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 THE JAMES VERNER SCAIFE 
 COLLECTION 
 
 CIVIL WAR LITERATURE 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 JAMES VERNER SCAIFE 
 
 CLASS OF ieB9 
 
 1919 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 UA42 .L85 
 
 The volunteer soldier of America. 
 
 Clin 
 
 3 1924 030 725 018 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92403072501 8 
 

 Military Uniforms or all American Wars. 
 
THE 
 
 VOLUNTEER SOLDIER 
 
 OF AMERICA. 
 
 By JOHN A. LOOAN. 
 
 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR 
 
 MILITARY REMINISCENCES 
 
 GENERAL LOGAN'S PRIVATE JOURNAL. 
 
 CHICAGO AND NEW YORK: 
 
 1R. S. fl>eale & dompans, publisbets. 
 
 MDCCCLXXXVII. 
 5 
 
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 THE MEDAL OF HONOR 
 g>resenteti bs Congrees foi Aerftotio^e Con&nct< 
 
 Copyright, 
 
 1887, 
 
 By MARY S. LOGAN. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
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CONTENTS. 
 
 Memoir of Gen. John A. Logan by his Literary Executor 25 
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 The American citizen-soldier — Retrospect of important historical facts — The con- 
 dition of the world's common people from the earliest period to the war of the 
 American Revolution — The rise and fall of the nations — The governing few 
 and the groaning millions — Developments of Time — The growth of knowledge 
 and culture at length develop the spirit of democracy among the people of 
 England and France — The stage of preparation for government by the people 
 completed by the latter part of the eighteenth century — The rulers of the 
 world startled by the Declaration of 1776 — Birth of the American volunteer, 
 and establishment of a government of the masses — Thrilling effect upon the 
 voiceless toilers of the ancient world — Brief glance at the progress of republi- 
 can government in America — The almost fatal omission of the signers of the 
 Declaration — The germ of evil existing in the system of slavery — Its rapid 
 growth and fearful consequences — The conflict of 1861 necessary to place 
 the Republic upon an enduring basis — Abundant authorship upon the battles 
 of the great war, but singular omission to treat upon the volunteer soldier and 
 sailor — Importance of the soldier in the ranks — The men who fight, and those 
 who are killed — Review of the heroes in the ranks; the classes of men found 
 there — Analysis of the volunteer soldier; his peculiar characteristics; the 
 motives actuating him; why he fights, and the reasons that he is the best sol- 
 dier the world has ever seen — A Greek in prowess, and an American in 
 principle; a soldier, a citizen, and a legislator — Attempt of the author to 
 add a missing chapter to the history of the wars of America, in vindication of 
 the immortal volunteer - 81 
 
 PART I. 
 
 HISTORY OF MILITARY EDUCATION IN THE UNITED 
 
 STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 West Point on the Hudson — Its history as a military post during the Revolution 
 — Its great importance as a strategic point — Attempts by the British to cap- 
 ture it — Probable consequences had the attempts proved successful — Fortifi- 
 cation of the locality by the American colonists — Historical sketch of the 
 proceedings relating to its fortification — Nature and value of the defenses— 
 
 V 
 
Vi CONTENTS. 
 
 Reasons of the importance of West Point and the line of the Hudson River 
 — The plan of the British General Burgoyne to cut the colonies and crush 
 them, in detail — Sketch of Burgoyne — The type of an educated military 
 officer — Detail of his campaign, his equipment, and his forces, including the 
 expedition of Sir Henry Clinton from New York — Burgoyne's confidence 
 of the success of his expedition — Flying colors and beating drums inspire 
 the British at the beginning of their campaign — The Yankee to be annihil- 
 ated — Sunshine followed by shadow — Burgoyne runs against MoUie 
 Stark's husband — Amazement of the "red-coats" — The fatal error of the 
 British General — He had not calculated upon the American volunteer — 
 Spectral soldiers rise before him — Fearful eyes look at him over destructive 
 gun-barrels — Arrival at Bemis Heights — The volunteers surround and cap- 
 ture the whole expedition — Consequences of the victory of the most profound 
 importance — Its effect upon the Old World — Amazement at the spectacle of 
 the citizen-soldier — A new figure in the history of battlefields — Comparison 
 between the volunteer of the contest and the educated soldier of the expedi- 
 tion — Renewed fortification of West Point by the colonists — Interesting 
 official documents relating thereto — A glance at Benedict Arnold and Major 
 Andre — Defeat of Arnold's treason by the spectral volunteer — Immortal 
 names in American history 95 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Military education in the United States considered — Preliminary observations 
 upon the nature of genius — An inherent something in every individual that 
 gives shape to his destiny — Illustration from ancient maxims to show the 
 early recognition of the fact of inherent attribute — Mistakes of parents in 
 attempting to give direction to the career of their children — Fearful conse- 
 quences of attempts to make musicians, artists, lawyers, doctors, etc. , of those 
 lacking the inspiration of each particular calling — General fate of youths 
 who are ' ' taught " to be soldiers — Fallacy of the popular belief in the exclu- 
 sive efficacy of specific education in the life-callings — What is genius ? — 
 Citation of celebrated examples of great soldiers and of great inventors — 
 Quaint illustration as furnished by a great artist in dress — Growth of the 
 sentiment in favor of military education after the Revolution — The attempt 
 of Washington to diffuse military knowledge among the people, and to make 
 soldiers without resorting to the dangers of a standing army — Quotation 
 from the official documents of President Washington — The great volunteer 
 soldier of the Revolution, General Henry Knox, as Secretary of War, drafts 
 his historic paper upon the organization of the militia — Ample quotation of 
 highly interesting documents not accessible to the general people — Sketch of 
 the remarkable soldier, Henry Knox, the great artillerist of the Revolution — 
 Natural genius for the profession of the soldier leads him, without special 
 education, from the counter of the tradesman to the command of an army — 
 His brilliant military career touched upon — As Secretary of War he submits 
 his plan for the organization of the militia of the United States — Reproduc- 
 tion of the full text of one of the most remarkable state papers in existence .. 115 
 
CONTENTS. vii 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Conclusion of the classic paper of General Henry Knox upon the organization of 
 the militia — Sketch of the legislative proceedings founded upon General 
 Knox's paper — Introduction of the bill of July i, 1790, to more effectually 
 provide for the national defense by establishing a uniform militia throughout 
 the United States — The bill wholly different from that recommended by 
 General Knox — Detail of its progress through Congress — Absurd opposi- 
 tion by the " Quakers of New England," who forward a vigorous protest 
 against all war-measures — Adjournment of the first Congress without action 
 upon the bill — Its consideration resumed at the first session of the second 
 Congress — Detail of the action of the two Houses — It becomes a law on 
 the 8th of May, 1792 — This act, though since amended, forms the basis of 
 the present militia law of the United States — Attempt by the several States 
 to comply with the provisions of the law — Its vital deficiencies stated — At- 
 tempts at the following session to remedy the defects of the bill — Disap- 
 pointment of General Knox in the bill as passed by Congress — Renewal 
 of the agitation upon outbreak of the difficulties with Great Britain, which 
 preceded the war of 18 12 — Attempts of Presidents Jefferson and Madison to 
 induce Congress to give effectiveness to the militia bill— Difficulties of the 
 problem, how to make a trained soldier without attaching him to a permanent 
 military estabUshment, considered — The advantages of training to the soldier 
 stated — Circumstances leading to a belief in the necessity of establishing a 
 military school for the education of officers — The first wrong step of the 
 Government in failing to build upon the plan of General Knox — Opinions of 
 the military experts of the Revolution upon the necessities of a peace estab- 
 lishment quoted in full — Interesting official documents bearing upon the 
 establishment of a military school as the best military hope of the Republic — 
 The initial error of the forefathers in failing to provide for a general military 
 education of the masses 134 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The defects and failures of the militia laws add to the growing sentiment in favor 
 of a military school — Ineffectual attempts through a series of years are made 
 to give vitality to the militia laws — A short sketch of the principal of these 
 attempts — General Knox once more appears upon the scene, and endeavors 
 to save the situation by another appeal in behalf of establishing a militia 
 system upon the principle of rotation— Knox's ideal army of veterans spring- 
 ing from the walks of civil life — His last appeal and disappearance from 
 a scene which he had adorned as a volunteer, as a distinguished soldier, an 
 eminent statesman, and an estimable citizen — Review of General Knox's 
 plan of rotation as applied to the organization of the military resources — The 
 use of the principle of rotation applied to the advocacy of a military school — 
 Full text of the law of 1794, providing for the organization of a corps 
 of artillerists and engineers — This law becomes the initial movement even- 
 tuating in the establishment of the military school at West Point — Salient 
 points of the law — The grade of cadet established in the American service — 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 Derivation and definition of the word — Distinction between the volunteer and 
 cadet — The new school of artillerists and engineers decidedly peripatetic — 
 Four years later an additional regiment of artillerists and engineers is created 
 — Still peripatetic, and subject to walking orders — Pregnant changes 
 of the four following years — The death of Washington, the retirement 
 of Knox, and the appearance of McHenry as Secretary of War — Immense 
 strides in the seven years' interval toward a fixed military establishment — 
 McHenry lends his great genius to the problem of a military establishment 
 for the young Republic — The full text of his historic paper given in full 163 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Conclusion of Secretary McHenry's interesting paper — A school-organization 
 outlined, and estimates of expense furnished by the Secretary — The paper of 
 McHenry additionally important tr'^ause standing immediately before the 
 acts which finally culminated in the establishment of a fixed military academy 
 at West Point — Review of the battle-ground fought over by the advocates 
 and opponents of a special military school — The bayonet-charge of Mc- 
 Henry by which the works of the opposition were carried — The merits and 
 fallacies of McHenry's papers touched upon — Misapplication of facts and 
 illogical conclusions — The necessity of military education and training are 
 indisputable, but something else is necessary to make the great soldier — 
 Cyrus, Alexander, Hannibal, Pompey the Great, Cassar, Charlemagne, Fred- 
 erick, Napoleon, Washington, and Grant, as soldiers by virtue not only of 
 education, but also of natural inspiration — Cursory review of the legislation 
 succeeding to the reports of Secretary McHenry — Final passage of the 
 law of January 11, 1802, definitely creating a military school at West Point — 
 The full text of the law given as a matter of curious information ..... i8£ 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Comments upon the law establishing the Military Academy — Strength of the 
 opposition to it — The passage of the law not an open measure — The char- 
 ter of the Academy embraced in a " rider " upon another bill — None of the 
 usual provisions attaching to the creation of fixed institutions surrounding 
 the establishing act — The means by which the Academy was created, sug- 
 gestive of equivocation and concealment — Definite establishment of the 
 Academy in 1802 — The subsequent legislation which has since been con- 
 stantly demanded in its behalf begins in the following year — The institution 
 languishes, until symptoms of renewed trouble with Great Britain appear — 
 Report of the Chief Engineer in 1808, setting forth the hazardous state of the 
 enterprise, suggesting its removal to Washington, and mapping out certain 
 measures necessary to the life of the Academy — Partial text of this interesting 
 report — Discovery of the Professor, that mere mathematics will not make 
 either an artillerist or engineer — The Academy characterized as a foundling 
 barely existing among the mountains — New suggestions for the infusion of 
 vitaUty into the foundling — The reasons of the opposition stated — Of 
 doubtful constitutionality, and perilous to free institutions — President Madi- 
 
CONTENTS. ix 
 
 son urges attention to the Academy in 1810, on account of the strained 
 relations with Great Britain — Declaration of war by the United States, June 
 18, 1812, and passage of the law of April 29, 1812, which is to be consid- 
 ered the true charter of the Academy — Objections brushed away in the face 
 of actual war, and everything done to build up the institution — The volun- 
 teer upon the ground, but the Government disposed to breathe life into the 
 West Point starvehng — Full text of the important law of April, 1812, given 
 as the supplement to that of 1802, establishing the Academy — Wholesome 
 effect of the law upon the West Point school — Report of General Bernard and 
 Colonel MacRea, recommending an addition to the school — Frank con- 
 fession that an education does not educate — History of the school followed 
 — Recommendation, in 1819, by John C. Calhoun, to establish another school 
 in the South — Strong attempts, in 1821 and in 1844, by State legislatures, to 
 abolish the Academy — Full statement of the reasons — It was considered 
 aristocratic and anti-republican, unnecessary, expensive, and extravagant — 
 The school triumphs over all opposition — Complete enumeration of the 
 various acts of Congress bearing upon the Academy, from 1802 to 1879 — 
 Synopsis of the laws governing the Military Academy, including the method of 
 cadet admission — Resume of laws passed since 1879 — Unjust discrimina- 
 tion against civilians and alarming grasp upon the military resources of the 
 country by the West Point influence exposed 210 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Concluding remarks upon the West Point Academy — Its financial aspect — 
 Amount of land embraced within its reservation, and the cost thereof — History 
 of the purchase — Table No. I., showing the annual appropriations for the 
 institution from 1802 to 1886 — Appropriation for 1886 given in detail by 
 items, etc. — Table No. II., for subsequent reference, showing the popula- 
 tion of the slave-holding and non-slaveholding States, in 1810, and in i860 — 
 Table No. III., also for subsequent comment, giving the total number of 
 cadets and their residence, appointed to the Academy from 1802 to 1861 — 
 Table No. IV., for subsequent comment, giving a complete list of high-class 
 graduates from West Point, from the year 1802 to the year 1861 — Conclud- 
 ing observations upon the West Point Academy — Mistake of the Governinent, 
 in 1866, whereby the Academy was removed from the superintendency of the 
 Chief Engineer, and placed in charge of the War Department of the Govern- 
 ment — The result detrimental because subjecting the institution to the 
 pernicious influences of political changes — Perpetration of a still greater 
 error, by constituting the post at West Point a military department under the 
 command of a general army-ofiicer — Illustration of the enormous demands 
 of a professional military establishment — The West Point starveling of 1809 
 blossoming, in seventy-five years, into a wide-spreading tree, covering the 
 whole area of a military department — The danger of ultimately subordinat- 
 ing the civil to the military power plainly perceived by an honored civilian, 
 who, as Secretary of War, rescinds an error full of dangerous possibilities... 237 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 History of naval education in the United States, and of the Naval Academy at 
 Annapolis — The idea of a naval school probably coeval with that of a military 
 school — The act of August, 1789, establishing the Department of War, vests 
 the charge of the naval interest in that department — The celebrated General 
 Knox becomes thereby the first actual Secretary of the Navy — By act of 
 April, 1798, the naval interest is confided to a separate department — The 
 first official suggestion for the establishment of a naval school made by 
 Secretary McHenry, in the year 1800 • — Alexander Hamilton credited with 
 the authorship of McHenry's celebrated paper — Suggestions relative to 
 naval instruction next made by Col. Williams, in 1808, in the report pre- 
 viously quoted^- The act of Congress of January 2, 1813, passed in response 
 to the necessities of the war with Great Britain, provides formally for naval 
 instruction by the appointment of schoolmasters on shipboard — Crudity of 
 the system mentioned, though the act is to be cciisidered as the initial move- 
 ment which has since developed into an exclusive naval academy — "The 
 schoolmaster abroad " in a literal sense — Bad boys and naughty midshipmen — 
 Action of Naval Secretary Jones, in 1814, for the establishment of a naval 
 academy — The Congress makes no response to his suggestion — Action of 
 Smith Thompson, in i8z2, who, as Secretary of the Navy, renews the attempt 
 of his predecessor, and meets with a similar failure — Action of Secretary 
 of the Navy Samuel L. Southard, in 1824 — His very able report quoted — 
 Renewed efforts of the Secretary, at the following session of Congress — No 
 response being made, President John Quincy Adams comes to the aid of his 
 Secretary — Quotations from his message — Further report of the Secretary 
 in 1825 — Renewed effort in 1826 — Failure of Congress to respond — 
 Attempt, in 1827, to imitate the plan of creating the Military Academy at West 
 Point, by attaching a " rider" to a naval bill — Text of the amendment pro- 
 posed — The history of the legislation upon the amendments followed in 
 detail — Record of some famous votes — Defeat of the measure by direct 
 vote — Return of the President and his Secretary to the attack at the 
 following session — Another failure to obtain legislation — Mention of the 
 heirlooms of the departments — The determination to erect a naval school 
 one of them — Curious illustration of traditional department policy presented 
 by the case of Secretary John Branch — Quotations from his extraordinary 
 report — Inconsistency between a Senator and a Naval Secretary — Humor- 
 ous illustration of ' ' foreign languages " — Yaijkee sailors and iron-throats — 
 A passing glance at the Government barnacle — Attempt of Secretary Levi 
 Woodbury in 1833 — 7a*/,? No. V., giving official statement of naval schools 
 in 1833 , 264 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Interesting statistics contained in the report of the House Committee of Naval 
 
 Affairs in 1834 — Condition of the midshipmen of the service at that date, 
 
 and state of naval instruction — Introduction of a bill to meet the necessities 
 
 of the midshipmen — Disadvantages of an infelicitous mode of expression 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 Grotesque perversion of language — Reappearance of Samuel L. Southard as 
 Senator from New Jersey — Revival of the subject of a naval academy — 
 Curious memorial and resolutions of commissioned and warrant officers of the 
 U. S. ship Constitution, looking to the establishment of a fixed naval school 
 
 — Senator Southard reports another bill creating an academy — Another 
 defeat of the movement — The irresistible force of evolution transforms the 
 former dominie of the receiving ships into a "professor," while the annual 
 appropriation bills provide him with a salary, instead of his previous wages — 
 Pay of the middies in 1835 — Renewal of the efforts to obtain a fixed school 
 by Secretary A. P. Upshur in 1841 — Quotations from his very able reports 
 
 — Another bill prepared locating a school at or near Fortress Monroe — The 
 bill again fails — A further example of evolution — The old schoolmaster of 
 thereceiving ship, having become a "professor of mathematics," is author- 
 ized by special law " to live and mess with lieutenants " — Passage of an act 
 authorizing the appointment of engineers and assistants in the navy on steam 
 vessels — The valuable paper of Secretary Upshur in relation to naval educa- 
 tion — Failure of the Secretary to obtain legislation — Attempt of Secretary 
 Bayard, in 1845, to obtain legislation for the creation of an academy — Out- 
 line of the Secretary's bill, and quotation of his able report — The old battle 
 re-fought, and the champions of a naval academy again defeated in their 
 cherished project -.. - 286 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The attempt to obtain Congressional legislation to create a naval academy is finally 
 abandoned — Advent of the Polk administration — Determination to establish 
 the academy — A quaint but powerful suggestion — There being no law prohi- 
 biting the establishment of an academy, sufficient warrant held to exist for its 
 creation — Action of Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft during the recess 
 of Congress — A naval school at last created without warrant of legislation, 
 by an artifice — The approach of war with Mexico probably prevents a vigor- 
 ous opposition by Congress — Fort Severn transferred to the Navy Depart- 
 ment, and the Academy formally established at Annapolis — The institution 
 is placed under charge of Commander Franklin Buchanan as Superintendent 
 
 — Historical note of Buchanan — Deserting from the Navy in 1861, and 
 fitting out the " Merrimack" — Outbreak of the Mexican war — The Naval 
 Academy first formally recognized in the Congressional appropriation bill 
 upon the occurrence of that event — Table No. VI. , presenting the total appro- 
 priations for the Naval Academy, exclusive of the pay of cadets, from 1845, the 
 year of its formal establishment, to the year 1886 — The appropriation for the 
 last year given in detail, in order to show the basis upon which the Academy 
 is run — Table No. VII., showing the number of cadets annually admitted to 
 the Academy from 1845 to 1885 — Resume of the principal regulations of the 
 Academy, including method of appointment to the institution .. 288 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 CONSIDERATION OF THE PRESENT MILITARY SYSTEM 
 OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Scrutiny of the Military and Naval Academies as bearing upon the question of their 
 adaptation to the present requirements of the American Republic — The 
 author's belief that they, are deficient in the necessities of a broad military 
 system, and may even be dangerous — An example of false logic — Discus- 
 sion of the subject in its various aspects — Disclaimer of personal motives at 
 the outset — '■ Review of the position and relation of those entering the military 
 and naval schools as cadets to the Government and the people — Their obliga- 
 tions and peculiar position after formal admission to the service of their 
 country — Their employment represents a life service — Particular scrutiny of 
 the cases of those individuals who left the service upon the outbreak of the 
 rebellion — Quotation from the reports of Secretaries Cameron and Welles, 
 and from the message of President Lincoln, ini86i — Glorious tribute to the 
 American soldier and sailor — The moral of the desertions as applied to the 
 soundness of our military system — The great and magnanimous forgiveness 
 after the close of the rebellion — Lessons of subsequent events — Table No. 
 VIII., exhibiting a list of the army officers, graduates of the Academy at West 
 Point, who left the United States service at the outbreak of the rebellion — 
 Table No. IX. , exhibiting a similar list of. non-graduates of the Academy — 
 Table No, X., exhibiting a list of naval officers who deserted the standard of 
 their country during the civil war — Table No, XI., exhibiting names of 
 graduates of the Naval Academy from the year 1845 to the year i860 327 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Does the present military system of the United States lead in the direction of 
 class-distinction? — Discussion of the subject — Preliminary considerations — 
 The characteristics of man compel a resort to the expedient of government — 
 Certain features belonging to governments in general — Not many primitive 
 types of government — The ancient governments of the world representative 
 of the rule of the few over the masses of the people — The vital question of 
 monarchies ; how to harness the common people in their service — How to 
 use the whirlwind, and how to control it at one and the same time — The 
 democratic governments of the world — Their perils have arisen from the 
 tendency to class-distinction — The republics of Greece wrecked upon the 
 rock of aristocracy — The relating factor of human slavery — Nature of the 
 human trait leading to the cultivation of caste — Its widespread prevalence in 
 every age — Analysis of class-distinction — Its existence in the early Asiatic 
 despotisms — The ennobling character of "blood" — Its blue and red color in 
 ancient Spain — The nobility of the ancient Athenians, Thebans, and the 
 
CONTENTS. xiU 
 
 later Romans — The fantastic caste of India — The subject of human slavery 
 as related to that of class-distinction — Slavery one of the oldest of human 
 institutions — Its blighting effect upon servant and master alike — Slavery 
 among the Greeks and Romans, and the outgrowth of caste and titles of 
 nobility — The patricians and the populace of Rome — Grovirth of caste in the 
 ancient republic — Conflicts of the masses over the question — The Agrarian 
 and Licinian laws — Curious anomaly presented by the plebeian class who 
 afterwards became ennobled — 'The_;W imaginum and coats-of-arms — Down- 
 fall of the republic from the sheer weakness of human character — A glance 
 at the so-called republics of Italy — The most arbitrary aristocracies of the 
 world — The lessons to be learned from the examples of the past 376 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 The lesson of class-distinction necessary to be learned by the American people — 
 A glance at the former class-distinction in the Southern States based upon 
 negro slavery — The former constitution of society in the slave States — The 
 Pariahs of the South, and the ' ' poor white trash " — The favored few reach- 
 ing back into the past for titles of gentility — The premium upon ' ' good 
 blood " — The growth of the aristocratic sentiment of the South gradually 
 alienating the people from affiliation with the commoners of the North — The 
 climax reached when the control of the Government was lost in 1861 — The 
 rebellion a logical and inevitable conclusion of the establishment of an aris- 
 tocracy based upon the corner-stone of slaverj' — No Southern republic 
 possible in case of successful separation — A monarchy the only alternative 
 — A word to the people of the North upon the same subject — Dangers of 
 concentration of wealth in individual and corporate hands — The rule of the 
 majority, and the minoritj' of wealth — Inquiry into the aristocratic tenden- 
 cies of our present military system — The charges of this nature that have 
 been alleged against West Point for half a century — The friends of the insti- 
 tution placed upon the defensive — A curious defense by Colonel Totten — 
 An absurd table of statistics by the same zealous official — An analysis of the 
 table shows its statistics to be wholly without value, while a scrutiny of the 
 arguments proves them to be fallacious and evasive — Cadet Whittaker and 
 the manifestation of the class-feeling touched upon — The real nature of the 
 charge of the aristocratic tendency of our present military system stated — 
 Justice to individuals rendered — The pure patriotism of Grant, Sherman, 
 Sheridan, Hancock, and others, fully conceded — The present generation still 
 unappreciative of them — Opportunities for Csesarisra offered by the war — 
 Happy escape from a Northern dictatorship — The West Point Academy not 
 to be credited with unselfish patriotism or rare military abilities — Grant and 
 Lee children of the same military parent — A strong comparison — Grant, the 
 simple republican, and Lee, the unrepublican aristocrat 394 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The evil of the military system lies in the creation of a small body of men into an 
 organization which, by reason of certain facts in connection with the system, 
 is rendered inimical to republican institutions — The question of a life-service 
 
xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 in a republic under the present organization — The life-service of the army 
 and navy considered — Comparison with the judicial service of the Govern- 
 ment — The difference between courts-martial and courts-judicial — The 
 sleeping sentinel and the slumberi^ig policeman — Distinctions of the military 
 and judicial systems — The one practically unaccountable to the people — 
 The other substantially accountable — Accountability of all other officials, 
 from the President to the most unimportant employe — The distinction 
 established by the Constitution referred to — A serious question of constitu- 
 tional interpretation certain to be raised soon or late — Does the Constitution 
 authorize Congress to create a continuous military establishment ? — Further 
 distinction between the two life-service branches of the Government — the 
 military branch a separate entity, living apart from the body of the people, 
 under its own laws — Much greater certainty of the military than the judicial 
 tenure — The military practically beyond the reach of the sovereign people — 
 Absurdity of the attempt to create other life-tenures, as that of a continuous 
 diplomatic body — The strong points of the military tenure stated — The 
 tendency to class-distinction inevitable as a result of the military system — 
 The present military system is restrictive, inadequate to the ends of its 
 creation, and wholly un-American — The reasons stated — The terrible 
 lesson of the rebellion in illustration of the dangers of confining military 
 knowledge to a comparatively small number of citizens, constituting the select 
 few who may hold the destinies of the country in their hands — The whole 
 system but an imitation of European institutions 4" 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Col. Totten's idea of safety in the method of appointment to West Point and 
 Annapolis — Consideration of the method of appointment — It is wholly 
 objectionable, because political in character — Wholly inadequate to the selec- 
 tion of inherent military aptitudes, and not the most conducive to the safety of 
 republican government — Full statement of the operation of the appointing 
 method — Its political character and use as political patronage — The case of 
 Judson Kilpatrick— How he won his appointment to West Point by political 
 service — Kilpatrick's high services as an officer — Further remarks upon the 
 necessity of inherent fitness for the military calling — : A fortunate selection to 
 West Point or Annapolis, under the present system, a mere accident — Perni- 
 cious influence of the political system upon cadet and officer — Reference to 
 statistics of population, in their political bearing upon cadet appointments — 
 The result as shown in the action of deserting officers at the outbreak of the 
 rebellion — Constitution of the army at the beginning of the civil war — Real 
 animus of the deserting officers — The moving stimulus of caste when slavery 
 was menaced — Inadequacy of the appointing method considered — No pos- 
 sibility, except as a result of accident, of developing inherent military aptitude 
 — Scrutiny of the evidence furnished by the high-class graduates of West 
 Point — Most instructive statistics of the graduating tables — Many gradu- 
 ates, but few soldiers, made by West Point — Scores of professors, lawyers, 
 editors, etc. , but a scarcity of generals — Consideration of individual records 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 — The interesting cases of the brothers Joseph and John Swift, the one a 
 West Pointer and the other a volunteer soldier — The making of a fine soldier 
 without an academic education — Interesting review of the honor graduates of 
 West Point for sixty years — Who they were, and what they did — Statistical 
 resume of the results of the institution — Thirty-three per cent of its gradu- 
 ates never see a battle — Fifty per cent have left no military record — Fossil- 
 iferous system as to class honors — Evidence upon the negative side of the 
 question — The great names of the civil conflict upon both sides were those 
 of low classmen — A few of them pointed out — The last objection to the 
 appointing system considered — The dangers of a. small military class — 
 Necessity of broadening the military system .... 4^6 
 
 PART III. 
 
 A DEMAND FOR JUSTICE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Arrival at the point where the citizen-soldiery of the United States may most 
 advantageously be considered — No military system under the colonial system 
 
 — Held down by the professional soldiers of England — Native and acquired 
 qualities of the colonists for soldiers — Military training in the Indian con- 
 flicts — The birth of the American volunteer at Lexington — He has been the 
 right arm of the country from Bunker Hill to Appomattox Court-house — If 
 the arm be palsied through whatever cause, the Republic must fall in spite of 
 its academic soldiers — Sketch of the American plan of army organization — 
 No standing army, but capable of producing the most effective army in the 
 world — Unprogressive character of the " regular " military scheme — Para- 
 doxical position of the Government — The volunteer soldier admitted to be 
 the military hope of the Republic, and subjected to an unjust treatment calcu- 
 lated to destroy the rock upon which the Republic so securely rests — Consid- 
 eration of the matter in detail — The qualities that form the soldier in battle 
 
 — Certain things that can not be learned in schools — Burning powder and 
 whizzing balls — The question of discipline upon dress-parade and under a 
 murderous fire — Personal bravery a characteristic of the volunteer — The 
 value of discipline and confidence in the leaders — The heroism of the suffer- 
 ing volunteers of the Revolution — General Henry Knox, the wisest military 
 man of American history — His efforts to diffuse military knowledge and 
 training among the whole people by his famous militia bill — Blind defeat 
 of the measure by the imitators of European methods, and the limitation of 
 military knowledge to the alumni of West Point — Knox's measure original 
 and without precedent in Europe — The war of 1812 and its volunteers — 
 The war with Mexico fought by volunteers — The mighty civil strife and the 
 faithful volunteer. . .. 461 
 
xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A running review of the soldiers and their officers who have fought the battles of 
 their country and rendered its present greatness possible — The great volun- 
 teers of the Revolution — Soldiers by inherent attributes, and without aca- 
 demic military education — General Washington — Civil and military history of 
 Gen. Nathaniel Greene — An instructive case — A soldier by natural genius 
 
 — His remarkable campaigns in the South — Greene's army of untrained vol- 
 unteers — His opponent, the educated Lord Cornwallis, with his legions of 
 trained veterans — Comparison of Greene's unforeshadowing youth with that 
 of Napoleon the Great — Foreshadowing circumstances of Washington's 
 youth — The relating events connected with Gen. Braddock — A glance at 
 the foreshadowings of Gen. Grant — Quotation from his memoirs — The 
 interesting figures centering about the expedition of Burgoyne — Burgoy ne's 
 military education — Completeness of his equipment — His trained troops — 
 The American volunteers who opposed him — Gen. John Stark and his Green 
 Mountain boys — Gen. Herkimer, Gen. Schuyler — Sketch of the^e gallant 
 volunteers — Sketch of Gen. Horatio Gates — Civil and military sketch of 
 Alexander Hamilton — His instructive career — Sketch of Gen. Henry Knox, 
 author of the mihtia bill — "Mad Anthony Wayne "and his civil antece- 
 dents — Gen. Daniel Morgan — Gen. Warren — Gen. Benjamin Lincoln — 
 Gen. Israel Putnam — Gen. Ethan Allen — Gen. Francis Marion — Gen. 
 Thomas Sumter — Captain Nathan Hale — Sketch of each — Notice of the 
 professional soldiers of the Revolution — Gen. Charles Lee, his military ante- 
 cedents and inglorious career under Washington — Trial by court-martial and 
 sentence — The case of Gen. Thomas Conway — The unholy conspiracy 
 against the commander-in-chief — Such a conspiracy impossible among volun- 
 teer soldiers ^ Napoleonism — The birth of professional soldiery... .... 482 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The American volunteer in the War of 1812 — General considerations relating to 
 the war — Its unnecessary character — Its naval features — The volunteer 
 upon the sea — The naval power of Great Britain at the beginning of the 
 war — Her boast to be "mistress of the seas" destined to receive a rude 
 retort from the Yankee sailors — The days of her supremacy upon the ocean 
 numbered from the declaration of the war — Sketch of the Americans as 
 navigators — Their small navy during the Revolution — The gallant heroes 
 of the struggle — The wonderful achievements of Paul Jones — The small 
 American navy sweeps the seas of British merchantmen — The navy at the 
 close of the year 1798, in view of an impending war with France — The 
 brilliant victory of the Constellation over the French frigate L'Insurgente — 
 
 — State of the American navy at the outbreak of the war of 1812 — The 
 
 British proposal to sweep the seas of the "little bits of striped bunting" 
 
 The first attempt in that direction results in a veritable surprise to the mari- 
 time nations of the world — The English frigate Guerriire encounters the 
 American sailor Isaac Hull, with " Old Ironsides " — Humiliating defeat of 
 the Englishman — Its effect upon the British pretensions — The extended 
 
CONTENTS. XTffl 
 
 series of American naval victories upon the seas and the Northern lakes — Re- 
 markable captures by Commodore Porter with the Essex — The achievements of 
 Decatur — His crew teach the Briton a lesson in gunnery — The thrilling 
 exploit of Capt. Isaac Jones — Number of captures made by the Americans 
 on the ocean during the war — Astonishment of tlje English Government at 
 the success of the American sailors — Committees of investigation raised to 
 inquire into the secret of their extraordinary skill — The committees recom- 
 mend that their "heroes be put to school, again " — A running account of the 
 splendid achievements of the American navy during the war of i8i2-'i4 — 
 The victories upon the ocean, and those upon the lakes, by Perry, Chauncey, 
 and Macdonough, effectually abolish the assumption of the English that 
 " Britannia rules the wave" 507 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 The logic of the naval superiority of the American volunteer sailor — His skill not 
 the result of academic education — Sketch of the naval heroes of 1812 — 
 Thomas Macdonough, the hero of Lake Champlain — Oliver H. Perry, the 
 hero of Lake Erie — His remarkable dispatch announcing one of the greatest 
 naval victories of the world — Isaac Chauncey, the hero of Lake Ontario, 
 and his educated opponent. Sir James Yeo — Sketch of the remarkable 
 ocean heroes — Stephen Decatur — Isaac Hull, the commander of "Old Iron- 
 sides,'' and his marvelous exploit of sailing a ship without wind — James 
 Lawrence, the author of the motto of the American navy, ' ' Don't give up the 
 ship "—William Bainbridge — Jacob Jones — David Porter — Joshua Barney 
 — Lessons of the career of these seamen — All of them learned their profes- 
 sion by a practical method — Their distinction due to special fitness — The 
 naval heroes of the American civil conflict — A repetition of the lesson — A 
 consideration of the land volunteers of 181 2 — Their lack of training at the 
 beginning of the war supplemented by the subsequent record of brilliant 
 victories — A glance at the prominent volunteer officers, with a sketch of 
 their previous history — William Henry Harrison — Winfield Scott — Andrew 
 Jackson — Richard M. Johnson — Pike — Greene Clay — Isaac Shelby — 
 Jacob Brown — Henry Leavenworth — John Swift — E. W. Ripley — William 
 J. Worth, and others — The gallantry of the volunteer soldiers recognized by 
 Congress — Text of the joint resolution passed by that body — A glance at the 
 Mexican war — Its injustice and unpopularity at the North — A measure of 
 conquest in the interest of slave territory — Numbers of volunteers furnished 
 by the sections — The volunteer of the Mexican war — Untrained, but invin- 
 cible — Chagrin of the enemy because the volunteers wouldn't surrender, 
 when, under the laws of the schools, they ought to be whipped — A short 
 practical discipline again makes the volunteer the conquering hero — West 
 Point figures in the war for the first time — The great captains of the war, 
 the volunteer soldiers Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor — A sketch of the 
 career of each — Both reared to civil pursuits, and both great soldiers by in- 
 spiration — The remarkable career of one of the greatest of American 
 soldiers, John E. Wool — Sketch of his history — A civilian until his twenty- 
 fourth year 528 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The American civil conflict — General observations upon the war — Like all 
 others in which the nation has been engaged since the Independence, forced 
 upon the country by Southern statesmen — Glorious work reserved for the 
 volunteer soldier — Its best hope and constant savior — State of the military 
 resources of the country at the outbreak of the war — The Government robbed 
 of its arms, but the volunteer soldier is left to it — His splendid attributes 
 described — The same man that fought at Bunker Hill, at Yorktown, at 
 Chippewa- and Lundy's Lane, and in sight of the palaces of Mexico — The 
 results of the volunteer's efforts in the civil war — He preserves the union, 
 abolishes slavery, and revolutionizes the old methods of warfare — Tribute to 
 his character — A hasty review of some of the volunteer officers of the rebel- 
 lion — General A. H. Terry — A sketch of his remarkable career — The first 
 half of an ordinary life spent in civil pursuits — Sudden birth of the great 
 soldier — His brilliant achievement at Fqrt Fisher — A sketch of the attack 
 upon that work, and the actors in it — Contrast between the academic soldier 
 and the soldier by natural genius — The volunteer soldier E. D. Sumner, 
 Philip Kearney, Daniel Sickles, J. D. Cox, Jeff. C. Davis, Lewis Wallace, 
 W. H. L. Wallace, J. S. Wadsworth, D. B. Birney, Frank P. Blair, John A. 
 McClernand, John M. Palmer, the McCooks, Michael Corcoran, James 
 Shields, Thos. F. Meagher, James Mulligan, John A. Dix — Sketch of the 
 career of each — Other volunteer officers — Benj. F. Butler, Thos. Ewing, 
 James A. Garfield, John W. Geary, John F. Hartranft, Robt. B. Mitchell, 
 M. F. Force, Richard Oglesby, John F. Miller, Lucius Fairchild, John E. 
 Smith, Jas. H. Lane, Robt. Milroy, J. G. Blunt, etc. — The lessons of the 
 military career of these able soldiers in confirmation of the position of the 
 author — The case of Baron Jomini, one of the great military authorities of 
 the world, cited in illustration — ^ Opinion of Napoleon as to Jomini — The 
 naval heroes of the rebellion — Just representatives of their predecessors — 
 Concluding summary and commentary upon all of the facts — The pro- 
 fuseness of illustration of the author's position — ' ' One swallow makes 
 no spring " — The American Republic the gift of its citizen soldiery — Still 
 another phase of the question of the academic method of making soldiers — 
 The negative of the argument — Is a high scholastic military training some- 
 times detrimental to success? — The famous case of General Braddock — 
 Testimony of General Washington — Evidence from the Fort Fisher affair — 
 A voice from the mouths of wooden artillery ... -eg 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 A consideration of the injustice of the present military system to the citizen 
 soldiery — The people at large sufficiently grateful to their benefactors, but a 
 lack of wisdom of the politicians and administrators of the Government — The 
 pay of the volunteer soldier a factor of short-sighted injustice — Discrimina- 
 tion between the expense of the citizen and of the professional soldiery, 
 the one being periodical and the other continuous — Small expense of the 
 
CONTENTS. xii 
 
 Government for its military defense — The injustice of tlie "regular" army 
 organization to tiie v6lunteer — The aggressiveness of West Point — The 
 volunteer considered a charlatan by the academic soldiers — Usurpation by 
 the West Point influence of the military affairs of the country — Effect of 
 this preeminence upon the volunteers — The perniciousness of the West 
 Point influence at the outbreak of the civil war — The volunteer pushed aside 
 for the regular — An open determination of the West Pointers to prevent any 
 volunteer from succeeding — The country imperiled by feuds between the 
 professional soldiers of the Academy — Usurpation of the military legislation of 
 Congress by the West Point influence— The whole military organization of 
 the government in its hands — Table No. XII., exhibiting an oflicial list of the 
 retired officers of the United States, showing their names, rank, and annual 
 pay and allowances, to December 31, 1885 — A startling exhibit of injustice 
 to the volunteer — The difference of pay of a regular officer, retired after a 
 disabling wound, and of a volunteer with his pittance called a ' ' pension " 
 
 — A serious question put to the country at large — Fallacy of the argument 
 upon which a higher pay is given to the ' ' regular " — The position of the 
 latter as a constant dependent of the Government, and of the volunteer, 
 returning from a war broken in health and business, and without resources — 
 
 A demand that the people would do well to heed 578 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 A strong appeal made to the people of the United States in their own interest — 
 The remodeling of our present military system a national necessity — Action 
 belongs to the people and not to the politicians — Let the present oppression 
 of the volunteer soldiery cease at once and forever, and let a system be 
 elaborated which shall take away the military knowledge and power of the 
 Government from the select circle now holding both, and repose them in the 
 real hope and defense of the country, the people at large — In the creation of 
 a military system nothing can or should be borrowed from Europeon models 
 
 — A glance at the schools and systems of France, of England, and of 
 Prussia — The three cardinal principles upon which the American military 
 system should be based stated by the author— Cadet-appointment must 
 be divorced from politics — Entrance to the army and navy must be free to 
 all and military knowledge must be diffused among the people at large — 
 Reasons of the author for not offering a plan of military organization 
 in detail — His general outline of a military system — Broad, comprehensive, 
 and certainly effective — The fundamental bases dwelt upon, and the general 
 draft of a plan suggested — The true functions, for the future, of the Military 
 and Naval Academies — The action required in the various States so as to ren- 
 der military instruction accessible to all who may seek it — Action required of 
 the National Government — A broad plan to educate the whole youth of the 
 country to the preliminary knowledge and training of the soldier, and to 
 bring forward to fuller tuition those with the natural bent to a military life — 
 Creation of a vast army of citizen-soldiers, ready to take the fleld when neces- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 sary, and the special education of officers with the inborn military spirit — 
 The advantages of the system stated, and possible objections to it answered — 
 Strong arguments to prove the imminency of the needed reform of the present 
 system — The present crowding of the service through West Point and An- 
 napolis — Remarkable confirmation of the necessity of immediate reform by 
 the recent establishment of a naval war school — The acknowledged results 
 of forty years of naval academic teaching — Concluding comments of the 
 author upon the suti'ect ........... ..... ..... 598 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 MILITARY REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR IN THE WEST. 
 From the Journal of General Logan. 
 
 619 
 
 The Battle of Belmont, ...... 
 
 The Capture of Fort Henry, - ..... 626 
 
 The Capture of Fort Donelson, - - - . . . 638 
 
 "The Siege of Corinth," -.--•. 661 
 
 The Mississippi Campaign, ...... g^j 
 
 The Battle of Raymond, --..__. 5^^ 
 
 The Battle of Champion Hills, ...... 5^^ 
 
 The Siege of Vicksburg, -----.. 678 
 
 The Atlanta Campaign — Resaca, ...... g^Q 
 
 The Battle of Dallas, . . . . _ .681 
 
 The Assault on Kenesaw Mountain, - - . . . 683 
 
 The First Battle of Atlanta, ...... ggr 
 
 The Second Battle of Atlanta, .--.,. ggj 
 
 Jonesboro, --.... 603 
 
 The Capture of Fort McAllister, ...... gg. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 By H. Ogden, T. Fleming, Waldo Weber, William A. McCullough, E.J. Meekt 
 Walter Goaier, and A. C. Redwood. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Military Uniforms of all American Wars - - Frontispiece. 
 
 2. Dedication - - - - 3 
 
 3. Portrait of General Logan. From photograph by Scott, Chicago 22 
 
 4. General Logan a Godfather during the Storm of Battle - 35 
 
 5. General Logan Hurrying from Congress to the Field of Bull Run 66 
 
 6. Scenes from Army Life - 74 
 
 7. Capture of Major Andr^ - - 114 
 
 8. The Military Academy at West Point, i. Cadets' Mess Hall. 2. 
 
 Fortifications on the Hudson - ... 226 
 
 9. The Naval Academy at Annapolis, i. Cadet Quarters. 2. Dress- 
 
 Parade. 3. Physical and Chemical Laboratories — Practice Fleet in 
 distance - ..... 274 
 
 10. The Volunteer's Departure ... 324 
 
 11. The Volunteer's Return - ... 354 
 
 12. Famous Military Leaders, i. General U. S. Grant. 2. Major-Gen- 
 
 eral E. V. Sumner. 3. Major-General John E. Wool. 4. Major-Gen- 
 eral Lew. Wallace. 5. Major-General Jeff. C. Davis - 418 
 
 13. Three Typical Volunteer Generals, i. General John Stark and his 
 
 Green Mountain Boys. 2. General Logan in the Rain before Donel- 
 son. 3. General Terry at Fort Fisher 458 
 
 14. The Battle of Buena Vista. "A little more grape, Captain Bragg.'' 480 
 
 15. Volunteer Heroes OF the Revolution, i. Greene. 2. Wayne 3. 
 
 Putnam. 4. Washington. 5. Stark. 6. Knox. 7. Hamilton 498 
 
 16. The Victory of the Constitution ("Old Ironsides") over the 
 
 guerriere - ... 51^ 
 
 17. The Battle of Lake Erie - .... 530 
 
 18. American Naval Heroes, i. Farragut. 2. Chauncey. 3. Worden. 
 
 4. Macdonough. 5. Perry. 6. Hull. ... 536 
 
 19. Death of General Philip Kearney - - 566 
 
 20. General Logan at Atlanta - - - 616 
 
 21. General Logan Entering Vicksburg at the Head of the Army 626 
 
 22. The Battle of Champion Hills - - - 642 
 
 23. Explosion in the Crater at Vicksburg - 658 
 
 24. The Battle of Kenesaw Mountain - - 674 
 
 25. Thf Second Battle of Atlanta - - C90 
 
•yM<^jf,S^4 
 
 <s8i*«— 
 
THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 By C. A.Logan, LL.D. 
 
 zziii 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 By C. a. Logan, LL. D. 
 
 THE present volume constitutes the last literary work of 
 General John A. Logan. It was commenced in February, 
 1886, while its author was still engaged with the proof-reading of 
 " The Great Conspiracy," and it assumed its present completed form 
 by the first of December last. The statement of this fact will serve 
 to convey some idea of the methodical industry that enabled a man 
 of almost uninterrupted public occupation to accomplish, amid the 
 absorbing duties of his position, the large amount of literary labor 
 that it is well known he regularly performed. During the sessions 
 of Congress, no member of either branch composing it was more 
 diligent in the performance of committee-work nor more prompt 
 in attendance upon the sessions of the body of which he was a 
 member than he. There were no questions of general importance 
 in the discussion of which he did not actively participate ; and it 
 was no unusual thing for him to be engaged far in the night in the 
 consultation of records and documents relating to topics and meas- 
 ures under consideration by the Senate. 
 
 After the daily adjournments, his house was thronged until a 
 late hour — often much too late — with friends, and with those de- 
 sirous to consult him upon the business in .which they happened to 
 be interested. During the Congressional vacations calls were made 
 upon him from every direction to deliver addresses, or to lend his 
 valuable aid in the work of important campaigns. 
 
 His capacity for continuous labor became the admiration of 
 those at all acquainted with his busy round of life. An interesting 
 
 25 
 
26 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 anecdote is related by Senator Cullom, of Illinois, illustrative of his 
 habit of constant work. General Logan dined with his colleague, 
 Senator Cullom, only a few days prior to the open development 
 of his fatal sickness. During the course of after-dinner conversa- 
 tion, the General remarked that he had just completed for the press 
 a volume upon " The Volunteer Soldier." Senator Cullom made an 
 observation expressive of surprise that his colleague should be able 
 to find time to perform so large an amount of literary labor, in addi- 
 tion to that demanded by his already onerous official occupations. To 
 this the General replied, with a smile : " The fact is. Senator, that 
 however late I may be in going to bed, I rise very early, and thus I 
 have a good hour and a half for work before the most of my neigh- 
 bors get their eyes open in the morning.'' 
 
 By reference to General Logan's correspondence, it has been found 
 that, under date of the 5th of December last, he addressed guarded 
 communications — not being very familiar with the methods of the 
 trade — to each of two well-known book firms, one established 
 in the East and the other in the West, upon the subject of the publi- 
 cation of a proposed volume upon " The Volunteer Soldier.'' A reply 
 from each of these is upon file, in which is stated the desire of the 
 firm to negotiate for the production of the work. 
 
 After these replies were received, the author re-read his manu- 
 script, and almost immediately upon completing his final review — 
 it being then toward the middle of December — besought a bed 
 from which he never again rose in life. For nearly two weeks he 
 lay upon it, bearing suffering patiently while there was hope of 
 recovery ; and when it became apparent that he was engaged in his 
 last struggle, he comforted his wife and children, and before losing 
 consciousness gave expression to the impressive and noble utter- 
 ance : "If this is the end, I am ready! " 
 
 In three weeks, to a day, from the date of addressing the 
 publishers upon the subject of his latest book, the weary man had 
 rested from his labors; his last earthly contest had been entered 
 upon and finished; and, indifferent to the adulations of fame, voice- 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 2/ 
 
 less in response to the frantic calls of family, careless of the stings of 
 detractors, that followed him with unrelenting energy to the very 
 line separating the known from the unknown, he had closed the 
 record of a splendid career, and bequeathed it as a rich legacy to 
 the youth of America. 
 
 The volume now given to the public as a posthumous work is 
 an important contribution to the national interests, and a produc- 
 tion possessed of a number of elements which give it a very orig- 
 inal and in some respects a very extraordinary character. 
 
 Its importance is largely to be found in the circumstance that 
 as an experienced military man — having studied for a number of 
 years, under the advantages of an official position, the military 
 system of the country — the author imparts to his fellow-citizens 
 the matured results of his study, and makes a demonstration of the 
 necessity of a radical reform. He shows quite conclusively that as 
 now constituted the system is wrong ab initio; and that while the 
 theory of our government reposes the defense of the Republic upon 
 its citizen-soldiery — in opposition to the method of the standing 
 army adopted by centralized governments — the actual practice 
 erects an exclusive military establishment, to which are attached the 
 essentials of a caste or class-distinction, and within the mechanism 
 of which reside all of the possible dangers belonging to the military 
 establishment of an absolute monarchy. 
 
 With his usual vigor of attack the author masses a potential 
 array of facts upon which he erects batteries of argument, which 
 without doubt must carry conviction to the general people, and 
 soon or late result in an entire remodeling of the American military 
 system upon something like the broad and safely sustaining basis 
 so sagaciously pointed out by the great General. 
 
 The strong warp of the fabric which the hand of the soldier- 
 statesman has dexterously woven into the present volume is repre- 
 sented by the volunteer soldiery, while the woof of the finished 
 texture rests upon that element as does a stately edifice upon an 
 immovable foundation wall. General Logan is conceded to have 
 
28 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 been the strongest type of the American volunteer soldier of the 
 period in which he lived; and most efficiently has he done battle in 
 behalf of that great bulwark of our national existence and security. 
 
 Devoted through life to the principle involved in the idea 
 creating what may be termed a civilian soldier ; indefatigable in 
 the care of the volunteer patriots while marshaling them against the 
 grim dangers of war; untiring in his efforts in civil position to 
 secure to them the just recognition of services impossible of over- 
 estimation, his last efforts were put forth for the interests — double 
 though identical — of the citizen-soldiery and of the Republic 
 whose national life it sustains. 
 
 While the argument of the work is so strong as to carry con- 
 viction by storm, its construction evinces artistic skill and com- 
 pleteness. With the boldness and open honesty of a man who 
 never fought under cover of a masked intention, he does not 
 hesitate to express his views in language not to be disguised in 
 its true meaning by any insubstantial device of word-gilding. But 
 while, as always, he states facts, and comments upon them in unal- 
 loyed English, he deals in no invective, nor does he exhibit unneces- 
 sary harshness. His charge is as crushing as it is brilliant; but it 
 is also as open as it is vigorous. The unbiased reader of the follow- 
 ing pages must pronounce the book energetic in style, though 
 dispassionate and logical in argument; earnest in effort, but im- 
 partial in judgment; just without uncalled-for bitterness; vehe- 
 ment in the maintenance of opinion; national in purpose, and 
 unpartisan in spirit. 
 
 As the author has so well remarked, the present war literature 
 covers, in detail, every battle and engagement that took place 
 during the late rebellion. The book has a much broader purpose 
 than the eulogy of individual heroism and achievement, however 
 merited. Though there is scarcely a page that does not, dwell 
 upon the American volunteer, yet the volunteer soldiery is con- 
 sidered in the aggregate, and, with the exception of those indi- 
 viduals presented by way of pointing the argument, not in the 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 29 
 
 separate sense. The author has studied the volunteer in the light 
 of the system he represents, and his appeal is made in behalf of 
 the system. 
 
 The work is not only original in thought and in matter, but, as 
 before remarked, it is extraordinary in some of its features. 
 Attacks have been made heretofore, as we learn from the author, 
 upon the aristocratic tendencies of the West Point institution ; but 
 no such complete analysis of the American military system, in its 
 bearing upon the future necessities of the Republic, has ever 
 appeared in print. General Logan has brought to the considera- 
 tion of the question treated the, expert knowledge of a great sol- 
 dier, made practical in application to the needs of the state by the 
 ripe culture and experience of a no less great statesman. The 
 book, while offering a deservedly glowing tribute to the indi- 
 vidual volunteer, will be considered a sterling contribution to 
 the permanent interests of the country. It comprehends a calm, 
 dignified, and exhaustive discussion of a very important public 
 question, which must make the volume alike valuable to the sol- 
 dier and civilian. It will be read by citizens of to-day, and placed 
 in the library for reference in the future. 
 
 One of the strong points of the work that securely hold the 
 initial ends of the developing argument is that which conclusively 
 demonstrates the existence of a special aptitude in all individuals 
 gifted in a specific direction above their fellow-men. The 
 author emphasizes this indisputable fact, and exemplifies it by 
 citing the cases of a large number of the most eminent soldiers of 
 American history ; and while he utters eloquent and unselfish trib- 
 utes to the great men who preceded him, as also to those who 
 were his actual contemporaries, the reader will be struck with the 
 charming naivete which proves him to have been utterly uncon- 
 scious that he, himself, was one of the best exemplars of the 
 proposition he was laboring to establish. If men are born with 
 the military genius, John A. Logan was one of the number. 
 
 It does not fall within the purpose of the present memoir to 
 
30 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 present an extended biographical sketch of the distinguished 
 author of the following pages — a man whose whole career was a 
 faithful representation of the truth embodied in the maxim, " Per 
 angusta ad augusta." His life story has already been told in 
 various special volumes ; while the eulogies that have been pro- 
 nounced upon him in both branches of the National Congress by 
 men of all parties; in the various state legislatures; and during 
 innumerable memorial services held in various parts of the coun- 
 try, have acquainted the American people with the virtues of a 
 public man whose character and career will always be quoted for 
 the emulation of youth. 
 
 While a biography proper could hardly be attempted in a space 
 as limited as that assigned to a memorial note, nevertheless, some 
 of the strong features of the character now being considered, and 
 especially as they seem naturally to be suggested by the author's 
 volume, may be appropriately touched upon. 
 
 General Logan was one of the men that, upon appearing in a 
 public place, immediately claim the general attention. Above the 
 medium height, his fine physique gave assurance of great muscular 
 strength and activity. His hair was as black and lustrous as the 
 wing of a raven ; the head massive ; its contour bold and striking ; 
 the forehead broad and high, showing great breadth and depth 
 of brain structure ; the eyebrows heavily formed of rich black 
 hair ; the nose large and of Grecian caste ; the mouth neither 
 large nor small, under the play of the muscles surround- 
 ing it, as moved by the varying conditions of excitement, grief, 
 pleasure, anger, determination, etc., was a study for the phys- 
 iologist ; while the chin, broad and symmetrical, lent completeness 
 to a head and face of classical beauty. But the particular feature 
 which most riveted attention was the eye. The sclerotic, as visible 
 from the front of the ball, was of a limpid white, while the dark- 
 ness of the pupil resembled "night, with hue so black." As the 
 diamond flashes out its richest colors in response to the question- 
 ing gleam of light, so the eye of this gifted man was illuminated 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 3 1 
 
 with distinctive rays, in obedience to the separate emotions calling 
 them forth. Amid the roar of battle, as he rode at the head of his 
 troops, sword in hand and head uncovered, that wonderful eye 
 shone like a meteor, and inspired his men to deeds of desperate 
 valor. Upon the floor of Congress, or in general debate, it was not 
 difficult to predict, by means of the play of light in the eyes, the 
 precise moment when the gathering storm would break ; while 
 those that knew him intimately could read his every emotion as he 
 conversed among his friends in the domestic or in the social circle. 
 If the writer were called upon for an opinion as to the more 
 exclusive location of the compelling magnetism that so enlisted 
 the enthusiasm of those with whom he came in contact, the opin- 
 ion would place it in the organ spoken of. When he felt kindly 
 toward an individual, his honest soul shone forth through the 
 dark eye, and one could see at a glance that the language of the 
 €ye ratified the words of the mouth. 
 
 The character of General Logan was compounded of an 
 unusual number of the strongly typical elements. Considered 
 from the premise offered by mere anatomical circumstance, it may 
 be said to be rare to find such profuse development, in the same 
 individual, of so many of the higher traits. Of the elements going 
 to make up this rich combination, a^art from those exclusively 
 related to strong intellectuality, the chief were honesty, in the broad 
 and not the vulgar sense ; great energy ; iron determination ; 
 unflinching courage ; much religious sentiment ; great love of fel- 
 low-man, and a laudable ambition to play the life-part well. 
 
 The honesty of his nature rose far above the narrow and even 
 degrading precep£ which urges honesty because it is the best 
 policy. The nobility of his moral constitution scorned the word 
 policy in all of its base acceptations. He was never known to bend the 
 knee at the command, nor to listen for a moment to the suggestions, 
 of mere expediency in shaping his public or private action. He was 
 for a measure, or he was against it, in the open daylight, and before 
 all opinions. He was for a man, or he was against him, in the face 
 
32 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 of the multitude, and before high heaven. He was as inflexible in 
 declining to embrace the party-advantage offered by the recent 
 Ohio Senatorial case as he was firm in the refusal to follow the 
 dictum of the party caucus in the attack made by an administra- 
 tion, of which he was a warm personal and political friend, upon 
 a Chairman of the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations, for 
 whom he had no sympathy beyond that inspired by the demands 
 of justice. In both cases he stood for principle in sacrifice of 
 expediency. 
 
