estate became of more 
 frequent occurrence, so that in a comparatively short period 
 the area of the city's improvements was greatly enlarged. 
 Being offered the whole block on which the Turners' Hall 
 now stands for the sum of seven hundred dollars, I purchased 
 it. It is bounded north by Market street, east by Ninth 
 street, south by Walnut street, and west by Tenth street, and 
 is now, at the end of thirty years, worth one hundred thousand 
 dollars. This block of ground was conveyed to our only 
 child by Mrs. Shepard and myself by a deed dated July 1, 
 1845. She owns it still, and by that deed it will descend to 
 her heirs after her death. Our object in conveying such a 
 piece of real estate at that early age was to give our daughter 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 121 
 
 something that would be as lasting as possible, and most 
 likely to attach her to St. Lonis. To people who had resided 
 a long time in St. Louis, my purchase of a block of ground, 
 with water upon it deep enough to drown a man, seemed to 
 indicate a willingness to invest in that kind of property, and 
 in 1835 several persons offered to sell me lots of that descrip- 
 tion at low prices. Having the same confidence in the growth 
 of the city which I had long entertained, I purchased a half 
 block on the west side of Sixth street, near the Central Market, 
 between Spruce and Myrtle streets, for the sum of eight 
 hundred and seventy-five dollars, which I still own, and 
 receive an annual ground rent of twenty-four hundred dollars 
 for it, and all the taxes paid by the lessee. The half block 
 has now fourteen three-story houses on it, and is worth fifty 
 thousand dollars exclusive of the buildings. 
 
 The safety of money invested in lands that can be leased 
 to yield an income of six per centum has induced me to prefer 
 it to any other investment, and I have done well in all my 
 operations tending in that direction. It constitutes the whole 
 secret or science by which I have acquired a large and 
 productive real estate. My practice has been to purchase 
 low-priced unimproved lands, but not with the hope or 
 expectation of selling them; and I never have sold any unless 
 I obtained a sum of money which, if put at interest at six 
 per centum, would produce a sum greater than the rent of the 
 land. Thus I purchased block No. 157, on which the O'Fallon 
 Mill stands, at the junction of Fourth and Fifth streets, for 
 three hundred and five dollars, and sold it for fifteen thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 The foregoing property was all purchased at private sale. I 
 have very seldom been able to purchase at a public sale, as 
 some one would outbid me if there was a good bargain in land 
 pending. 
 
 Sixteen years had elapsed since I left the State of New 
 York, and I had suffered great annoyance on account of 
 my participation in fitting out the Columbian expedition, as I 
 expected to be called on for the seventy-one bonds, or to pay 
 the remaining debt as soon as my present situation should be 
 known to the creditors. I had watched the progress of 
 Columbia with great solicitude during that long period. I 
 9 
 
122 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 had seen its independence acknowledged by nearly all the 
 world, but- 1 also saw that it was distracted by internal 
 dissensions until its bonds were quite valueless in the money 
 market, and the republic was divided into two republics, 
 Venezuela and New Grenada, and its name omitted on the 
 map of the world. Notwithstanding all this, I had followed 
 the prudent rule of retaining possession of all documents that 
 on their face appeared to be valuable, and thereby, at that 
 late day, was relieved of all anxiety on account of my 
 participation in the affairs of the Columbians. 
 
 My last acts in an affair that has had great influence on the 
 course and actions of my life, and affected many others 
 besides myself, are the most agreeable transactions to recall 
 to my recollection now, in the last years' of a long life, after 
 the lapse of nearly thirty years, and I will here relate them. 
 
 In April, 1836, having suspended my school for that purpose, 
 I returned to the city of New York, determined to relieve 
 myself from the anxiety under which I had long labored, let 
 the result be what it might. Having carefully preserved my 
 bank certificate of special deposit, on the day of my arrival 
 in the city I employed a man to guide me to the Bank of 
 America, where I had deposited the bonds, and showing the 
 certificate I asked if I could see them. The teller looked 
 carefully over the paper, and then at me, and said, " I must 
 see before I can answer. This is an old document, and drawn 
 before my time." He then sent for the cashier, to whom he 
 showed the certificate. The cashier said he had no doubt the 
 bonds were in the bank, and could be found, but not imme- 
 diately ; that he would get them in the morning. Accordingly, 
 the next morning, after describing their appearance and 
 exhibiting the one I held, they were shown to me. This made 
 me quite easy, and I went in search of my old friends, but 
 found the city so very much changed that I could scarcely 
 find a place I recognized. All seemed new except the burnt 
 district, for the great fire had lately marked that place. I 
 therefore employed another guide, and soon found one of my 
 old friends and informed him who I was. He said I had 
 changed very much, if, indeed, I could be the same person. 
 I showed him the Columbian bond, at which his sight seemed 
 brightened, and he appeared willing to acknowledge me when 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I 23 
 
 he found I had not forgotten the Masonic lectures or lost sight 
 of the principles and landmarks of the Order. He said he had 
 never been able to hear from me after the day I left, although 
 he had seen nearly or quite all the rest concerned in the 
 Columbian affair ; that they were always in want of something, 
 and inquiring for me, and that he was in the habit of saying 
 I was undoubtedly dead. On inquiry, I found the purser's 
 account books had been obtained on my order and held by 
 one of the creditors until his death, which had been thirteen 
 years before that time. By them it appeared that about thirty 
 thousand dollars had been due the deceased at the abandon- 
 ment of the expedition, and that the books and papers were 
 still preserved by his family. I also learned that the creditors 
 had honorably and amicably settled with the commercial 
 broker, and divided pro rata the proceeds of what he had 
 been able to collect for them ; otherwise, everything remained 
 as I had left it so long ago. 
 
 "We waited but a short time before we went to visit our 
 surviving brother, who resided a considerable distance up 
 town. In conversation on the street, I told my friend I had 
 that day seen all those old bonds, when he at once seized me 
 by the hand, shook it, and embraced me, until the passers-by 
 stopped to view him with wonder. When we arrived at our 
 destination, I was announced by our friend by name, and the 
 gentleman we sought came and spoke to us as though we had 
 met the day before. After a few commonplace remarks, my 
 friend who accompanied me asked the other if he recognized 
 me as an old acquaintance. He replied, " JSTo ; the name is 
 familiar, but I do not recollect ever having seen him before." 
 He was then informed who I was, and said, "I have not 
 thought of him in ten years but as one who was dead, and 
 have often wished to know the time and place of his decease." 
 I then informed them I had not done a single act in relation to 
 the Columbian enterprise since I left the city on the last even- 
 ing of 1819, and would never- leave the city until that affair 
 was so far settled that I should be entirely relieved from all 
 responsibility, either real or imaginary, as it had given me 
 more uneasiness than all the other acts of my life ; that I still 
 had control of all the means I ever had, and thought I would 
 be able to arrange matters satisfactorily. My friends assured 
 
124 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 me nothing should Ibe wanting on their part to help me,, 
 and recommended having an attorney to assist and advise me, 
 saying they would pay all expenses to have the settlement 
 made in a legal and proper manner. "We spent the remainder 
 of the day in speaking of the past and digesting our own 
 plans for a full and final settlement. 
 
 On the following day we visited the widow of the deceased 
 creditor to obtain the hooks, but could only learn from her 
 that the whole of the account books found in possession of 
 the deceased at his death had passed into the hands of the 
 administrator ; and there they were all found, carefully boxed, 
 and the estate settled. As soon as the administrator discov- 
 ered that search was being made for those books, he got out 
 new letters of administration, and seemed more interested 
 than any of us. This, however, did not operate against me, 
 for they all manifested a disposition to act honorably ; and 
 after spending two days in arranging and adjusting the 
 accounts, it was determined what amount each party ought to 
 be paid. 
 
 On my part, I had shown frankly that I had possession of 
 seventy-one Columbian bonds of one thousand dollars each, 
 dated at Maracaybo, in Yenezuela, July 1, 1819; that the 
 bonds were worth sixty-eight cents on the dollar ; and that I 
 had come from Missouri to New York especially for the 
 purpose of settling a demand which was valid in honor, but 
 not in law, as soon as the Venezuelians had determined to pay 
 all the Columbian bonds issued at Maracaybo to carry on the 
 war of independence while they were united to New Grenada 
 as the Columbian Republic. In this position of the accounts, 
 it appeared that about thirty-one thousand dollars was due to 
 the estate, eight thousand to one individual, and nine thousand 
 to the other ; that the bonds were worth forty-eight thousand 
 two hundred and eighty dollars, besides the interest, and that 
 the bonds had but little over three years to run. Matters 
 remained in this condition until Monday, when we met by 
 appointment at the house of the administrator, on account of 
 the books and papers being there, and prepared the docu- 
 ments for the final settlement of this long-standing account. 
 
 On the settlement, it was found I had but one hundred 
 and sixty-three dollars left for all my expenses and time 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 125 
 
 spent, as well as for my share of the money furnished to 
 purchase the armament. Yet I was so anxious to "be relieved 
 from all responsibility that I would not bring that subject up 
 for consideration, and as soon as all the receipts for payment 
 in full were signed, we went to the bank, where I received the 
 seventy bonds and distributed them, saying, " It is safer for 
 you to sell these and get the money, than for me to do it, 
 although I have had a bid for all of them at one house ;" and 
 then, putting the bond I had kept about my person so long 
 into the hands of the administrator, I said, " This is my last 
 act as a Columbian officer." He replied, " Sir, this is the 
 greatest act of your life. There are but few who would have 
 done it." He then gave me my vouchers, with the proper 
 receipts, and a check for the balance due me. The other 
 gentlemen also gave me like receipts and vouchers. Thus, 
 after more than sixteen years of anxiety, I was entirely 
 relieved from all responsibility undertaken in behalf of the 
 Columbians. 
 
 When we had our business completed, one of my friends 
 said to me, " We had nearly forgotten you, but shall never be 
 so near it again. You have lost money in this transaction, 
 while I think we have not, and it has been saved by you ; we 
 must not let you sustain a loss." He then drew a roll of bank 
 notes out of his pocket and handed it to me, saying, " This is 
 from all of us." We then shook hands and separated. When 
 I examined the roll of notes I found it to contain one thou- 
 sand dollars, a large sum at that time, and highly appreciated 
 from having been received at a period when I could use it to 
 great advantage in improving our vacant lots. 
 
 I then spent about three months in visiting the place of my 
 nativity in the State of Vermont, and also where I had spent 
 my happy schoolboy days in Massachusetts. I walked about 
 those places alone where thirty years 'before I had played and 
 gamboled with my classmates, all of whom seemed to return 
 fresh into my memory, with their histories as far as I had 
 known them. I also visited my kindred and old neighbors in 
 that vicinity, and enjoyed the pleasing melancholy which 
 arises in sensitive minds on visiting the place of their nativ- 
 ity, or places once much frequented and then again visited, 
 and in conversing with the old inhabitants and learning the 
 history and fate of old associates, neighbors, and friends. 
 
126 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 On my way homewards, I visited my aged mother, and 
 brother and sisters, near my father's old mansion on Lake 
 Ontario, none of whom I had seen during the last sixteen 
 years. Three of my youngest brothers had died in the mean- 
 time. The face of the country had been greatly improved, 
 and the canals appeared nearly as perfect and extensive as 
 they do at this day. I made but a short stay there, as I 
 intended to spend the next summer in visiting the most inter- 
 esting places in the United States with my family, and this 
 vicinity in particular. 
 
 Passing through Buffalo and Chicago on my way home by 
 the Lakes, I viewed those places and considered their loca- 
 tions and their advantages, hearing the laudations of those 
 interested in their growth and prosperity, and the compari- 
 sons made between the sites of those places and St. Louis. In 
 answer to them, I said then, as I would now, " If you could 
 have my eyes to look through, you would see that neither of 
 those places has advantages half equal to St. Louis, and art 
 can never change their positions permanently." All three of 
 these places have advanced with most astonishing strides 
 since that time. 
 
 I returned to St. Louis and resumed my labors in school 
 and continued to teach until May, 1837, when I was elected to 
 the office of justice of the peace for St. Louis township, to 
 fill the office made vacant by the resignation of Daniel Hough, 
 Esq. I was then entirely out of debt, and had acquired by 
 teaching an estate that I then estimated to be worth fifty 
 thousand dollars, and I therefore considered my vocation a 
 success. 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I 27 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FOUR YEARS IN THE OFFICE OF JUSTICE OF THE PEACE. 
 
 As soon as my patrons learned that I had been elected to 
 an office that would compel me to leave my school, they 
 began to call on me, the French people in particular, who had 
 been longest acquainted with me, and those who had female 
 scholars in Mrs. Shepard's department, and all objected to the 
 breaking up or even the partial discontinuance of the school. 
 It was in vain that I recommended other private schools, for 
 there were no public schools then in St. Louis. They would 
 not listen to a change, and I perceived they would be greatly 
 disappointed if I discontinued our school. I therefore hired 
 Mr. Josiah Brown to assist Mrs. Shepard, and she continued 
 our school nearly two years longer, with good success, when 
 we discontinued it on our account, and allowed our employee 
 to continue it on his own in our school-rooms. 
 
 Mrs. Shepard had been a teaeher more than twelve years, 
 and I had taught eighteen years. We had taught together in 
 our private schools eleven years, and had one hundred and 
 eighty-one scholars present the last day we taught together. 
 
 I have always been more fond of teaching than any other 
 kind of business, and have been attached to my scholars, and 
 felt, and still feel, an affection for them, and a great desire 
 for their welfare and happiness. While they were under my 
 charge, I urged them forward as fast as possible, and I meet 
 them now with pleasure, as all seem to be acting an honora- 
 ble part in the world, and some in almost every position have 
 distinguished themselves. 
 
 During the first year of my term in office, there were but 
 four justices and one constable in St. Louis city and town- 
 ship ; therefore those officers had as much business as they 
 could attend to, and, as I had a very extensive acquaintance, 
 I had a large share of the business, and was compelled to 
 employ a swift penman to assist me as clerk. There had been 
 much business done on credit, and consequently there were 
 many suits which put a large quantity of money in the aggre- 
 gate into the hands of the constable, who was very popular 
 at the time, and very liberal withal. 
 
128 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 After being in office a few months, I discovered that all the 
 small executions were returned, but the large ones were not, 
 and cautioned the constable that he had become liable for the 
 amount of them. He replied, " You have as much business of 
 your own as you will get safely through with these times." I 
 was vexed at his remark, but was silent. On the next day he 
 handed me an execution which I had issued sixty days before 
 for over one hundred dollars, in favor of Henry Yon Phul, and 
 said he wished me to renew it by order of the plaintiff. I 
 informed him I was not authorized to do it; but when he 
 should make his written return on the writ, I would at once 
 act as the plaintiff directed, either by issuing an alias execu- 
 tion or otherwise, but I would do nothing that could involve 
 me in trouble. He took the execution and left me, .and the 
 plaintiff lost this debt. 
 
 I had become a member of Wildey Lodge JS"o. 2, 1. O. O. F., 
 of which I am still a member ; and as our lodge met on Olive 
 street each Tuesday night, I had occasion to pass the consta- 
 ble's office on my way home after each meeting of the lodge, 
 frequently at a late hour. On one of these evenings I had a 
 friend with me, and he, observing a light through the transom, 
 said, " Let us stop ; Dan Busby is in. He has collected some 
 money for me, and will not pay me only at his office, and he 
 is never in while there is daylight." We therefore drew 
 near the door, when we heard a quarrel in progress concern- 
 ing the rules of a game at cards called "brag." It soon 
 subsided, however, and the parties seemed to settle the matter 
 by taking a drink and beginning the game anew. Having 
 satisfied himself that all was peaceful within, my friend 
 knocked for admittance. Not succeeding, we passed on 
 towards our own homes, a few yards distant. 
 
 While walking home, my friend asked me to go and 
 demand his money of the constable the next morning for him. 
 I declined doing so, but accompanied him in the morning, and 
 he got a check for his money. Being offended at not obtain- 
 ing the money, he remarked, " We heard the rattling of ten 
 times as much money here last night as would have paid me." 
 This imprudent remark induced the constable to follow me 
 immediately to my office and charge me with meddling with 
 his affairs. Knowing his enmity was now unavoidable, I de- 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. llg 
 
 termined to begin the defence before there was an onslaught. 
 He had in his hands about twelve hundred dollars collected 
 for me as administrator of the estate of James P. Spencer, 
 deceased. 'I therefore asked him to pay over eleven hundred 
 dollars of that money, and tendered the receipt for it. He 
 said I yefc had six months to report in, and he would pay it 
 before that time. I then made a formal demand for the 
 money, but he still refused to pay it ovt r. I therefore called 
 immediately on Mr. Charles D. Drake, and, showing him the 
 papers, asked him to bring suit for me. He replied, "I am 
 Mr. Daniel Busby's legal adviser, and cannot assist you now." 
 At this moment the constable entered his office, and I passed 
 out. I then employed Mr. Thomas B. Hudson to commence 
 the suit ; but before he had time to examine the papers, the 
 constable came into my office and said, " There is your 
 money," at the same time laying down a roll of bills on my 
 table. I immediately gave him the receipt tendered him 
 before. I had no doubt Mr. Drake advised him to pay the 
 money over, in order to avoid the cost and trouble of a law- 
 suit. On the roll of bills being examined by my daughter, it 
 was found to contain twelve hundred dollars, so I returned 
 one hundred dollars to him the next morning, which was on 
 Thursday, and saw him no more for several weeks, for he 
 dashed about the city with a large hickory cane, collecting 
 every dollar he could, and, to avoid paying any one, kept 
 away from his office, uttering complaints and threats against 
 me as his only enemy, on earth. On the Saturday following, 
 he took his family on board a steamboat and left for New 
 Orleans. 
 
 The next day being Sunday, and the day on which William 
 Mull, his deputy, posted the constable's books, I called at 
 the office. At a glance, on entering, I saw Mull had on the 
 table all the executions in the constable's office, and I asked 
 him what he was doing with them. He said he was going to 
 return all that had been paid to the justices who issued them 
 for Busby. I then asked him for those I had issued, and, on 
 receiving them, said, "Now what are you going to do with 
 those uncollected, since Mr. Busby has left without leaving a 
 dime to pay any of all these plaintiffs." He made no answer, 
 and I walked off with the executions, which, on examination, 
 
I3O AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 I found amounted to more than three thousand dollars that I 
 was confident he had not paid over, and, as there were three 
 other justices, I was sure he held over ten thousand dollars 
 belonging to different plaintiffs, with which he had absconded. 
 
 Feeling hound by duty as well as interest to notify his 
 official bondsmen, I called on Mr. John H. Gray early the next 
 morning and informed him of what had transpired, requesting 
 him to avoid mentioning my name in connection with the 
 affair. On hearing this, Mr. Gray's face seemed to change its 
 configuration miraculously, and, after looking a moment at 
 the large bundle of executions, hastened down the street to 
 inform Colonel Thornton Grimsley, the other bondsman on 
 the constable's official bond, of some thousands of dollars. 
 
 It being the day of the municipal election, the news of the 
 defalcation was circulated throughout the city, but scarcely 
 credited by those who had most assisted Mr. Busby, and who 
 were still his warm friends and advocates ; and most promi- 
 nent among them was Mr. Charles D. Drake, the attorney. 
 On the morning after the election, Mr. Drake met me in the 
 street, and, with an air peculiar to himself, informed me that I 
 had circulated a report that Daniel Busby was a defaulter, 
 and that he would return in a few days and demand that 
 satisfaction of me which any gentleman had a right to 
 demand of one who had circulated a calumnious report 
 against him, and I would be bound by honor to satisfy him. 
 I quickly informed Mr. Drake that if Mr. Busby would come 
 back and pay his debts I would give him that satisfaction 
 which one gentleman had a right to demand of another, and, 
 moreover, I would waive the return of Mr. Busby if Mr. 
 Drake, or any of his friends who ranked as high, would ask 
 satisfaction on his behalf ; that I would give it to him, and not 
 ask a longer time for preparation than was necessary to pro- 
 cure a twelve-foot square room and two double-barreled 
 shot-guns. At this, friend Charles walked on, and in the 
 afternoon of the same day I saw him completing the papers 
 in the office of justice Joseph Walsh for a suit in attachment 
 against D. Busby. 
 
 Colonel Grimsley started in pursuit of Mr. Busby on the 
 next steamboat that left St. Louis, and overtook him at Gal- 
 veston, in the republic of Texas, and brought him back to St. 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 13 1 
 
 Louis, full of wrath and threatenings against me. I was soon 
 informed of his return by several persons who seemed anxious 
 to know what course I would pursue. I was silent, however, 
 and at my usual hour of dinner returned home and found his 
 sister-in-law at our house, crying, wringing her hands, and 
 imploring my wife and daughter to dissuade me from going 
 out again, as her brother-in-law would surely kill me, for he 
 was armed with a double-barreled shot-gun, and had been 
 watching to shoot me in my yard from the windows of a 
 house near by, and if he could not see me there he would 
 shoot me in the street or in my office. I informed her I did not 
 thank her for her pretended manifestations of solicitude for 
 my safety ; that I was able at all times to defend myself ; that 
 I had no doubt Busby had sent her there to disturb the quiet 
 of my family, and that I wished her to hasten home and 
 inform him that my family was less troubled for my safety 
 than for his, and that there was more probability he would 
 avoid me or his creditors than that either of us would avoid 
 him. She soon drew down her veil and left, and I went about 
 my business as usual, without being molested by any further 
 belligerent demonstrations. 
 
 Messrs. Gray and Grimsley paid the amount of his official 
 bond, and other parties lost about forty thousand dollars by 
 his defalcation. 
 
 About that time, great efforts were being made to get our 
 present public school system into operation ; and if there is 
 any one act of ,my life that I look back on with more pleasure 
 than another, it is the part I took in favor of it. By legisla- 
 tive act, there was a vote of the citizens to be taken to decide 
 whether we would tax ourselves to build houses and put the 
 system into full operation. As soon as the day was appointed 
 for the election, I began to exert myself in favor of the tax. I 
 had a good number of tenants, and went to them all individu- 
 ally and asked them to vote for the law, and also to bring 
 their friends to the polls. I visited my old patrons, who were 
 very numerous, and urged them to assist by their votes and 
 influence; and on the day of the election exerted all my 
 ability, up to the last moment, to secure votes for the measure, 
 notwithstanding my landholding neighbors were cautioning 
 me against increasing my own taxes thereby. 
 
I 71 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 I assisted Dr. Cornelius Campbell and the late Judge B. 
 Mullanphy in examining the first teachers for the St. Louis 
 public schools, and gave to the Board of Directors the lot 
 on which School House No. 1 is situated. The first gentle- 
 man selected from the applicants as a teacher in the public 
 schools was Mr. David H. Armstrong, and the first lady was 
 Miss Salisbury, each of whom gave good satisfaction, and 
 did much to give the St. Louis public schools that high 
 character which they have now attained. 
 
 The public schools having opened, our patrons at length 
 seemed willing for us to close our private schools, which we 
 had continued for more than thirteen years, and had assisted 
 in educating more of the most prominent and enterprising 
 persons that compose the society of St. Louis than any other 
 two individuals will probably ever be able to do. It is my 
 intention to append at the end of this record a list of as many 
 of them as I can recollect. 
 
 After we had closed our school in 1839, we spent the sum- 
 mer traveling with our daughter, visiting the great cities of 
 the United States east of us, and the Canada.s as far as the 
 city of Quebec and the Falls of Montmorency, and returned 
 to St. Louis by way of the Lakes and Mackinaw, spend- 
 ing many days viewing the grand scenery that such a trip 
 afforded. 
 
 The Canadian rebellion of 1838 had been suppressed but 
 a few months before our arrival, and a guard was sent with 
 each boat on which we traveled in Canada to insure its safety. 
 All the cities seemed well secured by guards of British 
 soldiers. A brigade of infantry and a squadron of horse 
 were then quartered in Montreal, and we had the pleasure of 
 seeing them, on a fine afternoon, exhibit their military skill 
 and tactics on the Champ de Mars in grand review and sham 
 fight. I had before seen the British manoeuvre, but not so 
 accurately, nor with quite the same safety or pleasure to the 
 persons engaged, and it afforded me a fine opportunity to 
 contrast their display here, in time of peace, with the one I 
 had seen about the same number of them make at Sackett's 
 Harbor in time of war, in May, 1813. 
 
 After our return, I was very busily engaged in the office of 
 justice of the peace for two years, when the time for which I 
 had been elected expired. 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I33 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SHORT EXPERIENCE IN STEAMBOATING. 
 
 I saw the first steamboat that ever navigated American 
 waters, when it arrived at Albany from New York, in 1807, 
 and had made observations on the great changes that from 
 time to time had taken place in their construction, manage- 
 ment, and success. I had also noticed the operations and 
 success of their owners and navigators for more than thirty 
 years, and had come to the conclusion that steamboat stock 
 was the most dangerous property a man could own, and that 
 steamboating was the most uncertain and precarious business 
 a man could engage in, and had therefore resolved to have no 
 stock in a steamboat. I often so expressed myself to my 
 friends, and among them to Louis Dubreuil, who had been 
 my pupil, and done business for me as constable a long time, 
 and knew my aversion to that kind of property. About the 
 first day of the year 1842, I went to Dubreuil's office to see 
 him on business, but found he had gone to sell a steamboat 
 at the wharf; so I went to him and found him engaged in 
 reading the advertisement of sale of the steamboat we were 
 on. When he finished, he asked for bidders, and called on 
 me to start the bidding. I did so at five hundred dollars, 
 and immediately six hundred, seven hundred, and then eight 
 hundred dollars, were bid successively by three different 
 persons, when Dubreuil looked at me, and I nodded; then 
 he called for other bids, but, as no one bid for a second of 
 time, he struck the boat down to me at nine hundred dollars, 
 amid roars of laughter, as Dubreuil said we would all have 
 " one grand frolic " on the boat at the expense of the owner. 
 
 Expecting a lawsuit about the title, or that the sale would 
 be set aside, I only removed the boat to the upper end of the 
 steamboat-landing, where it laid until spring, when, at very 
 little expense, I fitted it up for running in the Illinois river. 
 After placing John Pointer in the office, and other competent 
 officers on the boat, she made twenty trips from St. Louis to 
 Peru without accident, and, besides paying high wages and 
 all expenses, I saved four thousand dollars out of her earnings. 
 
134 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 I then sold the boat to the officers for two thousand dollars, 
 which they earned while on the same. 
 
 While this was transpiring, my prejudice against steam- 
 boating had so far subsided that I loaned two thousand dollars, 
 and took a mortgage on another boat to secure the payment, 
 but allowed her to leave port, as the officers assured me that 
 the two thousand dollars liquidated all debts due the boat's 
 crew or any one else. On the return of the boat, I found I 
 had been deceived by the misrepresentations of the whole 
 crew ; that they had claims amounting ' to one thousand 
 four hundred dollars, and that the boat was to be sold under 
 an old deed of trust. Had I patiently submitted to the loss of 
 the two thousand dollars, I would have avoided great vexation 
 and many dangers, but I would have remained ignorant of 
 the adroitness, claptraps, and legerdemain of dishonest steam- 
 boatmen, which is so essential to be known to all who desire 
 to escape their grasp. Being unwilling to lose my money, I 
 called on the owner of the boat to whom I had loaned the 
 money, and insisted on his confessing a judgment for the 
 amount, that it might take precedence of other claims ; which 
 he did, and an execution was issued for two thousand and 
 seventy -five dollars, and levied on the boat. As soon as he 
 had left the court-room after confessing the judgment, he 
 proceeded to the boat and induced all the crew to bring suit 
 against the same, when judgments for nearly nine hundred 
 dollars were obtained, and executions issued therefor, and the 
 boat sold under them, as they took precedence to my execu- 
 tion of two thousand and seventy-five dollars. 
 
 To save my debt, I procured a person to purchase for me at 
 the sale in his own name, but when the property was bid off 
 to him he. would convey but half of it to me, and when I 
 discovered his want of principle I was surprised that he did 
 even that. He immediately transferred the other half to Mr. 
 Eingrose Watson. On the same day, this same steamboat 
 was sold under a deed of trust, and brought the trifling- sum 
 of about twelve dollars. Small as the sum was, it afforded 
 the pretext of a cause of legal action against me, and a theme 
 for a vstst array of words from Edward Bates and F. F. Bisk, 
 which, by the way, they were never paid for, unless they 
 considered it payment to be allowed to abuse me an hour or 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I35 
 
 two before a court and jury that paid no respect to such 
 claims, as the plaintiff would not pay the costs when judgment 
 was rendered against him, because he had been wheedled into 
 the suit. 
 
 While this vexatious suit was going through all the by-paths 
 that pettifoggers could follow out, the boat had about as 
 brilliant a career in the Lower Mississippi as Bates and Risk 
 had in the Circuit Court ; that is to say, none of them made 
 anything. On a close examination of the books of the boat 
 after the second trip, I found that it was eleven hundred 
 dollars in debt in consequence of an alleged accident, but, as I 
 believed that it was an act of sheer carelessness, I determined 
 to go on the boat one trip and see how the business was trans- 
 acted, taking no part whatever in the business of the boat. 
 It made a very slow trip, being delayed by running aground, 
 yet it was a profitable one, as I had seen the folly of hiring a 
 cheap pilot through favor, and corrected it. 1 still thought 
 there was something wrong, and I tried to get Mr. "Watson to 
 send one of his three sons as clerk, but he declined, and I let 
 the office be filled as before. The boat was about leaving, 
 when the clerk brought his wife on board, who was a very 
 genteel and good woman, and was staying at my house. As 
 soon as the captain saw her and her trunk on board, he came 
 to me and said, " I must quit your boat." I saw no reason for 
 this action, and asked the clerk the cause. He said he knew 
 of no cause, but would take the captain's place, and, step- 
 ping into the office, he took the boat's papers and went to 
 the custom-house where he had his name inserted as master 
 of the boat, which was done with my consent. The boat 
 immediately left for New Orleans, and made a speedy trip. 
 On our return, the former master advised me never to have an 
 officer's wife on the boat while he had a duty to perform, 
 for in case of real danger he would be worse than nobody. 
 I thought this good advice, and followed it. Of necessity I 
 had taken charge of the office on the last trip, and slept in it, 
 being assisted on shore by the barkeeper, a fine clerk. As 
 I had a full cargo engaged below, I spent but a short time at 
 St. Louis, and left on the 15th of March, 1843. 
 
 Soon after leaving St. Louis, the master of the boat asked 
 me to let him occupy the bed in the office. I told him I had 
 
I36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 my own money, as well as the boat's, locked up there, and I 
 chose to watch it myself. This seemed to give him offence, and 
 led me to suspect he had some other object in view than sleep- 
 ing in the office ; and being at leisure, I determined to examine 
 the books and see if it was not to find some error in my mode 
 of book-keeping. He had taken charge of the books one trip 
 to New Orleans and back, and I had done the same, so I 
 compared the two accounts, article by article, and found them 
 very similar until I came to the last item, wood. Here I 
 found a great variation, amounting to forty per cent. We had 
 a printed receipt-book, and here was the explanation of the 
 mystery. He had filled up false receipts for cash paid for 
 wood, made marks for the signatures of fictitious names and 
 amounts, and pocketed the money. It was gone, and I knew 
 where, and I determined to dismiss the master in St. Louis on 
 our return, and not to take any valuable freight from New 
 Orleans with me. I therefore purchased a load of salt, as 
 that could not be easily stolen, and left for St. Louis, arriving 
 at Memphis at a time when freight to New Orleans was plenty. 
 Here I contracted to take a thousand bales of cotton to New 
 Orleans immediately, much against the wish of Simons, the 
 master, who was very reluctant to go back, and would not 
 assist in the least. However, the mate discharged the freight 
 on a wharf-boat and reloaded the boat with cotton the 
 same day, and we left that evening, the captain coming on 
 board at the last moment. I saw him very seldom on the 
 way down, and when we arrived, and before the boat was 
 in its berth at the wharf, he went on shore, unseen by 
 any of our people, and was absent two days. Before we 
 had a bale of cotton on the wharf, a gentleman came fon 
 board in a rage, asking for the captain, and was answered 
 he was not on board. He then asked for the clerk, and I 
 was pointed out to him. He asked me what we had done 
 with his money, and why we were back in New Orleans 
 so soon. Supposing he was insane or mistaken, I said, 
 "I have spent all the money and came back to get more, 
 but I think you are mistaken." He replied, "No, I am not 
 mistaken, nor have you had time to spend the money," and 
 opening his pocket-book he showed me a bill of lading, 
 showing that he shipped on the steamer Minerva one sack 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1 jj 
 
 containing eight hundred and seventy-five dollars in silver 
 coin, to be delivered to John Zeigler at St. Genevieve. At sight 
 of that I was satisfied the intention of Simons, the captain, 
 was to appropriate that money to his own use, and that it was 
 still on the boat, or he had already disposed of it and left me 
 to refund the amount to the shipper. On investigation, I 
 found that he had hid the money in the ice-box in the bar as 
 soon as it was brought on board, and, while I was busy count- 
 ing the bales of cotton as they were delivered to us at 
 Memphis, he took it from the boat and deposited it in the 
 bank at that place to his own credit. This I learned from the 
 barkeeper, who assisted him in carrying the money, which 
 weighed about fifty pounds, to the bank, and had been pointed 
 out to me as being present when the money was received. 
 
 Being satisfied of the captain's unworthiness, I took the 
 boat's papers to the custom-house and had my name substi- 
 tuted for his, and advertised the boat for a trip up the Wabash 
 river to Lafayette, in Indiana, and soon had a full freight and 
 a fine lot of passengers at good prices. When I had steam 
 up and was on the point of leaving the wharf, Mr. Simons, the 
 late master, came on board and said he was aware he had 
 been discharged, and wished to settle with me. I answered, 
 " I am ready ; write your receipt," which he did, and handed 
 it to me. I said, " Now write an order on the Memphis bank 
 for the eight hundred and seventy-five dollars, and I will 
 discharge you." He said he would not do it. I then threat- 
 ened to send for a police officer, when he said he hoped I 
 would not do that, as his wife was at my house, living as a 
 daughter or a sister, and it would distress the whole family. 
 He consented to be confined in one of the state-rooms until we 
 came opposite Memphis, where I called on him again for the 
 order, after having the boat ready to anchor in the stream until 
 I could procure his arrest if he refused. Seeing my prepara- 
 tions to arrest and punish him, he wrote an order for the sack. 
 The boat was landed on Sunday, and I took Stanard, the bar- 
 keeper, with me to the bank to bring back the sack. When 
 we arrived at the bank, we found the cashier was at a church 
 near by, where I waited until he came out, and then informed 
 him of the transaction. He said he would immediately 
 deliver the money to me if I would identify myself by a citizen 
 10 
 
I38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 known to him. A merchant named Shaw, owner then of a 
 wharf-boat, introduced me and offered to give a bond that the 
 bank would lose nothing by delivering the sack to me. I 
 then received it, and engaged Mr. Shaw to ship it to its place 
 of destination, and, as I never heard of it after, I presume the 
 owner received it. On my return to the boat, I learned that 
 Simons had left it, with his baggage, as soon as I was out of 
 sight, and I never saw him afterwards when he could avoid 
 it, which he generally managed to do. 
 
 Having relieved myself of this perplexity, we continued 
 our voyage to Lafayette, and on returning into the Ohio made 
 a very profitable trip from Clover Port to New Orleans and 
 back to St. Louis, where I found we had made money enough 
 to pay all the expenses of the boat, and the damages we had 
 brought upon the owners, which I held in my own hands. I 
 therefore paid off all demands against the boat and owners, 
 and removed it from the wharf to a place of safety, where I 
 sold my share in it for less than I had paid, besides losing my 
 judgment against the boat for two thousand and seventy-five 
 dollars with costs, to say nothing of the trouble and vexation 
 I had undergone. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF THEEE CAMPAIGNS IN THE WAE OF 1846 
 
 WITH MEXICO. 
 
 On the 16th day of May, 1846, 1 volunteered in the service of 
 the United States for a six months' campaign in Company A 
 of the St. Louis Greys, commanded by Captain Stephen Cole- 
 man, of the St. Louis legion of infantry, under command of 
 Colonel Alton R. Easton, which was mustered into service on 
 the 18th of May, 1846, by Colonel Davenport, of the United 
 States army, at Camp Lucas, outside of the city, as it then 
 was, in a field near where the Lucas Market now stands. 
 
 When the legion was formed into line to be mustered, Col- 
 onel Davenport walked from the left to the right of the line, 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I39 
 
 about two yards from it, and viewed every countenance as he 
 passed along ; then going to our officers, who were standing 
 grouped in front of us, he turned around and pointed me out, 
 asking Colonel Kennett who I was. On being informed, he 
 walked to within about ten yards of the line, and, calling me 
 by name to come to the front, commended me for the example 
 I had set, after having served in the army so long, to offer my 
 services again at my advanced age, and told me he considered 
 it more than my share of the military burden, and I might 
 retire with the thanks of my officers for my example. I imme- 
 diately touched my hat, and thanked him for the compliment 
 he had paid me, and the kind offer he had made, but informed 
 him I was fully aware of the duties I was expected to per- 
 form ; that I had come prepared to undergo them, and that if 
 I should be thought disqualified from age, I must not abandon 
 my neighbors, but would take passage and go with them on 
 my own account. He replied, "I have no doubt of your 
 ability to perform the duties of a soldier, and that you will 
 be prompt to do them ; I will, therefore, at your own option, 
 muster you with the companions of your choice." I was 
 accordingly mustered with the legion, being then in the fifty- 
 first year of my age. 
 
 On the following day, Mrs. Kennett presented a splendid 
 stand of colors to the legion, which was received with the 
 usual ceremonies, speeches, &c, and the same evening we 
 received orders to be in readiness to march on Saturday, the 
 23d. Clothing, camp equipage, and arms, were issued on the 
 21st, and an order was given for a dress parade and review on 
 the 22d of May, 1846. On the morning of that day, a para- 
 graph appeared in the Missouri Republican concerning me, 
 stating something of the part I had taken in the war of 1812, 
 and in the present crisis, and my present position in society 
 and condition in life. When the legion was formed for 
 review, I was placed on the color guard and posted at the 
 main entrance of the camp, where I was seen and recognized 
 by a large number of my acquaintances, who expressed their 
 astonishment at my volunteering at so advanced an age to go 
 on such a distant expedition into such a warm and unhealthy 
 climate, and seemed to manifest great anxiety for my personal 
 safety and welfare on that account. 
 