 Of the post-obitum tributes that have been rendered to 
 General Logan by political and personal opponents — and these 
 tributes have been many — not one has failed to dwell upon this 
 high characteristic of the deceased soldier and statesman. His 
 intense honesty was built upon a principle as firm as the granite of 
 mother earth, and duplicity, concealment, and the tricks of time- 
 servers were utterly antagonistic to his nature. "Logan struck 
 hard," said one of his Southern eulogists, "but his friends and 
 enemies alike knew just where to find him." 
 
 His great energy was based upon a physical structure of 
 typical soundness, and of ideal construction. From the time when, 
 as a boy, he burned the midnight oil in his father's home, in order 
 to conquer a better education than his surroundings afforded, 
 through the whole period of an active life, his energy was tireless, 
 and, as a consequence, almost always effective in the accomplish- 
 ment of a purpose. His determination and strong will-power, 
 embodying resolution and persistence in maintaining it, were nota- 
 ble constituents of his character. The determination was of the sort 
 that demands an exhaustive consideration of the factors belonging 
 tb a question — or of a motive for action — and a satisfying reason 
 for decision ; and the determination once formed upon such a basis 
 was almost changeless. No menace could influence ; no suggestion 
 of a temporizing policy could turn ; no pleading could melt him 
 from a course that he had once settled upon as that which was just 
 and proper to be pursued. It would be untrue to assert that he never 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 33 
 
 erred, because such a claim can only be sustained for infallibility ; 
 but it can safely be said that, when he erred, it was never against 
 justice, but always upon the side of truth, and of a worthy cause. 
 
 The courage of the man was a sublime quality. It had nothing 
 of the subtle or the secretive in it, but belonged to the order 
 which has characterized the martyrs of the world when battling 
 for principle and meeting death to sustain it. It possessed all that 
 is noble of the supposed fearlessness of the lion, shorn of every 
 element underlying the crouch and sudden spring of the cat family. 
 It was a befitting counterpart of, and a supplement to, the open 
 honesty of his mold. 
 
 The religious sentiment was wholly untinctured with the cant 
 of mere profession. It was a positive quality, built upon early 
 education, deep study of the subject, and an innate reverence of 
 the good. In no phase of its existence was it pretentious, nor 
 approximative to the pharisaical. It was unboastful and unher- 
 alded ; but its results ran through the whole texture of his life- 
 work, stamping upon it the ineffaceable mark of the broad religion 
 of humanity. 
 
 The love of fellow-man, which was one of the most striking, as 
 it was one of the most ennobling features of General Logan's 
 character, was the inherent quality of a fine nature, the polish of 
 which its possessor had not attempted to heighten by the aid of 
 factitious art. 
 
 No man could be a truer or stronger friend than General 
 Logan was. His fidelity has passed into a proverb. No effort was 
 too great to make in behalf of a deserving friend, no season too 
 unpropitious in which to remember him. But the quality of 
 faithful adherence to friends had a broader and deeper foundation in 
 his relations with men than that underlying the obligation to return 
 a favor, which obligation has taken its place as a leading article in 
 the creed of the purely professional politician. He believed m 
 God, and he likewise believed in man. He had the most implicit 
 confidence in human nature. Though he was one of the strongest 
 
34 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 of men, Titanic in physique and gigantic in intellect, he had the 
 heart of the youth before the revelations of later life have been 
 spread before him. In spite of the betrayals and the shameless 
 ingratitudes which constantly met him in his intercourse with men, 
 he never lost faith in his fellow-man to the day of his death. 
 When an example was presented which revealed the darker side of 
 human character, he persisted in believing it to represent an excep- 
 tion to, and not the general rule itself. He judged mankind and 
 its impulses under the light reflected from his own character. He 
 was himself honest, faithful, charitable, and true, and he there- 
 fore believed that men in general were endowed with similar 
 traits. He was wholly unconscious of the possession of such an 
 exceptional wealth of the rarest virtues of humanity. Thus feeling, 
 while his heart was always open to those about him, he made the 
 same demand upon his friends, and upon the public, in their rela- 
 tions to him, that was fulfilled to them in his own character. It 
 was when this demand was unmet, that in the shock of disappoint- 
 ment he would frequently give vent to some strong expression of 
 indignation. But any such ebullition was momentary, and seldom 
 represented a lasting feeling. Disappointment in some act of a 
 friend broke upon him with the suddenness of the flash from a 
 gun ; but the effect ceased with the rapidity that the noise follow- 
 ing it rolls away. 
 
 General Grant used to relate that when he was President, 
 Senator Logan and Senator Morton of Indiana would come to him, 
 each with thirteen requests; of the thirteen he would grant eleven 
 to Senator Logan and two to Senator Morton. The latter would 
 go away much pleased, and boasting of his influence with the 
 administration, while the former would grumblingly declare that 
 Grant never did anything for him. The anecdote was meant to be 
 illustrative, not literal, of course; but it well represents the point of 
 General Logan's character now dwelt upon. His reasoning would 
 run thus: If he, Logan, were President, and his friend Senator 
 Grant should prefer thirteen requests, he would comply with a 
 
General Logan a Godfather During the Storm of Battle. 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 35 
 
 " baker's dozen " of them, and then throw in a gratuity for extra 
 measure — a something in the nature of what our Spanish- Ameri- 
 can neighbors call a yappa. He was constantly judging men in 
 this way and making this sort of demand upon them. Notwith- 
 standing his grumbling, as General Grant called it, the public will 
 not soon forget General Logan's devotion to his chief. His 
 gallant fight for a third term for the great soldier, his long and 
 finally successful contest in Congress to place the latter upon the 
 retired list of the army, and his oration at the tomb of General 
 Grant, at Riverside, upon the last memorial day, an oration 
 which, as said by the Rev. John P. Newman, in his late eulogy on 
 General Logan, " will never die," must always be remembered as 
 proof of his unfaltering loyalty to friend and principle alike. 
 
 But his warmth of heart radiated beyond the close circle of 
 personal friendship and reached the larger sphere wherein moves 
 mankind in general. Many anecdotes are told illustrative of his 
 kind nature. One of the most touching of these was an actual 
 inciderjt of his soldier life. It occurred during the operations 
 against Atlanta. General Logan at the head of his corps had made 
 a sweeping movement to get into the rear of Hood's army. 
 After a skirmish near Flint River, an old shell-torn cabin was dis- 
 covered by his men in which were found an aged woman with her 
 daughter, the latter of whom had just given birth to her first child, 
 while shot and missile were whizzing and hissing through the 
 cabin and over her head. Information of the circumstance was 
 carried to the General, and it was not long before the great 
 soldier was inside the cabin himself. When he beheld the har- 
 rowing scene there presented, his feeling was deeply moved. 
 " Boys," he said, " fix up the roof with some of the old slabs from 
 the stable; clear things up a little; and I don't think it would hurt 
 you any to leave a part of your rations." The command and the 
 suggestion were complied with in a wonderfully short time. The 
 cabin was repaired and the larder supplied most bountifully. 
 
 Upon the suggestion that the child should be christened, the 
 
36 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 chaplain was sent for, and General Logan stood godfather to the 
 infant, who was then called Shell- Anna. In turning to go, the General 
 took out a gold pocket-coin — gold coin was scarce in that day 
 — and, giving it to the old dame as a christening-gift, hurried away 
 to the stern work before him. But as he strode out of the cabin, 
 his comrades could not fail to notice that 
 
 Something upon the soldier's cheek 
 Washed away the stains of powder. 
 
 His love for the soldiers that fought the battles of their country 
 was genuine and unselfish. His regard for them through the war 
 was evinced in ceaseless efforts to promote their welfare. During 
 his subsequent legislative career, as a member of the House and of 
 the Senate, the advocacy of the rights and just interests of the 
 volunteer soldiers, who, as he constantly proclaimed, had given us 
 all of the country we possess, became something akin to the re- 
 quirements of a religious creed. 
 
 A volunteer soldier himself, he was fully acquainted with the 
 great sacrifices of the class to which he belonged; and probably 
 the most bitter of all regrets brought to him by the defeat of the 
 Republican party in 1884 was the knowledge that much of his use- 
 fulness to the volunteer soldiers lay deeply buried under that 
 defeat. With a faith in Logan that never faltered, they refused to 
 believe that he was not as potent to assist them under the new 
 rigime as under the party whose especial and most loved children 
 they were. They flocked to his house as of old, while he patiently 
 listened to their stories as always before. With a burst of disap- 
 pointment he would declare that he could do nothing with the 
 party now in power, clothed with it, as it was, by the misguided 
 people whom the Union soldiers had fought and defeated in the 
 effort to destroy the Government. A friend was sitting with the 
 General and Mrs. Logan, not many months ago, when a volunteer 
 soldier, lame from a wound and broken in health, presented himself 
 with a request a compliance with which would have placed the 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 37 
 
 General in the position of an applicant for a favor from an Admin- 
 istration with which he was not in political sympathy. As the man 
 proceeded to tell a story of suffering, the fire began to flash from 
 the eyes of the listener, and, as the tale was concluded and the re- 
 quest preferred, the General rose to his feet, paced the room and 
 gave vent to unsuppressed indignation. The soldier sat, with 
 amazement upon his face, not knowing whether he or others had 
 provoked the storm. 
 
 " Don't you know that I can do nothing for you; that I have never 
 asked a political favor of this Adininistration and that I never will ? " 
 he said, with the darkened look upon his face so threatening to his 
 opponents. The poor soldier, wholly mistaken as to the moving 
 impulse of the sympathizing man's excitement, stole out of the 
 room, abashed and disappointed. The storm soon began to abate, 
 and after a further half-hour's conversation, during which he had 
 evidently been revolving something in his mind, he rose and said to 
 Mrs. Logan: " Mary, I can ask nothing of this Administration myself, 
 but I've got to do something for that poor fellow or I sha'n't sleep 
 well to-night." With these words he started to put into execution 
 a plan that he had been silently considering, and which, while re- 
 lieving the General from all personal obligation, soon brought to 
 his astonished and grateful comrade all he had asked. 
 
 A laudable ambition to do everything well was still another of 
 General Logan's characteristics. He was no pretender, no sciolist, 
 in anything. What he did was well done, and the applause of his 
 fellow-men was pleasing to him. While, as has been said, he was 
 oblivious to his own rare merits of character, he was fully aware of 
 his power. A man of strength, he possessed that assertion which 
 self-consciousness of strength invariably brings; but he was not 
 presumptive, nor was he despotic. He had the strength of a giant, 
 but he never used it as a giant. A misrepresentation of his char- 
 acter in the respect now being considered asserted him to be 
 scheming for the Presidency. Never was a charge more baseless. 
 He would have been glad to be President, without doubt, because 
 
38 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 he knew that he could be useful to his country, and because, too, 
 it would have been an additional honor to those he had already re- 
 ceived from his fellow-citizens. Is there an American who, with 
 full belief that he could discharge the duties of the Presidency well, 
 would not be glad to be President, or who would not be flattered 
 by the recognition of personal merit which the selection for the 
 position implies ? One would not like to believe that there 
 is. But the assertion that General Logan schemed for the Presi- 
 dency is false in every sense. His honesty forbade it. One of his 
 strongest traits, as before observed, was that he would never palter 
 to any interest upon the ground of personal expediency. 
 
 Many proofs of this assertion could be found with little search; 
 but for such proof the search need go no farther than the present 
 book, which, notwithstanding the proximity of the next Presiden- 
 tial contestj was prepared for immediate publication by General 
 Logan, under the full realization that it would awaken hostility 
 against him within the circle of extended influence that he has so 
 boldly attacked in the following pages. A friend conversed 
 with him upon this very point in November last, when General 
 Logan emphatically declared that he " would rather be the instru- 
 ment for the reform of an abuse so vital to republican existence, 
 than to be President of the United States." 
 
 The preceding review of the prominent traits of General Logan 
 is necessarily more brief than a full consideration of his rare char- 
 acter would require of a biography proper. His greatness was not 
 constituted of a single element, but was the product of a combina- 
 tion — a tout ensemble — of rare and striking qualities. He was con- 
 sidered a strong man, not simply because of his splendid physical 
 build, but also because of the possession of those rugged qualities 
 of leadership and command which caused him to tower far above 
 the more than ordinary men among whom his life was spent. His 
 powerful frame; his commanding presence; his resolute purpose; 
 his magnificent courage, which often bordered upon the audacious; 
 his disregard of all personal precautions against bodily ills; his 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 39 
 
 always animated face and ever sparkling eye, conveyed the idea of 
 typical strength. Other men would talk with him of their own 
 death as an unavoidable event; but no one ever suggested the idea 
 of death in connection with John A. Logan, the very embodiment 
 of all that is vigorous in life. He himself appeared never to have 
 entertained the thought. In all the years of close personal inter- 
 course which a near friend enjoyed, he does not remember 
 even an allusion by the General to the possible event of his own 
 death. The play of his mind ran above the perishable though 
 stalwart body which actually inclosed and bore the mental organ. 
 When the compelling messenger came to demonstrate that his iron- 
 cased manhood was vulnerable as is all human life, it seemed 
 wholly impossible to his friends to acquiesce in the absolute 
 demonstration presented to their bewildered senses. There are 
 those of his intimates who cannot yet realize that he is gone never 
 to return. His devoted and grief-crushed wife still exclaims, in 
 the agony of his protracted stay, " Oh, I never believed that my 
 darling husband could die!" 
 
 The public services of General Logan were rendered in the 
 double capacity of statesman and soldier. In the forensis strepitus 
 his commanding form and lofty mental attributes were backed 
 by that inscrutable magnetism which his presence everywhere 
 inspired, and by an eloquence of speech whose special character- 
 istics were peculiarly his own. With a deep, rich voice, the rise 
 and fall of which seemed set to music; with flashing eye and 
 speaking gesture; with intense earnestness and overwhelming 
 logic, he achieved the very ideal of effective oratory. In pure 
 extempore efforts some of his colleagues, as also some of his 
 adversaries, might have surpassed him in the classicism of their 
 diction, in the severe construction of their sentences, and in the 
 perfect poise of their periods ; but in the incomprehensible 
 " something " upon which General Logan dwells in the present 
 volume, and which gives a special character to all human produc- 
 tions and efforts, it may fairly be said that he had few rivals and 
 
40 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 no superiors among the distinguished men of his time. He pos- 
 sessed this "something" to a remarkable extent, and one of its 
 strongest characteristics in his case was its originality. No one who 
 heard his public addresses several years ago, when the "fiat- 
 money " theory appeared at its fullest tide, will forget how effect- 
 ively General Logan demonstrated the fallacy of the doctrine by 
 an illustration original, simple, and convincing. Holding up to the 
 audience a Roman gold coin, of the era of the Empire, he would 
 simply ask if that coin were worth as much now as when issued by 
 the dead government which coined and gave it currency. Then, 
 with the other hand holding aloft a bill of the Confederate States, 
 he would naively inquire whether that piece of paper had any 
 inherent value. The homely illustration went direct to the point, 
 and needed no further elaboration. 
 
 The legislative record of the country for the past twenty years 
 attests the important services in varied directions that General 
 Logan rendered, and much of the benefit of wholesome legislation 
 during the period mentioned is largely to be credited to his clear 
 judgment and strong advocacy. Rich and valuable as have been 
 his services in the legislative direction, there will be none to 
 dispute that the ground upon which he will go into future history 
 must cover his services not only as a statesman, but also as a 
 soldier of the Republic. 
 
 Washington, Greene, Scott, Taylor, Kearney, and Grant were 
 soldiers by gift of birth, and John A. Logan was their peer in na- 
 tural endowment. His discourse upon the subject of an "inherent 
 fitness " for the military profession, as contained in the following 
 pages, assumes under his conclusive argument the character of 
 exact demonstration. The one feature lacking to give it complete- 
 ness is the absence of his own name from the generous list of those 
 whom he characterizes as soldiers by natural inspiration. Admit- 
 tedly he was the great volunteer General of the civil war; and no 
 history of our country can be authentic which does not represent 
 him as one of the central figures of that great conflict. 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 4 1 
 
 It may here be remarked that the word " volunteer " is used 
 in this and in other parts of the memoir simply to repre- 
 sent the method by which one has become a soldier, and not to 
 imply distinctions of quality pertaining to the two classes of 
 military men. The author of this volume has annihilated the here- 
 tofore accepted dictum that the great soldier can only become such 
 through academic training; while the general assumption of West 
 Point officers of a superiority to the volunteer, by reason of the 
 mere fact of graduation from a military school, became a demon- 
 strated absurdity during the last war, through the lamentable fail- 
 ures of so large a proportion of them in actual battle. It is a fact 
 resting upon a basis of ■ ample proof, that the most serious of all 
 mistakes made, and the most hurtful of all blunders committed 
 during the civil conflict, were those of the regular army officers. 
 General Logan was a volunteer soldier, but there was no regular 
 officer that is now called who equaled the record of the 
 former as a successful soldier. The record of General Logan is 
 that he never made a mistake in any of his plans against the 
 enemy; that he was never surprised nor deceived by the move- 
 ments of his adversary; that he was never defeated in any engagement 
 or battle that he directed. For what West Point officer may the same 
 record be claimed ? As will appear farther on, had his advice been 
 followed by the regular officers superior to him in rank, though 
 manifestly inferior in military skill, some very great mistakes with 
 their serious consequences might have been avoided. Without 
 anticipating what is to be spoken of in detail in a future chapter, 
 Corinth and Atlanta may here be pointed to. 
 
 John A. Logan was a volunteer in the Mexican War at twenty 
 years of age. In 1861 he relinquished a seat in Congress, aban- 
 doned party friends (being then a Democrat), and ruptured personal 
 affiliations and kindred ties to take command of a volunteer regi- 
 ment in defense of the Union. From the rank of colonel he rose 
 through the intermediate grades to that of major-general, and in 
 the remarkable series of battles comprising those of Belmont, Fort 
 
42 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Henry, Donelson, Corinth, Memphis, Port Gibson, Raymond, 
 Champion Hills, Vicksburg, Resaca, the Big and the Little Kenesaw 
 Mountain, Decatur, Atlanta, Jonesboro, and of those attending the 
 marches through the Carolinas, General Logan bore a glorious 
 and, it may be said, an indispensable part. 
 
 So full is the record of this able soldier that no requirement 
 exists to dwell upon his military character and achievements in this 
 memoir; and, but for an occurrence which has transpired since his 
 lamented death, the memoir would be closed from this point. The 
 third part of the present volume is devoted to "a demand for 
 justice to the volunteer soldier,'' and the occurrence alluded to has 
 devolved upon his friends the imperative duty to make a demand 
 for justice to the distinguished and never-to-be-forgotten volunteer 
 soldier John A. Logan. 
 
 How strange are the developments and the revenges of Time, 
 and how marvelous it seems that the full exemplification of General 
 Logan's truly great character should partly come through the dis- 
 aster of his own death ! 
 
 It is well known to all military men who participated in the 
 Civil War that, after the death of General McPherson, General 
 Logan was deprived of the promotion that rightfully belonged to 
 him, which injustice was greatly increased by the publication of 
 the " Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman," written ten years after 
 the close of the war. In this work the author of the " Memoirs " 
 gives to the world an explanation of the motives prompting him 
 to the course pursued toward the great volunteer General, deroga- 
 tory to the military ability and personal character of the latter, an 
 explanation which the author of the " Memoirs " has since attempted 
 to soften but which he has steadily refused to retract. The 
 "Memoirs " were published in 1875, and up to the day of his death, 
 eleven years later. General Logan held in his possession personal 
 letters which of themselves constitute his full vindication. Gen- 
 eral Logan refused to give publicity to these letters because of 
 their personal character, up to the period of his death, and they 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 43 
 
 would never have been given to the press by his friends under any- 
 other circumstance than that now to be mentioned. 
 
 To the end that the whole merits of the case may be understood, 
 no apology seems to be needed for the quotation of various docu- 
 ments directly relating to the subject. 
 
 Upon the 17th of July, 1864, General Sherman with his army 
 began the forward movement that resulted in the capture of 
 Atlanta. The advance was attended with preliminary skirmishing, 
 until upon the 2 2d the enemy made a temporarily successful move 
 upon the left flank of the Union Army, and the battle of Atlanta, 
 as it has since been called, was precipitated and fought. In the 
 early morning of that day the commander of the main army 
 (General Sherman) had issued an order ^ informing General 
 McPherson, commanding the Army of the Tennessee, that the 
 enemy had evacuated Atlanta, and directing him to move his army 
 rapidly toward East Point. This order was borne to McPherson by 
 Lieutenant Willard Warner, of General Sherman's staff. The 
 former received the information with surprise, but at once pro- 
 ceeded to send an order to General Logan in furtherance of the 
 instructions of his superior.' Doubting the correctness of the 
 opinion as to the evacuation of Atlanta, McPherson ordered his 
 
 1 ' ' General Sherman believes that the enemy have evacuated Atlanta, and 
 desires you to move rapidly forward beyond the city towards East Point, leaving 
 General Dodge, of the Sixteenth Corps, upon the railroad to destroy it effect- 
 ually." 
 
 « "Three and One-Half Miles East of Atlanta, Ga., July 22, 1864. 
 " Major-General John A. Logan, Commanding Fifteenth Army Corps : 
 
 "The enemy having evacuated their works in front of our lines, the supposi- 
 tion of Major-General Sherman is that they have given up Atlanta, and are retreat- 
 ing in the direction of East Point. 
 
 " You will immediately put your command in pursuit to the south and east of 
 Atlanta, without entering the town. You will seek a route to the left of that taken 
 by the enemy, and try to cut off a portion of them while they are pressed in the 
 rear and on our right by Generals Schofield and Thomas. 
 
 " Major-General Sherman desires and expects a vigorous pursuit. 
 "Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) "James B. McPherson, Major-General." 
 
44 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 horse and rode down to the headquarters of General Logan, to talk 
 the matter over with him in person. General Logan was most 
 positive that Atlanta had not been evacuated. Firing began 
 almost immediately between the pickets, when the fact of an im- 
 pending battle became indisputable. General Logan had already 
 prepared his troops for march, under McPherson's written order; 
 but, with the certainty of an attack, the order of General Sherman 
 was disregarded, and General Logan took his command into line 
 of battle under fire of the enemy. The latter had made a sur- 
 prise so clever that in the absence of the cavalry under Garrard 
 upon McPherson's flank, the orderlies and clerks at headquarters 
 were formed into a picket, to keep off the enemy's skirmishers until 
 the headquarters of the Army of the Tennessee could be moved to 
 a place of safety. Then McPherson rode over to the commanding 
 General's headquarters, to report the dispositions for the battle 
 that he had made, in violation of the order of the early morning. 
 Convinced of error regarding the supposed evacuation of Atlanta, 
 the commanding General gave assent to McPherson's course. The 
 exposed position of the Seventeenth Corps upon the left wing, 
 caused by the order mentioned, had not been wholly covered at 
 one o'clock, when McPherson rode out to see the progress of affairs. 
 In passing along a narrow path he ran upon an ambuscade, was 
 fired upon and killed. 
 
 Upon the death of McPherson, General Logan, as the senior 
 officer in rank, took command of the Army of the Tennessee, by 
 order of the commanding General. No orders whatever were 
 issued to General Logan concerning the impending battle, or, if 
 issued, as afterward stated, they were never received by him, and 
 therefore the severe battle of that day was fought by General 
 Logan according to his own plan and under his personal direction. 
 Further still, the historic battle of the 22nd was fought almost 
 alone by the Army of the Tennessee; and to the gallant soldiers 
 and officers composing it, led by the irresistible Logan, who cov- 
 ered himself with unfading glory upon that eventful day, is due the 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 45 
 
 sole credit of the splendid victory which was the prelude to the fall 
 of Atlanta. 
 
 By his previous record in all of the hard-fought battles of the 
 West up to that point, by his brilliant success in leading the army 
 to victory upon that memorable 22nd day of July, and by his actual 
 seniority of rank, General Logan possessed a triple claim to 
 promotion to the permanent command of the Army of the Tennes- 
 see, for which he was more competent at that moment than any 
 officer then in the military division of the Mississippi, as has 
 already been stated by General Grant in his published "Memoirs." 
 This claim, as is well known, was disregarded; and another officer. 
 General O. O. Howard, was called from a different department, in 
 order to be placed in command of the laurel-crowned Army of the 
 Tennessee. 
 
 The sublimity of General Logan's nature, and his possession of 
 the qualities indispensable to the true soldier, were never more 
 brilliantly demonstrated than at this threatened crisis, for crisis it 
 could certainly have been made. Smarting under a sense of the 
 injustice inflicted upon their leader, many of his gallant comrades 
 advised him to resent it. General Logan felt the sting most 
 keenly, but he was too much of a soldier to falter for a moment in 
 his duty as a defender of his country. Although the ex-com- 
 mander-in-general has openly stated otherwise. General Logan had 
 no personal ambition save that to do his duty well; and the strong- 
 est refutation of the more than insinuation that as a "political gen- 
 eral " he subordinated duty to self-interest, is to be found in the 
 fact that he not only fell quietly back to his old command, but 
 that his influence was successfully exerted to induce his friends to 
 accept the injustice in the lofty spirit exhibited by himself. 
 
 Under the implied stigma of the injury now related General 
 Logan fought through the war, and at its close returned to begin 
 that brilliant legislative career of over twenty years with which his 
 fellow-citizens are now familiar. 
 
 Some ten years after the close of the war, the "Memoirs" of 
 
46 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 General Sherman were published. The author's account of the 
 events succeeding the death of General McPherson is as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 " But it first became necessary to settle the important question of who should 
 succeed General McPherson ? General Logan had taken command of the Army of 
 the Tennessee by virtue of his seniority, and had done well \ but I did not consider 
 him equal to the command of three corps. Between him and General Blair there 
 existed a natural rivalry. Both were men of great courage and talent, but were 
 politicians by nature and experience, and it may be that for this reason they were 
 mistrusted by regular oflBcers like Generals Schofield, Thomas and myself. It was 
 all-important that there should exist a perfect understanding among the army com- 
 manders, and at a conference with General George H. Thomas at the headquarters 
 of General Thomas J. Woods, commanding a division in the Fourth Corps, he 
 (Thomas) remonstrated warmly against my recommending that General Logan 
 should be regularly assigned to the command of the Army of the Tennessee by 
 reason of his actual seniority. We discussed fully the merits and qualities of every 
 officer of high rank in the army, and finally settled on Major-General O. O. How- 
 ard as the best officer who was present and available for the purpose; and on the 
 24th of July I telegraphed to General Halleck this preference, and it was promptly 
 ratified by the President. General Howard's place in command of the Fourth 
 Corps was filled by General Stanley, one of his division commanders, on the 
 recommendation of General Thomas. All these promotions happened to fall upon 
 West Pointers, and doubtless Logan and Blair had some reason to believe that we 
 intended to monopolize the higher honors of the war for the regular officers. I 
 remember well my own thoughts and feelings at the time, and feel sure that I was 
 not intentionally partial to any class. I wanted to succeed in taking Atlanta, and 
 needed commanders who were purely and technically soldiers, men who would 
 obey orders and execute them promptly and on time; for I knew that we would have to 
 execute some most delicate maneuvers, requiring the utmost skill, nicety, and pre- 
 cision. I believed that General Howard would do all these faithfully and well, 
 and I think the result has justified my choice. / regarded both Generals Logan and 
 Blair as ' volunteers^ that looked to personal fame and glory as auxiliary and second- 
 wry to their political ambition, and not as professional soldiers."'^ 
 
 When these lines were penned, ten years had elapsed since the 
 occurrence to which they relate. General Logan had accepted the 
 injury done him by a higher official, and had honorably completed 
 his military service with the expiration of the war. He had buried 
 all personal feeling of disappointment, and in the halls of Congress 
 was rendering valuable aid to the difficult work of reconstruction. 
 After the expiration of a decade the ex-commander of the Army of 
 
 'Sherman's "Memoirs," Vol. H., p. 85. The italics are not the author's. 
 
MEMOIR OF THE A UTHOR. 
 
 47 
 
 the West broke the silence of past events by the publication of his 
 " Memoirs," in which General Logan was openly arraigned in the 
 terms above quoted, and that, too, in a volume bearing the sub- 
 stantial character of an official record. 
 
 There need be no concealment of the fact that this last blow 
 was severely felt by General Logan. And yet, like the man that 
 he was, he neither resented it nor permitted his indignant friends 
 to resent it for him, although through all those years he possessed 
 some interesting documents, which will presently be given to the 
 reader. Representations of a kindly character were made, how- 
 ever, by friends to the author of the " Memoirs," in appeal to his 
 sense of justice, that he might be induced to undo a wrong which, 
 with the generation of men cognizant of the facts, was more likely 
 to injure him than to injure the object of the attack. 
 
 General Logan stifled the sense of injury a second time, and 
 continued his efforts for usefulness to his country. Ten fateful 
 years again flew by, when a message came to the venerated Logan 
 which took him beyond the reach of life's fitful fever with all of 
 its frightful apparitions. 
 
 In two days after the death of General Logan, the following 
 correspondence was given to the New York Tribune, from which 
 paper it is now reprinted: 
 
 New York, Dec. 28, 1886. 
 Whitelaw Reid, Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir: The recent sad and unexpected death of General John A. Logan 
 makes it opportune, in my judgment, to make plain what otherwise might remain 
 obscure, touching our personal relations. To this end I prefer to make public a 
 correspondence between us in the month of February, 1883, which resulted from 
 speeches made at the "Corkhill Banquet," given me on the 8th of that month in 
 Washington, in anticipation of my retirement from the active command of the 
 army. There were present at that banquet many most distinguished men: 
 Justices Miller, Matthews, and McArthur ; Senators Sherman, Logan, Hawley, and 
 Allison ; Mr. Speaker Keifer, of the House ; General Sheridan, Mr. Henry Wat- 
 terson, and others, who responded to toasts and sentiments. A full account of this 
 ■banquet was at the time published, and I extract such parts of the remarks made 
 l)y General Logan in response to the toast of ' ' The Volunteer Soldier ' ' as explain 
 the succeeding correspondence : 
 
 "They were ready in the storm and in the sunlight; they were ready in dark- 
 
48 MEMOIR OF THE A UTHOR. 
 
 ness or daylight: when orders came they marched, they moved, they fought; 
 whether their guns were of the best quality or not; whether their clothing was 
 adapted to their condition or not; whether their food was all they would have 
 asked or not — was not the question with these men. The question was, 'Where 
 does Sherman want us to go, and when must we move ? ' Sir, these men marched 
 with him through valleys, over hills and mountains, across rivers and over 
 marshes, and the only question asked in all these campaigns was, ' Where is the 
 enemy?' There were no questions of numbers or time. And for General Sher- 
 man I will say that there was not a soldier who bore the American flag or followed 
 it, not a soldier who carried the musket or drew a saber, who did not respect him 
 as his commander. There was not one, sir, but would have drawn his sword at 
 any time to have preserved his life. There is not one to-day, no matter what may 
 be said, who would dim in the slightest degree the luster of that bright name, 
 achieved by ability, by integrity, and by true bravery as an oflScer. And in con- 
 clusion let me say this: While that army, when it was disbanded, was absorbed 
 in the community like rain-drops in the sand — all citizens in the twinkling of an 
 eye, and back to their professions and their business — there is not one of these 
 men, scattered as they are from ocean to ocean, who does not honor the name of 
 the man who led them in triumph through the enemy's land. Wherever he may 
 go, wherever he may be, whatever may be his condition in life, there is not one 
 who would not stretch out a helping hand to that brave commander who led them 
 to glory. Speaking for that army, if I may be permitted to speak for it, I have to 
 say: May the choicest blessings that God showers upon the head of man go with 
 him along down through his life. It is the prayer of every soldier who served 
 under him." 
 
 GENERAL SHERMAN TO GENERAL LOGAN. 
 
 "Washington, D. C, Sunday, Feb. ii, 1883. 
 "Gen. John A. Logan, U. S. Senate, Washington, £>. C. 
 
 " Dear General ; This is a rainy Sunday, a good day to clear up old scores, 
 and I hope you will receive what I propose to write in the same friendly spirit in 
 which I offer it. 
 
 " I was very much touched by the kind and most complimentary terms in 
 which you spoke of me personally at the recent Corkhill banquet on the anniver- 
 sary of my sixty-third birthday, and have since learned that you still feel a wish 
 that I should somewhat qualify the language I used in my Memoirs, Volume II., 
 pages 85 and 86, giving the reasons why General O. O. Howard was recommended 
 by me to succeed McPherson in the command of the Army of the Tennessee, 
 when by the ordinary rules of the service the choice should have fallen on you. I 
 confess frankly that my ardent wish is to retire from the command of the army 
 with the kind and respectful feelings of all men, especially of those who were with 
 me in the days of the Civil War, which must give to me and to my family a chief 
 claim on the gratitude of the people of the United States. 
 
 "I confess that I have tortured and twisted the words used on the pages 
 referred to, so as to contain my meaning better without offending you, but so far 
 without success. I honestly believe that no man to-day holds in higher honor 
 than myself the conduct and action of John A. Logan from the hour when he 
 
MEMOIR' OF THE AUTHOR. 49 
 
 realized that the South meant war. Prior to the war all men had doubts, but the 
 moment Fort Sumter was fired on from batteries in Charleston these doubts dissi- 
 pated as a fog, and from that hour thenceforth your course was manly, patriotic, 
 and sublime. Throughout the whole war I know of no single man's career more 
 complete than yours. 
 
 ' ' Now as to the specific matter of this letter. I left Vicksburg in the fall of 
 1863 by order of General Grant in person, with three divisions of my own corps 
 (Fifteenth) and one of McPherson's (Sixteenth), to hasten to the assistance of the 
 Army of the Cumberland (General Rosecrans commanding), which according to the 
 then belief had been worsted at Chickamauga. Blair was with us, you were not. 
 We marched through mud and water four hundred miles from Memphis, and you 
 joined me on the march with an order to succeed me in command of the Fifteenth 
 Corps, a Presidential appointment, which Blair had exercised temporarily. Blair 
 was at that time a member of Congress, and was afterward named to command 
 the Seventeenth Corps, and actually remained so long in Washington that we had 
 got to Big Shanty before he overtook us. Again, after the battles of Missionary 
 Ridge and Knoxville, when Howard served with me, I went back to Vicksburg 
 and Meridian, leaving you in command of the Fifteenth Corps along the railroad 
 from Stevenson to Decatur. I was gone three months, and when I got back you 
 complained to me bitterly against George H. Thomas that he claimed for the Army 
 of the Cumberland everything and almost denied the Army of the Tennessee any 
 use of the railroads. I sustained you, and put all army and corps commanders on 
 an equal footing, making their orders and requisitions of equal force on the depot 
 officers and railroad officials in Nashville. Thomas was extremely sensitive on 
 that point, and, as you well know, had much feeling against you personally, which 
 he did not conceal. You also went to Illinois more than once to make speeches 
 and were so absent after the capture of Atlanta, at the time we started for Savan- 
 nah, and did not join us until we had reached Savannah. 
 
 ' ' Now I have never questioned the right or propriety of you and Blair hold- 
 ing fast to your constituents by the usual methods; it was natural and right, but it 
 did trouble me to have my corps commanders serving two distinct causes, one 
 military and the other civil or political; and this did influence me when I was 
 forced to make choice of an army commander to succeed McPherson. This is all 
 I record in my Memoirs; it was so, and I cannot amend them. Never in speech- 
 writing, or record, surely not in the Memoirs, do I recall applying to you and Blair, 
 for I always speak of you together, the term of ' political general.' If there be 
 such an expression I cannot find it now, nor can I recall its use. The only place 
 wherein the word ' politics ' occurs is in the pages which I have referred to, and 
 whereon I explain my own motive and reason for nominating Howard over you 
 and Blair for the vacant post. My reason may have been bad; nevertheless, it 
 was the reason which decided me then, and as a man of honor I was bound to 
 record it. At this time, 1883, Thomas being dead, I cannot say any more than is 
 in the text, viz.: that he took strong ground against you, and I was naturally 
 strongly influenced by his outspoken opinion. Still I will not throw off on him, 
 but state to you frankly that I then believed that the advice I gave Mr. Lincoln 
 was the best practicable. General Howard had been with me up to Knoxville, and 
 had displayed a zeal and ability which then elicited my hearty approbation; and as 
 
50 MEMOIR OF THE A UTHOR. 
 
 I trusted in a measure to skillful maneuvers rather than to downright hard fight- 
 ing, I recommended him. My Memoirs were designed to give the impressions of 
 the hour, and not to pass judgment on the qualities of men as exemplified in after 
 life. 
 
 " If you will point out to me a page or line where I can better portray your 
 fighting qualities, your personal courage, and magnificent example in actual com- 
 bat, I will be most happy to add to or correct the Memoirs; but when I attempt to 
 explain my own motives or reasons, you surely will be the first man to see that 
 outside influence will fail. 
 
 " My course is run, and for better or worse I cannot amend it; but if ever in 
 your future you want a, witness to your intense zeal and patriotism, your heroic 
 personal qualities, you may safely call on me as long as I live. I surely have 
 watched with pride and interest your career in the United States Senate, and will 
 be your advocate if you aim at higher honors. I assert with emphasis that I never 
 styled you or Blair 'political- generals,' and if I used the word "polities' in an 
 offensive sense, it was to explain my own motives for action, and not as 
 descriptive. 
 
 "Wishing you all honor and happiness on this earth, I am, as always, your 
 friend, W. T. Sherman." 
 
 GENERAL LOGAN TO GENERAL SHERMAN. 
 
 "Personal. United States Senate, 
 
 "Washington, D. C, Sunday, February 18, 1883. 
 •"General W. T. Sherman. 
 
 " My Dear Sir: I have delayed acknowledging your letter of the nth inst. up 
 to this time, for the reason that I have been so much engaged every moment of 
 time that I could not sooner do so. For your expression of kindly feelings toward 
 me, I tender my grateful acknowledgments. 
 
 " I am inclined, however, my dear General, to the opinion that, had you fully 
 understood the situation in which I was placed at the times mentioned by you, 
 that I returned North from the army for the purpose of taking part in the political 
 contests then going on, that perhaps your criticism on my then course would not 
 have been made. I did not do it for the purpose of ' keeping a hold on my 
 people.' I refused a nomination in my own State for a very high position, for the 
 reason that I would not have anything to do with parties while the war should 
 last. In 1863, when I went home to canvass in Illinois, and to help in Ohio, Gen- 
 eral Grant was fully advised, and knows that, although I had to make application 
 for leave of absence, I did not do it of my own volition, but at the request of those 
 high in authority. So when I left on leave, after the Atlanta campaign, to can- 
 vass for Mr. Lincoln, I did it at the special and private request of the then Presi- 
 dent. This I kept to myself, and have never made it public; nor do I propose to 
 do so now, but feel that I may in confidence say this to you, that you may see 
 what prompted my action in the premises. I have borne, for this reason, what- 
 ever I may have suffered by way of criticism, rather than turn criticism on the 
 dead. 
 
 " So far as General Thomas having feeling in the matter you mention, I pre- 
 sume he entertained the same feeling that seemed to be general, that no one with- 
 
MEMOIR OF THE A UTHOR. 5 I 
 
 out a military education was to be trusted to command an army. This, I think, 
 was the feeling then, and is now, and will ever be; I find no fault with it. This, 
 as a rule, is probably correct, but the experience of the world has occasionally 
 found exceptions to this rule. I certainly never gave General Thomas any occa- 
 sion to have strong feelings against me. I did complain that I was not on an 
 equality with him while I commanded between Decatur and Stevenson, that my 
 passes on the roads were not recognized, and I have General Thomas' letter 
 afterward, admitting the fact, and apologizing to me for the conduct of his officers 
 in this matter. I at all times cooperated with him cordially and promptly during 
 my stay at Huntsville, and at all other times subsequent. Certainly I did for him 
 afterward what few men would have done. When ordered to Nashville with a, 
 view of superseding him, at Louisville, when I found the situation of matters, I 
 wrote and telegraphed Grant that he, Thomas, was doing all he could, and asked 
 to be ordered back to my own command, which was done. This I say to show 
 my kind feeling for him, and to say that if I ever did anything to cause him to 
 complain of me, I was not aware of it. 
 
 "One thing, my dear General, that I feel conscious of, and that is that no 
 man ever obeyed your orders more promptly, and but few ever did you more 
 faithful service in carrying out your plans and military movements than myself. 
 
 " I may have done yourself and myself an injustice, by not disclosing to you 
 the cause of my returning North at the time I did, but you have my reasons for it. 
 I felt in honor that I could rest. 
 
 "This letter is intended only for full explanation, and for yourself only. I 
 do not feel aggrieved, as you think, but will ever remain your friend. 
 
 ' ' Yours truly, 
 
 John A. Logan." 
 
 I now, with reverence for his memory, admiration for his heroism in battle, 
 and love for the man, hereby ratify and confirm every word of his letter of Feb- 
 ruary i8, 1883. 
 
 I was fully conscious that General Logan felt deeply what he believed at the 
 time a. great wrong to himself, and that he yet continued, with unabated ardor, 
 ieal, and strength, to fight to the end for the cause we both held sacred. For the 
 twenty-one years since the war has ended we have been closely associated in the 
 many army societies which treasure tjie memories of the war, have shared the 
 same banquets, and spoken to the same audiences. Only recently, at San Fran- 
 cisco, Seattle, and Rock Island, we were together, each a rival to give pleasure 
 and do honor to the other; and still later, within the past month, he was at the 
 Fifth Avenue Hotel, his rooms next to mine, and not a night passed but we were 
 together discussing old or new events. Both of us were men of strong opinions, 
 sometimes of hasty expression, yet ever maintaining the friendship which two 
 soldiers should bear to each other. Most undoubtedly did I expect him to survive 
 me, and I have always expressed a wish that he, the then strongest type of the 
 volunteer soldier alive, might become the President of the United States. 
 
 It is ordered otherwise; but as it is, he has left to his family a name and 
 fame which could have been little increased had he lived to attain the office for 
 which so many good men contend, spite of the experience of the past. 
 
52 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR 
 
 When the Society of the Army of the Tennessee holds its next meeting, in 
 Detroit, next September, if living, I may have more to say on this subject. 
 
 Your friend, W. T. Sherman. 
 
 The reader will not fail to note that in the open, ixscak, personal 
 letter of General Logan, under date of February i8, 1883, he 
 explains to his former commander the true secret of his absence 
 from the army and of his presence in the North during certain 
 political campaigns, which secret reveals the simple fact that the 
 absence was not in compliance with his own /desire, but in obedi- 
 ence to the personal request of President Lincoln. He takes pains 
 to state in the letter that he had never made this request public, 
 and that, having no purpose to do so, he had " suffered criticism, 
 rather than turn criticism on the dead." 
 
 A perusal of the correspondence, as published in the Tribune, 
 will prompt the impartial reader to ask why, if it were meant 
 to render belated justice to General Logan, it was not published 
 with the consent of the General while living ; or why, publication 
 being delayed until after his decease, it was not published with the 
 consent of his family and friends. If there v,rere any possible vin- 
 dication in the communication of General Sherman herein quoted. 
 General Logan would never have availed himself of it under the 
 possible necessity of being compelled to divulge a secret which, 
 without the knowledge of attendant circumstances, might tarnish 
 the fame of a martyred hero, nor would General Logan's friends, 
 with full knowledge of his sentiments, have consented to the pub- 
 lication after his death of a confidence that he had guarded so 
 religiously during life. 
 
 The pure character and unselfish official career of Abraham 
 Lincoln need no further eulogy from his countrymen to insure 
 just appreciation of that great man, at the present day or in 
 future time, but the connection is a suitable one in which to offer 
 such remarks upon the political incidents of General Logan's mili- 
 tary life as may here be made. 
 
 The following quotation from the "Memoirs" of General 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR, 53 
 
 Grant (vol. I., p. 243) will recall General Logan's political position 
 at the outbreak of the war and furnish the key to the subsequent 
 difficult position in which he was placed : 
 
 " The ten regiments which had volunteered in the State service 
 for thirty days," says General Grant, "it will be remembered, had 
 done so with a pledge to go into the National service if called upon 
 within that time. When they volunteered, the Government had 
 only called for ninety days' enlis1;ments. Men were called now for 
 three years or the war. They felt that this change of period 
 released them from the obligations of re-volunteering. When I 
 was appointed colonel, the Twenty-first Regiment was still in the 
 State service. About the time they were to be mustered into the 
 United States service — such of them as would go — two members 
 of Congress from the State, McClernand and Logan, appeared at 
 the capital, and I was introduced to them. I had never seen either 
 of them before, but I had read a great deal about them, and par- 
 ticularly about Logan, in the newspapers. Both were Democratic 
 members of Congress, and Logan had been elected from the South- 
 ern district of the State, where he had a majority of eighteen thousand 
 over his Republican competitor. His district had been settled originally 
 by people from the Southern States, and at the breaking-out of 
 secession they sympathized with the South. At the first outbreak 
 of war some of them joined the Southern army; many others were 
 preparing to do so j others rode over the country at night denouncing the 
 Union, and made it as necessary to guard railroad bridges over which the 
 National troops had to pass in Southern Illinois as it was in Kentucky or 
 any of the border slave States. Logan's popularity in this district was 
 unbounded. He knew almost enough of the people by their Christian names 
 to form an ordinary Congressional district. As he went in politics, so his 
 district was sure to go. The Republican papers had been demanding 
 that he should announce where he stood on the questions which at 
 that time engrossed the whole of public thought. Some were very 
 bitter in their denunciations of his silence. Logan was not a man 
 to be coerced into an utterance by threats. He did, however, come 
 
54 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 out in a speech before the adjournment of the special session of 
 Congress which was convened by the President soon after his 
 inauguration, and announced his undying loyalty and devotion to 
 the Union. But I had not happened to see that speech, so that 
 when I first met Logan my impressions were those formed from 
 reading denunciations of him. The gentleman who presented 
 these two members of Congress asked me if I would have any 
 objections to their addressing my regiment. I hesitated a little 
 before answering. It was but a few days before the time set for 
 mustering into the United States service such of the men as were 
 willing to volunteer for three years or for the war. I had some 
 doubt as to the effect a speech from Logan might have, but as he 
 was with McClernand, whose sentiments on the all-absorbing 
 questions of the day were well known, I gave my consent. Mc- 
 Clernand spoke first, and Logan followed in a speech which he has 
 hardly equaled since for force and eloquence. It breathed a loyalty 
 and devotion to the Union which inspired my men to such a point that they 
 ■would have volunteered to remain in the army as long as an enemy of the 
 country continued to bear arms against it. They entered the United States 
 service almost to a man. 
 
 " General Logan went to his part of the State and gave his 
 attention to raising troops. The very men who at first made it neces- 
 sary to guard the roads in Southern Illinois became the defenders of the 
 Union. Logan entered the service himself, as colonel of a regiment, and 
 rapidly rose to the rank of major-general. His district, which had 
 promised at first to give much trouble to the Government, filled every call 
 made upon it for troops without resorting to the draft. There was no call 
 made when there were not more volunteers than were ashed for. That 
 Congressional district stands credited at the War Department to- 
 day with furnishing more men for the army than it was called upon to 
 supply." 
 
 This frank and generous statement of the great commander of 
 the Union hosts sets forth in forcible terms the political influence 
 which General Logan possessed at the outbreak of hostilities, and 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 55 
 
 the inestimable service that this single man rendered to his imper- 
 iled country. Much could be added to it, in illustration of the 
 sacrifices of a personal nature that he was compelled to make in 
 adopting, the course pursued. Full justice for these sacrifices 
 must be left to his biographers proper. 
 
 The remarkable power possessed by General Logan at the 
 beginning of the war was added to, year by year, until the period 
 of his death; and it came to be recognized that as Logan went, so 
 went not only his old district, but also the State of Illinois. His 
 following then, and in all of the after years, was so \s.x^€\.y personal 
 in character, that a very grave political question, it is to be feared, 
 has been presented to his party by his premature taking-off. 
 
 But to resume the principal topic. The preliminary proclama 
 tion of emancipation had been issued upon the 22d of Septerabet 
 1862, and the fall elections of that year had resulted in the defea 
 of the Republicans in the pivotal States of New York, Ohio, Ind' 
 ana, and Illinois. Upon the ist of January, 1863, the formal Pro* - 
 lamation of Emancipation was issued. It is unnecessary in rhis 
 connection to dwell upon the position of the Government at '.hat 
 time. No one knew better than President Lincoln himself the 
 legal weakness of that proclamation, and probably no one foresaw 
 more clearly than he its possible effects in alienating the war ele- 
 ment of the Northern Democrats from the support of the Admin- 
 istration in the prosecution of hostilities. As the year wore on, 
 and the fall elections once more approached, the danger of a 
 majority in the Lower House adverse to the continuance of the 
 war began seriously to be felt. It was a period of deep appre- 
 hension with those realizing the situation. At such a crisis what 
 was more natural than that the Administration, in the effort to 
 avail itself of every agency in the election of a Crmgress that 
 would vote the means necessary to carry on the war, should 
 request the man who had shown himself possessed of the mag- 
 netic power in Illinois, described by General Grant, and who was 
 known to be almost as influential in the neighboring State of Indi- 
 
56 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 ana, more doubtful in loyalty still than Logan's own State, to come 
 back for a short period, in order to lend as effective aid to the Union 
 at home as any single man could possibly render at the front? 
 
 General Logan had resigned a seat in Congress, to which he 
 had been just elected, to go to the war. He had been importuned 
 in the summer of 1862 to return from the army, and to again 
 accept a seat in Congress. This request had been refused by him 
 in a letter of lofty patriotism, in which he declared that he could 
 have no political aspiration while the war lasted. But, to further 
 the cause of the Union, he returned for a brief period in 1863, to a 
 duty at home which no one could perform as well as he. 
 
 In the fall of 1864 the Presidential question was again impend- 
 ing, and, though Atlanta had fallen, the opposition to the war had 
 grown to alarming proportions, and through its nomination of a 
 former Union general, the result of the election seemed not at all' 
 assured to the Republicans. Another appeal was made to the man 
 who, on forum and field, had proven himself a Colossus in defense 
 of country. Again he returned to his home, and after the election 
 of an Administration pledged to a maintenance of the Union, and 
 to the prosecution of the war until the defeat of rebellion had 
 become an accomplishedi;,fact, he went back to his active command, 
 and remained in the field until the close of hostilities. 
 
 It hardly need be said that the call upon General Logan by 
 President Lincoln in no sense implied the base personal motive 
 that has been imputed to it since the ill-advised publication of the 
 private letters between the first-named and General Sherman, in 
 1883. The prime object of the patriotic Lincoln and his co-labor- 
 ers was to save the Union by placing its destinies in the hands of 
 its friends. 
 
 The foregoing relation covers the precise basis upon which the 
 charge that Logan was a " political general " rests. The author of 
 General Sherman's "Memoirs," in his letter of February 11, 1883, 
 heretofore given, distinctly denies using the word " politics " in the 
 work mentioned as applied to Generals Logan and Blair, anywhere 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 57 
 
 else than as used in the pages which have already been quoted. 
 The following paragraph, however, is to be found in the "Mem- 
 oirs" (vol. II., page 130): 
 
 " All the army, officers and men, seemed to relax more or less, 
 and sink into a condition of idleness " [after the capture of 
 Atlanta]. "General Schofield was permitted to go to Knoxville, 
 to look after the matters in his department of the Ohio, and Gen- 
 erals Blair and Logan went home to look after politics." 
 
 Is there no sarcasm in that closing sentence ? Had they failed 
 to go home " to look after politics " in assistance of other efficient 
 workers at the home end of the contest, what condition, it may be 
 asked, might have confronted the brave boys in blue at the very 
 beginning of " the march to the sea " ? 
 
 Now that the admission of General Logan's letter to General 
 Sherman, of February 18, 1883, has been made public, the 
 reminder will be permitted that General Grant in his " Memoirs " 
 corroborates the assertion of the letter, though the contained fact 
 is delicately and impersonally stated in the following words: 
 " Generals Logan and Blair commanded the two corps composing 
 the right wing. About this time they left to take part in the Pres- 
 idential election which took place that year, leaving their corps to 
 Osterhaus and Ransom. I have no doubt that their leaving was at the 
 earnest solicitation of the War Department." (Memoirs of General 
 Grant, vol. II., p. 352.) 
 
 Arrived at this point, new evidence of General Logan's remark- 
 able character will be presented to demonstrate not only that he 
 was one of the most unselfish and one of the most punctiliously 
 honorable of men, but also that he possessed those very features 
 of strict subordination and unambitious patriotism that should ever 
 characterize the soldier of the Republic. The documents now to 
 be given were in General Logan's possession from the date they 
 bear to the period of his death. They tell an interesting story, 
 the disclosure of which is fully warranted by the publication of 
 General Logan's private letter of February 18, 188^. 
 
58 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 The battle of Atlanta had been fought and won on the 22 nd of 
 July, 1864, by General Logan and the superb Army of the Tennes- 
 see. The General had executed a most brilliant and perilous 
 movement, under cover of darkness, upon the night of July 27, by 
 which his army was swung into a new and better position. His 
 soldiers were filled with enthusiasm for their daring and brilliant 
 leader, and they, as well as he, expected that he would be given 
 the promotion to which he was entitled. Instead of receiving this 
 promotion, however, a West Point officer was called from a 
 department of the East, though then personally present in the West, 
 and placed in command of the Army of the Tennessee, in contra- 
 vention of the equities of the case, as also of the interests of the 
 country. As a supplement to this act the author of General Sher- 
 man's " Memoirs " (published, as before said, ten years after the close 
 of the war) declared, in explanation of the motive through which 
 General Logan was deprived of the promotion, that he, the author, 
 did not consider General Logan "equal to the command of three corps." 
 
 The following documents will give the opinion of the author of 
 
 the "Memoirs " at the date of the occurrence itself: 
 
 " Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi, 
 "In the Field, near Atlanta, Ga., July 27, 1864. 
 " General John A. Logan. 
 
 "Dear General : Take a good rest. I know you are worn out with mental and 
 physical work. No one could have a higher appreciation of the responsibility that 
 devolved on you so unexpectedly, and the noble manner in which you met it. I 
 fear you will feel disappointed at not succeeding permanently to the command of 
 the army and department. I assure you, in giving preference to General Howard 
 I will not fail to give you every credit for having done so well. You have com- 
 mand of a good corps, a command that I would prefer to the more complicated 
 one of a department, and if you will be patient it will come to you soon enough. Be 
 assured of my entire confidence. 
 
 " After you have rested come d<3wn to General Davis' position, and then to the 
 new position of your corps. Assume command of it, and things will move along 
 harmoniously and well. If I can do anything to mark my full sense of the honor- 
 able manner in which you acted in the battle and since, name it to me frankly 
 and I will do it. General Howard and I will go off to the right, to survey the 
 new field and prepare the way for the troops. Your friend, 
 
 " W. T. Sherman, Major-General. " 
 The italics are not part of the original document. 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 59 
 
 It will be observed that this letter breathes a tone of confi- 
 dence not to be mistaken in the military ability of General Logan, 
 while the open assurance that if the latter would be patient " the 
 more complicated command of a department " would come soon 
 enough, discloses the commanding General's opinion of General 
 Logan as a soldier after the battle of Atlanta. This opinion stands 
 in remarkable contrast with the statement of the " Memoirs " 
 above quoted, viz.: that the commanding General failed to pro- 
 mote General Logan to the vacant post because he did not con- 
 sider him equal to the command of ihree corps. General Logan 
 had commanded three corps that very day, and had won a brilliant 
 victory. The prestige of actual demonstration already belonged 
 to him. Nor will the further tribute of the above letter to General 
 Logan's character pass the observant reader. So impressed was 
 the commander with the noble bearing of his subordinate, that he 
 expressed his entire willingness to do anything that he could to 
 mark his full sense of the honorable manner in which he (General 
 Logan) " had acted in the battle and since." 
 
 This WcS not the first expression made by the same officer 
 upon General Logan's capabilities as a soldier. The latter, it will 
 be remembered, had been named brigadier-general for gallant ser- 
 vices, at the instance of General Grant, and his confirmation to 
 this rank was made March 3d, 1862. In the operations before 
 Corinth, General Logan's brigade was placed under orders of 
 General Sherman, and in the affairs of May 28th and 29th, 1862, 
 General Logan's services were of such importance as to elicit the 
 warm acknowledgments of his superiors. These were made in an 
 official report, dated May 30th, in which report General Sherman 
 says: " I feel under special obligation to this officer. General Logan, 
 who, during the two days he served under me, held critical ground 
 on my right, extending down to the railroad. All that time he 
 had in his front a large force of the enemy, but so dense was the 
 foliage that he could not reckon their strength save from what he 
 could see on the railroad track." 
 
6o MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 The narrative is momentarily interrupted at this point with 
 the purpose to relate an incident before Corinth which is strongly- 
 illustrative of the military sagacity of General Logan, and which 
 also places in contrast the practical acumen of the volunteer with 
 the set methods and the dogmatic rules of the mere academic 
 soldier. 
 
 When the advance was being slowly but cautiously made upon 
 Corinth, after the battle of Shiloh, General Logan, being stationed 
 near the railroad, was induced, through circumstances related by 
 some of his men, to believe that the rebels were evacuating Cor- 
 inth. With ears to the rails he could hear through the quiet oi 
 the night trains entering Corinth empty and going out loaded. 
 Satisfied that the enemy was about to retreat, he informed General 
 Grant of his belief, who reported it to General Halleck, then at 
 the head of the Western Department as organized at that time. 
 General Halleck impatiently declared that General Logan was 
 mistaken, and substantially said that, being only a " volunteer, he 
 did not know what he was talking of." A little later Logan 
 assured himself more firmly than before of the correctness of his 
 opinion, and again reported it through Grant to the General com- 
 manding. Halleck, with an oath, declared that the enemy was 
 receiving reinforcements with every incoming train, and that the 
 next day would witness a fierce battle. Further than this, he unre- 
 servedly told General Grant that if Logan sent any more reports 
 of that kind he would have him placed under arrest. This is 
 stated upon undeniable authority, though General Grant, in his 
 own " Memoir^," with his usual charity, omits this part of the facts 
 in relating the occurrence. 
 
 When day returned and the General commanding the Union 
 forces ventured a reconnoissance, it was found that the enemy had 
 fled from Corinth, and thus it became demonstrated that, had the 
 advice of the volunteer General to attack at once been followed, 
 the rebel army, surprised at night upon the retreat, would, in all 
 probability, have been wholly captured, and the war abbreviated 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 6 1 
 
 in consequence by a very considerable period of time. This sad mis- 
 take was made, not by a volunteer officer, but by General Halleck, 
 the " Old Brains " of the regular army. 
 
 After the battle of Raymond, which was so splendidly won by 
 Logan and his brave men through the impetuous assault upon the 
 rebel line under Gregg, General Logan's ability was so manifest 
 that Grant has said of him at this stage of his career as follows : 
 " I regarded Logan and Crocker as being as competent division 
 commanders as could be found in or out of the army, and both 
 equal to a much higher command." (Memoirs of General Grant, 
 vol. L, p. 497-) 
 
 After the brilliant series of battles that finally led to the fall 
 and occupation of Vicksburg, in all of which General Logan bore 
 a conspicuous part, the great leader of the Union armies, who was 
 no less generous than great — an attribute which, it may be said 
 in passing, is an inseparable accompaniment of all real greatness 
 — records his admiration of General Logan's military .genius in 
 the statement that he " ended the campaign fitted to command an in- 
 dependent army." (Memoirs, vol. I., p. 573.). 
 
 This was the testimony of General Grant, that superb man and 
 soldier, in July, 1863, while the private letter of General Sherman, 
 under date of July 27, 1864, above given, not only bore a like testi- 
 mony, but declared that the command itself would come soon 
 enough, with patience. 
 
 It is well known to the reader familiar with the history of the 
 Civil War that General Hooker, a brilliant West Point officer, then 
 commanding the Twentieth Army Corps of the Military Division of 
 the Mississippi, under General Sherman, also expected to be trans- 
 ferred to the command of the Army of the Tennessee, and that 
 because he failed to receive it he sulked and asked to be relieved of 
 his command during the advance upon the enemy. 
 
 This action of General Hooker created much sensation among 
 regular army officials, while the palpable injustice done to General 
 Logan and his lofty bearing under the wound gave rise to com- 
 
62 MEMOJR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 ments that induced the commanding General to again attempt the 
 defense of his course. Under date of August i6, something more 
 than a fortnight after the first letter to General Logan, heretofore 
 given, General Sherman addressed to him a communication of 
 which the following is a verbatim copy, with the exception of the 
 italics : 
 
 "Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi, 
 
 "In the Field, , August i6, 1864. 
 
 ' ' General Logan : I made a letter (official) to the War Department, explanatory 
 of certain matters personal to yourself and others, and instructed Dayton to fur- 
 nish you a copy. He says he has done so. I intended to have sent it you with a 
 private note. I think my official letter ought to be satisfactory to you, and if so, you 
 are at liberty to furnish a copy of the part relating to yourself to your friends at home^ 
 and you may even publish the part named. But keep the original and be careful not 
 to give copy of the part relating to Hooker to any person. The War Department has 
 a right to the fullest intelligence, but it is not well to publish our opinions when 
 controverted, as they lead to discussions which cannot do any good; but I do think, 
 as between you and Hooker, no soldier or gentleman will hesitate to say that if I did 
 injustice to either or both, you have best vindicated yourself by standing fast. You 
 will never lose by such a course, and I hope, even now, you feel so. 
 
 " Your friend, 
 
 "W. T. Sherman." 
 
 The official report which accompanied this second letter is as 
 follows : 
 
 "Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi, 
 
 "In the Field Near Atlanta, Ga., August 16, 1864. 
 "Major-General Halleck, Chief of Staff, Washington, D. C: 
 
 ' ' General: It occurs to me that preliminary to a future report of the history of this 
 campaign, I should record certain facts of great personal interest to officers of this, 
 command. 
 
 " General McPherson was killed by the musketry fire at the beginning of the 
 battle of July 22. He had in person selected the grounds for his troops, constitut- 
 ing the left wing of the army; I being in person with the center — General 
 Schofield. 
 
 "The moment the information reached me I sent one of my staff to announce 
 the fact to General John A. Logan, the senior officer present with the Army of the 
 Tennessee, with general instructions to maintain the ground chosen by McPherson 
 if possible, but if pressed too hard to refuse his left flank ; but at all events to hold 
 the railroad and main Decatur road ; that I did not propose to move or gain 
 ground by that flank, but rather by the right ; and that I wanted the Army of the 
 Tennessee to fight it out unaided. General Logan' admirably conceived my 
 orders and executed them, and if he gave ground on the left of the Seventeenth 
 Corps it was properly done by my orders ; but he held a certain hill by the right 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 63 
 
 division of the Seventeenth Corps, the only ground on that line the possession of 
 which by an enemy would have damaged us by giving a reverse fire on the remain- 
 der of the troops. General Logan fought that battle out as required, unaided ; 
 save by a small brigade sent by ray orders from General Schofield to the Decatur 
 road, well to the rear, when it was reported the enemy's cavalry had got into the 
 town of Decatur and was approaching directly on the rear of Logan; but that 
 brigade was not disturbed, and was replaced that night by a part of the Fifteenth 
 Corps next to Schofield, and Schofield's brigade brought back so as to be kept 
 :ogether on its own line. General Logan managed the Army of the Tennessee 
 well during his command, and it may be that an unfair inference might be drawn 
 t.. his prejudice because he did not succeed to the permanent command. I was 
 lorced to choose a commander not only for the army in the field, but of the 
 Department of the Tennessee, covering a vast extent of country, with troops well 
 dispersed. It was a delicate and difficult task, and I gave preference to Major- 
 General O. O. Howard, then in command of the Fourth Army Corps, in the De- 
 partment of the Cumberland. Instead of giving my reasons, I prefer that the 
 wisdom of the choice be left to the test of time. 
 
 " The President kindly ratified my choice, and I am willing to assume the 
 responsibility. I meant no disrespect to any officer, and hereby declare that 
 General Logan submitted with the grace and dignity of a soldier, gentleman, and 
 patriot, resumed the command of his corps proper (Fifteenth), and enjoys the love 
 and respect of his army and his commanders. It so happened that on the 28th of 
 July I had again thrown the same army to the extreme right, the exposed flank, 
 when the enemy repeated the same maneuver, striking in mass the extreme corps 
 deployed in line, and refused as a flank (the Fifteenth, Major-General Logan) and 
 he commanded in person. General Howard and myself being near, and that 
 corps as heretofore reported, repulsed the rebel army completely, and next day 
 advanced and occupied the ground fought over, and the road the enemy sought to 
 cover. General Howard, who had that very day assumed his new command, une- 
 quivocally gives General Logan all the credit possible, and I also beg to add my 
 most unqualified admiration of the bravery, skill, and nerve, more yet, good sense, 
 that influenced him to bear a natural disappointment, and do his whole duty like a 
 man. If I could bestow on him substantial reward it would ailord me unalloyed 
 satisfaction, but I do believe in the consciousness of acts done from noble im- 
 pulses, and gracefully admitted by his superiors in authority, he will be contented. 
 
 " He already holds the highest known commission in the army, and it is hard 
 to say how we can better manifest our applause. 
 
 "At the time of General Howard's selection Major-General Hooker com- 
 manded the Twentieth Army Corps in the Army of the Cumberland, made up for 
 his special accommodation out of the old Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, whereby 
 Major-General Slocum was deprived of his corps command. Both the law and 
 practice are and have been to fill vacancies in the higher army commands by 
 selection. Rank or dates of commission have not controlled, nor am I aware that 
 any reflection can be inferred unless the junior be placed immediately over the 
 senior; but in this case General Hooker's command was in no way disturbed. 
 General Howard was not put over him, but in charge of a distinct and separate 
 army, no indignity was offered or intended, and I must say that General Hooker 
 
64 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 was not justified in retiring. At all events, had he spoken or written to me, I 
 would have made every explanation and concession he could have expected, but 
 could not have changed ray course, because, then as now, I believed it right and 
 for the good of our country and cause. As a matter of justice, General Slocum, 
 having been displaced by the consolidation, was deemed by General Thomas 
 as entitled to the vacancy created by General Hooker's voluntary withdrawal, and 
 has received it. With great respect, 
 
 • "W. T. Sherman, 
 
 "Major-General Commanding. 
 " Official Copy. 
 
 "L. M. Dayton, Aide-de-Camp." 
 
 The interesting character of these documents will appear at 
 a glance. They tell a faithful story of the prevailing indigna- 
 tion caused by the injustice done to the gallant Logan, while they 
 bring their author to the witness-stand in defense of the injured 
 man. No praise could be greater than that so freely bestowed 
 upon him who proved conclusively by his conduct through the 
 bitter ordeal that, as a man, his character was most lofty ; that as a 
 soldier, he was the peer of any of his contemporaries ; and that, 
 as a patriot, his whole impulse was most unselfish. After perusal 
 of these documents, it seems difficult indeed to realize that the 
 writer of General Sherman's " Memoirs " could have publicly de- 
 clared the opinion that General Logan as an officer was incompetent 
 to commEtnd "three corps," and that he could more than intimate 
 that, as a soldier, he subordinated the military character to political 
 ambition. In view of the resentful course pursued by the West 
 Pointer, General Hooker, the writer of the letter of August i6 was 
 ready to affirm that, if he had done injustice to either (Logan or 
 Hooker), Logan had best vindicated himself by standing fast. A volume 
 could render no higher tribute to the soldier than these few words 
 of the commanding General. 
 
 A curious confirmation of this testimony is presented by another 
 letter, which may now be given to the public, since it leaves its 
 author in no worse position than his published record in this con- 
 nection has already left him. 
 
 If the West Point officer commanding the Military Division of 
 the Mississippi was lavish in his tributes to the great volunteer, the 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 65 
 
 professional soldier, who believed himself a victim of the same 
 blow dealt to General Logan, was not less sparing of praise when 
 declaring that he could have remained under the command of Gen- 
 eral Logan without the sacrifice of honor and principle. 
 
 The following document completes the list of papers herein 
 presented to the public as part of the history of this remarkable 
 occurrence: 
 
 " Headquarters Twentieth Corps, Army of the Cumberland, 
 
 "Near Atlanta, Ga., July 27, 1864. 
 " Major-General Logan. 
 
 "Dear General : On receiving news this morning that Major-General Howard 
 had been assigned to the command of your army, I asked to be relieved from duty 
 with this army, it being an insult to my rank and services. Had you retained the 
 command I could have remained on duty without the sacrifice of honor or of principle. 
 As it is, God bless and protect you. We will meet when this war is over. 
 " Your friend and servant, Joseph Hooker, 
 
 "Major-General." 
 
 As a continuing climax to this overwhelming array of testi- 
 mony in proof of General Logan's splendid military ability, the 
 following statement of the great captain of the Union armies may 
 here be quoted: 
 
 " Logan felt very much aggrieved at the transfer of General 
 Howard from that portion of the Army of the Potomac which was 
 then with the Western Army, to the command of the Army of the 
 Tennessee, with which General Logan had served from the battle 
 of Belmont to the fall of Atlanta, having passed successively 
 through all the grades from colonel commanding a regiment to 
 general commanding a brigade, division, and army corps, until 
 upon the death of McPherson the command of the entire Army of 
 the Tennessee devolved upon him in the midst of a hotly-contested 
 battle. He conceived that he had done his full duty as a com- 
 mander in that engagement, and I can bear testimony from per- 
 sonal observation that he had proved himself fully equal to all the 
 lower positions which he had occupied as a soldier. I will not 
 pretend to question the motive which actuated Sherman in taking 
 
66 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 an ofHcer from another army to supersede General Logan. I have 
 no doubt whatever that he did this for what he considered would 
 be to the good of the service, which was more important than that 
 the personal feelings of any individual should not be aggrieved; 
 though I doubt whether he had an officer with him who could have filled 
 the place as Logan would have done."^ 
 
 A point in the career of General Logan which bears closely 
 upon the subject under consideration remains to be touched 
 uj>on. 
 
 The General commanding the Military Division of the Missis- 
 sippi had told General Logan, in his letter of July 27, 1864, herein 
 quoted, that the command of a Department would come soon 
 ■enough to him (Logan), if he would but be patient. Within less 
 than six months thereafter, the prediction was fulfilled in a wholly 
 unexpected manner. The incident about to be related has received 
 many versions, but, owing to the modesty of General Logan, no 
 one of them has been wholly correct. The authentic account 
 is now given of an act which of itself is sufficient to prove the 
 singularly pure character of General Logan, and to furnish a 
 triumphant release from the failse position in which he was 
 placed before, and the doubly embarrassing one in which he was 
 fixed after, the publication of the " Memoirs " of General Sherman, 
 
 When the march to the sea was about to be commenced, thq 
 rebel General Hood was left in the rear of General Sherman's 
 army, under the expectation that General Thomas would be well 
 able to take care of him. Thomas was at Nashville, and Hood 
 boldly invested the position of the latter at that point. General 
 Grant, with the fear that Hood would succeed in passing north of 
 the Cumberland River, and thus create a panic in the Northern 
 States, became very urgent that Thomas, whose force was superior 
 to that of Hood's, should move against the latter. Thomas 
 delayed until Grant threatened to displace him if he did not 
 move at once. Even this menace did not induce him to give bat- 
 
 •Memoirs of General Grant, vol. II., page 353. 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. f] 
 
 tie to the enemy. Upon this state of the case General Grant sent 
 General Logan, whom the former says in his " Memoirs " he " knew 
 to be a gallant and efficient officer," to relieve Thomas at Nashville. 
 Logan took the order, as bound to do by duty, and started to the 
 West; but, instead of proceeding to Nashville with all haste he 
 remained in Cincinnati for some time, with the purpose of giving 
 Thomas a fair opportunity to move if he intended to. Reaching 
 Louisville on the 17th of December, General Logan found that 
 new^ had just arrived there of Thomas' brilliant battle of the 15th, 
 which news he immediately telegraphed to General Grant, and 
 prepared to return to his own command under Sherman. 
 
 Growing out of this occurrence, a question was subsequently 
 raised in the interest of General Schofield, who at that time com- 
 manded the Army of the Ohio. This question lasted long after 
 the close of the war, and drew forth two letters from General Grant 
 to General Logan upon the subject, dated respectively January 25, 
 1884, and February 14, 1884. As tending still further to place 
 General Logan's magnanimous course in this episode wholly 
 beyond question, extracts from both letters mentioned are here 
 given: 
 
 " New York City, January 25, 1884. 
 "General John A. Logan, Washington, D. C. 
 
 "My Dear General: * * * P. S. I recollect some years after the 
 Rebellion that General Schofield asked me if I intended his supersedure by your 
 going to relieve General Thomas, and that I told him I had not. He was in com- 
 mand of the Army of the Ohio by assignment of the President, and General 
 Thomas was in command of the Army of the Cumberland by a similar assign- 
 ment. The two armies coming together naturally fell under Thomas, who was 
 the senior. Whether your order, as written, would have given you command of 
 the whole without regard to seniority, it is impossible for me to say now without 
 seeing the order. If it did not, you would naturally have commanded the whole 
 by reason of seniority if you were the senior, and my recollection is you were. 
 General Schofield, I remember, was appointed a major-general before you were, 
 but not confirmed by the Senate, and was not, if my recollection serves me right, 
 confirmed as a major-general when I took command of the military division, but 
 I assigned him to the command of the Army of the Ohio, and he was afterwards 
 confirmed, but I do not know of what date. 
 
 " Very truly yours, U. S. Grant, 
 
 " Per F. F. Wood." 
 
68 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 " United Bank Building, Wall Street and Broadway, 
 " New York, February 14, 1884. 
 " Hon. John A. Logan, U. S. Senate, Washington, D. C. 
 
 " Dear Sir: In reply to your letter of the nth, I have to say that my re- 
 sponse must be from memory entirely, having no data at hand to refer to, but in 
 regard to the order for you to go to Louisville and Nashville for the purpose of 
 relieving General Thomas, I never thought of the question of who should com- 
 mand the combined armies of the Cumberland and the Ohio. I was simply dis- 
 satisfied with the slowness of General Thomas' moving, and sent you out with 
 orders to relieve him. No doubt if the order had been carried out the question 
 would immediately have arisen as to who was entitled to the combined command, 
 provided General Schofield was senior in rank to you, which I do not know that 
 he was. I know that his confirmation as a major-general took place long after 
 yours, but I do not know the date of his commission. The question in that case 
 of the command of the whole would have been settled in a very few hours by the use 
 of the telegraph between Nashville and Washington. I was in Washington when 
 you arrived at Louisville and telegraphed me that General Thomas had moved, and, 
 as I remember the telegram, expressing gratification that he had done so. I was then on 
 my way to Nashville myself, and remained over a day in Washington hoping that 
 Thomas might still move. Of course I was gratified when I learned that he had 
 moved, because it was a very delicate and unpleasant matter to remove a man of 
 General Thomas' character and standing before the country, but still I had urged 
 him so long to move that I had come to think it a duty. 
 
 "Of course in sending you to relieve General Thomas I meant no reflectioa 
 whatever upon General Schofield, who was commanding the Army of the Ohio, be- 
 cause I thought that he had done very excellent service in punishing the entire 
 force under Hood a few days before, some twenty-five miles south of Nash- 
 ville. Very truly yoiirs, 
 
 " U. S. Grant, 
 
 " Per Frank F. Wood." 
 
 The italics do not appear in the original document. 
 
 This testimony, offered by General Grant himself, will shed 
 additional luster upon the character of John A. Logan, the 
 unselfish, unambitious, patriotic volunteer of the Rebellion. Had 
 General Logan really been a spurious soldier, compounded of 
 political influence and military pretension; had it been true that 
 he entered the army to subserve personal and political ambition, 
 this was the opportunity that he would have eagerly embraced to 
 grasp not only the command of a single army department, but a 
 possible, and perhaps a probable, double command of the combined 
 armies of Thomas and Schofield. General Logan, being well 
 aware, too, at the time of its occurrence, of the circumstance sub- 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 69 
 
 sequently stated in the "Memoirs" of General Sherman, viz.: that 
 General Thomas had determinedly remonstrated with the com- 
 mander of the Military Division of the Mississippi against the pro- 
 motion of the former to the command of the Army of the Ten- 
 nessee, made vacant by the death of McPherson, would have here 
 found the presenting opportunity, not only to subserve the aspira- 
 tions of a vaulting ambition, but also to administer retributive 
 justice, or injustice, as one may view the case. 
 
 A professional soldier of the stamp so well depicted in the 
 present volume might have grasped the opportunity with eager 
 haste. But General Logan was not that sort of soldier. He had no 
 petty feelings of revenge in the make-up of his noble character. 
 He never met an enemy in that kind of way. He believed Thomas 
 to be capable and that his delay in moving was unavoidable. The 
 volunteer soldier scorned to win preferment at the expense of a 
 competent officer. The horse may be led to the water, but he 
 cannot be compelled to drink. General Logan started to comply 
 with the order of his chief, but he delayed its execution in order 
 to give General Thomas every opportunity to save his reputation, 
 and when information of Thomas' victory reached him at Louisville 
 he telegraphed the news to General Grant and expressed his satis- 
 faction with the result, as will now be seen by the letters just given. 
 
 This plain recital of facts not to be disproved sweeps away 
 many aspersions against General Logan and places him before his 
 countrymen upon a pinnacle of greatness. No fair judge, after 
 learning the indisputable truth, can fail to accord to him the quali- 
 ties of a rare military genius and of a man of remarkable personal 
 character. 
 
 There are men too ungenerous to acknowledge an error, and 
 there are others too selfish to entertain the idea of even-handed 
 justice, much less to give it practical application. All men are 
 liable to err in judgment. Says the Hippocratic maxim, " Art is 
 long, life is short, experience deceptive, and judgment difficult." If 
 a mistake as to General Logan's military and personal character 
 
Jo MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 had been made, how nobler would its prompt and frank acknowl- 
 edgment have been ? 
 
 Standing in the clearer light of the present day and under the 
 ifull illumination of all the facts connected with the injury done to 
 the volunteer soldier in the person of General Logan, can any one 
 fail to recognize its true cause in the moving influence and inspira- 
 tion of the professional military man, the product of a system 
 whose evil character has been so well depicted and so strongly 
 arraigned by General Logan in the present volume ? General Grant, 
 "an accident of the system,'' was one of the most capable soldiers 
 America has produced, and, while possessed of the sterling genius 
 of a great leader, he was also endowed with the high impulses and 
 the generous nature of a true soldier. He made the mistakes com- 
 mon to humanity, but there is no instance upon record showing 
 him to have been slow in recognizing and in acknowledging 
 them. 
 
 No purpose is here entertained to assault personal motives nor 
 to make acrimonious charges against personal character. The full 
 statement of the facts connected with the grossest injury ever 
 •done to General Logan has been made in this paper with the prin- 
 cipal purpose to render tardy justice to his character in a volume 
 ■which will, probably, reach every military reader of the country, 
 as well as all civilians having an interest in public affairs ; and it 
 has been made with the secondary purpose to offer the incident 
 itself as one of the strongest proofs possible to be adduced of the 
 errors of our present military system, so ably discussed by Gen- 
 eral Logan in the present work. There is reason to suppose 
 that the commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi 
 had no wish to injure General Logan personally; and there is 
 every inducement to believe that his action in the case was purely 
 the outgrowth of his professional military education. It has been 
 said in these pages and elsewhere that General Braddock, the pro- 
 fessional officer, could not accept the advice of the volunteer 
 soldier and aide, George Washington, " because the military edu- 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 7 1 
 
 cation " of the former " was against it." In the case of the flagrant 
 wrong perpetrated upon the volunteer General John A. Logan by 
 the regular officer we are presented with a glaring instance of the 
 dangers of an excliisive military establishment as " the repository 
 of the military knowledge of the country ; " and we are urgently 
 admonished thereby of the necessity to correct the system by dif- 
 fusing military education among the people at large, and by com- 
 mitting the defense and honor of the country to their safer 
 keeping. 
 
 The life-work of the lamented Logan is completed. He died 
 after a long public service, with the honors of an appreciative 
 people thickly heaped upon him. No mere sketch like the present 
 could do more than outline his great character and touch upon 
 the prominent points of his splendid career. He was not wholly 
 understood by his contemporaries, and by many he was wholly 
 misconceived. Removed from the arena of life, and safe from the 
 attacks caused by personal promptings, he will be better known 
 and understood in the future as his extraordinary character is 
 more fully depicted and his great services to the country become 
 more familiarized to the people at large. He was the equal in 
 many of his forensic attributes of such statesmen and orators as 
 Jefferson, Hamilton, Webster, and Clay; while a comprehensive 
 survey of his military character and record will not fail to inspire 
 the belief that he was possessed of great military possibilities. 
 With prescience as great as that of Wellington, the inspiration 
 of his leadership was as marvelous as that of Napoleon \. 
 With all the ability of the former to plan a campaign, he was as 
 irresistible in its execution as the latter. Like Napoleon at Lodi, 
 and elsewhere, he led his troops to the fight. Unlike many great 
 generals, he never directed them from the rear. 
 
 Under the restrictions of our system it is difficult to call into 
 full development the inherent military genius of the simple Amer- 
 ican citizen; while, by reason of the non-military character of the 
 Government itself, but little opportunity is offered to create great 
 
72 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 leaders whose qualities as soldiers may bear comparison with the 
 noted conquerors of the older world. 
 
 The author of this volume, speaking from the standpoint of 
 the volunteer soldier, has exhibited to the view of his readers the 
 discrimination of the Government — as directed by the regular 
 army influence — against the citizen-soldier; while the incident con- 
 nected with his own military career, already dwelt upon in this 
 memoir, whereby his rise to more important commands indisput- 
 ably was arrested by reason of his non-professional military char- 
 acter, gives practical exemplification of the disheartening condi- 
 tions under which inborn military talent is compelled to fight its 
 way to recognition. 
 
 Upon the other side of the case, though the military opportu- 
 nities of the nation are unstintedly held out to the professional sol- 
 diers educated at its National Academy, the extensive and con- 
 tinued practice of war, so necessary to the achievement of super- 
 lative military eminence, is lacking under the traditional peace 
 policy of the American Government. It was the opinion of 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, as it has been, also, of other noted modern 
 captains, that Hannibal, in consideration of all his attributes, is 
 entitled to be deemed the greatest soldier ever produced in any 
 age or country. But Hannibal was reared in a camp from the age 
 of eleven years, and accompanied his father, a distinguished sol- 
 dier, in all of the latter's campaigns. Bonaparte himself was upon 
 the battle-field during nearly the whole period of his adult life up 
 to the time of his permanent imprisonment. No such opportuni- 
 ties as those possessed by the soldiers named for acquiring the 
 art of war can be extended under a form of government similar 
 to our own. 
 
 The circumstances noted render it impossible to estimate Gen- 
 eral Logan's military genius to the full extent. Had the military 
 power of the Government been as firm in the support of the volun- 
 teer during the recent war as it was of the West Point soldier, the 
 whole military aspect of the Rebellion might have been different 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 73 
 
 from that which it actually bore. That he possessed the instinct of 
 the soldier to a remarkable degree, instructively as well as amus- 
 ingly appears from the well-attested incident of his appearance 
 upon the battle-field of the first Bull Run, to which he had hurried 
 from his seat in the House of Representatives while it was still in 
 session, and in broadcloth suit and high silk hat performing ser- 
 vice as a private, with a gun borrowed from a wounded soldier. 
 His bravery, courage, dash, energy, sagacity, and magnetism ren- 
 dered him one of the most successful officers — and, considering 
 his grade and position, perhaps the most successful officer — that 
 the civil conflict produced. Had he been unhampered by the pre- 
 vailing prejudice against the volunteer; had rank and command 
 been accorded to him as his developing merits warranted, and 
 strict justice required, the war would have been considerably 
 abbreviated in duration, and the personnel of its great actors 
 would have been somewhat changed. 
 
 With enthusiastic warmth General Logan has applauded the 
 services of General Henry Knox, the great artillerist of the Revo-' 
 lution as well as the first War Secretary of the new nation; and 
 he has closed his eulogy with a tribute to the latter's character 
 both beautiful and just. In concluding this memoir no more 
 fitting summary of the character of John A. Logan can be found 
 than that embraced in the words that he has applied to General 
 Knox : 
 
 " He was an American volunteer, a distinguished soldier, an 
 eminent statesman, and an admirable civilian." Surely no "higher 
 meed of praise can be rendered to any of the world's toilers 
 than this." 
 
 Washington, D. C, March i, 1887. 
 
Scenes from Army Life. 
 
THE 
 
 VOLUNTEER SOLDIER 
 
 OF AMERICA. 
 
 75 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 THE following pages have been written amid the 
 engrossing cares and occupations of an official 
 life. The labor involved in their preparation has con- 
 stituted a pleasant task for the writer, since they cover 
 a subject which has ever been near his heart — the 
 glories as well ' as the interests of the volunteer 
 soldiery of America. 
 
 No more fascinating theme than that presented by 
 the citizen of the United States, when, leaving the pur- 
 suits of peaceful life, he arrays himself in the garb of 
 the soldier and takes the field in defense of country and 
 principle, can be found in any chapter of the world's 
 history. It is wholly safe to say that in his character 
 of defender of right and justice, with no feature of the 
 despoiler and oppressor, and in his attributes of lofty 
 patriotism, of unselfish, inflexible, and enduring courage, 
 of patience under suffering, and of moderation under 
 victory, and finally of effectiveness in the dread perils, 
 the sudden surprises, and the capricious results of 
 battle, he has had no faithful counterpart in any age 
 of the world. 
 
 Pleasant as has been the author's task, however, 
 he has performed it under the continuous pressure of a 
 regret, that some other, with more abundant leisure 
 
 77 
 
78 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 and a more eloquent pen than he possesses, has not 
 undertaken it. 
 
 As the writer has endeavored to show in the body 
 of this volume, the volunteer soldier, standing for and 
 in place of a permanent army — that curse of monar- 
 chies, and despoiler of the liberties of the masses — is 
 the Atlas upon whose broad shoulders are safely borne 
 our republican institutions; and, while no occasion 
 •exists for magnifying the importance of this basic 
 element of our national fabric, yet there does exist an 
 imperative demand, not only that it should be sur- 
 rounded with conditions to insure its greatest effective- 
 ness in the service of the government — thus displaying 
 wisdom in the interest of the general people — but also 
 that enlarged measures in the interest of the soldier 
 himself may be made to reflect the appreciation as well 
 as the high justice belonging to the American name. 
 
 That our present system of military organization and 
 instruction is wrong in that it is inadequate to meet the 
 necessities of our modern republic, and therefore short- 
 sighted in conception, and dangerous in its faultinessj 
 and in that it represents a degree of injustice wholly 
 foreign to the American character, the author has at- 
 tempted to show in the following pages. To what ex- 
 tent he has succeeded in this, the people of the republic 
 — the great arbiters of its destinies — must decide. That 
 in the exposition of the subject which he has herein made 
 he refkcts the general sentiment of the volunteer scddiery, 
 he has every reason to believe; and that the appeal he 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 79 
 
 has made in its behalf will not be disregarded by his 
 fellow-citizens, he entertains an abiding confidence. 
 
 Absorbed in public duties, and deeply earnest in the 
 subject which he has attempted to treat, the author has 
 given more attention to the presentation of facts than 
 to a display of rhetoric, while he has sought rather to 
 follow truth through the channels of argument and de- 
 duction than to array his sentences in the beauties of 
 precise metrical composition. In the eyes of some his 
 style may be deemed didactic, and therefore unsuited to 
 the subject ; but he hopes that it will be generally seen 
 that his presentation of well known historical facts has 
 been indispensable to the illustration of the subject, and 
 to a just appreciation of the legitimate deductions be- 
 longing to it. Therefore history and biography have 
 been freely drawn upon in the following pages — not 
 for the instruction of the reader, who perhaps may be 
 better versed in both than is the author himself, but 
 for the better illumination of the subject directly under 
 treatment. 
 
 The author acknowledges his indebtedness to the 
 various general works upon American history and biog- 
 raphy which so well adorn the general literature of our 
 country, and also to several special authors whose 
 names are directly given in the letter-press in connec- 
 tion with the quotations from their books. 
 
 With these observations, the author submits his 
 work to the intelligence and impartial justice of his 
 fellow-citizens. 
 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 THE AMERICAN CITIZEN-SOLDIER. 
 
 THE late war between the American States was 
 the legitimate climax of several cooperating forces. 
 It was fruitful in cause, and prolific of results. A brief 
 retrospection of a few historical facts will serve as a 
 useful means to break the ground of the subject which 
 it is proposed to discuss in the present volume. 
 
 Prior to the notable event of 1775 — the spilling of the 
 first American blood, by the British troops, at Lexington 
 — forty centuries, of which the modern world has record 
 more or less direct and authentic, had lent their aid to the 
 human race in the evolution of its destiny. The problem 
 of man's social and political life had been worked at 
 through the ages, and the answer, involving the happi- 
 ness and freedom of mankind, was still unfound when 
 the conflict referred to above occurred. Nations had 
 been born and had become great in population and 
 power; these had declined, and finally had passed from 
 the memory, and in many cases, save through uncertain 
 tradition, even from the record of men. Myriads of 
 human beings had been marshaled in battle, and mil- 
 lions of human lives had been sacrificed upon bloody 
 
 fields. Generals had become renowned; kings had 
 
 81 
 
82 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Strutted their brief hour upon the stage; emperors had 
 ruled with iron hand ; despots had oppressed the groan- 
 ing millions; political rulers had slain them in the 
 pretended interests of government, and ecclesiastical 
 authorities had burned them through the demands of 
 mistaken religion. The years had clustered into 
 centuries, the centuries into ages, and the same devices 
 of the few to enslave the many had been repeated with 
 the regularity of planetary movement. 
 
 With the march of time the stock of human knowl- 
 edge had increased; invention had been stimulated, the 
 arts improved and diffused, letters cultivated, and the 
 sciences rounded into enduring form. Whatever might 
 have been the inherent attributes of the primeval man, 
 age had tutored, experience had perfected, and increased 
 knowledge had polished him, by the close of -the mediaeval 
 period of the world's history. There had then been men, 
 great in every walk of life — great artisans, great inventors, 
 great builders, great painters, great sculptors, great ora- 
 tors, great poets, great generals, and great rulers. But 
 when the eighteenth century of the Christian era had un- 
 folded three-fourths of its weary length, it is gravely to 
 be doubted whether the condition of the common people, 
 as it relates to the economy, political and personal, of the 
 masses in whole and in detail, was upon any higher plane 
 under the reign of George III. of England, as an ex- 
 ample, than under many dynasties of the ancient world 
 whose career had closed forever. Personal liberty under 
 constitutional government was a shade of the night, not 
 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 83 
 
 yet compacted into an entity of the day. The aspi- 
 ration for it lurked under cover of darkness; but the 
 resolution to possess it had not walked out into the light. 
 The spirit of progress had gently tapped at the door 
 of each opening century, soliciting a recognition of the 
 common people. The small republics of Greece, the 
 republic of Rome, the Italian republics under the Lom- 
 bardian, League, the Dutch republic, the republic of 
 Switzerland, and, in a certain sense, Europe under the 
 feudal system, had turned a listening ear, but quickly 
 closed the door again. It seems a notable circum- 
 stance that at the beginning of the modern era, when 
 new impetus had been given to learning, the kings of 
 the world came solidly to the front and crushed all 
 semblance of popular government. 
 
 By the middle of the eighteenth century, however, the 
 sentiment of democracy had taken deep root among the 
 masses of the two leading nations of Europe — England 
 and France. The seed that had been sown through the 
 successive eras was incubating, and at the beginning of the 
 year 1775 the world stood upon the threshold of a period 
 wherein a decade of the future was destined to surpass in 
 substantial results a century of the past. Through a 
 marvelous ordering of events, the initial struggle of the 
 human race for existence and expansion had been limited 
 to the continent that witnessed its birth. A world virgin 
 in every just sense had been reserved for its second 
 growth. A continent embracing every possibility of 
 nature had been in hiding from the other hemisphere 
 
84 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 since the early morning of creation. Mankind had passed 
 the stage of preparation. The idea of personal liberty, 
 embracing the broad doctrines of human rights, had issued 
 from the matrix of Time. Its growth was about to com- 
 mence, activity in the new direction to begin. The un- 
 known world had been torn from its concealment, and the 
 strongest manhood of the old continent had sought its 
 shores. The ancient conflict between the masses and the 
 masters was still raging when the Declaration of July 4th, 
 1 776, arrested the attention of the world. A fiat had gone 
 forth proclaiming the inalienable rights of man. The 
 conflict was transferred to the new hemisphere; forces 
 were raised ; man was pitted against man ; the fruits of 
 peaceful labor were consumed ; human life was sacrificed 
 without stint; but in the end a republic was formed 
 which was declared to be founded upon the freedom and 
 equality of the masses, and the kingship of the common 
 people. 
 
 Three-quarters of a century sped away — a mere click 
 of the machinery marking the flight of time — and a won- 
 derful development of the human race, in both hemi- 
 spheres, had taken place. In the Old World the people 
 had fairly caught the spirit of liberty. It was no longer 
 talked of with bated breath. Kings and emperors be- 
 came alarmed at the diffusion of broad ideas among the 
 masses, and began to tremble before the developing 
 power and boldness of their subjects. A spasmodic effort 
 to form a republic in the heart of Europe took place ; con- 
 cessions were elsewhere wrung from the ruler^. Reforms, 
 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 85 
 
 social, political, and religious, were granted, and the chains 
 were struck from the limbs of eight hundred thousand 
 human beings held in bondage in the various British 
 Colonies. 
 
 In the New World, the example of the United States 
 had been followed by the Spanish- American colonies ; and 
 a group of republics, through the fructifying influence of 
 the period, had sprung into existence, and extended to 
 the farther extremity of the southern continent. Educa- 
 tion had become general, labor honorable, and personal 
 worth- and industry safe passports to respect and compe- 
 tence. Learning had been advanced, the great inventions 
 extended and perfected, and previously untamed forces of 
 nature had been harnessed to the service of mankind. 
 
 During this brilliant progress of the race a remnant of 
 the ancient tyranny, which still clung to the Amer- 
 ican free government, had been rapidly growing like 
 a malignant germ, and securely fastening itself upon the 
 social and political life of the individuals and States of the 
 southern portion of the American Union. The colonists 
 of 1 776 had attempted to apply the knife to the fatal growth 
 of human bondage, but they failed to extirpate it en masse. 
 Subsequent experience soon brought to notice that the 
 signers of Independence Hall, when declaring all men to 
 be free and equal, had made a fatal omission. They had 
 not inserted after the word " men" the words "regardless 
 of color or condition." In declaring for "free men," they 
 had in view white men only. The movement for free- 
 dom, then, was partial. The idea of freedom had been 
 
86 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 the child of the ages, but in their hands it lacked devel- 
 opment and expansion. Under a government formed 
 upon the basis of universal freedom, millions of people 
 were born in a slavery as absolute and despotic, as blight- 
 ing and destructive as any known to recorded history. 
 The results were legitimate, and to have been expected. 
 Slavery in theory and in practice debased the servant, and 
 developed the master into a being as foreign to the atmos- 
 phere of the nineteenth century as the air-breathing 
 animal is to life under the water. He became the 
 anomaly of the age. His gaze was backward, and his 
 yearning was for the effete and exhausted things of the 
 past. Believing in the theory of slavery, he denied the 
 'doctrine of universal equality. A disbeliever in the gov- 
 ernment of the masses, his ideal was achieved in the rule 
 of the many by the few. In the year 1861, amidst the 
 exuberant growth of republican principles, he cultivated 
 the heresy of caste, and was ready to commence the work 
 of undermining a structure that had been reared by the 
 irresistible forces of human evolution. Scouting equality, 
 he became an aristocrat. The material was ready, and 
 but a spark was required to kindle the fire. Given the 
 relating data, and the result could have been calculated 
 with the accuracy of a problem in mathematics. 
 
 Four years of bloody internecine strife rectified the 
 -omission of the Declaration, broadened its sentiments, 
 and made it the Magna Charta of all mankind, des- 
 tined to last while the human race endures. 
 
 Able pens have already transcribed with faithful 
 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 87 
 
 accuracy the events of the late enforced civil war. Its 
 details have been described with absorbing interest 
 and historic justice. Its battle-fields have been mapped ; 
 its campaigns by land and sea exemplified, and 
 the brave officers that led our conquering legions 
 have received their merited eulogiums. In face of 
 the present post-bellum literature, it may appear to 
 many that no room exists for further authorship 
 upon the subject. The fact is, however, that a most 
 important part of the history of the great struggle 
 remains to be written — that part relating to the 
 volunteer soldier and sailor. 
 
 All wars, great or otherwise, have been attended 
 with the display of personal valor ; and in their 
 course military genius has been developed as a 
 legitimate result of the presenting opportunity. This 
 genius, as all impartial historians must admit, was 
 profuse of growth during the recent inter-State con- 
 flict, while the individual heroism of the rank and 
 file has stamped the American subaltern as a soldier 
 sui generis. A careful consideration of all the circum- 
 stances of the war as they relate to both officers 
 and men, in the aspect of soldiers, will develop some 
 curious, interesting, and, it may be, some very useful 
 facts and lines of reflection. It is one of the ob- 
 jects of the p'resent volume to bring these into 
 strong relief, and to give them a prominence such as 
 the author believes they have not heretofore received. 
 The facts will be openly and fairly stated as the 
 
88 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 volume proceeds, let them affect whom they may, 
 and the legitimate deductions will be drawn in what- 
 soever direction they may lead. 
 
 The author would not detract in the most infini- 
 tesimal degree from the already recorded tributes to 
 the patriotism, the bravery and the rare military 
 qualities of the conspicuous leaders of the late war. He 
 would rather add an additional tribute of his own to the 
 merited eulogiums upon those whose recent deeds have 
 become an imperishable part of the history of their 
 country. He would be generous, and he would likewise 
 be just. But no record of the war would be wholly just 
 that failed to portray the unique character of the 
 American citizen-soldier, and no deduction from the 
 lessons of the conflict can cover the ultimate logic of the 
 case that does not consider as one of the premises this 
 character of the soldier as it bears upon the future of his 
 country. Official leadership is a prime factor in the issue 
 of battles, but much of the interest of the engagement 
 clusters around the common soldier, as well as about the 
 officer. No estimate of battle results can be considered 
 wholly safe that fails to include both officers and men. 
 Indeed, it may be broadly alleged that there has been no 
 battle fought since the beginning of human contention, 
 where the common soldiers did not largely outnumber the 
 officers, not alone in the ranks of the contestants, but also 
 in the lists of the killed and wounded. Had it been 
 ordered otherwise from the beginning, the study of the 
 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 89 
 
 rise and fall of nations would have been greatly simpli- 
 fied to the modern student. 
 
 Soldiers, then, have fought the battles of the world. 
 The officers have directed them. 
 
 Within the rank and file of the Union army all classes 
 of men were largely represented. The artisan, the 
 farmer, the laborer, the clerk, the lawyer, the doctor, the 
 student, the man of letters, the man of wealth, as well as 
 the man without means — all of these voluntarily left 
 families and friends, and many of them comfortable 
 homes and more or less remunerative occupations, to 
 suffer the hard fare of a common soldier's life. The case 
 of the inventor of the sewing-machine, who, though 
 possessing a large private fortune, became a soldier in 
 the ranks upon the pay of twenty-two dollars per 
 month, must be well remembered. 
 
 A motive powerful and far-reaching prompted these 
 sacrifices ; and beneath that motive there are surely to be 
 found those influences that have made the American 
 soldier, from the Revolution of 1776 to the close of the 
 slaveholders' rebellion, different from any other in the 
 history of battle-fields. He is neither a soldier by hire 
 nor a soldier by compulsion, either of whom performs his 
 duties in a mechanical and perfunctory manner, and 
 wholly unstimulated by the lofty incentive actuating the 
 American volunteer. The battle-fields of the world, 
 from the earliest authentic record of human struggles 
 upon the plain of Shinar, through all subsequent eras to 
 tne American Revolution, have swarmed with soldiers 
 
go THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 whose services had either been purchased by some sort of 
 pecuniary recompense, or secured by the iron hand of 
 compulsion. The Hessians at Trenton furnish a modern 
 illustration of this class of soldiers, and the rude warriors 
 under the feudal system are an example from the middle 
 ages. The keen incentive actuating a soldier striving for 
 a principle, moved by patriotism and sustained by a 
 sense of right and justice, has been wholly absent from 
 the class of soldiers alluded to. 
 
 The American volunteer, so far as mere physical 
 strength, strong endurance, and iron courage are con- 
 cerned, may not be a better " Greek" than he who fought 
 the battles of Sparta and Athens twenty-five centuries ago, 
 but there are circumstances connected with the modern 
 American that have made him the most invincible of 
 soldiers. What are these circumstances? They belong 
 strictly to his Americanism. , 
 
 Briefly stated, it may be said that he is an integral 
 part of the government and country for which he fights. 
 He is a citizen of the freest government that the world 
 has yet seen. There is no avenue of life closed to him ; 
 no possibility denied him. From a private station he may 
 pass to high political position. In his humblest and most 
 obscure capacity his voice is as potent in the direction of 
 the national affairs as is that of the richest and most 
 prominent citizen. Today poor in purse, half a dozen 
 years may not elapse until industry and enterprise bring 
 him honest fortune. Whether poor or rich, the benef- 
 icent laws of his country give him personal guarantees 
 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. nr 
 
 not enjoyed in any other land. However poor, or how- 
 ever rich, he has a personal and direct interest in the 
 government. He belongs to it ; he is part of it. He 
 helps to make its laws, to elect its officials, to direct its 
 affairs. 
 
 Further than this, he is a man of intelligence. Insti- 
 tutions and means of acquiring learning are accessible to 
 him. Day schools are abundant for the child, and other 
 schools for the individual of any age. Newspapers — - 
 those great educators of the whole people — are within 
 the easy reach of all. Libraries are abundant and books 
 are cheap. The public affairs of the country are carried 
 before the masses and discussed by the public men. The 
 voter of the country may be called a court of last resort. 
 Stimulated by motives of direct interest, he has become 
 an umpire whose judgment seldom errs. 
 
 The circumstances stated give the soldier of America 
 a purely distinctive character. He follows the banner of 
 no potentate as hireling, dependent, vassal, or menial. He 
 is a free man, fighting for home, family, country, and the 
 government of which he is a factor. His arm is raised for 
 a principle, for right, for justice. The immense difference 
 between the man who is a soldier through such consider- 
 ations, and him who is one by mere occupation or by 
 force, need not be dwelt upon. 
 
 The climax, however, would hardly be complete with- 
 out mention of an additional circumstance pertammg to 
 the character of the American volunteer. His whole 
 training from childhood, whether his lot be cast in a large 
 
92 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 community or upon the frontier of the country, where he 
 becomes a quasi soldier through force of surroundings and 
 mode of life, has given him a character of independence, 
 of self-reliance, of quick action, and ready command of 
 expedients. These qualities imply wonderful fitness for 
 the soldier. Brave by an inheritance from hardy fore- 
 fathers, vigorous through the training of American life, 
 with intellect developed by education, the American 
 soldier surely stands without a rival. 
 
 The attempt to add to the history of our various con- 
 flicts a missing chapter which shall have for its direct pur- 
 pose the rendering of full justice to the gallant volunteers 
 of America, will necessarily lead the author to a considera- 
 tion of the subject in its several relations, and in a some- 
 what extended manner ; and deductions may be finally 
 arrived at that may have a useful bearing upon the military 
 future of our country. In order to give to the subject, as 
 it is designed to be treated, an easy flow and a natural 
 direction, the first part of the volume will be devoted to a 
 consideration of the experiment of military education in 
 the United States; the second part, to the results of that- 
 experiment, embracing certain statistics of an instructive 
 character; and the third part to the invocation of justice 
 to the volunteer soldier, and to the volunteer system of 
 America. In this portion of the volume it is the author's 
 intention to outline some suggestions concerning the mili- 
 tary necessities of the national future. 
 
PART L 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 MILITARY EDUCATION 
 
 IN THE 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 93 
 
HISTORY OF MILITARY EDUCATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WEST POINT ON THE HUDSON — ITS HISTORY AS A MILI- 
 TARY POST DURING THE REVOLUTION PLAN OF GEN- 
 ERAL BURGOYNE TO CUT AND CRUSH THE COLONIES 
 
 THE VOLUNTEERS SURROUND AND CAPTURE THE BRITISH 
 
 EXPEDITION THE CITIZEN-SOLDIER A NEW FEATURE 
 
 IN THE HISTORY OF BATTLE-FIELDS BENEDICT ARNOLD 
 
 AND MAJOR ANDR6. 
 
 THE locality on the Hudson River embraced within 
 the term West Point is one of historic interest to 
 the American. At an early period it was called the 
 "Gibraltar of America;" but, from the outbreak of 
 the Revolution to the period of Arnold's treason, its 
 position and possession covered vastly more in relation 
 to ultimate consequences than can be alleged of the 
 water-passage by Gibraltar in any period of which we 
 have record. If Burgoyne's and Clinton's expeditions 
 had succeeded in their object in October, 1777, there 
 can be little doubt that the colonists would have been 
 crushed and that the present American States might 
 still be British dependencies. Or, if Arnold's treason had 
 succeeded, three years later, there is at least the proba- 
 bility that a like result would have ensued. 
 
 95 
 
96 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 After the Independence had been secured, West 
 Point, though abandoned as a military post, was soon 
 selected as the locality upon which to establish a military 
 academy ; and at this time it is the only institution sup- 
 ported by the Government of the United States for the 
 education of officers for the army. Many of the names 
 that will appear upon the subsequent pages of this vol- 
 ume are to be found upon the register of the Academy, 
 while some of the reflections connected with the subject 
 of the book are intimately related to the school and the 
 system it represents. In view of these circumstances the 
 author purposes to devote a certain space to the consid- 
 eration of West Point in its double character of defensive 
 post and military academy, and, as germane to the subject 
 of military education, to touch upon the sister institution 
 at Annapolis. Though details of the operations centering 
 toward West Point, during the Revolutionary War, are 
 to be found in all histories and text-books upon the sub- 
 ject of our national struggle for independence, the author 
 will be pardoned for a condensation of some of the most 
 important events in connection with it. 
 
 As early as the beginning of 1775 the necessity to 
 erect fortifications that might command the passage of 
 the Hudson River became apparent to the American 
 colonists, in view of the rupture, then inevitable and 
 closely impending, with the mother country. The strat- 
 egic importance of this water-way had been learned by 
 the British Government during the course of its previous 
 struggle with France. This knowledge led the British 
 
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF THE HUDSON RIVER. 97 
 
 commanders, at the beginning of the war as well as at a 
 later period of hostilities, to determined efforts to obtain 
 its control. 
 
 With the object of presenting the reasons underlying 
 the importance of this control, in a manner at once brief 
 and clear, the following extract is made from a well- 
 written work, published in 1 863 : 
 
 " The student of American history is familiar with the fact that 
 to obtain control of the navigation of the Hudson River was a 
 favorite project with the British Government, during the whole 
 progress of the War of Independence. 
 
 " In order to a proper understanding of the reasons on which 
 this project is based, we should examine with some attention the 
 topography of the river, not simply as limited to the section of coun- 
 try through which its waters flow, but taking a broader view and 
 regarding its connection with those more remote and wide-spread 
 regions that find through it their most direct and natural channel 
 to the seaboard. 
 
 " Even at the present day, when the skilled enterprise of a 
 numerous and commercial people has linked the interior to the 
 coast by many and various artificial channels, the great thorough- 
 fare of the State of New York holds a preeminent position, mainly 
 due to its unrivaled natural advantages. But these advantages 
 were of paramount importance, both before and during the Revo- 
 lutionary struggle, when the canoe of the Indian or the bateau of 
 the voyageur furnished the most convenient and speedy transporta- 
 tion for purposes either of commerce or war. Then, to the north, 
 at the head of boat navigation, the Hudson was connected by an 
 easy portage with Lakes George and Champlain, and through 
 them with the St. Lawrence, the great river of the Canadas; whilst, 
 toward the west, its principal affluent, the Mohawk, gave easy 
 access, scarcely interrupted by a few short portages, to the basin of 
 the great lakes, and to the magnificent river system of the Missis- 
 sippi. 
 
 " Thus established by nature as the main artery connecting a 
 vast network of interior water communications with the Atlantic 
 
■98 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 and draining the resources of almost half a continent, the Hudson 
 occupied a position of highest strategic importance. 
 
 "The British Government had been taught this fact in the 
 course of the long struggle between England and France, then but 
 recently terminated. They knew that by the possession of the 
 Hudson they could separate the eastern part of the province of 
 New York and the provinces of New England from the remainder 
 of the confederacy, and thus, by cutting off communication between 
 these points, speedily reduce the patriots to subjection. Hence, in 
 a letter dated London, July 31, 1775, conveying to the colonists the 
 plan of operations decided upon by the British Government, it is 
 said that their design is : 'To get possession of New York and 
 Albany ; to fill both of these cities with very strong garrisons ; to 
 declare all rebels who do not join the King's forces ; to command 
 the Hudson and East Rivers with a number of small men-of-war, 
 and cutters stationed in different parts of it, so as to cut off all 
 communication by water between New York and Albany, except 
 for the King's service ; and to prevent also all communication 
 between the city of New York and the provinces of New Jersey, 
 Pennsylvania, and those to the southward of them. By these,' con- 
 tinues the letter, 'the administration and their friends fancy that 
 they shall soon either starve out or retake the garrisons of 
 Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and open and maintain a safe 
 intercourse and correspondence between Quebec, Albany, and New 
 York, and thereby afford the fairest opportunity to their soldiery 
 and the Canadians, in conjunction with the Indians, to be procured 
 by G. J. (Col. Guy Johnson, a son-in-law of Sir William Johnson, 
 Superintendent of Indian Affairs of the Province of New York), to 
 make continual irruptions into New Hampshire, Massachusetts and 
 Connecticut, and so distract and divide the provincial forces as to 
 render it easy for the British army at Boston to defeat them, break 
 the spirits of the Massachusetts people, depopulate their country 
 and compel an absolute subjection to Great Britain.'"' 
 
 As heretofore remarked, the colonists were as much 
 aHve to the strategic importance of the Hudson as were 
 
 ^History of West Point: By Capt. Edward C. Boynton, A. M., Adjutant 
 of the Military Academy, 1863. 
 
EARLY ATTEMPTS TO FORTIFY THE HUDSON. 99 
 
 the English ; and after preHminary resolution of the Con- 
 tinental Congress upon the subject, the Provincial Con- 
 gress of New York passed a resolution on the i8th of 
 August, 1775, directing that the fortifications be at once 
 erected which were recommended by a committee of the 
 body which was previously raised for the purpose of con- 
 sidering and reporting upon the matter. A commission 
 was thereupon named to carry out the order of the local 
 congress. 
 
 Resulting from this action, the work of fortifying the 
 Hudson was immediately begun. As appears from a 
 report made by Lord Stirling to General Washington, 
 under date of June i, 1776,^ the works consisted of a fort 
 located about four miles above Stony Point, upon the 
 west bank of the river, which was called Fort Mont- 
 gomery; of one upon Constitution Island, on the east 
 side of the river, and about six miles above the latter; 
 and of some lines of water-batteries fronting the river. 
 To these were also added obstructions to the channel of 
 the stream. No work was located at West Point in this 
 first plan of fortifying the Highlands, though Lord 
 Stirling, in the report above alluded to, recommended 
 the building of a redoubt upon the point. 
 
 These fortifications, rude and inefficient for the pur- 
 pose of defense, cost an amount of money very consid- 
 erable for those days ; and the expenditure was more 
 deeply felt because it was destined to be almost entirely 
 lost. 
 
 lAm. Arch., IV, VI, 672. 
 
lOO THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 One of the most critical events of the war, if indeed its 
 whole issue did not directly depend upon it, was now 
 about to transpire. One of the crises out of whose throes 
 the fate of men and nations have often been evolved, was 
 about to break over the heads of the actors in the strug- 
 gle of that day. From the impending crash a new nation 
 must spring into life, or perish in the* germ. It is a 
 recital of absorbing interest, and can well be dwelt upon 
 in a volume like the present. 
 
 Mention has been herein made of the realization by 
 both parties to the contest . of the importance of com- 
 manding the Hudson River. The colonists made an early 
 movement to defend it, but the British were still earlier in 
 the conception of a plan that, in the nature of a coup de 
 main, might take the river as a base, and cut the rebell- 
 ious child through the middle at a single blow. 
 
 Let us take a brief survey of the facts and of the posi- 
 tion at that time. 
 
 The first struggles between the colonists and the 
 mother country took place in New England, then com- 
 prised of the colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ver- 
 mont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Descended 
 from the Puritans, who had braved every danger ' and 
 undergone every hardship in ' order that they might 
 breathe the air of freedom, the colonists of that section 
 were the 'first to resent the growing demands upon them. 
 It was at Boston that a ship's cargo was thrown over- 
 board, and at Lexington that the first armed conflict took 
 place. These colonies were considered the hot-bed of the 
 
JVEW ENGLAND'S INFLUENCE IN THE COLONIES. lOI 
 
 rebellion, and it was deemed to be of the first importance 
 to shear them of their influence with the others, and to 
 bring them to a speedy submission. 
 
 Loyal Canada was upon the north, and New York 
 City, which had been taken by Lord Howe in the sum- 
 mer of 1776, was upon the south. A line drawn between 
 these localities would effectually cut New England from 
 the sister colonies. A broad-sheeted and safely navigable 
 river was representative of that line in its more important 
 part. 
 
 One of the chief actors in the events so soon to follow 
 was the British General John Burgoyne. Born in Eng- 
 land, he received the benefits of a fine literary education, 
 and at an early age he entered the British army, and 
 reaped the advantages of a thorough military training. 
 As a brigadier-general he won distinction in Portugal, at 
 Alcantara, and at Villa Franca. Arriving in Boston in 
 the spring of 1775, he was present at the battle of Bunker 
 Hill. Returning to England in December, 1776, he pre- 
 sented to the ministry a plan of campaign, which was 
 adopted; and Burgoyne, with the rank of Lieutenant-Gen- 
 eral, was sent back to America to assist in carrying it out. 
 The noble river discovered by Hendrik Hudson was 
 marked out as the flood beneath which the freedom of 
 America was to be submerged. 
 
 A strong remnant of the force that had defended Can- 
 ada against the previous attack made by the Americans 
 still remained. Seven thousand veteran troops were sent 
 from England to Canada, with a thorough artillery equip- 
 
I02 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 ment, the whole being ofificered by men of military train- 
 ing and experience. Stores in abundance were provided, 
 and success seemed almost assured in advance of the 
 army movement. 
 