I40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 On the morning of the 23d of May, I took leave of my family 
 and repaired to camp, where we soon after struck our tents 
 and marched on board the steamer Convoy, making a fine 
 martial appearance, and a crowd of citizens, who accompa- 
 nied us to the boat, expressing their good wishes for onr safe 
 and speedy return. Every preparation had been made to 
 depart as soon as we were on board, when, just at that 
 moment, a boat arrived from New Orleans with the news of 
 General Taylor's victory at Palo Alto, and our boat backed 
 out from the wharf amid the cheers and rejoicings on that 
 occasion. Passing up stream in front of the city, we saw all 
 the steamboats covered with people, who were cheering and 
 waving their hats and white handkerchiefs, and then, turning 
 down stream, the boatmen commenced firing a small cannon 
 by way of salute, and at the second discharge, which was 
 premature, one man was killed and another mortally wounded, 
 which was the first bloody effects I saw of the war, and was a 
 caution to the careless. Another steamboat accompanied us to 
 Jefferson Barracks, filled to its utmost capacity with warm- 
 hearted friends, who took back to St. Louis the wounded and 
 dead man, while our boat received on board three companies 
 of the legion who had been waiting for transportation at that 
 place. The boat then proceeded to Memphis, where we heard 
 the cheering news that the Mexicans had been entirely de- 
 feated at Resaca de la Palma, and had fled from Texas, which 
 they had invaded because it had been annexed to the United 
 States by an act of Congress passed March 2, 1845, and that 
 the Americans had advanced to the Rio Grande. 
 
 Very few persons went on shore at Memphis, and the boat 
 proceeded to New Orleans, where we arrived on the 28th, hav- 
 ing made the trip in five days. On its arrival, the legion was 
 saluted with artillery and repeated cheers from crowds of 
 people on the levee and shipping. About sunset the boat 
 crossed the river to Algiers, and we were disembarked and 
 encamped in a field, where we were carefully drilled until the 
 3d of June. 
 
 While we were encamped here, I received a very kind and 
 pressing invitation, as Grand Master of the Independent Order 
 • of Odd Fellows of the State of Missouri, to visit one of the 
 lodges of the city on a certain evening named, and to bring 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I4I 
 
 with me nil our brethren who were in the legion. With per- 
 mission of the colonel, I accepted the invitation, and, taking 
 about twenty of our brethren, we went over to New Orleans 
 in the afternoon, and spent one of the most pleasant evenings 
 of our lives with our brethren. 
 
 Until the 3d of June, there had been some expectation that 
 we would be discharged at New Orleans without seeing Mex- 
 ico, but on that day, at about four o'clock p. m., the steamship 
 Galveston raised steam at New Orleans and came to Algiers, 
 on which the legion embarked and passed down the river, 
 thus giving us a good view of the vicinity of the city before 
 dark. Early on the 4th, we passed the Balize, soon losing sight 
 of the turbid waters of the Mississippi, and shortly after the 
 increased motion of the ship gave me a genuine fit of that 
 well-known disease, sea sickness. 
 
 At daylight on the morning of the 7th, we came in sight of 
 the shipping off the • port of St. Isabel, or Brazos Santiago, 
 and were landed the same day on the west bank of the Brazos 
 or arm of the sea that forms the inlet to the harbor of Point 
 Isabel. This land appears to be a bank of sand washed by 
 the violence of the waves from the bottom of the sea and 
 formed into a kind of ridge or barrier to protect a shallow 
 bay in its rear, which is in danger of being filled up and the 
 bank united with the main land, owing to the prevailing pow- 
 erful winds from the gulf. We spent the remainder of the 
 month encamped at this place, improving our skill in ma- 
 noeuvres, observing the novelties that surrounded us, and 
 amusing ourselves in bathing, swimming, and fishing. 
 
 I had my writing apparatus with me, and wrote each day 
 the news of the camp, in the form of letters, to my family ; 
 and when a vessel touched at the wharf, I closed my letter, 
 put it on board, and began another. I thus kept my family 
 informed of all that passed in our camp day by day. Extracts 
 from some of my letters were printed and brought back to our 
 camp, which afforded some amusement and some astonish- 
 ment among those interested. One was an account of the 
 battle of the Sand Hills ; the other the sickness of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Kennett, which brought his wife to his bedside, two 
 thousand miles from home, before his friends found time or 
 inclination to write or communicate with her, until they saw 
 
I42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 her in sight of his quarters, on a visit to him, to their no little 
 chagrin for their neglect of her who had presented them with 
 a most beautiful stand of colors. Our adjutant, one of the 
 youngest of our officers, essayed, as an apology to escape the 
 dilemma in which they found themselves placed, that they 
 should say it was my duty to inform her of the indisposition 
 of her husband ; for although I was only a private, I was the 
 eldest member of the legion, and the only experienced soldier 
 in it. The last clause of the preceding sentence was literally 
 true at that time, strange as it may appear at this day that 
 seven hundred citizens should compose one entire regiment 
 and yet include but one man whe had ever been in a battle. 
 
 On the 1st of July, we removed our camp to the mouth of 
 the Rio Grande, distant about nine miles, marching along the 
 sea shore, which formed a pleasant road, except in one spot, 
 the Boca Chica, a place about three hundred yards broad and 
 three feet deep at low tide, formed by the flux and reflux of 
 the tide-water in its passage to and from the long shallow bay 
 in its rear, and which is quite impassible by fording except at 
 the lowest tides. This place we all passed by fording, the 
 water being about waist deep, but we had prepared ourselves 
 for that purpose. On our arrival at the river, we waited until 
 the 4th, when we were taken on board two steamboats and 
 landed at the upper end of a ridge of hills called the Hights of 
 Barita, in the State of Tamaulipas. We remained here until 
 the 6th day of August, and spent the first three weeks in pre- 
 paring ourselves for active service; but then, finding the 
 country free from enemies, and that we were soon to be dis- 
 charged, we relaxed our discipline and passed the last ten 
 days of our time in making sundry explorations in the vicin- 
 ity and in visiting the camps of other regiments. 
 
 During this time, I visited General Taylor at his headquar- 
 ters at Matamoros. I had gone up the Rio Grande with his 
 brother, who bid me come to the general's tent in the morning 
 after our arrival, and he would introduce me to him. I went 
 as directed, but the press of business in the quartermaster's 
 department had taken the colonel off before my arrival, yet 
 he had left such a full description of me that the general 
 called me by name at once, and spoke and acted as if he had 
 known me during my life, inquiring after many persons with 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I43 
 
 whom we were both acquainted, and in turn informed me of 
 the fate of our mutual friends, so that I enjoyed a pleasant 
 visit with him. 
 
 I did not explore the country to any great distance from the 
 river, but saw enough to satisfy me that it is bound to be one 
 of the richest countries in the world, and that at no very dis- 
 tant day. 
 
 On the 6th of August we embarked on two steamboats, and 
 left the battles to be fought by other troops, because our term 
 of service was too short, and started for home. We returned 
 by the same route on which we went out, with similar means 
 of transportation, and arrived at St. Louis on the 21st of 
 August, amid the cheers and rejoicings of the whole popula- 
 tion, as it appeared when viewed from the deck of the boat. 
 
 During our absence from the city, all kinds of business and 
 improvements appeared to have gone on as if there had been 
 no war progressing abroad. The Odd Fellows, in particular, 
 had exerted themselves most commendably, and had their 
 beautiful edifice at the corner of Fourth and Locust streets in 
 an advanced state of completion, so that, being Grand Master 
 of the Order in Missouri, on the 4th of November, 1846, I 
 assisted in the ceremonies of the dedication of the hall, which 
 is still the place of our weekly meetings. 
 
 Scarcely had we deposited our arms in the armory, when 
 many of the men who had served with me in the legion began 
 to solicit and urge me to take command of a company of 
 volunteers, which they said they were able to raise themselves, 
 and return to Mexico to serve during the war. I promised to 
 do so the next spring, and accordingly, on the 10th of May, 
 1847, I was mustered in with a maximum company, which 
 was designated as " Company A, Missouri battalion of 
 infantry volunteers," to serve during the war. My three 
 lieutenants were most efficient and excellent officers, and well 
 suited to the positions they occupied. The first was Samuel 
 A. Holmes, now commanding the fortieth regiment Missouri 
 volunteers, who has greatly distinguished himself on the 
 battle-field, and was a fine classic scholar and attorney before 
 he entered the service; Major Thomas Levant, a farmer, and 
 at present manager of the first railroad station at Carondelet, 
 was the second lieutenant, an excellent disciplinarian, of 
 
144 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 gigantic strength and resolution, and of undoubted probity 
 and honor ; the third was William Prichett, a youth of twenty 
 years, who quit the bench of a saddler, with the consent of 
 his father and employer, to join my company. With these 
 officers, and ninety of as good men as an experienced surgeon 
 could select from one hundred and twenty, who had offered 
 themselves and been mustered into the United States service, 
 we commenced the next day to prepare ourselves for useful- 
 ness, and during the two campaigns that followed no officers or 
 men could have more faithfully served their country than they. 
 
 A few days were first spent at Camp Lucus in drilling and 
 issuing quartermaster's stores preparatory to a march across 
 the Western plains. On the 15th, I received orders from 
 Colonel Wharton to remove my company from Camp Lucas 
 on board the steamer Mandan, then at the wharf, commanded 
 by Captain Cheever, and proceed to Fort Leavenworth and 
 report to Lieutenant- Colonel Scott, in command of that post. 
 Accordingly, I notified my company to prepare to march at 9 
 o'clock a. m., and taking leave of my family, at their residence 
 in front of the court-house on Fourth street, at the time 
 appointed we marched from camp through the city, amid the 
 throng of friends and neighbors, who lined the sidewalks the 
 whole distance, expressing their good wishes for our welfare. 
 
 My company being all on board, I placed a sentinel at the 
 boat's gangway to prevent the men from going on shore while 
 I went to a drug store for medicine. On my return I found 
 one of my largest men attempting to pass the sentinel, which 
 he effected, but got slightly wounded in the leg, which so 
 enraged him, that, on reaching the shore, he picked up a 
 stone in each hand, and, running up again on the stage- 
 plank, cast one at the head of the sentinel, who dodged it 
 with great dexterity, and then, advancing on his assailant, 
 who turned and attempted to run, he thrust his bayonet quite 
 through the body of the soldier, so that I saw three inches of 
 the weapon protruding through his jacket at the pit of his 
 stomach. I sent him immediately to the city hospital, where 
 he was carefully attended by Dr. Thomas McMartin, surgeon 
 of the institution ; but owing to the severity of the wound, 
 and eating and drinking immoderately, he brought on an 
 inflammation of the stomach, which occasioned his death 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I45 
 
 seventeen days afterwards, as was ascertained by a post 
 mortem examination "by the surgeons. Such an occurrence 
 at our first outset drew forth many remarks from the "by- 
 standers at the dispatch of business of this kind, and the 
 editor of the Republican, in his issue of the next morning, 
 commented to the effect that it was demonstrated what the 
 discipline of the company might be expected to be from its 
 first essay. 
 
 As soon as the boat could be cleared of the crowd, we left 
 the wharf and reached the middle of the river at the upper 
 end of the city, when it was discovered that the boat was on 
 fire in the hold. I knew there was a large quantity of gun- 
 powder on board, and that our only chance for safety was in 
 subduing the fire ; that it must be done by the boat's own 
 crew, and that our company must be kept aloof from them. 
 With the assistance of my officers, we kept entirely away 
 from them until the fire was out, and in the meantime had a 
 good opportunity of watching the countenances of each indi- 
 vidual as he saw death apparently staring him in the face. 
 Captain Cheever exhibited as much coolness and promptitude 
 as I have witnessed in any individual, and the occasion was a 
 good one to try the metal of men, and will probably be 
 recollected as long as they live. There was no clergyman, 
 physician, woman, or child, among us. This day, and the 
 events as they transpired, as well as the different persons 
 present and acting under my notice, are more indelibly fixed 
 in my memory than any other of my eventful life. 
 
 Our trip to Fort Leavenworth occupied six days and was 
 attended with no remarkable occurrence, and we were received 
 at the fort by Major Scott, Captain Steen, and my former 
 pupil, Captain L. C. Easton, United States quartermaster at 
 the post, in the most cordial manner and treated with the 
 greatest attention. The reception was so different from what 
 most of the company expected would be given to volunteers 
 by officers of the regular army that they were most pleasantly 
 disappointed by it. "We gpent the first night in the quarters 
 assigned to us in the fort, but, as we were to escort the first 
 government train going to Santa F6, it was thought best to 
 encamp in an open field and inure ourselves to camp life 
 before we began so long a march. Accordingly, we were 
 
I46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 furnished with, tents, and took the field, where we drilled 
 until the 17th of June, at which time we were ordered by 
 Colonel Wharton to escort a very large train of ox wagons, 
 loaded with commissary stores, to Santa F6, which we did in 
 such a manner that every article was delivered safely and in 
 good order. To obviate the necessity of my soldiers "being 
 obliged to carry their knapsacks such a long distance, I 
 purchased a wagon, chains, and three yoke of oxen, in which 
 their knapsacks were carefully packed, with no other trouble 
 to themselves than to act the part of teamsters to them. I 
 took a fine pony with me, which I rode, or lent (as seeming 
 exigencies required) to the lame and weary soldiers who 
 were liable to be left behind a place of safety or relief. 
 
 Our march with an ox-team train was of necessity slow and 
 tedious, and made more so by the unfavorable circumstances 
 that surrounded us, as at that time there were no white 
 settlements in the State of Kansas, and roving bands of 
 Indians infested the road for the greater part of the distance. 
 I will not attempt to describe the lands through which we 
 passed on our march, but will state some of the most inter- 
 esting incidents connected with it. 
 
 A short time before we commenced our march, Lieutenant 
 Love, of the United States army, had left Fort Leavenworth 
 with a company of dragoons to go to Santa ¥6, and having a 
 fine-looking company of men, and more confidence than 
 experience, advanced rapidly into the prairies until he came 
 to a train in the road owrjed by a citizen whose teams a band 
 of Indians had just driven off, when, instead of immediately 
 pursuing them with his whole force, in person, he divided his 
 company and sent a sergeant with a detachment in pursuit, 
 while he remained at camp. The Indians, observing the 
 strength of the party in pursuit, retreated to a convenient 
 position for their purpose, then turned upon it and nearly 
 annihilated it. Not wishing to try any further West Point 
 tactics with such fellows, he went on without notifying me of 
 their whereabouts, thinking probably I would find that out 
 myself the next day. I, however, saw nothing of them, 
 perhaps from the fact that I could not readily discover them 
 unless they were so disposed. Having passed the place of 
 this disaster, which is about three miles west of Pawnee Fork, 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I47 
 
 I found that Colonel Easton, with four companies of infantry 
 and one company of cavalry, had taken the north branch of 
 the road to Fort Man, forty miles distant, and that a recent 
 rain had made the road bad ; I therefore took the south fork, 
 or river road, which is several miles longer. Buffaloes were 
 plenty, and my men were very desirous to be allowed to kill 
 them, but I refused, and kept them to their duty. Several 
 murmured at this, and complained that the discipline was too 
 strict for them. We started early the next morning, July 21st, 
 and had traveled about five miles, when one of the front guard 
 came running back to say that they had found a battle-ground. 
 I laughed at him, but the guard and train halted, and I went 
 forward to see what had excited them so much, and found 
 traces that Colonel Easton had left the north road and come 
 to the river here, and had several of his men killed and buried 
 in the road, where his corral had been formed for the night, 
 that, by tramping down the freshly dug earth, the place of 
 their sepulture might not be discovered and their bodies 
 exhumed by the Indians. Near that spot, in a conspicuous 
 place, was found a stave of a butter firkin, on which was 
 written in pencil a brief account of the slaughter. As soon as 
 my men ascertained the extent of the mischief, each man 
 promptly took the post assigned him without waiting for my 
 order, and from that time I heard no murmurs against my 
 strict discipline. 
 
 Two days after, we overtook Colonel Easton's command, 
 learned the particulars of his disaster, and saw the wounded. 
 This afforded my company an excellent opportunity to 
 indulge in their propensity to boast, and they were careful to 
 avail themselves of it to an extent that could hardly be justi- 
 fied, as we were then but half way through our perilous 
 journey. However, we performed the march without seeing 
 an enemy in arms, but another and most unlooked for enemy 
 destroyed one of my most robust men. This was a tarantula, 
 a large species of spider, seldom seen in as high a latitude, 
 but quite common further south. At our first camp on the 
 Arkansas above Fort Man, John Foos, with others, spread his 
 blanket on the grass and slept until the dawn of day, when 
 he was awakened, and saw, as he supposed, a large spider 
 crushed on his blanket near where his head had lain, and 
 
I48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 soon Ibegan to feel pain in his cheek, where were plainly visi- 
 ble the marks of a "bite which had made four punctures of the 
 skin, as if in two pairs opposite each other, at about a line 
 apart, and the cheek commenced to swell rapidly. The 
 weather being warm, we started early, and had traveled some 
 three miles before I was informed of the circumstance, when I 
 immediately ordered the man to be put in a wagon and care- 
 fully attended by a hospital nurse named William Harrison, 
 who administered alcohol to him, which he said was the best 
 antidote for that poison. I think his theory was correct ; for 
 when he commenced to drink it, in table-spoonfuls, he was 
 swelling rapidly in all his limbs, his eyes were quite closed, 
 and his features out of all due proportion ; yet, after he had 
 taken about a half dozen potions, at intervals of ten minutes, 
 the pain and swelling began to subside, and had nearly 
 ceased, when the alcohol failed, as I had but one bottle, and 
 no more could be procured. He was then much prostrated, 
 and so remained five days, subsisting on cold coffee and 
 bread, at the end of which time he seemed in a fair way of 
 recovery, when, contrary to the advice of his messmates and 
 nurse, he ate a breakfast of hot fried cakes and hot coffee, 
 when all the first symptoms returned with greater virulence 
 than ever, under which he suffered most indescribable pains 
 and swellings for about four hours, and then died the most 
 painful death I ever witnessed. He was buried on the same 
 day with the honors of war, near where he died. 
 
 After this sad occurrence, we continued our march to Santa 
 F6 without further molestation or excitement, and arrived at 
 that city on the 25th of August, having occupied seventy days 
 in the trip. We were received with gladness, as we had 
 brought full supplies, and had safely escorted Mr. Frank 
 Coons' train of merchant wagons, which supplied the town 
 with goods. 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1 49 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 INCIDENTS AT SANTA FB AND ON THE MARCH DOWN THE RIO 
 
 GRANDE. 
 
 On our arrival at Santa ¥6, there were but few troops there, 
 and our presence was much needed to keep the Mexicans in 
 awe. They had lately rebelled and murdered Governor Bent. 
 "We were therefore stationed in the town, and performed garri- 
 son duty until a larger force could be concentrated ; in the 
 meantime our battalion was being well drilled. At length 
 Colonel Kewby, in command of the sixth regiment of Illinois 
 infantry, arrived, and assumed command of the entire force. 
 As he outranked our colonel, his officers seemed as if they 
 might show a kind of superiority and give us examples in 
 performing military duties. Not many days had passed when 
 I was detailed as officer of the day, and took my station to 
 inspect and receive the guard, and the adjutant of the Illinois 
 regiment, a splendid young officer, formed the guard, and, 
 saluting me in military style, informed me the guard was 
 ready for inspection. I cast my eyes on them, and replied, 
 " Several of them are without coats and cannot be received." 
 He hastened to their camp and brought forward others to fill 
 the complement, when I inspected and received the guard- 
 This trivial affair made every soldier in the command learn 
 my name, and to treat me as a father aud friend of soldiers ; 
 and the same young officer having met my daughter at Belle- 
 ville, Illinois, long afterwards, mentioned the circumstance to 
 her. 
 
 On the 23d of October, 1847, I received orders to escort a 
 train, loaded with commissary stores, down the Rio Grande, 
 and on the following day left Santa F6 and marched to the 
 little stream called Gallisteo, and encamped on the south 
 bank, the train on the opposite side not being able to cross in 
 the night. The waters of the Gallisteo are slightly alkaline, 
 and very disagreeable and sickening at best, but doubly so 
 when low. Oar wagon-master, being ignorant of this, allowed 
 his oxen to drink of it, which killed twenty-nine of them. 
 This compelled him to remove the train in detachments to the 
 
I5O AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Rio Grande, and while doing so a team broke from one of the 
 drivers and ten more oxen were drowned. These disasters 
 caused the quartermaster to detain us until he could go to 
 Santa F£ to reinforce his teams with other oxen before we 
 could proceed further. On his return, we proceeded to Albu- 
 querque, where we waited for further orders. 
 
 On the 11th of November we received orders to resume our 
 march down the Rio Grande, and to keep within protecting 
 distance of the assistant quartermaster and commissary's 
 train, and then, crossing to the right bank, we moved very 
 slowly down the river until we came within five miles of the 
 town of Socorro, where we halted, and were soon joined by 
 four more companies of our battalion, with orders for me to 
 take command of them and put them and my company into 
 winter quarters at the most suitable place in the vicinity. I 
 therefore fell back and put them in quarters in the village of 
 Limitar, nine miles above Socorro, as ordered, and awaited 
 the arrival ef Colonel Easton and staff. 
 
 Soon after his arrival, he was detailed, with myself and the 
 second lieutenant, to serve on a court martial. While I was 
 absent, two of my best men were taken sick with typhoid 
 fever, and I lost them both a few days after my return. I was 
 very sorry to lose two such men ; but what pained me most 
 was, that when I returned to camp and went to visit them, 
 they wept like two little children with joy at seeing me, and 
 told me that they now hoped to recover, as they knew I would 
 see they were attended to and made comfortable ; that they 
 had been neglected, lain cold, and passed whole nights with- 
 out fire, on the bare floor, without even straw to lie upon. I 
 did all I could to cherish and save them, but failed, and 
 buried them at this town. 
 
 Not long afterwards Colonel Easton was ordered to Santa 
 F6, when the battalion again came under my command, and I 
 determined to put it in a high state of discipline in the least 
 possible time, and was well aided by every officer of the com- 
 mand. We succeeded beyond our most sanguine expectations, 
 and acquired an expertness that was astonishing, so that any 
 officer of the battalion could manoeuvre it with ease. 
 
 It was now the 3d of February, 1848, the mountains around 
 being covered with snow, when a messenger arrived from 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 151 
 
 Colonel Balls, stationed at El Paso, requiring reinforcements. 
 I had. no doubt it was my duty to respond at once, Ibut believing 
 it would be gratifying to my brother officers to at least be 
 consulted on so important an action as breaking up our winter 
 quarters and marching one hundred and thirty miles, ninety 
 of which were through the Gran Jornada del Muerto, or 
 Journey of Death, without water or wood, in midwinter, to 
 reinforce an army already outnumbered by the enemy six to 
 one, according to the best information that could be obtained. 
 I therefore assembled them all at my quarters, laid the whole 
 matter before them, and asked what advice they would give, 
 as I thought we should respond at once by marching imme- 
 diately to El Paso. Captain Cunningham, the senior officer, 
 said that he felt it his duty and his privilege to thank me for 
 my deference and respect shown them in a matter of so much 
 importance and interest «to each one of them, as itshowed as 
 well my willingness to share the honors as the dangers and 
 labors of the movement ; that he coincided with my views 
 of duty, and would do all in his power to aid me. Each officer 
 then in turn expressed his concurrence and his confidence in 
 his superior officers, and his willingness to obey them, and do 
 all in his power to promote the reputation and welfare of the 
 battalion; and we separated amidst great enthusiasm and 
 warm feelings. 
 
 The whole night and next day were spent in baking bread 
 and cooking rations, washing, and in preparations for battle. 
 At evening I reviewed the battalion with the surgeon, and, 
 leaving at the post all who were unwell or feeble, marched on 
 the following day to Socorro, where I halted and assumed 
 command of the Santa ¥6 battalion, whose commanding 
 officer refused to accompany us unless I would assume the 
 command and then he would obey me ; which I was constrained 
 to do, and he faithfully kept his word and obeyed orders. 
 
 Early the next morning, being the 6th of February, 1848, 
 we commenced a forced march. My command then consisted 
 of one company of light artillery with a battery of six pieces ; 
 three companies of cavalry, which formed the Santa ¥6 
 battalion, and five companies of infantry, which formed the 
 Missouri battalion of infantry volunteers — all troops enlisted 
 to serve during the war, and mostly men who had served two 
 
152 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 campaigns in Mexico, the whole numbering about five 
 hundred men, and all about as self-reliant as Julius Caesar's 
 tenth legion. 
 
 We continued our march to within seven miles of the ford of 
 the Rio Grande, two miles above Fra Cristobal, and prepared 
 for fording the river when the teams should be warm and not 
 much exhausted. The infantry arrived first, and, to their 
 dismay, found the stream five hundred yards wide, covered 
 with ice in broken pieces of all sizes from fifty feet square and 
 under, and four inches in thickness, which had been shattered 
 among the rocks a little above. The prospect was so gloomy 
 that those who first arrived began to make fires, until Lieuten- 
 ant Levant came up in command of my company and asked 
 me where he should ford the river. I told him that as he would 
 be expected to lead — as I must see all pass — he had better 
 select the place for crossing himself and pass the company 
 over, and take a good position to cover the ford, and not leave 
 it until he saw the last wagon of the train safely over. 
 
 Lieutenant Levant was a gentleman as old as myself (both 
 had served in the war of 1812), and was over fifty years of age. 
 Having formed the company in line as skirmishers, he ordered 
 them to observe where and how he would ford the river ; and 
 as soon as they saw him on the opposite bank, to follow one 
 by one in the same place and manner. He then stripped 
 himself, and, taking his clothes in his left hand and his arms 
 in his right, he walked in among the ice, while a breathless 
 silence prevailed in the company, although half the men had 
 stripped themselves and stood ready with tent poles in their 
 hands to assist him, in case of necessity, by pushing away 
 the ice. The anxiety was of short duration, for he passed 
 the stream in less than fifteen minutes, and as soon as the 
 men saw him fairly out of water they cheered, and the shout 
 was taken up by the other companies who had arrived, then 
 succesively by the others until it reached the extreme rear, 
 when all shouted from front to rear, and the hills reverberated 
 with echoes the like of which were never probably heard there 
 before. 
 
 Captain Hassendeubel of the artillery, in command of the 
 Santa F6 battalion, soon came up from the rear, when I placed 
 his battalion in front, and, knowing he was one of the most 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1 53 
 
 competent officers, I requested him to move forward to Fra 
 Cristobal and put both "battalions in readiness to enter the 
 Jornada — which order he promptly executed — while I remained 
 with the guard to protect our trains, a vital necessity at this 
 time. 
 
 I waited on the right bank of the river alone until I 
 saw all the wagons pass over, although the last wagon 
 detained the whole train more than all the rest, and by the 
 want of vigilance of its driver subjected the whole command 
 to more delay than all other impediments we met with on the 
 march. It was a fair specimen of the connected evils of negli- 
 gence, laziness and fraud, and may as well be noted as a 
 beacon to others in all the long marches to be made hereafter 
 across these plains with teams. 
 
 A wagoner whose duty it was to groom his own team, 
 engaged a soldier to do it, and rewarded him by allowing him 
 to ride concealed in his covered wagon, contrary to rules and 
 orders, and was the last of the train to enter the river; and 
 being somewhat impeded by the ice and extra load, the team 
 balked and halted in the middle of the river, where it remained 
 immovable as a rock. There was no time for delay, so the 
 wagon-master instantly unloaded two wagons and taking them 
 and six men passed over to me, expressed his regret that he 
 had detained me so long alone, and ordered the two wagons 
 to be placed on either side the stalled one and all its load to 
 be put into the empty ones. They then passed into the river 
 and were placed as he had directed, and when the wagoners 
 began to unfasten the wagon cover in order to reach the 
 freight they discovered the concealed soldier, who at once 
 attempted to escape. Immediately the shout was raised, 
 " Catch him ! catch him ! " but he slipped out behind, ran 
 down the stream into deeper water and got safely to the shore, 
 and followed the command. Thinking him sufficiently 
 punished I paid no further attention to him that evening, 
 and crossed the river as soon as the wagons were over, when 
 the whole freight was arranged and the train at once moved 
 to Fra Cristobal, where we partook of a "hasty plate of 
 soup " and prepared for a night's march. 
 
 From here I sent forward sergeant "William Smith and two 
 men to El Paso with a letter to Colonel Ralls informing him 
 11 
 
154 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 that I had safely passed the Rio Grande and was on my way 
 to join him with two battalions and a battery of six pieces of 
 artillery, and would make a forced march to El Paso. As 
 there was neither wood nor water on the ronte for ninety 
 miles, both of the named aqueous and ligneous articles were 
 put in small quantities in the wagons, and all unnecessary 
 ones thrown out, and each soldier required to carry his own 
 baggage up the mountain and assist in urging forward the 
 train or artillery, by piishing with his hands or musket, until 
 we had attained the summit. 
 
 It was a clear, cold evening, with the sun about one hour 
 high, when, all being ready, our little army commenced the 
 ascent — Captain Hassendeubel, of the Santa F6 battalion, 
 commanding it as the right of line in front of the train, and 
 Captain Cunningham, commanding the Missouri infantry bat- 
 talion, in the rear or left of line, all prepared for battle and 
 momentarily expecting it. We were all, however, happily 
 disappointed as no enemy appeared, but we suffered the most 
 intense cold that mortals could endure. I led my horse a 
 short distance, and then turned it over to the officer of the 
 rear guard to assist in bringing up any footsore soldier that 
 might be left in the rear. 
 
 At about ten o'clock at night we attained the plain, or Jor- 
 nada, a most beautiful elevation, about two thousand feet 
 above the waters of the Rio Grande, which river washes its 
 base on the west. This plain is covered with a fair growth of 
 grass interspersed with the soap plant, a very luxuriant 
 perennial (I think), growing from three to twelve feet in hight, 
 with broad leaves on all sides, which, being killed by the 
 frost, furnish an inflammable article of uncommon brilliancy 
 when set on fire. The soldiers soon perceived this and ran 
 furtively from the line to set them on fire, which made the 
 front and rear of my command appear as clear in view as at 
 mid-day. 
 
 In this wise — in line of battle and no one to fight but the 
 terrible frost, and which suffered us not to go by without a 
 victim — we passed one of the clearest and coldest nights I 
 ever experienced, and in this, manner we marched thirty miles 
 in twelve hours, when we halted for refreshments. The wag- 
 oners began to take their sacks of corn from the wagons to 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I55 
 
 feed, when one seeing a soldier's cap and blanket partly cov- 
 ered with straw, and knowing that allowing soldiers to ride 
 without orders was strictly forbidden, hastened to the officer 
 of the guard and informed him that a soldier was sleeping in 
 his wagon. A file of men was dispatched to arrest him, in 
 which duty they met with no opposition, as on unrolling the 
 blanket they found the corpse of the soldier who had the day 
 before attempted to cross the Rio Grande in a loaded wagon, 
 frozen as thoroughly as an iceberg. Thus perished a stout, 
 well-formed young man, twenty-five years of age, purely 
 through disobedience of a reasonable order, which all his 
 comrades had, with safety to themselves, obeyed with alacrity 
 and apparent willingness. He was buried with the honors of 
 war by the roadside, and in digging the grave the earth was 
 found frozen to the depth of two feet, from which some idea 
 of the intensity of the cold on that elevated plain may be 
 formed. 
 
 As soon as this sad duty was performed we continued our 
 march through the plain, halting to rest and eat but four 
 times, and arrived at the southwest end of the Jornada on the 
 9th at about the same hour we left the river on the 7th, having 
 marched ninety miles in forty-eight hours. 
 
 At an early hour, after a night's rest, we moved forward 
 through the village of Dona Ana, the stores and public houses 
 of which I had ordered to be closed, and the sale and distri- 
 bution of liquors stopped for the day, to avoid straggling, 
 disorder, and drunkenness. In this I succeeded well, but, 
 unfortunately, one of the best soldiers of my own company 
 purchased of a Mexican, in the street, one dime's worth of 
 dried pears and grapes, and ate them as he marched along, 
 which, swelling in his stomach, produced an inflammation 
 that killed him the same night; and we buried him with 
 appropriate honors the next morning, near the Rio Grande, 
 covering the place with a large pile of willow-brush to prevent 
 its being disturbed. I was more distressed by this occurrence 
 thau any other that happened during the war, for his mother 
 was a poor widow, who allowed her only son to enlist with me 
 to enable him to obtain a farm and a little money to improve 
 it, which he seemed in a fair way to do until this unhappy 
 day, when all his fond hopes were blasted by death, and 
 
I56 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 buried forever. His name was Gannon ; he was born in the 
 city of St. Louis, well instructed in the Roman Catholic reli- 
 gion, and as fine a soldier as ever shouldered a musket. 
 When he perceived that his life was in danger, he began to 
 prepare for death, and showed at once his faith and his thor- 
 ough Catholic education by continuing to pray and exhort his 
 companions as long as he could speak, and seemed to die con- 
 fident of passing immediately into a state of eternal felicity, 
 which was all he desired. After his death, several half eagles 
 were found sewed in the waistband of his pantaloons, which I 
 brought to St. Louis and delivered to his mother. 
 
 As we were about to leave this camp, I received a most 
 flattering and complimentary letter from Colonel Ralls, thank- 
 ing me for my promptitude in hastening to his assistance, and 
 informing me that the danger was past, and I might suspend 
 a forced march and advance ad libitum. I showed the letter 
 to Captain Hassendeubel, and informed him he might march 
 at will, as his battalion could out-travel mine, and report to 
 Colonel Ralls at El Paso, and I would march as I found most 
 convenient. Accordingly, the Santa F6 battalion left us, and 
 we leisurely pursued our march, and crossed the Rio Grande 
 above El Paso, near where Fort Bliss now stands, on the 15th 
 of March, and halted about two miles above town to form in 
 proper order, to show to best advantage on entering the place. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ENTRY INTO EL PASO, AND INCIDENTS DURING OUR STAY IN 
 
 THAT TOWN. 
 
 The battalion present consisted, all told, of three hundred 
 men, in five companies, all well-dressed and clean, with not a 
 sickly man or boy among them. Being all formed into 
 companies of equal size, and the officers properly distributed, 
 the battalion was wheeled from line into column by sections 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1 57 
 
 in open order, on a good smooth road, when I placed myself 
 on foot at its head, and with common time music I marched it 
 into the plaza or public square of the town, and, moving to 
 within half the length of the column to its centre, I wheeled 
 the column into line, halted, dressed the line, ordered arms, 
 rested, and went and reported to Colonel Ralls. 
 
 •I received from him the most flattering testimonials of 
 respect for me and the officers of our battalion, and he 
 expressed his regret that he was unable to go out and meet 
 them and congratulate them on their safe arrival, in conse- 
 quence of his long indisposition ; but that he had directed the 
 post quartermaster to have suitable quarters prepared for all 
 of us, which he had no doubt were in readiness, and would 
 be pointed out to us when we were ready to receive them. 
 
 He then informed me that Lieutenant- Colonel Lane was 
 under arrest, and that I was now the ranking officer fit for 
 duty at the post, and would be expected to direct and 
 command in any emergency, and desired me to come and 
 stay with him until he was able to go on duty himself. I 
 replied that I would do so until he could procure another 
 officer to fill the place, which was satisfactory to him. ' I then 
 returned to the battalion and informed them their quarters 
 would be ready and assigned to them in half an hour, when 
 all must be present to receive them. The battalion was then 
 ordered to stack their arms and break ranks for that period, 
 and the time was spent in shaking hands and congratulating 
 each other at their meeting so far from home in the enemy's 
 country. 
 
 At the expiration of the half hour, I called the battalion 
 into line, when they took arms, and each captain led off his 
 individual company to the quarters assigned it by the quarter- 
 master. As my company was being led off by Lieutenant 
 Levant, some one asked him why I did not command my own 
 company. "Because," said the old man, "the colonel 
 has given him the command of this place, with the three 
 battalions in it, as Lieutenant-Colonel Lane is under arrest 
 for allowing Mexicans to sell liquor to the soldiers ; and I 
 will venture to say the Mexicans will not sell liquor after 
 to-day until our captain leaves town or is relieved." 
 
 I knew nothing of this at that time ; but having had my 
 
I58 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 private quarters assigned me at a distance from my company, 
 I walked to the company quarters to see how they were 
 situated for the night, and found my men in a large house and 
 about half drunk with wine. I asked where they got it. They 
 said at the first door back. I took an interpreter and informed 
 the man who kept the house that he must close and lock his 
 door and keep it locked until my company left the town, or I 
 would have him punished. He promised to do so, and I left 
 him. Early the next morning, the same man, and another 
 who represented himself as the proprietor of the wine cellar, 
 came to me with an interpreter, and, with woefully elongated 
 visages, complained that my soldiers had broken down the 
 door of their cellar and were drinking their wine. Believing 
 the report, I took my sword and hastened to the place, the 
 three Mexicans following slowly behind me ; but I found 
 the cellar deserted, with no sign of a door or any violence, 
 except about half a cart load of broken wine jugs on the 
 floor and wine mingled with the fragments about three 
 inches deep. The affair needed no explanation, and I asked 
 none, so immediately returned to my quarters, having no 
 doubt I should hear the whole history of the affair during the 
 day. In this I was not disappointed. When my company 
 had breakfasted, knowing the day was to be devoted to rest 
 after the forced march, several of the men came to my quarters 
 as to their father's house, as was their custom, and, supposing 
 I had had no hint of what had transpired the evening before, 
 began a history of it. 
 
 They said that although the Mexican had promised me he 
 would not open his cellar while I remained in town, yet he 
 had followed me to my quarters, and, when he had seen me 
 out of sight, he came back to the cellar with another man, 
 opened the door, and began to sell wine to the soldiers. A 
 shrewd, far-seeing soldier of my company, named Edward 
 Taylor, although he had but one eye, perceived this would 
 lead to mischief, and advised to take the cellar door from its 
 hinges and cast it into the river, so that, should their captain 
 return, he could not close the door on them and transfer them 
 to the guard-house. It was but a small job, and was soon 
 accomplished. When the party returned, a few more assist- 
 ant bar-keepers, with their tin cups, were added to those 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1 59 
 
 already engaged. Business was brisk, the cellar crowded, 
 and more arriving. Some paid, others did not, according to 
 taste or convenience. At length the Mexicans discovered the 
 current of business was too rapid for profit, and determined to 
 close the cellar, and went to the entrance, when they perceived 
 the door had been removed, so they placed themselves in the 
 doorway. This displeasing the boys in blue, they discharged 
 them, and conducted the business on their own account until 
 its close, which was speedily done by breaking every tinaja 
 or jug in the cellar, after which the soldiers returned to their 
 quarters. 
 
 The Mexicans soon circulated an account of this affair 
 which corroborated their own connivance, and led to the 
 promulgation of stringent orders which effectually stopped 
 their selling liquor to the infantry while in El Paso. 
 