 With this force Burgoyne was to set out upon the 
 march toward the south, by the line of the small northern 
 lakes and the Hudson River. At the same time a British 
 column was to be sent northward from New York City by 
 Sir Henry Clinton, the commanding General at the latter 
 place. Burgoyne was to sweep down to Albany, crushing 
 resistance as he went, and Clinton's force was to join him 
 at that point, after having brushed away the fortifications 
 of the Highlands. Both forces were largely composed of 
 veteran soldiers, with officers of ability, training, and expe- 
 rience. The conclusion seemed foregone; the collapse of 
 the insurrection was un fait accompli. 
 
 For a time Burgoyne carried everything before him. 
 Crown Point came without a struggle, and Ticonderoga 
 was abandoned. General Schuyler had been in command 
 of the Americans, and, before being superseded by Gen- 
 eral Gates, had offered the first check the invader had 
 received, by obstructing Wood Creek and the roads over 
 which he must pass. 
 
 The sun which had shone so brightly upon Burgoyne's 
 departure for the south soon became obscured, then 
 deeply clouded, and finally went down upon the collapse 
 of his expedition. Having sent two detachments to Ben- 
 nington for stores, the one under command of Colonel 
 Baum and the other of Lieutenant-Colonel Breyman, 
 
THE EXPEDITION OF GEN. JOHN BURGOYNE. 103 
 
 they were met by General John Stark and his Green 
 Mountain boys. This rough soldier declared to his men 
 that they must either take the red-coats before night, or 
 else behold " Molly Stark a widow." The enemy was 
 almost destroyed in the contest that followed. 
 
 During all this time the American volunteer had been 
 coming upon the scene. Men were flocking from the 
 valleys and the hillsides with rifles that never failed of 
 aim. Burgoyne began to realize that there were some 
 chances of failure. The Americans were strongly massed 
 at Stillwater, half way between Saratoga and Albany, 
 under Gates and Arnold. 
 
 Burgoyne looked anxiously for advices from the expe- 
 dition which was to meet him from the south. Lord 
 Howe had drawn a considerable number of men from 
 New York, for the campaign against Washington and 
 Philadelphia, and Sir Henry Clinton was thereby pre- 
 vented from dispatching his expedition until after the 
 arrival of reinforcements from England. The delay was 
 one of the unexpected events that so frequently modify 
 the best-laid plans of men. It was like the charge of the 
 " Old Guard " over the sunken road at Nivelles, as de- 
 scribed by Victor Hugo. But for that sunken road. 
 Napoleon might not have lost Waterloo. 
 
 The reinforcements came at last, and the expedition 
 was then embarked on a flotilla, under convoy of some 
 British men-of-war. It proceeded up the Hudson ; the 
 Americans were driven from their fortifications, which 
 they destroyed upon evacuation. The British were about 
 
I04 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 to continue the advance up the river, when information 
 was received of Burgoyne's defeat at Bemis' Heights and 
 the capitulation of his whole army. After an effort to 
 rebuild one of the forts, the expedition hastily returned to 
 New York, and the spectators of the Old World began to 
 realize the mettle of the people who had deliberately 
 pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their 
 sacred honor, for the establishment of a free nation in 
 America. 
 
 This brilliant victory was soon followed by its legiti- 
 mate consequences. The American Commissioners who 
 had been in Europe endeavoring to obtain recognition of 
 the new republic, and an alliance offensive and defensive, 
 were upon the point of leaving Paris with failing hope, 
 nay, almost with despair. As soon as reliable information 
 of this disaster to the British arms reached Europe, the 
 whole scene changed with magical quickness. For the 
 first time since the beginning of the struggle the true 
 character of the American citizen-soldier was fully recog- 
 nized, and the potential military resources of the colonists 
 entirely comprehended. The Old World had been one 
 vast military encampment from the earliest dawn of 
 history. The soldier was an institution coeval with the 
 birth of nations. He was the prop of thrones, the first 
 and last hope of royalty. Rulers knew all about him. 
 He commanded a certain price, and rendered a certain 
 service. He was a piece of military machinery. He was 
 wound up at the beginning of a battle and ran down 
 after the execution of certain mechanical movements. 
 
• 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VOLUNTEER. I05 
 
 He moved in military grooves as fixed as the orbit of 
 the earth. When circumstances placed him on the side 
 of victory he accepted it as an event in which he had no 
 particular interest ; when the laws of war decided him 
 beaten, he quietly surrendered his arms and the cause for 
 which he had fought at one and the same time. When 
 his officers bid him to advance, he advanced; and when 
 the exigencies of battle suggested retreat, he often went 
 at once without standing upon the order of going. 
 
 But away off in the wilds of America a soldier had 
 been found totally different from any that had ever walked 
 •a. battle-field. Upon jone day he was a civilian quic^tly 
 following the plow ; upon the next he became a soldier, 
 , knowing no fear and carrying a whole destroying battery 
 in his trusty rifle. He was a soldier from conviction to 
 principle, from loyalty to his country, from duty to his 
 fapiily. He moved with the discipline of the educated 
 soldier, but he fought with the desperation of a lion at 
 bay. He followed the commands of his superiors when 
 they led to victory, but in his military lexicon there was 
 no such word as fail. 
 
 Burgoyne had not progressed very far with his expe- 
 dition until he learned the character of the enemy he was 
 to deal with. The accornplished General St. Leger 
 received the first blow, from 'the American soldiers unuer 
 General Herkimer. The next came from the gallant old 
 General John Stark, with his Green Mountain boys, who 
 defeated the trained forces under Baum and Brer nan, 
 both of whom were soldiers by education. So disastrous 
 
I06 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA, 
 
 were these reverses in their effect that it may be said the 
 expedition was defeated before the full army under Gates 
 and Arnold was encountered by Burgoyne at the heights 
 of Bemis. 
 
 All along the line of that perilous march the American 
 citizen-soldiers swarmed from their cabins to meet the 
 invader. Many fell into the ranks and fought until victory 
 was assured. Others swung their rifles on their shoulders, 
 and, taking a lunch prepared by their wives and daughters, 
 went out for a day's sport with the red-backs. Perched 
 in trees, lying behind fences, peeping over rocks, the 
 unerring rifle of the Americans lessened the British force 
 by a man at every curl of smoke that rose upon the 
 breeze. 
 
 Fighting was still to come, lives were to be sacrificed, 
 and hardships to be met and endured; but when the 
 events leading to the capitulation of October 15, 1777, 
 became known to the world, the independence of the 
 United States was practically assured. The American 
 Commissioners in Europe found their difficulties lifted, 
 like a fog before the rising orb of day. Within four 
 months of Burgoyne's surrender, France had acknowl- 
 edged the new government by treaty, and had furnished 
 fleets for its assistance. Spain and Holland soon fol- 
 lowed in recognition, convinced that all the power of 
 Albion was impotent to subdue the invincible soldier of 
 America. 
 
 One circumstance connected with the events here 
 dwelt upon may be placed in somewhat stronger light 
 
PEJRSONNEL OF THE BURGOYNE EXPEDITION. lO'J 
 
 than given in the text of the narrative. It bears upon a 
 point that will again be touched upon in these pages. It 
 has been said that Burgoyne was a soldier by education, 
 experience, and professional calling. The same remark 
 is true of his principal officers, St. Leger, Baum, Brey- 
 man, Hamilton, Spaight, Goll, and others. His troops, 
 with the exception of the Indian allies, were specially 
 selected from veterans of the British army. His whole 
 equipment of arms, artillery, stores, etc., was complete. 
 
 With the exception of General Horatio Gates, the 
 principal American officers were without military educa- 
 tion other than that derived from service during the war 
 then progressing, or during the previous campaigns 
 against the Indians or the French. Herkimer was a 
 civilian, having had a short previous service in the militia. 
 Schuyler had a simple militia experience; Stark was a 
 farmer originally ; Arnold was engaged in trade in early 
 life, etc. The American troops had only such experience 
 in war as was incident to pioneer life, under which every 
 man was the defender of his own home and family, 
 tilling the fields with his rifle beside him, and sleeping in 
 his cabin with a waking hand, ready to grasp his weapon 
 upon the first signal of danger. 
 
 General Horatio Gates, who superseded General 
 Schuyler in the American command, duririg Burgoyne's 
 campaign, and who claimed the credit of the victory, was 
 a soldier by profession, having been born in England, the 
 regular army of which he entered at an early age. The 
 record shows that the victory over Burgoyne had been 
 
I08 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OP AMERICA. 
 
 prepared beforehand by Schuyler and Stark, and that in 
 the actual conflict between the two armies so much of the 
 result was due to Arnold that Gates became intensely 
 jealous of him. The defeat which Cornwallis subse- 
 quently inflicted upon General Gates proved that his first 
 military education gave him no advantage over other 
 American generals. 
 
 The expedition of General Burgoyne, then, furnishes 
 the example of a contest between a body of professional 
 soldiers, led by professional officers, against a body of 
 men, soldiers only by incident and not by life-occupation, 
 the latter of whom were commanded by officers risen to 
 command because of demonstrated military talent and 
 fitness. Numerically, the contending forces were nearly 
 equal ; in all things pertaining to equipment and other 
 adjuncts the British troops enjoyed a great advantage. 
 A priori reasoning would have given the victory to the 
 latter. But in spite of the conditions in their favor they 
 were unsuccessful in the object of the campaign. Why ? 
 
 The happy thwarting by the colonists of the skillful 
 movement just narrated did not have the effect to render 
 them insensible to the danger of a repetition of the 
 attempt Within seven weeks of the formal surrender of 
 Burgoyne, General Washington addressed the following 
 note to General Putnam, under date of December 2, 
 1777: 
 
 "Dear Sir: The importance of the Hudson River in the pres- 
 ent contest and the necessity of defending it are subjects which 
 have been so frequently and fully discussed and are so well under- 
 
WASHINGTON' S LETTER TO GEN. PUTNAM. IO9 
 
 Stood that it is unnecessary to enlarge upon them. These facts 
 at once appear when it is considered that it runs through a whole 
 State ; that it is the only passage by which the enemy from New 
 York or any part of our coast can ever hope to co-operate with an 
 army from Canada; that the possession of it is indispensably essen- 
 tial to preserve the communication between the Eastern, Middle 
 and Southern States ; and, further, that upon its security in a 
 great measure depend our chief supplies of flour for the subsist- 
 ence of such forces as we may have occasion for in the course of 
 the war in the eastern or northern departments, or in the country 
 lying high up on the west side of it. These facts are familiar to 
 all ; they are familiar to you. I therefore request you, in the most 
 urgent terms, to turn your most serious and active attention to 
 this infinitely important object. Seize the present opportunity 
 and employ your whole force and all the means in your power for erecting 
 and completing, as far as it shall be possible, such works and obstructions 
 as may be necessary to defend and secure the river against any future 
 attempts of the enemy. You will consult Governor Clinton, Gen- 
 eral Parsons, and the French engineer, Lieutenant-Colonel Radiere, 
 upon the occasion. By gaining the passage, you know the enemy 
 have already laid waste and destroyed all the houses, mills, and 
 towns accessible to them. Unless proper measures are taken to 
 prevent them, they will renew their ravages in the spring, or as 
 soon as the season will admit, and perhaps Albany, the only town 
 in the State of any importance remaining in our hands, may 
 undergo a like fate, and a general havoc and devastation take 
 place. To prevent these evils, therefore, I shall expect that you 
 will exert every nerve and employ your whole force in future, while 
 and whenever it is practicable, in constructing and forwarding the proper 
 works and means of defense. The troops must not be kept out on 
 command and acting in detachments to cover the country below, 
 which is a consideration infinitely less important and interesting." 
 
 As a result of renewed effort in this direction, a com- 
 mission was appointed by the Provincial Convention of 
 New York toward the middle of January, 1778, to pro- 
 ceed to the Highlands, and with the military authorities 
 to make report as to the most eligible points for defensive 
 
no THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 work, after having personally inspected the several passes 
 of the river. 
 
 This committee, as appears from the record, reported 
 as follows, under the date of Wednesday, January 14, 
 1778: 
 
 "Your committee, who were sent to ascertain the places for 
 fixing a chain and erecting fortifications for obstructing the navi- 
 gation of the Hudson River, beg leave to report that they have 
 carefully viewed the ground on which Fort Clinton lately stood, 
 and its environs, and find that the ground is so intersected with 
 long, deep hollows that the enemy might approach without any 
 annoyance from the garrison within the fort to within a few yards 
 of the walls, unless a redoubt should be raised to clear the hollows 
 next the fort, which must be built at such distance from the fort 
 that it could not be supported from thence in case of an assault, so 
 that the enemy might make themselves masters of the redoubt the 
 first dark night aftei their landing, which would be a good work ready 
 to their hand for annoying the fort and facilitating their operations 
 against it ; and, together with the eminences and broken ground 
 within a short distance of the fort, would render it impossible for 
 the garrison to resist a general assault for many hours together. An- 
 other objection that appeared to the committee was the want of earth 
 on the spot, which would reduce the engineer to the necessity of 
 erecting his works entirely of timber, which must be brought to 
 Pooploop's Kill in rafts, and from thence drawn up a steep and 
 difficult road to the top of the hill. The rafts cannot be made till 
 the water is warm enough for men to work in it, by which it is 
 probable that a fort cannot be erected before the ships of the 
 enemy will come up the river. 
 
 " Besides, at this place the chain must be laid across the river, 
 so that it will receive the whole force of the ships coming with all 
 the strength of the tide and wind on a line of three or four miles. 
 Add to these, if the enemy should be able to possess themselves of 
 the passes in the mountains through which they marched to the 
 attacks of Forts Montgomery and Clinton, it would be extremely 
 difficult, if not impossible, for the militia of the country to raise 
 the siege. 
 
DEFENSIVE WORK A T WEST POINT. 1 1 1 
 
 " Upon viewing the country at and about West Point, the com- 
 mittee found that there were several places at which the enemy- 
 might land and proceed immediately to some high grounds that 
 would command a fort erected at West Point, at the distance of 
 six or seven hundred yards, from which they might carry on their 
 approaches through a light, gravelly soil, so that it would be 
 impossible for the fort to stand a long siege. But to balance this 
 disadvantage in this place, there is plenty of earth. The timber 
 may be brought to the spot by good roads from high grounds at 
 the distance of one to three miles. Three hundred feet less of 
 chain will be requisite at this place than at Fort Clinton. It will 
 be laid across in a place where vessels going up the river most 
 usually lose their headway. Water-batteries may be built on both 
 sides of the river for protecting the chain and annoying the ships 
 coming up the river, which will be completely commanded from 
 the walls of the fort. There are so many passes across the 
 mountains to this place that it will be almost impossible for the 
 enemy to prevent the militia from coming to the relief of the 
 garrison. 
 
 " From these considerations the committee are led to conclude 
 that the most proper place to obstruct the navigation of the river 
 is at West Point ; but are at the same time fully convinced that no 
 obstructions on the banks of the river can effectually secure the 
 country, unless a body of light troops, to consist of at least two 
 thousand effective men, be constantly stationed in the mountains 
 while the navigation of the river is practicable, to obstruct the 
 enemy in their approach by land. 
 
 "John Sloss Hobart. 
 
 " Henry Wisner. 
 
 "John Hathorn. 
 
 "Zeph. Platt." 
 
 Within a short time after the making of this report 
 a work was begun at the locaHty indicated, and water- 
 batteries so placed as to be protected by it. This work 
 was called Fort Arnold until the infamous attempt of the 
 General of that name to betray his country, when it 
 became known as Fort Clinton. In addition to the 
 
112 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Other works erected at West Point during the early- 
 part of 1778, a chain and boom were constructed, to be 
 drawn across the river for the purpose of completely 
 obstructing the passage. Portions of this chain and boom 
 still remain, as relics of the part played by West Point 
 in the war of the Revolution.^ 
 
 The failure to obtain possession of the Hudson River 
 by force of arms did not lessen the determination of the 
 British commander at New York to achieve a result so 
 vitally important to the success of the British cause. The 
 chief instrument in the second attempt was treachery, 
 and a successful issue was more nearly obtained by the 
 British from this resort than from the open campaign of 
 Burgoyne and Sir Henry Clinton. 
 
 Benedict Arnold was the only citizen-soldier of America 
 who drew his sword upon his country in its first great 
 peril. Arnold left a mercantile business to enter the 
 service of his country. Upon several occasions he exhib- 
 ited great military skill and bravery. At the battle of 
 Bemis' Heights, which witnessed the defeat of Burgoyne, 
 he so nearly divided the honors with Gates that the 
 latter became very jealous of him. Although a man of 
 undoubted talent and courage, he was possessed of many 
 detestable personal qualities. Under the spur of a fancied 
 neglect or oversight in the matter of promotion, Arnold 
 determined to betray the cause he had so efficiently sup- 
 
 *For a compact account of the establishment of West Point, and much informa- 
 tion in detail concerning it, the reader is referred to the interesting volume 
 of Captain Boynton, before quoted herein. 
 
THE VOLUNTEER AND THE BRITISH SPY. II3 
 
 ported. With this purpose, in view, he solicited and 
 obtained the command' of West Point. He then entered 
 into-^ negotiations with Sir Henry Clinton, through Major 
 Andre, 'to practically deliver the fortifications of the 
 Hudson into the hands of the British. T^e plot was 
 perilously near to success,- and only failed through the 
 intrepidity and loyal honesty of three representatives of the 
 volunteer soldiery of America. 
 
 Major Andre, the British spy, had received full writ- 
 ten descriptions of the defenses at West Point, with 
 Arnold's disposition of their forces, which latter were to 
 be so arranged that both fortifications and defenses might 
 easily fall into the hands of the enemy. With these 
 treacherous documents concealed in his stocking, he was 
 on his way to New York to consummate a victory that 
 only treachery could achieve. If Andre had reached his 
 destination unmolested, there was still a chance that the 
 colonists might fail. But Burgoyne had been the victim 
 of a previously unknown sort of soldier; and as Andre 
 rode quietly along, secure in the belief that the coveted 
 prize was soon to be in possession of the English, he was 
 affrighted by an apparition that apparently sprang upon 
 him from the bowels of the earth. It was the American 
 volunteer — vigilant, patriotic, and incorruptible. In the 
 very moment when the British spy thought himself secure 
 from further danger of molestation, and when, doubtless, 
 he was congratulating himself upon the great service he 
 had rendered to his sovereign, as also the personal reward 
 that was sure to follow it, the ever-watchful volunteer 
 
114 I'H^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 emerged from beneath the covering of a wayside bush, 
 and crushed the beast before it could make a spring. 
 
 John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wert 
 were three representatives of the volunteer soldiery of the 
 United States. In frustrating the base plan of Benedict 
 Arnold to betray his country, they earned a fame that will 
 live as long as patriotism, valor, and faithfulness are wor- 
 shiped as virtues to be emulated by the free citizens of 
 the United States. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 MILITARY EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES — THE NATURE 
 OF GENIUS AN INHERENT SOMETHING IN EVERY INDI- 
 VIDUAL THAT GIVES SHAPE TO HIS DESTINY FALLACY 
 
 OF THE POPULAR BELIEF IN THE EXCLUSIVE EFFICACY 
 OF SPECIFIC EDUCATION IN THE LIFE-CALLINGS — CITA- 
 TION OF CELEBRATED EXAMPLES OF GREAT SOLDIERS 
 AND OF GREAT INVENTORS — GROWTH OF THE SENTIMENT 
 IN FAVOR OF MILITARY EDUCATION AFTER THE REVOLU- 
 TION — THE ATTEMPT OF WASHINGTON TO DIFFUSE 
 MILITARY KNOWLEDGE AMONG THE PEOPLE, AND TO 
 MAKE SOLDIERS WITHOUT RESORTING TO THE DANGERS 
 
 OF A STANDING ARMY GENERAL KNOx's HISTORIC 
 
 PAPER ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THE MILITIA — HIS 
 BRILLIANT MILITARY CAREER. 
 
 KNOWLEDGE is to be considered as much in the 
 nature of an acquisition as is property ; and expe- 
 rience and training are indisputably necessary to the 
 attainment of skill in any of the varied occupations of 
 life. These are fundamental truths, but in their practical 
 application they do not reach to the extent that seems 
 indicated by their abstract statement. Out of their gen- 
 eral formulation and unrestricted acceptance there has 
 grown a great deal of mischievous error. It is a fact not 
 to be gainsaid that instruction conveys to the pupil the 
 
 "5 
 
Il6 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 technical knowledge connected with the craft or profes- 
 sion he purposes to acquire, which, when the correlating 
 manual or mental training that pertains to it is added, 
 may give him the character of an expert, with varying 
 degrees of excellence. 
 
 In the results of human achievement, however, there 
 is something beyond the features of mere technical educa- 
 tion and training that constantly obtrudes itself as a chief 
 factor of the whole problem of life-calling. 
 
 The observation of this fact — or this something, rather 
 — probably corresponds pretty closely in date with the 
 origin of man himself; and it is this observation, doubt- 
 less, that has given rise to an error antipodal in character 
 to that mentioned above, which, coming down from a Latin 
 author, has formulated itself in the English proverb, 
 "Poets are born, not made." In the sense that men are 
 born so endowed with the faculties of the poet that they 
 have no need to study the rules of verse, nor to acquire a 
 knowledge of history and literature in all of its depart- 
 ments, nor to become familiar with nature in its every 
 aspect, the proverb is fallacious in conception and in 
 declaration. If it be construed, however, in the sense of 
 its evident meaning, viz. : that the making of a successful 
 poet implies the, possession of inherent qualities in the 
 particular individual, which qualities by aid of appropriate 
 adjuncts are capable of high development, the saw repre- 
 sents a truth susceptible of profuse demonstration in 
 every channel of life. 
 
 The Sacred Writings have informed us that an indi- 
 
NIMROD THE MIGHTY HUNTER. \ \ 7 
 
 vidual called Nimrod was "a mighty hunter." This state- 
 ment will, upon reflection, yield testimony very ancient in 
 character. The hunter Nimrod lived in prehistoric time. 
 It is not the simple fact that a man standing in the early 
 morning of human creation should be fond' of hunting, 
 that interests a people moving away down the valley of 
 Time "in some wee short hour ayont the twal." It is 
 the adjective that gives the statement importance. The 
 assertion that Nimrod was a mighty hunter implies a 
 superiority in craft and skill above all other hunters of 
 Nimrod's epoch. It conveys the idea of an excellence 
 beyond that obtained from set precept and rule. It in- 
 volves, of a necessity, the possession of some particular 
 attribute of the individual that made him marked among 
 those who followed the chase. This piece of informa- 
 tion concerning Nimrod is all that we have of him in 
 the present age. Short as the statement is, however, 
 and important as it may appear, reflection will show 
 that a great truth lies under it. The word mighty, which 
 distinguishes Nimrod from all others of his time, illus- 
 trates the nature of the something above referred to — a 
 something within the individual which in its crudity re- 
 sembles a jewel in the rough, and in its full development 
 and blaze of power the same jewel after it has passed the 
 hands of the skillful lapidary, when it exhibits, not only 
 the art employed in the cut and polish of the stone, but 
 likewise the native flash, the brilliant fire inherent in the 
 gem. 
 
 The general drift of the modern' popular judgment 
 
Il8 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 tends to the side of special education and training as the 
 agents that make not only poets, but likewise soldiers, 
 doctors, lawyers, ministers, musicians, artists, artisans, etc. 
 "There is no royal road to mathematics," says another 
 proverb, by which we are to understand that men become 
 mathematicians only by hard labor at books, under the 
 grinding hand of direct tuition. The amount of money 
 that is expended in our modern age by fond parents in 
 the efifort to make musicians and singers of daughters 
 that have "no music in their souls;" to make artists of 
 those that have no appreciation of color and no eye for 
 symmetry; to make great lawyers of youths that have 
 no logical faculty in their mental make-up, would soon pay 
 off our national debt if applied to that purpose. The 
 shores of the fast-rolling, roaring, surging stream of mod- 
 ern life are strewn with the wrecks of young men and 
 women who have been stranded by the vain attempt to 
 educate them for parts for which .they had no fitness. 
 Some youths are " taught " the law, who, after the bitter 
 disappointments of a few years, relinquish it with the 
 belief that under our modern system talent is rarely 
 appreciated. Others, still, are "taught" to be soldiers, 
 for service upon land or sea. Many of these, being dili- 
 gent students, rank high in their classes, and sometimes 
 even carry off the honors of the institution. In the over- 
 whelming majority of these cases, as the record will show, 
 the brilliant student, after leaving his alma mater, sinks 
 into obscurity and is never heard of again in his profes- 
 sion. Opportunities for distinction come and pass, and 
 
THE NA TURE OF GENIUS. 
 
 119 
 
 he makes no mark. Some illustrations of the truth of 
 this observation will be presented in the subsequent 
 pages. 
 
 Between the extreme statements of the two proverbs 
 formulated above, viz.: " Poets are born, not made," and 
 " There is no royal road to mathematics," the safe truth 
 will be most surely found. The striking of the golden 
 mean, the aurea mediocritas of the Latin writer, will 
 develop the actual fact in this as in all other matters. 
 Men become great lawyers only through the possession 
 of a natural aptitude or talent, supplemented by a sufifi- 
 cient book-knowledge of laws, statutes, codes, rules of 
 procedure, decisions, etc. ; and they become great soldiers 
 through special bent, and the acquisition of those branches 
 of knowledge that are considered technical to the military 
 art. 
 
 As before remarked, however, the drift of practical 
 opinion in the modern day is toward a belief in the essen- 
 tial and exclusive nature of special education and training 
 in all the varied directions of life. It is wholly unneces- 
 sary to the present purpose to discuss the inherent 
 talent, aptitude, bent, direction, or something, belonging 
 to the individual, under its metaphysical aspect. The 
 practical fact is, that it appears in all the problems of 
 life-occupation, thwarting the efforts of anxious parents 
 and confounding the hopes and predictions of friends. 
 It may reside in the physical or in the mental constitu- 
 tion of the individual. It may be a faculty or functional 
 manifestation of the intellectual organ, or it may belong 
 
I20 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 to the physical structure itself. Whatever its precise 
 nature, one thing is certain, viz. : that it is born with the 
 individual ; and, other things being equal, it forever shapes 
 and determines the destiny of the individual possessing it. 
 It is not made by art, nor created by education. It is not 
 called into being by opportunity, though it is chiefly 
 through opportunity that its presence may become known. 
 Having no form, it cannot be seen by the eye ; but, mani- 
 festing its existence by character and demonstration at 
 once striking and convincing, it is not slow to en- 
 force recognition. We have learned to call the quality 
 or attribute under consideration by the Latin word 
 genius. 
 
 It is believed that every human being of normal con- 
 stitution possesses genius in greater or less degree. It 
 flows in different channels, but it presides over all human 
 efTort. Cyrus the Persian, Alexander the Hellene, 
 Julius Csesar the Roman, and the first Napoleon illus- 
 trate its military development. The inventors of printing, 
 of the use of steam, of the application of electricity, etc., 
 demonstrate it in the direction of mechanics ; while a man 
 in Paris has acquired, in late years, a cosmopolitan repu- 
 tation in the fabrication of female costumes. It is claimed, 
 by those familiar with such things, that in his particular 
 pursuit he stands without a rival in the history of the 
 world. As no such claim can be made in behalf of either 
 Cyrus, Alexander, Caesar, or Napoleon, the genius of the 
 modern individual in his own sphere of activity seems 
 greater than that of those renowned soldiers of the past. 
 
ILL USTRA TIONS OF GENIUS. I 2 1 
 
 In one direction it may be said that he surpasses them 
 in their own profession — that of dress-parade. 
 
 The foregoing general observations will serve to pre- 
 face the subject which the author intends to present and 
 somewhat fully to discuss in the ensuing chapters — that 
 of military education. 
 
 After the close of the Revolutionary War, certain of 
 the leading statesmen of the day became impressed by the 
 necessity demanding the establishment of an institution 
 for the military education of the future soldiers of the 
 country. National independence had been secured after 
 a struggle reaching over a period of eight years, but the 
 uncertain future still lay before the young nation as an 
 unsolved problem. The conflict between the rulers and 
 the ruled had reached a critical point the world over. 
 The establishment of such a republic as that contemplated 
 and declared by the people of the United States was a 
 dangerous experiment for the crowned monarchs of the 
 old hemisphere, and our forefathers fully realized the 
 perils that menaced it. The dissensions and jealousies 
 of the older nations among themselves seemed to be a 
 beacon-light of safety in the immediate present, but the 
 fact that a readiness for war is the best security of peace 
 was patent enough to the men who had passed through 
 the fires of the Revolution. 
 
 It is not strange, then, that an early movement in the 
 matter of military education took place. The expediency 
 of a military school had been suggested, indeed, soon after 
 the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but it 
 
122 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 was discussed after the close of the war; for nearly twenty 
 years, before positive enactment gave such definite form 
 to the subject as resulted in the location of a school for 
 military instruction at West Point, in the State of New 
 York. 
 
 Before proceeding to review the immediate measures 
 through which the school referred to was actually founded, 
 it will be interesting to consider the opinions of some of 
 the men upon whom had devolved both counsel and 
 direction during the bitter struggle that finally gave 
 independence, to the colonies, upon the subject of the 
 future military necessities of the young nation. 
 
 With the whole force of his mind directed to the 
 elaboration of a system of government that should give 
 permanence to the nation in whose interest he had made 
 so many sacrifices, General Washington, after his inaugu- 
 ration as President, became foremost in the effort to devise 
 a plan which, while adequate to afford military defense 
 against the attempts of foreign enemies, should be shorn 
 of the dangers to republican government of a large stand- 
 ing army. In this effort he was seconded by some of the 
 ablest statesmen of that early day, prominent among whom 
 were Jefferson, Hamilton, Knox, and others. 
 
 In a special message to the United States Senate, at 
 the first session of Congress, President Washington, under 
 date of August 7th, 1 789, called the attention of its mem- 
 bers to the subject referred to, as follows: 
 
 "Along with this object I am induced to suggest another, with 
 the national importance and necessity of which I am deeply im- 
 
SENTIMENT FOR MILITAR Y ED UCA TION. 123 
 
 pressed. I mean some uniform and effective system for the militia 
 of the United States. It is unnecessary to offer arguments in 
 recommendation of a measure on which the honor, safety, and well- 
 being of our country so evidently and so essentially depends ; but it 
 may not be amiss to observe that I am particularly anxious it 
 should receive as early attention as circumstances will admit, 
 because it is now in our power to avail ourselves of the military 
 knowledge disseminated through the several States by means of 
 the many well instructed officers and soldiers of the late army, a 
 resource which is daily diminishing by death and other causes. To 
 I suffer this peculiar advantage to pass away unimproved, would be to 
 neglect an opportunity which will never again occur, unless, unfor- 
 tunately, we should again be involved in a long and arduous war."* 
 
 No action upon this recommendation, so strongly 
 expressed, was taken by the Senate, One of the most 
 comprehensive state papers of that early day had been 
 prepared by General Knox upon this subject, and formally 
 presented, in his character of " Secretary for the Depart- 
 ment of War," to the consideration of Congress. After 
 this it was revised by President Washington, so as to con- 
 form it to his own views, and transmitted by him to 
 Congress, at its second session in New York, with the 
 following message : 
 
 " Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives : 
 
 " The Secretary of the Department of War has submitted to 
 me certain principles to serve as a plan for the general arrange- 
 ment of the militia of the United States. 
 
 " Conceiving the subject to be of the highest importance to the 
 welfare of our country, and liable to be placed in various points of 
 view, I have directed him to lay the plan before Congress, for their 
 information, in order that they may make such use thereof as they 
 may judge proper. 
 
 "January 21, 1790."* 
 
 1 Journal of the First Session of the Senate, p. 55. 'Op. cit., p. 107. 
 
124 1'HE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA 
 
 The paper of General Knox is in the nature of a 
 special report. Covering as it does the views of Wash- 
 ington at that time, as well as of its author, the docu- 
 ment possesses high importance as representative of the 
 experience brought by the war to those who, after having 
 assisted to call a new nation into life, were laboring to 
 surround it with conditions most surely conducive to its 
 future well-being. This considerg.tion alone would be a 
 sufficient excuse for the introduction into the present vol- 
 ume of such parts of a state paper as might be not alone 
 instructive as to things of the past, but even suggestive as 
 to things of the future, when viewed at the present day. 
 
 In addition to the consideration just mentioned, how- 
 ever, there exists another that amply justifies the republi- 
 cation of the whole report, as well as of many other docu- 
 ments relating to the subject now being treated. The 
 records of our national history are contained in volumes 
 that are of extremely difficult access to the general 
 people. They are scattered through the journals of both 
 houses of Congress, in executive departments, in the 
 volumes designated " American State Papers," in the 
 "American Archives," and in a host of other volumes. 
 These works are not upon sale in the book-stores, and are 
 only to be found to a limited extent in private libraries. 
 
 Away from the large centers, and especially from the 
 seat of government, at Washington, it is hardly possible 
 for the general public to consult state and national 
 records with a view to following the history and course 
 of any particular subject. To some who honor this book 
 
SKETCH OF THE FIRST WAR SECRETARY. I 25 
 
 with perusal the relating documents will, without doubt, 
 be familiar ; but it is safe to say that to the overwhelming 
 majority of its readers the records bearing upon the sub- 
 jects treated are wholly inaccessible. With a view of 
 remedying this deficiency, and of popularizing, as far as 
 the influence of the volume extends, a knowledge of the 
 subject in a bibliographic sense, the author has decided to 
 place all documents bearing upon the topic under treat- 
 ment in these pages in full before his readers, in order 
 that the book may have value as a work of easy refer- 
 ence if it shall possess no other claim upon the public 
 favor. 
 
 The author of the paper presently to be copied. Gen- 
 eral Henry Knox, was an American by birth and training. 
 Born in an humble sphere, he received only a common- 
 school education, and began the business of life as an 
 ordinary tradesman. Early in his career he began to 
 evince a fondness for the military art, which soon led to 
 his connection with a local artillery company. Applying 
 himself .with much zeal to the study of military science, 
 he subsequently distinguished himself as a volunteer aide 
 to General Ward, at the battle of Bunker Hill. 
 
 The sagacious eye of Washington soon after fell upon 
 him as one of the volunteer officers upon whom the coun- 
 try must rely in the impending struggle with the British. 
 As early as November, 1775, he was placed in command 
 of the artillery and sent to the Canadian border upon an 
 important mission — that of procuring cannon and ord- 
 nance stores from the forts upon the frontier. This 
 
126 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 mission was consummated with brilliant success. One 
 year after this service he was made a Brigadier-General, 
 and commanded the artillery of the main army through- 
 out the war. In most of the important battles of the 
 Revolution, he lent an aid to their successful issue at once 
 brilliant and decisive. One year before the close of hos- 
 tilities, he was promoted to the rank of Major-General, 
 and after their termination he rendered important service 
 in arranging with Sir Guy Carleton for the surrender of 
 New York. 
 
 Henry Knox was a worthy representative of the 
 American citizen-soldier. He was a man whose natural 
 bent or genius led him from the counter of the tradesman 
 to the brilliant command of an army. With nothing but 
 the commort-school education of the time (which was a 
 very different thing from the common-school education of 
 to-day) as an adjunct, he achieved a success in the profes- 
 sion of arms which no system of mere education could 
 have brought him, had not the inspiration of the soldier 
 led him with invisible hand to the consummation of his 
 destiny. Nor, to place it under the opposing light, is it 
 at all probable that the most careful preliminary educa- 
 tion in the best of military schools could have rendered 
 General Knox's subsequent military career any more bril- 
 liant than it actually became under stimulus of the native 
 fire which gave motion and direction to that career. 
 Earlier and more extended experience it might have 
 given him. But the accomplishments of genius, like- 
 water, never mount higher than the source, and they will 
 
HENRY KNOX, THE TYPICAL CITIZEN-SOLDIER.' (27 
 
 attain that level in spite of the most formidable obstruc- 
 tions. A little rivulet springing from the mountain-side 
 will cut its way through pristine rocks which have been 
 upheaved by the fires of earth, apparently with the par- 
 ticular object to block the way of the brook in its noisy 
 march to the sea. But, scorning the rocks, it chisels its 
 bed through the dark granites, and draws a line of glitter- 
 ing light from the frowning mountain to the deep-rolling 
 ocean, and forever marks an oasis of refreshment to the 
 thirsty traveler in his weary journey of life. 
 
 At the close of the war, in 1783, General Knox was 
 still a very young man, being only thirty-three years of 
 age. The country could not afford to lose the services of 
 one who had borne so prominent a part in the past, and 
 who promised so much of usefulness in the future. He 
 was made Secretary of War in 1785, and held the position 
 for a period of ten years. He had given much thought 
 to a subject that had engaged the general attention, and 
 the report made by him embraces his views of it. This 
 report may be found in the "American State Papers, 
 Military Affairs, volume I." It was submitted to the first 
 Congress at its second session by President Washington, 
 to whom it was addressed. Its text is as follows : 
 
 "War Office, January 18, 1790. 
 "Sir: Having submitted to your consideration a plan for the 
 arrangement of the militia of the United States, which I had pre- 
 sented to the late Congress, and you having approved the general 
 principles thereof, with certain exceptions, I now respectfully lay 
 the same before you, modified according to the alterations you 
 were pleasecf te» suggest. It has been my anxious desire to devise 
 
128 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 a national system of defense adequate to the probable exigencies 
 of the United States, whether arising from internal or external 
 causes, and at the same time to erect a standard of republican 
 magnanimity independent of and superior to the powerful influ- 
 ences of wealth. 
 
 " The convulsive events, generated by the inordinate pursuit of 
 riches or ambition, require that the Government should possess a 
 strong corrective arm. 
 
 " The idea is therefore submitted, whether an efficient military 
 branch of government can be invented with safety to the great 
 principles of liberty, unless the same shall be formed of the people 
 themselves and supported by their habits and manners. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, sir, with the most perfect respect, 
 "Your most obedient servant, 
 
 "H. Knox, 
 " Secretary for the Department of War. 
 "The President of the United States." 
 
 The Introduction. 
 
 "That a well constituted republic is more favorable to the 
 liberties of society, and that its principles give a higher elevation 
 to the human mind than any other form of government, has gener- 
 ally been acknowledged by the unprejudiced and enlightened part 
 of mankind. 
 
 " But it is at the same time acknowledged that, unless a repub- 
 lic prepares itself by proper arrangements to meet those exigencies 
 to which all states are in a degree liable, its peace and existence 
 are more precarious than the forms of government in which the 
 will of one directs the conduct of the whole for the defense of the 
 nation. 
 
 " A government whose measures must be the result of multi- 
 plied deliberations is seldom in a situation to produce instantly those 
 exertions which the occasion may demand ; therefore it ought to 
 possess such energetic establishments as should enable it, by the 
 vigor of its own citizens, to control events as they arise instead 
 of being convulsed or subverted by them. 
 
 "It is the misfortune of modern ages that governments have 
 been formed by chance and events, instead of system ; that, with- 
 out fixed principles, they are braced or relaxed from time to time 
 
SECSE TARY KNOX' S MILITIA REP OR T. I 2 9 
 
 according to the predominating power of the rulers or the ruled ; 
 the rulers possessing separate interests from the people, excepting 
 in some of the high-toned monarchies, in which all opposition to 
 the will of the princes seems annihilated. 
 
 " Hence we look round Europe in vain for an extensive govern- 
 ment rising on the power inherent in the people, and i>erforming 
 its operations entirely for their benefit. But we find artificial force 
 governing everywhere, and the people generally made subservient 
 to the elevation and caprice of the few, almost every nation appear- 
 ing to be busily employed in conducting some external war, grap- 
 pling with ' internal commotion, or endeavoring to extricate itself 
 from impending debts which threaten to overwhelm it with ruin. 
 Princes and ministers seem neither to have leisure nor inclination 
 to bring forward institutions for diffusing general strength, knowl- 
 edge, and happiness, but they seem to understand well the Machia- 
 vellian maxim of politics — divide and govern. 
 
 " May the United States avoid the errors and crimes of other 
 governments and possess the wisdom to embrace the present 
 invaluable opportunity of establishing such institutions as shall 
 invigorate, exalt, and perpetuate the great principles of freedom ; 
 an opportunity pregnant with the fate of millions, but rapidly 
 borne on the wings of time, and which may never again return. 
 
 " The public mind, unbiased by superstition or prejudice, 
 seems happily prepared to receive the impressions of wisdom. The 
 latent springs of human action, ascertained by the standard of 
 experience, may be regulated and made subservient to the noble 
 purpose of forming a dignified national character. 
 
 " The causes by which nations have ascended and declined 
 through the various ages of the world may be calmly and accu- 
 rately determined, and the United States may be placed in the 
 singularly fortunate condition of commencing their career of em- 
 pire with the accumulated knowledge of all the known societies 
 and governments of the globe. 
 
 "The strength of the Government, like the strength of any 
 other vast and complicated machine, will depend on a due adjust- 
 ment of its several parts. Its agriculture, its commerce, its laws, its 
 finance, its system of defense, and its manners and habits, all require 
 consideration and the highest exercise of political wisdom. 
 
 " It is the intention of the present attempt to suggest the most 
 
130 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 eflScient system of defense which may be compatible with the inter- 
 ests of a free people — a system which shall not only produce the 
 expected effect, but which in its operations shall also produce those 
 habits and manners which will impart strength and durability to 
 the whole Government. 
 
 " The modern practice of Europe with respect to the employ- 
 ment of standing armies has created such a mass of opir\ion in 
 their favor that even philosophers and the advocates for liberty 
 have frequently confessed their use and necessity in certain cases. 
 
 "But whoever seriously and candidly estimates the power of 
 discipline and the tendency of military habits will be constrained 
 to confess that, whatever may be the efficacy of a standing army in 
 war, it cannot in peace be considered as friendly to the rights of 
 human nature. The recent instance in France cannot with pro- 
 priety be brought to overturn the general principle, built upon the 
 uniform experience of mankind. It may be found, on examining 
 the causes that appear to have influenced the military of France, 
 that, while the springs of power were wound up in the nation to 
 the highest pitch, the discipline of the army was proportionately 
 relaxed. But any argument on this head may be considered as 
 unnecessary to the enlightened citizens of the United States. 
 
 "A small corps of well-disciplined and well-informed artillerists 
 and engineers and a legion for the protection of the frontiers and 
 the magazines and arsenals are all the military establishment 
 which may be required for the present use of the United States. 
 The privates of the corps to be enlisted for a certain period, and 
 after the expiration of which to return to the mass of the citizens. 
 
 "An energetic national militia is to be regarded as the capital 
 security of a free republic, and not a standing army forming a dis- 
 tinct class in the community. 
 
 " It is the introduction and diffusion of 'vice and corruption of 
 manners into the mass of the people that renders a standing army 
 necessary. It is when public spirit is despised, and avarice, indo- 
 lence, and effeminacy of manners predominate and prevent the 
 establishment of institutions which would elevate the minds of 
 the youth in the paths of virtue and honor, that a standing army is 
 formed and riveted forever. 
 
 " While the human character remains unchanged, and societies 
 and governments of considerable extent are formed, a principle 
 
PRINCIPLE OF THE MILITIA. I3I 
 
 €ver ready to execute the laws and defend the state must con- 
 stantly exist. Without this vital principle the government would 
 be invaded or overtured and trampled upon by the bold and ambi- 
 tious. No community can long be held together unless its ar- 
 rangements are adequate to its probable exigencies. 
 
 " If it should be decided to reject a standing army for the mili- 
 tary branch of the Government of the United States, as possessing 
 too fierce an aspect and being hostile to the principles of liberty, it 
 will follow that a well-constituted militia ought to be established. 
 
 "A consideration of the subject will show the impracticability 
 of disciplining at once the masses of the people. All discussions 
 on the subject of a powerful militia will result in one or other of 
 the following principles: 
 
 " First, either efficient institutions must be established for the 
 military education of the youth, and that the knowledge acquired 
 therein shall be diffused throughout the community by the means 
 of rotation; or, 
 
 "Secondly, that the militia must be formed of substitutes, 
 after the manner of the militia of Great Britain. 
 
 " If the United States possess the vigor of mind to establish 
 the first institution, it may reasonably be expected to produce the 
 most unequivocal advantages. A glorious national spirit will be 
 introduced, with its extensive train of political consequences. The 
 youth will imbibe a love of their country; reverence and obedience 
 to its laws; courage and elevation of mind; openness and liberality 
 of character, accompanied by a just spirit of honor; in addition to 
 which their bodies will acquire a robustness greatly conducive to 
 their personal happiness as well as the defense of their country, 
 while habit with its silent but efficacious operations will durably 
 cement the system. 
 
 " Habit, that powerful and universal law, incessantly acting on 
 the human race, well deserves the attention of legislators, formed 
 at first in individuals by separate and almost imperceptible im- 
 pulses, until at length it acquires a force which controls with 
 irresistible sway. The effects of salutary or pernicious habits, 
 operating on a whole nation, are immense, and decide its rank and 
 character in the world. 
 
 " Hence, the science of legislation teaches to scrutinize every 
 national institution, as it may introduce proper or improper habits, 
 
132 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 to adopt with religious zeal the former and reject with horror the 
 latter. 
 
 "A republic constructed on the principles herein stated would 
 be uninjured by events sufficient to overturn a government sup- 
 ported solely by the uncertain power of a standing army. 
 
 "The well-informed members of the community, actuated by 
 the highest motives of self-love, would form the real defense of the 
 country. Rebellion would be prevented or suppressed with ease; 
 invasions of such a government would be undertaken only by mad- 
 men, and the virtues and knowledge of the people would effectu- 
 ally oppose the introduction of tyranny. 
 
 "But the second principle — a militia of substitutes — is preg- 
 nant, in a degree, with the mischiefs of a standing army, as it is. 
 highly probable the substitutes from time to time will be nearly 
 the same men, and the most idle and worthless part of the com- 
 munity. Wealthy families, proud of distinction which riches may- 
 confer, will prevent their sons from serving in the militia of substi- 
 tutes; the plan will degenerate into habitual contempt; a standing- 
 army will be introduced, and the liberties of the people subjected 
 to all the contingencies of events. 
 
 " The expense attending an energetic establishment of militia- 
 may be strongly urged as an objection to the institution. But it is 
 to be remembered that this objection is leveled at both systems, 
 whether by rotation or by substitution, for, if the numbers are- 
 equal, the expense will also be equal. The estimate of the expenses 
 will show its unimportance when compared with the magnitude 
 and beneficial effects of the institution. 
 
 " But the people of the United States will cheerfully consent to- 
 the expenses of a measure calculated to serve as a perpetual barrier 
 to their liberties, especially as they well know that the disburse- 
 ments will be made among the members of the same community, 
 and, therefore, cannot be injurious. 
 
 " Every intelligent mind would rejoice in the establishment of 
 an institution under whose auspices the youth and vigor of the 
 Constitution would be renewed with each successive generation, 
 and which would appear to secure the great principles of freedom 
 and happiness against the injuries of time and events. 
 
 "The following plan is formed on these general principles: 
 
 "First, that it is the indispensable duty of every nation ta 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE MILITIA. I 33 
 
 establish all necessary institutions for its own perfection and 
 defense. 
 
 " Secondly, that it is a capital security to a free state for the 
 great body of the people to possess a competent knowledge of the 
 military art. 
 
 " Thirdly, that this knowledge cannot be attained, in the pres- 
 ent state of society, but by establishing adequate institutions for 
 the military education of youth, and that the knowledge acquired 
 therein should be diffused throughout the community by the prin- 
 ciples of rotation. 
 
 " Fourthly, that every man of the proper age and ability of 
 body is firmly bound by the social compact to perform, personally, 
 his proportion of military duty for the defense of the state. 
 
 " Fifthly, that all men of the legal military age should be 
 armed, enrolled, and held responsible for different degrees of mili- 
 tary service. 
 
 " And sixthly, that, agreeably to the Constitution, the United 
 States are to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the 
 militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed 
 in the service of the United States; reserving to the States, respect- 
 ively, the appointment of the officers and the authority of training 
 the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONCLUSION OF GENERAL KNOx's PAPER LEGISLATIVE 
 
 PROCEEDINGS FOUNDED UPON THE SAME DISAPPOINT- 
 MENT OF GENERAL KNOX IN THE BILL PASSED BY 
 
 CONGRESS THE PROBLEM, HOW TO MAKE A TRAINED 
 
 .SOLDIER WITHOUT ATTACHING HIM TO A PERMANENT 
 
 MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT INTERESTING DOCUMENTS 
 
 "BEARING UPON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A MILITARY 
 .SCHOOL AS THE BEST MILITARY HOPE OF THE REPUB- 
 LIC THE INITIAL ERROR OF THE FOREFATHERS IN 
 
 FAILING TO PROVIDE FOR A GENERAL MILITARY EDU- 
 CATION OF THE MASSES. 
 
 THE interesting introduction to the paper of Secre- 
 tary Knox, quoted in the last chapter, is followed 
 by his plan of organizing the citizen-soldiery. Even at 
 this later day of our history there is much in the second 
 portion of the paper valuable in its suggestive character. 
 The author commends it to the careful perusal of his 
 readers, because containing germs of thought capable of 
 useful development under favoring circumstances. 
 The remainder of the paper is as follows : 
 
 The Plan. 
 
 " The period of life in which military service shall be required 
 of the citizens of the United States to commence at eighteen and 
 terminate at the age of sixty years. 
 
 134 ' 
 
ORGANIZATION OF CITIZEN-SOLDIERY. 
 
 135 
 
 " The men comprehended by this description, exclusive of such 
 exceptions as the legislatures of the several States may think 
 proper to make, and all actual mariners, shall be enrolled for differ- 
 ent degrees of military duty and divided into three distinct 
 classes. 
 
 " The first class shall comprehend the youth of eighteen, nine- 
 teen, and twenty years of age, co be denominated the Advanced Corps. 
 
 " The second class shall comprehend the men from twenty-one 
 to forty-six years of age, to be denominated the Main Corps. 
 
 "The third class shall comprehend, inclusively, the men from 
 forty-six to sixty years of age, to be denominated the Reserved 
 Corps. 
 
 "All the militia of the United States shall assume the form of 
 the legion, which shall be the permanent establishment thereof. 
 
 " A legion shall consist of one hundred and fifty-three commis- 
 sioned officers, and two thousand eight hundred and eighty 
 non-commissioned officers and privates, formed in the following 
 manner : 
 
 1. The Legionary Staff. 
 
 "One Legionary or Major-General. 
 
 " Two Aides-de-Camp of the rank of Major, one of whom to 
 be Legionary Quartermaster. 
 
 " One Inspector and Deputy- Adjutant-General of the rank of 
 Lieutenant-Colonel. 
 
 " One Chaplain. 
 
 2. The Brigade Staff. 
 
 " One Brigadier-General. 
 
 " One Brigadier Inspector, to serve as an Aide-de-Camp. 
 
 3. The Regimental Staff. 
 
 " One Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant. 
 
 "Two Majors. 
 
 "One Adjutant. 
 
 " One Paymaster or Agent. 
 
 " One Quartermaster. 
 
 4. Two Brigades of Infantry. 
 
 " Each brigade of two regiments ; each regiment of eight com- 
 panies, forming two battalions ; each company of a captain. 
 
136 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 lieutenant, ensign, six sergeants, one drum, one fife, and sixty-four 
 rank and file. 
 
 5. Two Companies of Riflemen. 
 
 "Each company to have a captain, lieutenant, ensign, six 
 sergeants, a bugle-horn, one drum, and sixty-four rank and file. 
 
 6. A Battalion of Artillery, 
 
 Consisting of four companies, each to have a captain, captain- 
 lieutenant, one lieutenant, six sergeants, twelve artificers, and fifty- 
 two rank and file. 
 
 7. A Squadron of Cavalry, 
 
 Consisting of two troops ; each troop to have a captain, two 
 lieutenants, a cornet, six sergeants, one farrier, one saddler, one 
 trumpeter, and sixty-four dragoons. 
 
 " In case the whole number of the advanced corps of any State 
 should be insufficient to form a legion of this extent, yet the com- 
 ponent parts must be preserved and the reduction proportioned, as 
 nearly as may be, to each part. 
 
 " The companies of all corps shall be divided into sections of 
 twelve each. It is proposed by this division to establish one uni- 
 form vital principle, which in peace and war shall pervade the 
 militia of the United States. 
 
 "All requisitions of men to form an army, either for State or 
 Federal purposes, shall be furnished by the advanced and main 
 corps, by means of the sections. 
 
 "The executive government, or commander-in-chief of the 
 militia of each State, will assess the numbers required on the 
 respective legions of these corps. 
 
 " The legionary general will direct the proportions to be fur- 
 nished by each part of his command. Should the demand be so 
 great as to require one man from each section, then the operation 
 hereby directed shall be performed by single sections. But if a 
 less number should be required, they will be furnished by an asso- 
 ciation of sections, or companies, according to the demand. In 
 any case it is probable that mutual convenience may dictate an 
 agreement with an individual to perform the service required. If, 
 however, no agreement can be made, one must be detached by an 
 indiscriminate draft, and the others shall pay him a sum of money 
 
BASED UPON THE LEGION. 1 37 
 
 equal to the averaged sum which shall be paid in the same legion 
 for the voluntary performance ef the service required. 
 
 " In case any sections or companies of a legion, after having 
 furnished its own quota, should have more men willing to engage 
 for the service required, other companies of the same legion shall 
 have permission to engage them. The same rule to extend to the 
 different legions in the State. 
 
 "The legionary general must be responsible to the commander- 
 in-chief of the militia of the State that the men furnished are ac- 
 cording to the description, and that they are equipped in the 
 manner and marched to the rendezvous conformably to the orders 
 for that purpose. 
 
 "The men who may be drafted shall not serve more than 
 three years at one time. 
 
 " Reserved corps, being destined for , the domestic defense 
 of the State, shall not be obliged to furnish men, excepting in cases 
 of actual invasion or rebellion; and then the men required shall be 
 furnished by means of the sections. 
 
 " The actual commissioned officers of the respective corps shall 
 not be included in the sections, nor in any of the operations 
 thereof. 
 
 " The respective States shall be divided into portions or dis- 
 tricts, each of which to contain, as nearly as may be, some complete 
 part of a legion. 
 
 " Every citizen of the United States who shall serve his coun- 
 try in the field for the space of one year, either as an officer or 
 soldier, shall, if under the age of twenty-one years, be exempted 
 from the service required in the advanced corps. If he shall be 
 above the age of twenty-one years, then every year he shall so serve 
 in the field shall be estimated as equal to six years' service in the 
 main or reserved corps, and shall accordingly exempt him from 
 every service therein for the said term of six years, except in cases 
 of actual invasion of, or rebellion within, the State in which he 
 resides. And it shall also be a permanent establishment that six 
 years' actual service in the field shall entirely free every citizen 
 from any further demands of service, either in militia or in the 
 field, unless in cases of invasion or rebellion. 
 
 " All actual mariners, or seamen, in the respective States, shall 
 be registered in districts and divided into two classes. The first 
 
138 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 class to consist of all the seamen from the age of sixteen to thirty 
 years, inclusively. The second class to consist of all those of the 
 age of thirty-one to forty-five, inclusively. 
 
 " The first class shall be responsible to serve three years on 
 board of some public armed vessel or ship-of-war, as a commis- 
 sioned officer, warrant officer, or private mariner, for which service 
 they shall receive the customary wages and emoluments. 
 
 " But should the State not demand the said three years' service 
 during the above period, from the age of sixteen to thirty years, 
 then the party to be exempted entirely therefrom. 
 
 " The person so serving shall receive a certificate of his service 
 on parchment, according to the form which shall be directed, which 
 shall exempt him from any other than voluntary service, unless in 
 such exigencies as may require the services of all the members of 
 the community. 
 
 "The second class shall be responsible for a proportion of 
 service in those cases to which the first class shall be unequal. 
 The numbers required shall be furnished by sections, in the same 
 manner as is prescribed for the sections of the militia. 
 
 " Of the Advanced Corps. 
 
 "The advanced corps are designed not only as a school in 
 which the youth of the United States are to be instructed in the 
 art of war, but they are, in all cases of exigence, to serve as an 
 actual defense to the community. 
 
 " The whole of the armed corps shall be clothed according to 
 the manner hereafter directed, armed and subsisted at the expense 
 of the United States; and all the youth of the said corps, in each 
 State, shall be encamped together, if practicable, or by legions, 
 which encampments shall be denominated the annual camps of dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 " The youth of eighteen and nineteen years shall be disciplined 
 for thirty days successively in each year; and those of twenty years 
 shall be disciplined only for ten days in each year, which shall be 
 the last ten days of the annual encampments. 
 
 " The non-commissioned officers and privates are not to receive 
 any pay during the said time; but the commissioned officers will 
 receive the pay of their relative ranks, agreeably to the Federal 
 establishment for the time being. 
 
OF THE ADVANCED CORPS. 1 39. 
 
 " In order that the plan shall effectually answer the end pro- 
 posed, the first day of January shall be the fixed period for all wha 
 attain the age of eighteen years, in any part, or during the course 
 of each year, to be enrolled in the advanced corps, and to take the 
 necessary oaths to perform, personally, such legal military service 
 as may be directed, for the full and complete term of three years, to- 
 be estimated from the time of entrance into the said corps, and also 
 to take an oath of allegiance to the State and to the United States. 
 
 "The commanding officer or general of the advanced legions 
 of the district shall regulate the manner of the service of the 
 youth, respectively, whether it shall be in the infantry, artillery, or 
 cavalry; but, after having entered into either of them, no change 
 should be allowed. 
 
 " Each individual, at his first joining the annual camps of dis- 
 cipline, will receive complete arms and accoutrements, all of which, 
 previously to his being discharged from the said camps, he must 
 return to the regimental quartermaster, on the penalty of dol- 
 lars, or months' imprisonment. 
 
 "The said arms and accoutrements shall be marked, in some 
 conspicuous place, with the letters M. U. S. And all sales or pur- 
 chases of any of the said arms or accoutrements shall be severely 
 punished, according to law. 
 
 "And each individual will also, on his first entrance into the 
 advanced corps, receive the following articles of uniform clothing: 
 One hat, one uniform short coat, one waistcoat, and one pai-r of 
 overalls, which he shall retain in his own possession, and for which 
 he shall be held accountable, and be compelled to replace all defi- 
 ciencies during his service in the annual camps of discipline. 
 
 " Those who shall serve in the cavalry shall be at the expense- 
 of their own horses and uniform helmets and horse furniture; but 
 they shall receive forage for their horses, swords, pistols, and cloth- 
 ing, equal in value to the infantry. 
 
 "At the age of twenty-one years, every individual having- 
 served in the manner and for the time prescribed shall receive an 
 honorary certificate thereof, on parchment, and signed by the 
 legionary general and inspector. 
 
 " The names of all persons to whom such certificates shall be 
 given shall be fairly registered in books to be provided for that 
 purpose. 
 
140 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 " And the said certificate, or an attested copy of the register 
 aforesaid, shall be required as an indispensable qualification for 
 exercising any of the rights of a free citizen until after the age of 
 ' years. 
 
 " The advanced legions, in all cases of invasion or rebellion, 
 shall, on requisition of lawful authority, be obliged to march to 
 any place within the United States; to remain embodied for such 
 time as shall be directed, not to exceed one year, to be computed 
 from the time of marching from the regimental parade; during the 
 period of their being on such service, to be placed on the con- 
 tinental establishment of pay, subsistence, clothing, forage, tents, 
 camp equipage, and all such other allowances as are made to the 
 Federal troops at the same time and under the same circum- 
 stances. 
 
 " If the military service so required should be for such a short 
 period as to render an actual issue of clothing unnecessary, then an 
 allowance should be made in proportion to the annual cost of 
 clothing for the Federal soldier, according to estimates to be fur- 
 nished for that purpose from the War Office of the United States. 
 
 " In case the legions of the advanced corps should march to 
 any place in consequence of a requisition of the General Govern- 
 ment, all legal and proper expenses of such march shall be paid by 
 the United States. But, should they be embodied and marched in 
 consequence of an order derived from the authority of the State to 
 which they belong, and for State purposes, then the expenses will 
 be borne by the State. 
 
 " The advanced corps shall be constituted on such principles 
 that, when completed, it will receive one-third part and discharge 
 one-third part of its members annually. By this arrangement two- 
 thirds of the corps will at all times be considerably disciplined; 
 but, as it will only receive those of eighteen years of age, it will not 
 Tae completed until the third year after its institution. Those who 
 have already attained the ages of nineteen and twenty years will, 
 in the first instance, be enrolled in the main corps. 
 
 " But one-half the legionary officers to be appointed the first 
 and the other the second year of the establishment. 
 
 " The officers of each grade in the States, respectively, shall be 
 divided into three classes, which shall by lot be numbered one, two, 
 and three, and one of the said classes, according to their numbers, 
 
PERIOD OF MILITIA SERVICE. I4I 
 
 shall be deranged every third year. In the first period of nine 
 years, one-third part will have to serve three, one-third part six, 
 and one-third part nine years. But, after the said first period, the 
 several classes will serve nine years, which shall be the limitation 
 of service by virtue of the same appointment; and in such cases, 
 where there may not be three officers of the same grade, the limita- 
 tion of nine years' service shall be observed. All vacancies occa- 
 sioned by the aforesaid derangements or any casualties shall be 
 immediately filled by new appointments. 
 
 " The captains and subalterns of the advanced corps shall not 
 be less than twenty-one nor more than thirty-five, and the field 
 officers shall not exceed forty-five years of age. 
 
 " Each company, battalion, and regiment shall have a fixed 
 parade or place at which to assemble. The companies shall assem- 
 ble at their own parade and march to the parade of the battalion, 
 and the battalions to the regimental parade, and when thus em- 
 bodied the regiment will march to the rendezvous of the legion. 
 Every commanding officer of a company, battalion, and regiment 
 will be accountable to his superior officer that his command is in 
 the most perfect order. 
 
 " The officers to receive subsistence money in lieu of provisions, 
 in proportion to their respective grades, and those whose duties 
 require them to be on horseback will receive forage in the same 
 proportion. 
 
 " Every legion must have a chaplain of respectable talents and 
 character, who, besides his religious functions, should impress on 
 the minds of the youth at stated periods, in concise discourses, the 
 eminent advantages of free governments to the happiness of 
 society, and that such governments can only be supported by the 
 knowledge, spirit, and virtuous conduct of the youth, to be illus- 
 trated by the most conspicuous examples of history. 
 
 " No amusements should be admitted in camp but those which 
 correspond with war — the swimming of men and horses, running, 
 wrestling, and such other exercises as should render the body flex- 
 ible and vigorous. 
 
 "The camps should, if possible, be formed near a river, and 
 remote from large cities. The first is necessary for the practice of 
 the maneuvers, the second to avoid the vices of populous places. 
 
 " The time of the annual encampments shall be divided into six 
 
142 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 parts or periods, of five days each; the first of which shall be occu- 
 pied in acquiring the air, attitudes, and first principles of a soldier; 
 the second in learning the manual exercises, and to march individ- 
 ually and in small squads; the third and fourth in exercising and 
 maneuvering in detail, and by battalions and regiments; in the 
 fifth, the youth of tvsrenty, having been disciplined during the two 
 preceding annual encampments, are to be included. This period is 
 to be employed in the exercise and tactic of the legion, or, if more 
 than one, in executing the grand maneuvers of the whole body — 
 marching, attacking, and defending, in various forms, different 
 grounds and positions; in fine, in representing all the real images 
 of war, excepting the effusion of blood. 
 
 " The guards, and every other circumstance of the camp, to be 
 perfectly regulated. 
 
 " Each State will determine on the season in which its respective 
 annual encampments shall be formed, so as to best suit the health 
 of the men and the general interests of the society. 
 
 " The United States to make an adequate provision to supply 
 the arms, clothing, rations, artillery, ammunition, forage, straw, 
 tents, camp equipage, including every requisite for the annual 
 camps of discipline ; and also for the pay and subsistence of the 
 legionary officers, and for the following general staff : One inspec- 
 tor-general, one adjutant-general, one quartermaster-general, with 
 a deputy for each State. 
 
 "These officers will be essential to the uniformity, economy, 
 and efficacy of the system, to be appointed in the manner pre- 
 scribed by the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 " The quartermaster-general shall be responsible to the United 
 States for the public property of every species delivered to him for 
 the annual camps of discipline, and his deputy in each State shall 
 be responsible to him. 
 
 " At the commencement of the annual camps of discipline the 
 deputy quartermaster will make regular issues to the legionary or 
 regimental quartermasters, as the case may be, of all the articles, 
 of every species, provided by the United States. 
 
 " The returns for the said articles to be examined and certified 
 by the highest legionary or regimental officer, as the case may be, 
 who shall be responsible for the accuracy thereof. 
 
 " At the expiration of the annual camps of discipline, all public 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE MAIN CORPS. 1 43 
 
 property (clothing excepted) shall be returned to the deputy quar- 
 termaster of the State, who shall hold the legionary quartermaster 
 accountable for all deficiencies. All the apparatus and property so 
 returned shall be carefully examined, repaired, and deposited in a 
 magazine, to be provided in each State for that purpose, under the 
 charge of the said deputy quartermaster, until the ensuing annual 
 encampment, or any occasion which may render a new issue 
 necessary. 
 
 " Corporal punishments shall never be inflicted in the annual 
 camps of discipline; but a system of fines and imprisonment shall 
 be formed for the regular government of such camps. 
 
 Of the Main Corps. 
 
 "As the main and reserved corps are to be replenished by the 
 principle of rotation from the advanced corps, and ultimately to 
 consist of men who have received their military education therein, 
 it is proper that one uniform arrangement should pervade the 
 several classes. 
 
 " It is for this reason the legion is established as the common 
 form of all the corps of the militia. 
 
 "The main legions, consisting of the great majority of the 
 men of the military age, will form the principal defense of the 
 country. 
 
 " They are to be responsible for their proportion of men, to 
 form an army whenever necessity shall dictate the measure; and 
 on every sudden occasion to which the advanced corps shall be in- 
 competent, an adequate number of non-commissioned officers and 
 privates shall be added thereto, from the main corps, by means of 
 the sections. 
 
 " The main corps will be perfectly armed, in the first instance, 
 and will practice the exercises and maneuvers four days in each year, 
 and will assemble in their respective districts by companies, battal- 
 ions, regiments, or legions, as shall be directed by the legionary 
 general, but it must be a fixed rule that in the populous parts of 
 the States the regiments must assemble once annually and the 
 legions once in three years. 
 
 " Although the main corps cannot acquire a great degree of 
 military knowledge in the few days prescribed for the annual exer- 
 cise, yet, by the constant accession of the youth from the advanced 
 
144 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 corps, it will soon command respect for its military discioline as 
 well as its numbers. 
 
 " When the youth are transferred from the advanced corps they 
 shall invariably join the flank companies, the cavalry or artillery of 
 the main corps, according to the nature of their former services. 
 
 Of the Reserved Corps. 
 
 " The reserved corps will assemble only twice annually for the 
 inspection of arms, by companies, battalions, or regiments, as shall 
 be directed by each State. It will assemble by legions whenever 
 the defense of the State may render the measure necessary. 
 
 "Such are the propositions of the plan, to which it may be 
 necessary to add some explanations. 
 
 " Although the substantial political maxim which requires per- 
 sonal service of all the members of the community for the defense 
 of the State is obligatory under all forms of society, and is the main 
 pillar of a free government, yet the degrees thereof may vary at 
 the different periods of life, consistently with the general welfare. 
 The public convenience may also dictate a relaxation of the general 
 obligation as it respects the principal magistrates, and of the min- 
 isters of justice and of religion, and perhaps some religious sects. 
 But it ought to be remembered that measures of national import- 
 ance never should be frustrated by the accommodation of indi- 
 viduals. 
 
 "The military age has generally commenced at sixteen and 
 terminated at the age of sixty years, but the youth of sixteen 
 do not commonly attain such a degree of robust strength as to 
 enable them to sustain without injury the hardships incident to- 
 the field; therefore the commencement of military service is herein 
 fixed at eighteen, and the termination, as usual, at sixty years of 
 age. 
 
 " The plan proposes that the militia shall be divided into three 
 capital classes, and that each class shall be formed into legions, the 
 reasons for which shall be given in succession. 
 
 "The advancied corps and annual camps of discipline are insti- 
 tuted in order to introduce an operative military spirit in the com- 
 munity, to establish a course of honorable military service which 
 will, at the same time, mold the minds of the young men to a due 
 obedience of the laws, instruct them in the art of war, and, by the 
 
ARGUMENTS FOR A CITIZEN-SOLDIER. 1 45 
 
 manly exercises of the field, form a race of hardy citizens, equal to 
 the dignified task of defending their country. 
 
 "An examination into the employments and obligations of the 
 individuals composing the society will evince the impossibility of 
 diffusing an adequate knowledge of the art of war by any other 
 means than a course of discipline during the period of nonage. 
 The time necessary to acquire this important knowledge cannot be 
 afforded at any other period of life with so little injury to the pub- 
 lic or private interests. 
 
 " Without descending to minute distinctions, the body of the 
 people of the United States may be divided into two parts — the 
 yeomanry of the country, and the men of various employments, 
 resident in towns and cities. In both parts it is usual for the male 
 children, from the age of fourteen to twenty-one years, to learn 
 some trade or employment, under the direction of a parent or 
 master. In general, the labor or service of the youth, during this 
 period, besides amply repaying the trouble of tuition, leaves a 
 large profit to the tutor. This circumstance is stated to show that 
 no great hardships will arise in the first operations of the proposed 
 plan. A little practice will render the measure perfectly equal, 
 and remove every difficulty. 
 
 "Youth is the time for the State to avail itself of those services 
 which it has a right to demand, and by which it is to be invig- 
 orated and preserved. In this season the passions and affections 
 are strongly influenced by the splendor of military parade. The 
 impressions the mind receives will be retained through life. The 
 young man will repair with pride and pleasure to the field of exer- 
 cise, while the head of a family, anxious for its general welfare, 
 and perhaps its immediate subsistence, will reluctantly quit his 
 domestic duties for any length of time. 
 
 "The habits of industry will be rather strengthened than 
 relaxed by the establishment of the annual camps of discipline, as 
 all the time will be occupied by the various military duties. Idle- 
 ness and dissipation will be regarded as disgraceful and punished 
 accordingly. As soon as the youth attain the age of manhood, a 
 natural solicitude to establish themselves in the society will occur 
 in its full force. The public claims for military service will be too 
 inconsiderable to injure their industry. It will be sufficiently 
 stimulated to proper exertions by the prospect of opulence attend- 
 
146 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 ing on the"cultivation of a fertile soil, or the pursuits of a product- 
 ive commerce. 
 
 "It is presumed that thirty days annually during the eight- 
 -eenth and nineteenth, and ten days during the twentieth year, is 
 the least time that ought to be appropriated by the youth to the 
 acquisition of the military art. The same number of days might 
 be added during the twentieth as during the two preceding years 
 were not the expense an objection. 
 
 " Every means will be provided by the public to facilitate the 
 military education of the youth, which it is proposed shall be an 
 indispensable qualification of a free citizen ; therefore, they will 
 not be entitled to any pay. But the officers, being of the main 
 corps, are in a different predicament. They are supposed to have 
 passed through the course of discipline required by the laws, and 
 to be competent to instruct others in the military art. As the pub- 
 lic will have but small claims for personal service on them, and as 
 they must incur considerable expenses to prepare themselves to 
 execute properly their respective offices, they ought to be paid 
 while on actual duty. 
 
 " As soon as the service of the youth expires in the advanced 
 corps they are to be enrolled in the main corps. On this occasion 
 the Republic receives disciplined and free citziens, who understand 
 their public rights, and are prepared to defend them. 
 
 "The main corps is instituted to preserve and circulate 
 throughout the community the military discipline acquired in the 
 advanced corps ; to arm the people and fix firmly, by practice and 
 habit, those forms and maxims which are essential to the life and 
 energy of a free government. 
 
 "The reserved corps is instituted to prevent men being sent to 
 the field whose strength is unequal to sustain the severities of an 
 active campaign. But by organizing and rendering them eligible 
 for domestic service, a quarter proportion of the younger and 
 robust part of the community may be enabled, in case of necessity, 
 to encounter the more urgent duties of war. 
 
 " It would be difficult, previously to the actual formation of 
 the annual camps of discipline, to ascertain the number in each 
 State of which it would be composed. The frontier counties of 
 several States are thinly inhabited, and require all their internal 
 force for their immediate defense. There are other infant settle- 
 
MILITARY STRENGTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 147 
 
 ments, from which it might be injurious to draw away their youth 
 annually for the purpose of discipline. 
 
 " No evil would result if the establishment of the advanced 
 corps should be omitted in such districts for a few years. Besides, 
 the forbearance in this respect would lessen the expense, and ren- 
 der the institution more compatible with the public finances. 
 
 " The several State legislatures, therefore, as best understanding 
 their local interests, might be invested with a discretionary power 
 to omit the enrollments for the advanced corps in such of their 
 frontier and thinly inhabited districts as they may judge proper. 
 
 " If the number of three millions may be assumed as the total 
 number of the inhabitants within the United States, half a million 
 may be deducted therefrom for blacks, and, pursuant to the fore- 
 going ideas, another half million may be deducted on account of 
 the thinly settled parts of the country. 
 
 " The proportion of men of the military age, from eighteen to 
 sixty years inclusively, of two millions of people, of all ages and 
 sexes, may be estimated at four hundred thousand. There may be 
 deducted from this number as actual mariners about fifty thou- 
 sand, and a further number of twenty-live thousand to include 
 exempts of religious sects, and of every other sort which the 
 respective States may think proper to make. 
 
 " Three hundred and twenty-five thousand, therefore, may be 
 assumed as the number of operative, fencible men to compose the 
 militia, the proportion of the several classes of which would be 
 nearly as follows: 
 
 " Firstly, the advanced corps, one-tenth, composed of the youth of the 
 
 ages of eighteen, nineteen, and twenty years 32,500 
 
 Secondly, the main corps, six-tenths and one-twentieth 211,250 
 
 Thirdly, the reserved corps, two-tenths and one-twentieth 81,250 
 
 325,000 
 * » * # * 
 
 [Note. — Here follows a detailed estimate of the expense of the annual camps 
 of discipline as proposed in the foregoing plan, which, as being without immediate 
 interest to the readers of this volume, is omitted.] 
 
 " Thus, for a sum less than four hundred thousand dollars 
 annually, which, apportioned on three millions of people, would be 
 little more than one-eighth of a dollar each, an energetic repub- 
 lican militia may be durably established, the invaluable principles 
 
14^ THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 of liberty secured and perpetuated, and a dignified national fabric 
 erected on the solid foundation of public virtue. 
 
 "The main and reserved corps must be perfectly organized in 
 the first instance, but the advanced corps will not be completed 
 until the third year of its institution. 
 
 " The combination of troops of various descriptions into one 
 body, so as to invest it with the highest and greatest number of 
 powers in every possible situation, has long been a subject of dis- 
 cussion and difference of opinion. But no other form appears so 
 well to have sustained the criterion of time and severe examination 
 as the Roman legion. This formidable organization, accommodated, 
 to the purposes of modern war, still retains its original energy and 
 superiority. Of the ancients, Polybius and Vegetius have described 
 and given the highest encomiums of the legion. The former, par- 
 ticularly, in his comparative view of the advantages and disad- 
 vantages of the Macedonian and Roman armies and their respective 
 orders of battle, has left to mankind an important and instructive 
 legacy. Of the moderns, Mareschal Saxe has modeled the legion 
 for the use of firearms and strenuously urges its adoption in prefer- 
 ence to any other form. And the respectable and intelligent vet- 
 eran, late inspector-general of the armies of the United States,' 
 recommends the adoption of the legion. 
 
 " 'Upon a review,' says he, 'of all the military of Europe, there 
 does not appear to be a single form which could be safely adopted 
 by the United States. They are unexceptionally different from 
 each other; and, like all other human institutions, seem to have 
 started as much out of accident as design. The local situation of 
 the country, the spirit of the government, the character of the 
 nation, and, in many instances, the character of the prince, have 
 all had their influence in settling the foundation and discipline of 
 their ^ respective troops, and render it impossible that we should 
 takeeither as a model.' 
 
 " The legion alone has not been adopted by any, and yet I am 
 confident in asserting that, whether it be examined as applicable to 
 all countries or as it may immediately apply to the existing ofi 
 probable necessity of this, it will be found strikingly superior to 
 any other. 
 
 ^ Alexander Hamilton, 
 
ADVANTAGES OF THE SOMAN LEGION. 1 49 
 
 " ist. Being a complete and little army of itself, it is ready to 
 begin its operations on the shortest notice or slightest alarm. 
 
 " 2d. Having all the component parts of the largest army of 
 any possible description, it is prepared to meet any species of war 
 that may present itself; and, 
 
 "3d. As, in every case of detachment, the first constitutional 
 principle will be preserved and the embarrassments of drafting 
 and detail, which in armies differently framed too often distract 
 the commanding officer, will be avoided. 
 
 " It may easily suggest itself from this sketch, that, in forming 
 a legion, the most difficult task is to determine the necessary pro- 
 portion of each species of soldiers which is to compose it. This 
 must obviously depend upon what will be the theater and what the 
 style of the war. On the plains of Poland whole brigades of 
 cavalry would be necessary against every enemy, but in the forests 
 and among the hills of America a single regiment would be more 
 than sufficient against any. And as there are but two kinds of war 
 to which we are much exposed, viz. : an attack from the sea-side 
 by an European power, aided by our sworn enemies settled on our 
 extreme left, and an invasion of our back settlements by an Indian 
 enemy, it follows, of course, that musketeers and light infantry 
 should make the greatest part of our army. 
 
 "The institution of this section is intended to interest the 
 patriotism and pride of every individual in the militia to support 
 the legal measures of a free government, to render every man 
 active in the public cause by introducing the spirit of emulation 
 and a degree of personal responsibility. 
 
 " The common mode of recruiting is attended with too great 
 destruction of morals to be tolerated, and is too uncertain to be the 
 principal resource of a wise nation in a time of danger. The pub- 
 lic faith is frequently wounded by unworthy individuals who hold 
 out delusive promises which can never be realized. By such means 
 an unprincipled banditti are often collected for the purpose of de- 
 fending everything that should be dear to freemen. The conse- 
 quences are natural: such men either desert in time of danger or 
 are ever ready, on the slightest disgust, to turn their arms against 
 their country. 
 
 " By the establishment of the sections an ample and permanent 
 source is opened whence the state in every exigence may be sup- 
 
150 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 plied with men whose all depends upon the prosperity of their 
 country. 
 
 "In cases of necessity an army may be formed of citizens 
 whose previous knowledge of discipline will enable it to proceed 
 to an immediate accomplishment of the designs of the state, instead 
 of exhausting the public resources by wasting whole years in pre- 
 paring to face the enemy, 
 
 " The previous arrangements necessary to form and maintain 
 the annual encampments, as well as the discipline acquired therein, 
 will be an excellent preparation for war. The artillery and its 
 numerous appendages, arms, accoutrements of every kind, and all 
 species of ammunition, ought to be manufactured within the United 
 States. It is of high importance that the present period should be 
 embraced to establish adequate institutions to produce the neces- 
 sary apparatus of war. 
 
 " It is unworthy the dignity of a rising and free empire to 
 depend on foreign and fortuitous supplies of the essential means 
 of defense. 
 
 " The clothing of the troops could with ease be manufactured 
 within the United States, and the establishment in that respect 
 would tend to the encouragement of important manufactories. 
 
 " The disbursements made in each State for the rations, forage, 
 and other necessary articles for the annual camps of discipline 
 would most beneficially circulate the money arising from the pub- 
 lic revenue. 
 
 "The local circumstances of the United States, their numerous 
 sea-ports, and the protection of their commerce require a naval 
 arrangement. Hence the necessity of the proposed plan, embrac- 
 ing the idea of the States obtaining men on republican principles 
 for the marine as well as the land service. But one may be accom- 
 plished with much greater facility than the other, as the prepara- 
 tion of a soldier for the field requires a degree of discipline which 
 cannot be learned without much time and labor, whereas the com- 
 mon course of sea service on board of merchant vessels differs but 
 little from the service required on board of armed ships; therefore, 
 the education for our war in this respect will be obtained without 
 any expense to the State. All that seems-to be requisite on the 
 head of marine service is that an efficient regulation should be 
 established in_ the respective States to register all actual seamen, 
 
DUTIES OF A FREE PEOPLE. 151 
 
 and to render those of a certain age amenable to the public for 
 personal service if demanded within a given period 
 
 " The constitutions of the respective States, and of the United 
 States, having directed the modes in which the officers of the mili- 
 tia shall be appointed, no alteration can be made therein. Al- 
 though it may be supposed that some modes of appointment are 
 better calculated than others to inspire the highest propriety of 
 conduct, yet there are none so defective to serve as a sufficient 
 reason for rejecting an efficient system for the militia. It is cer- 
 tain that the choice of officers is the point on which the reputation 
 and importance of a corps must depend; therefore, every person 
 who may be concerned in the appointment should consider himself 
 as responsible to his country for a proper choice. 
 
 "The wisdom of the States will be manifested by inducing 
 those citizens of whom the late American army was composed to 
 accept of appointments in the militia. The high degree of mili- 
 tary knowledge which they possess was acquired at too great a 
 price and is too precious to be buried in oblivion. It ought to be 
 cherished and rendered permanently beneficial to the community. 
 
 "The vigor and importance of the proposed plan will entirely 
 depend on the laws relative thereto. Unless the laws shall be 
 equal to the object, and rigidly enforced, no energetic national 
 militia can be established. 
 
 "If wealth be admitted as a principle of exemption, the plan 
 cannot be executed. It is the wisdom of political establishments 
 to make the wealth of individuals subservient to the general good, 
 and not to suffer it to corrupt or attain undue indulgence. 
 
 "It is conceded that people, solicitous to be exonerated from 
 their proportion of public duty, may exclaim against the proposed 
 arrangement as an intolerable hardship. But it ought to be 
 strongly impressed that, while society has its claims, it also has its 
 indispensable obligations. That to attempt such a degree of refine- 
 ment as to exonerate the members of the community from all per- 
 sonal service is to render them incapable of the exercise and 
 unworthy of the character of freemen. 
 
 " Every State possesses not only the right of personal service 
 from its members, but the right to regulate the service on princi- 
 ples of equality for the general defense. All being bound, none 
 can complain of injustice on being obliged to furnish an equal 
 
152 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 proportion. Therefore, it ought to be a permanent rule that those 
 who in youth decline or refuse to subject themselves to the course 
 of military education established by the laws, should be consid- 
 ered as unworthy of public trust or honors, and be excluded there- 
 from accordingly. 
 
 " If the majesty of the laws should be preserved inviolate in 
 this respect, the operations of the proposed plan would foster a 
 glorious public spirit, infuse the principles of energy and stability 
 into the body politic, and give a high degree of political splendor 
 to the national character." 
 
 The foregoing classic production is reproduced in 
 these pages with the object already stated as a preface 
 to the quotation of the paper itself, and not with a view 
 to urge the adoption of the plan proposed for the military 
 training of the youths of America. This plan was con- 
 sidered impracticable in the period of its origin, and it 
 is greatly more susceptible of being so considered in 
 the present condition of the United States. The paper 
 has been fruitful of good results, however. It led to the 
 establishment of a military law under the operation of 
 which some effective preparation was made for meeting 
 the British foe a second time. Further than this, it 
 enunciates certain principles underlying a free and healthy 
 growth of republican institutions, which must live as 
 golden maxims as long as the Republic exists, and which 
 deserve inculcation as an essential element of the educa- 
 tion of American youth. It constitutes, also, a valuable 
 part of the subject treated in this division of the present 
 volume — the history of military education in the United 
 States — and in that respect will serve the author as a 
 convenient text upon which to base some of the remarks 
 
ORIGIN OF THE MILITIA LAW. 1 53 
 
 that it is his purpose to make in succeeding pages. In 
 every sense, then, it will be interesting as well as instruc- 
 tive to take a rapid glance at the direction which the sub- 
 ject followed under subsequent legislation. 
 
 General Knox's paper, as heretofore stated, was sub- 
 mitted to Congress by President Washington, through 
 means of a special message, on January 21, 1790. For 
 a period of some six months its recommendations were 
 informally considered and discussed by both Senators and 
 Representatives. As a result of the deliberation then 
 given to the subject, a bill was drafted and introduced into 
 the House of Representatives on July i, 1790, which was 
 entitled, "An act more effectually to provide for the 
 national defense by establishing a uniform militia through- 
 out the United States." The plan adopted in the bill, 
 while covering some of the features recommended by 
 General Knox, was wholly different in general construc- 
 tion, as well as in practical detail, from that proposed by 
 the early War Secretary. Great diversity of opinion seems 
 to have been entertained regarding the act as it became 
 ultimately formulated. Having been read twice and 
 referred to a committee of the whole house on the date 
 above given, no further action seems to have been taken 
 upon it until December 14 following, when it was again 
 read twice, the original draft having been modified proba- 
 bly, and again referred to the committee of the whole. 
 It was considered by this committee during four different 
 sessions, when the bill was referred to a special com- 
 mittee, which committee reported a substitute bill on 
 
154 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 January 4, 1791. During the previous consideration of a 
 militia bill protests had been sent to Congress against 
 the^ passage of such a law, and in January, 1791, the 
 " Quakers of New England " forwarded a vigorous pro- 
 test against that under consideration. Whether in 
 consequence of this or not, Congress adjourned without 
 further action upon the subject. At the first session of 
 the Second Congress, upon November 21, 1791, the bill 
 was again read the first time. Upon February 21, three 
 months later, it was considered in the committee of the 
 whole, and after receiving consideration in several ses- 
 sions of the committee, it passed the House on the 6th of 
 March. Upon the 20th of the latter month it was 
 reported to the Senate and read for the first time. After 
 having been considered by the latter body at several ses- 
 sions, it was amended and sent back to the House for 
 concurrence in the amendments. The Senate amend- 
 ments being disagreed to, a conference committee was 
 appointed, which resulted in the withdrawal of the amend- 
 ments, when the bill was sent to the President, and 
 received his approval on May 8, 1792. This act, though 
 since amended in some particulars and added to, in order 
 to meet the requirements of subsequent events, still 
 stands as the basis of our present militia law. 
 
 Under the act mentioned, an immediate movement 
 began in all the States to comply with its provisions. 
 It was soon found to be deficient, however, in two vital 
 points: first, in its bearing upon the rights reserved to 
 the States ; and second, in the failure to provide means 
 
BRITISH OPINION OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS. 1 55 
 
 for enforcing the requirement of the law concerning the 
 duty of each citizen to furnish his own arms and accoutre- 
 ments at his personal expense. In March, 1794, the 
 House of Representatives appointed a committee to 
 report what amendments and alterations were necessary 
 to make the bill effective ; and in December of the same 
 year Secretary Knox made a special report upon the 
 difficulties and inconveniences that had occurred in the 
 execution of the act. From this time forward the subject 
 claimed the attention of Congress, until the period when 
 complications with the English Government began plainly 
 to foreshadow the proximity of another war with that 
 haughty power. 
 
 In his message of December 3, 1805, Thomas Jeffer- 
 son urged the necessity of organizing and disciplining the 
 militia, as did also President Madison in his message of 
 November 29, 1809. The War of 181 2 soon after broke 
 upon the country, but when the British soldier again in- 
 vaded America he found his old enemy, the American 
 volunteer, ready to receive and welcome him. The 
 militia training of the preceding years, though it had 
 been imperfect, had nevertheless been productive of some 
 result. The historians of that war have dwelt upon the 
 deficiencies of our raw, undisciplined troops, and to some 
 extent their strictures are just. The judgment of their 
 British adversaries, however, was somewhat analogous to 
 that of one of Shakspeare's characters, who, in speaking 
 of his wound, averred that it was " not so deep as a well, 
 nor so wide as a church-door; but 'tis enough." Lord 
 
156 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Pakenham found raw troops at New Orleans, and he also 
 found raw cotton there, greatly to his sorrow. 
 
 For the information of those desiring to follow the 
 legislation of the Government concerning the organiza- 
 tion, disciplining, and calling into general service of the 
 militia of the country, the following principal acts may be 
 consulted : The original act of May 8, 1 792, above cited ; 
 an act providing arms for the militia throughout the 
 United States, July 6, 1 798 ; the additional act of March 2, 
 1803 ; an act to provide for organizing the militia of the 
 District of Columbia, March 3, 1803; an act establishing 
 rules and articles for the government of the armies of the 
 United States, April 10, 1806; an act to provide for 
 calling forth the militia, April 18, 18 14; an act concerning 
 field officers of the militia, April 20, 1816; an act to 
 establish a uniform mode of discipline and field exercise 
 for the militia. May 12, 1820; an act to reduce and fix the 
 military peace establishment of the United States, March 
 2, 1821 ; act of March 19, 1836; act of July 29, 1861; of 
 July 2, 1862, and of July 29, 1862. 
 
 The foregoing brief review of the question of the 
 militia will not fail to impress the reader with the convic- 
 tion of the great importance constantly attached to the 
 problem of our national defense by our people and by 
 our legislators. Admitted by all that a standing army 
 is a standing menace to free institutions, the difficulty 
 with which our predecessors grappled, and which still 
 remains without satisfactory solution, is how to make a 
 trained soldier of an ordinary citizen without attaching 
 
IMPORTANCE OF MILITARY TRAINING. 157 
 
 him to a permanent and exclusive military establish- 
 ment. Though the American people from their earliest 
 history have been accustomed to the use of fire-arms, 
 and though in all the stations of life, from that of 
 frontiersman to that of denizen of a city, they have been 
 taught the lessons of self-defense, yet past experiences, 
 from the first battles of the Revolution to the earlier con- 
 flicts of the Rebellion, have not failed to demonstrate the 
 necessity of discipline and training for the making of an 
 efficient soldier. To fight behind a breastwork or ram- 
 part chiefly requires cool nerve and good aim, but to 
 win victories in the open field, and especially where 
 large bodies of men are pitted one against the other, 
 requires precise discipline, harmony of movement, and 
 celerity of action. Training alone can impart these qual- 
 ities to the soldier. 
 
 Such considerations, in connection with the study 
 given to the subject in the direction of training a body of 
 effective militia, led at a very early day to the suggestion 
 of a permanent military school, to be organized and main- 
 tained by the General Government. As stated in the 
 earlier part of the present chapter, the first suggestion in 
 this direction was made soon after the Declaration of 
 Independence had been signed, through a resolution of 
 the Continental Congress, adopted on October i, 1776, 
 ordering the raising of a committee of five "to prepare 
 and bring in a plan of a Military Academy of the army." 
 Action ceased with the passage of this resolution until 
 after the close of the Revolutionary War. In April, 
 
158 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 1783, at the instance of Colonel Alexander Hamilton^ 
 then chairman of the Committee for Peace Arrangements, 
 the opinions of the prominent officers of the army as to 
 what ought to constitute a proper peace establishment 
 were obtained in writing through the General-in-chief, 
 Among the opinions called forth by the official request 
 above mentioned, the following are of particular interest, 
 as illustrative of the development of the idea of a regu- 
 larly organized military school : 
 
 " Brigadier-General Huntingdon declared that 'West Point has 
 been held as the key to the United States. The British viewed it 
 in the same point of light, and will, it is presumed, keep their eye 
 upon it as long as they regret their loss of the country, or have a 
 passion for power and conquest. 
 
 " ' West Point is exposed to a coup-de-main, and ought, therefore, 
 to be always in a complete condition of defense. With a little 
 more expense than that of maintaining a garrison of five hundred 
 or six hundred men, it may be made a safe deposit, where every 
 military article may be kept in good repair; and, with a small 
 additional expense, an academy might be here instituted for 
 instruction in all the branches of the military art.'^ 
 
 " Colonel Timothy Pickering, the Quartermaster-General of 
 the army, after combatting the idea of instituting academies for 
 military purposes at the different arsenals in the United States, 
 a scheme that had found favor with some of the officers, proceeds 
 to say: ' If anything like a military academy in America be prac- 
 ticable at this time, it must be grounded on the permanent mili- 
 tary establishment for our frontier posts and arsenals, and the 
 wants of the States separately, of officers to command the defenses 
 on their sea-coasts. 
 
 " ' On this principle it might be expedient to establish a mili- 
 tary school or academy at West Point. And that a competent 
 number of young gentlemen might become induced to become 
 students, it might be made a rule that vacancies in the standing 
 
 ' Correspondence of the Revolution, Sparks. IV., 27. 
 
A GIT A TJNG MILITAR Y ED UCA TION. 1 5 9 
 
 regiment should be supplied from thence, those few instances 
 •excepted where it would be just to promote a very meritorious 
 sergeant. 
 
 " ' For this end the number which shall be judged requisite to 
 supply vacancies in the standing regiment might be fixed, and that 
 of the students, who are admitted with an expectation of filling 
 them, limited accordingly. 
 
 " ' They might be allowed subsistence at the public expense. 
 If any other youth desired to pursue the same studies at the Mili- 
 tary Academy, they might be admitted, only subsisting themselves. 
 
 '"Those students should be instructed in what is usually called 
 military discipline, tactics, and the theory and practice of fortifica- 
 tion and gunnery. 
 
 " ' The commandant and one or two other officers of the stand- 
 ing regiment, and the engineers, making West Point their general 
 residence, would be the masters of the academy; and the inspector- 
 general superintend the whole.'' 
 
 " These suggestions, though not productive of immediate 
 results, did not fail to arrest the attention of statesmen and legis- 
 lators on the general subject of military education at a later day. 
 
 " ' They perceived that, although the ordinary subordinate and 
 -mechanical duties of a soldier and officer might be performed 
 without especial training, the higher class of duties and the 
 •capacity for command could be understood and exercised only by 
 those whose intellectual faculties had been carefully cultivated. 
 They felt that the common interpretation of the axiom that 
 "knowledge is power," significant and important as it is, was not 
 its noblest and worthiest interpretation. 
 
 " ' Power over matter and over the minds of others is not the 
 choicest gift of knowledge, enviable and glorious though it be: it 
 is, in truth, a dangerous gift. But power over the mind of its 
 possessor, purifying and elevating it, subduing all that is low or 
 selfish to the authority of duty and virtue, this is the distinguish- 
 ing, the kingly gift of knowledge. They felt, therefore, that the 
 moral as well as the intellectual virtue should be sedulously nur- 
 tured. They were convinced, also, that in a free state it was most 
 impolitic and unsafe for the army to be separated in habits, inter- 
 ests, and feelings from the other orders of society; and they recog- 
 
 ■•Writings of Washington, Sparks, VIII., 417. 
 
1 60 THE VOL UNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 nized in knowledge, which is, in a great measure, the result of 
 mutual interchange of thoughts, the true principle of amalgama- 
 tion. 
 
 " ' Many of them had been observers or partalcers of the moral 
 dangers of a military life; they were aware of the impoverished 
 means of the members of the army, and of the probable inability 
 of the country, for a long period, to provide more for them than a 
 mere support; and they were, consequently, solicitous to impart to 
 them knowledge, " in itself an economical possession," the pursuit 
 of which is inconsistent with, and destroys the desire for, indul- 
 gence in idle or vicious amusements. To these general considera- 
 tions were added others, growing out of our peculiar form of 
 government, and the sentiments and prepossession of the people. 
 
 " 'As an almost necessary consequence of the national experi- 
 ence during the War of the Revolution, the subject of military 
 education first presented itself in connection with the organization 
 and improvement of the militia. While they bore grateful testi- 
 mony to the services and valor of those of their countrymen who- 
 upheld the standard of the United Colonies in the hours of dark- 
 est gloom, they could not be insensible that the struggle for inde- 
 pendence would have been sooner triumphantly closed if those 
 gallant men had been disciplined, or had been led on by officers 
 accomplished in the various branches of the art of war. They 
 accorded a cordial tribute to the few brave spirits who devoted all 
 the skill and science they had acquired in " the Seven-years' War," 
 which commenced in 1754, to the formation of military habits in 
 the new levies, which were raised in rapid succession during the 
 whole progress of the contest. But they had before them the 
 admissions of these officers, and of their beloved commander, that 
 the difficulties of their perilous undertaking would have been 
 greatly diminished if a knowledge of the theory and science of 
 war had been more generally diffused through the army. 
 
 "'A striking illustration of the justness of these views is con- 
 tained in an official report made by General Knox, then Secretary 
 of War, to the President, January 21, 1790. In this report the 
 position is laid down that " all discussions of the subject of a power- 
 ful militia will result in one or other of the following principles : " ' 
 
 " ' I. Either efficient institutions must be established for the 
 
 1 Pennsylvania Daily Advertiser, Feb. 3, 1790. 
 
THE DRIFT OF PUBLIC SENTIMENT. l6l 
 
 military education of youth, and the knowledge acquired therein 
 be diffused throughout the country by the means of rotation ; or, 
 
 " ' 2. The militia must be formed of substitutes, after the man- 
 ner of the militia of Great Britain.' 
 
 "'If the United States possess the vigor of mind,' says the 
 Secretary, 'to establish the first institution, it may reasonably be 
 expected to produce the most unequivocal advantages, and a 
 glorious national spirit will be introduced with its extensive train of 
 political consequences.' 
 
 "The only provision immediately applicable (in this able state 
 paper) to the present inquiry is that which required the young 
 men, from the age of eighteen to twenty years, to be disciplined 
 for thirty days successively in camps of instruction, where, in addi- 
 tion to their military tuition, they were to receive lectures from 
 the chaplains explanatory of the value of free governments, and of 
 their dependence upon the knowledge and virtue of the youth of 
 the country. A proposition similar to this, with the exception 
 that the term of instruction was limited to six days instead of 
 thirty, was submitted to the House of Representatives in 1821. 
 And it may induce those who are inclined to adopt this course to 
 be reminded how soon it was abandoned by its first projectors. 
 The obvious objections arising from the expenditure of time and 
 money, from the loss occasioned by the periodical abstraction of 
 labor, and from the but too probable formation of licentious or 
 indolent habits, seem to have been justly regarded as decisive. 
 
 " But the principle underlying all these propositions continued 
 to germinate, and stimulated those entrusted with the direction of 
 the national affairs to labor for the establishment of an institution 
 at which young men might receive a military education, who, when 
 separated from it and scattered throughout the length and breadth 
 of the land, might serve as instructors of the untrained militia in 
 times of peace, and upon the outbreak of war furnish a powerful 
 aid in organizing and concentrating the enormous military re- 
 sources of the country. 
 
 " Herein lies the chief, and by far the most valuable and com- 
 prehensive motive which gave origin to the Military Academy. 
 Remote from foreign jealousies and hostile powers save those 
 hidden in our own forests, it was foreseen that the presence of large 
 standing armies was inimical to republican development, and that 
 
1 62 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 an army as small as that of the United States has always been, and 
 ought ever to be, could only supply an insignificant quota upon 
 emergencies of great magnitude. 
 
 "Absorbed in the temptations and allurements to the acquisi- 
 tion of wealth which the numerous fields of American enter- 
 prise and labor afford, it is in vain in time of peace to expect 
 civilians to qualify themselves for the performance of military 
 duties, with little or no prospect of pecuniary remuneration or 
 military renown; and were even any such inclined, there are no 
 institutions where the necessary qualifications could be secured. " ' 
 
 ' Quotation from the History of West Point, by Captain Boynton. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EFFORTS TO RENDER THE MILITIA LAW EFFECTIVE — ACTION 
 
 OF CONGRESS REPORT OF SECRETARY KNOX UPON THE 
 
 DEFICIENCIES OF THE BILL THE ACT OF MAY 9, 1 794, 
 
 TO RAISE A CORPS OF ARTILLERISTS AND ENGINEERS, 
 THE REAL STARTING-POINT OF THE MILITARY ACADEMY 
 
 ITS TEXT IN FULL THE ADDITIONAL ACT OF APRIL 
 
 27, 1798 — SECRETARY m'hENRY — FULL TEXT OF HIS 
 HISTORIC PAPER. 
 
 AS heretofore stated, the bill growing out of Secre- 
 tary Knox's remarkable paper upon the subject of 
 organizing the militia, entitled "An Act more effectually 
 to provide for the national defense, by establishing a uni- 
 form militia throughout the United States," became a law 
 on May 8, 1792. Almost coeval with the first attempts 
 to put the law into operation, a realization of the difficulty, 
 not to say impossibility, of giving it practical application 
 and usefulness, began to appear to the whole people. 
 Such far-seeing minds as that of Washington discerned at 
 a glance that some other expedient must be resorted to 
 in order to accomplish the hope of constituting the able- 
 bodied citizens of the country, within the limits of proper 
 age, into an efficient military reserve, to be drawn upon at 
 will whenever a necessity for their services might present 
 
 itself. Hence, in less than twenty months after the pass- 
 
 163 
 
164 '^HE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER' OF AMERICA. 
 
 age of the militia bill, we find him, in his message to Con- 
 gress, in December, 1793, carefully feeling his way, 
 through suggestion, to a subsequent open recommenda- 
 tion to establish a military school which might " afford an 
 opportunity for the study of those branches of the art 
 which can scarcely ever be attained by practice alone." 
 
 From this time forward the whole country was upon 
 the inquiry to discover the best solution of the question. 
 The militia law was discussed as the common topic of con- 
 versation. Many of the States endeavored earnestly to 
 give it vitality by local legislation. The European sys- 
 tems were quoted and discussed. Some authorities upon 
 military subjects favored this measure, and others favored 
 that ; but running beneath all propositions, and finally 
 appearing as the close of all argument upon the matter, 
 was the sentiment leading to the establishment of a school 
 for the military education of our youth. In this last con- 
 clusion there was not so much of a conflict with the idea 
 of a military establishment as would appear from a casual 
 consideration of the matter. Farther on in this volume, 
 the subject in this aspect will be referred to again. 
 
 But the sentiment in favor of the school continued to 
 grow as the defects of the militia bill became more 
 apparent. The friends of the militia system made a pro- 
 longed battle in its behalf. At almost every session of 
 Congress, dating from 1794, only two years after the 
 passage of the militia bill, until the year 1819, a com- 
 mittee was raised in the House of Representatives 
 charged with the duty to report any alterations that 
 
REPORT ON MILITIA BILL. 1 65 
 
 might be necessary to make effective the law entitled 
 "An act more effectually to provide for the national 
 defense by establishing a uniform militia throughout the 
 United States." 
 
 Upon the 24th of March, 1794, Mr, Cobb, chairman 
 of one of these committees, made the following report to 
 the members of the House at the first session of the 
 Third Congress: 
 
 " That they [the committee] are impressed with the importance 
 of a more energetic system for the establishment of a uniform 
 militia than what is contemplated by the present existing law of 
 the United States; but, in viewing this subject, as applied to the 
 Constitution of the United States, and the powers therein ex- 
 pressly reserved to the different States, they have their doubts how 
 far Congress can, consistent therewith, make any important altera- 
 tions or amendments to the present law; and, as the right of train- 
 ing the militia is constitutionally reserved to the States, if they 
 can be impressed with the importance of exercising this power and 
 directing its operation, more especially to the light infantry and 
 grenadier companies of each regiment, an efficient force may be 
 thereby created, and equal to any that can probably be obtained 
 by any additional law of the United States, made under the consti- 
 tutional powers of Congress. Under this view of the subject, and 
 until further experience shall be had under the existing law, the 
 committee are of the opinion that no amendment is necessary to the 
 act establishing a uniform militia throughout the United States." 
 
 At the second session of the same Congress, under 
 date of December 29, 1794, Mr. Giles, from the com- 
 mittee appointed to prepare a plan to better organize, 
 arm, and discipline the militia of the United States, made 
 the following report : 
 
 " That they are of the opinion the plan for organizing, arming, 
 and disciplining the militia, already adopted by law, may be made 
 
X66 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 competent to all the purposes of an efficient militia, by remedying 
 the difficulties and inconveniences which have occurred in the exe- 
 cution of the same. 
 
 "That the principal difficulties and inconveniences which have 
 occurred in the execution of the militia system particularly respect 
 the incompetent provisions for arming them, and for calling them 
 forth to execute the laws of the United States, suppress insurrec- 
 tions, and repel invasions. 
 
 " It appears to the committee that the principal defects in the 
 existing provisions for arming the militia consist in the want of a 
 competent source of supplying the arms; the want of some provis- 
 ion for furnishing persons with arms who may be deemed unable 
 to furnish themselves; and the want of adequate and uniform pen- 
 alties to enforce a compliance with the requisitions of the existing 
 militia laws. 
 
 " The committee, not having that part of the subject committed 
 to them which respects the calling forth of the militia, recommend 
 the following resolutions: 
 
 ^^ Resolved, That the act entitled 'An act more effectually to 
 provide for the national defense, by establishing an uniform militia 
 throughout the United States,' ought to be amended ; and that 
 further provision ought to be made by law for arming the 
 militia of the United States, and for enforcing the execution of the 
 existing militia laws by adequate and uniform penalties." 
 
 While the -color of individual opinion upon the subject 
 assumed every possible shade of intensity between the ex- 
 tremes of expression represented in the foregoing reports, 
 it is interesting to note that the two chief men -through 
 whose earnest counsel definite action upon the creation of 
 a militia army had found direction in the enactment of 
 the militia bill — that is to say. President Washington and 
 his-distinguished War Secretary — came to the front again 
 in connection with the movement relating to the militia. 
 Under order of the President, General Knox submitted 
 to the House of Representatives upon the loth of Decern- 
 
DIFFICULTY OF ARMING THE MILITIA. 167 
 
 ber, 1794, a statement of such difificulties and inconven- 
 iences as had occurred in the execution of the act now 
 being considered. The main part of this report is as 
 follows : 
 
 " That a difficulty of primary importance appears to oppose 
 the execution of the first section of the before recited act. The 
 militia are requested to arm and equip themselves at their own ex- 
 pense; but there is no penalty to enforce the injunction of the law. 
 
 "The subscriber is informed that several States have passed 
 auxiliary laws to the act of Congress. The laws of the following 
 States upon this subject are in his possession, viz.: Massachusetts, 
 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina. The 
 penalties, by these, for non-equipment and armament, appear to be 
 according to the following extracts : 
 
 " But it is certain that, were the penalties greatly enhanced, an 
 insuperable difficulty would occur in obtaining the requisite num- 
 ber of arms in any reasonable period. The numbers comprehended 
 in the act, from eighteen to forty-five years of age inclusively, de- 
 ducting the exempts and mariners, may be estimated probably at 
 about four hundred and fifty thousand men. Of these, probably, 
 not one hundred thousand are armed as the act requires, although 
 a greater number might be found of common and ordinary mus- 
 kets, without bayonets. The deficiency cannot be supplied from 
 Europe under the present circumstances. The only solid resource 
 to obtain is the establishment of manufactories within each State. 
 
 " The deficiency of arms cannot be more forcibly exemplified 
 than that^to arm the militia lately called into service, estimated at 
 fifteen thousand, the number of ten thousand arms have been 
 issued from the public arsenals. Loss and injury must be ex- 
 pected to arise upon the articles issued. 
 
 " No adequate provision appears to be established by the act 
 for securing the obedience of the militia to the call of the executive 
 of the United States. 
 
 "It would seem essential that any law which the Congress 
 should pass upon the subject of the militia should contain within 
 itself all the necessary provision for its complete execution. 
 
1 68 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 " The late experiment proves, at least in some parts, that the 
 laws were inefficient, and had it not been for voluntary zeal, which 
 came to its aid, the community might have experienced great 
 evils. 
 
 " It would appear to be essential that when the militia are in 
 actual service they ought to be bound by the military code of the 
 United States. 
 
 " The enrollment of men of the ages specified in the act, not- 
 withstanding the exemptions, holding them responsible for mili- 
 tary service, and enforcing the same, appears to be a circumstance 
 which may operate injuriously to the industry and convenience of 
 the community. 
 
 " Of the returns enjoined by the tenth section of the said act, 
 the following only have been received: 
 
 From i6 to 40. 40 to 60. Total. ' 
 
 Massachusetts 54,428 22,819 77,247 
 
 Connecticut I5,3si 
 
 New Jersey .' , 25,887 
 
 Georgia 10, 120 
 
 " Whether the act in question is susceptible of such alterations 
 and amendments, on its present principles, as will secure the 
 advantages to be derived from a well-organized militia, or whether 
 a limited but select and efficient corps of militia, formed on a prin- 
 ciple of rotation or otherwise, and taken from the classes least 
 injurious to the industry of the community, would not better fulfill 
 that object, and at the same time better comport with economy, 
 are questions which the wisdom of Congress alone is competent to 
 decide." 
 
 The foregoing report of Secretary Knox appears 
 regretful in tone. The idea of constituting an efficient 
 body of citizen-soldiers upon the principle of rotation had 
 been one of his most cherished projects. He had given 
 much thought to the principle underlying a conception 
 which contemplated an immense army of well-drilled, 
 efficient soldiers, springing, upon their country's call, from 
 all of the private and industrial channels of the land ; an 
 
RETIREMENT OF GENERAL KNOX. 169 
 
 army of veteran warriors, created from a multitude of civil- 
 ians — an irresistible horde that, like the men of Roderick 
 Dhu, should leap from the ground at the sound of a 
 bugle-horn, and after performing their work in behalf of 
 an imperiled country, might sink quietly back again into 
 the civil pursuits of life, while all the panoply and circum- 
 stance of glorious war should vanish into thin air, like a 
 dread specter of the night before the approach of "jocund 
 day." 
 
 But General Knox's elaborate and cherished plan had 
 not met the sympathy and cordial approval that he con- 
 fidently expected his fellow-citizens would accord to it. 
 He had been met half-way, that was all. The Congress 
 had enacted his " Hamlet," but with the character of Ham- 
 let left out. They had accepted his child, but had sur- 
 rounded it with conditions of life that rendered death in 
 infancy an inevitable sequence. He was too much of a 
 patriot to be resentful, and he had the best interests of 
 his country too much at heart to rejoice in a failure that 
 doubtless he himself had foreseen. Within a twelve- 
 month from the date of the report above quoted this able 
 man was destined to lay aside the cares of state, and 
 retire to his own hospitable home for the rest of his life. 
 The tranquil suggestions of the closing paragraphs of the 
 report are marked with dignity and unselfish patriotism. 
 He had done his work faithfully, laboriously, patriotically. 
 He bowed to the superior "wisdoni of Congress," and 
 without pride, without malice, he soon after made his exit 
 from an arena that he had dignified and adorned. He 
 
170 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 was an American volunteer, a distinguished soldier, an 
 eminent statesman, and an admirable civilian. What 
 higher meed of praise can be rendered to any of the 
 world's toilers than this ? 
 
 For many years subsequent to the passage of the 
 militia law herein cited it continued to be the subject of 
 warm discussion among the people at large as well as in 
 Congress. It was repeatedly referred to committees with 
 the purpose of discovering some amendment that might 
 make it practical for the original purpose. As late as the 
 22d of January, 1819, a member of the House, Mr. Har- 
 rison, made an interesting report upon the law and the 
 subject which it covers, which report concluded by copy- 
 ing in extenso the famous paper of General Knox, already 
 quoted in these pages, submitted by him to Congress in 
 the year 1 790. 
 
 But, though the bill remained unamended, the idea of 
 General Knox — the rotation principle upon which he 
 insisted — was finding expression in another direction. 
 The Secretary's plan comprehended different classes in 
 the military service, one of which was to be a school in 
 which the youth of the United States were to be in- 
 structed in the art of war. From this first grade, desig- 
 nated by him the "advanced corps," the next class, called 
 the " main corps," which was to consist of those who were to 
 constitute the active military force of the country, was to 
 be replenished upon the principle of rotation. It was the 
 design to constitute the "advanced corps" upon such 
 principles. that, when completed, it would receive one-third 
 
PROGRESS TOWARD A MILITARY SCHOOL. I 71 
 
 part and discharge one-third part of its numbers annually. 
 By this arrangement one-third part would be well dis- 
 ciplined, and one-third part, of course, would consist of 
 undisciplined youths. After the system had been estab- 
 lished for a proper time the "main corps," constituting 
 the effective army of the Republic, would consist of 
 thoroughly trained and disciplined soldiers. 
 
 Pending the discussion which followed the evident 
 failure of the militia law in 1 793 and 1 794, the rotation 
 principle of General Knox's plan found vent in an en- 
 tirely different direction, as just observed. A bill had been 
 introduced, which became a law on the 9th of May, 1 794, 
 providing for "raising and organizing a corps of artiller- 
 ists and engineers." As this bill may be considered the 
 real point d'appui which has found the full extension in 
 an organized school of military instruction possessing a 
 local habitation as well as a name, it will interest the 
 reader to peruse it in full. It is as follows : 
 
 " An act providing for raising and organizing a corps of artillerists 
 and engineers. 
 
 "Section i. Be it enacted, etc.. That the number of seven 
 hundred and sixty-four non-commissioned officers, privates, and 
 artificers, to serve as privates and musicians, shall be engaged for 
 the term of three years by voluntary enlistments, and that the 
 proper proportion of commissioned oflScers shall be appointed to 
 command the same. 
 
 " Sec. 2. That the aforesaid commissioned and non-commis- 
 sioned officers, privates, artificers, and musicians shall be incor- 
 porated with the corps of artillery now in the service of the United 
 States, and denominated the corps of artillerists and engineers, 
 and that the entire number of said corps, exclusively of the com- 
 missioned officers, shall be nine hundred and ninety-two. 
 
172 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 " Sec. 3. That the organization of the said corps be as herein 
 mentioned, to-wit : One lieutenant-colonel commandant, one adju- 
 tant, one surgeon; four battalions, each to consist of one major, 
 one adjutant and paymaster, and one surgeon's mate; and four 
 companies, each to consist of one captain, two lieutenants, two 
 cadets with the pay, clothing, and rations of a sergeant, four ser- 
 geants, four corporals, forty-two privates, sappers, and miners, and 
 ten artificers to serve as privates, and two musicians. 
 
 " Sec. 4. That the additional commissioned officers, non-com- 
 missioned officers, privates, artificers, and musicians, by this act 
 directed to be raised, shall receive the same pay and allowances in 
 all respects as the troops already in the service of the United 
 States; and they shall also be governed by the same rules and 
 articles of war which have been or may be by law established. 
 
 " Sec. 5. That it shall be. the duty of the Secretary of War to 
 provide, at the public expense, under such regulations as shall be 
 directed by the President of the United States, the necessary 
 books, instruments, and apparatus for the use and benefit of the 
 said corps. 
 
 " Sec. 6. That the President of the United States shall cause 
 such proportions of the said corps to serve in the field, on the 
 frontiers, or in the fortifications of the sea-coast, as he shall deem 
 consistent with the public service." 
 
 Two features of this act are particularly noticeable : 
 first, that the purpose of scholastic training for the corps 
 is distinctly enunciated, and provision made for books, 
 instruments, and apparatus, at the public expense, through 
 which to carry it out ; and, second, that the grade of cadei, 
 up to that time entirely new in the American service, was 
 unequivocally created. The word cadei is borrowed from 
 the French and means, in that language, a younger 
 brother. The English usage of the word, as defined by 
 Webster in the latest edition of his dictionary, is as fol- 
 lows: "A gentleman who carries arms in a regiment as a 
 private man, with a view to acquire military skill and ob- 
 
CORPS OF ARTILLERISTS AND ENGINEERS. 
 