 Three days later, General Price arrived with his staff and 
 several other officers, Colonel Easton among the rest, which 
 relieved me of any command except my own company, which 
 I drilled carefully. Preparations were immediately made for 
 an advance on Chihuahua and Durango, and I was ordered to 
 garrison El Paso with my company, thirty dragoons, and the 
 invalids, fifty in number, for thirty days, and then, if I 
 received no counter order, to escort the two trains of quarter^ 
 master and commissary stores to Chihuahua. "When my 
 company learned such an order had been given, they mur- 
 mured, saying, "We are left behind because we have old 
 officers." I thereupon went to General Price and informed 
 him that I was willing to undertake the performance of the 
 duty assigned me without my company, if he would take it 
 with him, and I would supply its strength from among the 
 wagoners. He inquired how I expected to be able to do that. 
 I told him that, as soon as the army was gone, my orders 
 would be the law, and I would make soldiers of the wagoners, 
 and there were one hundred and twenty of them. He 
 suggested they might object to serving as soldiers. I replied, 
 "I can change their notions, with the assistance of the 
 dragoons and the veteran invalids." He said, "You may 
 try;" and I hastened to inform my company, who were 
 greatly elated at the tidings, but appeared pained that I must 
 stay behind in so dangerous a position. 
 
i6o 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 On the 5th of March, 1848, General Price marched south 
 from El Paso, and I began my preparations for holding the 
 town by posting a guard of ten men on the roof of the church, 
 which was flat and overlooked the plaza, on which all the 
 wagons were corraled, and removing all the ammunition from 
 the wagons into the house lately occupied by General Armijo 
 (late governor of New Mexico), and known as Afmijo's palace, 
 where I had my quarters alone, as I would trust no one in the 
 house with me except Frank Hinch, my German servant, as I 
 had a hundred thousand dollars in gold left with me by the 
 army paymaster, which I kept hidden in ammunition boxes, 
 privately marked, so that Hinch and myself only knew where 
 it was. We then placed twenty loaded muskets in convenient 
 position for use in case of an attack, and I informed Hinch 
 that it was my intention to fire one of those muskets into a 
 box of ammunition if the Mexicans should get into the house, 
 and that, in such an emergency, he had better run out of 
 reach of the explosion that would follow. He replied that he 
 would not move an inch, as we would have plenty of money 
 for us both to spend all our lives. Having thus disposed of 
 the money and ammunition, I turned my attention to the wag- 
 oners, and sent for the two wagonmasters and told them J 
 wished to see if the wagoners had all their arms, equipments 
 and ammunition in good order which the United States had 
 furnished them with, and for that purpose they might assem- 
 ble their men, and, when ready, notify me with lists of all 
 their names. I then prepared for re-arming them, as I 
 expected to find they had lost most of what they had received 
 in their outfit, and charge them for what was missing. On 
 assembling, they made a very grave appearance, and began 
 to reproach the soldiers with having taken the missing arti- 
 cles, to which I paid no attention, but furnished everything 
 that was lacking, and had it charged on their pay-roll. I then 
 formed them in line, and explained to them the reason why 
 they were armed, and the necessity of their being drilled 
 and taught to act together. They were then dismissed and 
 ordered to assemble again at five o'clock for drill. As soon 
 as they had broken ranks, they began to discuss the propriety 
 of my order, and threaten to disobey it. I therefore ordered 
 the lieutenant of dragoons to parade all his men not on post, 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. l6l 
 
 at five o'clock, in the plaza, and also ordered a sergeant to 
 bring forward all invalids who were able to bear arms. All 
 were punctually there, and all the wagoners also, and I drilled 
 them one hour without a sign of disobedience, although half 
 had said they would not do it. 
 
 The next day was to be observed as a great holiday among 
 the Mexicans, who are all devout Catholics, and on such occa- 
 sions manifest their piety by a very prompt attendance at 
 church in the morning. In pursuance of this custom, at a 
 very early hour in the morning they began to assemble in 
 large numbers in the plaza in front of the church. The wag- 
 oners observing such a crowd rushing while it was yet dark 
 into the plaza, filling every vacant place, became alarmed, 
 and, seizing their arms, ran to my quarters and called most 
 vociferously for me to rise and see what was going on. I had 
 heard the movement and gone into the upper story of the 
 house, from whence I could see in daylight every wagon, 
 beast and person on the plaza ; but it was yet too dark to 
 perceive any signs of danger, except that I could hear the 
 rumbling of the wheels of a twelve-pounder which had been 
 left with me, and which the wagoners had taken and loaded 
 and shotted with a shirt-sleeve full of musket balls, and were 
 bringing it to the front of my quarters, where they placed it 
 and covered it by a line of their own forming, and all called 
 loudly for me. 
 
 I went out on the piazza and asked the cause of their calling 
 for me. They answered that there were more Mexicans 
 already in the plaza than would be required to carry off every 
 pound of provisions in both the trains at once. I told them I 
 was afraid of that yesterday, when some of theni were unwill- 
 ing to drill, but I did not think there was any danger now of 
 that. They said they would feel more safe if I were down 
 among them. I therefore took my sword and revolver and 
 went out to them. As soon as I was on the pavement, they 
 cheered and drove the Mexicans from that side of the plaza, 
 and would not let them pass between themselves and the 
 trains. Soon the doors of the church were opened and gave 
 admission to the crowd, estimated at three thousand. We 
 remained under arms until sunrise, when, at their own sug- 
 gestion, I formed them into two companies, appointing the 
 
l6l AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 two wagonmasters captains, each over his own men, and 
 others as officers and non-commissioned officers. While this 
 was being done, they assured me that I would never need the 
 dragoons and invalids to drill them. We immediately organ- 
 ized an additional guard, called the "Wagon Guard," and 
 that day nailed our much prized banner to a long flagstaff, 
 and raised it on the top of Armijo's palace, where it floated 
 until I left the town, when I took it with me to Chihuahua, 
 and have it now in my own possession, with the nail prints 
 visible to this day. 
 
 The wagoners, during my stay at El Paso, had manifested 
 the strongest desire to qualify themselves for defending the 
 trains and themselves, and I spared no pains in instructing 
 them, so that when I left for Chihuahua I had the same confi- 
 dence in them that I reposed in my own company, for several 
 of them had come from Fort Leavenworth with me the year 
 before, and knew me well. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 MARCH FROM EL PASO TO CHIHUAHUA. 
 
 Elated by my success in training the wagoners and gaining 
 their confidence, and the time appointed for our stay here 
 having fully expired, without any trouble or disaster, and 
 having a force I considered equal to two hundred good men 
 for any short skirmish or battle, I left El Paso with the two 
 assistant quartermasters and their trains, and all the sick, 
 lame and lazy who had been left behind the army. 
 
 On account of the freshness and stubbornness of the cattle 
 we moved but seven miles the first day, and, camping where 
 there was no grass, started early the next morning in order 
 to reach pasture. We halted opposite the town of San 
 Elizario, and as many Apache Indians were said to be in the 
 vicinity, we posted a line of our best men as sentinels on the 
 ridge of hills that lie about a mile from the right or west bank 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1 63 
 
 of the Rio Grande and put out the cattle to feed between the 
 river and the hills, as no Indians dare be seen near the river, 
 and we therefore considered them safe there. After they 
 appeared to have fed and rested sufficiently, they were 
 collected and arranged for moving, when it was discovered 
 that seventeen pairs of the oxen were missing, and that the 
 trains could not be moved without them. I therefore detached 
 all the mule teams and sent them forward with one quarter- 
 master and the lieutenant of dragoons and twenty men as an 
 escort to the train of forty wagons, while I sent the remaining 
 ten with a sergeant and interpreter into San Elizario to bring 
 their chief magistrate and padre to my quarters, where they 
 arrived a little before sundown, and, after dismounting, were 
 introduced by the interpreter. They endeavored to be 
 ceremonious, but I cut the matter short by telling them the 
 people of Elizario had stolen our oxen, and if they were not 
 brought back the next day I would punish them. The alcalde 
 said they had strayed. I told him it was false, and ordered 
 them to leave my camp instantly. They both mounted and 
 left, the priest riding a very fine gelding, which the sequel 
 will show attracted the particular attention of a dismounted 
 dragoon named Jackson, whose horse had been stolen the 
 night before his company left for Chihuahua and himself left 
 to recover it. 
 
 When I perceived that I must stay in this camp an indefinite 
 length of time, I placed sentinels along the river, and turned 
 out the cattle to graze, while I waited for the return of those 
 that were missing. As I had but little hope of recovering 
 them, I directed my thoughts to the best plan of obtaining a 
 supply from the Mexicans, as the wagoners had found the 
 tracks of their horses where they had hid under the bank, 
 and, unseen, drove off our cattle as they came to the river to 
 drink. Learning this, I sent some scouts across the river to 
 discover by the trail in which direction they had been driven, 
 and was kept during the day in momentary expectation of 
 hearing from them. 
 
 About three o'clock in the afternoon, two Mexicans brought 
 back five of our cattle, which they said they found near the 
 town, but they had the appearance of being worried down 
 by travel, and their yokes were gone. I paid them two 
 
164 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 dollars for their trouble, hoping to recover the remainder, 
 but in this failed entirely, as no other Mexican came to us 
 that day. 
 
 About dark, the scouts returned and informed me that they 
 had traced the tracks of our oxen, and the ponies that followed 
 them, around the mountain, which is ten miles east of San 
 Blizario, and down another valley to within five miles of the 
 town, where they saw some of our oxen in a herd of not less 
 than six hundred cattle of all sizes feeding together, and, it 
 being late, they passed without disturbing them. When I 
 heard that, I was confident the Mexicans would make but a 
 moderate profit out of me in this transaction, and ordered 
 two days' rations to be immediately issued and cooked 
 preparatory for a march, and every man and horse about the 
 camp ready to go on duty at sunrise with a complete supply 
 of arms and ammunition. 
 
 The next day was Sunday, and I informed the wagonmaster 
 that he must guard his wagons and teams against the Indians, 
 and I would watch the Mexicans. I then put all the dragoons 
 under the quartermaster, with an order to furnish himself 
 from the Elizario herds beyond the town with the cattle 
 necessary to move his train. He was soon in the saddle, 
 when the dragoon Jackson asked me to let him cross the 
 river and try to purchase a horse. I consented with the 
 condition that he would return with the dragoons, which he 
 promised to do. He mounted behind another dragoon to 
 cross the river and soon was out of sight. In about an hour 
 he returned with a fine black bob-tailed and roach-maned 
 gelding, bare-backed, and, riding up to a certain wagon, 
 dismounted, then, pulling out his own saddle, placed it 
 properly upon the horse, and, leading him up to me, said, 
 " Captain, I am a man once more, ready to fight ten Mexicans 
 anywhere you may direct me." I replied, " Very well ; I may 
 find a job of that kind for you this afternoon." He seemed 
 well pleased, and left me. 
 
 At ten o'clock, I ordered the oxen to be chained at the 
 corral and all the sentinels to be withdrawn and stationed 
 around it, and sent Jackson with his new horse to watch 
 the ford where the Mexicans stole our oxen, which was one 
 mile above us in the rear. He had gone but a short distance 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 165 
 
 on the way to his post when the padre or priest of San Elizario, 
 accompanied by the prefect, alcalde, an interpreter, and the 
 priest's peon carrying a large quantity of very long black 
 horse hair in his hand, came to me and complained that one 
 of my men had come to their town in the morning while the 
 priest was saying prayers in the church for the salvation of 
 souls, and, seeing the priest's servant leading his fine black 
 horse to water, took off the bridle and put on another, 
 mounted and rode off to a secluded place, cut short the 
 long hair of his tail and mane, and had come to my camp ; 
 that they had followed him, found the hair and brought it 
 along to prove the horse, and, showing it, asked me to restore 
 the horse. I told them if they would restore our oxen and 
 yokes, I would do it, but not otherwise ; and if I was com- 
 pelled to stay here another day, I would spend most of it in 
 burning their town. When the interpreter had translated 
 what I said, the padre shook his head and exclaimed, "/Ay, 
 qui malvados ! " and left me, apparently satisfied that I 
 would not be likely to dismount a brave, well-armed soldier, 
 in the presence of enemies, to give his horse to a priest whose 
 parishioners had stolen seventeen pairs of our oxen, worth 
 one hundred dollars a pair, and their yokes, which could 
 not be replaced in that country. 
 
 When they had been gone about half an hour, several 
 reports of muskets or carbines were heard from the opposite 
 side of the river, which at once alarmed the invalids, and they 
 got under arms and came to my tent, offering to do anything I 
 would direct to save the train. The wagoners seized their 
 arms, formed a line and sent for me to command them, as 
 they said the train must be held as long as there was a man 
 of the command alive. It was an exciting scene, calculated to 
 rouse the most stupid energies of the human mind, when 
 shouts of the dragoons and quartermaster began to be heard, 
 and soon a great drove of cattle appeared, driven by the 
 dragoons, and plunging into the Rio Grande swam across, 
 followed by them to our camp, where a lunette of men was 
 formed that forced the whole herd into the wagon-formed 
 corral, which was immediately closed by running a heavy 
 wagon across the entrance. The dragoons, being hungry and 
 weary, went immediately to their quarters to eat a little of 
 
l66 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 their cold cooked rations ; but before they had half finished 
 their meal, Jackson, on his bob-tailed horse, rode furiously 
 by into camp, saying, " All the Mexicans are crossing at the 
 upper ford and will soon be here." This announcement ended 
 the meal and brought every invalid and wagoner armed to the 
 corral for its defence. 
 
 About forty Mexicans, unarmed, soon followed, and, as no 
 danger was apprehended, we allowed them to enter our camp 
 with freedom, when they went directly to the corral and began 
 to point out the oxen and bulls they claimed. I concluded to 
 indulge them with a good view of them, for I thought it prob- 
 ably might be the last they would ever have. Jackson in the 
 meantime kept riding back and forth in front of the corral 
 entrance on his bob-tailed horse, which the Mexicans all 
 recognized as an old acquaintance, although somewhat 
 shortened in his caudal appendage, which annoyed them 
 exceedingly. Being in good humor with them, I heard their 
 different claims to the cattle, and pointed out six of our 
 speckled oxen marked " U. S." and asked who claimed them. 
 They said ''No one. Mexican cattle are all black, and brand- 
 ed." I remarked that I did not think I had time to look them 
 all over that evening, but I would take their names and the 
 number of cattle each one had furnished, and began to write 
 out a list and affix the number stated by each. When I had 
 finished, and found the aggregate to be one hundred and 
 eighty-three, I called the quartermaster to see if the number 
 was correct. He said that it was not ; that he had driven in 
 sixty-four Mexican cattle and six of oar own that had been 
 stolen, and he supposed each Mexican claimed them, and thus 
 the aggregate became so great. I then informed them they 
 must leave my camp and not visit it again. The interpreter, 
 however, took the liberty to add to the order, that 1 said I 
 would shoot every Mexican that did not get over the river in 
 five minutes. This false report alarmed them at once, and 
 mounting their horses they plunged into the river and swam 
 to the other shore, to the great amusement of our men, who 
 shouted and huzzaed. 
 
 We had then plenty of fine cattle, but they were nearly as 
 wild as the buffaloes, and among them were several bulls that 
 could not be excelled in size and ferocity, and the process of 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. l6j 
 
 yoking began by taking the largest bulls and yoking them 
 together by pairs. The animals made all the resistance they 
 could, but, surrounded with sixty wagoners armed with whips 
 and ropes, the poor animals were soon confined, yoked, and 
 their eyes, noses and mouths filled with sand, so that, blinded 
 and half-suffocated, they were easily attached to the wagons 
 and willingly walked off to avoid any new process of torture, 
 in which these wagoners were very proficient. The yoking 
 process completed, the train was soon again in motion, having 
 been detained two days by the felonious occurrence narrated. 
 
 We traveled about twelve miles, when we halted for the 
 night where there was water, and turned out our cattle to 
 graze on the dry grass, setting a guard over them and our 
 camp. At about nine o'clock, fires in the distance began to 
 appear on all sides, which created great alarm among those 
 not used to seeing prairies on fire, thinking it was the work 
 of Mexicans— although it might have been occasioned by 
 Indians on a hunting excursion, when they often fire the 
 prairies to drive the game in a certain direction where they lie 
 in wait for it. Being unwilling to risk a stampede of our 
 stock, we corraled it, and lay on our arms during the night 
 prepared for battle, and at early dawn put our train in line 
 for moving, when it was found that two pairs of our oxen were 
 missing. We had plenty of cattle, but no more yokes, and 
 so drove on with what we had remaining. The dragoons were 
 in front, while I guarded the rear with the invalids, who rode 
 in wagons. When we were about a mile on the road, I saw 
 Jackson standing by the roadside holding his horse, and 
 asked him what was wrong. He said he was informed two 
 pairs of oxen were left behind and he wished permission to 
 go back and recover them. I remarked, "I think it is too 
 hazardous for a man to go back alone ; but if another of your 
 comrades will accompany you, I consent. He mounted, gal- 
 loped forward, and soon returned with another as daring as 
 himself, and both at fall gallop were soon out of sight. 
 
 About four o'clock, after traveling fifteen miles, we halted, 
 put out a cordon of sentinels, and turned in the oxen to feed, 
 when we heard a great shout from the sentinels, and looking 
 saw their hats raised on the points of their arms, and,' looking 
 still further back, saw Jackson and his comrade driving our 
 
i68 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 lost oxen into camp and each leading a saddled horse besides 
 his own. The whole camp seemed at once intoxicated with 
 admiration and joy. I told them I thought as soon as they 
 had made sufficient noise they had better he examining their 
 arms and ammunition to see if all were in order for immediate 
 use. They assured me they would do it, or anything else I 
 thought best. Soon after, Jackson led up a good Mexican 
 horse, and said, " Here, captain, is one of the horses we have 
 taken to-day from the two thieves who stole our oxen last 
 night. What shall I do with him?" I replied, " Keep him 
 until the thieves call for him." The wagoners rejoined, "Jack- 
 son, the horse is yours," and enjoyed a good time in hearing 
 him describe the race they had after the thieves, whom they 
 found, by their tracks on the burnt prairie, driving the cattle 
 about five miles from our old camp. He said, " We passed 
 rapidly up the road three miles above our old camp, where 
 the road and river are near together, without signs or tracks, 
 then went directly from the road about one mile, when we 
 struck the trail of the four yoked oxen and two horses, 
 and followed it about two miles, when we saw them a mile 
 ahead, and gave chase. The Mexicans abandoned the oxen 
 and fled, in opposite directions, towards large chapparals, in 
 which they hid, leaving the horses for us, which we have 
 brought along with the oxen into camp. 
 
 After this exploit, we pursued our march to Chihuahua 
 without further molestation. When within about two or three 
 miles of the city, I met all my company not on duty, who had 
 come out to meet me, having heard that I encamped the night 
 before but five miles from the city. Our meeting was most 
 cordial; I have never seen another more so. Forty of my 
 company were present, and each acted as if he had met his 
 father. 
 
 We arrived at Chihuahua about eleven o'clock, when I sent 
 for Major Spalding, the paymaster, and transferred the one 
 hundred thousand dollars in gold to him ; then delivered the 
 provisions to the commissary, sent the invalids to the hospital, 
 and turned over all the wagons and stock to the quartermas- 
 ter, who at once assigned me a fine house for my quarters and 
 sent my baggage to it. 
 
 Having fully obeyed my orders, I went to General Price's 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1 69 
 
 headquarters and reported myself to him. He expressed him- 
 self well pleased with my performance and complete success 
 in training wagoners and teaching them to become soldiers. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 INCIDENTS, OBSERVATIONS, AND DUTIES OP THE AUTHOR DURING 
 A STAY OF THREE MONTHS IN THE OITT OF CHIHUAHUA. 
 
 On my arrival at Chihuahua, I took command of my com- 
 pany, which was in a high state of discipline, well clad, neat, 
 cleanly, and healthy, and consisted of seventy-five men and 
 three officers. I was proud of them, and I have cause to think 
 they were equally so of me. On the following morning I led 
 them, in all their martial perfection, to the dress parade, and, 
 having formed them on the right of line, took my proper 
 place, and waited the formation of the residue of the line "by 
 the adjutant, my first lieutenant, now Colonel Samuel Holmes, 
 commanding the fortieth Missouri regiment of infantry vol- 
 unteers at Mobile, Alabama. After the ceremonies of the 
 parade were through, and we were ready to retire, the adju- 
 tant produced and read a general order, the purport of which 
 was : " Captain Shepard, commanding Company A, Missouri 
 battalion of infantry volunteers, will turn over the command 
 of his company to his lieutenant, and report himself to-morrow 
 morning at the headquarters of the general of the depart- 
 ment, to enter upon the performance of the duties of the office 
 of provost marshal, and all persons will thereafter respect 
 and obey him as such." The parade was then dismissed, and 
 I marched my company back to their quarters, and after 
 addressing a few words to them, turned over the command of 
 the company to my veteran lieutenant, Thomas Levant, and 
 retired to my quarters. 
 
 I was informed that, after I left, the lieutenant addressed 
 the company, and remarked that he was not surprised that 
 12 
 
I70 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 the general had taken their captain from them and made him 
 absolutely the master of the police of the city, when there 
 were nineteen other captains present, since all knew my relia- 
 bility of character, and that there would be no mistakes, and 
 he hoped I would not be pained by being obliged to arrest 
 any of them ; that I would not lose sight of them, but would 
 visit them in their quarters each day, he had no doubt, and 
 would attend to all their wants. I did not disappoint them, 
 but was there once each day thereafter. 
 
 Having arranged my quarters and dined, I began to peram- 
 bulate the city and ascertain the locality of the offices and 
 quarters of the different officers. I soon found I had chosen 
 the worst period of the day for my purpose, as the whole army 
 had in this short time acquired the universal habit of the 
 Mexicans, of taking a siesta after dinner until three o'clock. 
 I therefore could see none of the officers at. that time of day. 
 However, after three o'clock all their doors were opened, and 
 I made several visits, among them one to General Price. On 
 being shown into his parlor, I observed three Mexicans seated, 
 and no one else, and, while waiting for the return of the 
 general, scrutinized them more closely, when I came to the 
 conclusion I had seen them all before. Soon the general 
 returned, and, after the usual salutations among friends had 
 passed between us, he turned to the Mexicans and said, " This 
 is the officer you say took your oxen ; we will hear what he 
 has to say about it." I related the whole history of the affair, 
 which was translated to them, and the general added, "Lieu- 
 tenant Paul has made the same statement. This officer has 
 nothing to do with it now. Go to the quartermaster." By 
 this time the countenances of the Mexicans had become much 
 chop-fallen, and bidding the general a gracious adieu, they 
 retired, followed by Mr. Skinner, the interpreter, who, when 
 in the street, informed them I had been appointed provost 
 marshal and would be on duty the next day, and possibly the 
 thought might come into my head to arrest and punish them 
 for my detention at Blizario two days, with a hundred men 
 and a large train, and he thought their best move now would 
 be to leave the city by the shortest route, for I had been 
 greatly vexed with the people of Elizario for stealing my oxen, 
 and if I once got hold of any of them I would surely do them 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 171 
 
 some harm or mischief. This was a sufficient hint, and they 
 left the city immediately. 
 
 On the-following morning, I repaired to the general's head- 
 quarters and reported myself ready to receive and execute 
 orders. He replied he had no particular orders to give ; that 
 I was an older gentleman than he, and that I had been twice 
 as long in the army ; that I was well acquainted with the 
 regulations necessary for the enforcement of good order and 
 law, and he wished them maintained in as much perfection as 
 was now in our power, and I might take such course and use 
 such means as I thought proper to accomplish it. I thereupon 
 ordered every Mexican gambling-house, and all houses of 
 Mexicans where liquor was sold, to be closed at nine o'clock 
 p. m. each evening, and to be kept closed till four o'clock in 
 the morning, and sent a person to notify each of the owners. 
 Through the densely populated parts of the city the order was 
 obeyed, and but two in the whole place failed to obey, and I 
 arrested them both after ten o'clock at night and put them in 
 the Mexican prison, and the alcalde punished them at my 
 request by setting them to cleaning the public stables for ten 
 days. This frightened the whole fraternity so much that 
 there was no similar occurrence, and the streets were quiet 
 during the remainder of my sojourn in the city. 
 
 The next subject that seemed to require attention was 
 disorder about the plaza Tauri, a fine pleasure ground of about 
 four acres, well shaded with beautiful trees, and comfortably 
 furnished with permanent, well-dressed, fine stone seats, 
 where the Mexicans with their families spend a large portion 
 of their time in conversation. On the south are ladies' baths, 
 inclosed by a row of buildings surrounding the great bathing 
 and swimming basin, and forming the ladies' dressing rooms. 
 On the west is the Great Circus, or Theatre Taurorum, where 
 the bull fights are exhibited on Sunday afternoons. About this 
 plaza there are no drinking saloons or stores. Every sight is 
 suggestive of pleasure, not business. Yet this place and its 
 vicinity had been the scene of no less than seven assassina- 
 tions in as many weeks — two of the victims were United States 
 soldiers, and five were Mexican citizens — and no one arrested 
 for it. I therefore took an interpreter and began to investigate 
 the cause of all this violence, and discovered it at once. 
 
I72 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 The victims had all been murdered in retaliation for some act 
 done by them on this pleasure ground, and never would have 
 happened with one good police officer in charge of the place. 
 A young, ignorant and cowardly Mexican, of a wealthy family, 
 was then keeper of the keys of the baths and circus, and had 
 charge of the pleasure grounds ; but, if any difficulty occurred, 
 he had not courage enough to interfere, consequently every 
 one made his own laws and executed them himself, and then 
 followed the murders in retaliation. 
 
 It was Saturday, and I had not time to do anything to 
 improve the state of affairs that night, but as there was to be 
 a great bull fight on the next afternoon (Sunday) in the circus, 
 I determined to improve that opportunity for making a trial, 
 and, taking a guard of sixteen men with me, went to the bull 
 fight at an early hour. Soon the seats began to be filled with 
 all the gay people of the place, and our soldiers mixed thick 
 amongst them. A lively chit-chat was going on everywhere, 
 but no bickering or disorder, as they all saw me occupying a 
 front seat and the guard seated behind me ready to appre- 
 hend the first person who should disturb the general enjoy- 
 ment. At length the hour of commencement arrived, and a 
 Mexican, well mounted, with a peculiar pike fourteen feet long 
 in his hand, entered the arena from a side gate, accompanied 
 by another man on foot, dressed like himself in white pants 
 and red shirt, bearing in one hand a dart and in the other a 
 small red flag, and both commenced running in all directions 
 about the arena, when a gate was opened on the opposite 
 side, and a large black bull was driven in and the gate closed. 
 
 The bull stopped short at sight of the crowd, and raising 
 his head, his eyes big and red with rage, he uttered a horrid 
 roar, snuffed, snorted, and then rushed furiously at the foot- 
 man with the red flag, who dodged, and wounded him as he 
 passed, as did also the horseman, who was then attacked 
 and compelled to fly several times around the arena, the bull, 
 with tail up, in hot pursuit, until the footman blinded him 
 with his flag and ran him butt against the fence, amid loud 
 cheering. This was considered a great feat and called forth 
 loud applatise, and still louder when he withdrew the flag and 
 (being directly in front of the beast) dropped a dart into his 
 back, which, being barbed, stuck fast. The infuriated animal 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1 73 
 
 stood a moment as if at a loss which to attack, and again 
 rushed on the horseman, who received him by a thrust of his 
 pike in his nose, turning aside the horn which menaced the 
 horse's breast, and would have killed him but for this dexter- 
 ous and judicious thrust. This about closed the strife, and 
 the poor beast was soon slain. 
 
 Two other animals were afterwards brought in and treated 
 in the same cruel manner by fresh sets of tormentors, and all 
 their carcases given to the poor, which is the disposition 
 always made of them. 
 
 The performances being over, the spectators withdrew 
 quietly to the plaza, and when all were out I marched my 
 guard to the centre of the plaza and halted them, and mount- 
 ing a long stone seat, with an interpreter by my side, called 
 on the Mexicans to give attention. There were at least one 
 thousand present. I told them seven persons had lately been 
 murdered about the plaza by unknown persons, and I had 
 come to prevent any more killing, which had always been 
 done after nine o'clock at night. Therefore I forbade any 
 Mexican, male or female, being on or about the plaza between 
 nine o'clock at night and sunrise, and if I caught any of them 
 there, I would put them to cleaning stables with the two grog- 
 sellers I now had performing that task for disobeying me. This 
 had the desired effect ; the plaza was as silent as a graveyard 
 after nine o'clock while we remained in Chihuahua, which 
 was from April 23d to August 15th, 1848, and there was no 
 homicide within a mile of the place. 
 
 On the morning following, a man named Holland told me he 
 had found a printing press and types in a house where they 
 had lain idle twenty-six years, having been confiscated to the 
 State, and asked me to permit him to use them to print a 
 Spanish and English paper. To this I readily consented, and 
 he spent the day vainly trying to get some one to edit the 
 paper, when Colonel Easton told him to ask me, which he did, 
 and I wrote all that appeared in the editorial columns of the 
 Chihuahua Union, the first number of which was printed on 
 the 29th of April, 1848, and a copy of which I still have. 
 
 On the 1st of May, there being several persons under arrest, 
 a court martial was ordered for their trial. • I was appointed 
 president, and directed to try all then under arrest, and 
 
J 74 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 adjourn from time to time as I should think proper — but not 
 dissolve the court — and try the delinquents as soon as possi- 
 ble after their arrest, until further orders. The court thus 
 operating continued until the 12th of August, 1848, when it 
 was dissolved, preparatory to leaving Chihuahua and return- 
 ing to our own country to be discharged from the army. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM CHIHUAHUA, AND INCIDENTS ON THE MARCH 
 TO INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 On the morning of the 13th of August, 1848, I called as 
 usual at General Price's headquarters, when he told me he 
 wished me to take my company and march to the ford and' 
 pass of Sacramento and arrest all Americans and detain them 
 until further orders, as several Mexicans had complained to 
 him that their horses had been stolen, and he hoped I would 
 be able to recover and restore some of them. 
 
 I called on the quartermaster for wagons and the commis- 
 sary for rations, and at one o'clock left the city with all my 
 men, every one of them being able to march, which I attribu- 
 ted to the watchful care of Lieutenant Levant and myself over 
 their cleanliness and culinary arrangements from the begin- 
 ning. We marched eighteen miles in six hours, and encamped 
 in a line across the road in front of the ford, and set our sen- 
 tinels in the form of the letter Y, spreading the opening 
 towards Chihuahua, so that when passers-by were hailed they 
 could not retreat or escape. The company all knew their 
 business, and were proud of being selected for this duty, and 
 appeared anxious to perform it well. 
 
 All was silent until about one o'clock in the morning, when 
 five horsemen were stopped at the ford with six animals and 
 brought to my tent by the guard. I ordered them all under 
 guard, and directed the animals to be stripped of their sad- 
 dles and bridles, tied to the wagons, and strictly guarded 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I75 
 
 there. Soon others arrived, and still others, so that at sunrise 
 we had twenty-one prisoners and twenty-three horses and 
 mules ; and at ten o'clock, thirty prisoners and thirty-four 
 horses and mules, and a fine yearling jack. The appearance 
 of these prisoners was sad indeed. Some had been clerks, 
 some merchants, some gamblers, some soldiers, some wagon- 
 ers, but now all were considered thieves and robbers. 
 
 About three o'clock p. m., two Americans and five Mexicans 
 came into camp, and, jumping from their horses, ran to the 
 tied animals and applied some strangely-shaped irons to the 
 marks on them, saying, " These are ours ; they were stolen a 
 week or more ago, and General Price sent us here to-day to 
 get them." I thereupon delivered to them twelve animals 
 which had evidently been marked with those strange brand- 
 ing irons. Through the remainder of the day and following 
 night the trap was well patronized, and we had fifty-six pris- 
 oners when General Price sent Captain Clarkson with a 
 company to relieve me, and inform me I might pursue my 
 march ad libitum toward home. Just then four other compa- 
 nies of our battalion came up and placed themselves under 
 my command, and I advised them to ford the river before they 
 encamped. This induced Captain Clarkson to pass the river 
 to encamp and left the prisoners still with me. In the mean- 
 time a crowd of Mexicans arrived claiming stolen horses, and 
 having their palpable proof, I returned thirty-two more to 
 them, making forty-four out of sixty in all. The remaining 
 sixteen animals I turned over to the other company with the 
 prisoners, and as the company had left Chihuahua that morn- 
 ing with their canteens full of whisky, they neglected their 
 duties and allowed all the prisoners to escape with the 
 animals during the night folloAving. 
 
 It being now the 16th of August, and the weather very 
 warm, we started early, and had marched about five miles, 
 when most of Captain Clarkson's company passed us at full 
 gallop without officers, and in about an hour the captain and 
 other officers passed, having quit the post without leave when 
 they saw the country full of thieves and robbers, and we„re 
 sent to arrest them. 
 
 Two days after, General Price and all his staff passed us, 
 having left the city on the 17th of August, 1848, and as the 
 
I76 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 weather was very dry and warm and water very bad and 
 scarce, no time was allowed to "be spent in salutations and 
 ceremonies, bat all urged to press on to water as fast as possi- 
 ble, which we continued to do. The infantry and animals were 
 suffering fearfully. One of my sergeants, William Seward, 
 had been left exhausted on the road and was picked up by 
 General Price and carried forward in his wagon to El Paso. 
 This act was characteristic of him. I consider him one of the 
 kindest and most accomplished generals I ever saw. I served 
 under Generals Taylor, Scott, and Brown, and was well 
 acquainted with all of them in the days of their greatest glory 
 and activity, as well as with General Price. It is most aston- 
 ishing to me that any hallucination has since misled him. 
 
 Soon after General Price had left us, Colonel Easton over- 
 took us and relieved me from the care of any but my own 
 company, which needed all my attention to alleviate their 
 distress and keep them together. 
 
 At length, on the same day, we arrived at St. Mary's Spring, 
 one of the curiosities of the country, mostly natural, but 
 evidently greatly changed by human hands. The spring 
 gushes from near the bottom of a precipice, two hundred feet 
 in hight, formed of strata of grey granite, which here com- 
 poses the base of a mountain several thousand feet high. 
 The water escapes from between two strata about one inch 
 asunder in the middle and twelve feet long, closing gradually 
 toward each extremity, suggesting the idea of its being a 
 mouth. The velocity with which the water issues indicates 
 that the fountain is very high and abundant. The channel 
 by which the water is conducted to the plain seems to have 
 been the work of men, as it is straight and formed by remov- 
 ing several strata of the rocks through which it runs to the 
 fertile plain below. About the spring are many mortars dug 
 in the rocks, being all about the same size and shape — that is, 
 eighteen inches deep and ten inches broad — in which the 
 Indians, or former inhabitants, crushed or ground their corn. 
 In all these indications of labor there was not a mark or sign 
 of their having used an iron tool, and they had removed quite 
 out of sight all the stones that had been quarried about the 
 spring. 
 
 Our stock had become so much exhausted that it was 
 
E.LIHU H. SHEPARD. 177 
 
 deemed most prudent to rest one day at this fine spring and 
 good pasturage. This afforded me a good opportunity to 
 view the country from the top of the lofty mountain eastward, 
 which overlooks a vast fertile region round about, without an 
 inhabitant within twenty miles of the spring. When it was 
 known that I was preparing to ascend the mountain, about a 
 dozen officers asked to accompany me, as I had a fine field 
 glass, which would enable them to view everything within the 
 range of vision, and I permitted them to do so, and each one 
 procured a good musket and plenty of ammunition. This I 
 was sorry to see, as it would tire and incommode them in their 
 ascent, and be of no possible utility to any one. My advice 
 to leave half the muskets was useless,, and we started on a 
 journey of three miles as we supposed, but found it to be 
 seven. When we had reached the highest point we could 
 see from the plain, we found ourselves at the base of another 
 of equal altitude. Here three officers turned back. We 
 rested a little while, and then proceeded. The sun shone 
 bright, but our altitude was such that no inconvenience was 
 felt from it; yet those heavy, useless muskets drove five 
 more men to abandon the trip and return to camp before we 
 reached the top. When we had reached the summit of this 
 ridge, my four friends seemed quite discouraged at seeing 
 another ridge of almost equal hight of those we had ascended 
 still before and east of us. The muskets had become doubly 
 heavy and useless, for the game was scarce and shy, and 
 always saw us before we did them. We sat and rested 
 ourselves for half an hour, when I rose and walked slowly 
 forward, lingering until I was quite out of sight of them, and 
 sat down to await their coming up, remaining until I was 
 satisfied they did not intend to follow me any further, when I 
 again started forward. I had climbed but a few yards up the 
 mountain when I heard a great rustling of stones and gravel 
 rolling down the mountain at my left, and turning my eyes in 
 that direction I saw two large elk running up the mountain 
 within fifty yards of me, and as they passed they observed 
 me, and, turning, ran in front of me, stopped and gazed at 
 me two or three minutes, showing their enormous horns then 
 in the velvet or soft state, and then hurried on out of sight 
 unalarmed. 
 
178 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 In the meantime, I had lost all hope of being overtaken by 
 any of those I had left behind, and pressed up the mountain 
 as fast as possible. Having no guide, my progress was slow, 
 for I was compelled to make many detours to avoid those 
 lofty precipices that present themselves in broken sections 
 on all sides of this highest peak. On attaining the summit, 
 I was surprised to find it broad, nearly level, and covered 
 with oak and pine timber, grass and flowers. I walked about 
 one mile north to the highest part, for the table land was 
 higher at the north of where I ascended the mountain. From 
 that point I viewed the surrounding country through my glass, 
 and found all the mountain-tops covered with a fair growth of 
 pine and oak timber, but not a habitation, improvement, or a 
 domestic animal, within the range of vision. 
 
 Having viewed and duly considered the immense solitude 
 that here surrounded me, I began to make my way back to 
 the plain by taking the channel of one of those vast ravines 
 that lead from, the apex of the mountain to the plain. The 
 channel was perfectly dry, but obstructed by huge rocks and 
 precipices, so that I was often compelled to retrace my steps 
 and make detours. In making one of these of large circuit, I 
 passed near an overhanging precipice, and was proceeding 
 along its base, when I began to hear a noise above me resem- 
 bling the noise of a man snoring in sleep. I stepped off a few 
 yards from the precipice and looking up saw a large grizzly 
 bear, followed by two cubs, walking in an opposite direction 
 along the edge of the precipice, and about thirty yards from 
 me. I lost no time in putting a greater distance between us, 
 often looking back as well as forward during the afternoon. 
 The ravine conducted me to the plain about three miles south 
 of the spring. This is probably the best route to the apex of 
 St. Mary's Mountain, although the distance will be ten miles, 
 while the air line is not more than seven, or eight at most. On 
 my arrival at the plain, I took the road which runs along the 
 base of the mountain to the spring, not knowing the distance, 
 or supposing it to be half as great as I found it. I was much 
 fatigued and hungry, while the heated air of the plain 
 assisted to make me still more uncomfortable. Under such 
 exhaustion, those miles seemed the longest I ever traveled over. 
 