 "^n 
 
 tain a commission. His service is voluntary, but he 
 receives pay, and" thus is distinguished from a volunteer." 
 This distinction between a cadet and volunteer, it may be 
 remarked, en passant, has been strongly perpetuated down 
 to the present time. The name changes, but the distinction 
 becomes greatly intensified as the cadet passes from pupil- 
 age to the full character of soldier. 
 
 This act, as will be observed, provides no location 
 for the school which it created, the corps being subject in 
 respect of location to the order of the President. As 
 Aristotle imparted his system of philosophy to his pupils 
 while walking in the Lyceum at Athens, so these embry- 
 onic soldiers received their instruction while upon the 
 march. The new school, therefore, was peripatetic, and 
 perhaps the scholars were less apathetic in consequence. 
 
 Four years more of experience, and a corresponding 
 period of general discussion and argument as to the 
 necessities of the hour and of the future day, glided 
 rapidly by and brought into active life the Fifth Congress 
 of the United States. The belief in the expediency of 
 educating officers of the army at the national expense had 
 slowly but surely gained converts among our forefathers.. 
 Upon the 27th of April, 1798, another act was approved 
 providing for an additional regiment of artillerists and 
 engineers with a corresponding number of cadets, "with 
 the pay, clothing, and rations of a sergeant," and directing 
 the Secretary of War to provide, at the public expense, 
 all necessary bogks, instruments, and apparatus, for the 
 use and benefit of the regiment. The school was still 
 
174 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 peripatetic and subject to walking orders from the Presi- 
 dent. Four years more, however, were destined to 
 change all this and settle the pupils, now pretty well 
 worn with an eight years' march, permanently upon the 
 banks of the beautiful Hudson River. 
 
 These four years had been pregnant of change. The 
 beloved commander of the Revolution, like the prophet 
 Moses, had led his people to a full view of the promised 
 land that millions now enjoy; and, after "life's fitful 
 fever," he had wrapped his cloak about him and lain 
 down to the rest that knows no waking. The second 
 President of the United States had assumed direction. 
 The gallant, brilliant, patriotic Knox had retired from the 
 War Office, and McHenry, a former aide-de-camp to 
 General Lafayette, a member of the Continental Congress 
 from 1 783 to 1 786, and one of the framers of the Con- 
 stitution of the United States in 1787, had taken Knox's 
 place on January 27, 1796. The latter — McHenry — 
 had served' as Secretary of War until the 13th of May, 
 1 800 ; he had made a most important contribution to the 
 progressive movement destined to terminate in the erec- 
 tion of a fixed establishment for imparting a military 
 education to American youth ; and, in his turn, he had 
 passed the still uncompleted task to other hands. 
 
 The present review of the military education move- 
 ment in the United States now approaches a period of 
 great interest. The narrative has reached the threshold 
 of the actual achievement of a project toward which the 
 logic of events had been steadily carrying the whole sub- 
 
APPEARANCE OF SECRETAR Y M' HENRY. \ 75 
 
 ject. The current had been running in a set direction 
 and, instead of being itself deflected, had carried all argu- 
 ment before it. 
 
 The difficulty of access to the early recoi-ds of our 
 Government by the general people has been stated else- 
 where in this volume. Conformably to the purpose then 
 announced, to place the records relating to the subject 
 under discussion in a shape to be easily reached by those 
 having an interest in it, the author proceeds to quote at 
 length two documents of the time now spoken of, that 
 have an interest but little less intense than the classic 
 paper of Secretary Knox, already given to the reader 
 of these pages. These documents are from the pen of 
 James McHenry, mentioned above as the successor of 
 Knox in the Department of War. The first reflection 
 caused by their perusal must be upon the immense stride 
 which the subject had taken in less than a single decade. 
 From the mere suggestion of Washington, in 1793, to 
 the papers of McHenry, in 1800, there appears a develop- 
 ment of this particular subject only to be explained by 
 the fact that it occurred in a nation which, from a condi- 
 tion of colonial dependence, has, in little more than one 
 hundred years, become the exemplar of all others, com- 
 pelling the most powerful of them, through mere force 
 of example alone, to adopt reforms and measures of prog- 
 ress that, in the absence of it, certainly could not have 
 been reached by ordinary course in a period of five hun- 
 dred years. The author trusts that he speaks without 
 bombast, and with no more than a becoming national 
 
176 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 pride. In the first agitation of the subject, the Idea of 
 schooling had been limited to a very simple basis. Under 
 the hand of McHenry, it approached in character and 
 scope the most extensive military schools of Europe. 
 Nor did it stop with the education of soldiers for service 
 upon land, but also embraced a naval education for the 
 soldiers of the sea, if such an expression may be deemed 
 admissible. As to the influences of the period, which 
 served to fructify the seed of the tree that was now 
 assuming such wide-spreading proportions, the author 
 reserves his remarks for a subsequent chapter. 
 
 The paper of Secretary McHenry, like that of Secre- 
 tary Knox, is here given in full, without apology for the 
 insertion of such parts as may be considered not immedi- 
 ately relative to the subject under treatment. 
 
 At the first- session of the Sixth Congress President 
 John Adams, under date of January 13, iSoD, transmitted 
 by special message to the Senate and House of Repre- 
 sentatives a report of the Secretary of War, made to 
 him upon the 5th of the same month, containing "vari- 
 ous matters in which the honor and safety of the nation 
 are deeply interested." In transmitting it to the two 
 houses he recommended the matter "to their serious 
 consideration." 
 
 The following is the report as sent : 
 
 " The Secretary of War respectfully requests the attention of 
 the President of the United States to certain measures and arrange- 
 ments which appear to him to be indispensable to the improve- 
 ment of our military system, and solicits, if it shall be thought 
 proper, that the same may be submitted to Congress. 
 
SECRET AR Y M' HENR Y' S REPOR T. I J "J 
 
 " No sentiment is more just than this, that in proportion as the 
 circumstances and policy of a people are opposed to the mainte- 
 nance of a large military force, it is important that as much perfec- 
 tion as possible be given to that which may at any time exist. 
 
 " It is not, however, enough that the troops that it may be 
 deemed proper to maintain be rendered as perfect as possible in 
 form, organization, and discipline: the dignity, the character to be 
 supported, and the safety of the country further require that it 
 should have military institutions, should be capable of perpetuat- 
 ing the art of war, and of furnishing the means for forming a new 
 and enlarged army, fit for service in the shortest time possible, and 
 at the least practicable expense to the state. 
 
 " Let it not be presumed that a country, however distantly sit- 
 uated from other nations, or favored by the courage and genius of 
 its inhabitants, can neglect with impunity military institutions, or 
 that it may safely consider all regular force to be useless except 
 when there is an enemy present to employ it. A country which 
 acts upon such a maxim will invariably attract injuries and ene- 
 mies, and sooner or later sink by internal discords, or see its noble 
 spirit broken down by repeated humiliations, and the whole people 
 thus prepared for the last stage of national degradation. 
 
 "If the farmer would secure his flocks, he must go to the 
 expense of shepherds; if preserve his crops, he must enclose his 
 fields. In like manner, to insure safety to the nation, it is neces- 
 sary that the leading avenues into it be guarded by troops and 
 fortifications. Before the invention of gunpowder, the smallest 
 villages were invested with walls, so that a long siege was often 
 requisite to reduce them. Since that epoch, the history of almost 
 if not every war contains undeniable proofs of the utility of forti- 
 fications, and the necessity of disciplined troops to the defense of 
 a country. Would it be wise or expedient in us to pursue a differ- 
 ent course, and shut our eyes against the innumerable facts on 
 record in favor of their essentiality ? Are we without regular 
 troops, we may soon lose the military art; are we without engi- 
 neers, not a little of the money employed on fortifications will be 
 always hazarded, if not actually thrown away, and generals of the 
 most consummate genius forced to capitulate in the field, whose 
 retreat might have been covered by a fortification, or the battle 
 decided in their favor by a happily contrived intrenchment 
 
178 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 " Since, however, it seems to be agreed that we are not to keep 
 on foot numerous forces, and it would be impossible, on a sudden, 
 to extend to every essential point our fortifications, military science 
 in its various branches ought to be cultivated with peculiar care in 
 proper nurseries, so that a sufficient stock may always exist, ready 
 to be imparted and diffused to any extent, and a competent num- 
 ber of persons be prepared and qualified to act as engineers, and 
 others as instructors to additional troops, which events may suc- 
 cessively require to be raised. This will be to substitute the ele- 
 ments of an army to the thing itself, and will greatly tend to enable 
 the Government to dispense with a large body of standing forces, 
 from the facility which it will' give of procuring officers and form- 
 ing soldiers promptly in all emergencies. 
 
 " No sound mind, after a fair view of the subject, can doubt 
 the essentiality of military science in time of war any more than 
 the moral certainty that the most pacific policy on the part of gov- 
 ernment and the most solemn and well-observed treaties will not 
 preserve a country from being engaged in war more or less fre- 
 quently. To avoid great evils, we must either have a respectable 
 force always ready for service, or the means of preparing such a 
 force with certainty and expedition. The latter, as most agreeable 
 to the genius of our Government and Nation, is the object of the 
 following propositions: 
 
 " 1ST. A Military Academy. 
 
 "This object has frequently engaged the favorable attention of 
 the Legislature, and some laws toward its consummation have 
 been passed. These, however, being yet inadequate to afford the 
 requisite instruction to officers and others in the principles of war, 
 the exercises it requires, and the sciences upon which they are 
 founded, the adoption of a more perfect plan is conceived to be 
 indispensable for the purposes. With this view, the following plan 
 is respectfully suggested, formed upon those of institutions of a 
 similar nature, from which the nations who have founded them 
 derived the most decided advantages: 
 
 " It is proposed that this academy shall consist ot four schools, 
 one to be called 'The Fundamental School;' another, 'The School 
 of Engineers and Artillerists;' another, 'The School of Cavalry 
 and Infantry;' and a fourth, 'The School of the Navy;' and to be 
 provided with the following officers, professors, and teachers: 
 
A MILITAR V A CADEMY RECOMMENDED. I 79 
 
 *'A Director-General to superintend the first three schools. 
 
 "A Director of the Fundamental School. 
 
 " A Director of the School of Engineers and Artillerists. 
 
 ■" A Director of the School of Cavalry and Infantry. 
 
 "A Director of the School of the Navy. 
 
 ^' Six Professors of Mathematics. 
 
 ^' Four Professors of Geography and Natural Philosophy. 
 
 ^' Two Professors of Chemistry, including Mineralogy, 
 
 ■"Three Architects. 
 
 " Fo.ur Designing and Drawing Masters. 
 
 *'One Riding Master. 
 
 *' One Fencing Master. 
 
 "To be thus distributed among the several schools : 
 
 To the Fundamental School. 
 " One Director. 
 
 ■" Four Professors of Mathematics. 
 
 " Two Professors of Geography and Natural Philosophy. 
 " One Designing and Drawing Master. 
 " One Professor of Chemistry. 
 
 To the School of Engineers and Artillerists 
 
 " One Director. 
 
 " Two Professors of Mathematics. 
 
 " Two Professors of Geography and Natural Philosophy. 
 
 ^'One Professor of Chemistry. 
 
 "" Two Architects. 
 
 "" Three Designing and Drawing Masters. 
 
 To the School of Cavalry and Infantry. 
 
 "A Director. 
 
 " A Riding Master. ' 
 
 ■"A Fencing Master. 
 
 To the School of the Navy. 
 "A Director. 
 
 " A Professor of Mathematics. 
 
 "A Professor of Geography and Natural Philosophy. 
 "An Architect. 
 "One Designing and Drawing Master. 
 
l8o THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 "The Fundamental School is designed to form engineers^ 
 including geographical engineers, miners, and ofScers for the artil- 
 lery, cavalry, infantry, and navy; consequently, in this school are to 
 be taught all the sciences necessary to a perfect knowledge of the 
 different branches of the military art. 
 
 "The School of Engineers and Artillerists, to teach those 
 admitted therein, and appointed and designed for engineers, the 
 application of the theoretic knowledge which they had acquired in 
 the Fundamental School, to the construction of all sorts of fortifica- 
 tions and military buildings appertaining thereto; to mines and 
 counter-mines, sieges, attack and defense; to mineralogy, to the 
 art of projecting and constructing bridges, roads, and canals and 
 maritime posts, and all works relative thereto; to all geographic 
 and topographic operations, the calculations relative to the same; 
 to designing and drawing charts, etc. 
 
 " To those appointed or designed for the artillery service, the 
 application of the theoretic knowledge acquired in the Funda- 
 mental School; to the construction of gun-carriages, pontoons, the 
 fabrication of cannon and fire-arms, and to all the maneuvers of 
 war which depend upon artillery. 
 
 " The School of Cavalry and Infantry, to teach those admitted 
 therein, and appointed to or designed for the cavalry, the tactics, 
 exercise, and police of cavalry; those for the infantry, the tactics of 
 infantry, and all that concerns the police of an army in the field 
 and in quarters. 
 
 "The School of the Navy, to teach those appointed to or 
 designed for this service the application of the knowledge acquired 
 in the Fundamental School in arithmetic, algebra, geometry, statics,, 
 and navigation. To this end, after having passed examination, 
 they shall make voyages or cruises under skillful officers for cer- 
 tain periods, during which time they ought to be exercised in the 
 maneuvers and observations most useful in service, and be 
 instructed in whatever respects rigging of vessels of war, pilotage, 
 and the management of cannon. 
 
 Functions of the Principal Officers. 
 
 " The Director-General to have the general superintendency of 
 
 the schools, particularly of the Fundamental School; to occupy 
 
 himself incessantly with the means of attaining the ends of the 
 
 institution, which is the greatest possible instruction to the pupils^ 
 
PLAN OF ORGANIZING THE ACADEMY. l8l 
 
 " He will inform himself of their progress in their studies rela- 
 tive to the service to which they are destined, and collect all the 
 facts proper to be laid before the President, to enable him to form 
 an opinion of the fitness of any individual who has not had one for 
 an appointment; or in case he has to judge how and when his 
 talents can, upon occasion, be most beneficially employed. 
 
 " He will attend particularly to the execution of whatever 
 respects the admission of pupils; their transfer from the school of 
 theory into that of practice; their passage from one class or divis- 
 ion in the same school to another, and the examinations which 
 they ought to respectively undergo. 
 
 " He will propose a list of the officers of the army proper to be 
 received into the schools, and will furnish the Secretary of War 
 with information, from time to time, relative to their progress, 
 conduct, and capacity to fill positions to which their genius and 
 knowledge may particularly point. 
 
 " He will give such certificates to the officers, cadets, or pupils, 
 as they shall have merited. 
 
 " The directors of each of the military schools will receive from 
 the Director-General instructions detailing their functions and 
 powers, to him they will make their reports. 
 
 " With respect to the School of the Navy, the director thereof 
 will receive his instructions from the Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 " The Director-General, and the other directors, to be officers 
 of the army and navy, according as the studies and exercises of the 
 particular school shall be most intimately connected with either 
 service. 
 
 " These schools to be provided with proper apparatus and in- 
 struments for philosophical and chemical- experiments, for astro- 
 nomical and nautical observations, for surveying, and such other 
 processes as are requisite to the several topics and branches of 
 instruction. 
 
 "The site of Schools of Engineers and Artillerists and of the 
 Navy ought to be on navigable water. For this purpose a piece of 
 ground ought to be purchased, sufficient for experiments in tactics, 
 gunnery, and fortification. The situation upon a navigable water 
 is also requisite, to admit of specimens of naval construction and 
 naval exercises. 
 
 " It would also tend greatly to the perfection of the plan if the 
 
1 82 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 academy of artillerists and engineers was situated in the neighbor- 
 hood of foundries of cannon and manufactories of small arms. 
 
 " Barracks and other proper buildings must be erected for the 
 accommodation of the directors, professors, and students, and for 
 the laboratories and other works to be carried on at the respective 
 schools. 
 
 " The cadets of the army, and a certain number of young per- 
 sons destined for military and naval service, ought to study at 
 least two years in the Fundamental School; and, if destined for the 
 corps of engineers or artillerists, or for the navy, two years more 
 in the appropriate school; if for the cavalry or infantry, one year 
 more in the appropriate school. But persons who, by previous 
 instruction elsewhere, may have become acquainted with some or 
 all of the branches taught in the Fundamental School, may, after 
 due examination by the directors and professors of that school, be 
 either received then for a shorter time, or pass immediately to one 
 or other of the schools of practice, according to the nature and 
 i^extent of their requirements and intended destination. 
 
 " In addition to these, detalchments of officers and non-commis- 
 'sioned officers of the army ought to attend one or other of the 
 ^schools, in rotation, for the purpose of instruction and exercise, 
 according to the nature of the corps to which they respectively 
 belong. 
 
 " It may be noticed also, in this place, that it would be a wise 
 addition if Government would authorize such a number of ser- 
 geants, supernumerary to those belonging to the regiments on the 
 establishment as would suffice with them for an army of fifty 
 thousand men. All the supernumeraries to receive according to 
 their capacity instruction at the academy and to be occasionally 
 sent to do duty with the army. 
 
 " This outline of a military academy which is conformable to 
 that of similar institutions in other countries, particularly in 
 France, is not meant to imply anything conclusive : the plan may 
 be modified, perhaps, to advantage. At all events it ought to be 
 left with the President to proportion the number of cadets and 
 others to be admitted into the schools, and to prescribe definitively 
 relative to the requisites to entitle to admission, the periods of 
 novitiate, transfers from the schools to particular corps, and what- 
 ever respects organization, regulations, and police. 
 
M'HENRY'S ARGUMENT FOR MILITARY EDUCATION. 183 
 
 " And here it may be proper to observe that, though provision 
 should be made by law for the proposed establishment in its full 
 latitude, yet it may be left in the discretion of the President to 
 appoint so many of the professors and masters only as experience 
 shall show to be necessary. 
 
 " Will it be thought superfluous to remark, relative to the 
 utility of this institution, that it is from the military schools of 
 France have issued those generals and other officers whose skill 
 and recent achievements in war have rendered .them subjects for 
 military history and enabled the present governors of that nation, 
 successively, and almost instantaneously, to form immense dis- 
 ciplined armies? 
 
 " Is it not greatly desirable to be so provided and prepared for 
 all emergencies ? 
 
 " An enemy who meditates invasion will naturally examine 
 what he will have to encounter before he undertakes it. Acting 
 with common prudence, he must proportion his military array to 
 the obstacles in fortification and disposable force it will have to 
 overcome, and which may be so stationed and improved as to 
 require from him an army and apparatus expensive beyond his 
 resources to support. Our country, by a skillful application of 
 very moderate means, may thus avert from its bosom the most 
 expensive and calamitous wars. 
 
 " In treating upon such an institution it was encouraging to 
 reflect that, happily, it coincided with your uniform wish to see our 
 country placed in a situation which would entitle the just maxims 
 of its policy to be respected and enable it to meet any adverse 
 accidents it may be reserved to encounter. 
 
 " The measure proposed has also the high sanction of our late 
 venerated President, whose talents and services were devoted, not 
 to produce personal results, but to render a whole people great, 
 flourishing, and happy. 
 
 " ' The institution of a military academy,' this great man 
 observes in his last impressive speech, ' is also recommended by 
 cogent reasons. However pacific the general policy of a nation may 
 be, it ought never to be without an adequate stock of military 
 knowledge for emergencies. 
 
 " ' The first would impair the energy of its character, and both 
 would hazard its safety, or expose it to greater evils, when war 
 
184 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 could not be avoided. Besides that, war might often not depend 
 upon its own choice. In proportion as the observance of the 
 pacific maxims might exempt a nation from the necessity of prac- 
 ticing the rules of the military art, ought to be its care in preserv- 
 ing and transmitting by proper establishments the knowledge of 
 that art. Whatever argument may be drawn from particular 
 examples, superficially viewed, a thorough examination of the sub- 
 ject will evince that the art of war is at once comprehensive and 
 complicated; that it demands much previous study, and that the 
 possession of it, in its most improved and perfect state, is always 
 of great moment to the security of a nation. This, therefore, 
 ought to be a serious care of every government, and for this 
 purpose an academy, where a regular course of instruction is 
 given, is an obvious expedient which different nations have suc- 
 cessfully employed.' 
 
 " Will not the patriotism and good sense of our country readily 
 consent to found an institution, at a moderate expense, recom- 
 mended by such authorities, and which must produce the happiest 
 effects ? And yet it ought not to excite surprise if, in a season of 
 profound peace, the minds of a generality of a people, partaking 
 of the public calm, should become inattentive to the storm that 
 may be collecting at a distance. ^ Are we in the midst of that pro- 
 found peace universal on earth; ought the watchmen of a nation 
 to trust to such evanescent and deceptive appearantes ? And will 
 not an intelligent people, instructed by the wisdom of ages, and 
 having every reason to confide in those to whom they have assigned 
 the direction of their affairs, gladly see establishments arise and 
 arrangements made which shall render the thunder harmless when 
 it shall burst over their heads ? In such conjunctures (and such 
 must happen to the United States), corps of well instructed officers 
 and troops are to a country what anchors are to a ship driven by a 
 tempest towards a rocky shore." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONCLUSION OF SECRETARY m'hENRy's REPORT SUPPLE- 
 MENTAL REPORT CONCERNING A MILITARY SCHOOL, FEB- 
 RUARY 13, 1800 PRESENTATION OF A BILL ESTABLISH- 
 ING A MILITARY ACADEMY, MARCH 1 9, 180O PASSAGE 
 
 OF THE ACT OF MARCH 1 6, l802 FULL TEXT OF THE 
 
 LAW. 
 
 rr^HE first portion of Secretary McHenry's report has 
 -L been given in full in the preceding chapter, devoted, 
 as it is, to the project of a National Military Academy. 
 The second and concluding portion of the paper proposes 
 "a modification of the two regiments of artillerists and 
 engineers, so as to create, instead thereof, one regiment 
 of foot artillerists, another of horse artillerists, and a third 
 of engineers." As there is much matter under this branch 
 of the paper which has no special relevance to the subject 
 now under consideration, only such quotations need be 
 made as seem to have a useful bearing upon it for the 
 present purpose. 
 
 The acts of May 9, 1794, and April 27, 1798, 
 which create two regiments of artillerists and engineers, 
 have already been quoted in these pages. These acts 
 establish, for the first time, the grade of cadet in the 
 United States Army. Under the acts named the officers 
 of artillerists and engineers were united in a single corps. 
 
 185 
 
1 86 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Upon the subsequent establishment of the military school 
 at West Point a different arrangement was adopted. 
 
 The opening paragraph of Secretary McHenry's 
 paper, in its second branch, treats of the point thus: 
 
 " It is conceived that the entire union of the officers of artil- 
 lerists and engineers, in one corps, as in our present establishment, 
 is not advisable. The art of fortification and the service of artil- 
 lery, though touching each other in many points, are in the main 
 distinct branches, and each so comprehensive that their separation 
 is essential to perfection in either. This has been ascertained by 
 long experience. Among the powers of Europe there is not one 
 recollected which, at the present day, is not conscious of this truth. 
 When any of them have attempted to unite the corps,' the disad- 
 vantages which resulted were soon felt to be so momentous as to 
 produce conviction that each requires a separate organization. 
 Such a union was once attempted in France. 
 
 "According to an ordinance of the 8th of December, 1755, the 
 artillery and engineer corps of that nation, which had been sepa- 
 rate, were combined into one. The experiment, however, was of 
 short duration. In 1758 the engineer corps was disjoined from the 
 corps of artillery, and called, as before, the corps of engineers, since 
 which time these corps have remained separate. 
 
 " The two regiments of artillerists and engineers consist of the 
 
 following officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates, each of, 
 
 viz.:' 
 
 ***** 
 
 "Let the regiments of foot artillerists and horse artillerists 
 consist each as follows, viz. : 
 
 "One Lieutenant-Colonel Commander. 
 
 "Three Majors. 
 
 "One Adjutant, \ 
 
 " One Quartermaster, \ each being a Lieutenant. 
 
 " One Paymaster, ) 
 
 "One Surgeon. 
 
 " Two Surgeon's Mates. 
 
 " Twelve Captains. 
 
 ' Here follows the list already given in the acts named. 
 
M 'HENR Y • S PLAN OF ORGANIZA TION. 1 8 / 
 
 " Twenty-four Lieutenants, besides the three above mentioned. 
 
 " Twenty-four Cadets. • 
 
 " Three Sergeant-Majors. 
 
 "Three Quartermaster Sergeants. 
 
 " Forty-eight Sergeants. 
 
 " Forty-eight Corporals. 
 
 " One Chief Musician. 
 
 "Twelve Musicians. 
 
 " Seven hundred and eighty privates, including artificers. 
 
 "The artificers, forming a part of each company in the regi- 
 ments as they now exist, to form two companies of miners and two 
 companies of artificers, to be arranged as will be hereafter noticed. 
 
 " It is also proposed: First, in the event of war, that these two 
 regiments shall be augmented to the complement of officers and 
 men composing the existing regiments of artillerists and engineers. 
 Second, the regiment of horse artillerists shall perform their ser- 
 vice on horseback during the war only. Third, that provision be 
 made to enable the President of the United States, in case war 
 shall break out between the United States and a foreign European 
 power, or in case imminent danger of invasion of their territory by 
 any such power shall, in his opinion, be discovered to exist, to 
 organize and cause to be organized two additional regiments of 
 horse artillery. Fourth, that the officers which shall become super- 
 numerary by this aforesaid organization shall, at the discretion of 
 the President, be transferred to fill vacancies in other regiments on 
 the establishment corresponding with their grades, or be retained 
 to fill appropriate vacancies which shall happen in their respective 
 regiments by deaths, resignations, etc. 
 
 " In addition to the economical effect of the latter arrange- 
 ment, it may be mentioned that the officers to one whole battalion 
 of the second regiment of artillerists and engineers have not yet 
 been appointed. 
 
 " The regiment of engineers consisting entirely of officers, if 
 we exclude the companies of miners, it remains to speak of its 
 organization. 
 
 " Let it consist of, viz.: 
 
 " Two Lieutenant-Colonels, one first and one second, as already 
 provided by law. 
 
 "Three Majors. 
 
1 88 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 " Twelve Captains. 
 
 "Twenty-four First Lieutenants. 
 
 " Twenty-four Second Lieutenants. 
 
 "Twenty -four Cadets. 
 
 "The companies of miners and their labors to be under the 
 direction and immediate command of officers of this corps, and to 
 make a part thereof. 
 
 " It will be perceived, and it is observed with regret, that the 
 engineer regiment cannot be immediately formed by the mere act 
 of transferring into it officers from any of the existing regiments. 
 In order to answer its high destination it must be filled slowly, and 
 under the exercise of great caution and responsibility. 
 
 " For this purpose selections may be made from among the 
 officers of the army, and others who shall have passed through the 
 military schools and prescribed examinations, and who obtain 
 certificates of their possessing the requisite knowledge and quali- 
 fications. 
 
 " It may also be permitted, in cases of uncommon urgency, 
 requiring the completion of the corps, to choose officers among our 
 citizens whose professions or functions are most analogous to 
 those of engineers, after an examination by a special commission 
 named by the President. 
 
 " But let it be remembered that this corps is too essential to 
 the success of military operations to be hurried in its formation, 
 or composed of other than persons qualified to discharge its high 
 and important functions. Is authority necessary to support this 
 truth ? A general of the first reputation as a commander observes 
 on this subject, in speaking to his government of an officer who 
 had been killed in action, ' He was the best officer of engineers, a 
 body on which so much of the success of campaigns and the fate 
 of a country depend, and where the least fault may be attended 
 with the most fatal consequences.' 
 
 " The horse artillery being a subject that cannot fail to attract 
 attention, it will not, it is conceived, be deemed superfluous to 
 submit a few observations and facts relative to its structure, advan- 
 tages, and importance. 
 
 " The Prussians were the first who employed horse artillery, 
 invented by the great Frederick at a time when the league which 
 was formed against him called upon his genius to multiply his 
 
M 'HENR Y ' S HISTOR Y OF HORSE AR TILLER Y. 1 89 
 
 resources. It was then that the same army, transported with a 
 celerity and precision till then unknown in war, was seen to triumph 
 against superior forces during the same campaign, upon opposite 
 frontiers to the east and to the west of his states. It was then 
 were seen horse artillery accompanying strong advanced bodies of 
 cavalry, without embarrassing or retarding their rapid marches 
 and evolutions. 
 
 " Horse artillery was introduced into the Austrian army during 
 the reign of Joseph II., but it was not made a principal object, and 
 remained in a state of imperfection. The cannoneers were trans- 
 ported upon the ridges of covered caissons, stuffed in the attitude 
 of men on horseback. These carriages were called wurstwagen. 
 
 " Some attempts were made in France to introduce the horse 
 artillery before the revolution there. The subject, however, was 
 not well understood. The general officers who were present at the 
 attempt proposed to place the cannoneers, like the Austrians, on 
 wursts. 
 
 "In 1791 Mr. Duportail, Minister of War, authorized the com- 
 mandant of the division of military to form two companies of 
 horse artillery. The success of this experiment was decisive, and 
 answerable to the Minister's expectations. The officers and men 
 were, in a few weeks, in a condition to maneuver with light troops. 
 
 "In 1792 Mr Narbonne, who succeeded to Mr. Duportail, com- 
 posed a committee of the most enlightened officers of the army to 
 examine and decide upon the means of improving and extending 
 in the French army the use of horse artillery. 
 
 " As no better idea can be given of this new military arm than 
 what is reported of the result of this conference, the Secretary 
 takes the liberty to introduce it. 
 
 "These officers resolved, as fundamental points: 
 
 " I. That a numerous horse artillery, well served and kept 
 complete in cannoneers and horses, was the most certain mean to 
 protect the evolution of troops indifferently instructed, to support 
 their attacks with bayonets, and to render null, by positions sea- 
 sonably taken and with celerity, the advantage which troops better 
 disciplined might confidently promise themselves from superiority 
 in maneuvers. 
 
 " 2. That with respect to the employment of this arm, the 
 rules of service, instruction, etc., the horse artillery ought to difEer 
 
I go THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 from the field artillery only in having its pieces so managed as to 
 be drawn with the utmost celerity wherever they can produce the 
 greatest effect, and in the cannoneers being able to follow their 
 guns and commence action as soon as they are placed. 
 
 "3. That to fulfill this object it is more convenient to have 
 the cannoneers all mounted on horses than a part of them on 
 wursts, because on horses they are less subject to accidents, their 
 movement more rapid, their retreat more secure, and the replacing 
 of horses easy. 
 
 "4. That, without excluding any caliber, it appears pieces 
 carrying balls of eight and twelve pounds, and howitzers, may be 
 most advantageously employed. 
 
 " 5. That it is unnecessary to discipline a horse artillerist in 
 the maneuvers of cavalry; that this would be a departure, with- 
 out utility, from the principal object; that it is enough for him to 
 know to sit firm on his horse, to mount and descend quickly, and 
 conduct him boldly; that it is not requisite to oblige him to pre- 
 serve any order in following his piece, leaving it to his intelligence 
 to learn, if he chooses, to execute the maneuvers of cavalry. 
 
 "6. That the maneuver a la prolonge ought to be employed 
 in every case in which it is practicable to use it. That, the horses 
 remaining attached while the pieces are firing, one gains all the 
 time which would be lost in removing or replacing the avant train, 
 and thus one may pass fosses and rivers with the utmost celerity 
 and profit of positions. 
 
 "7. That in order to form at once a requisite number of com- 
 panies of horse artillery, without weakening the artillery regi- 
 ments, it is sufficient to employ for every piece two skillful can- 
 noneers, and to draw upon the infantry for the rest." 
 
 Thus much of this valuable report is quoted in order 
 to exhibit the arguments, among others, which finally led 
 to the permanent Military Academy at West Point. 
 There is a large amount of matter contained in the 
 report untouched in these pages, because of having no 
 direct connection with the subject under consideration, 
 but interesting, nevertheless, to those desirous of 
 
ACTION OF "COMMITTEE OF DEFENSE." I9I 
 
 exhausting it in its several parts. For a perusal of the 
 full report the reader is referred to the "American State 
 Papers," Vol. I. — Military Affairs, page 133. 
 
 The foregoing report, after having been considered 
 in the House of Representatives, was referred to the 
 "Committee of Defense," of which committee Hon. 
 Harrison G. Otis was chairman. Through this official 
 certain inquiries were submitted to the Secretary of 
 War, which brought from him a further paper bearing 
 date of January 31, 1800, which latter was communi- 
 cated to the House upon the 13th of February following. 
 This supplemental paper is designed to afford estimates 
 of the necessary buildings, the salaries of professors, 
 and to give the coup de grace in favor of the establish- 
 ment of the school, by the offering of such arguments as 
 had not before been used. The paper contains much 
 valuable and interesting material. Standing immediately 
 before the culminating act which brought into existence 
 the military school, whose imperfect utility under the 
 established system has been amply demonstrated since 
 its origin, the author will be permitted to quote liberally 
 from the document alluded to. Referring to the report 
 dated January 13, 1800, which formulates the plan for 
 the Military Academy, the Secretary says : 
 
 " The report contemplates certain military schools as an essen- 
 tial mean, in conjunction with a small military establishment, to 
 prepare for and perpetuate to the United States, at a very moderate 
 expense, a body of scientific officers and engineers, adequate to 
 any future exigency, qualified to discipline for the field, in the 
 
192 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 shortest time, the most extended armies, and to give the most 
 decisive and useful effects to their operations. 
 
 " It is not conceived the United States will ever think it expe- 
 dient to employ militia upon their frontiers, or to garrison their 
 fortified places in time of peace, nor that they will be disposed to 
 place their reliance, for defense against a foreign invading enemy, 
 upon militia alone, but that they will, at all times, maintain a body 
 of regular troops, commensurate with their ability to maintain 
 them, and the necessity or policy that may demand such an estab- 
 lishment. 
 
 " To qualify and keep our citizens in general, of suitable 
 bodily ability, prepared to take the field against regular forces, 
 would demand the most radical changes in our militia system, and 
 such uninterrupted series of training, discipline, and instruction, to 
 be applied as well to the officers as to the men, as comports with 
 regular troops only, while in its results the measure would be 
 found, on account of the loss to the community, occasioned by the 
 abstraction of labor or occupation and direct cost, greatly to 
 exceed in expense what would be required to support a moderate 
 military establishment. This position, which is thought to be a 
 sound one, does not bring into view the effects of the measure 
 upon the morals, industry, and habits of the citizens. 
 
 "Practically considered, may we not as well calculate to be 
 commodiously lodged, and have the science of building improved, 
 by employing every man in the community in the construction of 
 houses, and by excluding from society, as useless, architects, 
 masons and carpenters, as expect to be defended efficiently from 
 an invading enemy by causing every citizen to endeavor to make 
 himself master of the several branches of the art of war, and ex- 
 cluding engineers, scientific officers, and regular troops. 
 
 " There is certainly, however, a system as it respects our mili- 
 tia which, if resorted to and persevered in, may secure the utility 
 of their services in times of danger, without much injury to the 
 morals or materially affecting the general industry of the nation. 
 
 "When the perfect order and exact discipline which are essen- 
 tial to regular troops are contemplated, and with what ease and 
 precision they execute the different maneuvers indispensable to the 
 success of offensive or defensive operations, the conviction cannot 
 be resisted that such troops will always have a decided advantage 
 
THE ADVANTAGES OF MILITARY TRAINING. I03 
 
 over more numerous forces composed of uninstructed militia or 
 undisciplined recruits. 
 
 " It cannot yet be forgotten that in our Revolutionary War it was 
 not until after several years' practice in arms, and the extension of 
 the periods for which oar soldiers were first enlisted, that we found 
 them at all qualified to meet in the field of battle those to whom 
 they were opposed. The occasional brilliant and justly celebrated 
 acts of some of our militia during that eventful period detract 
 nothing from this dear-bought truth. With all the enthusiasm 
 which marked those days, it was perceived and universally felt that 
 regular and disciplined troops were indispensable, and that it was 
 utterly unsafe for us to trust to our militia alone the issue of the 
 war. The position, therefore, is illustrated that even in times of 
 greatest danger we cannot give to our militia that degree of dis- 
 cipline or to their officers that degree of military science upon 
 which a nation may safely hazard its fate. 
 
 " The great man who conducted the war of our Revolution 
 was continually compelled to conform his conduct to the circum- 
 stances growing out of the experimental lessons just mentioned. 
 What was the secret of his conduct ? Must it be told ? It may, and 
 without exciting a blush or uneasy sensation in any of his surviving 
 companions-in-arms. He had an army of men, but he had few 
 officers or soldiers in that army. Both were to be formed, which 
 could not be effected in a single campaign, or while his regiments 
 were continually returning home, and, like the waves of the sea, 
 each in their turn lost in the abyss and succeeded by new ones. 
 It was not till after he was furnished with a less fluctuating and 
 more stable kind of force, that he could commence, with a prospect 
 of advantage, military instructions, or enforce the ordinances of dis- 
 cipline; and even then he felt that time and instructors were re- 
 quired to render his labors useful and enable his army to meet the 
 enemy upon anything like equal terms. Are we to profit by, or is 
 this experience to be lost to our country ? 
 
 "The art of war, which gives to a small force the faculty to 
 combat with advantage superior numbers, indifferently instructed, is 
 subjected to mechanical, geometrical, moral, and physical rules; it 
 calls for profound study; its theory is immense, the details 
 infinite; and its principles rendered useful only by a happy 
 adaptation of them to all the circumstances of place and ground. 
 
194 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 variously combined, to which they may be applicable. Is it possi- 
 ble for an ofHcer of militia to obtain a competent knowledge of 
 these things in the short space his usual avocations will permit 
 him to devote to their acquisition ? Is it possible for any officer, 
 having acquired knowledge of these details, this theory, and these 
 principles, to carry them into practice with a handful of militia, in 
 the few days in each year allotted by law to trainings and exercises ? 
 Is that perfect subordination and obedience of men to their officers, 
 and of each inferior to his superior officer, through all the grades of 
 rank, from the corporal up to the commander-in-chief, which forms 
 a vital principle essential to the force and energy of armies, to be 
 acquired by or communicated to a body of militia organized and 
 trained according to our laws ? And does it consist with a humane 
 and enlightened policy to march men so imperfectly instructed 
 and disciplined, unless in cases of the last extremity, against 
 veteran troops (where this principle reigns in full activity) com- 
 manded by skillful and scientific officers ? Admitting, however, that 
 militia officers, during the few months the law permits their corps 
 to be retained in actual service, could render their men, by incessant 
 instruction, capable of fulfilling the object of their destination; 
 yet, as that advantage is but momentary, as these borrowed instru- 
 ments must be quickly returned to the depot which furnished 
 them, as new ones must be resorted to and successively instructed, 
 what can be expected from such a system but perpetual incoher- 
 ence between the means and the end, and certain shipwreck to 
 the best connected and combined military projects ? This, to be 
 sure, is the old story ; it cannot, however, be too often repeated, 
 because it can never be refuted. 
 
 "The secret of discipline, and the importance of military 
 science, were well known to those ancient governments whose 
 generals and troops have filled the world with the splendor of 
 victories. According to Scipio, nothing contributed to the success 
 of enterprises so much as skill in the individual officers. The 
 severity of the Roman discipline is well understood, and the 
 estimation in which it was held by Caesar. Livy has observed that 
 science in war does more than force. Vegetius, that it is neither 
 numbers nor blind valor which insures victory, but that it generally 
 follows capacity and science in war. Machiavel, who has written upon 
 military affairs, placed so much dependence on an exact discipline 
 
NECESSITY OF COAST FORTIFICATION. 195 
 
 and military science as to efface from his list of great generals all those 
 who with small armies did not execute great things. But to the com- 
 mittee it is unnecessary to repeat the authorities of generals and 
 writers of the first reputation to show the high importance 
 attached to military science and discipline in all ages of the world, 
 or resor.t to history for evidence of its effects. They must be well 
 acquainted with the facts, and, no doubt, will give them their due 
 weight in considering the subjects now before them. 
 
 " There is, however, an authority so much in point relative to 
 the essentiality of the institution in question that I cannot forbear 
 to mention it. 
 
 " The Marshal de Puisegur, who has left an excellent treatise 
 on the art of war, the result of his experience, observes: 
 
 " ' I have been, perhaps, at as many sieges as any of those in 
 service, and in all sorts of grades: as subaltern, I have commanded 
 troops and working parties in a siege; as major, I have conducted 
 to the trenches and posts to which they were destined troops and 
 laborers; I have been major of brigade, marshal de camp, and 
 lieutenant-general; however, as I have not learned fortification, 
 my practice has not enabled me to acquit myself in conducting 
 attacks, so that I should be obliged to suffer myself to be 
 instructed in many things by the lights of engineers, their practice 
 being founded upon principles which are known to them, an 
 advantage I have not in this branch of war.' 
 
 " This is the candid acknowledgment of a man who had served 
 sixty years in the army; who had learned the military art under a 
 father that, in forty years' service, had been present at two hun- 
 dred sieges; and who had himself passed through all the military 
 grades, and arrived from an inferior to a superior rank but after 
 having deserved each successive promotion by some distinguished 
 action. 
 
 " A slight attention to circumstances, and the actual position 
 of our country, must lead to the conviction that a well connected 
 series of fortifications is an object of the highest importance to 
 the United States, not only as these will be conducive to the gen- 
 eral security, but as a mean of lessening the necessity, and conse- 
 quently the expense of a large military establishment. 
 
 " By strongly fortifying our harbors and frontiers we may rea- 
 sonably expect either to keep at a distance the calamities of war or 
 
196 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 render it less injurious when it shall happen. It is behind these 
 ponderous masses only that a small number of men can maintain 
 themselves for a length of time against superior forces. Imposihg, 
 therefore, upon an enemy who may have everything to transport 
 across the Atlantic the necessity of undertaking long and hazard- 
 ous sieges, increases the chance against his undertaking them at 
 all, or, if he does, in despite of such circumstances, insures to us the 
 time he must consume in his operations to rally our means to a 
 point and unite our efforts to resist him. 
 
 "We must not conclude from these brief observations that the 
 service of the engineer is limited to constructing, connecting. Con- 
 solidating, and keeping in repair fortifications. This is but a single 
 branch of their profession, though indeed a most important one. 
 Their utility extends to almost every department of war and every 
 description of general officers, besides embracing whatever respects 
 public buildings, roads, bridges, canals, and all such works of a 
 civil nature. I consider it, therefore, of vast consequence to the 
 United States that it should form in its own bosom and out of its 
 own native materials men qualified to place the country in a proper 
 posture of defense, to infuse science into our army, and give to our 
 fortifications that degree of force, connection, and perfection which 
 can alone counterbalance the superiority of attack over defense. 
 
 " With these advantages in prospect, is it not incumbent upon 
 us to hasten with all reasonable diligence the commencement and 
 completion of an institution essential to realize them ? And are 
 expenditures which give such valuable results to be otherwise 
 viewed than as real economy ? It is a well-known fact that Eng- 
 land had neither native artillerists nor engineers before the time of 
 the Duke of Cumberland and until after the establishment of mili- 
 tary schools." 
 
 The 'Secretary then proceeds to present an estimate 
 of the cost of the schools recommended in his former 
 report, both for buildings and salaries of professors. It 
 is unnecessary to give these estimates in detail, but a 
 statement of the total sum may not be without interest. 
 Two plans for buildings were presented by different 
 
JN PEACE PREPARE FOR WAR. 1 97 
 
 architects. One of these plans called for an expenditure 
 of $38,846.00, and the other for an outlay of $80,000.00. 
 The combined salaries of all the professors in the Funda- 
 mental School and in the School of Artillerists and 
 Engineers were estimated at a total of $10,489.20 
 annually. 
 
 The close 01 the paper under consideration is as 
 follows : 
 
 "The committee, while they perceive that the seed which it is 
 now proposed to sow is to yield a future harvest, will, at the same 
 time, justly appreciate the various beneficial consequences which 
 must result from the immediate adoption, and the striking incon- 
 veniences and danger to be apprehended from a postponement of 
 the measure. 
 
 "Whether our country is to be plunged into a war, or enjoy, 
 for a length of time, the blessings of peace and interior tranquility; 
 whether the portentous events which have afflicted Europe, and, 
 in their progress, threatened the United States, are to subside into 
 a settled state of things; whether the blessings of peace and the 
 customary relations among the transatlantic powers are to take place, 
 or hostilities shall be continued, protracted, and extended beyond 
 their present limits — in either view, it is equally a suggestion of 
 policy and wisdom to improve our means of defense, and give as 
 much perfection as possible to such establishments as may be con- 
 ceived essential to the maintenance of our rights and security 
 from insults. 
 
 "The unavoidable collisions growing out of trade, and the 
 reciprocal restrictions of great commercial states; the apprehen- 
 sions and jealousies natural to powers possessing contiguous terri- 
 tory; the inefficacy of religion and morality to control the passions 
 of men or the interest and ambition of nations; the impossibility, 
 at times, for governments to adjust their differences, or preserve 
 their rights, without making sacrifices more to be dreaded than 
 the hazards and calamities of war — all these considerations, illus- 
 trated by volumes of examples, teach the soundness of the axiom, 
 
igS TBE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Si vis pacem para bellum. And v/hat time more proper to prepare 
 the materials for war than a time of peace, or more urgent than 
 that in which a nation is threatened with war ? " 
 
 It may here be recalled that under the acts of 1794 
 and 1 798 the cadets therein provided for received instruc- 
 tion in mathematics alone, at West Point, under the direc- 
 tion of a private citizen, Mr. George Barron. The de- 
 velopments arising from the attempt to educate young 
 men for soldiers under the system of ordinary school 
 teaching, proved conclusively the inutility of the acts 
 mentioned, so far as they related to the military education 
 and discipline of a cadet designed for the army. It had 
 quickly become apparent to all who had given the matter 
 any attention that either the whole attempt at a scholastic 
 military education must be abandoned, or that a specific 
 military institution must be created and located at a fixed 
 point, and the corps of students subjected to military rules 
 and discipline. 
 
 The reports of Secretary McHenry, above quoted, con- 
 stituted the last act in the conflict which had been main- 
 tained for several years between those in favor of the 
 project of a military academy and those opposed to the 
 measure — those, in brief, who, being wiser than their gen- 
 eration, did not believe in it, in the form at least under 
 which it was urged. The battle-ground had been fought 
 over by the contestants ; the opponents of the measure 
 had been slowly driven from their positions ; the ammuni- 
 tion of oratory had been lavishly used. The failure of the 
 first attempt under the acts above cited had then created 
 
M' HENRY'S CHARGE AGAINST THE WINDMILL. 1 99 
 
 a revulsion somewhat in favor of the objectors, when the 
 sturdy Secretary of War made a final bayonet charge and 
 carried the work. The institution at West Point was soon 
 after established, and the question of adapting it to a 
 proper usefulness and confining it within proper limits has 
 been handed down to the actors of the present day. 
 
 The reports of Secretary McHenry must be conceded 
 to be able papers, but it seems surprising to the reader of 
 the present time that they should have aimed so far and 
 fallen so short of the real mark. They state indisputable 
 truth and urge it with warmth and energy, but they do 
 not state the whole truth, because only certain factors in 
 the problem sought to be solved were taken into consider- 
 ation. The whole force of the two documents is expended 
 in the attempt to prove what must have been at that day, 
 as it is at the present, a recognized truism, viz.: that train- 
 ing, discipline, and knowledge of relating branches of 
 education increase the efficiency of a soldier. No one can 
 doubt such a proposition for a single moment. Art and 
 science are mighty agents in the game of battles, but they 
 do not constitute that supreme power, that crushing, 
 sweeping, irresistible agency that decides the issue of 
 great battles, and that has deeply engraven upon the 
 granite shaft forever commemorative of military achieve- 
 ment such names as those of Cyrus, Alexander, Hannibal, 
 Pompey the Great, Caesar, Charlemagne, Frederick the 
 Great, Napoleon I., of Washington, and of Grant. The 
 strength of the Secretary's argument is unimpeachable 
 so far as it relates to the value of education and discipline 
 
200 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 for the soldier. But, as so often occurs in the course of 
 argumentative effort, facts certain in themselves are in this 
 instance applied to and made to support false conclusions. 
 Thus it, happened that, while our predecessors placed a just 
 value upon special military education, they were impelled, 
 by influences to be spoken of hereafter, to seek practical 
 development of the idea in a measure the wisdom of 
 which, called in question by many of that day, has been 
 negatived by the lapse of time and experience. 
 
 Let us briefly follow the legislative events succeeding 
 the presentation of the last two reports above quoted. 
 Upon the 19th of March, 1800, Mr. Otis, from the com- 
 mittee appointed by the House, presented a bill establish- 
 ing a military academy. Having been read twice and 
 opposition to it being manifested by some of the members, 
 it was referred to the committee of the whole. No 
 action was had upon it until the 28th of April following, 
 when, after consideration and further opposition, it was 
 postponed, until the first Monday in December following, 
 by a vote of 64 in the affirmative to 23 in the negative. 
 No further action upon the bill was taken until after the 
 lapse of more than one year, when, upon the nth of 
 January, 1802, it was again put upon reading in the 
 House. Considerable opposition was manifested in the 
 latter body during the progress of the bill, and many 
 amendments, some of which were adopted, were offered 
 to it. The bill finally passed the House on the 21st of 
 January, by a vote of T] against 12. Being sent to the 
 Senate, it was .again amended by that body. These 
 
FINAL ESTABLISHMENT OF MILITARY ACADEMY. 20I 
 
 amendments having been concurred in by the House, the 
 bill was enrolled and sent to the President on the 15th of 
 March, and returned by him approved on the following 
 day, March 16, 1802, 
 
 The text of the bill is here given in full, for the benefit 
 of those wishing to consult it in its entirety : 
 
 "An act fixing the military peace establishment of the United 
 States. 
 
 "Section i. Be it enacted, etc., That the military peace establish- 
 ment of the United States, from and after the ist of June next, shall 
 be composed of one regiment of artillerists and two regiments of 
 infantry, with such officers, military agents, and engineers as are 
 hereinafter mentioned. 
 
 " Sec. 2. That the regiment of artillerists shall consist of 
 one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, four majors, one adjutant, 
 and twenty companies, each company to consist of one captain, 
 one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, two cadets, four 
 sergeants, four corporals, four musicians, eight artificers, and 
 fifty-six privates, to be formed into five battalions : Provided 
 always, that it shall be lawful for the President of the United 
 States to retain, with their present grade, as many of the first 
 lieutenants now in service as shall amount to the whole number 
 of lieutenants required; but that, in proportion as vacancies hap- 
 pen therein, new appointments be made to the grade of second 
 lieutenant until their number amount to twenty, and each regi- 
 ment of infantry shall consist of one colonel, one lieutenant- 
 colonel, one major, one adjutant, one sergeant-major, two 
 teachers of music, and ten companies; each company to consist of 
 one captain, one first and one second lieutenant, one ensign, 
 four sergeants, four corporals, four musicians, and sixty-four 
 privates. 
 
 " Sec. 3. That there shall be one brigadier-general, with one 
 aide-de-camp, who shall be taken from the captains or subalterns 
 of the line; one adjutant and inspector of the army, to be taken 
 from the line of field officers; one paymaster of the army, seven 
 paymasters, and two assistants, to be attached to such districts as 
 
202 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 the President of the United States shall direct, to be taken from 
 the line of commissioned officers, who, in addition to their other 
 duties, shall have charge of the clothing of- the troops; three 
 military agents and such number of assistant military agents as the 
 President of the United States shall deem expedient, not exceeding 
 one to each military post; which assistants shall be taken from the 
 line; two surgeons; twenty-five surgeons' mates, to be attached to 
 garrisons or posts and not to corps. 
 
 " Sec. 4. That the monthly pay of the officers, non-commis- 
 sioned officers, musicians, and privates be as follows, to-wit: To 
 the brigadier-general two hundred and twenty-five dollars, which 
 shall be his full and entire compensation, without a right to receive 
 or demand any rations, forage, traveling expenses, or other per- 
 quisites or emoluments whatsoever, except such stationery as may 
 be requisite for the use of his department; to the adjutant and 
 inspector of the army thirty-eight dollars in addition to his pay in 
 the line, and such stationery as shall be requisite in his depart- 
 ment; to the paymaster of the army one hundred and twenty dol- 
 lars, without any other emolument, except such stationery as may 
 be requisite in his department, and the use of the public office now 
 occupied by him; to the aide-de-camp, in addition to his pay in the 
 line, thirty dollars; to each paymaster attached to districts thirty 
 dollars, and each assistant to such paymaster ten dollars in addition 
 to his pay in the line; to each military agent seventy-six dollars 
 and. no other emolurtient; to each assistant military agent eight 
 dollars in addition to his pay in the line, except the assistant mili- 
 tary agents at Pittsburgh and Niagara, who shall receive sixteen 
 dollars each in addition to their pay in the line; to each colonel 
 seventy-five dollars; to each lieutenant-colonel sixty dollars; to 
 each major fifty dollars; to each surgeon forty -five dollars; to each 
 surgeon's mate thirty dollars; to each adjutant ten dollars, in 
 addition to his pay in the line; to each captain forty dollars; to 
 each first lieutenant thirty dollars; to each second lieutenant 
 twenty-five dollars; to each ensign twenty dollars; to each cadet 
 ten dollars; to each sergeant-major nine dollars; to each sergeant 
 eight dollars; to each corporal seven dollars; to each teacher of 
 music eight dollars; to each musician six dollars; to each artificer 
 ten dollars, and to each private five dollars. 
 
 " Sec. 5. That the commissioned officers aforesaid shall be en- 
 
SFECIFICA TJONS OF OFFICERS' RA TIONS. 2O3 
 
 titled to receive for their daily subsistence the following number 
 of rations of provisions: A colonel, six rations; a lieutenant-col- 
 onel, five rations; a major, four rations; a captain, three rations; a 
 lieutenant, two rations; an ensign, two rations; a surgeon, three 
 rations; a surgeon's mate, two rations; a cadet, two rations, or 
 money in lieu iJiereof at the option of the said officers and cadets 
 at the posts, respectively, where the rations shall become due; and 
 if at such post supplies are not furnished by contract, then such 
 allowance as shall be deemed equitable, having reference to 
 former contracts and the position of the place in question; and 
 each non-commissioned officer, musician, and private, one ration; 
 to the commanding officers of each separate post, such additional 
 number of rations as the President of the United States shall, 
 from time to time, direct, having respect to the special circum- 
 stances of each post; to the women who may be allowed to 
 any particular corps, not exceeding the proportion of four to a 
 company, one ration each; and to every commissioned officer 
 who shall keep one servant, not a soldier of the line, one additional 
 ration. 
 
 " Sec. 6. That each ration shall consist of one pound and a 
 quarter of beef, or three-quarters of a pound of pork, eighteen 
 ounces of bread or flour, one gill of rum, whisky, or brandy, and 
 at the rate of two quarts of salt, four quarts of vinegar, four pounds 
 soap, and one pound and a half of candles to every hundred rations. 
 
 " Sec. 7. That the following officers shall, whenever forage is 
 not furnished by the public, receive at the rate of the following 
 sums per month in lieu thereof : Each colonel, twelve dollars; 
 each lieutenant-colonel, eleven dollars; each major, ten dollars; 
 each adjutant, six dollars; each surgeon, ten dollars; and each 
 surgeon's mate, six dollars. 
 
 " Sec. 8. That every non-commissioned officer, musician, and 
 private of the artillery and infantry shall receive annually the fol- 
 lowing articles of uniform clothing, to-wit: one hat, one coat, one 
 vest, two pair of woolen and two pair of linen overalls, one coarse 
 linen frock and trousers for fatigue clothing, four pair of shoes, 
 four shirts, two pair of socks, two pair of short stockings, one 
 blanket, and a stock and clasp, and one pair of half-gaiters; and 
 the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to cause to be furnished 
 to the paymasters of the respective districts such surplus of 
 
204 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 clothing as he may deem expedient, which clothing shall, under 
 his direction, be, furnished to the soldiers, when necessary, at the 
 contract prices, and accounted for by them out of their arrears of 
 monthly pay. 
 
 " Sec. 9. That the President of the United States cause to be 
 arranged the officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and 
 privates of the several corps of troops now in the service of the 
 United States in such manner as to form and complete, out of the 
 same, the corps aforesaid; and cause the supernumerary officers, 
 non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates to be discharged 
 from the service of the United States from and after the first day 
 of April next, or as soon thereafter as circumstances may permit. 
 
 " Sec. 10. That the officers, non-commissioned officers, musi- 
 cians, and privates of the said corps shall be governed by the rules 
 and articles of war which have been established by the United 
 States, in Congress assembled, or by such rules and articles as may 
 be hereafter, by law, established: Provided, nevertheless, that the 
 sentence of general courts-martial, extending to the loss of life, the 
 dismission of a commissioned officer, or which shall respect the 
 general officer, shall, with the whole proceedings of such cases, 
 respectively, be laid before the President of the United States, who 
 is hereby authorized to direct the same to be carried into execu- 
 tion, or otherwise, as he shall judge proper. 
 
 "Sec. II. That the commissioned officers who shall be em- 
 ployed in the recruiting service to keep up by voluntary enlistment 
 the corps as aforesaid, shall be entitled to receive for every effective 
 able-bodied citizen of the United States, who shall be duly enlisted 
 by him for the term of five years, and mustered, of at least five 
 feet six inches high, and between the ages of eighteen and thirty- 
 five years, the sum of two dollars; Provided, nevertheless, that this 
 regulation, so far as respects the height and age of the recruit, 
 shall not extend to musicians or to those soldiers who may re- 
 enlist into the service. And provided, also, that no person under the 
 age of twenty-one years shall be enlisted by any officer, or held in 
 the service of the United States, without the consent of his parent, 
 guardian, or master first had and obtained, if any he have; and if any 
 officer shall enlist any person contrary to the true intent and mean- 
 ing of this act, for every such offense he shall forfeit and pay the 
 amount of the boupty and clothing which the person so recruited 
 
RA TES OF BOUNTIES AND PENSIONS. 205 
 
 may have received from the public, to be deducted out of the pay 
 and emoluments of such officer. 
 
 " Sec. 12. That there shall be allowed and paid to each effective 
 able-bodied citizen, rfecruited as aforesaid, to serve for the term of 
 five years, a bounty of twelve dollars; but the payment of six 
 dollars of said bounty shall be deferred until he shall be mustered 
 and have joined the corps in which he is to serve. 
 
 " Sec. 13. That the said corps shall be paid in such manner 
 that the arrears shall at no time exceed two months, unless the 
 circumstances of the case shall render it unavoidable. 
 
 "Sec. 14. That if any officer, non-commissioned officer, musi- 
 cian, or private in the corps composing the peace establishment 
 shall be disabled by wounds or otherwise, while in the line of his 
 duty in public service, he shall be placed on the list of invalids of 
 the United States, at such rate of pay and under such regulations 
 as may be directed by the President of the United States for the 
 time being : Provided, always, that the compensation to be allowed 
 for such wounds or disabilities, to a commissioned officer, shall not 
 exceed for the rate of disability half the monthly pay of such officer 
 at the time of his being disabled or wounded, and that no officer 
 shall receive more than the half-pay of a lieutenant-colonel, and 
 that the rate of compensation to non-commissioned officers, musi- 
 cians, and privates shall not exceed five dollars per month ; and, 
 provided also, that all inferior disabilities shall entitle the person so 
 disabled to receive an allowance proportionate to the highest dis- 
 ability. 
 
 "Sec. 15. That if any commissioned officer in the military 
 peace establishment of the United States shall, while in the service 
 of the United States, die by reason of any wound received in actual 
 service of the United States, and leave a widow, or if no widow, a 
 child or children under sixteen years of age, such widow, or if no 
 widow, such child or children shall be entitled to and receive half 
 of the monthly pay to which the deceased was entitled at the time 
 of his death, for and during the term of five years. But in case of 
 the death or intermarriage of such widow before the expiration of 
 the said term of five years, the half-pay for the remainder of the 
 time shall go to the child or children of such deceased officer; 
 Provided, always, that such half-pay shall cease on the decease of 
 such child or children. 
 
206 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 " Sec. i6. The paymaster shall perform the duties of his ofiSce 
 agreeably to the direction of the President of the United States 
 for the time being, and before he enters on the duties of the same 
 shall give bonds, with good and sufficient sureties, in such sums as 
 the President shall direct, for the faithful discharge of his said 
 office, and shall take an oath to execute the duties thereof with 
 fidelity ; and it shall, moreover, be his duty to appoint from the 
 line, with the approbation of the President of the United States, 
 the several paymasters to districts and assistants prescribed by this 
 act ; and he is hereby authorized to require the said paymaster 
 to districts and assistants to enter into bonds, with good and suf- 
 ficient surety, for the faithful discharge of their respective duties. 
 
 "Sec. 17. That it shall be the duty of the military agents 
 designated by this act to purchase, receive, and forward to their 
 proper destination all military stores and other articles for the 
 troops in their respective departments, and all goods and annuities 
 for the Indians which they may be directed to purchase, or which 
 shall be ordered into their care by the Department of War. They 
 shall account with the Department of War annually for all the 
 public property which may pass through their hands, and all the 
 moneys which they may expend in the discharge of the duties of 
 their offices respectively. Previous to their entering on the duties 
 of their offices they shall give bonds, with sufficient sureties, in 
 such sums as the President of the United States shall direct, for 
 the faithful discharge of the trust reposed in them, and shall take 
 an oath faithfully to perform the duties of their respective offices. 
 
 " Sec. 18. That if any non-commissioned officer, musician, or 
 private shall desert the service of the United States, he shall, in 
 addition to the penalties mentioned in the rules and articles of 
 war, be liable to serve for and during such a period as shall, with 
 the time he may have served previous to his desertion, amount to 
 the full term of his enlistment; and such soldier shall and may be 
 tried by a court-martial and punished, although the term of his 
 enlistment may have elapsed previous to his being apprehended or 
 tried. 
 
 "Sec. 19. That every person who shall procure or entice a 
 soldier in the service of the United States to desert, 01 who shall 
 purchase from any soldier his arms, uniform, clothing, or any part 
 thereof; and every captain or commanding officer of any ship or 
 
RESPECTING PENALTIES AND COURTS-MARTIAL. 20'J 
 
 vessel who shall enter on board such ship or vessel as one of his 
 crew, knowing him to have deserted, or otherwise carry away any 
 such soldier, or shall refuse to deliver him up to the order of his 
 commanding officer, shall, upon legal conviction, be fined at the 
 discretion of any court having cognizance of the same, in any sum 
 not exceeding three hundred dollars, or be imprisoned any term 
 not exceeding one year. 
 
 " Sec. 20. That every officer, non-commissioned officer, musi- 
 cian, or private shall take and subscribe the following oath or 
 affirmation, to-wit: ' I, A. B., do solemnly swear or affirm (as the 
 case may be) that I will bear true faith and allegiance- to the 
 United States of America, and that I will serve them honestly and 
 faithfully against their enemies or opposers, whomsoever; and that 
 I will observe and obey the orders of the President of the United 
 States, and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according 
 to the rules and articles of war.' 
 
 "Sec. 21. That whenever a general court-martial shall be 
 ordered the President of the United States may appoint some fit 
 person to act as judge advocate, who shall be allowed, in addition 
 to his other pay,' one dollar and twenty-five cents for every day he 
 shall be necessarily employed in the duties of the said court; and 
 in cases where the President shall not have made such appoint- 
 ment, the brigadier-general or the president of the court may 
 make the same. 
 
 "Sec. 22. That where any commissioned officer shall be 
 obliged to incur any extra expense in traveling and sitting on gen- 
 eral courts-martial, he shall be allowed a reasonable compensation 
 for such extra expense actually incurred, not exceeding one dollar 
 and twenty-five cents per day to such as shall be entitled to forage. 
 
 "Sec. 23. That no non-commissioned officer, musician, or pri- 
 vate shall' be arrested, or subject to arrest, or to be taken in execu- 
 tion for any debt under the sum of twenty dollars, contracted 
 before enlistment, nor for any debt contracted after enlistment. 
 
 " Sec. 24. That whenever any officer or soldier shall be dis- 
 charged from the service, except by way of punishment for any 
 offense, he shall be allowed his pay and rations, or an equivalent 
 in money, for such term of time as shall be sufficient for him to 
 travel from the place of discharge to the place of his residence, 
 computing at the rate of twenty miles to a day. 
 
208 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 "Sec. 25. That to each commissioned officer who shall be 
 deranged by virtue of this act there shall be allowed and paid, in 
 addition to the pay and emoluments to which they will be entitled 
 by law at the time of their discharge — to each officer whose term 
 of service in any military corps of the United States shall not have 
 exceeded three years, three months' pay; to all other officers 
 so deranged, one month's pay of their grades, respectively, 
 for each year of past service in the army of the United States, 
 or in any regiment or corps now or formerly in the service 
 thereof. 
 
 " Sec. 26. That the President of the United States is hereby 
 authorized and empowered, when he shall deem it expedient, to 
 organize and establish a corps of engineers, to consist of one engi- 
 neer, with the pay, rank, and emoluments of a major; two assistant 
 engineers, with the pay, rank, and emoluments of captains; two 
 other assistant engineers, with the pay, rank, and emoluments of 
 first lieutenants; two other assistant engineers, with the pay, rank, 
 and emoluments of second lieutenants; and ten cadets, with the 
 pay of sixteen dollars per month and two rations per day; and the 
 President of the United States is, in like manner, authorized, when 
 he shall deem it proper, to make such promotions in the said corps 
 with a view to particular merit, and without regard to rank, so as 
 not to exceed one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, two majors, four 
 captains, four first lieutenants, four second lieutenants, and so as 
 that the number of the whole corps shall, at no time, exceed 
 twenty officers and cadets. 
 
 "Sec. 27. That the said corps, when so organized, shall be 
 stationed at West Point, in the State of New York, and shall con- 
 stitute a military academy; and the engineers, assistant engineers, 
 and cadets of the said corps shall be subject, at all times, to do 
 duty in such places and on such service as the President of the 
 United States shall direct. 
 
 "Sec. 28. That the principal engineer, and in his absence the 
 next in rank, shall have the superintendence of the said military 
 academy, under the direction of the President of the United States; 
 and the Secretary of War is hereby authorized, at the public 
 expense, under such regulations as shall be directed by the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, to procure the necessary books, imple- 
 ments, and apparatus for the use and benefit of the said institution. 
 
ACADEMY ESTABLISHED BY A RIDER. 2O9 
 
 "Sec. 29. That so much of any act or acts, now in force, as 
 comes within the purview of this act, shall be and the same is 
 hereby repealed; saving, nevertheless, such parts thereof as relate 
 to the enlistments or term of service of any of the troops which, by 
 this act, are continued on the present military establishment of the 
 United States." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 COMMENTS UPON THE ACT CREATING THE ACADEMY PROG- 
 RESS OF THE INSTITUTION OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 
 
 l8l2 ENFORCED LEGISLATION PRODUCES THE LAW OF 
 
 APRIL 29, 18 1 2 THE REAL CHARACTER OF THE WEST 
 
 POINT ACADEMY REPORT OF GENERAL BERNARD AND 
 
 COLONEL m'rAE RECOMMENDATION BY JOHN C. CAL- 
 HOUN TO ESTABLISH AN ADDITIONAL ACADEMY OPPOSI- 
 TION TO WEST POINT THE EXCLUSIVE NATURE OF THE 
 
 SCHOOL SET FORTH ITS ARISTOCRATIC TENDENCIES — 
 
 REPORT OF HOUSE COMMITTEE UPON MEMORIALS SYNOP- 
 SIS OF THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE 
 ACADEMY DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE CITIZEN-SOL- 
 DIERY. 
 
 A PERUSAL of the law in its full text, as given in 
 -^--*- conclusion of the immediately preceding chapter, 
 will suggest one feature, at least, of particular interest. 
 The establishment of an academy for the special purpose 
 of imparting to American youth an opportunity to obtain 
 a military education had been discussed for a number of 
 years previously to the passage of the law just quoted, as 
 will appear from the remarks upon the subject in the pre- 
 ceding pages. It was a measure of much importance, and 
 occupied no middle ground. It was either a wise or an 
 unwise measure, one calculated to do much good or to be 
 
COMMENTS UPON THE ACADEMY BILL. 211 
 
 productive of much harm. The author has heretofore 
 said that the prospect of estabUshing a special mihtary 
 school had met with opposition, though the extent of this 
 latter does not fully appear in the early records. There 
 were those, however, wise enough to foresee that such an 
 institution, while possessing undoubted advantages in im- 
 parting military instruction, would be fraught with danger 
 to a republican system of government. 
 
 The influence of Washington, Knox, McHenry, and 
 •other great soldiers of the Revolution, had been so potent 
 in favor of the measure that the opposition to it had been 
 muffled to a large extent, and finally, as we have seen, 
 •overcome in so far, at least, as to put the project upon a 
 trial. It is safe to say that, at the time of the passage of 
 the bill creating a fixed military school at West Point, the 
 •opposition to it among the actual legislators in both 
 houses of Congress was, numerically speaking, much 
 ■stronger than the sentiment in favor of it. But, standing 
 in the light and warmth of the blessing brought by the 
 struggle for freedom, the non-military people, as well as 
 the soldiers who followed General Washington's standard 
 through so many weary marches and hard fought battle- 
 fields, had come to regard him with a kind of reverence, 
 and to accept his opinions as almost possessed of infal- 
 libility. 
 
 The feature of the bill above quoted, to which atten- 
 tion is drawn at the beginning of the present chapter, is 
 well calculated to illustrate the feeling against its expedi- 
 •ency which existed at that time. 
 
212 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 As has been remarked, the measure was important — 
 nay, very important ; but it will be observed that the 
 whole subject of creating a military school for the educa- 
 tion of American soldiers is disposed of in three short 
 sections of the law before us. 
 
 Further than this the legislation appears not as a sep- 
 arate and openly announced fact, but as an appendix to a 
 bill whose title conveys no intimation of its full scope. In 
 the present legislative vocabulary, the three sections cov- 
 ering the matter of a military academy would probably be 
 called a rider to the bill, and the idea of concealment and 
 of unfair means would be suggested thereby. The crea- 
 tion of the school, even, is not positively arranged for. It 
 is provisional in character, "the President of the United 
 States being authorized and empowered, when he shall 
 deem it expedient, to organize and establish a corps of 
 engineers; * * * that the said corps, when so organized, 
 shall be stationed at West Point, in the State of New 
 York, and shall constitute a military academy," etc. 
 
 Such distinctive military schools as existed at that 
 period in Europe had been erected by well-defined ordi- 
 nances, or, it may be said, by legislation. The entire 
 plan was mapped out in detail, including their precise 
 organization, rules, methods of teaching; in short, the 
 whole system of their regular operation was distinctly 
 and openly stated. Not so with their American imitator. 
 Not even a teacher is provided for in the bill. The 
 principal engineer is to have the superintendence of the 
 Military Academy, under the direction of the President 
 
THE A CADEM V BEGINS ITS GRO WTH. 2 1 3 
 
 of the United States, while the Secretary of War is 
 authorized to purchase at the pubHc expense, under the 
 regulations directed by the President, necessary books, 
 implements, and apparatus for the use and benefit of the 
 said institution. No stipulation is made as to how cadets 
 shall be appointed and entered ; what shall be the term 
 and course of their studies ; nor their future, after they 
 shall have received a degree. Considering the nature of 
 the measure inaugurated by the last three sections but 
 one of this law, the whole proceeding seems extraordi- 
 nary, and only to be explained upon the theory that it 
 barely passed as a sort of compromise between the con- 
 tending opinions. 
 
 However, the basis of a military school was at length 
 securely laid, and the future structure was to be reared by 
 subsequent legislation. The work upon this began as 
 early as the following year, when an act was approved 
 (on the 28th of February, 1803) authorizing the Presi- 
 dent of the United States to appoint to the corps of 
 engineers one teacher of the French language and one 
 teacher of drawing. 
 
 For about five years after this but little was heard in 
 Congress of the Military Academy. Officials had been 
 appointed, and the work of imparting military educa- 
 tion in America was supposed to be fairly under way. 
 The events preceding the War of 181 2 had begun to 
 foreshadow the second struggle with Great Britain soon 
 to follow, when public interest naturally began to center 
 toward West Point. All resources in the emergency of 
 
214 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 war must be made available, and the experiment of the 
 Military Academy must not be overlooked nor neglected. 
 On the 1 8th of March, 1808, Thomas Jefferson, then 
 President of the United States, transmitted a report of 
 the progress and state of the Military Academy, under 
 cover of a special message to Congress. Mr. Jefferson 
 stated in this message as follows : 
 
 " The scale on which the Military Academy at West Point was 
 ■originally established is become too limited to furnish the number 
 ■of well-instructed subjects in the different branches of artillery 
 .and engineering which the public service calls for. The want of 
 such characters is already sensibly felt, and will be increased with 
 the enlargement of our plans of military preparations. The Chief 
 Engineer having been instructed to consider the subject, and to pro- 
 pose an augmentation which might render the establishment com- 
 mensurate with the present circumstances of our country, has made 
 the report which I now transmit for the consideration of Congress. 
 
 " The idea suggested by him of removing the institution to 
 this place is also worthy of attention. Besides the advantage of 
 placing it under the immediate eye of the Government, it may 
 render its benefits common to the Naval Department, and will 
 furnish opportunities of selecting on better information the char- 
 acters most qualified to fulfill the duties which the oublic service 
 calls for." 
 
 The report alluded to was made by the Chief Engi- 
 neer, Colonel Jonathan Williams, and, as conveying the 
 most reliable information now accessible upon the con- 
 dition of the school six years after its regular establish- 
 ment by act of Congress, the more interesting portions 
 of the document are herewith given. 
 
 " This institution," says the report, " was established at West 
 Point in the year 1801, under the direction of a private citizen, and 
 
DIFFICULTIES SURROUND THE ACADEMY. 215 
 
 was nothing more than a mathematical school for the few cadets 
 that were then in service. It was soon found that the government 
 of young military men was incompatible with the ordinary system 
 of schools, and, consequently, this institution ran into disorder and 
 the teacher into contempt. 
 
 "When the peace establishment was made the corps of engi- 
 neers was created, and the twenty-seventh section enacts that the 
 corps ' shall be stationed at West Point, in the State of New York, 
 and shall constitute a Military Academy, and the engineers, assist- 
 ant engineers, and cadets shall be subject to do duty at such places 
 and on such service as the President of the United States may direct.' 
 It was not probably foreseen that, although the headquarters of 
 the corps might be at West Point, yet the duties of the individual 
 officers necessarily spread them along our coast from one extremity 
 of the United States to the other, and as the whole number of offi- 
 cers can be no more than sixteen, they could not in their dispersed 
 state constitute a Military Academy. The incongruity of a sta- 
 tionary and errant existence in the same corps has been amply 
 exemplified by experience. Indeed, it can never be supposed that 
 engineers, as such, could be efficient elementary teachers; their 
 capability consistent with other duties is confined to practical 
 teaching by combining example with precept, and carrying the 
 rudiments of the art into practical execution, in the same manner 
 that other professional men generally have youth under their tui- 
 tion after they have gone through every branch of elementary 
 learning relating to their profession. 
 
 " A part only of the officers were appointed soon after the pas- 
 sage of > the act, of whom the major, who was ex-officio the chief 
 engineer, and two captains took charge of the Academy, the stu- 
 dents of which were the cadets belonging to the regiment artillery. 
 The major occasionally read lectures on fortifications, gave practi- 
 cal lessons in the field, and taught the use of instruments gen- 
 erally. The two captains taught mathematics, the one in the line 
 of geometrical, the other in that of algebraical demonstrations. 
 
 * * * "It was soon discovered that mere mathematics 
 would not make either an artillerist or an engineer, and a power 
 was given by law to appoint a teacher of drawing and of the 
 French language. * * * From that time to this, however, the 
 Academy has progpressed beyond what could have been expected 
 
2 1 6 THE VOL UNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 from its means, but now the first mathematical teacher has resigned 
 and the second has for several years been employed as Surgeon- 
 General of the United States in the Western country. * * * jj, 
 short, the Military Academy as it now stands is like a foundling, 
 barely existing among the mountains, and nurtured at a distance, 
 out of sight, and almost unknown to its legitimate parents. The 
 questions that have been frequently put to the subscriber by mem- 
 bers of Congress evidently show that the little interest the institu- 
 tion has excited arises solely from its being unknown to those who 
 ought to be, and doubtless would willingly become, its generous 
 guardians and powerful protectors. Had it been so attached to 
 the Government (its real and only parent) as to be always with it, 
 always in sight, and always in the way of its fostering care, it 
 would probably have flourished and have become an honorable and 
 interesting appendage to the national family. 
 
 " The question recurs, What ought to be done ? The subscriber 
 would wish the answer to arise out of the nature of the case, and 
 carry with it a demonstration of its being founded in the most 
 pure, though zealous, regard for the public good. Actuated only 
 by such motives, and without the stimulus of either ambition or 
 interest, he begs leave to state, in the form of a proposition, what 
 appear to him to be the natural and proper remedies. 
 
 " First. Let the Military Academy be placed under the direc- 
 tion of the President of the United States in all that does or can 
 relate to it, anything contained in any former laws to the contrary 
 notwithstanding. 
 
 " Second. Let an academical staff be created in manner fol- 
 lowing ; and, as the regulations must necessarily be military, 
 let the professors, when not of army rank, take that of their 
 denominations (as relates to the Academy only) in the manner of 
 brevets." 
 t 
 
 Here follows an outline of an appropriate academic 
 
 and professional staff, with branches to be taught at the 
 Academy, and also a recommendation that certain addi- 
 tions be made to the corps of engineers. The report 
 closes as follows : 
 
RECOMMENDA TIONS B Y COL. WILLIAMS. 2 I 7 
 
 " It will appear necessary to make, in the first instance, an 
 appropriation for the proper buildings, apparatus, library, etc.; 
 this being done (and it should be remembered that, being 
 once well done, it will be but one expense, not subject to repeti- 
 tion), it is presumed the annual appropriation would be incon- 
 'siderable; it might indeed be so connected with the appropri- 
 ation for the corps of engineers that all the surplusage of one 
 would fall into the other, and the extension of the sum would 
 not be felt. 
 
 " It might be well to make the plan upon such a scale as not 
 only to take in the minor officers of the navy, but also any youths 
 from any of the States who might wish for such an education, 
 whether designed for the army or navy, or neither, and to let these 
 be assessed to the value of their education, which might form a 
 fund for extra or contingent expenses. On this plan it might be 
 proper to suppress the ration system while the students are at the 
 Academy, and oblige all but commissioned officers to board in 
 commons, as in other universities. The citizen-youth, so adopted, 
 should be required to sign the articles of war (for the time being), 
 since it would be impossible, and improper if it were possible, to 
 make any exceptions to the rules and regulations of the Academy. 
 As these youths grow up and take their stations in society, they 
 would naturally become militia officers, and in a few years, in the 
 ordinary course of events, we should see a uniformity in our 
 militia, resulting from a spirit of emulation, which the reputation 
 of having received a military education would naturally excite, and 
 the same duties which have often been considered a burden would 
 become a pleasurable privilege. There is nothing more fascinating 
 to youth than excellence in arms, and a little knowledge will create 
 a desire to acquire more. 
 
 " That Congress may have as little trouble as possible, and to 
 avoid a frequent recurrence of its authority on matters of course, 
 it might, perhaps, be expedient to pass one short act, naming the 
 additions to be made to the corps of engineers, but placing the 
 direction of the Academy, external and internal, in the President 
 of the United States, leaving the site, the buildings, the number 
 and kind of professors, and all other matters connected with the 
 institution, entirely to his judgment." 
 
2 1 8 THE VOL UNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 No new legislation grew out of this report, nor did 
 Congress consider the recommendation to remove the 
 Academy to the city of Washington and place it under 
 the direction, external and internal, of the President — a. 
 recommendation made by Colonel Williams, and tacitly 
 indorsed by Mr. Jefferson. A perusal of the report will 
 demonstrate the opposition to the Academy, and the 
 struggle it was making in the year 1808 for a precarious 
 existence. During this same year various measures were 
 adopted by Congress to increase numerically our military 
 force, as well as to add to its efficiency. Among these 
 measures was the act of April 23, "making provision for 
 arming and equipping the whole body of the militia of 
 the United States;" the act of April 12, "to raise for a 
 limited time an additional military force ; " the act of 
 December 18, 1807, " appropriating money for an addi- 
 tional number of gun-boats;" and of January 8, 1808, "to 
 fortify the ports and harbors of the United States." The 
 period in which Colonel Williams' report was submitted 
 to Congressional consideration ■ was one of activity in a 
 military way, but the Academy at West Point failed to 
 secure any substantial attention at that time. From the 
 earliest effort to institute this special school, two chief 
 objections had been urged against it. The first of these 
 related to a doubt of the constitutionality of the measure ; 
 the second, to the perils arising from such an institution 
 to a free government. 
 
 In his message of December, 1810, President Madison 
 pays special attention to the school at West Point, and 
 
EFFECT OF THE WAR-CLOUD. 219 
 
 urges a revision of the law under which it was established, 
 " principally with a view to a more enlarged cultivation 
 and diffusion of the advantages of such institutions by pro- 
 viding professorships for all the necessary branches of mili- 
 tary institutions, and by the establishment of an additional 
 academy at the seat of government or elsewhere." In 
 the following year the President again called the attention 
 of the slow-acting Congress to the subject of military acad- 
 emies. A few months later the war-cloud, which had been 
 growing more and more threatening, actually burst, the 
 American Congress having, upon the i8th of June, 181 2, 
 formally declared war to exist between the United King- 
 dom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the dependencies 
 thereof, and the United States of America and their 
 territories. 
 
 The event had been anticipated, and legislation 
 looking to the raising of troops, and to placing the 
 country upon an immediate war-footing, had been in 
 progress for several months previous to the declaration 
 of hostilities. In this time of mihtary excitement, the 
 Academy at West Point at last claimed the earnest atten- 
 tion of Congress, and the law of April 29, 181 2, was 
 passed. This act may be said to constitute the true 
 charter of the institution now being considered. Pre- 
 vious legislation had been niggardly in character and 
 compass. The "foundling among the mountains" had 
 been dying of inanition. Congress had been importuned 
 for more favorable and extended legislation by the early 
 Presidents, and this had been withheld, until the child lay 
 
2 20 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 at the very point of death. When, however, the shrill 
 voice of war rang through the land, and the arming of 
 men for the approaching conflict became the business 
 of the day, every energy was spent in the development of 
 the military resources of the country. The Academy at 
 West Point was remote as a military resource, but no 
 one knew at that early date just how long hostilities 
 against America's hated foe and would-be oppressor were 
 to last. At all events, the emergency justified an attempt 
 to bring out whatever there was of good in the long- 
 discussed project of a special school for the military 
 training and education of officers for the army. Objec- 
 tions were brushed away. The country stood face to face 
 with a traditional and most intensely hated enemy. The 
 dogs of war were to be slipped, not again to be kenneled 
 for an indefinite length of time. The drilled soldiers 
 of a great military power — one whose every territorial 
 accession had come through the mighty force of its ships, 
 its cannon, and its conquering hosts of hired and coerced 
 soldiery — were to be met upon fields still strewn with 
 the remnants of the first struggle for freedom. The 
 American volunteer was there. He was the refuge and 
 hope of his country. But if there were really an amount 
 of good preponderating sufficiently over the manifest 
 danger of a fixed military establishment, then let it be 
 brought out. Let air be breathed into the starveling at 
 West Point ; let nutriment be plentifully supplied to it ; and 
 let it be seen whether the command, " Let there be life," 
 shall be responded to with the assurance that there is life. 
 
LA W OF APRIL 29, i3i2. 221 
 
 The law above-mentioned was the expression of the 
 determination to supply the movement with the condi- 
 tions necessary to development. It is the sequel of the 
 act of 1802, and fitness requires that it should also find 
 record in the present volume. It is as follows : 
 
 " Be it enacted, etc., That there be added to the corps of engi- 
 neers two captains, two first lieutenants, two second lieutenants, 
 with the usual pay and emoluments, according to their grades 
 respectively, and one paymaster, to be taken from the subalterns, 
 with the pay and emoluments of a regimental paymaster; and that 
 there be attached to the said corps, either from the troops now in 
 service or by new enlistments, as the President of the United 
 States may direct, four sergeants, four corporals, one teacher of 
 music, four musicians, nineteen artificers, and sixty-two men, 
 which non-commissioned officers, musicians, artificers, and men, 
 together with the artificers and men already belonging to the corps 
 of engineers, shall be formed into a company, to be styled a com- 
 pany of bombardiers, sappers, and miners, and be officered from 
 the corps of engineers, according as the commanding officer of that 
 corps may, with the approbation of the President of the United 
 States, direct; and the said non-commissioned officers, musicians, 
 artificers, and men shall be allowed the same pay and emoluments 
 as are allowed to the non-commissioned officers, musicians, artific- 
 ers, and men in the regiment of artillerists. 
 
 " Section 2. That the Military Academy shall consist of the 
 corps of engineers and the following professors, in addition to the 
 teachers of the French language and drawing already provided, 
 viz.: One professor of natural and experimental philosophy, with 
 the pay and emoluments of lieutenant-colonel, if not an officer of 
 the corps, and, if taken from the corps, then so much in addition 
 to his pay and emoluments as shall equal those of a lieutenant- 
 colonel; one professor of mathematics, with the pay and emolu- 
 ments of a major if not an officer of the corps, and, if taken from 
 the corps, then so much in addition to his pay and emoluments as 
 shall equal those of a major; one professor of the art of engineer- 
 ing in all its branches, with the pay and emoluments of a major if 
 not an officer of the corps, and, if taken from the corps, then so 
 
222 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 much in addition to his pay and emoluments as shall equal those 
 of a major — each of the foregoing professors to have an assistant 
 professor, which assistant professor shall be taken from the most 
 prominent characters of the ofiScers or cadets, and receive the pay 
 and emoluments of captains, and no other pay or emoluments 
 while performing these duties: Provided, that nothing herein con- 
 tained shall entitle the academical staff, as such, to any command 
 in the army separate from the Academy. 
 
 " Sec. 3. That the cadets heretofore appointed in the service 
 of the United States, whether of artillery, cavalry, riflemen, or 
 infantry, or that may in future be appointed as hereinafter pro- 
 vided, shall at no time exceed two hundred and fifty ; that they 
 may be attached at the discretion of the President of the United 
 States as students to the Military Academy and be subject to the 
 established regulations thereof ; that they shall be arranged into 
 companies of non-commissioned officers and privates, according to 
 the directions of the commandant of engineers, and be officered 
 from the said corps for the purposes of military instruction ; that 
 there shall be added to each company of cadets four musicians, 
 and the said corps shall be trained and taught all the duties of a 
 private, non-commissioned officer, and officer, be encamped at least 
 three months of each year and taught all the duties incident to a 
 regular camp ; that the candidates for cadets be not under the age 
 of fourteen nor above the age of twenty-one ; that each cadet, 
 previously to his appointment by the President of the United 
 States, shall be well versed in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and 
 that he shall sign articles, with the consent of his parent or 
 guardian, by which he shall engage to serve five years unless 
 sooner discharged, and all such cadets shall be entitled to and 
 receive the pay and emoluments now allowed by law to cadets in 
 the corps of engineers. , 
 
 " Sec. 4. That when any cadet shall receive a regular degree 
 from the academical staff, after going through all the classes, he 
 shall be considered as among the candidates for a commission in 
 any corps, according to the duties he may be judged competent to 
 perform, and in case there shall not at the time be a vacancy in 
 such corps he may be attached to it at the discretion of the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, by brevet of the lowest grade, as a 
 supernumerary officer, with the usual pay and emoluments of such 
 
REPORT OF BERNARD AND M'RAE. 223 , 
 
 grade until a vacancy shall happen : Provided, That there shall not 
 be more than one supernumerary ofBcer to any one company at the 
 same time. 
 
 " Sec. 5. That the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars be, 
 and the sum is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money 
 in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for erecting buildings 
 and for providing an apparatus, a library, and all necessary imple- 
 ments, and for such contingent expenses as may be necessary and 
 proper in the judgment of the President of the United States for 
 such an institution. 
 
 " Sec. 6. That so much of the 26th section of the act entitled 
 ■" An Act fixing the military peace establishment,' passed the six- 
 teenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and two, as con- 
 fines the selection of the commander of the corps of engineers to 
 the said corps, be, and the same is hereby repealed." 
 
 Although the passage of the foregoing law failed to 
 infuse vitality immediately into the school at West Point, 
 a transformation in its affairs was at once effected. Full 
 response to the stimulus was slow, however, as will 
 appear from the following extract from a report of Gen- 
 eral Bernard and Colonel McRae, made to the Secretary 
 of War in January, 1819. This report, it may be 
 ■observed, was devoted to the advocacy of establishing a 
 school of practice, as a supplementary appendage to the 
 Academy itself, the latter to be an "elementary" school, 
 and that recommended to be established one of "appli- 
 cation." 
 
 "The elementary school at West Point," says the report, "has 
 hitherto been very inferior as such, and altogether inadequate to 
 the objects for which it was established. A project has been pre- 
 sented, however, calculated to place this school upon the footing 
 of the most perfect of the kind which exists. As to a school of 
 application, there is none. The degree of instruction given to the 
 cadets at the school of West Point has heretofore been for the 
 
224 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 most part limited to a general acquaintance with those branches 
 of knowledge which are common to all the arms of an army, and 
 which ought to have been extended and applied to artillery, fortifi- 
 cation, and topography. 
 
 " The consequence has been that the officers of infantry, artil- 
 lery, engineers, and of the topographical corps have had the same 
 degree and kind of instruction; and the only real difference which 
 existed between them on leaving the school consisted in the uni- 
 form of their respective corps or regiments. , If any have been so 
 fortunate as to render themselves serviceable either in the artillery or engi- 
 neers, the cause must be sought for in their own industry, and not in the 
 education received by them at West Point, which was barely sufficient to 
 excite a desire for military inquiries and of military pursuits." 
 
 The author has taken the liberty to italicise the con- 
 cluding sentence of the above quotation as being in 
 strange contrast with the high-sounding praises of the 
 institution which had reverberated through the halls of 
 Congress at every session since the establishment of the 
 school. 
 
 President Madison himself had urged upon Congress 
 not alone the propriety of enlarging and improving the 
 Academy at West Point, but also the expediency of estab- 
 lishing others in different sections of the Union. 
 
 In the year 1819, the then Secretary of War, Hon. 
 John C. Calhoun, in a communication addressed to the 
 chairman of the House Committee on Military Affairs, 
 strongly recommended an additional military academy 
 "to be placed where it would mutually accommodate the 
 Southern and Western portions of the country, which are 
 the most remote from the present institution." 
 
 Notwithstanding the apparently firm position which 
 the Military Academy had now gained as a fixed national 
 
ATTEMPTS TO ABOLISH THE ACADEMY. 225 
 
 institution, the sentiment of opposition to it continued to 
 exist, and even to gather strength. An attempt was 
 made in the House of Representatives, in February, 1821, 
 to aboHsh the Academy. This purpose was sought to be 
 accomphshed under cover of a prehminary resolution of 
 inquiry into the constitutionality of the laws under which 
 the school existed, and of a subsequent resolution to dis- 
 continue the pay and rations of the cadets, and to dis- 
 charge them from the Academy, and from the service of 
 the United States. 
 
 As late as the year 1844, this opposition made a very 
 formidable assault upon the establishment. The Legis- 
 latures of New Hampshire and Connecticut memorialized 
 Congress in that year, praying for its abolition. A like 
 attack was made by a State Military Convention, held at 
 Albany, N. Y., which adopted and forwarded to Congress 
 through its ofificers a series of strong resolutions. At the 
 same time, certain citizens of Pomfret, Conn., forwarded 
 a petition asking for the abolition of the Academy at 
 West Point. 
 
 The resolutions of the New Hampshire Legislature 
 contain the following strong statement, among others : 
 " Every young man, unless he happen to be one of the 
 select two hundred and fifty whom executive favor has 
 placed in this public charity school, is utterly and forever 
 excluded from holding any office of honor, trust, or 
 emolument in the military service of our country." 
 
 The burden of all the complaints alluded to is sum- 
 marized by the committee to which they were referred. 
 
226 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 in these words : " The institution is aristocratic and anti- 
 republican ; it is unnecessary, expensive, and extravagant, 
 and different in all its features from what was originally- 
 designed." The report of the House Military Com- 
 mittee, which was made by Representative Hamilton 
 Fish, on May 15, 1844, strongly defends the Academy, 
 and seeks to refute the allegations of the different memo- 
 rialists. 
 
 These attacks constitute the last formidable move- 
 ment looking toward the abolition of the institution. 
 Under a law of Congress boards of visitors have been 
 appointed at regular intervals, but, generally speaking, 
 their reports have been favorable, and many of them flat- 
 tering to the school. If objections have been made or 
 alterations proposed, they have more particularly related 
 to the system or to the discipline of the Academy. The 
 idea involved in the creation of the institution has main- 
 tained its place in the popular opinion, and has success- 
 fully resisted every assault brought to bear upon it. This 
 idea is subjected to two chief constructions : the one 
 regarding a special education in any and all of the varied 
 occupations of life as the prime essential of excellence — 
 the summum bonum of all desire ; and the other looking 
 upon it more in the nature of a basis upon which an 
 inherent talent or fitness may rear the future structure. 
 The first of these represents the thing itself ; the second, 
 an auxiliary of the thing. The preponderating sentiment 
 has been, and now is, in support of the first construction, 
 •one scarcely less pernicious in consequence than mis. 
 
The Military Academy at West Point. 
 I. Cadets' Mess Hall. 2. Fortifications on the Hudson 
 
LEGISLA TJON CONCERNING MILITAR Y A CADEM Y. 227 
 
 taken in conception. Within the healthful hmits of the 
 second are to be found safety and the road to high 
 achievements and brilliancy of results. 
 
 Since the establishment of the institution up to a very 
 recent period its friends have not been bashful in claim- 
 ing such legislation, from time to time, as appeared to 
 them essential to the success of the project. The legisla- 
 tion in its favor has been generous, no reasonable sugges- 
 tion having been ignored nor proper demand refused. 
 
 It does not fall within the scope of the present volume 
 to go into a description of the school at West Point, nor 
 to detail the discipline, branches and course of study, etc. 
 Those desiring such information will find it easily accessi- 
 ble. The present purpose, so far as it has to deal with 
 the subject of military education in the United States, 
 will be sufficiently subserved by adding to what has 
 already been written in the preceding pages a mention of 
 the principal acts of legislation in relation to the school, 
 together with a synopsis of such existing law as may be of 
 more particular interest to the reader. 
 
 The several acts of Congress bearing more or less 
 directly upon the institution which have been passed sub- 
 sequently to the act of April 29, 181 2, are as follows: 
 
 Act of March 3, 1815, "Fixing the military peace estab- 
 lishment of the United States ;" act of April 4, 1818, "Regulating 
 the staff of the army;" act of March 2, 1821, "To reduce and fix 
 the military peace establishment of the United States ;" act of July 
 5, 1838, "To increase the present military establishment of the 
 United States, and for other purposes ;" act of July 20, 1840, "To 
 provide for the support of the Military Academy for the year 
 
228 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 eighteen hundred and forty;" act of August 23, 1842, "Respect- 
 ing the organization of the army, and for other purposes ;" act of 
 March i, 1843, "Making appropriations for the support of the 
 army and of the Military Academy, etc., etc., for the fiscal year 
 ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and 
 forty-four;" act of March 3, 1845, "Making appropriations for the 
 support of the Military Academy for the year ending the thirtieth 
 of June, eighteen hundred and forty-six;" act of May 15, 1846, 
 " For the organization of a company of sappers, miners, and pon- 
 toniers ;" act of August 8, 1846, " Making appropriations for the sup- 
 port of the Military Academy for the year ending on the thirtieth 
 of June, eighteen hundred and forty-seven;" act of February 19, 
 1849, " Making appropriations for the support of the Military Acad- 
 emy for the year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty ;" act of September 16, 1850, " Making appropria- 
 tions for the support of the Military Academy for the year ending the 
 thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one; " act 
 of September 28, 1850 making appropriations for the support of the 
 army for the year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty-one ;" act of March 3, 1851, " Making appropria- 
 tions for the support of the Military Academy for the year ending 
 the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two; " 
 act of August 6, 1852, "Making appropriations for the support of 
 the Military Academy for the year ending the thirtieth of June, 
 one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, and for other pur- 
 poses; " act of May 10, 1854, "Making appropriations for the sup- 
 port of the Military Academy for the year ending the thirtieth of 
 June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five," act of March 3, 
 1855, "Making appropriations for the support of the Military 
 Academy for the year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty-six;" act of April 23, 1856, "Making ap- 
 propriations for the support of the Military Academy for the year 
 ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred aud fifty-seven;" 
 act of February 16, 1857, "Making appropriations for the support 
 of the Military Academy for the year ending the thirtieth of June, 
 eighteen hundred and fifty-eight;" act of March 3, 1857, "To in- 
 crease the pay of the cadets at the West Point Academy; " act of 
 June 12, 1858, "Making appropriations for the support of the army 
 for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and 
 
LA WS GO VERNING MILITAR V A CADEM Y. 229 
 
 fifty-nine;" act of June 21, i860, "Making appropriations for the 
 support of the army for the year ending the thirtieth of June, one 
 thousand eight hundred and sixty-one; " act of August 3, 1861, 
 " Providing for the better organization of the military establish- 
 ment;" act of August 6, 1861, "To promote the efficiency of the 
 engineer and the topographical engineer corps, and for other pur- 
 poses;" act of August 6, 1861, " To authorize an increase in the 
 corps of engineers and topographical engineers ;" act of July 2, 
 1862, "To prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes;" 
 act of March 3, 1863, "To promote the efficiency of the corps of 
 engineers and of the ordnance department, and for other pur- 
 poses;" act of July 2, 1864; act of June 8, 1866; act of June 16, 
 1866; act of July 13, 1866; act of February 28, 1867; act of March 
 16, 1868; act of February 21, 1870; act of July 15, 1870; act of 
 February 28, 1873; act of March 3, 1873; act of March 3, 1875; act 
 of August 7, 1876; act of June 11, 1878; act of June 18, 1878, act 
 of June 23, 1879, etc. 
 
 A synopsis of the laws governing the Military Acad- 
 emy will furnish ample information as to such points as 
 are of interest to the general reader. This synopsis is 
 taken from the Revised Statutes of the United States, 
 1878: 
 
 " The United States Military Academy at West Point, in the 
 State of New York, shall be constituted as follows: There shall 
 be one superintendent; one commandant of cadets; one senior 
 instructor in the tactics of artillery; one senior instructor in the 
 tactics of cavalry; one senior instructor in the tactics of infantry; 
 one professor and one assistant professor of civil and military 
 engineering; one professor and one assistant professor of natural 
 and experimental philosophy; one professor and one assistant pro- 
 fessor of mathematics; one chaplain, who shall also be professor of 
 history, geography, and ethics, and one assistant professor of the 
 same; one professor and one assistant professor of chemistry, min- 
 eralogy, and geology; one professor and one assistant professor of 
 drawing; one professor and one assistant professor of the French 
 language; one professor and one assistant professor of the Spanish 
 
230 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 language; one adjutant; one master of the sword, and one teacher 
 of music. 
 
 " The superintendent and the commandant of cadets, while 
 serving as such, shall have, respectively, the local rank of colonel 
 and lieutenant-colonel of engineers. 
 
 " The superintendent, and in his absence the next in rank, 
 shall have the immediate government and military command of the 
 Academy, and shall be the commandant of the military post of 
 West Point. 
 
 " The commandant of cadets shall have the immediate com- 
 mand of the battalion of cadets, and shall be instructor in the tac- 
 tics of artillery, cavalry, and infantry. 
 
 " The superintendent and the commandant of cadets and the 
 professors shall be appointed by the President. The assistant pro- 
 fessors, acting assistant professors, and the adjutant shall be 
 officers of the army, detailed and assigned to such duties by the 
 Secretary of War, or cadets, assigned by the superintendent under 
 the direction of the Secretary of War. 
 
 "The superintendent and commandant of cadets may be 
 selected, and all other officers on duty at the Academy may be 
 detailed from any arm of the service; but the academic staff, as 
 such, shall not be entitled to any command in the army separate 
 from the Academy. 
 
 " The corps of cadets shall consist of one from each Congres- 
 sional district, one from each Territory, one from the District of 
 Columbia, and ten from the United States at large. They shall be 
 appointed by the President, and shall, with the exception of the ten 
 cadets appointed at large, be actual residents of the Congressional 
 or Territorial districts, or of the District of Columbia, respectively, 
 from which they purport to be appointed. 
 
 " No person who has served in any capacity in the military or 
 naval service of the so-called Confederate States, or of either of the 
 States in insurrection 'during the late Rebellion, shall be appointed 
 a cadet. 
 
 " Cadets shall be appointed one year in advance of the time of 
 their admission to the Academy, except in cases where, by reason 
 of death or other cause, a vacancy occurs which cannot be pro- 
 vided for by such appointment in advance; but no pay or other 
 allowance shall be given to any appointee until he shall have been 
 
OA TH RE Q UIRED OF CA DE TS. 2 3 1 
 
 regularly admitted, as herein provided; and all appointments shall 
 be conditional until such provisions shall have been complied with. 
 
 "Appointees shall be admitted to the Academy only between 
 the ages of seventeen and twenty-two years, except in the follow- 
 ing case: Any person who has served honorably and faithfully not 
 less than one year in either the volunteer or regular service of the 
 United States, in the late war for the suppression of the Rebellion, 
 and who possesses the other qualifications required by law, may be 
 admitted between the ages of seventeen and twenty-four years. 
 
 "Appointees shall be examined under regulations to be pre- 
 scribed from time to time by the Secretary of War, before they 
 shall be admitted to the Academy, and shall be required to be well 
 versed in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and to have a knowl- 
 edge of the elements of English grammar, of descriptive geogra- 
 phy, particularly that of the United States, and of the history of 
 the United States. 
 
 " Each cadet shall, previous to his admission to the Academy, 
 take and subscribe an oath or affirmation in the following terms: 
 
 " 'I, A. B., do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States, and bear true allegiance to the National 
 Government; that I will maintain and defend the sovereignty of 
 the United States, paramount to any and all allegiance, sover- 
 eignty or fealty I may owe to any State, county or country what- 
 soever, and that I will at all times obey the legal orders of my 
 superior officers, and the rules and articles governing the armies 
 of the United States.' 
 
 "And any cadet or candidate for admission who shall refuse to 
 take this oath shall be dismissed from the service. 
 
 "Each cadet shall sign articles with the consent of his parents 
 or guardians, if he be a minor, and if any he have, by which he 
 shall engage to serve eight years, unless sooner discharged. 
 
 "The corps of cadets shall be arranged into companies, accord- 
 ing to the directions of the superintendent, each of which shall be 
 commanded by an officer of the army, for the purpose of military 
 instruction. To each company shall be added four musicians. 
 The corps shall be taught and trained in all the duties of a private 
 soldier, non-commissioned officer, and officer, shall be encamped at 
 least three months in each year, and shall be taught and tramed in 
 all the duties incident to a regular camp. 
 
232 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 "Cadets shall be subject at all times to do duty in such places 
 and on such service as the President may direct. 
 
 " The Secretary of War shall so arrange the course of studies 
 of the Academy that the cadets shall not be required to pursue, 
 their studies on Sunday. 
 
 "No cadet who is reported as deficient in either conductor 
 studies, and recommended to be discharged from the Academy, 
 shall, unless upon recommendation of the academic board, be 
 returned or reappointed, or appointed to any place in the army, 
 before his class shall have left the Academy and received their 
 commissions. 
 
 "The superintendent of the Military Academy shall have 
 power to convene general courts-martial for the trial of cadets, 
 and to execute the sentence of such courts, except the sentences 
 of suspension and dismission, subject to the same limitations and 
 conditions now existing as to other general courts-martial. 
 
 "There shall be appointed every year, in the following manner, 
 a board of visitors to attend the annual examination of the Acad- 
 emy: Seven persons shall be appointed by the President, and two 
 Senators and three members of the House of Representatives shall 
 be designated as visitors, by the Vice-President, or President pro 
 tanpore of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, respectively, at the session of Congress next preceding 
 such examination. 
 
 "It shall be the duty of the board of visitors to inquire into 
 the actual state of the discipline, instruction, police administration, 
 fiscal affairs, and other concerns of the Academy. The visitors 
 appointed by the President shall report thereon to the Secretary of 
 War, for the information of Congress, at the commencement of the 
 session next succeeding such examination, and the Senators and 
 Representatives designated as visitors shall report to Congress, 
 within twenty days after the meeting of the session next succeed- 
 ing the time of their appointment, their action as such visitors, 
 with their views and recommendations concerning the Academy. 
 
 No compensation shall be made to the members of said 
 board beyond the payment of their expenses for board and lodging 
 while at the Academy, and an allowance, not to exceed eight cents 
 a mile, for traveling by the shortest mail route from their respec- 
 tive homes to the Academy and thence to their homes. 
 
THE ANNUAL PA Y OF CADETS. 233 
 
 " Leave of absence may be granted by the superintendent, 
 under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of War, to the pro- 
 fessors, assistant professors, instructors, and other officers of the 
 Academy, for the entire period of the suspension of the ordinary 
 academic studies, without deduction from pay or allowances. 
 
 " The supervision and charge of the Academy shall be in the 
 War Department, under such officer or officers as the Secretary of 
 War may assign to that duty. 
 
 "The Secretary of the Senate shall furnish annually to the 
 library of the Academy one copy of each document published dur- 
 ing the preceding year by the Senate. 
 
 " The professors of the Military Academy at West Point are 
 placed on the same footing, as to retirement from active service, as 
 officers of the army. 
 
 " The superintendent of the Military Academy shall have the 
 pay of a colonel, and the commandant of cadets shall have the pay 
 of a lieutenant-colonel. 
 
 "The adjutant of the Military Academy shall have the pay of 
 an adjutant of a cavalry regiment. 
 
 "Each of the professors of the Military Academy whose ser- 
 vice at the Academy exceeds ten years shall have the pay and 
 allowances of lieutenant-colonels; and the instructors of ordnance 
 and science of gunnery and practical engineering shall have the 
 pay and allowances of major; and hereafter there shall be allowed 
 and paid to the said professors ten per centum of their current 
 yearly pay for each and every term of five years' service in the 
 army and at the Academy: Provided, That such addition shall in 
 no case exceed forty per centum of said yearly pay; and said pro- 
 fessors are hereby placed upon the same footing, as regards restric- 
 tions upon pay and retirement from active service, as officers of 
 the army. 
 
 " Each assistant professor and each senior assistant instructor 
 of cavalry, artillery, and infantry tactics (and the instructor of prac- 
 tical military engineering) shall receive the pay of a captain. 
 
 " The master of the sword at the Military Academy shall 
 receive pay at the rate of fifteen hundred dollars a year, with fuel 
 and quarters. 
 
 " Cadets of the Military Academy shall receive five hundred 
 dollars a year and one ration a day. 
 
234 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 " The librarian and assistant librarian at the Military Academy 
 shall receive one hundred and twenty dollars a year additional pay. 
 
 " The non-commissioned officers in charge of mechanics and 
 other labor at the Military Academy, the soldier acting as clerk in 
 the adjutant's office, and the four enlisted men in the philosophical 
 and chemical departments and lithographic office, shall receive fifty 
 dollars a year additional pay." 
 
 The important legislation relating to the officers of 
 the Academy, enacted since the publication of the fore- 
 going risumd, may be more fully quoted as follows : 
 
 From "An act making appropriations for the Military Academy 
 for the year ending June 30, 1879," approved June i r. 1878 : 
 
 * * * " Sec. 2. That appointrtients of civilians, except such 
 as are regular graduates of the United States Military Academy who 
 have been honorably discharged from the service, to be second 
 lieutenants in any of the regiments of the army, shall be made in 
 time of peace only when more vacancies exist in the army than 
 will be required in the assignment of the next graduating class of 
 cadets at the United States Military Academy : Provided, nothing 
 herein shall prevent the appointment for a commission in the army 
 of meritcfrious non-commissioned officers or private soldiers. 
 
 "Sec. 3. That from and after July first, one thousand eight 
 hundred and eighty-two, only such number of the graduates of the 
 United States Military Academy in any one year shall be entitled 
 to appointments as second lieutenants in the army as are required 
 to fill vacancies of that grade existing on the first day of July in 
 each year, those entitled to appointment to said vacancies to be 
 determined by the academic board on the basis of their standing 
 in the graduating class. And hereafter no supernumerary officers 
 shall be attached to any company or corps of the army, and all 
 graduates of the Military Academy who are not appointed to the 
 army under the provisions of this act shall be discharged upon the 
 graduation of their class. 
 
 " Sec 4. That the cadets at large at the Military Academy 
 shall not hereafter exceed ten in all, and no new appointments at 
 large shall be made until the number of such cadets heretofore 
 appointed fall below ten. But this provision shall not be held to 
 require the discharge of any cadet heretofore appointed." 
 
CIVIL APPOINTMENTS TO THE ARMY. 235 
 
 From " An act making provision for the support of the army for 
 the year ending June 30, 1879," approved June 18, 1878 : 
 
 " Sec. 3. That hereafter all vacancies in the grade of second 
 lieutenant shall be filled by appointment from the graduates of 
 the Military Academy, so long as any such remain in service unas- 
 signed, and any vacancies thereafter remaining shall be filled by 
 promotion of meritorious non-commissioned officers of the army, 
 recommended under the provisions of the next section of this act : 
 Provided, That all vacancies remaining after exhausting the two 
 classes named may be filled by appointments of persons in civil 
 life. 
 
 "Sec. 4. That to insure the selection of proper candidates for 
 promotion from the grade of non-commissioned officers, company 
 and battery commanders will report to their regimental command- 
 ers such as, in their opinion, by education, conduct, and services, 
 seem to merit advancement, and who have served not less than two 
 years in the army; the reports to set forth a description of the can- 
 didate, his length of service as non-commissioned officer and as 
 private soldier, his character as to fidelity and sobriety, his 
 physical qualifications and mental abilities, the extent to which his 
 talents have been cultivated, and his fitness generally to discharge 
 the duties of a commissioned officer. If recommended on account 
 of his meritorious services, the particular services referred to must 
 be stated in detail. On receiving the reports of company or bat- 
 tery commanders, the regimental commander will .forward the 
 same to the department commanders, with such recommendation 
 of non-commissioned regimental staff as he may deem worthy of 
 promotion; and the departmental commander shall annually assem- 
 ble a board to consist of five officers of as high rank as the conven- 
 ience of the service will admit, to make a preliminary examina- 
 tion into the claims and qualifications of such non-commissioned 
 officers. The board, constituted as above, shall submit a full 
 statement in the case of each candidate examined, and on the said 
 statements the department commander shall indorse his remarks 
 and forward them to the Secretary of War by the first day of June 
 in each year. The Chief of Engineers and of other staff corps may 
 make similar recommendations of the non-commissioned officers of 
 their respective commands to the Secretary of War, who shall con- 
 vene a board of officers for like purpose." 
 
236 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 From "An act making appropriations for the support of the army 
 for the year ending June 30, 1880," approved June 23, 1879: 
 " Sec. 5. That each member of the graduating classes of the 
 Military Academy of one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine 
 and one thousand eight hundred and eighty, after graduation may 
 ■elect, wfith the assent of the Secretary of War, to receive the gross 
 sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars, and mileage to his place of 
 residence; and the acceptance of this gross sum shall render him 
 ineligible to appointment in the army, except in the event of war, 
 until two years after his graduation, and the amount required to 
 defray the expenditure herein provided for shall be paid out 
 of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated." 
 
 From the first two acts above quoted, it will be seen 
 that in times of war and peace no vacancy in the grade 
 of second lieutenant in the army can be filled by appoint- 
 ment from civil life until after the list of graduates from 
 the Military Academy and of meritorious non-commis- 
 sioned officers shall have been exhausted. The author 
 states in both zvar and peace, because, although the first of 
 the two acts prescribes the right of appointment of a 
 civilian in time of peace after the graduated classes shall 
 have been exhausted, yet the subsequent act is sweeping 
 in character, and, being later in date, repeals by implica- 
 tion all anterior legislation in conflict with its provisions. 
 From these examples of legislation the reader may begin 
 to realize the tendency and power of an institution that 
 has gradually fastened its hold upon the military resources 
 of the country until it has become a piece of machinery 
 of dangerous possibilities. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FINANCIAL ASPECT OF THE ACADEMY AT WEST POINT EX- 
 PENDITURES FROM THE YEAR l802 TO THE YEAR 1886 
 
 INTERESTING STATISTICS POPULATION OF NORTHERN 
 
 AND SOUTHERN STATES, IN 181O AND 1860 THE NAMES, 
 
 TOTAL NUMBER, AND STATES AND TERRITORIES OF RESI- 
 DENCE OF THE CADETS ADMITTED FROM I 8o2 TO I 86 1 
 
 THE HIGH-CLASS GRADUATES OF THE ACADEMY FROM 
 1802 TO 1861 THE SUPERINTENDENCY OF THE ACAD- 
 EMY WEST POINT A MILITARY DEPARTMENT MIS- 
 TAKES OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 IT is the purpose of the author to close the history of 
 the rise and growth of the mihtary school at West 
 Point with a statement of the expense of the institution 
 to the Government, and with certain tabular statements 
 designed to form a basis for future observations. 
 
 And first as to the financial feature of the establish- 
 ment. 
 
 The ground embraced within the West Point reserva- 
 tion belongs to the United States Government. The 
 tract is constituted of an area of 2,105 acres of land, as 
 stated by Captain Boynton, in the work heretofore 
 quoted from in the present volume. The English Gov- 
 ernment originally granted the land to Captain John 
 Evans, who subsequently vacated it, when it reverted to 
 
238 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 the grantor. The land embraced within the original 
 grant was afterward conveyed by royal letters-patent to 
 two different individuals, Charles Congreve and John 
 Moore. The latter owner subsequently purchased the 
 tract granted to the former, and thus became sole owner 
 of the entire grant. Upon the death of Moore, the 
 property descended by inheritance to his son, Stephen 
 Moore, of Caswell County, N. C. 
 
 As the land had been occupied by the Government 
 from the beginning of the Revolutionary- War, Moore 
 petitioned the Government, in the year 1 790, to purchase 
 it of him. The petition was referred by the House of 
 Representatives to the Secretary of the Treasury for con- 
 sideration. That officer — Alexander Hamilton — made 
 a communication to the House, under date of June 3, 
 I 790, in which he advised " the purchase of so much of 
 the tract of land called West Point as shall be judged 
 requisite for the purpose of such fortifications and garri- 
 sons as may be necessary for the defense of the same," 
 accompanying the recommendation with a quotation and 
 indorsement of the opinions of General Knox as to the 
 natural advantages of the locality for the defense of the 
 Hudson River. These advantages have already been set 
 forth in the preceding pages of this work. 
 