 When I arrived within about half a mile of our camp I met 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1 79 
 
 my faithful man, Francis Hinch, going in quest of me, with 
 his musket and haversack full of cooked rations. As soon as 
 he saw me he threw down his musket and ran to me, weeping 
 for joy, and, clasping me in his arms, declared he would never 
 let me leave him behind again ; that I was an old man, and he 
 had thought I was lost in the mountains, and would now 
 starve to death and be eaten by wolves. He said all those 
 who started with me had been back six hours, and they told 
 him if I ever came back it would be by this route, by which 
 they had all returned. We sat down on the grass, and I ate 
 from his haversack until I was well satisfied, and rested, when 
 we returned to our camp to prepare for marching the next 
 
 We struck our tents early, and that evening encamped at 
 the Ojo Caliente, or hot spring. This is pure, well-tasted water, 
 and where it rises is about as warm as one can well bear his 
 hand in ; but the inhabitants have formed a long kind of basin 
 below, by enclosing the stream within a good stone wall, to 
 allow the water to cool for general use and stock, as it is near 
 Carisal, seventy miles west of El Paso. 
 
 Hot springs are very numerous in all parts of Mexico, but 
 good water is generally very scarce. All crops are raised by 
 irrigation, and provisions are cheap and abundant. Having 
 filled all our water casks and canteens with' pure water, we 
 moved forward, knowing that we must march thirty-six miles 
 without water suitable for men to use. This required a steady 
 march of two days to what is called the Miry Spring, a very 
 appropriate name for that place. The spring is large, and as 
 it rises in a marsh of about two acres, is easily disturbed, 
 made muddy, and apparently stopped up by allowing stock 
 to walk into it at will and otherwise to defile it. We arrived 
 weary and thirsty at this place when the sun was about two 
 hours high, and found that General Price had been encamped 
 here a day or two and had just resumed his march, leaving 
 the marsh and spring a quagmire. Our colonel was disgusted 
 and angry, and, instead of encamping and trying to cleanse 
 and settle the spring, he ordered the stock to be watered and 
 the march resumed. Our thirsty soldiers rushed at once into 
 the marsh with their tin cups and canteens to secure a little 
 water to slake their raging thirst, and enable them to obey 
 
l8o AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 what they thought an unnecessary order. The teamsters also 
 with their mules splashed in, amid the remonstrating and 
 execrating soldiers, to obtain a share of the beverage. The 
 offended officers and soldiers said to me, " This order would 
 not have been given to-night had you been in command of 
 us." It was indeed true ; yet none of us had any conception 
 of the alarms, dangers and sufferings we had to pass through 
 before the next day ended. 
 
 About four miles from this place, the road to El Paso forks. 
 The east fork goes near San Elisario and Rio Grande, and is 
 well supplied most of the way with water, but is twelve miles 
 longer than the west fork, which passes through a plain of 
 fine sand ten miles broad, with water on the road but in one 
 place. The men and mules having drank a little, were put in 
 motion just before sundown, in order to enable them that 
 night to reach water four miles ahead, as I supposed, on the 
 east fork of the road ; but when we had marched two miles to 
 the forks of the road, I saw the head of the column rising the 
 hill on the west road, and knew the die was cast. There was 
 not a drop of water on this road for twelve miles, and it was 
 nearly dark, and the men had already marched twenty miles. 
 It was clear in the east, but a long, low, black cloud lay near 
 the western horizon and began to threaten us with a great 
 tempest. 
 
 "We had proceeded about three miles into the sandy plain, 
 when, with lightning and thunder the most terrific, but with- 
 out rain, the storm burst upon us. At the first blast the wind 
 and sand so completely filled the eyes and nostrils of men 
 and animals that they seemed unable either to see or act. 
 The horses and mules all turned their heads from the storm, 
 and the men took shelter behind the covered wagons and 
 mules. The sand was blown about and drifted like snow. 
 Eyes, ears and nostrils were filled and refilled. The mules 
 were obliged to be detached from the wagons to prevent their 
 breaking the poles ; many got loose and ran away, and some 
 teams ran off before the gale with their drivers on them. At 
 length, when the storm had exhausted its fury, the clouds 
 passed away, and the weather became clear and still, the last 
 half of the night exhibiting a wonderful contrast with the 
 former part of it. The wagons were scattered widely over the 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 161 
 
 plain, with half the mules missing, the soldiers wandering 
 from wagon to wagon to ascertain what was doing. "When the 
 storm abated, our colonel forsook his scattered and distressed 
 command, and I saw him no more until our arrival at El Paso. 
 
 In the morning, as soon as we could see the timber on the 
 farther side of the plain, I sent forward a number of wagoners 
 to bring back the escaped mules that had run to the nearest 
 water (which that animal always does, and can smell it ten 
 miles or more), and then forwarded as many wagons as we 
 had mules to haul through the deep sand, accompanied by a 
 strong escort, for the vicinity of large springs is the haunt of 
 roving bands of Indians. I remained with a few soldiers to 
 protect the immovable wagons, one of which contained all 
 our unissued ammunition. 
 
 At the rising of the sun, other distress than thirst fell upon 
 us. The silver-colored sand glistened in our unwashed eyes, 
 producing a blinding painfulness that is indescribable ; and 
 as the sun rose, the heat became greater and our thirst more 
 distressing. We had sheltered ourselves in the shade of the 
 wagons to avoid the burning sun, having no hope of relief 
 before the return of the wagoners, when Samuel Parks, a 
 private soldier of my company, rode up with six canteens of 
 water. He had found his way to the Ojo Grande, or Great 
 Spring, and, having slaked his own thirst, he called to mind 
 the suffering condition of his comrades, borrowed some can- 
 teens, filled them with water, and started back seven miles 
 to relieve his friends. He had proceeded on his errand of 
 mercy about a half a mile, when he was met by a mounted 
 soldier going to the spring, who asked him where he was 
 going, and, on learning his object, told him to come back to 
 the spring until he could water his horse, and he might ride 
 him on the trip. He turned back, accepted the horse, and 
 performed the journey. It is unnecessary to state the stand- 
 ing of such men in their companies, or on a battle-field — they 
 would be found in place. The expressions of gratitude to 
 Parks by those he had relieved must have been a good reward 
 to him at that time, and I think he must feel it renewed as 
 often as he recalls the kind action. The wagoners returned 
 about noon with plenty of teams and soon took the wagons 
 to the spring, where we spent the following night. 
 
102 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Near this spring, about three weeks before our arrival, two 
 discharged soldiers, one formerly belonging to my company, 
 had been murdered by a treacherous Mexican, whom they had 
 hired to attend their horses from Chihuahua to El Paso. They 
 had not been buried, nor was their death known to any of 
 the Americans. When the infantry had selected a place to 
 encamp upon, they went in search of fuel, and soon found 
 parts of infantry uniforms, human bones, and finally two skulls 
 which were recognized as those of our men, and it was evident 
 they had been murdered and eaten by the wolves. Our men 
 found most of the bones of the two men, but not all, and 
 buried them. On our arrival in El Paso we found the mur- 
 derer in jail, being confined there for the double murder by 
 the Mexican authorities. General Price did what he could to 
 have justice done, but I have not heard the result. 
 
 On General Price's arrival at El Paso, a lot of Mexicans 
 from Elizario renewed the claim for my taking their cattle by 
 presenting him with a large roll of their affidavits concerning 
 the affair. The general took papers, affidavits and all, and 
 handed the whole of them to Colonel Easton, saying to him, 
 " This belongs to your battalion." Colonel Easton then 
 brought them to me, and said, " Here, captain, are some 
 papers that belong to these men," pointing to five Mexicans ; 
 "I wish you would attend to them, as I know nothing about 
 them." I took the papers and waited until the colonel was 
 out of hearing, and then informed my Mexican visitors, 
 through their own interpreter, that they could take their 
 papers and depart in peace; but if I should ever find them 
 again in or about my camp, I would bind them to a wagon 
 and whip them like slaves. When the interpreter had 
 finished, I gave him the papers, and they all left, and I 
 never heard of them afterwards. 
 
 They had just gone, when I received an order to cross the 
 Rio Grande with my company and post them in a position to 
 cover the ford, protect a merchant train near there, and stop 
 all persons suspected of having stolen horses, saddles, or 
 mules, and dispose of them as I had done at the pass of 
 Sacramento. I immediately left El Paso, and took post where 
 Port Bliss now stands. The thieves in El Paso soon learned 
 my location and kept out of my trap, so that I was not able to 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1 83 
 
 arrest any of them there. The action of the general and the 
 slow and cantious movements of the thieves showed how 
 both parties appreciated the duties I had performed at the 
 pass of Sacramento and other places. 
 
 The general and quartermasters having disposed of all 
 useless United States property at El Paso, on the 1st of Sep- 
 tember, 1848, evacuated the State of Chihuahua and marched 
 up the left bank of the Rio Grande to Santa ~F6, arriving there 
 on the 18th, where I remained two days, and discharged 
 twenty of my men who wished to stay in that territory. 
 
 I was then again ordered forward as usual, and for the same 
 purpose, and had caught one thief with a stolen mule, when 
 some travelers reported my location and my success in Santa 
 F6, which ruined my further usefulness and turned the rogues 
 by another route. I had sent the thief to Santa ~F6 by two of 
 my soldiers, and, having placed him in the guard-house, they 
 engaged with the quartermaster to drive teams to Independ- 
 ence for a dollar a day, and came back with their discharges 
 for me to sign. I asked them if they were not afraid to show 
 me such papers now on a march. They said no ; they knew I 
 would be glad to see them get a dollar a day extra all the 
 way home. I signed their discharges and they returned to 
 Santa Fe. 
 
 The next morning, General Price, with all the volunteers 
 remaining of his army, passed me on their march homeward, 
 our battalion among the rest. My company, now reduced to 
 fifty men, but all well and fit for duty, took the rear and 
 watched the ammunition and train until our arrival at 
 Independence on the 1st of November, 1848, without any loss 
 of men or animals, and all still in the most perfect health, 
 which I attributed to their cleanliness and diet; for both 
 Lieutenant Levant and myself had given them the example 
 and compelled all to follow it for their own comfort and 
 safety. 
 
 The battalion's greatest feat during this year was eating 
 five thousand sheep, which our quartermaster purchased at 
 Limitar and drove four hundred and seventy miles to Chi- 
 huahua, and from Chihuahua fourteen hundred miles to 
 Independence, those most easily caught being the first butch- 
 ered and eaten each day until all were consumed, the last of 
 
184 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 which were slaughtered at Blue River, a short distance from 
 Independence, after the poor sheep had swam all the rivers 
 on that road. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT INDEPENDENCE — MUSTERING OUT OE MY COMPANY, 
 AND OUR RETURN TO ST. LOUIS. 
 
 On our arrival at Independence, we found Colonel Hitch- 
 cock waiting to muster us out of the U. S. service, he being 
 the mustering officer, and we the last troops to be discharged. 
 I had been so much on detached service, and had so much 
 public property to account for, that I was kept very busy day 
 and night ; and added to this, a crowd of clothing merchants 
 beset me on all sides to aid in having my men get a new 
 citizen's dress, each, out of their three months' extra pay to be 
 given them. I, however, got my muster and pay rolls ready 
 before any of the captains present, and the mustering officer 
 being furnished with the rolls properly made out, and the 
 paymaster also, they informed me I would be waited on first, 
 and appointed an early hour the next day to discharge and 
 pay us. 
 
 In the meantime, a captain of a steamboat called on me and 
 asked my assistance in procuring passengers, promising to 
 take my men in the cabin to St. Louis at ten dollars each and 
 to start the moment I came on board. I told the captain I 
 thought I could send him twenty or twenty-five passengers. 
 Having all the discharges duly prepared, I paraded my men 
 for the last time, and in presence of the mustering officer deliv- 
 ered to each one his discharge, and told them their money was 
 ready, and I would go and see them paid. The paymaster 
 had each man's money counted, wrapped in a paper, marked 
 and numbered, and calling them forward in their order, he 
 paid them as fast as they signed their names, which was soon 
 done, and each man going to St. Louis repaired to the boat. 
 I then bid adieu to all who remained, very few of whom I 
 have ever seen since, as they nearly all went to California from 
 there the next spring. 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I85 
 
 I then went on board the steamer and found thirty-two of 
 my late company in the cabin, all neatly dressed in new 
 citizen's clothing, sitting and waiting my arrival. As soon as 
 I was on board, the boat got under way, and a short time 
 afterwards we had tea. At table were four United States 
 regular officers, my late soldiers, the steamboat master, Lieu- 
 tenant Levant, and myself. 
 
 After supper, as we sat in the cabin, the captain said to me, 
 " How did it happen that none of your company came to go 
 home with you?" I replied, "These gentlemen have all 
 belonged to my company, except Major Scott and those United 
 States officers with him." I have seldom seen a person 
 manifest such perfect astonishment ; and he said, " I have 
 compelled them to pay twelve dollars; I will refund two 
 dollars to each one, and fulfil my promise to you ; " and he 
 ordered the clerk to do it then. 
 
 Major Scott rose and said, " Gentlemen, you all know me. I 
 did not recognize any of you. I know you now. I predicted 
 something extra of your company when I sent it to escort the 
 first train to Santa ¥6 and saw it commanded by two officers 
 who had served in the United States regular army in Canada 
 in the war of 1812, and under General Taylor in Mexico in 
 1846, and the first to bring provisions and a reinforcement 
 after the rebellion at Taos." He then introduced his brother 
 officers to them, and all came forward and were announced by 
 name by Lieutenant Levant, and after a very cordial shaking 
 ■ of hands we all settled down to a most perfect equality during 
 the voyage. 
 
 It was a very quiet trip, made entirely in daylight, the 
 water being low, and no deep drinking, noise, or gambling, 
 was attempted. The result was we had ample opportunity 
 for seeing the snags, logs and sandbars in the Missouri river, 
 and to view the farms and villages along its banks to its mouth. 
 After a most pleasant and agreeable voyage, we arrived on the 
 evening of the sixth day at sundown, and all took leave of 
 each other, and since that day I have not met with more than 
 about ten of them, as all the men were unmarried except one, 
 and mostly left for California the next spring, and none have 
 since returned to St. Louis. 
 13 
 
I 86 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIIL 
 
 A TEAR OP TRAVELING AND WANDERINGS WITH ALL MY FAMILY 
 DURING THE CHOLERA SEASON OP 1849, LEADING TO NEW 
 OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 Having been absent from St. Louis about seventeen months, 
 I returned to my family, whom I found all in good health, but 
 boarding abroad. My daughter had become the mother of a 
 promising son named Shepard, born on the evening of Novem- 
 ber 7th, 1847, the same evening that St. Louis was first lighted 
 with gas, and was then about one year old, and could already 
 walk. 
 
 I remained at home but a very few days with my family, as 
 I held claims against the government on vouchers for supplies 
 in the medical, commissary and quartermaster's departments, 
 and as they soon were to be withdrawn, I hastened to have 
 mine adjusted here ; but after a fruitless effort I was compelled 
 to go to Washington and stay five weeks, while the clerks and 
 petty officers in the departments used every art to get a bribe 
 out of me ; they failed however, and I was paid. 
 
 On my return from Washington, I took my family on one 
 of the Mississippi palatial steamboats and visited New 
 Orleans, spending several days there in the St. Charles Hotel. 
 In the meantime, General Taylor, then President elect, came 
 to the city and stopped, took rooms at the same house, and 
 held levees there in the forenoon. As our rooms were near 
 together, I attended his first levee with my wife and daughter. 
 When I entered the parlor, he approached, calling me by 
 name, and saying he had watched my movements during the 
 war, and knew where I had been and what I had done. I 
 then introduced him to my wife and daughter, with whom he 
 became well acquainted, as we four, at his own request, took 
 our meals at a separate table in the ladies' ordinary, while he 
 remained in New Orleans. During his administration, we 
 spent most of our time in the city of Washington, where we 
 saw him almost daily, and received from him great attention 
 and consideration. He was a most agreeable man in familiar 
 conversation, and always made everybody in his company at 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1 87 
 
 ease. "We spent many hours with him during our summer's 
 stay in Washington. 
 
 Soon after our return to St. Louis, the Asiatic cholera began 
 to make its appearance in the city, and several had already 
 died with it when I again left town with my family, and 
 was absent six months, during which period ten thousand 
 persons died in the city with that disease. This appalling 
 mortality, and the great fire of May 17, 1849, occurring in the 
 meantime, make that year an epoch in the history of St. Louis. 
 
 On my trip to Washington in 1848, I fell in company with 
 Mr. Frederick Woolford, of Washington county, Missouri, who 
 had learned my situation in life, and that I had several land 
 warrants to enter ; and offered, for a proper remuneration, to 
 point out to me some very valuable lands in Washington 
 county. We agreed upon terms, and I employed him to enter 
 what is known as the Kaolin Estate, on which is a queens- 
 ware factory and the little village of Kaolin, in Iron county, 
 at a point where the road from St. Louis to Pocahontas, in the 
 State of Arkansas, is crossed by the State road from Iron 
 Mountain to Springfield. 
 
 On the 5th of July, 1850, the improvements at Kaolin were 
 commenced, and in the next year a large building for a factory 
 was erected and filled with machinery, a store built and 
 Stocked with goods, and several other buildings put up for 
 the accommodation of workmen, teams, &c. About the first 
 of January, 1852, a full set of hands arrived to put the new 
 factory into operation. The workmen were shown through 
 the whole establishment, and were pleased with the prospect 
 before them. I was absent at the time ; but those present, 
 not satisfied with what they had seen, undertook to test the 
 drying and warming apparatus, and put it in full operation, 
 remaining in the factory until bedtime, then locked the doors 
 and retired. The result was as might have been expected. 
 Before twelve o'clock the main building, eighty feet front, was 
 so completely wrapped in flames that not a door was opened. 
 The slip house on the north and the glaze mill on the south 
 both escaped damage, the wind being from the westward. 
 
 This involved me in a loss of three thousand dollars ; and 
 losses did not end here, as there were now twenty-one persons 
 just arrived left idle and unable to leave as it was winter, and 
 
105 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Mr. Woolford, easy soul, was persuaded by them to pay them 
 the high wages of mechanics three months, while he built a 
 temporary edifice at great expense in winter and procured 
 machinery and tools of poor quality, so that I lost two thou- 
 sand dollars at least by that mismanagement and on account 
 of my nephew crediting them. In April I returned to examine 
 the state of affairs at Kaolin and at once stopped any further 
 losses through the manager's want of capacity, by discharging 
 him and putting a competent English potter in his place; 
 after which, all went on well while he retained his health. He, 
 however, after about six_ months, fell sick, and as I could 
 find no other person capable of managing the English potters 
 and working them harmoniously, I quit manufacturing on my 
 own account and leased the factory the two following years, 
 while I gave my attention to opening and improving a farm 
 about Kaolin and planting an extensive orchard. 
 
 After having expended about ten thousand dollars in and 
 about Kaolin in the space of six years, I determined to aban- 
 don all attempts at manufacturing and to make Kaolin a 
 summer residence, as I think there is no healthier place on 
 this continent, it being also well watered by springs running 
 from the hills that surround it, which are covered with lofty 
 pines and oaks. I enlarged the orchard and farm, improved 
 the gardens and buildings, opened good roads through my 
 lands, and removed such objects as were offensive to the sight, 
 such as dead trees, &c, and gave the whole place as fine a 
 rural appearance as the nature of the ground would permit. 
 
 While I was engaged in these operations, my wife and 
 daughter had spent about a year in Washington City ; they 
 also made a trip to Virginia and visited the place of my wife's 
 nativity and her relations residing there, and looked over the 
 places where she had spent her childhood and youth. My 
 wife had also visited all her relations of whose residence she 
 was cognizant. Although many of them resided in Ohio, and 
 more in Illinois, she visited them all, and gave them an 
 account of each other's welfare. It must have been very 
 gratifying to her at that advanced period of her life to renew 
 acquaintance with the playmates of her childhood, after a 
 separation of above forty years, and to see their grandchil- 
 dren standing thick around them, looking on with astonishment 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 1 89 
 
 at the affectionate meeting of such old people as they then 
 mostly were. 
 
 After her return, we spent much of our time at Kaolin 
 for several years, raising stock and improving the farm and 
 garden, as we had been relieved of a great part of the care 
 and burden of our estate in St. Louis by the marriage of our 
 daughter, in 1854, to Mr. D. Eobert Barclay, who assisted us 
 in its management there. 
 
 In the spring of 1857, 1 returned to the State of New York, 
 and built a permanent stone wall around the Shepard grave- 
 yard, where my parents are buried. It is the best executed 
 work of the kind that I have seen. It was laid on a flat lime- 
 stone foundation, three feet below the surface of the earth 
 and raised six feet above it, two feet thick, and capped with 
 stones thirteen feet long, thirty-two inches wide, and ten 
 inches thick. 
 
 After my return, I continued to improve our garden, and 
 introduced other good varieties of small fruits ; planted a 
 vineyard, and made cedar-post fences ; and purchased several 
 kinds of improved stock, so that my place attracted the notice 
 of travelers. Moreover, I had been appointed postmaster; 
 we had regular mails, and all the conveniences to make a coun- 
 try life pleasant and attractive. In short, we felt ourselves 
 safely and comfortably situated at a place remote from noise, 
 tumult, envy or danger, and were happy and contented. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 INCIDENTS, BOBBERIES, AND LOSSES, RESULTING PROM THE 
 GREAT REBELLION OE 1861. 
 
 At the commencement of the rebellion, my wife and I were 
 more comfortably situated than we ever were during the forty 
 years we had lived together. We either had all we desired, 
 or abundant means to procure it. While in this happy and 
 contented condition I received a very kind letter, from an 
 officer of the first regiment Missouri State militia, inviting me 
 
ICJO AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 to come to St. Louis and go with my old comrades, the St. Louis 
 Greys, as I had the year before, into a camp of instruction, 
 and spend a few days as pastime. As I was not very busy, 
 and had a good foreman to conduct my business, I left Kaolin 
 on the 4th of May, 1861, and came to St. Louis, and the next 
 morning paraded at the armory with the company preparatory 
 to marching to the celebrated ground called " Camp Jackson." 
 When the roll had been called, Captain Stephen Coleman, 
 who had been my captain in Mexico fifteen years before, 
 informed me that a seat had been provided for me in an 
 ambulance to ride to the camp, as I was the oldest person in 
 the regiment, being then nearly sixty-six years of age, and 
 requested me to accept of it, which I did, and entered the 
 camp immediately after the regiment and stacked arms with 
 them. 
 
 Soon after, the baggage wagons arrived with the tents, and 
 I assisted to pitch them in proper order, which was the only 
 duty I was permitted to assist in performing. All seemed to 
 regard me as the patriarch of the brigade, and I was treated 
 accordingly. 
 
 I walked leisurely about the camp and seemed in a fair way 
 of becoming acquainted with all of them, when, on the 10th 
 of May, 1861, General Lyon and his columns appeared in view 
 and put a period to my enjoyments by taking us all prisoners 
 of war, while under the protecting folds of the United States 
 colors, and confined us in the arsenal for the night without 
 our suppers. This outrage was not perpetrated without other 
 atrocious acts of violence committed within a few yards of 
 me, by which about thirty innocent persons lost their lives, 
 under that false plea, " military necessity," by order of a 
 malicious, dogmatical officer, who delighted in carnage and 
 blood, and could find no other way but this of gratifying his 
 evil propensity. "We were closely guarded, and I occupied a 
 position in the line of prisoners most favorable to observe 
 and hear the whole transaction. 
 
 After being confined in the arsenal, I was treated with more 
 consideration by General Lyon than any other prisoner. He 
 sent the surgeon (Dr. Franklin) and another officer, to bring 
 me to his quarters as soon as he found I was there, and at 
 once set me at liberty without oath. I however, the next day, 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. JQI 
 
 put my name on the roll of paroled officers and exerted all 
 the ability I possessed to induce all the old officers of the 
 regiment who had served with me in the war with Mexico to 
 do the same. I succeeded with them, and indeed with all I 
 had occasion to address on the subj ect, until I came to Cap- 
 tain Emmett McDonald, who said to me, " Old men for counsel, 
 Captain Shepard, "but young men for war ; " and then declared 
 he would never sign the parole, though every other prisoner 
 did, and he pugnaciously kept his promise. 
 
 After all had been paroled except the captain, we were 
 escorted on board a steamboat and landed at St. Louis about 
 , dark on the evening of the 11th, having been robbed of all 
 our private property in Camp Jackson by the Home Guards 
 of St. Louis, for none of General Lyon's soldiers were per- 
 mitted to leave their ranks during the 10th of May, and could 
 not have done it, and all should be exonerated, except Colo- 
 nel Sigel's regiment of Home Guards. 
 
 After I had been set at liberty in the arsenal, General Lyon 
 sent David "Watson to me to request me to come to his room. 
 I went immediately, when the general informed me he was 
 forming other regiments, and if I wished to enter the United 
 States service he would appoint me to any office I would 
 accept in the next regiment. I replied that I highly appreci- 
 ated his magnanimous offer, and were I ten years younger I 
 would accept it ; but now I had entered far into my sixty-sixth 
 year, and it would appear childish in me to attempt or even 
 desire to fill a military office in active service at my advanced 
 age. He said he thought my views were correct, and he hoped I 
 would yet have many years added to my long life, shook hands 
 with me, and bade me good morning, and I never saw him 
 afterwards. He was killed three months after at the battle of 
 "Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, Green county, Missouri. 
 
 I waited but a few days in St. Louis, and then returned to 
 Kaolin, our summer residence, a retired place, deep in the 
 pine forests. Here I supposed we might repose in quietude ; 
 but in this I was much mistaken, for about the first murder 
 and robberies were perpetrated on my premises, and these 
 outrages were practiced by both parties on me to the end of 
 the war, when I had not a hog, horse or sheep remaining on 
 my farm of five thousand acres. Half of the fences, three 
 
IQ2 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 dwelling-houses, and two other large buildings, had been 
 burned. In the meantime, of the twelve laborers engaged in 
 1861, eight had joined the rebel army, five of whom died with 
 sickness, two had been killed, and one deserted and came 
 back, but dared not stay at my farm. Of the other four, one 
 had been murdered, and three had been driven off for feeding 
 bushwhackers, and the guerrillas became such a terror that 
 there was not a man on the farm and only one woman at the 
 close of the four years civil war. 
 
 In July, 1861, Governor Claiborne Jackson sent a commission 
 to me as a paymaster, which I returned by the same person 
 without a written acknowledgment of its receipt, and sup- 
 posed that I should hear no more about commissions from him ; 
 but I was mistaken as well as himself, yet not in the same 
 way. He thought I wished a command in the field, and 
 sent me a colonel's commission, which I returned as before, 
 and then stated the objection I had to receiving either of them, 
 which I have no doubt was correctly reported to him, as I 
 heard nothing from him afterwards. 
 
 On the Saturday after I had declined the acceptance of a 
 colonel's commission,* Captain Benjamin Talbot came to 
 me with about twenty of his men, and offered me the 
 command of his company to go and join General Price at 
 Springfield, saying he would resign in my favor and serve 
 under me in the ranks. He had been under my command in 
 Mexico, where he was a lieutenant and knew me well. He 
 seemed greatly disappointed at not being able to induce me 
 to accept the command, as his company consisted of over one 
 hundred young men enlisted in my neighborhood. The next 
 morning (Sunday) he took post in front of a small Baptist 
 church, on the south end of my farm, and as the congregation 
 generally rode their best animals there, he seized them as fast 
 as they arrived and in that manner got possession of all the 
 best horses and mules in the vicinity of my farm and factory. 
 Some objected to the proceeding, but he made the usual plea 
 of tyrants, " military necessity," which was the only satisfac- 
 tion he offered. This was the beginning of a series of rob- 
 beries which were continued by both parties for the four 
 following years in that vicinity. The following day he took 
 the horses he had seized to my blacksmith shop in my 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I93 
 
 absence, and compelled my blacksmith to shoe them all with 
 my shoes and nails, and at evening threatened to hang the 
 smith for saying this was " an act of bold robbery." He also 
 took from my store all my ammunition, together with my 
 shot-gun and apparatus. 
 
 Having noticed the lawless conduct of such a large portion 
 of my neighbors, I determined to remove my grandson, then 
 about thirteen years of age, from their bad examples, which 
 I did, and kept him from them during the four years' war, in 
 which time more than half of the men he knew before the war 
 had lost their lives. In short, my flourishing neighborhood 
 had become a desolation. Where, at the commencement of 
 the war nineteen families resided near to me, only four 
 remained at the close of it. I had been obliged to absent 
 myself from my house about half the time during this reign of 
 terror to avoid being murdered for the acts I had performed 
 against rebels, robbers, and guerrillas, who infested that 
 neighborhood from the commencement to the end of the war. 
 
 I was postmaster the two first years of the war, but in 1863 
 the guerrillas robbed the mail, and the carrier of his horse 
 and clothes, thus effectually breaking up the route ; so I 
 resigned the office and removed my family to St. Louis in 1863. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 SICKNESS, DEATH, AND BURIAL OF MRS. SHEPARD, WITH REMARKS 
 ON HER CHARACTER AND EXEMPLARY LIFE. 
 
 In the autumn of 1862, Mrs. Shepard was severely attacked 
 by that disease which terminated her useful life on the 6th of 
 June, 1864. She bore her long and painful illness with the 
 same patience and fortitude which had distinguished her 
 through life, retaining her mental faculties to the last. On 
 her demise, intelligence was conveyed to me at our country 
 residence with difficulty and danger, as our whole region was 
 infested with rebels and guerrillas, who were robbing, burning 
 
I94 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 and murdering in all directions, and ours was the most 
 exposed and prominent point, being on the direct road from 
 St. Louis to Pocahontas, where the road from Pilot Knob to 
 Rolla crosses it at right angles. On receipt of the melancholy 
 news, I returned to St. Louis to prepare for her obsequies. 
 
 When we were both in good health, we had selected a most 
 beautiful and conspicuous site for a family graveyard on the 
 hights of Kaolin, where we intended to be buried, and had a 
 red cedar fence framed ready to set, but the dangers that 
 surrounded the place precluded the possibility of its being 
 used at that time. I therefore did that which I conceived to 
 be nearest to our original plan yet in my power, and changed 
 our burying place to the shore of Lake Ontario, in the Shep- 
 ard graveyard, where many of that family are interred. There 
 a marble slab, inscribed with the names of the places and the 
 dates of her birth and death, now marks the spot where 
 repose the remains of her who had been my companion more 
 than forty years, and beside whom I desire my remains to be 
 placed when, like her, I have finished my course. 
 
 Mrs. Shepard passed a very active, successful and useful 
 life, and its effect must be felt in St. Louis for generations. 
 Her example is worthy of all imitation by those who would 
 succeed in any great enterprise. On her arrival in St. Louis, 
 in 1823, although married, she immured herself for three 
 years, and studied all those branches which she knew would 
 qualify her to take the highest position in St. Louis as a 
 female teacher. She was not disappointed. During the follow- 
 ing twelve years, she was the morning and the evening star in 
 St. Louis among female teachers, and during that time she 
 qualified more ladies for the higher circles of female society 
 in her own city than any five other ladies have ever done. 
 
 But the half and the best is yet untold. Of all the ladies 
 she educated, not one has ever misconducted herself so as to 
 exclude her from the best female society, so that to be able to 
 show that a lady had been one of Mrs. Shepard's pupils, was 
 a passport to the best society, without further investigation. 
 It was not alone in a school-room that the abilities of Mrs. 
 Shepard were conspicuous ; they were equally brilliant in the 
 bed-chambers of her sick and dying neighbors; for where 
 duty or charity called her, she was sure to go, let the labors 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I95 
 
 and dangers be what they might. In the appalling season of 
 the cholera in 1832, when the disease was a stranger among 
 us, she confronted it with me, and continued her school as in 
 ordinary times, although, in the universal gloom and dismay 
 that overwhelmed the public mind, all our scholars but four 
 absented themselves. Yet she seemed unmoved by the general 
 terror, and visited her sick and dying neighbors as she would 
 had they been ill with an ordinary disease, instead of a fatal 
 contagious malady. Her example was a tower of strength 
 that might be leaned upon. She watched each alternate night 
 during this distressing period with some one of her afflicted 
 neighbors, and I did the same the other alternate nights, while 
 the disease prevailed, and we both escaped unscathed that 
 season. But during the prevalence of the epidemic the next 
 year, 1833, Mrs. Shepard was suddenly and severely attacked, 
 superinduced as- she thought by fatigue and exhaustion in 
 setting a neighbor's house in order while the family were 
 absent burying the father, who had died with the cholera. 
 She met the attack with the same firmness and courage in her 
 own case that she had so often inspired in others ; the result 
 was that she was out of danger in a few hours, and soon 
 recovered. 
 
 Mrs. Shepard was never a member of any church, but took 
 the Holy Scriptures as her guide in faith and practice, and 
 required no priest to expound them. Consequently there was 
 no mystery or contradiction in them as she interpreted them, 
 and she would enter into no controversy on any point con- 
 tained therein, as it was unprofitable at best, and had a 
 tendency to grieve away the Spirit of truth and to leave the 
 mind in darkness and at a distance from God, as she believed. 
 She was one of the most prayerful persons I ever met with, 
 yet I never heard her utter one word of prayer. She " entered 
 into her closet," and I have no doubt obeyed the injunction of 
 her Divine Master, from her appearing to be "rewarded 
 openly." She believed the Spirit of God was at all times 
 present with us to teach us our duty, if we wished to be 
 guided by its dictates. In short, she was a Friend, or Quaker- 
 ess, but was tolerant to all Christians. During the twelve 
 years she taught, her school-room was used as a meeting- 
 house on Sundays, and was kept in order, warmed and lighted 
 
I96 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 by her, without any charge to the occupants. Thus the 
 Baptists, Episcopalians, Unitarians, Presbyterians, Campbell 
 Baptists, and the Cumberland Presbyterians, shared in her 
 benefactions until they were able to build houses for them- 
 selves in the city. 
 
 Industry, frugality and economy were striking traits in the 
 character of Mrs. Shepard, but her financial abilities far 
 outshone all her other extraordinary qualifications. My 
 absence from home in our armies in Mexico during the three 
 campaigns, afforded a test of her ability to manage a large 
 estate adroitly. Her far-seeing eyes early foresaw the future 
 glories of St. Louis, and foregoing the tinsel of the day she 
 urged the investment of all that could be saved in cheap lots, 
 so that at her death she left her family the owners of at least 
 a million of dollars' worth of real estate that was rapidly 
 enhancing in value. The history of St. Louis will be always 
 incomplete without the prominent mention of her name and 
 useful instructions in the infancy of the city, and on the 
 threshhold of its prosperity and rising greatness. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 BURNING OF OUR QUEENSWARE FACTORY BY A FEDERAL 
 SOLDIER, AND ROBBERY OP MY PERSON AND COUNTRY RESI- 
 DENCE BY GUERRILLAS. 
 
 Immediately after my return from the burial of my compan- 
 ion, I left the city and hastened back to our country seat, and 
 arrived on our own lands, when I found the woodlands filled 
 with smoke, the wind blowing from the west. I hastened 
 forward, as it betokened mischief; and when I came within 
 sight of the village, I saw the largest factory building on fire 
 and nearly consumed, having been fired by one of a party of 
 fourteen Federal soldiers, who had lagged behind to commit 
 that arson while his comrades pressed forward on their march. 
 He was met a short distance from the fire by my hired man, 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. lgj 
 
 when, spurring his horse, he passed him at full speed, and was 
 out of sight before it was discovered what he had done. On 
 learning the facts, I proposed to follow the party and make 
 complaint, but reflecting that officers and men were here lost 
 to all sense of shame or justice, and burned, robbed and 
 murdered ad UMtum, without remorse or fear of punishment 
 in this world or the next, I abandoned all thought of pursuit, 
 and let it pass, as it was a circumstance of very common 
 occurrence at that time in that neighborhood. 
 
 I remained at and about my farm eight weeks, seeing thieves 
 and robbers prowling about my premises almost every day, 
 and missing hogs, corn, fruit and garden vegetables constantly, 
 while my few remaining industrious neighbors were losing 
 all their valuable horses and other stock. I therefore sold 
 most of mine at low prices, and, so far, saved them ; I also 
 sold twenty-seven beef cattle, which led to my having the 
 honor of a visit from a band of eleven guerrillas, and of being 
 robbed in my own house, in open day, in the following scien- 
 tific manner. I had been informed the preceding day that 
 eleven guerrillas had been seen going up the east or Pine 
 Grove road toward Caledonia, and that they had probably 
 gone there after having first started up the road toward Kaolin, 
 and then turned back, crossed Black river, and, taking a bridle- 
 path at a distance from the main road to avoid immediate 
 pursuit, after traveling about one mile, entered the Iron 
 Mountain road and pushed forward to within three miles of 
 the mountain to the residence of a Mr. Prow, whom they 
 robbed of six hundred dollars in gold and greenbacks and his 
 fine team of four good horses, then burned one house, and 
 returned to my neighborhhood, and got breakfast at Mr. 
 Northdurf 's, three miles from Kaolin. Being well mounted, 
 and dressed in United States uniforms, they started through 
 the woods to visit me about nine o'clock in the morning, and 
 came into the road about one mile east of me. On entering 
 the road, they proceeded westwardly in the direction of my 
 residence, and soon met Mr. Levi Gipson, whom they robbed 
 of eighteen dollars and his fine mare, worth one hundred 
 and fifty dollars, and then mounted him, trembling, on one 
 of their stolen horses, brought him a prisoner with them to 
 my village, and released him. Seeing them coming leisurely 
 
I98 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 down the long hill toward me in good military order, with the 
 ten foremost dressed in United States -uniforms and two in 
 summer clothing, I supposed they were the sheriff with an 
 escort coming among us to collect taxes, and, instead of 
 escaping into the vineyard or cornfields, as usual, I walked 
 out into the street to meet them, and was in their immediate 
 presence before I observed anything which excited suspicion 
 or distrust. I then saw they were clad in the uniforms of 
 cavalry, artillery, rifles and infantry, and one wore the badge 
 of a hospital steward, and I thought it an uncommon escort 
 for a sheriff. But the chief, dressed in a summer suit, plied 
 me so rapidly with questions that I had very little time for 
 observation or reflection. He propounded such questions 
 as these : " "What is the news ? Have you a horse you would 
 swap ? Have the rebels been about here lately ? Have you 
 sold your beef cattle ? Are you prepared to pay your 
 taxes?" I could not get half through one answer before 
 he asked another question ; then turning his horse suddenly 
 round from the left of his party, he passed in rear of it and 
 came round to me on its right, and, dismounting from his 
 horse, he placed himself by my side, when, addressing me 
 by name, he informed me that I was mistaken as to who 
 they were, and said to me, " We are Southern men, and 
 want your money or your life." I informed him that of 
 the two alternatives, it would be most agreeable to furnish 
 what little money I had about the premises. He said he would 
 allow no witticisms and would kill me if I attempted any, and 
 ordered me to hasten to my house and show my money and 
 my plate. On the way to the house I informed him that Mrs. 
 Shepard had been dead about two months, and that all our 
 plate had been removed to St. Louis, which, after entering the 
 house and seeing no woman or child, he seemed to believe, 
 and said no more about plate. I took him immediately into 
 the second story and handed him a small tin box containing 
 one dollar and seventy -five cents, and while he counted it I 
 took out a full black suit of new clothes from a trunk to find 
 my pocket-book which laid at the bottom. On seeing my 
 clothes laid out, he lifted them up with his revolver and said, 
 " You are no bigger than a rat ; your new clothes will fit none 
 of us," and left them. I then handed him my pocket-book 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. IQQ 
 
 containing five dollars in greenbacks, which, he examined and 
 put in his pocket. He then asked me if I had any boots, and 
 on my replying in the affirmative, he asked their number. I 
 replied, " Eights." He said, "We can wear them. Get them." 
 I walked down into the lower room, and as I took the boots 
 from under the bed-curtain he chanced to see a new pair of 
 saddlebags, which he said he had need of, and took them and 
 one box of matches, and left. I attempted to follow him to 
 take another and better view of the party, but he prevented 
 my going to the street by threatening to shoot me if I followed 
 them a single yard. 
 
 I was very angry and desirous of revenge, and obtained it 
 in the following extraordinary manner. As soon as I was 
 driven back into my house, I ran up into the upper story and 
 looking out of the west window I saw the whole party pass up 
 the road between my vineyards, the chief riding in the rear 
 on a fine mouse-colored horse worth three hundred dollars, a 
 good saddle worth fifty, and a bridle worth fifteen dollars or 
 more. As soon as they were out of sight, I called my hired 
 man from his hiding-place in the buckwheat patch and 
 ordered him to catch and saddle my horse, being determined 
 to prevent their robbing any more of my neighbors at that 
 time. My horse was soon ready, but my man was so much 
 frightened after I was mounted and had learned I was about 
 to follow them, that I could not get him to go to the street and 
 open the gate to let me out, lest they should see him and 
 return and murder him. I therefore dismounted and opened 
 the gate myself, and hastened forward in pursuit, notwith- 
 standing the remonstrances of Mr. Gipson and two other 
 neighbors who had arrived from the eastward and were 
 frightened back by what had passed. I followed their trail 
 to the apex of the hill on the road toward Holla, where the 
 party left the main road at right angles, six going southwardly 
 and five northwardly. After following each trail a short 
 distance, I took the main road westwardly and notified my 
 two nearest neighbors to hide their valuable horses and keep 
 out of their sight and power, or the guerrillas would compel 
 them to produce their fine horses, and perhaps murder them 
 for attempting to conceal them from view. At the last place I 
 visited, I met two well mounted United States soldiers and 
 
200 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 engaged them to go and inform Mr. Samuel Tullack that the 
 guerrillas had robbed me that morning and would probably 
 visit him that day or night, and to be prepared to give them a 
 suitable reception. The soldiers found Mr. Tullack at a 
 thrashing machine, with six other men and their horses, and 
 delivered their message. They at once quit their work, went 
 for their arms, and took post at the ford of James creek; 
 here they awaited with great anxiety the approach of the 
 marauders until nine o'clock, by which time they despaired 
 of their coming that night, and were on the point of going 
 home, when they heard them coming rapidly into the ford, 
 and ordered them to halt. The guerrillas instantly turned back 
 and fled, the citizens firing on them, by which their chief, 
 Willim Carty (or " Devil Bill," as he was called) was 
 dismounted, being wounded in the ankle. His fine mouse- 
 colored horse, as soon as he felt himself riderless, left his 
 master in the woods on foot and alone, while he escaped to 
 my farm, where I caught him early the next morning with his 
 saddle and bridle on, and delivered them to Captain Lonergan, 
 the provost marshal at Pilot Knob, taking his receipt for the 
 same. These were afterwards delivered to me, and I intend 
 to keep them as heirlooms in our family for all time to eome. 
 The provost marshal also gave me a written permit to carry 
 arms at all times where I pleased ; to which Mayor Thomas 
 added his permission to the same extent in the city of St. 
 Louis, during the civil war, for my protection. 
 
 Early the next morning, after I had delivered Carty's horse 
 to the provost marshal, I received a note from the brigand 
 chief, stating he had seen his horse about my premises, and 
 requesting me to put it in my stable, promising to call for it 
 in a short time. I immediately burned the note and left my 
 farm, removing all my property that the guerrillas could drive 
 off. Soon after my departure, the enrolled militia drove off 
 my hired man and his father and family because they had fed 
 the guerrillas and had not notified me that they were on the 
 farm while my life was in danger from them. 
 
 Being unable to find a loyal man who dared attempt a 
 residence then at my farm, I left all my property in custody 
 of the widow of one of my former foremen, who did all she 
 could to preserve it, but to very little effect, as almost every 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 201 
 
 and child within five miles, who was able to 
 carry off anything, rushed forward, and, forcing open the 
 doors of the store, dwellings, and factory, they carried away 
 what suited them best, hooks, beds, furniture, clothing, 
 cooking utensils, farming tools, crockery, and even the glass 
 windows and sash, in presence of the person in charge, paying 
 no more attention to her remonstrances than to the chirping 
 of a sparrow, so that the doors stood open nine months after- 
 wards, to the end of the civil war. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 NINE MONTHS AT HOME— VOLUNTEERS IN THE UNITED STATES 
 ARMY — ENLISTS IN THE " OLD GUARD" — SEES THREE OF HIS 
 FORMER PUPILS, ON THE SAME DAT, OCCUPYING THE SEATS 
 OP JUDGES IN ST. LOUIS. 
 
 After retreating from the guerrillas about Kaolin, I reported 
 Samuel Trollinger to the provost marshal at Pilot Knob as 
 the most dangerous bushwhacker in Iron county, he having 
 assisted in the murdering of my foreman, Josiah Morgan, and 
 was then prowling about the neighborhood of my farm, with 
 only one man with him, named James Barton. After this I 
 came home to St. Louis and reported myself to the proper 
 officer as ready to serve the United States in any capacity for 
 which I was qualified. I was informed that a position in 
 Captain Clark's company, the " Old Guard," would be most 
 suitable for me. I therefore enlisted and served in it. I was 
 the eldest man in the company except Mr. Samuel Hawkin, 
 who was two years older ; but I had seen more of military 
 service than any of them, as I had served in the United States 
 army six campaigns against the British and the Mexicans, 
 and had been in ten battles. We were drilled very regularly 
 while General Price was making his raid through the State, 
 but it was gradually discontinued as the dangers disappeared, 
 14 
 
102 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 and was finally suspended after the fall of Richmond and 
 Sherman's "march to the sea." There has been no death 
 among the members of the company, although numbering 
 over one hundred men, the past year, or since I became a 
 member. 
 
 I spent nine months at home in St. Louis, writing slowly at 
 this work, and walking leisurely about the city and contem- 
 plating the mighty changes that have been made in the last 
 forty years in the appearance of the city and its environs. In 
 1826, there were but three houses between St. Charles and 
 Market streets and Seventh street and the Wedge House, and 
 only the same number between Market street and Chouteau 
 avenue and Seventh street and the Wedge House. Now, in 
 1866, that space, which was then almost entirely in the sole 
 possession of two individuals, is now owned by thousands, 
 and many of the most superb buildings of the city occupy the 
 space that was then a hazel thicket or pasture lands. 
 
 In one. of my rambles through the central portion of the 
 city a year or two ago, I passed through the court-house, and 
 saw three judges, who had all been my pupils in former days 
 in St. Louis, presiding over courts there, all being elevated to 
 those high positions by the votes of the people. They were 
 the Hon. Barton Bates, of the Supreme Court ; the Hon. Wil- 
 son Primm, of the Criminal Court, and the Hon. William 
 Ferguson, of the Probate Court. It is entirely out of my 
 power to describe the pleasure I felt at such an agreeable 
 and unlooked for event; this pleasure was intensified soon 
 after by Judge Primm remarking to me, that of all the vast 
 number of pupils I had taught in the city of St. Louis, not one 
 had ever been convicted of a crime in any court. 
 
 My long expulsion from our farm was not spent in gloom 
 and despondency. The reminiscences of acts of other and 
 former days were revived, and may be related here in 
 connection with other acts of mine which my descendants 
 may wish to know long after I have left them. 
 
 I had some years ago donated a lot extending from Capitol 
 avenue to Marine avenue, one hundred feet wide, to the 
 Board of Directors of the St. Louis Public Schools, on which 
 they had erected a splendid edifice and named the school 
 taught there the "Shepard School, No. 1." At the close of 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 203 
 
 the academic year, there was an examination of the pupils by 
 the superintendent, before the committee of the board, the 
 parents of the scholars, and invited spectators. Feeling some 
 curiosity to know the progress the school that bore my name 
 was making, I went in to hear the examination, and was much 
 gratified by what I saw and heard. When the exercises were 
 finished, the superintendent asked me to address the school, 
 which I declined doing, and he did it most satisfactorily 
 himself. He commenced by commending the pupils for the 
 progress they had made during the year, and the decorum 
 they had exhibited on the occasion, and then, turning to me, 
 introduced me to them as their benefactor, who had raised a 
 lasting monument to his memory by donating this lot, which 
 was growing more valuable every day, and had brought this 
 school to their very doors ; and closed by expressing the hope 
 that I would live long to see the fruit of my labors ripen. I 
 was quite embarrassed by this episode, although I knew it 
 was indeed all true, and all about me knew it. I had not 
 been in that neighborhood for a long time before, and when I 
 came out on the avenue several persons stood waiting to 
 accompany me to the Shepard Market, then being erected on 
 a lot which I had donated to the city for that purpose. It was 
 difficult to determine which the people in the vicinity were 
 about to appreciate most, the school-house or the market- 
 house, both being so much needed. 
 
 There is no church of any kind in that part of the city, and 
 the people there seem to manifest no taste for any at present, 
 their devotions being now mostly paid to Terpsichore in the 
 Concordia Park, located in that vicinity. This state of things, 
 however, I think is destined soon to undergo a great change, 
 mostly through my management during the last twenty years. 
 About the beginning of the year 1846, several ladies of the 
 Second Baptist church, most of whom are now dead, applied 
 to me to purchase for them a suitable lot for a cemetery, and 
 said they would soon refund the money. I purchased a ten 
 acre lot, cornering southwesterly on the Concordia Park, for 
 the sum of one thousand and ten dollars, which I paid and 
 had the deed made to nine trustees named by the ladies. It 
 was laid out in lots, and a few sold and used while ' I was 
 absent in the army in Mexico, and two hundred dollars were 
 
204 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 refunded to me. In 1849, the cholera prevailed, and as the 
 people seemed to bury there ad libitum, no more sales could 
 be made or money raised ; the ladies, therefore, offered me the 
 great central lot in payment in full for my advancement, 
 which I accepted, and took a deed for it. As soon as I had 
 recorded it, a law of the city forbade its use as a cemetery, 
 and it so remained until it was stripped of all the fencing and 
 trees, and it became a waste, and was nearly forgotten by the 
 church members. Four of the trustees were dead, and most 
 of the ladies who were prominent in its purchase were also 
 dead, when it was found to have risen in value to at least 
 twenty times its original price, notwithstanding its dilapida- 
 ted condition, and yet was useless to its owners or the public. 
 I therefore drew up a petition to the Legislature praying them 
 to vacate the lot as a cemetery, and to authorize the trustees 
 to dispose of the ground and refund to the lot-holders what 
 was equitable and just, and turn over the residue to trustees 
 for the benefit of the Second Baptist church. This petition I 
 presented to the members of the church, who all signed it, 
 and the Legislature passed an act in accordance with the 
 request of the petitioners and authorized the proposed sale. 
 On receipt of a copy of the act, a church meeting was held, 
 to which I was invited, and attended ; and being requested to 
 do so, gave a full history of the affair to those present, several 
 of whom had never heard of the purchase, as it had happened 
 eighteen years previously, and was quite before the birth of 
 some of the members present on the occasion. After hearing 
 my statement, Mr. Camden and Mr. Samuel Davis stated that 
 I had to their knowledge paid more than four-fifths of the 
 purchase money eighteen years before, and was now willing 
 to accept one-fourth of the land in full satisfaction of my 
 claim, which would leave the remaining three-fourths to the 
 church for the two hundred dollars, and worth now not less 
 than twenty thousand dollars ; and they thought the offer a 
 liberal one, and should be accepted by the church with 
 gratitude. The church acquiesced in it, and unanimously 
 passed a most flattering vote of thanks to me for my many 
 benefactions to the Baptist church. The majority of the 
 trustees soon after divided the lot by streets and alleys accord- 
 ing to law, and then by proper deeds assigned to each party 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 205 
 
 its proper portion. I then paid special tax bills and costs 
 against the lot for macadamizing the street on the sonth, 
 amounting to about three hundred dollars, as a donation to 
 the church funds, to leave it free of debt. It is now proposed 
 by the Baptists to set apart one hundred and twenty-five 
 square feet at the south end of one of the blocks for the 
 erection of a church, as it is a fine location, in a growing 
 neighborhood, and at a good distance from the Concordia 
 Park, or a noisy street. It is also proposed to sell the remain- 
 der in lots for the benefit of the Second Baptist church. 
 Should this be done, I shall have been a real benefactor to 
 that church, as I had subscribed liberally to the sum paid the 
 Episcopalians for the house at the corner of Chesnut and 
 Third streets, and took a lot donated to them by old Mr. Wil- 
 liam Christy, at a thousand dollars above its estimated value, 
 in payment of a loan of three thousand five hundred dollars 
 used in a payment to the Episcopalians, and then divided the 
 last debt of the church of eighteen hundred and thirty dollars 
 with Samuel C. Davis, and each paid nine hundred and fifteen 
 dollars of it, and thus relieved the church of its indebtedness. 
 Subsequently, I purchased a new carpet for the church, which 
 was the first ever laid down in a Baptist house of worship in 
 St. Louis. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 LAST DATS OF THE GKEAT REBELLION — DEATH OF TWO DANGER- 
 OUS ENEMIES, AND THEIR BUEIAL NEAE KAOLIN. 
 
 During the raid of General Price into Missouri in 1864, he 
 was deserted by a large number of his most desperate and 
 lawless men, who, secreting themselves among their relations 
 and friends in all parts of the State, rendered life and prop- 
 erty as insecure as at any period of the war, particularly such 
 property as horses and mules. No part of the State probably 
 suffered so much, according to what it had, as our neighbor- 
 borhood, whether men, horses or other personal property are 
 
206 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 considered. We lost more than half our able-bodied men by 
 death, and more than half our movable property by rapine 
 and plunder. 
 
 A large number of my neighbors had been taken at the 
 court-house in the town of Potosi, and all our militia called 
 to Webster, so that the whole country south of Kaolin could 
 be traveled over without opposition by robbers and guerrillas, 
 except now and then when a small party of militia were 
 allowed to visit their families and see what depredations were 
 being committed. 
 
 In February, while this state of affairs continued, two noto 
 riously bad men, Samuel Trollinger and James Barton — whom 
 I had reported to the provost marshal, as mentioned in the 
 last chapter — rode about the country, guiding parties to steal, 
 rob and murder with impunity, until they were both checked 
 in the following manner : 
 
 A loyal man, named Strickland, living about four miles 
 from the residence of Trollinger, was serving in the militia at 
 Webster, twelve miles distant from his home. His wife being 
 out of wood and flour, sent for him to come home. His captain 
 consented, but, fearing that Trollinger might kill him if alone, 
 sent five other soldiers along with him, and directed them to 
 arrest Trollinger, if possible, and bring him with them to 
 camp. Srickland arrived at home before night, and began to 
 chop wood at his door, when a woman, a neighbor of Trollin- 
 ger, passed by, and, seeing Strickland at home, informed 
 Trollinger's wife, as he was hot at home. On his return, he 
 was informed Strickland was at home again, when he immedi- 
 ately went back for his friend Barton to help him kill his 
 neighbor Strickland the next morning. Both prepared them- 
 selves accordingly, and at dawn of day started for Strickland's 
 residence. Strickland, however, in pursuance of his captain's 
 orders, had got his comrades ready at an earlier hour, and 
 started to arrest his neighbor Trollinger, and had traveled 
 about three miles in the direction of his residence when he 
 saw him and Barton, his friend, coming swiftly towards him 
 on horseback, both well armed. Strickland had but one of 
 his men in sight with him, the other four being a little behind, 
 when Trollinger espied them approaching, and, instantly 
 dismounting, both parties posted themselves behind trees and 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 10~] 
 
 opened fire on each other. The four soldiers, on hearing the 
 firing on their friends in front, separated and ran far round, 
 two on each flank, to prevent a retreat, and, commencing 
 firing, killed Trollinger at the first shot. Barton, seeing him 
 fall, and the present inequality of the combat, attempted 
 flight, .but soon fell in between the two soldiers posted on the 
 line of his retreat, and was likewise instantly killed. Thus I 
 was relieved of two of my most dangerous and inveterate 
 enemies, from whom I had often fled during the war, and one 
 of whom had waylaid and beaten me, assisted by another 
 person, until they both supposed me dead, and had assisted 
 in murdering my foreman at the commencement of the war. 
 When the soldiers saw that their orders had been efficiently 
 and summarily executed, they took the arms and horses of 
 the dead men preparatory to returning to their camp ; but 
 reflecting that wolves or hogs might devour or disfigure the 
 bodies, and render the spot more bloody and frightful, as 
 there was then several inches of snow on the ground, they 
 removed the bodies to where a tree had been partially blown 
 down and placing them beneath its roots, chopped off the 
 trunk of the tree and let the roots fall back and bury them. 
 After accomplishing this rude sepulture, the soldiers returned 
 with their trophies to their camp, receiving the plaudits of 
 their comrades in arms, and the hearty thanks of all persons 
 who had anything that could be stolen in that vicinity. 
 
 The son-in-law and family of Trollinger still remained at 
 his late residence, but, being strongly suspected of harboring 
 robbers, were soon driven off and their houses burned. The 
 brother of Trollinger removed his remains to a graveyard on 
 his farm, adjoining mine, and placed his family, now ruined, 
 in the vicinity. The visitation of this just retribution seemed 
 to check and intimidate the small bands which roved about 
 the country up to this time, and their depredations ceased. 
 Only one party of four men has since been seen robbing in 
 that neighborhood; that was headed by William Carty, the 
 same man who had robbed me the August before, and whose 
 horse I had delivered to the provost marshal at Pilot Knob. 
 He came to the house of the woman I had left to watch the 
 farm and inquired for me, threatening vengeance on me for 
 giving up the horse ; but said if I would pay him two hundred 
 
208 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 dollars in gold, I might at once return and stay in peace at 
 my farm, but if I did not, he would come and kill me or drive 
 me entirely off the place. He then searched her house and 
 person for money, but found none, although she had two 
 hundred and fifty dollars on her person which was quilted in 
 a garment which she constantly wore. On his being unable 
 to find any money, he robbed her of a very fine bed-quilt 
 that cost her seventeen dollars for the materials alone. 
 
 Soon after, General Sherman completed his masterly march 
 through Georgia to the sea, and the rebel armies surrendered 
 and retured home. 
 
 In May, 1865, I ventured back to my farm, and on my 
 arrival found two of my so-called loyal neighbors watching 
 their stock feeding on my garden and vineyard. They 
 expressed great surprise at seeing me there, as they supposed 
 I would not be able to stay in that neighborhood for fear of 
 guerrillas. I replied, that the war was ended, and that I had 
 nothing to fear but from such cowardly thieves as they, who 
 had not ventured to serve in either army, but prowled about 
 the country and plundered both parties, while they fought 
 the battles. They said very little in reply, but hurried off 
 the stock, and I have not seen them since. They were not 
 out of sight, when another neighbor arrived and informed us 
 that one of these men had just returned from Ironton, where 
 he had been to answer to an indictment found against him for 
 robbing old Mr. Asher of part of a sack of corn meal at 
 Asher's mill, assisted by another of his fraternity, and had 
 given bail to appear and answer at the next term of the court. 
 Such acts show to what a low state the morals of men were 
 reduced. 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 2O9 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 RETURN TO KAOLIN" AFTER THE CIVIL WAR — DESOLATION AND 
 APPEARANCE OF THE PLACE — RESUMPTION OF THE CULTIVA- 
 TION OF THE FARMS, ETC. 
 
 The total absence of all inhabitants at Kaolin ; the recol- 
 lection of the deaths of so many of my friends and neighbors 
 during the war ; the devastated state of the remaining build- 
 ings, with the doors all open and the glass broken out ; the 
 lonely appearance of the standing chimneys of the buildings 
 that ' had been burned ; the fallen and absent fences ; the 
 unpruned state of the vineyards and orchards, and the dead 
 standing stalks of the weeds that had grown the year before, 
 filled my mind with gloom, and seemed to forbid my attempt- 
 ing to repair the waste at my advanced period of life. I 
 walked about the farm during the day, and observed the 
 astonishing growth of the brush and brambles that had 
 remained unchecked and undisturbed for three years, and 
 then seemed almost to defy control. 
 
 We had then ten farms in Iron county, eight of which 
 were without tenants, and all in the same condition except 
 one, which had the house and fences burned off it. In this 
 state of affairs, I offered any of the farms free of rent for 
 one year, or at a nominal rent and the taxes for five years, 
 but could only dispose of two of them on these liberal terms, 
 as most persons feared the guerrillas would renew their 
 depredations as soon as the Federal armies were disbanded 
 and returned home. We were, however, kept but a short 
 time in doubt as to the intentions of the guerrillas that 
 infested our neighborhood ; for, as a party of paroled Confed- 
 erate soldiers passed their rendezvous on Spring river, near 
 the Arkansas line, they sent word to several who had lost 
 horses to come to their rendezvous and receive their horses, 
 as the war on their part was now ended and they would 
 restore them. Five young men, in accordance with this 
 invitation, went to the place appointed and were kindly enter- 
 tained by the guerrillas, who restored them nine horses, which 
 they brought back and returned to their proper owners in our 
 
2IO AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 neighborhood. They stated that any person who had lost 
 property recently might come among them and search for it, 
 and if found it should be immediately restored to its owner 
 without fee or reward. This course of conduct on their part, 
 and the return of several of our neighbors to their homes, 
 quieted much of our fear, and enabled us to enj oy what little 
 we had left with better zest and apparent security. We have 
 had no robberies or murders in our vicinity since the with- 
 drawal of the troops from Pilot Knob, and the roads begin to 
 be traveled again by unarmed men, as in former times, unmo- 
 lested. 
 
 Having completed my arrangements for the preservation 
 and partial cultivation of our farm at Kaolin, I returned to 
 St. Louis, and spent the summer watching the movements of 
 the two great disbanded armies returning to their homes, and 
 writing slowly on this work at intervals. 
 
 On the 15th of October, 1865, I attained the full age of 
 seventy years, being then in good health, active, and sound 
 in body and mind, so far as I could perceive, as I had been 
 during the last fifty years. I had never had rheumatism, 
 gout, or any of those distressing pains that impair the intellect 
 and destroy the pleasures of life, nor had I ever had any long 
 or serious illness. I had generally been temperate, studious, 
 industrious, frugal, enterprising, and successful in all my 
 business where I directed it myself. I spent the day mostly 
 in reflection on the interesting scenes through which I had 
 passed, and in calling to remembrance a vast multitude of 
 friends and acquaintances who have fallen on the right hand 
 and on the left through the long journey of my life. 
 
 On the following day I visited several of my old friends, 
 among them Mr. Henry Von Phul, he being the eldest and 
 only merchant now in business who was in the mercantile 
 trade when I came to St. Louis. I spent more time with him 
 than any other, comparing ages and prospects. He remarked 
 that he knew me and my mode of life, and all the old inhabi- 
 tants of the city, and thought I was now more likely to live 
 through the nineteenth century than any other man of all his 
 acquaintance. 
 
 I soon after returned to the farm, intending to prune the 
 vineyards and orchards, but found too few laborers there to 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 211 
 
 gather the corn crops and sow wheat in season, and therefore 
 abandoned the pruning and returned to St. Louis, where I 
 have since employed myself in preparing' this autobiography, 
 which is as full and complete a history of Mrs. Mary T. 
 Shepard and myself as I am able to write from memory alone 
 up to this evening, January 10th, 1866. 
 
 Early in March, I returned to Kaolin, intending to spend the 
 summer there and repair the damages of the war, cultivate 
 my vineyards, and prune my orchards. On my arrival, I 
 learned that two horses and a mule had disappeared from the 
 farm a short time before, and no trace of them could be found. 
 The circumstance created no alarm, nor was suspicion fixed 
 on any person as having stolen them for several days, when 
 one of my neighbors informed me that Wm. Carty, the guer- 
 rilla who robbed me in 1861, had been prowling about the 
 vicinity with two other men, inquiring for me and when I was 
 expected to return, and dined at a near neighbor's two days 
 before my arrival at Kaolin. This satisfied us that any 
 further search for the animals would be useless, and no intelli- 
 gence has ever been received of them since. I therefore began 
 to keep at a distance from his accustomed routes of travel and 
 depredations, and at length retired to St. Louis for safety. 
 
 On the 21st of May, 1866, I was walking on Main street in 
 Ironton with my neighbor Levi Gipson, when I was accosted 
 by Granville Carty, who asked me if my name was Shepard, 
 and on my answering in the affirmative, he said, " I am sent 
 to you by another man to get pay for a horse belonging to 
 him which you sold to the government." I at once recognized 
 him as one of the guerrillas that robbed me in 1864, and asked 
 him to give me his name. This he refused to do, and left me. 
 1 then procured a warrant and had him arrested, and subse- 
 quently indicted for robbery. He was arraigned and gave 
 bail for his appearance for trial at the November term of the 
 Circuit Court of Iron county for 1866, but returned to the 
 bushes again, while I withdrew to St. Louis to avoid being 
 murdered by his associates, as my foreman had been in 1861. 
 
 Several of my Masonic brethren have urged me to take an 
 active part in pressing forward the building of their hall at 
 the corner of Market and Seventh streets, as I had the Odd 
 
212 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Fellows' Hall at the corner of Locust and Fourth streets, in 
 1846, while I was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the 
 State of Missouri. This I have engaged to do, and have thus 
 far seemed to be progressing satisfactorily. 
 
 On the 24th of June, I accompanied my brethren, the Sir 
 Knights of the St. Louis Commandery of Knight Templars, 
 on an excursion to Salem, Marion county, Illinois, to attend a 
 Masonic celebration of the anniversary of St. John, by invi- 
 tation of Masonic brethren of that vicinity. A very large 
 number of Freemasons attended the celebration, which was a 
 very imposing and novel affair, as the different orders, in full 
 regalia of their distinctive ranks, were marshaled in the 
 most perfect order and marched to a beautiful., grove in the 
 vicinity, where an appropriate address was delivered by one 
 of the brethren, and listened to by a vast and attentive 
 audience ; after which, a bounteous collation was spread on 
 the lawn by the lady friends of the Order, and the whole 
 multitude invited to partake of it. It is beyond the descrip- 
 tive powers I possess to give a proper idea of the scene, and 
 the rational pleasures that followed. Suffice it to say, that 
 beauty, hilarity, cultivated intellect, and kind feeling, "united 
 to make the grove truly the Elysian field that will long be 
 remembered. Ten Sir Knights and eight lady friends formed 
 our party from St. Louis, and we were met at Salem by 
 several other St. Louis ladies who were spending the summer 
 in the country with their friends, and thus our party was 
 considerably augmented. This addition ■ to our number 
 brought with it some advantages we had not anticipated, as 
 they were acquainted with most of the people in the vicinity, 
 and introduced us to many of them, by which our circle of 
 acquaintances was greatly enlarged, and more zest added to 
 the entertainment. Among my new-formed friends were some 
 in whom I soon took a lively interest from the peculiar condi- 
 tion in which I found them placed, and will mention them 
 again hereafter. 
 
 On my return home, I began to make efforts to form a 
 Historical Society in St. Louis that shall continue for ages, 
 and, by personal application, collected the signatures of two 
 hundred and seventy of the longest residents of the city, who 
 were favorable to extending an invitation to the citizens 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 213 
 
 generally to assemble at the court-house on the 11th day of 
 August, 1866 — that being the centenary anniversary of the 
 day on which the first grant of land was made in St. Louis — 
 to assist in forming such a society. This invitation, with the 
 signatures annexed, I caused to be published in all the city 
 journals. Accordingly, on the day designated, a most inter- 
 esting meeting was held in the Circuit Court room, and the 
 preliminary steps taken to effect an organization. In the 
 course of the proceedings and speeches, I received a due 
 share of flattering commendations from my learned and 
 modest friends for the active part I had taken in promoting 
 this enterprise. 
 
 At a subsequent meeting, the society was fully organized 
 and officers elected by ballot. I was chosen recording secre- 
 tary, and entered at once on the discharge of the duties of 
 the office. I was kindly assisted in this by Mr. James L. 
 Butler, the Missouri State Commissioner appointed by the 
 Governor to present the products of Missouri at the great fair 
 of the world to be held at Paris, France, in 1867. To him the 
 society is greatly indebted for much labor, valuable informa- 
 tion, and many collections. Through him the suggestion 
 came of collecting the photographs of the remaining patri- 
 archs and builders of the fame of the city of St. Louis. In this 
 Mr. George P. Hall has rendered the society a service that 
 should place his name among its great benefactors, he having 
 gratuitously furnished the greater part of the photographs. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 SECOND MABEIAGE OP THE AUTHOR — HIS TRAVELS, WITH NOTES 
 AND OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Most men who have passed an active, eventful, and success- 
 ful life, until they have attained the age of three score and 
 ten years, are unwilling to embark in new and important 
 enterprises, and retire quietly to the still scenes of life, without 
 manifesting any desire to continue the struggle longer. But 
 
214 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 having enjoyed good health generally, and being of a cheerful 
 and contented disposition, time had made less impression on 
 me than most men of my age, and permitted me to retain my 
 strength and activity in about the same degree I did at the 
 age of fifty. Moreover, my ancestry had for many generations 
 mostly attained a great age, which, reasoning from analogy, 
 induced me to conclude that I might probably, like them, 
 survive still many years if engaged in active life. I had an 
 estate of such magnitude and variety that I could indulge 
 myself in almost any mode of active life if I could procure a 
 companion qualified and willing to engage in such an enter- 
 prise at my advanced period in life. 
 
 I therefore determined on selecting one whose habits of life 
 were formed and resembled as nearly as possible those of the 
 lady with whom I had spent more than forty happy years, 
 because usefully and profitably employed, and to conform my 
 actions to her circumstances and wishes as far as possible. 
 In this I succeeded beyond my most sanguine expectations, 
 and was married on the 18th day of December, 1866 (being 
 then in my seventy-second year), to a lady who possessed 
 those qualities in a high degree and had managed an estate 
 of her own for several years in the most economical manner, 
 and was prepared at once to join me in new enterprises. Her 
 family was well suited to my tastes and circumstances, and 
 hailed my advent among them with as much apparent pleas- 
 ure as if I had come by a preconcerted invitation from each 
 individual for their own particular benefit. Nor did her 
 neighbors and friends manifest less pleasure on receiving me 
 into their society than her own children. In short, I could 
 not have been given a more cordial welcome by all her 
 acquaintances and friends. 
 
 Being borii in good health, and our family comfortably 
 situated in their own mansion, we planned an extensive excur- 
 sion, and after making the necessary preparations, left the 
 city on a steamer bound to New Orleans, taking with us my 
 wife's eldest daughter, then about eighteen years of age. The 
 water being very low, the trip was unusually protracted, but 
 this afforded us a fine opportunity for viewing the country 
 and towns along our course, which we did very satisfactorily. 
 
 On arriving at New Orleans, we took lodgings at a most 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 215 
 
 convenient house to view the city, and spent one week there, 
 during which it rained or snowed every day, so that what we 
 saw of the city or its business was under the most unfavorable 
 circumstances, and we left it and its mud (without wishing to 
 see it again), after securing passage and embarking on the 
 steamer Cuba, bound for Havana, where we arrived after a 
 pleasant passage of five days. 
 
 It being one of the most pleasant winters ever experienced 
 on that island, the contrast of weather and pleasure was very 
 great and agreeable, and we enjoyed its full fruition. We 
 visited several of its towns and remarkable places on the 
 different railroads, the most noted of which was the extensive 
 grotto of Villa Mar, near Matanzas, and the tomb of Colum- 
 bus, in the rear of the altar in the cathedral of Havana. 
 
 It may be instructive for me here to remark that the remains 
 of Columbus were first entombed in the cathedral of Valla- 
 dolid, in Spain ; but after the lapse of many years they were 
 removed to St. Domingo, and from thence to Havana, lest the 
 negroes of Hayti, in their frenzy to destroy all that was Span- 
 ish, should cast his ashes into the sea or otherwise scatter 
 them forever. Many travelers visit his tomb and lay their 
 hands upon it through respect and veneration ; and scarcely 
 one does it without emotion and awe, as if in the presence of 
 a deity. 
 
 We remained sixteen days on the island, and enjoyed every 
 opportunity we desired of observing the manners, customs 
 and peculiarities of the inhabitants. We had established 
 ourselves at the Hotel de Inglaterra, which is immediately in 
 front of the public promenade, one of the gayest and most 
 orderly places I ever visited, where all the fashionble people 
 assemble each evening and converse, or pass like a panorama 
 before you. From the lofty balconies and more lofty flat 
 roof of this remarkable hotel, we could view at a glance the 
 vast multitude and all their movements, while they seemed to 
 have come thither to exhibit themselves to the best advantage, 
 and for the public enjoyment. 
 
 During our stay on this island we formed the acquaintance 
 of several gentlemen whose attentions, kindness and hospi- 
 tality have fixed their names indelibly in our memories. The 
 first of these was Mr. D. A. Carr, a merchant of Matanzas, 
 
2l6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 who spared no pains to make us acquainted with all that was 
 interesting or novel to us. He introduced us into his family, 
 and made us feel as though he was our brother, and finally 
 accompanied us on board the steamer Liberty, when we left 
 the island, and commended us to all our fellow-passengers. 
 In his endeavors to accommodate us, he was greatly assisted 
 by Professor Dryfoos, a most accomplished gentleman, who 
 spoke several languages, and wrote the most varied and 
 prettiest hand of any person I ever met with. This gentleman 
 had also traveled in many countries, and, possessing a 
 cultivated mind, he made himself a most interesting and com- 
 panionable person. 
 
 Another most amiable and kind gentleman was Captain T- 
 W. Brown, who commanded a large British merchant ship 
 then lying in the bay of Matanzas, who, having learned that 
 my wife and daughter had never been on board a merchant 
 ship, sent his barge on shore and took us all on board, and 
 showed us all that was novel and curious, and paid us other 
 attentions that have embalmed him and his kindness in our 
 memories through life. 
 
 Our consul at Havana, Mr. Minor, also did all in his power 
 to make our stay agreeable and interesting, visiting us at the 
 " Inglaterra," and exhibiting that urbanity for which he is so 
 deservedly distinguished. 
 
 I have thus far only spoken of men of peaceful professions 
 who strove to entertain us. I now come to mention those of 
 a martial nature, whom we found equally assiduous and 
 successful in their endeavors to please, amuse and instruct us, 
 although their opportunity seemed at first quite limited and 
 unexpected. On our arrival, several armed ships lay in the 
 harbor of Havana, but among them none from the United 
 States. About eight days after, however, the U. S. war steamer 
 Winoosky, commanded by Captain Cooper, entered the 
 harbor, and, as is customary, several of the officers came on 
 shore and visited at the " Inglaterra." Prominent among them 
 was the commander himself, the second officer, Lieutenant Gr. 
 Patchke, and the purser, Mr. Parker, with whom we spent 
 many pleasant hours during our stay on the island, visiting 
 with them the most noteworthy places in the vicinity, and, 
 by special invitation, the man-of-war itself, where we saw the 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 217 
 
 whole drill of the ship's complement, and were shown the 
 novelties peculiar to naval affairs on board. "When the day 
 for the ship's departure at length arrived, we went to the 
 shore opposite the Moro Castle and saw her go out to sea, her 
 officers exchanging salutations with us as she passed. 
 
 The following day we also took our departure. We embarked 
 on the steamer Liberty for Baltimore, and on the passage 
 touched at Key West. We enjoyed a pleasant run until we 
 reached Chesapeake bay ; here we met with ice, and were 
 landed at Annapolis, where we found the ground covered 
 with snow. We had for traveling companions several distin- 
 guished gentlemen, the most prominent of whom was General 
 Gonzalez, who had been second in command in Lopez's 
 expedition to revolutionize Cuba, and was pardoned by the 
 Spanish sovereign ; he afterwards served through our civil war 
 as major-general and chief of artillery in the Confederate 
 army, and is now a resident of the State of South Carolina. 
 
 After landing at Annapolis and viewing that venerable city, 
 we continued our journey to New York by railroad. The 
 weather was very cold, and as we were so recently from the 
 tropics we felt the change very sensibly. 
 
 We spent two days in the city without much opportunity 
 for sight-seeing, on account of cold winds, and then left by 
 the usual railroad route for St. Louis, where we arrived, after 
 an absence of about two months, without any accident, or 
 any occurrence to mar the pleasure of the journey on our way 
 homeward. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 INCIDENTS AND OBSERVATIONS CONNECTED WITH AN EUROPEAN 
 
 TOUR. 
 
 Having long contemplated visiting the eastern continent 
 
 and viewing there as many of the wonders of the world as I 
 
 could, I made the necessary arrangements for the journey, 
 
 and taking with me my wife and her two eldest daughters, 
 
 15 
 
II 8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Miss Emma Card and Miss Ida Card (both of the most suita- 
 ble age to make a tour of that kind pleasant and instructive 
 to them), we visited Washington City and several other large 
 towns on our way to the seaboard. I had procured a passport 
 of Mr. Seward, the United States Secretary of State, for myself 
 and family, and as I had been appointed by the Governor an 
 honorary commissioner for the State of Missouri to the Paris 
 Exposition, the Secretary had inserted that statement in my ■ 
 passport, which never failed to attract the attention of officials 
 and gain their kind offices wherever we had occasion to 
 exhibit it in Europe. 
 
 While waiting several days in New York for the sailing of 
 the steamer on which we took passage, we visited many of the 
 most remarkable places of that city, which gave me a fine 
 opportunity of contrasting its present condition with what it 
 was in 1819, when I resided there and assisted in fitting out a 
 fruitless Columbian expedition. At that time the city was 
 estimated to contain one hundred and thirty thousand inhab- 
 itants. Less than half a century has since elapsed, and now, 
 in 1867, the city contains ten times that number. The Croton 
 water-works, gas-works, railroads and telegraphs, have all 
 been introduced within that period, and such other improve- 
 ments made, that it was with difficulty I could recognize any 
 place or thing with which I had been familiar, except the 
 Battery and a neighboring church and graveyard, and even 
 they had been modernized to some extent, and all changed 
 about them. I was unable to find a single individual with 
 whom I had been acquainted in 1819, or a house in which I 
 had been, so completely had time obliterated everything then 
 so familiar to me. 
 
 It is impossible for me to describe the effect on my feelings 
 on observing the contrast, and casting an inquiring thought 
 on the future to know what new things more may come into use 
 while I may be able to see them, as there never has been a 
 period since the invention of letters when the human mind 
 was so intensely engaged on inventions and improvements as 
 the present, or with such remarkable success. 
 
 On the 27th of April, we went on board the British packet 
 steamship Cella, and sailed for Brest, France, where we 
 arrived on the 13th of May, after a very pleasant passage. 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 219 
 
 There we spent two days viewing that ancient city, some of 
 whose walls are older than the Christian religion, having been 
 ■built in the days of Julius Caesar. The city, having been so 
 long built and of such durable materials, had a very antiqua- 
 ted appearance, and was in strong contrast with New York, 
 yet fresh in our recollection. We gazed about, and saw other 
 things equally strange : women with shovels and hoes, cleaning 
 the streets and gutters, loading carts with every kind of street 
 sweepings and rubbish, while plenty of idle men stood round 
 smoking or lounging on stone seats, under the shade of 
 enormous trees, planted by former generations, and appearing 
 to enjoy the scene as if it was so arranged by nature for their 
 exclusive pleasure. In the meantime, well-dressed gendarmes, 
 happy fellows, with nothing to do,, in good humor, wait 
 around, ready to answer politely any question a stranger may 
 ask, or guide him to any place he may desire to go without 
 fee or reward. The city seemed to be finished — no one was 
 in a hurry — everything plentiful and cheap — and no signs of 
 discontent manifested. 
 
 Anticipating much pleasure in traveling by railroad from 
 Brest to Paris, we entered the cars about midday and 
 proceeded, but had accomplished only a few miles of our 
 journey when the appearance of the country and its inhab- 
 itants convinced us that our route lay through the least inter- 
 esting part of France. The towns and villages through which 
 we passed appeared ancient, sombre, and lifeless ; the farms, 
 cattle, and horses, small ; the houses, low and dimunitive ; the 
 out-buildings scattered and inconvenient, and the lands tilled 
 with primitive shaped tools, and animals harnessed in rudely 
 constructed gear. The roads are all good, but the vehicles 
 were clumsy, ill-shapen, and heavy. The route is uneven, 
 crooked, and uninviting ; yet the country must be healthy and 
 favorable to longevity, as no part of the world shows a greater 
 proportion of old people than this part of France. After 
 passing Rennes, the scene is changed; buildings appear of 
 more recent date, and changes are being made corresponding 
 with the improvements of the age. Yet it must be a long time 
 before this part of the country will be altered much, as every 
 structure seems built of the most durable materials and in 
 the best manner for preservation. It is only where railroads 
 
220 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 have altered the channel of business near the great cities that 
 changes are extensively made. 
 
 The distance between Brest and Paris is three hundred and 
 thirty-six miles. More artificial beauty is displayed in the 
 last thirty-six miles than on all the rest of the route. 
 
 On our arrival at Paris and locating ourselves, we soon 
 learned that the object of the Grand Exposition was to fill 
 France with money, and we prepared for it ; but it was soon 
 evident that the course many had adopted would defeat that 
 mercenary purpose. As soon as the improvements were 
 commenced on the Champ de Mars, the Parisians seemed at 
 once turned into sharpers, extortioners or speculators, as they 
 laid their plans to extort and obtain as much as possible from 
 the strangers who should visit them, and give as little as 
 possible in return. As a natural result, an alarm was soon 
 raised, and thousands stayed away, others remained but a 
 limited time, and economized so that Paris had not a franc 
 more money on the last day of 1867 than she had on the first. 
 
 Other cities and countries profited greatly by the Exposi- 
 tion. The English and Bremen ships carried most of the 
 passengers that traveled to the Exposition by sea, while other 
 countries received the benefits of the railway intercommuni- 
 cation. Visitors at Paris, from all parts of Europe, were 
 constantly pointing out other places in the vicinity, or within 
 easy reach, as more pleasant and fascinating than Paris, 
 crowded as it was with strangers, where prudent people could 
 enjoy more at less expense ; and in this way they soon made 
 it fashionable to spend but a short time in Paris and more in 
 the neighboring cities. 
 
 The result was ruinous to such companies as had gone into 
 expensive arrangements in fitting up places for public amuse- 
 ment and pleasure, and came on so suddenly, and was so 
 unlooked for, that, in its effects upon everything connected 
 with the Exposition, it can be likened to nothing else than the 
 complete destruction that marks the path of a resistless 
 tornado. Socially and intellectually, France was a gainer by 
 the Exposition, but financially and morally she was a loser. 
 
 When we had spent a few days here, and become somewhat 
 familiar with the many pleasing and interesting objects of 
 this most polished city of the world, we visited Mdhun, Dijon, 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 221 
 
 Lyons, and Marseilles ; and, as the weather was very fine and 
 pleasant for many days together in the growing month of 
 May, we saw France in her most fascinating condition, and 
 were quite willing she should rejoice in the name of "La 
 Belle France," and by which Napoleon I. was so fond of call- 
 ing her. It would "be difficult to point out a route on the face 
 of the earth, of the same length, where so much may "be seen 
 and enjoyed in the same time and at such moderate expense. 
 Beautiful cities, villages, farms, vineyards, gardens, palaces, 
 and dwellings, line the road the whole distance. The people 
 appeared cleanly, happy, industrious and contented, and 
 welcomed every one. All kinds of domestic animals appeared 
 plentiful and well fed. ISTo lands laid waste in morasses and 
 unsightly thickets to mar the landscape, but flocks and herds 
 covered the hills and uneven places too rugged for cultivation, 
 always attended by careful keepers. The orchards and 
 groves were in blossom, and innumerable birds filled the air 
 with the music of their notes. All nature seemed to hold 
 holiday on this route, and to welcome the advent of new-com- 
 ers and cheer them on their way. 
 
 Marseilles, the southern terminus of the route, is one of the 
 most important and remarkable cities in France, having less 
 than one-fourth of the population of Paris, yet it has a greater 
 commercial importance. It was built by the Phoenicians six 
 hundred years before the birth of Christ, and no scholar can 
 visit it without calling to mind the names of Pytheas the 
 astronomer, Mascaron the preacher, Paget the sculptor, and 
 M. Thiers the historian, son of a blacksmith, all born here. 
 Standing on the hights near the cemetery, and viewing the 
 landscape round about, we thought this city one of the most 
 remarkable places in the world, and very naturally attracted 
 the far-seeing eyes of such men as the Phoenicians and 
 brought them to improve it at an early age. It was no part of 
 our business to write a description of the cities we visited, 
 so, when we had gratified orirselves by viewing this interest- 
 ing place with its innumerable collections from all parts of 
 the world, we left for new scenes. 
 
 Leaving Marseilles for Toulon, we soon had experience of 
 the difference of the climate on the banks of the Seine and 
 shores of the Mediterranean, and observed other changes 
 
111. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 quite as remarkable. Olive groves and idleness, squalid and 
 ragged children and beggars, became more frequent, and 
 increased as we traveled eastward, showing. a wide difference 
 between the northern and southern French people. We spent 
 but little time at Toulon, where naval affairs seemed to 
 engross the attention of a great part of the population. We 
 however saw enough to convince us that any other people 
 must be busy building ships if they wish to excel the French 
 in it. 
 
 Journeying eastwardly, at various distances from the coast 
 of the Mediterranean, we enjoyed great variety of scenery, 
 and witnessed with how much less labor the people of this 
 part of France live than those of the northern part, on account 
 of the mildness of the climate in this region. So many idle 
 and half-clad people appear on this route that one is led to 
 conclude most of the inhabitants of this vicinity live entirely 
 on the products of the olive groves, which are here very 
 numerous and extend in all directions. 
 
 The railroad passes through many short tunnels, and over 
 many short bridges spanning the little streams falling into the 
 Mediterranean, on which are villages, trees, houses, and gar- 
 dens, surrounded with walls so time-marked that we may 
 safely date their building before the age of letters. The rail- 
 road is the only thing which indicates improvement on this 
 route. The windmill, sickle, and ass, are as much in use here 
 as ever, and seem to fill the measure of all that is left vacant 
 by nature to supply the people of this productive region with 
 food. Probably no people on earth spend so much of their 
 time in ease, leisure, and quietude, free from the extremes 
 of heat or cold, as those dwelling on the line of the road from 
 Toulon to Mce. Picking mulberry leaves to feed -silkworms 
 engaged half the people we saw employed. 
 
 Mce is a city of fifty thousand inhabitants, whose position 
 is favorable to health and pleasure, and has many attractions 
 in and about it well calculated to delay the archaeologist or 
 man of classic tastes. Its name, which in Greek signifies 
 victory, would seem to indicate that the founders may have 
 been Grecians, and the remains of ruins of great antiquity go 
 far to strengthen this belief. It has been the scene of many 
 important events mentioned in the history ]of former centuries. 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 223 
 
 Massena was born there May 6th, 1758, and the Italian patriot 
 Garibaldi on July 4th, 1807. It is the most suitable place for 
 invalids that I have ever visited in my long and roving life, 
 and I think it my duty to note it as such. 
 
 From JSTice to Genoa we traveled by steamboat on a fair 
 still day, and spent our time on deck viewing the coast towns, 
 villas, gardens, groves, and the Alps mountains in the dis- 
 tance, some of whose tops were covered with snow this late 
 in the spring. It was one of the most pleasant trips we made 
 by water, and most instructive. The whole of this part of the 
 coast was covered with vineyards, olive groves, and morns 
 multicaulis trees (for feeding silkworms), which constitute 
 the riches of Italy. Asses and goats were very numerous, but 
 animals of any other kind seemed very scarce, except fine 
 horses for war or pleasure. 
 
 Being at the Hotel Feder, near the custom-house, in the 
 commercial part of Genoa, which was making great prepara- 
 tions to celebrate Garibaldi's victory of May 26th, by a 
 general illumination, we took a coach early in the morning, 
 before the multitude thronged the streets, in order to visit the 
 elevated portions of this grand and imposing city of palaces, 
 the birth-place of Columbus, and rival of Venice in former 
 times. 
 
 No two cities in Europe are built on sites so unlike each 
 other. Each is on a gulf to which it has given name. One is 
 nearly on a level with the Mediterranean and the other five 
 hundred feet above it. The surroundings of Venice are a 
 dead level, those of Genoa are of the most beautiful and diver- 
 sified character, including the lofty snow-clad peaks of the 
 Appenines and the broad Gulf of Genoa, whitened by the 
 canvas of all nations, without an island to obstruct the vision. 
 
 Genoa has a population of a hundred and twenty thousand, 
 and is a city of great antiquity, as some traces of old Roman 
 walls still remain visible and add interest to its history. The 
 monument of Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of America, 
 stands here surmounted by his statue. An inscription on it 
 relates that he was born in this city in the year 1442, and 
 recounts some of the acts of his remarkable life. This city is 
 celebrated for its admirable police. It enjoys a freedom from 
 thieves, robbers, and beggars, nowhere else experienced in 
 
224 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Europe. The city was most brilliantly illuminated at night, 
 and we walked about its streets and saw it in all its grandeur 
 without the least danger of harm, disorder, or thieves, disturb- 
 ing us. 
 
 The next morning we steamed out of its harbor between 
 those two gigantic moles, veccMo and nuovo, which rise 
 nearly four hundred feet above the sea and form its chief 
 defence; and looking back upon the city and surrounding 
 country, we enjoyed one of the grandest views that nature and 
 art, combined in about equal parts, have ever presented to the 
 eyes of men. 
 
 On the following day we landed at Livorno, or Leghorn, a 
 great commercial city of eighty thousand inhabitants, among 
 which are more Mohammedans than in any other Christian 
 city of Europe, and here we first saw a mosque for their 
 accommodation. This city is well watered from a stream 
 thirty-two miles distant, and has a cleanly and commercial 
 appearance, as well as a somewhat political one. 
 
 On the same public square stand two statues, one of a 
 sovereign dethroned by his people for refusing them a consti- 
 tution ; the other, of one enthroned by his people for giving 
 them a constitution. They stand at opposite sides of the 
 square, with the head of the former somewhat bowing, as if 
 in submission, and that of the latter in an erect position, as if 
 enjoying their approbation and love. 
 
 Twenty miles north of this flourishing city, on the right or 
 north bank of the river Arno, stands the renowned city of Pisa, 
 or, more properly speaking, the remains of it. One thousand 
 years ago it contained one hundred and fifty thousand 
 inhabitants and was the most commercial city in Italy ; now it 
 contains but twenty thousand inhabitants, one-tenth of whom 
 are beggars. It is surrounded by a fruitful country, and has 
 a mild climate, but wealth and want seem to be very unequally 
 distributed among the people, who all appear desirous to 
 make their condition known. In the days of this city's 
 greatest prosperity, its magnificence was displayed in num- 
 berless marble edifices, most of which remain to this day and 
 require no description. The very gradual decline of the city 
 (for it was never sacked) has afforded enticing shelter for the 
 lazy, beggarly crowd that at present inhabit it, and are its 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 225 
 
 greatest and most intolerable nuisances. The objects most 
 interesting to visitors are situated near each other, and can 
 soon be viewed and left behind, unless one should desire to 
 look over the works of former ages, now'going rapidly to ruin 
 and out of view, and contrast them with the mighty works 
 of the present age. In Pisa's day of prosperity and glory, no 
 railroad, telegraph, gas or steam facilities had come to aid in 
 its building or its magnificence. Now all these seem to com- 
 bine to build up her more youthful sisters, and to despoil her 
 of all that nature and art had so profusely lavished upon her ; 
 yet her decaying magnificence is the most interesting and 
 attractive feature. The Leaning Tower, the Museum of 
 Tombs, the Cathedral, ancient Baptistry, and the University 
 in which Galileo taught, are the most noteworthy objects. 
 
 On the banks of the same river Arno, thirty-five- miles 
 above, stands Florence, the new capital of the kingdom of 
 Italy, containing one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, 
 to which has been awarded the title of " Fairest city of the 
 Earth." It is revered as the birth-place of Galileo, Boccacio, 
 Petrarch, Dante, and Michael Angelo, whose labors have 
 filled such conspicuous niches in the temple of fame that the 
 appreciative mind delights to linger about a place that has 
 given birth to such noble contributors to poetry and art. We 
 do not propose to mention but a few of the many interesting 
 objects presented in this busy, pious, and fascinating city, 
 yet some are so remarkable that to omit mentioning them in 
 this place would indicate inattention or want of appreciation 
 of worthy and sublime objects. 
 
 The duomo or cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is a struc- 
 ture of vast size and magnificence, being five hundred feet 
 long, its transept three hundred and five feet, and three 
 hundred and eighty feet to the summit of the cross. The 
 rapola is one hundred and thirty-eight feet in diameter, being 
 the widest in the world, and the edifice exceeds in size that of 
 St. Peter at Rome. The campanile, or bell tower, adjoining 
 it, rises to the hight of two hundred and seventy-five feet. 
 The staircase consists of four hundred and thirteen steps. 
 From this edifice we saw the celebrated patriot Garibaldi and 
 about two thousand of his surviving soldiers marching to the 
 cathedral to say mass for the repose of the souls of those who 
 had perished in the wars under his command. 
 
226 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 In this city may be 'found such a vast number of interest- 
 ing objects that no one need fear a want of pleasant employ- 
 ment during leisure hours while here. Among the chief places 
 of interest is the studio of Hiram Powers, a native of the 
 State of Vermont. He has spent twenty-five years of his life 
 here, and immortalized his name by his statues of American 
 statesmen. 
 
 The morality and taste of the people of this city seemed to 
 be better than any other we have as yet visited; still the 
 intolerable nuisance of beggary is permitted to annoy strang- 
 ers here, as in every city of Italy, and detracts much from the 
 pleasure of traveling in that country. 
 
 The railroad from Florence to Rome is new, and has the 
 appearance of having been built by engineers of most pro- 
 found skill, who perfectly knew the topography of the 
 country, as it is located in the only place that nature had 
 left practicable without herculean labor to accomplish it. It 
 passes through a spur of mountains of such formation that 
 nature seems to have exerted herself more than usual to 
 impede travel through this part of Italy, and which remained 
 almost impassable for ages. This circumstance adds much 
 interest to the journey, and affords great variety of scenery of 
 the most agreeable character. Half the distance is along the 
 banks of the river Tiber, which it crosses many times, and 
 exposes its size so much that Missourians, from its diminutive 
 amount of water in motion, lose all respect for its name as a 
 river. It has, however, figured so long on the pages of history 
 — to which our eyes have been so very familiar on paper, 
 believing it to have been at one time an important river — 
 everything on its banks engaged our attention and led us 
 back to our childhood days and studies, now nearly forgotten. 
 Prom its source to its mouth, the ruins of ancient edifices, 
 fortifications, monuments, towers, and walls, are more or less 
 in view — -and no new ones — which produce many gloomy 
 reflections. 
 
 Stock-raising seems to employ a great number of the inhab- 
 itants along this rugged route. Their flocks are not generally 
 large, but numerous and of fine quality. The cattle are 
 remarkable for the magnificence of their horns, and their 
 being almost uniformly of a dark brown color. Mills and 
 milk are plentiful along the Tiber ; consequently beggars are 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 227 
 
 less numerous in this part of Italy than any other. It may be 
 proper for me here to remark, that I have never in all my trav- 
 els seen the wife or children of herdsmen or farmers "begging. 
 
 As you approach the city of Rome, the size and grandeur 
 of the ruins, as well as the edifices of later ages, seem to 
 expand and prepare you for the Exposition of the fallen 
 " mistress of the world ; " for such she will seem to he, before 
 you arrive within her gates, by the scattered fragments of her 
 former pride, and greatness, going daily more to decay and 
 becoming a more complete ruin. At some miles' distance 
 from the city, the police officers demand from travelers their 
 passports, and learn the character of their owners, and, 
 although they treat every one civilly, they make a marked 
 difference in their attention to different individuals, and show 
 by their conduct in what light they appreciate them and the 
 country to which they belong. 
 
 I will spend no time in giving a description of Rome as it 
 is, or as it was, or the numberless remarkable things to be 
 seen in it. More time and labor have been spent in describing 
 it, and what it contains, than any other city of the earth. 
 The whole now is of no great utility to the world, and her own 
 native-born citizens cannot be classed among the great inven- 
 tors, discoverers or benefactors, by having contributed any- 
 thing useful to the general good. Franklin, Fulton, Whitney, 
 Morse, and McCormick, have no equals among the Romans ; 
 and omitting Columbus, Galileo, and Faust, few among the 
 thousands of other Europeans have enlightened and benefited 
 the world and made their names immortal. 
 
 After spending seven days in viewing what remains in Rome 
 of the collections of more than twenty-six centuries, we left 
 for Naples on the new railroad through the plains of Capua. 
 The land along this road is the best adapted to the growth of 
 wheat of any we saw in Italy, and as we passed through it 
 in the middle of its harvest we saw more of that grain in one 
 day than we had ever before, and all harvested without 
 machinery, by the slow process of the sickle. The ruins of 
 ancient edifices, towers, walls, and fortifications, are scattered 
 over the hills and strategic places along the whole line of the 
 road, continually reminding the traveler of Hannibal and 
 other destroyers. 
 
228 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Capua is on the line of this road, and still retains in great 
 profusion the same allurements which drew the Oarthagenian 
 general from his victorious course, to waste his time and 
 strength in her enervating embrace. It is situated about 
 twenty miles north of Naples, in a broad fruitful valley, with 
 a portion of the city overlooking the other, and giving it a 
 most inviting appearance. Its delightful climate, fruitful soil, 
 and its easy facilities for reaching other points, render it one 
 of the most pleasant places for a family residence in all Italy, 
 yet very few travelers of late have noticed its attractions on 
 account of Rome and Naples having engaged their whole 
 attention. These two cities, therefore, may be passed alike 
 as familiar acquaintances, needing no description. 
 
 Naples, however, has latterly attracted much attention from 
 its proximity to Mount Vesuvius, lately in such active erup- 
 tion as greatly to endanger the safety and threaten to 
 overwhelm it in the same manner it buried Herculaneum and 
 Pompeii, one of which was more remote from Vesuvius than 
 Naples by several miles. 
 
 I will here state that excavations, explorations, restorations, 
 and works for preservation, are daily in active progress under 
 proper government officers, and a vigilant police to develop 
 and preserve all that is valuable and interesting in these two 
 long buried and ancient cities. 
 
 With a passport and competent guide, we were at once 
 recognized as American travelers and escorted by an officer 
 through these once rich and populous but now tenantless and 
 forsaken cities, and shown into the spacious temples, halls, 
 tombs, baths, theatres, cellars, and mansions, which have 
 been restored and now appear in almost as perfect a state as 
 at the day of the great catastrophe in A. D. 79. The ashes, 
 mud and cinders, with which the cities were overwhelmed, are 
 all carefully examined where they have lain so long, and every 
 curious or valuable article taken out, noted and preserved, and 
 the remainder carted to a marshy piece of ground, prepara- 
 tory to its being converted into a public garden. This marsh 
 is just outside the old city walls, which are now as perfect as 
 ever. 
 
 The Harpers have published descriptions of these places, 
 and others about Vesuvius, which relieve me of the onerous 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 229 
 
 task ; and as I have seen the places and read their description, 
 I know them to be very correct. 
 
 I have no doubt the eruptions of Vesuvius within the past 
 few months will call forth a more perfect history of it, and of 
 the cities about it that have been affected by its convulsive 
 throes since the age of letters, than any now extant in the 
 libraries of the world, as no more interesting subject seems to 
 engage the attention of literary men at the present time. 
 
 The weather being oppressively warm at Naples, and the 
 season so far advanced, we abandoned our contemplated tour 
 to Egypt, and returned to Rome, where we spent several more 
 days in viewing this celebrated city and its innumerable 
 curiosities, which have been so often and fully described by 
 others that nothing is left untold. But I should, perhaps, 
 notice a custom in Rome which prevails in no other city I 
 have visited. The venders of milk drive the animals that 
 produce it to the doors of their customers and express it in 
 their presence, as if to show them by actual demonstration its 
 perfect purity. This practice might be adopted in America 
 with great satisfaction to customers. 
 
 Our next visit was to Ancona on the Adriatic, by railroad, 
 over the chain of the Appenine mountains, a trip of pleasing 
 interest from its varied scenery, in which you may yet see 
 traces of the labors of all the different possessors of that 
 country from its first improvement to the present time. The 
 route is first up the river Tiber to Terni ; thence over the Appe- 
 nine range eastwardly to the Adriatic, nine miles north of 
 Ancona ; thence southwardly to the city. This city was form- 
 erly a place of great strength, commerce, and importance ; but 
 gunpowder, steam and railroads have rendered it a place of 
 no importance, except as a most healthful and pleasant sea- 
 side residence, in a picturesque country abounding in all 
 the necessaries and luxuries of life. In the vicinity of this 
 city we saw some of the most desirable country residences 
 that we observed in Europe. The American consul, Carlo 
 Rebighini, Esq., owns one, three miles from the city, where 
 his family resides, that would satisfy the most fastidious. We 
 were entertained here by him in the most agreeable manner. 
 
 The population of this part of Italy are mostly engaged in 
 the cultivation and manufacture of silk, a most quiet, peaceful 
 
230 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 and pleasant occupation, and said to be very profitable to 
 those engaged in it. There is a great sameness in the aspect 
 of the country and the manners and customs of the inhab- 
 itants. There have been so many changes of rulers in the 
 present century, that the people seem to view all political 
 affairs with less interest than in any other part of Europe. 
 They however possess everything that can make a country 
 desirable except a stable and satisfactory government, which 
 they appear to long for. 
 
 The railroad from Ancona to Venice passes inland through 
 Bologna, one of the oldest and most renowned cities in the 
 world as a seat of learning, and where a scholar will delight 
 to spend a few hours in viewing a city that has borne a most 
 conspicuous part in the field of arts and letters. The most 
 ancient and celebrated university in the world was founded at 
 Bologna in 1119, and in 1216 its pupils amounted to ten thou- 
 sand. Some of its most famous doctors have been females ; 
 Madame Manzolina, Clotilda Tambroni (a Greek), Lauri Bassi, 
 and Novella d' Andrea, were among the number. Joseph 
 Galvani here first discovered galvanism in 1789. The library 
 of the university contains two hundred thousand volumes. 
 This city has been the theatre of many of the most remarka- 
 ble transactions in Europe, and, like very many other cities, 
 needs no particular description from a casual visitor to make 
 its attractions known. 
 
 A campanile, or bell tower, of great altitude and most solid 
 structure, situated near one of its large churches, leans three 
 feet from the true perpendicular, like that of Pisa, but not so 
 much by ten feet. The leaning tower of Pisa deviates from a 
 plumb line fully thirteen feet. Knowing that the leaning of 
 these two celebrated towers had given rise to much contro- 
 versy as to their structure, whether erected perpendicularly or 
 not, I spared no time or attention to satisfy my own judgment 
 on this point. After viewing them and considering the object 
 of their erection and magnitude, their surroundings and 
 antiquity, I have no doubt whatever they were built perpen- 
 dicularly. Two theories are advanced concerning the cause 
 of their leaning, both of which have many advocates. The 
 first, which seems very reasonable and natural, was that water 
 reached the foundation from the leaning side, and, softening 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 23 1 
 
 it, the tower commenced to lean gradually in that direction, 
 but which was discovered in time for the builders to divert 
 the water, when the tower had come to its present position, 
 and by which its fall was prevented. The second, which 
 seems possible but less probable, was that after the mortar 
 and stone had become completely, cemented, a mighty gust of 
 wind had forced it so far, and, passing, had left each in its 
 present condition. That no record was made of the occurrence 
 seems to us somewhat strange, but it is likely that those then 
 present had no apprehension the event would be forgotten, 
 and each left it to his neighbor to write an account of it, and 
 all neglected to do so. There were no printing presses in 
 those days, and the theory that they were built in that leaning 
 position no longer finds supporters except among those fond 
 of the marvelous. 
 
 No country is better adapted to agricultural purposes than 
 that in the vicinity of Bologna, and the people of every class 
 seem to delight in beautifying their residences with all that 
 nature, art or labor can effect. We saw fewer idle people in 
 this part of Italy than we had been accustomed to meet, 
 although wages were lower. It was the season of wheat 
 harvest, and we saw a much larger number of females than 
 males engaged in reaping it, the sickle being the only instru- 
 ment used for that purpose. Stock of all kinds was abundant, 
 and appeared to be carefully attended by those interested in 
 their welfare. 
 
 On the route from Bologna to Venice, the lands are well 
 improved, and every scene indicated the abode of plenty and 
 pleasure, as much as I ever beheld. 
 
 On entering Venice we located ourselves at Hotel de la 
 Ville, a very convenient place to obtain all that is generally 
 desired by travelers in quest of knowledge. We found plenty 
 here to amuse and instruct as well as to contemplate and 
 investigate. This cluster of little islands — at first the abode 
 of humble fishermen, then of unhappy fugitives, next of 
 traders and merchants, rising to unmeasured opulence, and 
 making this obscure place the centre of the commercial world, 
 the city of palaces and princes, and the arbiter of nations by 
 its maritime power, and enlightening the world with its 
 knowledge, but now gradually sinking and apparently will- 
 
232 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 ingly taking a low rank among the cities of Europe — afforded 
 ample range for the reflecting mind. This slow decay of a 
 great city brings with it a quietude and stillness ill-suiled to 
 my mind and taste, after having spent the best years of my 
 life in the young and flourishing city of St. Louis, the heart 
 of North of America, and destined at no distant day to be 
 the standpoint from which to view and visit the world. 
 
 Having satisfied ourselves with viewing and contemplating 
 the wonderful collections of ages here, we took passage on a 
 steamship to Trieste, the great seaport of Austria. On enter- 
 ing the port of Trieste, a visible and agreeable change for the 
 better presented itself. A magnificent wharf and breakwater 
 were in an advanced state of construction. Neatness, well- 
 paved streets, buildings in good order, and well dressed 
 people, show that an industrious and enterprising population 
 inhabit this most rock-bound city of Europe. Sloth, idleness, 
 want and beggary find no advocates or practitioners here. It 
 was in this city Napoleon II, present emperor of France, was 
 born, as also Maximilian, late emperor of Mexico, and his 
 unhappy widow still occupies his former mansion, which 
 descended to him from his ancestors. 
 
 The vicinity of Trieste, on the route to Gratz, is rocky and 
 sterile, but well cultivated, and almost entirely by the Aus- 
 trian women. They use cows for their teams, singly, one 
 leading the cow and the other holding the plough. This 
 custom of women cultivating the lands with cows does not 
 prevail in Austria alone ; it is practised in several other Euro- 
 pean countries, and is said to succeed well, as the animals 
 generally meet with very kind treatment from them. The 
 profession of arms is more popular in Austria and most other 
 European countries than in the United States, although the 
 pay is much less, and this seduces the young men from 
 agricultural pursuits and imposes a greater burden on the 
 women, which they seem to bear with great fortitude and 
 patience in this empire. 
 
 From Gratz to Vienna, a distance of a hundred and forty 
 miles, the railroad runs through a most beautiful and inter- 
 esting country, diversified with hills, valleys, rivers, bridges 
 and railroad tunnels, fixing the landscape of this route more 
 indelibly on the memory than any other in Europe. There are 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I^T, 
 
 twenty-eight tunnels on the route, and the little river Semmer- 
 ing is crossed thirteen times. The great "battle-ground of 
 Wagram and the immense Austrian ironworks are to be 
 distinctly seen from the road at a short distance from the city 
 of Vienna. The founding of this city, its history, and present 
 condition, and what it contains, are so well known that it is 
 unnecessary for me to remark further on them than to say we 
 spent one week looking over as many of its objects of interest 
 as we could. In doing so, however, my attention was drawn to 
 a few things which I should mention. Vienna is not, like 
 Venice, finished, but, like Paris, improving every day. The 
 present emperor has abolished all his private parks and 
 hunting grounds but one small one, and devoted them to 
 public use, which has made him very popular with his people. 
 The French and Prussians, separately, each defeated his 
 armies and stripped him of part of his possessions, but his 
 people pity rather than blame him for it. The Austrian 
 military men do not strut about the streets as if to exhibit 
 their military badges, but may be found in the caf£s and 
 saloons, where they often indulge in blaming their generals 
 and leaders for want of vigilance, sobriety, capacity and cour- 
 age, and thus bringing upon them the evils they still deplore, 
 and which seem to sting them to the soul. 
 
 Cleanliness and good order everwhere prevail ; and if want 
 of the necessaries of life exist, they are concealed from public 
 view. The system and accommodations for the permanent 
 military establishments are very complete, and work with 
 ease in that staid empire. But their financial affairs are in a 
 worse condition than in our United States. Their paper 
 currency is not as well executed as ours, and is at a greater 
 discount, yet both are equally potent in forcing specie from 
 circulation among the people. 
 
 In passing through an old well-cultivated country on a good 
 railroad from Vienna to Munich, in Bavaria, a stranger will 
 observe nothing to mark the dividing line between the empire 
 and the kingdom ; but when one enters a hotel, he will per- 
 ceive that he has approached France, and its bland manners 
 and people are appreciated here. The city is gradually 
 improving, and there is less of a martial spirit apparent here 
 than in the other European cities we have visited, although a 
 16 
 
234 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 great military institute is in progress of construction on a 
 prominent site overlooking the city proper, at the head of one 
 of its broadest streets, and enclosed within a magnificent oval 
 wall. The Bavarians are chiefly Roman Catholics, fond of 
 pompous religious exhibitions in the streets, one of which we 
 witnessed. It was conducted in the most solemn and orderly 
 manner, by the highest dignitaries of the church, and in pres- 
 ence of the royal family and the great officers of state. 
 
 In no other city in Europe can a man of learning and 
 kind feeling find more objects to instruct and amuse him, and 
 meet with fewer to pain and disgust him, than in Munich. 
 The people of this city seem to have for a long period selected 
 and put forward their most able men to build up, fill, and 
 adorn their city with all that is useful, pleasing and instruc- 
 tive, without leaving a blot or stain of inhumanity, avarice, or 
 covetousness. Its libraries, monuments and museums have 
 few equals in the world. The inhabitants of but few cities 
 under a monarchy enjoy so many advantages as the people 
 of Munich. 
 
 On quitting the Bavarian territory, we left all her military 
 men at the Switzerland boundary, and traveled on, both by 
 land and water, as in our own country, without let or hin- 
 drance by officious dignitaries. We saw no palaces, extrava- 
 gant equipages, idlers or beggars about the stations and 
 hotels, but a busy, tidy people, relying on their own industry 
 for a subsistence among these mountains, lakes and rivers, 
 and not on favor and charity. Situated in a temperate 
 latitude, at the source of so many rivers, having no marshes 
 or stagnant waters about them, but mountains and hills that 
 give salubrity to the atmosphere, and the most beautiful 
 landscapes on earth, they seem to have seized upon and 
 improved all these advantages and reveled in their fruition, 
 and to have opened wide their gates to all friends to come 
 and enjoy with them; and no people in the world probably 
 rejoice in so many and varied pleasures as the Swiss. So all 
 strangers feel at home in Switzerland, and purchase their 
 jewelry, gewgaws, and toys, with a liberality that would 
 subject them to the charge of insanity if done in any other 
 country ; but done in Switzerland, among the flower-baskets, 
 it all appears perfectly sane and reasonable. 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 235 
 
 On our way back to Paris, we passed through Neufchatel, a 
 city located on a lake surrounded by the most varied and 
 beautiful landscapes in Europe. The railroad from this city 
 to Dijon in France passes through a very uneven and pictur- 
 esque country, with fourteen tunnels on the southern or 
 ascending part of the route, and twelve on the northern or 
 descending part, which afforded ample variety of scenery and 
 amusement to the passengers. Dijon is now one of the most 
 staid and quiet cities of France. It seems "finished and 
 fenced in," and has few new edifices to attract attention ; but 
 it has the massive works of ages, which give it a most vener- 
 able and unchangeable aspect, well suited for people of 
 advanced age and easy circumstances in life, with which the 
 city is well filled. 
 
 When we arrived in Paris, we found the city less thronged 
 with strangers than we anticipated, owing, as it was said, to 
 the exorbitant prices fixed by the Parisians on all indispen- 
 sable articles, by which they had hoped to enrich themselves 
 by supplying their pleasure-loving neighbors, but which the 
 telegraph prevented by turning the throng of visitors into the 
 neighboring towns and cities, or keeping them aloof from the 
 Exposition altogether. However, a vast multitude visited the 
 Exposition daily, and the great fair was a success, but it did 
 not fill the coffers of any one as had been contemplated. As 
 an episode, I may state that just after the close of the exhibi- 
 tion a mighty tempest blew down the edifice ,erected for the 
 occasion, and so effectually destroyed it that not a vestige of 
 it remains to be seen. 
 
 The French Exposition benefited other nations in various 
 ways as much as it did its own. It afforded the best opportu- 
 nity that distant nations ever had enjoyed of becoming 
 acquainted with each other, and of exhibiting their produc- 
 tions, and they nearly all embraced it, being generally well" 
 represented. The Sultan of Turkey came in person, and was--. 
 entertained by the French Emperor, who, accompanied by him ; 
 in an open barouche, made several excursions about Paris and . 
 its spacious parks, so that we all had a free view of the two . 
 sovereigns and their attendants, which seemed to be highly 
 appreciated by the gathered thousands of many nationalities. 
 
2.36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 TRAVELS IN BELGIUM, GERMANY, PRUSSIA, AND RUSSIA. 
 
 Being wearied with sight-seeing, my family passed over to 
 England to visit their relatives, while I lingered at the French 
 capital to show that Missourians, as a State, had a lively 
 interest in the Exposition. Being now alone among two 
 millions of strangers, imagine my pleasure on meeting my old 
 friend and neighbor, ex-mayor James Gr. Barry, also alone, and 
 just arrived "by way of the Mediterranean and Marseilles. 
 With my thorough knowledge of all that was to "be seen, and 
 with his company, I spent a most pleasant and interesting 
 day in again viewing the Exposition and pointing out the 
 productions of our own Missouri. It must be seldom that two 
 such neighbors meet alone so far from friends, home and 
 country, and yet in the midst of overwhelming thousands. 
 We could have found plenty to amuse us longer here, but 
 other engagements separated us ; he journeyed to Italy, while 
 I departed for Belgium and the countries on the Baltic. 
 
 The nearest foreign city to Paris is Brussels, a city without 
 fortifications, yet famous in martial history from its always 
 being made to feel the evils of European wars without any 
 adequate recompense, until after the great battle of Waterloo, 
 since which it has been made the great INN for the inumera- 
 ble visitors to that immortal field, and has reaped a silent and 
 peaceful harvest, which has made its inhabitants the quietest 
 and happiest people in the world since that event. 
 
 No person who attempts to make the tour of Europe should 
 fail to take Brussels and the field of Waterloo in the route. 
 In the former will be seen the inhabitants from almost every 
 nation under heaven, clad in the costume of their country, 
 pursuing their occupations as at home, without attracting 
 attention, so universal is the education of the people of Brus- 
 sels. Nearly everything that can be found in any country 
 may be seen here, whether divine, sage, novel, ludicrous, or 
 instructive. In the latter class may be seen the buildings, 
 fields, walls, and gardens, nearly in the same condition they 
 were on the 15th of June, 1815, three days before the great 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. I^J 
 
 battle, except the marks and disfigurements made on the 
 walls and buildings by balls, shot, or shells, during the con- 
 flict between the two greatest captains of the age ; also a most 
 stupendous monument two hundred feet high, surmounted 
 with a bronze 'figure of the Belgic lion, commemorating the 
 events of that bloody and decisive day. All of these are now, 
 as much as possible, preserved intact by their owners for the 
 gratification of visitors, who flock there daily in pleasant 
 weather from all countries to view this death-place of thoii- 
 sands, and who quietly enrich the vicinity by their expendi- 
 tures and gifts. 
 
 This is by no means the only place in Belgium celebrated 
 by martial feats. This country has been styled " the cockpit 
 of Europe," and often made to bear a very unprofitable part 
 in its neighbors' quarrels, and also suffer great changes in its 
 rulers and government. It was Burgundian under the Dukes 
 of Burgundy, German under Maximilian, Spanish under 
 Charles V, Revolutionist during the troubles of the Nether- 
 lands, Austrian under Maria Theresa, Republican in 1794, 
 French under Napoleon I, Semi-Dutch under William, and 
 Belgian now under a king. 
 
 Interpreters are numerous and intelligent at Brussels, and 
 very reasonable in their charges — five francs per diem. Hotel 
 and other bills are also quite moderate. Fine promenades, 
 parks, museums, libraries, public edifices, factories, and foun- 
 tains, are numerous, some of which are unique, far-famed and 
 ludicrous, so that no one need fear ennui in Brussels. 
 
 It is quite out of my power to make lengthy notes of all the 
 places or things that I saw and which I deemed useful, novel, 
 or entertaining ; I shall therefore be a little more concise in 
 my remarks in the following pages, but shall notice those that 
 seemed most interesting. 
 
 Antiquarians may find in the city of Cologne more objects 
 of wonder and amazement than its external appearance and 
 present importance indicate. It has been a great city for 
 more than a thousand years, and was the birth-place of Agrip- 
 pina, daughter of the Roman Emperor GJ-ermanicus, and had a 
 colony placed in it by her, whence its name. It contains a most 
 magnificent cathedral, that has been more than six hundred 
 years in building, and will require five millions of dollars to 
 
238 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 complete it, which, is being rapidly done at present. In it are 
 many churches of great magnificence and antiquity, contain- 
 ing the most rare, valuable and unique collections on earth. 
 
 The church of St. Ursula contains the most remarkable 
 sights. 1. St. Ursula herself is exhibited in a coffin, surrounded 
 by the skulls of a few of her favorite attendants. 2. The 
 fetters of St. Peter, and a vessel used by the Saviour. 3. What 
 Hood says is the most chaste kind of architecture. 4. On 
 every side marble shelves are built in the walls, a,nd on them 
 are piled in the most ingenious and regular manner the 
 bones of eleven thousand virgins who attended St. Ursula 
 from the city of Basle on a pilgrimage to Rome, and were all 
 met and murdered on their return by the Huns because they 
 refused to break their vows of chastity, and prepared to 
 defend their persons to the last extremity with their table 
 knives and forks. Thus says tradition. Whether it be true 
 or false, the sad spectacle is there ; and that the bones are 
 those of females from the age of twelve years to thirty, there 
 can be no doubt whatever. The gloom in this receptacle of 
 the remains of the ancient dead affords a more suitable theme 
 for the imagination than the pen. The city is full of antiqui- 
 ties and objects of great interest to those traveling in quest of 
 knowledge, and the vicinity is rich in everything that mortals 
 covet. Poetry and prose have been exhausted in describing 
 the beauties and enchantments on the banks of the Rhine. It 
 is finished and requires no improvement. 
 
 There is great sameness in the aspect of everything seen by 
 travelers passing through Holland, but on entering the Prus- 
 sian territory a change is at once visible. Strong fortifications 
 cover the approach to all the great cities, and a most tidy 
 soldiery everywhere shows itself and seems to be interested 
 in everything. If a child is tardy in reaching school, a soldier 
 is seen kindly urging it forward ; if astray, putting it in place ; 
 or an animal or team loose, it is secured. ISTo disorder or 
 waste is allowed, yet all is done quietly. The soldier seems 
 to consider himself a gentleman, and responsible for the good 
 conduct of all about him, and is therefore circumspect in all 
 his actions. He is regarded with greater consideration by the 
 ladies of his country than the soldier of any other nation 
 appears to be by his countrywomen. He is always accepted 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 239 
 
 as an escort by ladies without the least regard to his rank in 
 the army. It is however very observable that they view 
 with pleasure a profusion of badges on an escort, these alone 
 being the reward of meritorious conduct. 
 
 The system of education is more perfect in Prussia than in 
 any other part of Europe. Religious toleration is everywhere 
 recognized by law, and the morals of the people good. The 
 marriage of men is prohibited by law until they have served 
 three years in the army and are discharged, or exempted by 
 disability, from military service. It is considered unwise by 
 ladies to listen to propositions of marriage from soldiers in 
 service ; consequently there are fewer disappointed lovers to 
 be met with in Prussia than in any other country. 
 
 The women of Prussia perform more agricultural labor than 
 any other women in Europe, and appear to do it with greater 
 willingness and zest; but they are seldom seen in quar- 
 ries, mines, or attending horses. The Prussians are fond of 
 frequenting places of amusement, and, if possible, always 
 take their families with them, and appear as proud of showing 
 them as other nations do fine equipages. We never heard of 
 a real Prussian forsaking his wife or denying he had one if 
 she was living. In short, she constitutes his wealth and happi- 
 ness, at home or abroad. Nor is it to be wondered at, when 
 one reflects that it is no uncommon spectacle to see a mother 
 quit the plow-handles, feed her weary cow, and on entering 
 her house to engage at once in instructing her children, even 
 in solving the abstruse problems of Euclid. So universally are 
 the Prussian ladies well educated, that they are regarded as 
 the most enlightened in Europe. Their studies are the same 
 as those of the men, except in the military schools. At no 
 distant day the Prussian system of education must prevail 
 wherever public instruction is universal. 
 
 It may be asked : How has Prussia attained to such emin- 
 ence in so short a period ? for Prussia was a power of the fifth 
 rank in Europe at the commencement of this century — its first 
 king was crowned and its first Academy of Sciences founded 
 in the last century. We answer : This school for kings and 
 nursery for statesmen has filled Prussia with efficient counsel- 
 ors, philosophers, and scholars, who have kept the whole 
 nation united in endeavoring to reach the acme of national 
 
24O AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 greatness, and has at length quite formed the characteristic of 
 the people to suit such a condition. 
 
 The Russians have observed their progress and are making 
 rapid strides in the same direction, but as their devotions 
 have hitherto been paid more to Mars than to Apollo, it will 
 be a persistent task of long duration that can make them 
 equally successful. However, no people are more devoted to 
 their country than the Russians, or more willing to pay for 
 knowledge. Therefore the most liberal salaries are paid to 
 professors from foreign countries, as no prejudices exist 
 against them, and every facility and encouragement afforded 
 them. 
 
 Serfdom having been but recently abolished, a greater dis- 
 parity in the condition of the people appears in Russia than in 
 any other part of Europe. In this the people appear to acqui- 
 esce with great patience, and as there never was any difference 
 in their language or color to mark their former condition, a 
 few years will obliterate all remembrance of it. The title of 
 prince or princess is of less consequence in Russia than any 
 other country, for all the children of a prince or princess are 
 allowed the title, although it is often all the patrimony they 
 inherit. In like manner their children take the title and strive 
 to maintain its dignity in all places. 
 
 Their public edifices are all erected with a view to their 
 future greatness and the heterogeneous character and taste of 
 coming generations. All styles of architecture may be seen 
 in the same building, as if the different parts had been 
 assigned to architects from different countries and each had 
 followed his own taste. There will be seen gilded domes and 
 cupolas ; towers of every form, round, square, septagon and 
 octagon ; pointed roofs and steeples of every hight, style and 
 color, ornamented with the most whimsical devices and incom- 
 prehensible inventions — the whole forming a laughable yet 
 agreeable picture when viewed at a proper distance. Their 
 costumes are as varied as any of their possessions, and are no 
 index of their wealth, as their country is cold and moist, 
 which causes them generally to wear an over-garment which 
 is common to the prince and the beggar. 
 
 This sketch of my observations will be incomplete unless 
 mention is made of a universal sentiment that prevails in 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 2/J.I 
 
 Russia, and is always observable by their friends when they 
 are speaking of the policy of their government. They think 
 that Turkey in Europe justly belongs to the Emperor of 
 Russia, and that he is kept out of it by usurpation. The 
 Russian claim is thus founded : — Ivan III espoused Princess 
 Sophia, niece of Constantine Palseologus, who was conducted 
 to him in Russia by ambassadors sent from Rome. After this 
 manage, Ivan assumed the title of Czar or Csesar of Russia, 
 and all nations acquiesced in this as legitimate ; and when he 
 saw Constantine and his family dispossessed as well as totally 
 destroyed by the Turks in 1453, as neither himself nor any of 
 his household could ever be found after the battle, he claimed 
 the title to the European section of the empire, and his 
 successors will probably at no distant day obtain it as a 
 legitimate right. 
 
 The Russians always consider the Americans as recognizing 
 that right and desirous of their obtaining it; hence that 
 friendship for Americans amounting almost to a passion, 
 which they do not attempt to conceal. At a banquet given to 
 an American citizen at Moscow, a major-general of the Rus- 
 sian army stated in a speech that Russia had sold Alaska to 
 the United States to make them strong and not for (he price 
 paid, for it was but nominal when nationally viewed, and 
 would have been donated but for the fear of exciting the 
 jealousy of neighboring nations against both. 
 
 Having digressed a little from my original purpose to 
 remark on what struck my mind as important subjects, I must 
 return to what more immediately concerned myself while in 
 Russia. On my arrival at St. Petersburg, I repaired to the 
 residence of our minister, Mr. Clay, but found him gone into 
 the country. It did not, however, derange my purpose of 
 seeing or retard my progress. I was at once treated with all 
 the attention I desired, and was introduced to several officers 
 of distinction, all of whom spoke English and offered their 
 services to me. This was of great advantage to me afterwards 
 in visiting Cronstadt, Peterhoff, and Moscow, as I was on all 
 occasions escorted by an officer, who introduced me to all 
 distinguished personages he met, informing them of the extent 
 of my recent travels and future designs, and pointing out the 
 objects most worthy of my attention. 
 
24-2 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 When I had spent more than one week in viewing the 
 wonders collected in and about this interesting vicinity, I left 
 for Moscow in company with three Russian officers, who were 
 returning to the camp of instruction, six miles from the walls 
 of Moscow. These gentlemen gave me the most pressing 
 invitation to visit their camp, saying no American traveler of 
 any distinction had ever visited it, and it would afford their 
 superior officers great pleasure to have me do so, which I 
 promised to do. Accordingly, after spending several days in 
 viewing this ancient and half Asiatic city and the Empress's 
 villa at Sparrow Hill, and had stood on the same spot in the 
 porch where the First Napoleon stood in 1812 — where he saw 
 with astonishment and horror every house and store on fire 
 which contained anything that could comfort a famishing sol- 
 dier in Moscow — and had viewed all the cannon taken in that 
 campaign, and which are now arranged and displayed as a 
 monument in the Kremlin, I prepared to visit the Russian camp 
 of instruction. Taking a competent interpreter, I presented 
 my card at the entrance of the camp and asked for the officer 
 of the day, who immediately appeared and introduced himself 
 as a colonel of artillery, and, entering my barouche, pointed 
 out the way to the general's headquarters, accompanied me 
 there, and introduced me to all the officers he met, expressing 
 a regret that most of them were absent twelve miles at a race 
 course, at the same time assuring me they were glad to see 
 me and would entertain me as well as possible by showing me 
 through all the workshops, storehouses, arsenals, hospitals, 
 and quarters, when in full operation. This pleased me, and I 
 spent one of the most interesting days of my life viewing 
 what was shown me and hearing their explanations. They 
 further manifested their kindness and attention by furnishing 
 me with perfect drawings of every article I had seen in process 
 of construction, which I brought home and donated to the 
 Missouri Historical Society of St. Louis. After visiting the 
 factories, and dining with them at the officers' mess-house, 
 they took me through the summer and winter quarters, showed 
 me the rations of Russian soldiers in process of cooking, their 
 bakeries and bread, and had me taste of the victuals from 
 many of their cooking vessels and mess trays, and lastly 
 walked with me among the camp tables to see the soldiers 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 243 
 
 eating, and escorted me to my barouche, assuring me I would 
 hear from their superior officers on their return. 
 
 On the following day I received a very complimentary 
 invitation to "be present at a review of the armed corps under 
 instruction at the Emperor's camp near Moscow, signed "by 
 the lieutenant-general in command, and delivered "by an aid- 
 de-camp in full dress at Hotel Dusoux. I acknowledged the 
 receipt of the invitation, and promised attendance. Accord- 
 ingly, on the day appointed, I took with me in a barouche, 
 my interpreter, Frederick Schranz, and Colonel James V. 
 Swan, secretary of the Gas Company of the city of Moscow, 
 an Englishman, who spoke the Russian language fluently, 
 and proceeded to the camp, where we were met by an officer 
 who escorted us to the general's headquarters. Here we were 
 met by several prominent officers, introduced to them, and furn- 
 ished with refreshments, after which fine caparisoned horses 
 were provided for each of us, and mounted grooms to attend 
 them. The troops by this time were getting in position on all 
 parts of the field, and soon after the signal was given that all 
 was ready. A colonel who spoke English then informed me 
 he had been directed to attend and assist me diiring the day. 
 I informed him I considered it as a high compliment and a 
 great kindness bestowed on me and my country, and begged 
 him to take the entire direction of my movements during the 
 time I should be with him, which he promised to do. We 
 then all mounted our horses and rode to the point where the 
 review commenced. 
 
 There were eighteen thousand men in camp, and it was 
 estimated seventeen thousand men of all arms were on duty 
 under arms and in sight at the same time. I had never seen 
 above half that number of men in motion at one time before, 
 and it is not probable I will ever see so many again. The 
 sight was therefore one of great interest to me, and I had all 
 the advantages I could desire of enjoying it. We were led to 
 near the middle of the camp or ground, which is more than 
 twenty miles in circumference, and was formerly the park or 
 hunting grounds of the imperial family, whose residence, a 
 magnificent palace, stands a little east of the camp and over- 
 looks every part of it. Here we had a fair view of every 
 individual of that vast multitude, with their arms and machines 
 
244 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 of war, as they passed in review, without being able to detect 
 the least mistake or omission in performing the salutes with 
 so many different kinds of arms, and operating with so 
 many different animals. By the time the last regiment had 
 passed us, the whole were in position for manoeuvering in 
 a sham-fight, which commenced by degrees and became more 
 and more animated until all appeared to be engaged, when 
 the line most remote began to be broken and marched off; 
 and the smoke ascending, we soon saw all the regiments 
 removed from the field except the artillerymen, who were 
 distributed into the several fortifications in order to exhibit 
 their skill in gunnery. These [fortifications are said to have 
 been built for the defence of the imperial palace and Moscow 
 while the state departments remained there, and were altered 
 to accommodate the military school after the seat of govern- 
 ment was removed to St. Petersburg. In these fortifications 
 are' all the different kinds of cannon used in the Russian 
 service, and gunners trained expressly to use them, with all 
 necessary accompaniments convenient for use. The signal 
 being given, we dismounted and took positions for observing 
 the exhibition of their artillery practice, which soon com- 
 menced with great celerity and creditable effect, but not with 
 that accuracy I thought they might attain by more deliberate 
 sighting, which they will probably adopt hereafter as an 
 improvement. After the exhibition of the gunnery and their 
 system of telegraphing to the gunner the result of his shots, 
 until all kinds of pieces from three hundred pounds to one 
 had been discharged, the signal was given for dinner, which 
 was obeyed with the same alacrity that had characterized all 
 their movements. 
 
 The dinner, or more properly banquet, was served in a large 
 wooden edifice adjoining an uncovered theatre, which has an 
 artificial swimming pond on the other side, all constructed for 
 educating and practicing cadets. The area of the building 
 being of sufficient size for manceuvering a regiment in inclem- 
 ent weather, gave latitude for the display of the most sump- 
 tuous repast I had ever seen spread. The tables, thirteen in 
 number, were ingeniously arranged, with a long one in the 
 centre and six on either side placed obliquely, so that all 
 seated at them could by a slight deflection view the person 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 245 
 
 presiding at the head of the center table. Four hundred 
 officers being seated at the tables, a chaplain said grace 
 devoutly — for the Russians are a very pious people — and soon 
 the hungry officers began to lessen the huge pile of rich dain- 
 ties from every land with which the tables were loaded, until 
 all seemed willing to advance in the programme. 
 
 The cloth being removed, beverages and their concomitants 
 followed the viands in quick succession, and hilarity lagged 
 but little behind. Toasts were next in order, in the fashion 
 of our own country. They first toasted their Emperor, who, 
 as they said, presided over a hundred nations united in one, 
 a beloved and popular ruler of all ; next, the Empress of all 
 the Russias, a shining example to her sex ; lastly, the United 
 States of America, the real friends of the Russians, repre- 
 sented here by the presence of one of its venerable citizens. 
 I thought it incumbent on me to respond to this compliment 
 to my country, humble and unqualified as I felt myself. I 
 therefore arose, and said, "I thank you, Mr. President, for 
 this compliment to my country and myself, and I think I 
 express the sentiments of my countrymen in saying, may the 
 Turks, who are but Arabs and robbers, be driven out of 
 Europe, and the Emperor Alexander of Russia be put in 
 possession of Constantinople, that all the ladies of Russia 
 may bathe their feet in the Bosphorus." The applause that 
 followed this sentiment is quite indescribable. At this point 
 a' major-general arose, and advancing towards me, stretched 
 forth his hand and said, " Those are the sentiments of friends ; 
 the Americans are our friends ; we will make campaigns 
 together." The applause was then redoubled, and, to add 
 intensity to their demonstrations, two tall Cossacks from the 
 Don, who sat over against me at table, sprang from their seats 
 and running round the end of the table to me, one seized me 
 and placing me on the shoulder of the other, they each threw 
 an arm around the other's waist, and each holding one of my 
 hands in theirs, galloped round the table, crying out, " We 
 have an American citizen! we have an American citizen!" 
 amid the most vociferous applause and shoutings. The doors 
 leading to the theater were then thrown open and my Cossack 
 friends conducted me to the seats set apart for distinguished 
 visitors. 
 
246 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 On the rising of the curtain the plays began with the cele- 
 brated scene of " Orpheus playing to the Nymphs on the lyre 
 he had received from Apollo" the Nymphs being young 
 soldiers dressed in nymphian costume, for no women are 
 allowed to enter a Russian camp. Then his conquest over 
 Eurydice ; their nuptials and short happiness ; her death and 
 entry into the infernal regions. Then Orpheus' entry there 
 with his lyre in pursuit of her; his wonderful performance 
 before Pluto, by which he gained admittance ; the stoppage of 
 the wheel of Oxion and rolling of the stone of Sisiphus. 
 Then Orpheus' sight of Eurydice and her sudden vanishment 
 by his looking back in his eagerness of seeing her. Then his 
 interview with the Thracian women ; his coldness to them, for 
 which they tore him to pices while he was still crying " Eury- 
 dice ! Eurydice ! " in his last paroxysm of death and destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 The second piece was " The Russian Lady's .Excuse to her 
 Husband on his return after an absence of twenty yea,rs" the 
 term of service in the Russian army. The parties had been 
 engaged to be married on a certain day. On the day prece- 
 ding he was conscripted and notified to appear instanter. 
 Instead of obeying, he went directly to his affianced and was 
 married at sunrise the next morning, and as he emerged from 
 the church with his bride he was seized by a file of soldiers 
 as a deserter and kept twenty years in service without a 
 furlough, that being the penalty for first fault, but in the 
 meantime had covered his bosom with badges of distinction 
 and honor by his services. His wife had by the Russian law 
 taken possession of his large estate and kept a gentleman 
 about the house as near his age as she could procure, as she 
 said, to keep her in memory of how he probably looked, and 
 to assist in escorting her in her excursions and visits abroad. 
 The soldier inquired why the gentleman he saw sitting near 
 her when he entered, had left so suddenly and unceremoni- 
 ously. She replied she employed no persons in his place but 
 those who knew better than to be present in such a crisis ; 
 that she kept nothing about her that was superfluous. This 
 answer appeared to satisfy him, and, embracing her, said she 
 had done well ; to now make ready to entertain their friends 
 and have them present. Thus ended the first act. On the 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 247 
 
 rising of the curtain, she brought forth an antiquated dried 
 cake, and informed him she had never despaired of his return- 
 ing, and was yet enjoying this cake, which she made with her 
 own hands and drinking with him from this flagon which she 
 had found in his cellar. The old friends, male and female, 
 soon assembled, and, after enjoying the viands and liba- 
 tions, are called to order by one representing Terpsichore, 
 who with harp in hand entertained them a moment, then 
 changed the feasting into dancing, which I never saw excelled. 
 Suddenly the music ceased and the curtain fell. 
 
 The last piece was "The Russian Ladies Bathing." Female 
 voices in shouts and laughter were heard in the distance. 
 when the audience unconsciously stood erect : the curtain in 
 front disappeared as if by magic, exposing to view the artifi- 
 cial lake before mentioned, surrounded with lights, the water 
 swarming with ladies' forms in bathing habits, performing the 
 most extraordinary feats in swimming, diving, leaping, rolling. 
 dodgins, hiding, ducking, mounting and sinking each other, 
 that is possible to describe, yet without the least ill-temper. 
 fear or apparent inconvenience to the actors. 
 
 This closed the entertainments of the day and was the signal 
 for a parting adieu, which was given in the usual Russian 
 manner, and is very ceremonious and affectionate, thus : each 
 gentleman takes off his hat with his left hand and throws the 
 arm around the neck of the other person, both at the same 
 time seizing each other by the right hand and reciprocally 
 kissing each other on the cheek. This is the parting ceremony 
 with ladies also. It is improper to uncover the head in the 
 presence of ladies ; this is only done in church, or passing a 
 church, or in parting with a lady. There is no other exception. 
 
 As it was now late at night, an escort of cavalry was ordered 
 to conduct us within the walls of Moscow, to insure our safety 
 home. 
 
 On the following morning, I made a suitable acknowledg- 
 ment of the honors and kindness which had been shown me 
 at the camp, and spent the remainder of the day in viewing 
 the different parts of the city, and observing the great changes 
 which the grand conflagration of 1512 had made in the 
 streets and style of buildings. The new streets are much 
 broader than the old, nearly all the buildings on them being 
 
248 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 much larger, and built in modern style. Not one-fourth of 
 Moscow was consumed in 1812. The French fired none of the 
 buildings, and the Kussians burned only those containing pro- 
 visions and clothing. 
 
 It had been my intention to visit Mjni Mwogrod on the river 
 Volga, and thence, partly by that river and the Don, to visit 
 Sebastopol and Constantinople ; but while I waited one week 
 in Moscow, six gentlemen who came in company with me from 
 St. Petersburg went to Mjni to attend a great fair then in 
 progress there, and during their stay lost half their number 
 with cholera in four days, and had returned quite dejected. 
 Their sad account of the prevalence of that disease in all that 
 district of country deterred me from proceeding further in 
 that direction ; I therefore returned to St. Petersburg by the 
 same road I came (four hundred and six miles), and leaving 
 Moscow at the same hour of the day I did in coming from St. 
 Petersburg, I saw by daylight the whole country within the 
 range of vision, for that is a very level country, and has the 
 best railroad through it in the world. 
 
 This part of Eussia is fruitful and easily cultivated. More 
 potatoes, turnips, carrots, beets, oats and grass are grown on 
 the route than I have seen on a like distance in any other 
 country. The soil is well adapted to their growth, and the 
 climate to their preservation. The inhabitants, animals and 
 vegetable productions seemed to compare favorably with 
 those of any other region I have visited ; they respectively 
 appeared fully developed, well treated, and generous. In 
 Prussia and Russia, rye flour is used more extensively than 
 any other, both in the armies and families, and the same 
 custom prevails among all the nations dwelling on the waters 
 falling into the Baltic. Indian corn or maize is not cultivated 
 there. Peas are raised in vast quantities in all those countries, 
 and used in fattening stock very extensively. Ireland has 
 become celebrated for its extensive cultivation of potatoes, 
 yet they are even more generally cultivated and used in all 
 northern Europe than in Ireland itself, as wheat does not form 
 one of the certain or profitable crops of those countries as in 
 Ireland and England. Oats and barley are as extensively 
 cultivated there as Indian corn is in the United States, and 
 used for the same purposes in feeding all kinds of stock. The 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 249 
 
 droves of swine from which our bristles used in the manufac- 
 ture of "brushes are obtained, have all been fed on these 
 productions, without seeing corn. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 INCIDENTS AND OBSERVATIONS ON A SECOND VISIT TO ST. 
 PETERSBURG, AND TRAVELS TO FINLAND, SWEDEN, DENMARK, 
 NORWAY, AND HAMBURG. 
 
 On my second visit to this newly built city, I found the object 
 that most engaged the attention of both citizens and strangers 
 was the American squadron lately arrived inside the fortifica- 
 tions of Cronstadt, the officers of which were then visiting and 
 viewing the city. Seeing large numbers going to view the 
 fleet as it lay at anchor, I joined in a trip for that purpose, 
 which proved, to be one of as much pleasure and instruction as 
 any I had made in the same length of time about this great 
 city. On this trip down and up the river Neva, we not only 
 saw some of the best American ships of war afloat, but also 
 eleven of the most powerful Russian ships and monitors, all 
 lying spread out and arranged in the most tasteful and friendly 
 manner over the grand naval anchorage between Cronstadt 
 and St. Petersburg, which every vessel passes through in 
 entering or departing from the city. Eight monitors and three 
 other steamships had been out and escorted the American 
 fleet to this anchorage, which none but Russia's best friends 
 are allowed to use. Our naval officers were then being enter- 
 tained by them with feasts and balls, and all that was novel 
 or wonderful among this enterprising and ambitious people. 
 
 Having previously viewed the city and its environs, I took 
 passage on the steamship Somes for Helsingfors in Finland, 
 as it was the first English ship to leave port, and was about 
 half laden with oats and flaxseed, two very important articles 
 of export to England, and would probably make a quick 
 passage home to Hull. In this I was mistaken, but suffered 
 17 
 
2£0 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 no loss. The captain was on a trip for information as well as 
 "business for his new ship, and made a most strenuous effort 
 to obtain it, which afforded me excellent opportunities of 
 visiting several cities, with very little inconvenience, where he 
 sought further business and customers in his line. 
 
 On leaving St. Petersburg, we passed within a few yards of 
 the fleet, when all the crews appeared busily engaged at drill, 
 which gave them the appearance of a very busy lot of men 
 and boys. This, however, had few attractions for our captain ; 
 for while we were passing, he called the attention of his 
 passengers to the order in which the ships had anchored, and 
 said that this visit was but a manceuvering of the combined 
 fleets to show other nations their friendship and their willing- 
 ness to unite against any other people. 
 
 Continuing our course out of the mouth of the Neva, we 
 passed near the impregnable fortifications of Cronstadt, and 
 observed the ceremonies and signals exchanged by the officers 
 and pilots at every passage of ships by this remarkable 
 natural and artificial stronghold and naval gate to the Russian 
 capital. The morning being very clear and fine, and vision 
 unobstructed except by the innumerable vessels passing in 
 and out of port, we had a most satisfactory view of all the 
 fascinating objects that in a state of nature struck the philo- 
 sophic mind of Peter the Great, and caused him to change this 
 far-spread waste and rude fishing-ground into beautiful pleas- 
 ure-grounds and sites for cities and palaces that rival those of 
 the most favored climes and locations. The whole of this 
 scenery appears new. There are no old dilapidated edifices, 
 fences or trees to mar the beauties of the landscape or cast a 
 gloom over the buoyant mind. All appears active, vigorous, 
 and progressive. There being no tides in the Baltic, or room 
 for the gulf of Finland to raise high waves about the mouth 
 of the Neva, the works of art are less liable to change and 
 destruction by water than those of almost any other country, 
 as the Lake Ladoga keeps the waters of the Neva always at 
 about the same elevation. Therefore all improvements are 
 made with a view to permanence and utility, and all in 
 modern style. 
 
 Our first landing was made at Helsingfors in Finland, and 
 as we were to spend the day here I lost no time in visiting its 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 25I 
 
 splendid park, donated long since by one of its former wealthy 
 citizens, whose name is inscribed on a large rude stone with 
 a statement that he has given this tract of land to the inhab- 
 itants of Helsingfors for a place of recreation and pleasure, 
 and to be used for no other purpose ; and from the number of 
 persons I saw walking and riding in its beautiful groves, I 
 have no doubt the Finlanders are carrying out in full the 
 wishes of the donor. I was forcibly reminded by what I saw 
 here of my long tried and worthy friend and fellow-townsman, 
 Henry Shaw, who has done a similar act for the people of St. 
 Louis, which will embalm him in the memory of the living, 
 and call forth expressions of gratitude from generations far in 
 the future, and render his name as lasting as the name of the 
 city itself. 
 
 At this city I saw miniken steamboats used about the 
 harbor in conveying passengers to and from the ships in and 
 about the harbor and river, and on short trips of pleasure, 
 which I think might be used with good success about many of 
 our own cities, where it has probably never been attempted. 
 
 The Finlanders are the most peaceful and handsomest people 
 in Europe, if not in the world. When under the king of Sweden, 
 they were his most loyal subjects ; and now, under the emperor 
 of Russia, they sustain the same character. They appear to 
 have no aspirations for office or military fame, but are very 
 fond of literary, domestic and peaceful pursuits, and in all 
 conditions of life are remarkably cleanly in their appearance. 
 Therefore, a stranger will not readily discover such distinc- 
 tions among them as are at once perceived among the people 
 of some other countries when in company with each other. 
 
 From Helsingfors we passed between innumerable small 
 islands and the main land to Abo, the capital of Finland. 
 This was the slowest and most difficult trip I have ever seen a 
 steamship make, and yet there was so much to attract and 
 engage the attention that I spent most of the time on deck 
 looking at the different and varied objects which were con- 
 stantly presenting themselves on the islets and vessels we 
 successively passed. 
 
 On our arrival at Abo, and landing on terra firma, we were> 
 informed a free concert was to be given in a grove near the 
 city, and many persons were on their way thither. We joined 
 
1^1 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 the throng, and as the afternoon was pleasant we enjoyed an 
 excellent opportunity of viewing the Finlanders as they 
 appear in their churches, for they are emphatically a religious 
 and moral people, which accounts for their "beauty and happy 
 contentment. Their officers and policemen all wear the same 
 kind of badges as the Russians, and fine dress, swords instead 
 of blugdeons as in some other countries. The concourse of 
 auditors was immense, being composed of people of all ages, 
 infants in the arms of fathers as well as mothers, for there are 
 no Africans to be met with in Finland or any of the inland 
 towns north of the Baltic ; and the number of males and 
 females seems to be more equal there than in most other 
 countries, and their occupations more equally shared. It is a 
 very common practice in this vicinity for women to bring boat- 
 loads of vegetables to market without the assistance of men, 
 and the quantities brought here for sale are quite astonishing, 
 when the climate of this high latitude is considered ; and their 
 quality still more so, as potatoes, turnips, carrots, beets and 
 cabbages are raised here in as great perfection as in Holland, 
 England or Ireland, and in as great abundance. The Finlan 
 ders appear to be as industrious and economical as they are 
 moral and tidy ; consequently, strangers are not disgusted 
 and annoyed by beggars and thieves, the greatest nuisance 
 that travelers encounter in Europe. 
 
 Leaving Abo at sunset, with fair weather and the moon 
 nearful full, we had good views of the islands scattered along 
 the coast of Finland, and as the sun rose the next morning we 
 found ourselves in sight of several islands off the coast of 
 Sweden, and a great number of vessels of various sizes about 
 us, among them four pilot-boats apparently at nearly the same 
 distance and all striving to board the steamship. The engine 
 was stopped and most of the people on board stood silent and 
 amused -to witness the strife. But one could win, and the 
 victor was soon on board. The other boats at once changed 
 their course to find other customers, while the successful pilot 
 took the ship into port. 
 
 Stockholm is quite a city, with over a hundred thousand 
 inhabitants. It is built, partly on islands and partly on 
 the main land, at the entrance of Measter Lake, and is one of 
 the most grand and imposing cities to view on approaching it 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 253 
 
 from the east — as we did on a clear morning, with the sun 
 shining on all the windows, towers, roofs and steeples — that I 
 have ever visited. I am not minutely describing cities, or 
 what I saw in them ; but I venture the assertion, that this city 
 contains more pleasing and praiseworthy objects, and fewer 
 revolting ones, that any city in Europe. Some writers have 
 said the ladies of Sweden are the handsomest in the world ; 
 but this must have been while Finland belonged to Sweden, 
 for that is the real land of beauties. Here Jenny Lind estab- 
 lished her musical fame and immortalized her name by 
 founding a school of music for the poor, which no Missourian 
 can visit without calling to mind the names of Mrs. Ann Bid- 
 die and Mrs. Anne L. Hunt for their munificence to the poor of 
 St. Louis, which will make their names equally lasting and 
 blessed. 
 
 From Stockholm to Malmo, a city in Sweden, three hours' 
 ride from Copenhagen, we traveled on a new railroad through a 
 remarkably broken and diversified section of country, abound- 
 ing in small lakes or ponds, small streams, and heavy forests, 
 yet made cheerful and attractive by the tidy and tasteful 
 aspect of every habitation along the route. No dilapidated 
 towers, walls or dwellings marred the landscape, although 
 Sweden has a history as ancient as any of her neighbors. The 
 character of the Swe.des has never been changed by their 
 wars or intercourse with other nations. No one acquainted 
 with them and their country would hazard a contest with the 
 one for the possession of the other. I should mention a cus- 
 tom among Swedish gentlemen which is the reverse of the 
 Russian custom. A Swede always takes off his hat in com- 
 pany with ladies, and a Russian always wears his until 
 parting, when he takes it off, and, taking her hand, bids a 
 most affectionate adieu. 
 
 The distance from Malmo to Copenhagen is sixty miles. On 
 this trip we saw more ships and vessels of different forms and 
 sizes, and more different flags, than we had seen in any part 
 of our journey by sea. We were on a Danish steamship, and 
 being recognized as an American was treated with great 
 respect, although the Danes make sad complaint against the 
 Americans, who, they say, were the first people who refused 
 to pay what is called Sound dues — that is, a certain toll for 
 
254 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 the privilege of passing into the Baltic Sea without being 
 molested by them. They say every other nation had paid 
 without a murmur from time immemorial until the Americans 
 refused to pay, and, entertaining kind feelings towards them, 
 they released them from the payment, and now no one will 
 pay because they are in adversity and unable, as formerly, to 
 compel other nations to fulfil their obligations. They charge 
 the English with taking their armed navy from them under a 
 promise of soon returning it ; but more than half a century 
 has elapsed since it was made without being fulfilled — and 
 never will be. Moreover, they say the Prussians have robbed 
 them of two of their finest provinces in the presence of all 
 Europe, and no one dared to attempt to protect them or say a 
 word in their behalf, and so, on account of their misfortunes, 
 they have come to be disregarded among the nations, and are 
 nearly blotted from the map of Europe. 
 
 Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is a city of great anti- 
 quity, and was formerly of great importance in the commercial 
 world, made so by her position on the east side of the island 
 of Zeland, and the policy of its government; for it never 
 contained over one hundred and forty thousand inhabitants. 
 It was bombarded by the British in 1807, and much injured ; 
 but its industrious and tidy inhabitants have repaired the 
 damage and filled the city with an immense collection of the 
 most interesting and instructive objects, which will enable 
 people of refined taste to spend time here as profitably and 
 pleasantly as at any other in Europe. I remained here several 
 days, and wrote to several friends, one of whom, the venerable 
 General Nathan E. Ranney, did me the honor to publish my 
 letter, showing thereby the kind feeling he has so long mani- 
 fested toward me. 
 
 On my arrival, I visited our minister plenipotentiary, Mr. 
 Yeoman, as I always do in foreign countries, and advise all 
 travelers to follow the example when abroad, as some useful 
 information is sure to be communicated to some party present 
 and the interest of our country advanced. Should there be no 
 resident minister in Copenhagen, be careful to call on our 
 consul there ; he is always more than happy to meet his coun- 
 trymen and enlighten and aid them. Time is very well spent 
 with any of our foreign consuls, as they are sure to be well 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 255 
 
 educated gentlemen, in possession of the latest news, and 
 gladly impart a knowledge of all the local objects of interest 
 in their immediate vicinity. 
 
 The Danes are an ingenious, well informed, industrious and 
 enterprising people, who, from their favored location, have 
 participated and profited in maritime and commercial enter- 
 prises for many centuries, but now frankly acknowledge that 
 from circumstances entirely beyond their control it is with 
 difficulty they can keep pace in these with their neighbors. 
 Denmark and the State of Vermont are situated most unlike 
 each other of any two States I have ever visited, yet the 
 inhabitants resemble each other in appearance, morals, taste, 
 ingenuity, industry, and economy, more than any others with 
 which I have become acquainted in my travels. 
 
 Copenhagen is the cheapest market for every commodity to 
 be found in Europe, as it is a place of the greatest commercial 
 accessibility, when not obstructed by ice, of any off the coast 
 of the Atlanitc. I feel disposed to sympathize with people who 
 are in distress, but I saw nothing calling for sympathy in Den- 
 mark, although she is claiming it from all the world because 
 she can collect no more Sound dues. 
 
 We sailed for Christiana in Norway early in the morning, 
 and stopping at Elsinore, the old toll-liouse of the Baltic, we 
 viewed this oroli&n oar of commerce, and felt proud that our 
 country had done. it. It is a remarkable fortress at the south 
 end of the Cattegat, and is fully described in the " Life of Lord 
 Nelson." From thence to Grottenburg our ship's crew were 
 constantly on a sharp look-out to avoid colliding with the 
 numberless sailing vessels which float here and appear to. 
 disregard steamers in their course. "We reached the ancient 
 city of Christiana, the capital of Norway, at mid-day, and 
 immediately taking a guide commenced a hasty examination 
 of the city, which contains nearly forty thousand inhabitants. 
 They have been a commercial people, as well as renowned in 
 arts and arms, for the last thousand years, being remarkable 
 also for morality, integrity, and sameness of character and 
 appearance. 
 
 The ship having landed all her passengers but one, and 
 effecting no new engagements for freight or passage here, left 
 with a fair wind for Hamburg, with no person but the captain 
 
2$6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 and myself in the cabin, and we therefore soon became well 
 acquainted. 
 
 The ship entered the Elbe at evening, and we saw but little 
 during the night except the busy seamen and tugs working 
 the shipping up and down the river. At daylight the engine 
 stopped, and we hastened on deck. The scene was changed. 
 The greatest activity was now everywhere visible. Ships from 
 all the maritime nations of Europe were crowded promiscu- 
 ously together, and their people, as if all of one nation, were 
 urging business forward like well constructed machinery 
 driven by some unseen power, in perfect unison with every- 
 thing about them. The people on shore, as far as the eye 
 could reach, seemed engaged with like activity and regularity 
 in their several occupations. 
 
 After viewing and admiring the operations of this busy 
 crowd until business hours arrived, we took a guide and 
 began to perambulate the city. It was very soon apparent 
 that this was more a city of commerce and less of leisure 
 than any I had yet visited. On arriving at the Exchange, a 
 beautiful building, we took a position where we could view 
 the merchants, who appeared to be from all the mercantile 
 nations of the world, and quite astonished me by their num- 
 ber, being estimated at over four thousand present at one 
 time — all intent on business, as it is not a garden of pleasure, 
 but a field of traffic, which has few equals. The morals of 
 these two cities last visited seemed to be in wonderful con- 
 trast with each other, and their covetousness even more so. 
 The gates of vice stand open here night and day, to which the 
 most casual observer will have have his attention called if he 
 is a stranger, although there is a splendid Jewish Temple here 
 and several synagogues, besides a St. Peter's and St. Michael's, 
 and other churches, with towers over four hundred feet high, 
 and a library of more than two hundred thousand volumes to 
 enlighten the people and improve their minds and morals. 
 
 Leaving Hamburg on a clear pleasant morning, we had a 
 good opportunity for viewing the shores of the Elbe, every 
 acre of which seemed to be in the highest state of cultivation, 
 the women appearing as numerous in the fields and gardens 
 as the men. Here I must remark that ten times as many 
 women are seen laboring in the fields in Europe as in the 
 
1.L1HU H. SHEPARD. 257 
 
 United States, and not half as many boys. The shores of the 
 Elbe appear like crowded villages of old-fashioned houses, 
 nearly alike on both sides, and the river between swarming 
 with every sized vessel, all apparently in a hurry. 
 
 From Cuxhaven, we had a gentle north wind across the 
 North Sea to the mouth of the Humber, and saw innumerable 
 vessels traversing in all directions, flying flags of almost every 
 description, the " stars and stripes " among the rest. On this 
 short voyage I saw. more persons engaged in fishing than I 
 had before observed in my whole tour. The steamship 
 stopped several times as we came near the mouth of the 
 Humber to avoid doing damage to the fishing apparatus 
 which extended out several miles from the shore, their loca- 
 tion being designated by buoys, which were carefully attended 
 by the fishermen. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 INCIDENTS AND OBSERVATIONS ON THE VISIT TO ENGLAND, 
 SCOTLAND AND IRELAND. 
 
 On entering the Humber, I contrasted it with the Thames, 
 and considered what a mighty change had been made on the 
 banks of the latter since the Normans first landed on this 
 river and made a settlement here in the year 851. Hull was 
 then the great port of the Britons ; now it is of very little 
 notoriety except for its antiquity. But as it was the first place 
 at which I landed, it is reasonable to expect me to state what 
 my first impressions were. On approaching the shore, steam 
 seemed to be up everywhere. Rich and poor were busy and 
 on the alert — if they had money, to increase it ; if they had 
 none, to acquire it. Even beggars seemed more expert here 
 than on the continent, where they ask alms for God's sake, 
 but here on their own account, and will make change rather 
 than miss a penny. They seldom sit down to beg, as in other 
 cities. The wealthy are neither idle nor indolent, but busy, 
 active, enterprising, and acquisitive. Therefore the English 
 
258 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 are regarded as the best custodians of wealth, in the world. 
 Yet no one expects their national debt ever to be paid. It is 
 the sure source of income to most of the wealthy people of 
 the empire, who now, from generation to generation, invest 
 their surplus means in government bonds, bearing three per 
 cent, interest, called '' consols," which means the consolidated 
 bonds of the government. All the British debt at present is 
 in this kind of bonds. The English capitalists have become 
 the creditors and money lenders to all the world. More than 
 half the capital that has constructed all the railroads now in 
 operation has been furnished by them, and untold millions for 
 other public improvements in almost every nation on the 
 earth. Hence every piece of gold coin in circulation in any 
 country seems struggling to make its way to the great money 
 chest of the world to pay interest to those capitalists. It may 
 be asked where and how was this capital acquired? England 
 has no gold mines. True ; she has no gold mines and needs 
 none. She has mines of coal and iron more valuable than the 
 mines of any other country, being more contiguous to each 
 other and to the sea. England alone furnishes the coal to 
 propel half the steam machinery in the world, and to light 
 the cities with gas. She also furnishes half the steam machin- 
 ery at present in use. Havana, in Cuba, and Moscow, in 
 Russia, both import the coal from England to gaslight their 
 respective cities, and all the machinery and fixtures used in 
 the operation. English capital has done both, and constructed 
 all the railroads in Russia and Cuba. The immense income 
 derived from these loans is the current of gold which is seen 
 constantly tending towards the great centre of attraction and 
 safety, the Bank of England. In consequence of this steady 
 movement of specie to this one point, Bank of England notes 
 sell above par at all the great money marts of the world. This 
 constantly accumulating capital is the stimulus perpetually in 
 action to seek out new places of investment abroad. At home 
 no flattering prospect of profitable investment seems to have 
 been left untried. Therefore, in whatever direction the eye is 
 turned, the vision is obstructed by smoke from some contri- 
 vance instituted to employ capital, and the inquisitive stranger 
 is led to inquire how long this state of things can last while 
 there is such a heavy drain of coal and iron from this single 
 
KLIHU H. SHEPARD. 2<9 
 
 island, to supply so much of the -world. The sight of the 
 movement of such vast quantities of these two articles tills 
 the mind with astonishment, and causes it to reflect how this 
 mighty current got into motion, and its wonderful consequen- 
 ces, which the wisest men had never thought of at the com 
 mencement of this century, but which, before it shall close, 
 will be proved to be at the present day yet in its infancy. 
 
 Pleasure-seekers are less numerous in England than in any 
 other kingdom of Europe, according to the number of inhab- 
 itants and those who are really persons of leisure. They are 
 so much accustomed to the society of business men, that 
 when traveling abroad they act as if on some business excur- 
 sion, being apparently in a hurry. Although there is great 
 diversity of rank among the English they seem to take no 
 pleasure in showing it unnecessarily, as on the continent, 
 where badges of merit and distinction are paraded ostenta- 
 tiously on all occasions as if they possessed some wonderful 
 charm or power. More naval and military men are seen in 
 the British cities than in any other, and all seem overbur- 
 dened with duties and cares. The whole nation appears more 
 restless than any other people, and to have less leisure to 
 enjoy the pleasures of life; each individual is striving to 
 improve his estate rather than enjoy it. They have professors 
 and amateurs in all the vocations of life who make it their 
 special business to investigate and improve upon all new 
 inventions and discoveries, and their efforts would seem 
 already to have been carried to the m j>7us ultra of human 
 ingenuity. But if a person examines a little more closely, it 
 will be found that the English have never been more energeti- 
 cally or more industriously engaged in experiments and 
 improvements of every kind than at the present time. They 
 have been very successfully engaged in stock-raising for ages. 
 and their island is the best supplied with fine domestic ani- 
 mals of any part of the world ; their herds of horses, cattle 
 and sheep afford the most gratifying and pleasing sights of 
 any to be met with in Europe. 
 
 Should our observations stop here, England might be 
 supposed to be a happy home for all. It is far otherwise. 
 Mbre persons are dissatisfied there with their present condi- 
 tion than in anv other countrv. and constantlv desire a change. 
 
26o AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 The lands, animals and wealth of the country are in the 
 hands of so few, and the number now decreasing so rapidly, 
 that the lower ranks can not reasonably hope ever to possess 
 them in any great abundance while they remain where they 
 are. The emigration of the male part of the nation has 
 become so widely spread throughout the world that the family 
 circles are few where there is not a prominent member absent, 
 and anxiety manifested for their safety by all the rest present. 
 In most of these circles a very great disparity in the number 
 of the sexes is at once apparent, and much of the labor 
 performed by men in other countries is here done by women, 
 who appear to outnumber the men by about one-half. These 
 circumstances seem to detract much from social English life, 
 and render that country a less desirable residence with all its 
 improvements than most European countries. 
 
 The great aversion to a permanent residence in England, % 
 where everything has been brought to such great perfection, 
 is the dread of the effects of the impending pauperism, which 
 is increasing in a fearful ratio in every county in the kingdom. 
 Every effort appears to be making to suppress its growth and 
 hide its appearance ; but its weight is felt and calls heard in 
 every part of the kingdom, and must increase until some plan 
 is devised to divide and cultivate the unimproved lands held 
 by the nobility for pleasure grounds, while the poor starve in 
 idleness, poor-houses and asylums, and some of them in 
 prison. The public eye, however, is not pained by disfigured 
 forms asking alms, as in most other countries ; but appeals to 
 charitable and gullible individuals are as frequently and as 
 ingeniously made in the United Kingdom as in any other part 
 of the world, but in other modes, and refusals received with 
 as much contempt by those making them. Philanthropists 
 are quite as numerous there as elsewhere, but thus far it 
 has not been very popular to point out the great evil there 
 and suggest a remedy; but that period is probably not 
 very distant. It would be as unpopular in England at this 
 day to attempt to form societies to abolish entailed estates as 
 it would have been ten years ago here to have attempted to 
 abolish slavery entirely in the United States. Yet we have 
 seen it done and the nation live. The emperor of Austria has 
 abolished his deer parks and hunting grounds and opened 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. lb\ 
 
 them to the public, and with all his misfortunes seems more 
 firmly fixed in his empire than ever before. Should the Eng- 
 ish abolish entailed estates as they have slavery in their 
 colonies, and allow the present holders to divide the estates 
 and sell them, there is no doubt they may gradually relieve 
 themselves of the intolerable incubus, pauperism, under 
 which they now suffer more taxation to support it than any 
 other people, and thus become richer. 
 
 More may be seen and learned in England than in any 
 other European country ; for they have brought home speci- 
 mens of everything they could lay their hands on in all parts 
 of the world, and have preserved them with the greatest care, 
 regardless of trouble or expense. This constant accumulation 
 to one great centre is not confined to property alone. Men 
 seem attracted to the same point, and London, though appa- 
 rently overcrowded, is being constantly enlarged and filled to 
 greater excess by an enterprising and ambitious crowd from 
 all countries struggling to share in the great scramble for 
 wealth. 
 
 Since the introduction of steam as a motive power, which 
 has all been in this century, there has been a constantly 
 increasing disposition in British people to locate themselves 
 in and about large cities, and this is as apparent in Scotland, 
 Ireland and Wales, as in England itself. The suburbs of all 
 their cities are being enlarged and embellished with new 
 edifices, while the rural districts show no such improvement. 
 The buildings in the agricultural districts appear of about the 
 same age as the grounds they occupy. There is less disposi- 
 tion to change manifested in English architecture than any 
 other country. A veneration for the taste and labors of their 
 ancestors has taken deep root in the people of these islands, 
 so that to pull down the house that one's grandfather was 
 born in to build a finer, would be considered but little less 
 than sacrilege. Therefore, in almost every part of these islands 
 may be seen buildings in a good state of preservation which 
 have been constantly in use for centuries, and still promise, 
 by their appearance, to compete in durability with any of 
 their more modern neighbors. 
 
 No country has better or cheaper facilities for traveling 
 than England by any of the modes of conveyance of which 
 
■l6l AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 her people are not slack to avail themselves, while Knglish 
 women are noted for their pedestrian foals. It is but a com- 
 mon occurrence to meet ladies with thick soled shoos walking 
 several miles IVom homo while they have tine equipages idle. 
 This, in part, accounts for their lino complexions and robust 
 constitutions. 
 
 Although wo have traveled on all their great railroads, and 
 visited most of the great cities and noteworthy objects, wo 
 think it unnecessary to describe them, as Knglaud and all 
 relating to her is well described by other writers. 
 
 AYalos, although but a small part ol' (jroaf Britain, has 
 always managed to maintain her national characteristics, even 
 to the extent that it is a general remark in Knglund, " It' there 
 is any unmixed blood of the ancient Britons on the island, it 
 is in Wales." They are individually the most self- red aid. 
 people of Europe. Welch ladies require less care and attend- 
 ance than any others. They act more independently at home 
 and abroad than other people generally, and a Welch woman 
 would scorn to wait for an escort if it. woidd ho inferred thereby 
 that she was timorous or feeble, or in the least inllnenced by 
 affectation or desire of vain show. In sprighflinoss, aU'eclion 
 and domestic duties they have long been distinguished, while 
 assisting in holding their native mountains and fastnesses 
 from invading foes and compelling an English Queen to 
 become a mother among them. .Acquisitiveness is not a 
 distinguishing characteristic, among the Welch, although they 
 are an industrious an economical pcoplo. Their country being 
 small and mountainous, there are but \\i\v tracts of sullleient 
 magnitude and importance to attract the cupidity of the avari- 
 cious mortals that have contrived to wrest the fairest parts of 
 the neighboring districts from the needy poor and "force thorn 
 to foreign lands; consequently, Wales has been able to retain 
 a sullieiont number of the descendants of its primitive inhab- 
 itants to preserve in a fair degico the type and character of 
 the original Britons. They, however, have kept pace ill 
 improvements, learning and arts, in all that is manly, moral, 
 and wise, with their moro favored, wealthy and mighty neigh- 
 bors. 
 
 We have said heretofore, " It is of little consequence to a 
 traveler at what point he outers England, as he will find 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 163 
 
 everything organized, steam np, and all in motion." The same 
 state of things will appear at first view on entering Scotland, 
 but a very short stay in any part of the country will convince 
 a person that the people of Scotland are much better educa- 
 ted, more happy and contented, in their colder country, than 
 the English. The Scotch have never thirsted for conquest, nor 
 reduced their country to beggary for martial fame. They 
 appear like a family of philosophers, providing for their 
 domestic wants, and enjoying rationally the fruits of their 
 labors with contentment. Few are very rich, and wealth is 
 so generally distributed that there is a generous enjoyment of 
 all the comforts of life, with little or no pauperism. In char- 
 acter, as a distinct people, they have never been excelled, and 
 have so remained for twenty centuries, unconquered and 
 unconquerable either by external or internal causes. Revolu- 
 tions and earthquakes, which have so often disturbed and 
 disfigured other countries, have left Scotland unstained and 
 unchanged as the sun that warms it. 
 
 Sojourning or traveling in that country, a stranger need fear 
 no sudden changes, dangers, or vicissitudes, as in most other 
 lands. Everything has worked so long and uniformly in 
 the same way, that one may calculate with certainty what will 
 be accomplished in a given length of time there. The fash- 
 ionable world has had but moderate patronage among that 
 people, yet they have never been behind any other nation in 
 adopting useful improvements, either in costume or furniture, 
 for civil or martial life. They have acted like a pendulum in 
 the British empire, to keep it in proper motion and order 
 among nations. . Economical and prudent in everything, no 
 unfinished enterprise lies falling into decay there. A work 
 once commenced is sure of being finished. Labor of all kinds 
 is performed more by both sexes in Scotland than in any 
 other country. It is a very common sight to see a boy watch- 
 ing sheep and knitting at the same time, while a girl is near 
 by watching a herd of cows and reading, and a farmer at a 
 short distance with his wife and children assisting him in 
 planting or harvesting his crops. 
 
 Fewer foreigners migrate to Scotland than to any other 
 country in Europe. It has but few charms for Jews or Gip- 
 sies, consequently none are found wandering there. No nation 
 
264 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 is more deservedly celebrated for its production of eminent 
 and useful literary men than this, and they are found in all 
 the known parts of the earth, hearing more uniformly than 
 any other people a sameness of character, morals and man- 
 ners. Strangers without introduction will find it more difficult 
 in Scotland to gain admittance into society than in any place 
 on the continent ; yet, when once recognized, all formality 
 ceases, and they are hailed and treated as familiar friends in 
 whom they place most implicit confidence. 
 
 An American passing from thence into Ireland will soon 
 observe that he is among those who regard him as a friend, 
 and that he needs no formal introduction. It is sufficient to 
 show that he is an American to have all the attention he is 
 deserving of, and the comfort and security he desires. Every 
 one will appear glad to see him, and be ready to render him 
 all the assistance in their power. They will make him feel 
 more at home than in any other part of Europe. There will 
 be no necessity for that strict watchfulness while sojourning 
 with them as in other European countries, as they all seem to 
 consider it a kind of religious duty to see that no stranger is 
 robbed or imposed on by tricksters and vagabonds in their 
 midst. They seem to take a pride in showing all the civility 
 in their power to strangers, however unpolished their manners 
 may be to each other at home. Every question will be 
 answered with promptitude and civility, and people will turn 
 aside to guide and direct strangers more readily in Ireland 
 than any other country. 
 
 A great diversity in the condition of the people and the 
 officers of the government will soon be apparent, and excite 
 in a stranger an inquiry into the cause of this great disparity; 
 so unlike all other countries in Europe. He will readily be 
 answered that it is the result of misrule and oppression, and 
 be shown the well-paid soldiers posted here to assist in 
 collecting the most exorbitant rents and most oppressive 
 taxesthat were ever demanded and paid by any people. 
 
 At the commencement of this century, the island contained 
 nine millions of people ; twenty years ago it contained eight 
 millions, and now in 1868 it contains but six millions, and the 
 inhabitants remaining seem to consider it only a temporary 
 home for a vast number of those still able to emigrate. There 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 265 
 
 are at this day moce Irish people in foreign countries than in 
 their own. The facilities for emigrating have multiplied so 
 rapidly within the last few years, that we mar look forward to 
 a day not far distant when the oppressed and despoiled 
 people of that fertile island will mostly have found perma- 
 nent homes in foreign lands, and the descendants of their 
 oppressors will fill their places. At this day, a very large 
 portion of the most valuable productions of the island are 
 exported and exchanged for gold to pay the exorbitant 
 demands made upon them, while many pine in want, or drag 
 out a miserable existence in squalid wretchedness, sustaining 
 life by the least nourishing and most plain and limited means. 
 Notwithstanding all these evils and disadvantages, the love 
 of country is so deeply seated in every heart that no one 
 leaves the island without a pang and a firm resolution to 
 return whenever Ireland shall Tesume her place among the 
 nations of the earth. This desire to return seems never to 
 forsake them, for whether in Mexico or Russia, if their coun- 
 try is mentioned, each one is ready to respond and assert that 
 Ireland has more friends abroad than at home, and demon- 
 strate it. if necessary, in the most lucid manner. 
 
 Every place on the island has been explored and described, 
 and although a vast number of its inhabitants are among us. 
 yet many people have a very limited knowledge of its beauty, 
 fertility, and productions. Some think potatoes and flax are 
 about all a traveler can see in that country. These, however, 
 form but a small part of the exports, as the soil is well adap- 
 ted to the growth of every production that England can raise, 
 and is under as high a state of cultivation where the taxes and 
 rents are not intolerable. Of her productions., wheat and 
 cattle are among the most valuable, and are exported in vast 
 quantities to England. 
 
 No person from the United States can visit Ireland and 
 travel one day in any direction in it without observing the 
 partiality shown Americans by all classes of society, and the 
 pleasure they seem to take in showing the numberless won- 
 ders existing there. The Giant's Causeway is most note- 
 worthy, where you are shown his herculean yet handy works, 
 even the prints of the giant's knee on the top of every stone 
 as he pressed them so nicely into place without any other 
 is 
 
266 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 form. This basaltic promontory is composed of several 
 thousand pillars set together with the exactitude of a honey- 
 comb, smooth on all sides, never adhering to each other, of 
 unknown length, and in many pieces, standing perpendicu- 
 larly one above another, of different sizes and different forms ; 
 some being triangular, having only three sides, others more 
 like nonagons, and yet all so ingeniously arranged that they 
 all exactly fit the places they occupy without deranging the 
 order of the mass or leaving a vacant space between them. 
 Who but the Author of the Universe could have conceived 
 such a wondrous work ! and then why place it here ? There 
 were also many other great curiosities to attract and amuse ; 
 but as everything seemed to be gradually passing into English 
 hands, I was more pained than edified by what I saw. The 
 large cities are improving, but the nation is preparing for 
 emigration. 
 
 Dublin is a beautiful city and has all the accommodations 
 to make a people happy, saving ils own rulers and soldiers, 
 whose power and skill are constantly exerted to obstruct as 
 much as possible the advancement of the people without their 
 total ruin or annihilation. 
 
 On leaving the island by any of the great lines of travel, 
 the heart is pained at the sight of the parting of friends in 
 such numbers, among whom it is evident that no hope is 
 entertained that they will ever meet again in their native isle. 
 Every expression uttered on these occasions goes to show that, 
 with rare exceptions, it is the firm conviction of the emigrant 
 and his weeping friends, that he will see his native land no 
 more ; for which reason these parting scenes are' indescribably 
 affecting. 
 
 On leaving Londonderry a tug steamer brought all the 
 freight and passengers to the mouth of the river Foyle, 
 where we were transferred to an ocean steamer, and as we 
 were being transferred every passenger was examined as to 
 the payment of passage and provisions for the voyage, state 
 of health, age and occupation. In doing this some incidents 
 occurred that were painful, others amusing, but still tending 
 to show the willingness of many to leave the island if they 
 had the means, but for the lack of which they are constrained 
 to remain. One urchin about twelve years old had contrived 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 267 
 
 to get on the tug unperceived, and when a large family was 
 being passed slipped in among the children and had eluded 
 the watchman; but, as the number of little folks on the 
 family ticket was complete without him, he was ordered back 
 and left on the tug, weeping, as the steamer sailed. A young 
 man aged about twenty accompanied his sister, who had a 
 ticket, bringing her baggage, and holding her ticket in one 
 hand and satchel in the other, made an effort to go past the 
 watchman, but when stopped burst into a flood of tears, while 
 others besides myself averted their faces to conceal their 
 emotions. It was then about two o'clock p. m. and we soon 
 parted with the tug. There were evidently many sad hearts 
 on board, as the ship hadas many passengers as British laws 
 allow, and, as usual, people mostly of the middle sphere of 
 life. After leaving the deck at evening, and before I had 
 written any notes, I reviewed the events of the last few hours, 
 and came to the conclusion I had seen more manifest sorrow 
 and tears that day than I had ever before witnessed in the 
 same time, and yet there had been no death or any appalling 
 casualty. 
 
 As darkness came on Ireland disappeared from our view, a 
 ■ moderate north-west wind blew during the night and next 
 day, which seemed to have dried all tears, as I saw no signs 
 of any more on the voyage. When the cooks retired on the 
 second night they left a kettle of lard in the process of ren- 
 dering, which took fire and was entirely consumed, igniting 
 the whole inside of the caboose before it was discovered, and 
 killing two highly prized dogs, being the only deaths we had 
 on board during the passage. I think the circumstance will 
 add to the vigilance of the crew, as the marks of the confla- 
 gration are indelibly impressed where it raged. 
 
 "We had taken passage on the Columbia, of the Anchor 
 line of steamers, from Glasgow to New York, touching only 
 at the mouth of the Foyle off Londonderry, where we came 
 on board. She was a good poor-man's ship, that is, she was 
 large, staunch and plain; managed prudently, in Scotch 
 fashion, for safety and profit, not for speed and ostentation. 
 We were eleven days on the passage from Londonderry to 
 New York, with a moderate breeze nearly ahead, without a 
 storm during the passage, with ships in view going in an 
 
268 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 opposite direction every hour, seeming to be going down stream 
 they passed us so rapidly, generally under full canvas, beau- 
 tifying the great deep and chasing away ennui. We passed 
 within about one mile of a village of six houses on the rock- 
 bound coast of New Foundland, without a fence, tree or beast 
 of any kind within the range of vision. I could but consider 
 how different must be the taste or nature of the villagers there 
 from mine, if they dwelt there with contentment or satisfac- 
 tion ; for in all my travels about the world I had never seen 
 the attempt at forming permanent homes in so unpropitious a 
 situation as this appeared to be. 
 
 On approaching the coast of the United States we saw pilot 
 boats much farther from the ports to which they belonged than 
 we had been accustomed to see off the ports of Europe. This 
 adventurous spirit of American pilots is probably the cause 
 why fewer shipwrecks happen about American ports than 
 European, as American pilots are commonly on board before 
 dangers appear and avoid them. 
 
 Seven months had now elapsed since we passed cut to sea 
 over this same course, and nothing in view seemed changed 
 about the harbor of New York. The same activity upon the 
 water and on the land as when we left, and all well and happy 
 about me, the weather pleasant and cool in both instances, 
 my health as good as when I left, and all well and happy 
 about me, and in anticipation of soon landing among their 
 frierjds, all combined to render my return most gratifying and 
 to fill my heart with gratitude to that Providence which had 
 so long and so wonderfully preserved me amidst such dan- 
 gers as it had been my fortune to pass through. It was some- 
 what of a disappointment to return without having been able 
 to visit Egypt and Palestine, but that circumstance had 
 afforded me more time to view the different countries of 
 Europe, and my family to enjoy the society of their friends 
 and the more refined society of Europe, which we both did in 
 the most satisfactory manner. 
 
 The Columbia anchored in the river, and a tug took us on 
 shore after our medical examination, and most of the passen- 
 gers soon found persons to show them new homes ; some 
 however, apparently in comfortable circumstances, lingered 
 about the customhouse for sometime, as if to see the last 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 269 
 
 passenger depart to his new quarters and give a parting adieu. 
 These partings, however, were not accompanied with those 
 heart-burstings we had witnessed beyond the seas. 
 
 Having telegraphed my safe arrival, I located myself at 
 a convenient hotel for meeting Missourians, and soon met 
 several St. Louisians and learned the news of the city and 
 the good health and prosperity of my friends ; and being at 
 ease and disengaged, I set myself at perambulating the city 
 and contrasting its present appearance with what I recollected 
 it was in 1819, when I spent ten weeks in it fitting out ships 
 for the Columbians and drilling for the expedition. Forty- 
 eight years had since passed ; the streets then existing were 
 still there, but so changed by new edifices that it appeared 
 like another city. Even about the Battery, the old church on 
 Broadway at the head of Wall street, and all else, appeared 
 new and strange. The water-works, gas-works, telegraphs, 
 railroads, and street cars, were all new institutions, never 
 dreamed of at that time, and yet apparently indispensable at 
 this day. The city then contained one hundred and thirty 
 thousand inhabitants, now ten times that number. I strolled 
 about the city four days observing and contemplating the 
 mighty changes I had seen therein and in the world in my 
 time, and considering the controlling causes that have led me 
 to see and become an actor in an humble way in so many 
 interesting scenes. I endeavored to find some of my friends 
 who assisted in fitting out the ships for the Columbians in 
 1819, but was unable to find one living. Even the houses 
 owned by two of them in 1836 had been sold, and others of 
 greater magnificence now occupy their sites. 
 
27O AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 RETURN TO ST. LOUIS — FARMING ESSAY — A FAMILY INCIDENT. 
 
 I had now spent nearly eleven months in traveling from 
 city to city and viewing the innumerable objects of interest 
 they contain as much as one anxious to see all and learn all 
 could be expected to do at my advanced age, and was anxious 
 to return to my friends and relate to them some of the most 
 interesting incidents of my peregrinations. I had long since 
 learned that it is not profitable or safe to travel by night 
 on railroads, as none of the beauties of the country are 
 seen or enjoyed, or old landmarks recognized. Moreover, 
 unseen dangers disturb the mind and fatigue it, while the 
 society of friends can scarcely be enjoyed and few or no new 
 ones made on cars in motion. I therefore left New York in the 
 morning and traveled home by daylight, enjoying all the 
 beauties of the landscape and sight of the grand wayside 
 improvements, all of which have been made in my day. The 
 sight of such mighty works made in my lifetime caused me to 
 look back on the labors of Europeans I had just viewed — admi- 
 rable and wonderful though they were — and which they were 
 thousands of years in effecting, and asked myself what won- 
 ders would be found in Europe compared with ours if we 
 progress for another generation in the same way. 
 
 I returned to my home in St. Louis in good health and 
 found all my family and friends as I had left them, and the 
 city rising to greatness more rapidly and permanently than 
 ever. 
 
 There are natural sites for cities and artificial ones — Havana 
 (in Cuba), New York, and Quebec, are of the former; Amster- 
 dam, Venice, and St. Petersburg, are of the latter — and all 
 have become great and important cities without the apparent 
 natural advantages of St. Louis at the present time. This city, 
 as all the educated know, is situated not only in the center of 
 the most extensive and fruitful valley in the world, but midway 
 of one of the longest and largest navigable rivers, nearly in the 
 very center of the territory of the United States, and nearly 
 equidistant between its two great seaports, New York and 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 27I 
 
 San Francisco, now nearly connected by a continuous railroad, 
 over which must pass the traffic of both Europe and the 
 Indies. It needs no prophet to foretell the future greatness of 
 St. Louis. The inexhaustible coal-fields of Illinois on the 
 one side of the Mississippi and the three inexhaustible masses 
 of iron ore at Iron Mountain, Pilot Knob, and Magnet or 
 Shepard Mountain, in the immediate vicinity of the city, 
 insure its lasting greatness. 
 
 Viewing this subject twenty years ago as I do to-day, on 
 my discharge from the army, at the close of the war with 
 Mexico, I entered the land warrants I received for my services 
 on lands in Iron county, twelve miles west of the Iron Moun- 
 tain, on the most practicable route for a railroad from it to the 
 Pacific railroad between St. Louis and. San Francisco, now so 
 nearly finished, or, as it will hereafter appear, only begun to 
 be made. To those tracts I have since added several thousand 
 acres by purchase, which I still hold, believing that a most 
 extraordinary era of growth and improvement is about to 
 dawn on St. Louis and all the vicinity where her future" great- 
 ness can be felt. No other place on earth within a circle of 
 ten miles diameter contains such inexhaustible quantities of 
 the richest iron ores of the three best varieties as the region 
 about Iron Mountain, Pilot Knob and Magnet Mountain, on 
 the Iron Mountain railroad, eighty miles south of St. Louis, on 
 the apex of land between the St. Fran§ois, Meramec and Black 
 rivers, and surrounded by the most healthful, fertile and well 
 timbered district in the State. Its many attractions had the 
 effect to make it a focus about which the contending armies 
 of the civil war congregated, to the no small disadvantage of 
 the agricultural interests of the neighborhood. In this few 
 suffered greater losses than myself, as my farm, residence and 
 store were on the direct road from St. Louis to Pocahontas in 
 Arkansas, where the road from Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob 
 to Rolla crosses it at right angles, and all parties seemed to 
 arrange their movements in such order that they could honor 
 me with a call and help themselves to all they wanted without 
 payment, except in one single instance, when there were 
 thirty -five hundred men present, including six hundred horse- 
 men, and all their teams, which were supplied with food and 
 forage for the whole, except bread, without exhausting my 
 
272 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 stock. This party, however, were soon followed by what 
 might be termed the gleaners, who took what was left, so that 
 I was obliged to abandon my farm to others for safety, as 
 stated in a former part of this work, and so it remained until 
 the spring of 1868, when I attempted its restoration. It is not 
 easily conceived what devastation and disfigurement four 
 years of civil war and three years' want of cultivation had 
 been made on my newly cultivated farm of two miles in 
 length, an orchard of two thousand trees, and a vineyard and 
 garden of three acres. A person must see the standing chim- 
 neys of burned houses, the tall brush and dead stalks of old 
 weeds, the broken and dilapidated fences, to comprehend the 
 wide-spread ruin of my former pleasant coimtry residence. 
 Added to this sad change on my estate, half the men within 
 four miles of my house had been destroyed in the war and 
 their places yet left vacant. 
 
 To restore these losses at my advanced age seemed to 
 require herculean labor, yet I essayed it under the disadvan- 
 tage of being obliged to purchase all my provisions at St. 
 Louis on account of the failure of the crop of 1866 in that 
 vicinity. Taking a proper outfit, I soon commenced operations 
 in the garden and repaired my dwelling-house for the recep- 
 tion of my family, who came thither when the St. Louis 
 schools took their vacation and returned when they were 
 about to be re-opened. The agricultural season of 1868 proved 
 quite unproductive. The late frosts of spring nearly destroyed 
 the fruit crop and the severe drouth of summer rendered other 
 crops light. Our health, however, was good, and we passed a 
 very pleasant summer; but disappointment awaited us in 
 autumn, and we returned to the city at the opening of the 
 schools to accommodate some of the younger members of the 
 family who had not completed their studies. Soon after I was 
 elected secretary of the Missouri Historical Society, and com- 
 menced collecting the materials for writing the history of St. 
 Louis from August 10th, 1820, when I became a resident and 
 remain so to the present time, which I design to publish in 
 1870, embracing a period of fifty years. 
 
 I have now related most of the incidents of my life, still it 
 may appear somewhat incomplete if I omit to mention my 
 youngest daughter, Eose Amie, who was born on the 23d of 
 
EL1HU H. SHEPARD. 273 
 
 September, 1868, and was named Amie by me on the day of 
 her birth. Being very sick some days after, her pious sister 
 Ida called the Rev. Mr. McCabe of the Catholic church, and 
 prefixing Rose to her former name had her christened Rose 
 Amie ; so this is her christian name. It may afford informa- 
 tion to some persons to state that a Peruvian lady of the city 
 of Lima, named Rose, is the only American lady that has 
 ever been canonized, that is, placed in the catalogue of saints. 
 Hence my second daughter's name and her early baptism into 
 the Catholic church. 
 
 I recently attended the funeral of the late Captain L. Bissell, 
 and published the memoirs of his life, which he had confided 
 to my care in 1866. I have a very considerable number of a 
 similar character, probably more than any other gentleman in 
 St. Louis, and would gladly receive and preserve the memoirs 
 of ladies and gentlemen for history, or to be used as they 
 may direct. I have the names of some St. Louis ladies which 
 cannot be omitted in writing its history. I hope to receive 
 others with copious memoranda appended. 
 
 I have recently had the pleasure of listening to one of the 
 most profound and interesting dissertations I ever heard. It 
 was delivered by Captain Silas Bent, late of the U. S. navy, 
 on the most feasible route to the North pole. This scientific 
 gentleman has formed his theory by observing the ocean 
 currents in all the seas, where his duty as a naval officer 
 called him, for more than a quarter of a century, and has 
 promulgated his theory to the world and demonstrated it, 
 showing the system of ocean currents as clearly as the system 
 of the motion of the blood or heavenly bodies. "Bent's Theory 
 of Ocean Currents," has now obtained a notable place in the 
 scientific world and has immortalized his name. 
 
 While beholding this giant in intellect and science, and 
 hearing his demonstrations before his audience with his 
 diagrams before him, I recalled the pleasurable moments I 
 had spent in teaching him to read in 1826, when a child. It 
 was a pleasure to teach such young pupils then, and it is 
 indescribably more pleasant now to see the fruits of it in the 
 closing scenes of my long life. Some of the most pleasurable 
 moments of my life have been spent with my pupils while 
 they were under my instruction or after they had entered on 
 
274 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 the active duties of life. Few men have spent thirty years 
 surrounded with such a large number of his former pupils as 
 myself after finishing their instruction, and none ever had 
 greater cause to rejoice in their virtuous and successful course 
 of conduct for such a length of time. It has always "been 
 pleasant to meet with any of my former pupils, for there were 
 no blots or stains on their characters or unkind reminiscences 
 to mar the meeting. Therefore, on seeing them on the streets, 
 I often waited for them, or hastened forward to overtake them, 
 or even often went out of my way to meet them, for I never 
 found one who did not appear glad to see me. Among so 
 many I observed a very great difference in their taste and 
 capacity, some of which were so remarkable, I will mention 
 one who is perhaps as well known as any individual to nearly 
 all the others, and will point out some of his peculiarities for 
 the benefit of all. Mr. Richard Dowling was one of my eldest 
 pupils, and has treasured up a larger fund of information in 
 relation to St. Louis and its inhabitants than any other person 
 in it. In conversation with him, he seems to have been 
 ubiquitous for the last fifty years in the city ; to have been 
 present at all public meetings and acquainted with all the 
 speakers ; to have been always present at the nearest cobbler's 
 shop to each individual, as that is the bulletin board and 
 forum for publishing the foibles and anecdotes of all the peo- 
 ple in the vicinity, of discussing their conduct and character, 
 and rendering an unsealed verdict on them. Having been 
 engaged a great part of his life in a public office or banker's 
 employment, every man's location and wealth were known to 
 him ; and as his memory was very tenacious, his perception 
 acute, and his judgment unbiased, his information and advice 
 were more frequently sought for than any other person of all 
 my numerous acquaintances. 
 
 When the first public schools of St. Louis were about to be 
 opened, the directors requested me to assist in the examina- 
 tion of the candidates proposed for teachers, which I did 
 with the aid of the late Judge B. Mullanphy, Dr. Cornelius 
 Campbell, and Dr. B. B. Brown. We recommended two 
 gentlemen and two ladies, who were appointed by the direc- 
 tors and opened the first public schools. Mr. D. H. Armstrong 
 was one of the persons appointed and yet survives ; the others 
 
ELIHU H. SHEPARD. 
 
 275 
 
 with, all the examiners, except myself, are now deceased. 
 Two circumstances probably led to my selection as one of the 
 examiners. First, I had been one of the most active advocates 
 for the school tax in the city (with a good taxable estate); 
 secondly, I had been long a prominent and successful teacher 
 in St. Louis and was well known to the whole community. 
 Since then I have viewed the steady and unexampled progress 
 and prosperity of the schools with more pleasure, pride and 
 satisfaction than any other improvement about the city. It is 
 at this day the most striking, important and best managed 
 affair we have to point out to strangers, and most worthy of 
 their attention and admiration. It needs but the same 
 unpaid, able directory to continue it the greatest and most 
 beneficent institution of our city, and most worthy of imita- 
 tion of all others. 
 
 It may appear egotistical in an author to find him often 
 mentioning prominent personages by name as his pupils, but 
 the indulgent reader will bear in mind there is a parental 
 interest implanted in the memory of every affectionate teacher 
 that impels him to connect himself with his pupils through 
 life and make them a part of himself. Can it be expected that 
 a teacher who has assisted in educating such a galaxy of emi- 
 nent personages as have risen from such families as General 
 Wm. Clark, Governor McJSTair, Colonel Easton, Dr. Kobinson, 
 Dr. Farrar, Colonels R. and G. Paul, Judge Primrn, Judge 
 Bates, Judge Bent, Mr. F. Dent, Dr. Simpson, Mr. Piatt, Mr. 
 Chouteau, Mr. Verdin, Judge Ferguson, Mr. Dumaine, Mr. 
 Klunk, Mr. Roubidoux, Governor De Lassus, Mr. Page, Mr. 
 Primeau, Mrs. Knapp, General Pratt, Colonel Laveille, and 
 the large Papin fraternity, and many others like them, and 
 Mr. A. Gamble and Mr. Tracy's, yet not mention them and 
 exclaim, Lo, my reward for all my labors and anxieties! It 
 is difficult to avoid dwelling on a subject that has afforded 
 me so much pleasure as the unparalleled good conduct of all 
 my pupils and the remarkable success of most of them. It 
 affords a theme for meditation, reflection and rejoicing in the 
 silent watches of sleepless nights, or shades of solitude and 
 loneliness, which no robber can snatch from me, or violence 
 destroy. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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