 Under an act of Congress approved July 5, 1790, the 
 purchase of both patents held by Moore was effected in 
 the following September, by the payment of the sum 
 of $11,085. A further tract of land was purchased by 
 the Government from Oliver Gridlev. under act of Con- 
 
COST OF WEST POINT RESEH VA TION. 239 
 
 gress, in May, 1824, for the sum of $10,000. The Gov- 
 ernment was annoyed, for a number of years after the 
 first effort to acquire sufficient land by purchase, by the 
 claims of divers individuals, based upon various pretexts 
 of personal right or ownership. A final survey was made, 
 under direction of the Government, in the year 1839, and 
 the boundaries of the Government property were then 
 definitely settled. 
 
 By reference to the report of Secretary Mc Henry 
 submitted to Congress under date of January 31, 1800, 
 recommending a plan for the establishment of a Military 
 Academy, which report has been quoted entire in a pre- 
 ceding chapter, the reader will be struck with the modest 
 estimate of the expense of the establishment made by 
 that worthy official. The total salaries of teachers in the. 
 two schools suggested by him — the Fundamental School 
 and the School of Artillerists and Engineers — footed up 
 to the insignificant total of $10,489.20 annually, while 
 the estimated cost of buildings amounted to $38,846, 
 upon the plan of one architect, and to $80,000 upon 
 the plan of another. Since that day the population of 
 the United States has increased from six million to about 
 ■fifty-two million people, an increase that may be approx- 
 imately stated to be as one to eight and one-half. 
 
 It is no less instructive than interestingly suggestive 
 to follow the bill of annual expense attached to the insti- 
 tution from its modest beginning to its present state of 
 completeness and luxury. The following figures are 
 taken from the annual appropriation bills of Congress, 
 
240 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA, 
 
 and, while not critically accurate — no account having 
 been taken of sums in cents — they are substantially cor- 
 rect, and can be relied upon for purposes of quotation. 
 
 The total appropriation of the United States Govern- 
 ment upon account of the Military Academy from its cre- 
 ation by act of March 16, 1802, up to and inclusive of 
 June 30, 1843, has been computed by Captain Edward C. 
 Boynton, in his "History of West Point." This compu- 
 tation is made to cover amounts paid for the purchase of 
 the lands ; for the construction of roads, wharves, fences, 
 water and gas-works ;* for the purchase of library, maps, 
 instruments, philosophical and chemical apparatus, models 
 in engineering and drawing ; purchase of' minerals ; grad- 
 ing ground, etc., etc.; and for the pay and subsistence of 
 officers, professors, teachers, and cadets ; for fuel and 
 stationery ; transportation of material ; stores ; postage ; 
 expenses of boards of visitors ; adjutant and quarter- 
 master's clerks, and contingent and incidental expenses. 
 The estimate embraces a period of forty-one years, or,, 
 as before said, from March 16, 1802, to June 30, 1843. 
 The same items are covered in the subsequent annual 
 appropriations as given below. The exhibit stands thus : 
 
 Table I. 
 
 Amounts appropriated annually for the Military Academy, from March 
 16, 1802, to June 30, 1886: 
 
 From 1802 to 1843 (a 
 
 period of 41 years)$ 4,902,901 
 
 From 1843 to 1845 •• 116,845 
 
 From 1845 to 1846 .. 138,049 
 
 From 1846 to 1847 .. 123,976 
 
 From 1847 to 1848 . 
 
 .$ 
 
 124,906 
 
 From 1848 to 1849 . 
 
 
 143,472 
 
 From 1849 to 1850 . 
 
 
 171,294 
 
 From 1850 to 1851 . 
 
 
 2°2,S35 
 
 From 185 1 to 1852 . 
 
 
 130,52* 
 
TOTAL EXPENSE OF MILITARY ACADEMY. 
 
 241 
 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 
 1852 to 1853 
 
 1853 CO 1854 
 185410 1855 
 
 1855 to 1856 
 
 1856 to 1857 
 
 1857 to 1858 
 
 1858 to 1859 
 
 1859 to i860 
 i860 to 1861 
 
 1861 to 1862 
 
 1862 to 1863 
 
 1863 to 1864 
 
 1864 to 1865 
 
 1865 to 1866 
 
 1866 to 1867 
 
 1867 to 1868 
 
 1868 to 1869 
 
 1869 to 1870 
 
 1870 to 1871 
 
 130,050 
 150.253 
 
 161,281 
 
 146,940 
 158,894 
 161,179 
 182,804 
 
 179,588 
 183,796 
 
 184,337 
 156,211 
 
 183,394 
 
 201,217 
 
 257,504 
 201,457 
 362,913 
 
 276,291 
 
 274,488 
 314,869 
 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 
 1871 to 
 
 1872 to 
 
 1873 to 
 
 1874 to 
 
 1875 to 
 
 1876 to 
 
 1877 to 
 
 1878 to 
 
 1879 to 
 
 1880 to 
 
 1881 to 
 
 1882 to 
 
 1883 to 
 
 1884 to 
 
 1885 to 
 
 1872 
 
 1873 
 1874 
 
 1875 
 
 i?76 
 1877 
 1878 
 
 1879 
 1880 
 1881 
 1882 
 1883 
 1884 
 1885 
 1886 
 
 316,269 
 327,100- 
 332,562 
 
 349,765 
 354,740 
 
 292,365 
 287,166 
 290,632 
 320,309 
 
 323,834 
 323,328 
 335,296 
 289,687 
 314,263 
 309,921 
 
 Total expense of 
 the Academy to June 
 30, 1886 $13,789,199 
 
 It may be here remarked that in the appropriation 
 bill for 1878 and 1879 ^^ amount of the cadet salary- 
 was fixed at $540 per year, at which figure it has since 
 remained. 
 
 Thus it will appear that the total cost to the Govern- 
 ment of the Academy at West Point, with its improve- 
 ments, etc., amounts to nearly fourteen million dollars, 
 including the appropriation for the fiscal year terminating 
 on the 30th of June, 1886. The various items of expen- 
 diture, apart from the cost of the property and erections, 
 or, in other words, the running expenses of the establish- 
 ment, are fairly illustrated by the appropriation bill for 
 the present year, the principal items of the latter being as 
 follows : 
 
242 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA, 
 
 For 8 professors, 4 assistant professors and instructors in 
 
 various departments, including master of the sword. $ 47,425 
 
 Additional to adjutant 400 
 
 Treasurer 700 
 
 Pay of cadets • . 170,000 
 
 Pay of music-teacher 1,080 
 
 Pay of band 9,240 
 
 For current expenses, repairs, and improvements 11,000 
 
 For fuel and apparatus 13,000 
 
 For gas-pipes and fixtures, etc 900 
 
 Fuel for cadets' mess-hall, shops, and laundry 3,000 
 
 Postage and telegrams 300 
 
 Stationery 600 
 
 Transportation, etc 2,000 
 
 Printing 1,000 
 
 For salaries of 3 clerks 3,600 
 
 For department of instruction in mathematics 300 
 
 For department of instruction in civil and military engi- 
 neering 600 
 
 For department of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology.. 2,930 
 
 For department of modern languages 275 
 
 For department of history, geography, and ethics 300 
 
 For department of drawing 1,234 
 
 For department of law 250 
 
 For department of artillery, cavalry, and infantry tactics. 1,300 
 
 For department of ordnance and gunnery 300 
 
 For department of practical military engineering 1,200 
 
 For department of philosophy. . , 2,850 
 
 For expenses of the board of visitors 3,000 
 
 For miscellaneous and incidental expenses , . . . 11,320 
 
 For assistant librarian , 1,000 
 
 For increase of library , 1,000 
 
 For furniture 200 
 
 For furniture for cadet hospital 100 
 
 For bedding for candidates 500 
 
 For contingencies for superintendent 1,000 
 
 For renewal of furniture 500 
 
 For buildings and grounds 500 
 
 For breast-high wall 500 
 
IMMEDIA TE OBJECT OF THE TABLES. 243 
 
 For cadet barracks 5, 000 
 
 For "pointing"' cadet hospital 1,150 
 
 For " pointing " administration buildings , 790 
 
 For " pointing " cadet barracks 300 
 
 For relining parapet cadet barracks 500 
 
 For expenditures on account of water-works 520 
 
 For additional bath-tubs for cadets 1,000 
 
 For barracks band 3,857 
 
 For addition to outbuilding 1,200 
 
 For erection of ice-cooler 300 
 
 Etc., etc. 
 
 The author here introduces certain additional tables, 
 "which will be more particularly commented upon in the 
 subsequent pages of this volume. 
 
 At the present point it may be remarked that the 
 immediate object of Table II. is to illustrate, by means of 
 <iuthentic figures, the extent to which political influence 
 filled the cadet vacancies of the army, from the year 1802 
 to that of 1861 ; while the purpose of Table III. is to 
 place before the reader in a compact form the names of 
 the high-class graduates who have issued from the Mili- 
 tary Academy with a special indorsement of military 
 ■qualification, as it may be said, from the West Point 
 ■faculty. Upon glancing over the long list of names 
 representing those who have carried off the honors of the 
 institution, the reader will be surprised to observe how 
 few of those of whom so much was expected have figured 
 with any distinction in the military records of our country 
 — nay, how few of them, in comparison with the whole 
 number, have even become known, in connection with 
 active military operations, to the general people. 
 
244 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Table II. 
 
 Statement showing the population of the slaveholding and non-slaveholding 
 States of the Union, according to the census of 1810, and to that 
 of i860, the year preceding the outbreak of the Rebellion: 
 
 Slave States. 
 
 Population in 
 1810 i860 
 
 Free States. 
 
 Population in 
 1810 i860 
 
 
 
 964,201 
 435,450 
 112,216 
 140,424 
 
 1,057,286 
 
 1,155,684 
 708,002 
 687,049 
 791.305 
 
 1,182,012 
 992,622 
 703,708 
 
 1,109,801 
 604,215 
 
 I.596.318 
 
 California ...... 
 
 
 379.994 
 34,277 
 
 
 
 Colorado ........ 
 
 
 Delaware 
 
 72,674 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 261,942 
 12,282 
 24,520 
 
 460,147 
 1,711,951 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Kentucky ....... 
 
 252,430 
 
 406,511 
 
 76,556 
 
 380,546 
 
 40,352 
 
 20,845 
 
 555,500 
 
 415,115 
 
 261,727 
 
 Indiana 
 
 1,350,428 
 
 674,913 
 107,206 
 
 
 
 Maryland 
 
 Mississippi ...... 
 
 Missouri 
 
 Maine 
 
 228,705 
 
 472,040 
 
 4.762 
 
 628,279 
 1,231,066 
 
 749,113. 
 172,023 
 
 Massachusetts . . 
 Michigan 
 
 
 Nebraska 
 
 
 28,841 
 6,857 
 
 
 Nevada 
 
 
 Texas 
 
 New Hampshire 
 New Jersey.. . . . 
 
 New York 
 
 Ohio 
 
 214,460 
 245,562 
 
 959.049 
 230,760 
 
 326,073: 
 
 Virginia 
 
 974,600 
 
 672,035 
 
 3,880,735 
 
 2,339.5" 
 
 52,465 
 
 2,906,215 
 
 174,620. 
 
 315,098 
 
 775,881 
 
 
 Oregon. 
 
 
 Pennsylvania. . . 
 Rhode Island... 
 Vermont.. 
 
 810,091 
 
 76,931 
 
 217,895 
 
 
 Total 
 
 
 Total 
 
 3,456,856 
 
 12,240,293 
 
 3,758,999 
 
 18,977.728 
 
 
 
 Recapitulation. 
 
 
 In 1810. 
 
 In i860. 
 
 
 3,456,856 
 3,758,999 
 
 12,240,293 
 18,977,728 
 
 Total population of non-slaveholding States 
 
 Totals 
 
 7.215.855 
 
 31,218,021 
 
 
CADETS 'ADMITTED TO MILITARY ACADEMY. 
 
 245 
 
 Table III. 
 
 Statement of the names, total numbers, and States and Territories of 
 residence, of the cadets admitted to the Military Academy at West 
 Point, from its formal establishment, in the year 1802, to the begin- 
 ning of the slaveholders' rebellion, in 1S61 ■ 
 
 NON-SLAVEHOLDING STATES, AS FOLLOWS: 
 
 Maine loi Illinois 76 
 
 New Hampshire 78 Michigan 37 
 
 Iowa 12 
 
 Wisconsin 14 
 
 Vermont loi 
 
 Massachusetts 227 
 
 Rhode Island 41 
 
 Connecticut 101 
 
 New York 627 
 
 New Jersey 98 
 
 Pennsylvania 413 
 
 Ohio 232 
 
 Indiana 103 
 
 California . 
 Minnesota , 
 Oregon . . . 
 Nebraska. , 
 Kansas . . . . 
 
 Total 2,278 
 
 SLAVEHOLDING STATES, AS FOLLOWS ; 
 
 Delaware 41 
 
 Maryland 176 
 
 Virginia 369 
 
 North Carolina 181 
 
 South Carolina 155 
 
 Georgia 131 
 
 Alabama 84 
 
 Mississippi 46 
 
 Louisiana 56 
 
 Kentucky 187 
 
 Tennessee 171 
 
 Missouri 61 
 
 Arkansas 15 
 
 Florida 19 
 
 Texas 9 
 
 1,710 
 
 District of Columbia 109 
 
 Total chargeable to slaveholding States i)8i9 
 
 New Mexico. 
 Utah 
 
 At large. 
 
 TERRITORIES, AS FOLLOWS : 
 
 3 Washington 2 
 
 ^ Total 8 
 
 307 Unknown 26 
 
246 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 From non-slaveholding At large 307 
 
 States 2,278 Unknown 26 
 
 From slaveholding States. 1,710 
 
 From Territories 8 Grand total 4,438 
 
 From Dist. of Columbia. 109 
 
 Table IV. 
 
 List of West Point graduates from the year 1802 to the year 1861, and 
 names of cadets attached to the Army Register annually, in conformity 
 ■with a later regulation for the government of the Military Academy, 
 requiring the names of the most distinguished cadets, not exceeding 
 five in each class, to be reported for this purpose at each annual ex- 
 amination. ' 
 
 1802. 
 
 I. 
 
 Joseph G. Swift. 
 
 1808. 
 
 I. D. A. A. Buck. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 Simon M. Levy. 
 
 
 2. S. Babcock. 
 
 1803. 
 
 I. 
 
 W. K. Armistead. 
 
 
 3. S. Thayer. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 H. B. Jackson. 
 
 
 4. S. B. Rathbone. 
 
 
 3- 
 
 John Livingston. 
 
 
 S. L. Valle. 
 
 i'8o4. 
 
 1. 
 
 Samuel Gates. 
 
 1809. 
 
 I. C. Van de Venter. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 H. M. Allen. 
 
 
 2. S. G. Conkling. 
 
 1805. 
 
 I. 
 
 G. Bomford. 
 
 
 3. A. W. Magee. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 William McRee. 
 
 
 4. M. Haxtun. 
 
 
 3- 
 
 Joseph G. Totten. 
 
 
 5. A. Hall. 
 
 1806. 
 
 I. 
 
 William Gates. 
 
 1811. 
 
 I. A. J. Williams. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 J. Heileman. 
 
 
 2. M. V. Boisaubin. 
 
 
 3- 
 
 P. V. Bouis. 
 
 
 3. A. Larrabee. 
 
 
 4- 
 
 A. Chouteau. 
 
 
 4. H. A. Hobart. 
 
 
 S- 
 
 A. Partridge. 
 
 
 5. T. Ketchum. 
 
 J807. 
 
 I. 
 
 J. Post. 
 
 1812. 
 
 I. J. M. Wilcox. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 S. Clark. 
 
 
 2. A. Conant. 
 
 
 3- 
 
 J. Anderson. 
 
 
 3. L. L. Buck. 
 
 
 4- 
 
 S. Champlin. 
 
 
 4. A. R. Thompson. 
 
 
 5- 
 
 S. Noah. 
 
 
 5. J. R. Bell. 
 
 1 For the material of this table the author is indebted to the valuable work of 
 G. W. Cullum on the West Point graduates, and the no less valuable volume of 
 iCapt. E. C. Boynton on the history of that institution. 
 
TABLE OF HIGH-CLASS GRADUATES 
 
 247 
 
 I8I3. 
 
 I. 
 
 G. Trescot. 
 
 I8I4. 
 
 I. 
 
 G. W. Gardiner. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 C. S. Merchant. 
 
 
 3- 
 
 N. G. Dana. 
 
 
 4- 
 
 J. Munroe. 
 
 
 5- 
 
 J. J. Allanson. 
 
 1815. 
 
 I. 
 
 H. Middleton. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 W. F. Rigal. 
 
 
 3- 
 
 J. Simonson. 
 
 
 4- 
 
 J. Hills. 
 
 
 5- 
 
 S. Willard. 
 
 I8I7. 
 
 1. 
 
 A. L. Roumfort. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 J. M. Spencer. 
 
 
 3- 
 
 I. A. Adaniis. 
 
 
 4. 
 
 W. G. Graham. 
 
 
 5- 
 
 J. D. Graham. 
 
 I8I8. 
 
 I. 
 
 R. Delafield. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 A. Talcott. 
 
 
 3- 
 
 S. S. Smith. 
 
 
 4- 
 
 H. Webster. 
 
 
 5- 
 
 H. Brown. 
 
 I8I9. 
 
 I. 
 
 W. A. Eliason. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 F. A. Underhill. 
 
 
 3- 
 
 C. A. Ogden. 
 
 
 4- 
 
 E. D. Mansfield. 
 
 
 5- 
 
 H. W. Brewerton. 
 
 1820, 
 
 I. 
 
 S. Tuttle. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 A. J. Donelson. 
 
 
 3- 
 
 F. E. Sudler. 
 
 
 4- 
 
 W. H. Bell. 
 
 
 5- 
 
 W. C. De Hart. 
 
 I82I. 
 
 I. 
 
 E. H. Courtenay. 
 
 
 2. 
 
 C. Burdine.. 
 
 
 3- 
 
 J. Prescott. 
 
 
 4- 
 
 W. W. Wells. 
 
 
 5- 
 
 C. Dimmock. 
 
 1822. 
 
 I. 
 
 G. Button. 
 
 1822. 2. J. K. F. Mansfield. 
 
 3. C. G. Smith. 
 
 4. T. R. Ingalls. 
 
 5. H. Bliss. 
 
 1823. I. A. Mordecai. 
 
 2. G. S. Greene. 
 
 3. G. C. Richards. 
 
 4. R. Holmes. 
 
 5. S. U. Southerland. 
 
 1824. I. D. H. Mahan. 
 
 2. J. W. A. Smith. 
 
 3. R. P. Parrott. 
 
 4. R. E. Hazard. 
 
 5. J. K. Findlay. 
 
 1825. — FIRST CLASS.* 
 
 1. A. D. Bache Penn. 
 
 2. Peter McMartin N. Y. 
 
 3. A. H. Bowman Penn. 
 
 4. T. S. Brown N. Y. 
 
 5. D. S. Donelson Tenn. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. W. H. C. Bartlett. ... Mo. 
 
 2. Thos. S. Twiss Vt. 
 
 3. William Bryant Va. 
 
 4. Thos. J. Cram N. H. 
 
 5. Chas. G. Ridgely Del. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. William Maynadier. .D. C. 
 
 2. L. J. Bibb Ky. 
 
 3. E. S. Sibley Mich. 
 
 4. P. B. Anderson Tenn. 
 
 5. John Childe Mass. 
 
 ' This part of the table to its close is from Captain Boynton's work. 
 
248 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. H. W. Mercer Va. 
 
 2. W. P. N. Fitzgerald .N. Y. 
 
 3. A. E. Church Conn. 
 
 4. W. B. Guion Miss. 
 
 5. D. M. Farrelly Penn. 
 
 1826. FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. W. H. C. Bartlett ...Mo. 
 
 2. Thos. S. Twiss Vt. 
 
 3. Wm. Bryant ........ . Va. 
 
 4. Thos. J. Cram N. H. 
 
 5. Chas. G. Ridgely...Del. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. J. A. J. Bradford . . . . Ky. 
 
 2. E. S. Sibley Mich. 
 
 3. Wm. Maynadier D. C. 
 
 4. John Childe Mass. 
 
 5. Edwin Schenck N. Y. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. W. p. N. Fitzgerald .N. Y. 
 
 2. H. W. Mercer Va. 
 
 3. A. E. Church Conn. 
 
 4. Walter B. Guion Miss. 
 
 5. R. C. Tilghman Md. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. Chas. Mason N. Y. 
 
 2. Wm. H. Harford .... Ga. 
 
 3. Robert E. Lee Va. 
 
 4. Wm. Boylan N. C. 
 
 5. Jas. Barnes Mass. 
 
 1827. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. E. S.Sibley Mich. 
 
 2. John Childe Mass. 
 
 3. Wm. Maynadier D. C. 
 
 4. J. A. J. Bradford Ky. 
 
 5. L. J. Bibb Ky. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. A. E. Church Conn. 
 
 2. H. W. Mercer Va. 
 
 3. Robert E. Temple. . . Vt. 
 
 4. C. O. Collins N. Y. 
 
 5. R. C. Tilghman Md. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. Chas. Mason N. Y. 
 
 2. Robert E. Lee Va. 
 
 3. C. P. Buckingham. . . Ohio. 
 
 4. W. H. Harford Ga. 
 
 5. Jas. Barnes Mass. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. A.J. Swift N. Y. 
 
 2. W. E. Basinger Ga. 
 
 3. W. S. Chandler D. C. 
 
 4. Thos. J. Lee D. C. 
 
 5. Francis Vinton R. I. 
 
 1828. FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. A. E. Church Conn. 
 
 2. R. C. Tilghman Md. 
 
 3. H. W. Mercer Va. 
 
 4. R. E. Temple Vt. 
 
 5. C. O. Collins N. Y. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. Chas. Mason N. Y. 
 
 2. Robert E. Lee Va. 
 
 3. C. P. Buckingham . . Ohio. 
 
 4. W. H. Harford Ga. 
 
 5. Jas. Barnes Mass. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. A. J. Swift N. Y. 
 
 2. W. S.. Chandler D. C. 
 
 3. Wm. N. Pendleton.. Va. 
 
 4. Wm. E. Basinger Ga. 
 
 5. Francis Vinton R. L 
 
TABLE OF HIGH-CLASS GRADUATES. 
 
 249 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. Roswell Park N. Y. 
 
 2. Henry Clay Ky. 
 
 3. W. A. Norton N. Y. 
 
 4. R. A. Peyton Va. 
 
 5. Geo. H. Talcott N. Y. 
 
 1829. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. Chas. Mason N. Y. 
 
 2. Robert E. Lee Va. 
 
 3. W. Harford Ga. 
 
 4. Jos. A. Smith Penn. 
 
 5. Jas. Barnes Mass. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. A. J. Swift N. Y. 
 
 2. W. S. Chandler D. C. 
 
 3. Wm. N. Pendleton. ..Va. 
 
 4. Francis Vinton R. I. 
 
 5. Geo. W. Lawson Tenn 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. Roswell Park N. Y. 
 
 2. Henry Clay Ky. 
 
 3. W. A. Norton N. Y. 
 
 4. Jas. Allen N. C. 
 
 5. R. H. Peyton Va. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. Benj. S. Ewell Va. 
 
 2. Robert. P. Smith Miss. 
 
 3. Jacob W. Bailey R. I. 
 
 4. G. W. Ward Mass. 
 
 5. J. C. Vance Ohio. 
 
 1830. FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. A.J. Swift N. Y. 
 
 2. W. E. Basinger Ga. 
 
 3. W. S. Chandler D. C. 
 
 4. Francis Vinton R. I. 
 
 5. Wm. N. Pendleton... Va. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. Roswell Park N. Y. 
 
 2. Jas. Allen N. C." 
 
 3. Henry Clay Ky. 
 
 4. R. H. Peyton Va. 
 
 5. W. A. Norton N. Y. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. Robert P. Smith .... Miss. 
 
 2. Benj. S. Ewell Va. 
 
 3. Geo. A. Ward Mass. 
 
 4. J. W. Bailey R. I. 
 
 5. Lewis Howell Penn. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. F. A. Smith Mass. 
 
 2. J. H. Allen N. Y. 
 
 3. F. H. Smith Va. 
 
 4. D. B. Harris Va. 
 
 5. W. H. Sidell N. Y. 
 
 1 83 1. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. Roswell Park N. Y. 
 
 2. Henry Clay Ky. 
 
 3. Jas. Allen N. C. 
 
 4. H. E. Prentis Me. 
 
 5. Albert M. Lea Tenn. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. Robert P. Smith Miss. 
 
 2. Geo. W. Ward Mass. 
 
 3. J. W. Bailey R. L 
 
 4. Benj. S. Ewell Va. 
 
 5. Geo. W. Cass Ohio. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. Fred. A. Smith Mass. 
 
 2. Wm. A. Sidell ...... N. Y. 
 
 3. J. G. Barnard Mass. 
 
 4. Roswell W. Lee Mass. 
 
 5. Rufus King N. Y. 
 
250 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. Wm. Smith N. Y. 
 
 2. H. Loughborough . .Ky. 
 
 3. John F. Lee Va, 
 
 4. John Sanders Fla. 
 
 5. Curran Pope Ky. 
 
 1832. FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. G. W. Ward Mass. 
 
 2. Robert P. Smith Miss. 
 
 3. Benj. S. Ewell Va. 
 
 4. G. W. Cass Ohio. 
 
 5. J. W. Bailey R. L 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. J. G. Barnard Mass. 
 
 2. Fred. A. Smith Mass. 
 
 3. W. H. Sidell N. Y. 
 
 4. G. W. Cullum Penn. 
 
 5. Rufus King N. Y. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. Wm. Smith N. Y. 
 
 2. H. Loughborough. . . Ky. 
 
 3. John Sanders Fla. 
 
 4. John F. Lee Va. 
 
 5. Jas. Duncan N. Y. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. G. M. Legate N. Y. 
 
 2. T. T. Gantt Va. 
 
 3. Chas. H. Bigelow. ..Mass. 
 
 4. C.J. Whiting Me. 
 
 5. Montgomery Blair.. Ky. 
 
 1833. FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. F. A. Smith .Mass. 
 
 2. J. G. Barnard Mass. 
 
 3. G. W. Cullum Penn. 
 
 4. Rufus King N. Y. 
 
 5. Francis H. Smith... Va. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. William Smith N. Y. 
 
 2. John Sanders Fla. 
 
 3. R. T. P. Allen Md. 
 
 4. H. Loughborough ... Ky. 
 
 5. W. T. Stockton Penn. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. C. H. Bigelow Mass. 
 
 2. C. J. Whiting Me. 
 
 3. G. M. Legate N. Y. 
 
 4. J. H. Martindale....N. Y. 
 
 5. T. T. Gantt Va. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. J. L. Mason At large 
 
 2. D. Leadbeater Me. 
 
 3. Alexander Hamilton. N. Y. 
 
 4. B. Conkling N. Y. 
 
 5. J. R. Anderson Va. 
 
 1834. FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. Wm. D. Fraser N. Y. 
 
 2. John Sanders Fla. 
 
 3. H. Loughborough . . Ky. 
 
 4. T. A. Morris Ind. 
 
 5. R. T. P. Allen Md. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 I. C.J. Whiting . Me. 
 
 2. J. H. Martindale 
 
 3. G. W. Morell . . . 
 
 4. C. M. Bigelow . . 
 
 5. G. M. Legate . . . 
 
 .N. Y. 
 .N. Y. 
 . Mass. 
 
 .N. Y. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. J. L. Mason At large 
 
 2. D. Leadbeater Me. 
 
 3. M. C. Meigs Penn. 
 
 4. Alexander Hamilton. N. Y. 
 
 5. B. Conkling N. Y. 
 
TABLE OF HIGH-CLASS GRADUATES. 
 
 251 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. J. W. Gunnison N. H. 
 
 2. H. W. Benham Conn. 
 
 3. E. W. Morgan Penn. 
 
 4. A, B. Dyer Mo. 
 
 5. John Bratt N. Y 
 
 1835. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. G. W. Morell N. Y. 
 
 2. C. H. Bigelow Mass. 
 
 3. J. H. Martindale....N. Y. 
 
 4. C. J. Whiting Me. 
 
 5. G. M. Legate N. Y. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. M. C. Meigs Penn. 
 
 2. Alexander Hamilton. N. Y. 
 
 3. G. L. Walker Tenn. 
 
 4. J. L. Mason At large 
 
 5. F. A. Lewis Va. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. E. W. Morgan Penn. 
 
 2. H. W. Benham Conn. 
 
 3. A. B. Dyer Mo. 
 
 4. J. W. Gunnison N. H. 
 
 5. John Bratt N. Y. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. W. H. Wright N. C. 
 
 2. A. H. Dearborn N. Y. 
 
 3. S. H. Campbell Vt. 
 
 4. P. G. T. Beauregard. La. 
 
 5. J. T. Metcalfe Miss. 
 
 1836. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. G. L, Welcker Tenn. 
 
 2. J. L. Mason At large 
 
 3. D. Leadbeater Me. 
 
 4. J. R. Anderson Va. 
 
 5. M. C. Meigs Penn. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. H. W. Benham Conn. 
 
 2. E. W. Morgan Penn. 
 
 3. J. W. Gunnison N. H^ 
 
 4. John Bratt N. Y. 
 
 5. W. W. Chapman Mass. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. W. H. Wright N. C. 
 
 2. P. G. T. Beauregard. La. 
 
 3. A. H. Dearborn.... N. Y. 
 
 4. S. H. Campbell Vt. 
 
 5. J. H. Trapier S. C. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. \.\. Stevens Mass. 
 
 2. H. J. Biddle Penn 
 
 3. R. Q. Butler Va. 
 
 4. H. W. Halleck N. Y. 
 
 5. J. F. Gilmer N. C. 
 
 1837. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. H. W. Benham Conn. 
 
 2. J. W. Gunnison N. H. 
 
 3. E. W. Morgan Penn.. 
 
 4. John Bratt N. Y. 
 
 5. Braxton Bragg N. C. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. W. H. Wright N. C. 
 
 2. P. G. T. Beauregard. La. 
 
 3. A. H. Dearborn N. Y. 
 
 4. J. H. Trapier -.S. C. 
 
 5. J. T. Metcalf Miss. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. L L Stevens Mass. 
 
 2. H. J. Biddle Penn. 
 
 3. R. Q. Butler Va. 
 
 4. J. F. Gilmer N. C. 
 
 5. H. W. Halleck N. Y. 
 
•252 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. P. O. Herbert La. 
 
 2. W. p. Jones At large 
 
 3. B. P. Tilden Mass. 
 
 4. W. H. Churchill At large 
 
 .5. Stewart Van Vliet..N. Y. 
 
 1838. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. W. H.Wright N. C. 
 
 2. P. G. T. Beauregard. La. 
 .3. J. H. Trapier S. C. 
 
 4. S. H. Campbell Vt. 
 
 5. J. M. Scarritt ... .111. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. I.I. Stevens Mass. 
 
 2. R. Q. Butler Va. 
 
 3. H. W. Halleck N. Y. 
 
 4. J. F. Gilmer N. C. 
 
 5. H.L.Smith Me. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. P. O. Hebert La. 
 
 2. W. P. Jones At large 
 
 2,. C. P. Kingsbury N. C. 
 
 4. J. McNutt Ohio. 
 
 5. S.Wilcox N. Y. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. Z. B. Tower Mass. 
 
 2. T. J. Rodman Ind. 
 
 3. H. Wilson Penn. 
 
 4. J. Gorgas N. Y. 
 
 5. S. Stansbury Md. 
 
 1839. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. I. I. Stevens Mass. 
 
 2. R. Q. Butler Va. 
 
 3. H. W. Halleck N. Y. 
 
 4. F. Gilmer N. C. 
 
 .5. Henry L. Smith Me. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. P. O. Hebert La. 
 
 2. W. P. Jones At large 
 
 3. John McNutt Ohio. 
 
 4. C. P. Kingsbury N. C. 
 
 5. Wm. Gilham Ind. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. Z. B. Tower Mass. 
 
 2. H. G. Wright Conn. 
 
 3. M. Harrison At large 
 
 4. S. Stansbury Md. 
 
 5. J. Gorgas N. Y. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. H. L. Eustis Mass. 
 
 2. J D.Kurtz D. C. 
 
 3. G. W. Rains Ala. 
 
 4. W. S. Rosecrans Ohio. 
 
 5. R. W. Johnson Va. 
 
 1840. FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. p. O. Hebert La. 
 
 2. C. P. Kingsbury. . . : . N. C. 
 
 3. John McNutt Ohio. 
 
 4. Wm. P. Jones At large 
 
 5. Wm. Gilham Ind. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. Z. B. Tower Mass. 
 
 2. H. G. Wright Conn. 
 
 3. M. Harrison At large 
 
 4. J. Gorgas N. Y. 
 
 5. S. Stansbury Md. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 r. J. Newton Va. 
 
 2. H. L. Eustis Mass. 
 
 3. G. W. Rains Ala. 
 
 4. S. D. Kurtz D. C. 
 
 5. W. S. Rosecrans Ohio. 
 
TABLE OF HIGH-CLASS GRADUATES. 
 
 253 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. Wm. B. Franklin Penn. 
 
 2. T.J. Brereton At large 
 
 3. W. F. Raynolds Ohio. 
 
 4. Joseph F. Reynolds. .Ind. 
 
 5. James A. Hardie At large 
 
 1841. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. Z. B. Tower Mass. 
 
 2. H. G. Wright Conn. 
 
 3. M. Harrison At large 
 
 4. S. Stansbury Md. 
 
 5. A. W. Whipple Mass. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 r. H. L. Eustis Mass. 
 
 2. John Newton Va. 
 
 3. J. D. Kurtz D. C. 
 
 4. G.W. Rains Ala. 
 
 5. W. S. Rosecrans Ohio. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. T. J. Brereton At large 
 
 2. G. Deshon Conn. 
 
 3. W. B. Franklin Penn. 
 
 4. W. F. Raynolds Ohio. 
 
 5. Roswell S. Ripley. .. N. Y. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. W. G. Peck Conn. 
 
 2. J. H. Whittlesey.... N.Y. 
 
 3. A. R. Eddy R. I. 
 
 4. S. Gill Ky. 
 
 5. H. B. Schroeder Md. 
 
 1842. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. H. L. Eustis Mass. 
 
 2. J. Newton Va. 
 
 3. G. W. Rains Ala. 
 
 4. J. D. Kurtz D. C. 
 
 5. W. S. Rosecrans Ohio." 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. T. J. Brereton At large 
 
 2. W. B. Franklin Penn. 
 
 3. George Deshon Conn. 
 
 4. W. F. Raynolds Ohio. 
 
 5. R. S. Ripley N. Y. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. W. G. Peck Conn. 
 
 2. S.Gill Ky. 
 
 3. J. H. Whittlesey . . . . N. Y. 
 
 4. D. M. Frost N. Y. 
 
 5. A. R. Eddy R.I. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 ,1. L. Hebert La. 
 
 2. W. H. C. Whiting... At large 
 
 3. Henry Coppee Ga. 
 
 4. E. B. Hunt N.Y. 
 
 5. W. F. Smith Vt. 
 
 1843. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. W. B. Franklin Penn. 
 
 2. J. Deshon Conn. 
 
 3. T. J. Brereton At large 
 
 4. J. H. Greland ....... Penn. 
 
 5. W. F. Raynolds Ohio. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. W. G. Peck Conn. 
 
 2. J. H. Whittlesey . . . .N. Y. 
 
 3. F. J. Thomas Md. 
 
 4. Samuel Gill Ky. 
 
 5. D. M. Frost 0....N. Y. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. W. H. C. Whiting... At large 
 
 2. L. Hebert La. 
 
 3. E. B. Hunt N. Y. 
 
 4. W. F. Smith Vt. 
 
 5. H. Coppee Ga. 
 
254 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. C. S. Stewart N. J. 
 
 2. C. E. Blunt At large 
 
 3. Geo. B. McClellan...Penn. 
 
 4. F. T. Bryan N. C. 
 
 5- J. L. Reno Penn. 
 
 1844. FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. W. G. Peck Conn. 
 
 2. J. H. Whittlesey . . . . N. Y. 
 
 3. S. Gill Ky. 
 
 4. D. M. Frost N. Y. 
 
 5. A. R. Eddy R. I. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. W. H. C. Whiting... At large 
 
 2. L. Hebert La. 
 
 3. E. B. Hunt N. Y. 
 
 4. W. F. Smith Vt. 
 
 5. J. H. Carlisle Me. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. C. S. Stewart N. J. 
 
 2. C. E. Blunt At large 
 
 3. Geo. B. McClellan. . . Penn. 
 
 4. J. G. Foster N. H. 
 
 5. F. T.Bryan N. C. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. J. McAllister At large 
 
 2. J. C. Symmes Ohio. 
 
 3. D. T. Van Buren N. Y. 
 
 4. D. Beltzhoover Miss. 
 
 5. J. Hamilton Ind. 
 
 1845. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. W. H. C. Whiting... At large 
 
 2. E. B. Hunt N. Y. 
 
 3. L. Hebert La. 
 
 4. W. F. Smith Vt. 
 
 5. T.J.Wood Ky. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. C. S. Stewart N. J. 
 
 2. C. E. Blunt At large 
 
 3. S. G. Foster N. H. 
 
 4. Geo. B. McClellan... Penn. 
 
 5. Geo. H. Derby Mass. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. J. G. Symmes Ohio. 
 
 2. J. Hamilton Ind. 
 
 3. J. McAllister At large 
 
 4. D. T. Van Buren . . . N. Y. 
 
 5. J. J. Woods Ohio. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. W. P. Trowbridge. . . Mich. 
 
 2. A. J. Donelson Tenn. 
 
 3. N. Michler Penn. 
 
 4. J. Holmes N. C. 
 
 5. W. H. Stevens N. Y. 
 
 1846. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. C. S. Stewart N. Y. 
 
 2. Geo. B. McClellan. . .Pa. 
 
 3. C. E. Blunt At large 
 
 4. J. G. Foster N. H. 
 
 5. E. L. F. Hardcastle. .Md. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. J. C. Symmes Ohio. 
 
 2. J. Hamilton Ind. 
 
 3. S.Chalfin 111. 
 
 4. D. T. Van Buren. . . .N. Y. 
 
 5. J. McAllister At large 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. W. P. Trowbridge . . . Mich. 
 
 2. W. H. Stevens N. Y. 
 
 3. A. J. Donelson Tenn. 
 
 4. N. Michler Penn. 
 
 5. R. S. Williamson. . . .N. J. 
 
TABLE OF HIGH-CLASS GRADUATES. 
 
 255 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. J. G. Parke Penn. 
 
 2. D. C. Bolles Ohio. 
 
 3. Q. A. Gilmore ....... Ohio. 
 
 4. S. V. Ben^t . Fla. 
 
 5. E. R. Piatt Vt. 
 
 1847. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 J. C. Symmes Ohio. 
 
 J. Hamilton Ind. 
 
 J.J. Woods.. Ohio. 
 
 J. McAllister At large 
 
 G. W. Hazzard Ind. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. W. P. Trowbridge 
 
 2. J. C. Duane 
 
 3. R. S. Williamson. 
 
 4. W. H. Stevens... 
 
 5. A. J. Donelson. . . 
 
 . . Mich. 
 ..N. Y. 
 ..N.J. 
 ..N. Y. 
 . .Tenn. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 J. G. Parke Penn. 
 
 Q. A. Gilmore Ohio. 
 
 S. V. Benet Fla. 
 
 D. C. Bolles Ohio. 
 
 T.J. Haines N. H. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. F. E. Prime N. Y. 
 
 2. L. M. Walker At large 
 
 3. P. T. Wyman Mass. 
 
 4. S. Crispin Penn. 
 
 5. J. H. Wheelock Mass. 
 
 1848. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. W. P. Trowbridge. . .Mich. 
 
 2. A. J. Donelson Tenn. 
 
 3. J. C. Duane N. Y. 
 
 4. W. H. Stevens N. Y. 
 
 5. R. S. Williamson ....N.J. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. Q. A. Gilmore Ohio. 
 
 2. J. G. Parke Penn. 
 
 3. S. V. Benet Fla. 
 
 4. J. K. Duncan Ohio. 
 
 5. T. J. Haines N. H. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 F. E. Prime. 
 
 G. K. Warren 
 S. Crispin... 
 P. T. Wyman 
 C. Grover. . . 
 
 ..N. Y. 
 . .N. Y. 
 . . Penn. 
 . .Mass. 
 ..Me. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. G. L. Andrews Mass. 
 
 2. G. T. Balch Ohio. 
 
 3. J. St. C. Morton Penn. 
 
 4. A. Piper Penn. 
 
 5. W. T. Welcker Tenn. 
 
 1849. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. Q. A. Gilmore Ohio. 
 
 2. J. G. Parke Penn. 
 
 3. S. V. Benet Fla. 
 
 4. T. J. Haines. N. H. 
 
 5. J. K. Duncan Ohio. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. G. K. Warren N. Y. 
 
 2. S. Crispin Penn. 
 
 3. F. E. Prime N. Y. 
 
 4. A. Bowen Tenn» 
 
 5. C. Grover Me. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. G. L. Andrews Mass. 
 
 2. J. St. C. Morton Penn. 
 
 3. J. Thompson N. Y. 
 
 4. A. Piper Penn. 
 
 5. G. T. Balch Ohio. 
 
256 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA^ 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. Go H. Mendell Penn. 
 
 2. G. B. Andrews ..... N, C. 
 
 3. J. C. Ives , . . , Conn. 
 
 4. N. F. Alexander. .. .Tenn. 
 
 5. T. L. Casey At large 
 
 1850. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 I. F. E, Prime.... .....N. Y. 
 
 3. G. K.Warren .N, Y. 
 
 3. S. Crispin .......... Penn. 
 
 4. C. Grover „Me. 
 
 5- P. T. Wyman ,,.... ..Mass. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. G. L. Andrews .... .Mass. 
 
 2. J. St. C. Morton Pa. 
 
 3. G. T. Balch Ohio. 
 
 4. W. T. Welcker. . . . ...Tenn. 
 
 5. J. Thompson , N. Y. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. T. L. Casey .At large 
 
 2. G. W. Rose N. Y. 
 
 3. N. F. Alexander .... Tenn. 
 
 4. J. C. Ives Conn. 
 
 5. J. N. Bonaparte. .„..Md. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. W. p. Craighill Va. 
 
 2. J. B. McPherson .... Ohio. 
 
 3. J. W. Sill Ohio. 
 
 4. F. J. Shunk At large 
 
 5. W. Jenkins At large 
 
 1851. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. G, L. Andrews Mass. 
 
 2. J. St. C. Morton. . . . .Penn. 
 
 3. G. T. Balch Ohio. 
 
 4. W. T. Welcker Tenn. 
 
 5. A. Piper Pa. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 ■}., T. L. Casey At large 
 
 2. N. F. Alexander .... Tenn. 
 
 3. H. W. Slocum ...... N. Y. 
 
 4. G.W.Rose ....N. Y. 
 
 5. J. C. Ives ^ o . . . Conn. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. J. B. McPherson Ohio. 
 
 2. W. R. Boggs Ga. 
 
 3. W. S. Smith Ohio. 
 
 4. W. P. Craighill Va. 
 
 5. F. J. Shunk At large 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. O. O. Howard Me. 
 
 2. G. W. Custis Lee At large 
 
 3. H. L. Abbot Mass. 
 
 4. T. H. Ruger Wis. 
 
 5. T. J. Treadwell N. H. 
 
 1852. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. T. L. Casey At large 
 
 2. N. F. Alexander Tenn. 
 
 3. G. H, Mendell Penn. 
 
 4. G. W. Rose ,.N. Y. 
 
 5. J. C. Ives Conn. 
 
 SECOND CLASS, 
 
 1. Jas. B. McPherson . . Ohio. 
 
 2. W. R. Boggs .Ga. 
 
 3. W. P. Craighill Va. 
 
 4. J. W. Sill. Ohio. 
 
 5. W. S. Smith Ohio. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. G. W. Custis Lee At large 
 
 2. T. H. Ruger Wis. 
 
 3. J. Pegram Va. 
 
 4. H. L. Abbot Mass. 
 
 5. T.J. Treadwell N. H. 
 
TABLE OF HIGH-CLASS GRADUATES. 
 
 ■257 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. C. B. Comstock Mass. 
 
 2. G. H. Elliot Mass. 
 
 3. A. S.Webb. N. Y, 
 
 4. J. V. D. DuBois,...N. Y. 
 
 5. J. R. Church , , Ga. 
 
 1853. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. J. B. McPherson .... Ohio. 
 
 2. W. P. CraighiU Va. 
 
 3. J. W. Sill Ohio. 
 
 4. W. R. Boggs Ga. 
 
 5. F. J. Shunk. At large 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 I G. W. Custis Lee .... At large 
 
 2. H. L. Abbot Mass. 
 
 3. O. O. Howard Me. 
 
 4. T. H. Ruger Wis. 
 
 5. J. Pegram Va 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. C. B. Comstock .... Mass. 
 
 2. G. H. Elliot Mass. 
 
 3. Godfrey Weitzel .... Ohio, 
 
 4. A. S. Webb N. Y. 
 
 5. F. L. Vinton At large 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. G.W.Snyder N. Y. 
 
 2. D. C. Houston N. Y. 
 
 3. M. D. McAllister . . . Mich. 
 
 4. C. C. Lee N. C. 
 
 5. W. E. Webster Conn, 
 
 1854. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. G. W. Custis Lee At large 
 
 2. H. L. Abbot Mass. 
 
 3. T. H. Ruger Wis. 
 
 4. O. O. Howard Me. 
 
 5. T.J. Treadwell N. H. 
 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 
 I. 
 
 C. B. Comstock. .... 
 
 .Mass. 
 
 2. 
 
 C. Van Camp 
 
 .Penn. 
 
 3' 
 
 Godfrey Weitzel. . . » 
 
 .Ohio. 
 
 4- 
 
 J.B.Wheeler 
 
 .N. C. 
 
 S- 
 
 E Gay.. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 .N. H. 
 
 I. 
 
 D. C. Houston 
 
 .N. Y. 
 
 2. 
 
 M. D. McAllister. . . . 
 
 oMich. 
 
 3- 
 
 G.W.Snyder 
 
 .N. Y. 
 
 4. 
 
 C.C.Lee 
 
 .N. C. 
 
 S- 
 
 A. P. Porter. 
 
 . Penn. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS 
 
 
 I. 
 
 J. C. Palfrey 
 
 . Mass. 
 
 2. 
 
 G. C. Strong 
 
 . Mass. 
 
 3- 
 
 R. K. Meade, Jr.... 
 
 .Va. 
 
 4- 
 
 E. P. Alexander 
 
 .Ga. 
 
 S- 
 
 J. L. Kirby Smith. . . 
 
 . At large 
 
 
 1855. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 I. 
 
 C. B. Comstock 
 
 . Mass. 
 
 2. 
 
 Godfrey Weitzel. . . . 
 
 . Ohio. 
 
 3- 
 
 C. Van Camp 
 
 .Penn. 
 
 4- 
 
 G, H.Elliot 
 
 . Mass. 
 
 5- 
 
 J. B.Wheeler. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 .N. C. 
 
 I. 
 
 D. C. Houston 
 
 .N. Y. 
 
 2. 
 
 G. W. Snyder..... . 
 
 .N. Y. 
 
 3- 
 
 M. D. McAllister 
 
 . Mich. 
 
 4. 
 
 C.C.Lee 
 
 .N. C. 
 
 5- 
 
 0. M. Poe 
 
 .Ohio. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. J. C. Palfrey Mass. 
 
 2. R. K. Meade, Jr Va. 
 
 3. E. P. Alexander Ga. 
 
 4. J. L. Kirby Smith . . .At large 
 
 5. G. C. Strong Mass. 
 
258 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. J. H. Hallonquist. . . .S. C. 
 
 2. W. C. Paine Mass. 
 
 .3. J. S. Saunders At large 
 
 4. S. McKee Utah. 
 
 5. M. J. White Miss. 
 
 1856. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. G. W. Snyder... 
 
 2. D. C. Houston . . 
 .3. M. D. McAllister 
 
 4. C. C. Lee 
 
 .5. H. V. De Hart . . 
 
 .N. Y. 
 .N. Y. 
 . Mich. 
 .N. C. 
 . At large 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. J. C. Palfrey Mass. 
 
 2. R. K. Meade, Jr Va. 
 
 3. G. C. Strong Mass. 
 
 4. E. P. Alexander Ga. 
 
 5. H. M. Robert Ohio. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. W. C. Paine Mass. 
 
 2. J. H. Hallonquist S. C. 
 
 3. W. H. Echols Ala. 
 
 4. W. H. Bell Penn. 
 
 5. M. J. White Miss. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. W. E. Merrill At large 
 
 2. C. B. Reese N. Y. 
 
 3. S. H. Lockett Ala. 
 
 4. R. F. Beckham Va. 
 
 5. O. G. Wagner Penn. 
 
 1857. FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. J. C. Palfrey Mass. 
 
 2. R. K. Meade, Jr Va. 
 
 3. E. P. Alexander Ga. 
 
 4. H. M. Robert Ohio. 
 
 5. G. C. Strong Mass. 
 
 I. 
 
 2. 
 
 3- 
 
 4. 
 5- 
 
 I, 
 
 2. 
 
 3- 
 4- 
 
 5- 
 
 I. 
 2. 
 3- 
 
 4- 
 5- 
 
 I. 
 
 2. 
 3- 
 4- 
 5- 
 
 I. 
 2. 
 3- 
 
 4. 
 
 5- 
 
 I. 
 
 2. 
 
 3- 
 4- 
 5- 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 W. C. Paine Mass. 
 
 M. J. White Miss. 
 
 J. Dixon Tenn. 
 
 W. H. Echols Ala. 
 
 R. H. Brewer Md. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 W, E. Merrill At large 
 
 S. H. Lockett . . .Ala. 
 
 C. R. Collins Penn, 
 
 O. G. Wagner Penn. 
 
 C. B. Reese N. Y. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 W, McFarland N. Y. 
 
 N. Bowen N. Y. 
 
 Horace Porter Penn. 
 
 J. A. Tardy, Jr N. Y. 
 
 J. M. Whittemore . . .Mass. 
 
 1858. FIRST CLASS. 
 
 W. C. Paine Mass. 
 
 M. J. White Miss, 
 
 J. Dixon Tenn. 
 
 W. H. Echols Ala. 
 
 J. S. Saunders At large 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 W. E. Merrill At large 
 
 S. H. Lockett Ala. 
 
 C. R. Collins Pa. 
 
 O. G. Wagner Pa. 
 
 C. B. Reese N. Y. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 W. McFarland N. Y. 
 
 J. A. Tardy 
 
 Horace Porter . 
 
 N. Bowen 
 
 B. F. Sloan . . . . 
 
 . ..N. Y. 
 ... Pa. 
 ...N. Y. 
 ...S. C. 
 
TABLE OF HIGH-CLASS GRADUATES. 
 
 259 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. H. A. Du Pont At large 
 
 2. H. W. Kingsbury ...N. Y. 
 
 3. C. E. Cross Mass. 
 
 4. L. G. Hoxton At large 
 
 5. O. E. Babcock Vt. 
 
 1859. FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. W. E. Merrill At large 
 
 2. S. H. Lockett Ala. 
 
 3. C. R. Collins Pa. 
 
 4. C. R.Reese N. Y. 
 
 5. O.O.Wagner Pa. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. J. A. Tardy... 
 
 2. W. McFarland 
 
 3. N. Bowen 
 
 4. C. Hook, Jr. .. 
 
 5. Horace Porter. 
 
 ...N. Y. 
 
 ...N. Y. 
 ...N.Y. 
 ...111. 
 . . . Penn. 
 
 TillRD CLASS. 
 
 1. C. E. Cross Mass. 
 
 2. H. A. Du Pont At large 
 
 3. O. E. Babcock Vt. 
 
 4. H. W. Kingsbury. . . . N. Y. 
 
 5. L. G. Hoxton At large 
 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 I. 
 
 2. 
 
 3- 
 
 4- 
 
 A. H. Dutton... 
 F. U. Farquhar. 
 
 C. Derrick 
 
 P. H. O'Rorke. 
 
 A Mordecai . . . 
 
 .... Mass. 
 Penn. 
 
 At large 
 
 N.Y. 
 
 .... At large 
 
 i860. — FIRST 
 
 CLASS. 
 
 I. 
 2. 
 
 3- 
 4- 
 .■)• 
 
 W. McFarland. 
 J. A. Tardy.... 
 Horace Porter. 
 
 N. Bowen 
 
 T. Edson 
 
 N.Y. 
 
 ....N.Y. 
 
 Penn. 
 
 N.Y. 
 
 Mass. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 1. H. A. Du Pont At large 
 
 2. H. W. Kingsbury Mass. 
 
 3. O. E. Babcock Vt. 
 
 4. A. Ames Me. 
 
 5. Emery Upton N. Y. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. p. H. O'Rorke N. Y. 
 
 2. A. H. Dutton Conn. 
 
 3. F. U. Farquhar Penn. 
 
 4. C. Derrick At large 
 
 5. D. W. Flagler N. Y. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. G. L. Gillespie Tenn. 
 
 2. R. S. Mackenzie At large 
 
 3. W. A. Marye Cal. 
 
 4. H. S. Wetmore Ohio. 
 
 5. C. R. Suter At large 
 
 1861. — FIRST CLASS. 
 
 1. H. A. Du Pont At large 
 
 2. C. E. Cross Mass. 
 
 3. O. E. Babcock Vt. 
 
 4. H. W. Kingsbury... N.Y. 
 
 5. A. Ames Me. 
 
 SECOND CLASS. 
 
 P. H. O'Rorke N.Y. 
 
 F. U. Farquhar 
 A. H. Dutton.. 
 
 C. Derrick 
 
 D. W. Flagler.. 
 
 . .Penn. 
 . .Conn. 
 . . At large 
 ..N. Y. 
 
 THIRD CLASS. 
 
 1. C. R. Suter At large 
 
 2. G. Burroughs Mass. 
 
 3. G. L. Gillespie Tenn. 
 
 4. Jared A. Smith Me. 
 
 5- J. A. Kress Ind. 
 
26o THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 FOURTH CLASS. 
 
 1. P. S. Michie Ohio. 3. John R. Meigs Atlarge 
 
 2. J. D. Robb Ky. 4. H. G. Townsend N. Y. 
 
 5. W.J. Twining Ind. 
 
 The foregoing sketch of West Point, in its double 
 aspect of defensive post and miHtary school, while not as 
 exhaustive in Special detail as the subject is susceptible of 
 being made, will, nevertheless, furnish information suffi- 
 ciently full and comprehensive for the purposes of the 
 ordinary inquirer. The author has not touched upon the 
 internal management of the school, its system of govern- 
 ment, administration, discipline, curriculum of studies, 
 etc., etc. These features of the institution, while not 
 perfect in character and in some particulars wholly objec- 
 tionable, are not designed for especial scrutiny in the 
 present volume. There is one point, however, which may 
 be touched upon in the following pages, and with the 
 statement of which the author will pass for the present 
 from the school at West Point to other relating topics. 
 
 By reference to the act of March 16, 1802, creating 
 the Military Academy, it will be observed that section 28 
 of the said act prescribes that " the principal engineer, 
 and in his absence the next in rank, shall have the super- 
 intendence of the said Academy." Under this provision 
 the affairs of the Academy had been conducted by the 
 officer designated up to the year 1 866, when a modifica- 
 tion was ordered. There had been fourteen superintend- 
 ents, all of whom were of the engineer corps. Under 
 this simpler method the best work of the institution was 
 
WEST POINT A MILITAK Y DEPARTMENT. 26 1 
 
 accomplished, while the system itself more nearly repre- 
 sented the true character of the Academy as a mere 
 school for the training of future soldiers. 
 
 In the year 1866, however, the unwise step was taken 
 to remove the institution from the superintendency of the 
 Chief Erigineei", and to place the charge of the Academy 
 in the War Department, under such officers as the Secre- 
 tary of War might assign to the duty. The result that 
 followed soon demonstrated the lessened efficiency of the 
 school, consequent upon a sort of itinerant teaching, con- 
 nected of necessity with the varied complexion of an 
 officer wholly subject to political changes. Instead of 
 retracing the false step, a still greater error was perpe- 
 trated. Under order of the President of the United 
 States, Major-General J. M. Schofield assumed charge of 
 the Academy as superintendent on September i, 1876. 
 This officer reports under date of November 8, 1877, in 
 relation to the subject, as follows : 
 
 "The first duty which demanded my attention was a careful 
 revision of the academic regulations, with a view to such improve- 
 ments as might be possible in the system of discipline, course of 
 instruction, and general administration of the institution. 
 
 " The revised regulations, having been submitted to the Secre- 
 tary of War and by him to the President, were approved and 
 adopted on the 28th of February, 1877. The most important 
 feature of this revised system is the erection of the Military Acad- 
 emy and its accessories, constituting the post at West Point into a 
 military department, under the command of a general officer and 
 under the supervision and charge of the General-in-Chief of the 
 army. This gives to this institution an organization correspond- 
 ing to its character as one of the most important branches of the 
 military establishment; makes it in form what it is designed to be 
 
262 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 in substance, viz.: a model for the purpose of instruction of a sep- 
 arate military department, or of any army in the field; and makes 
 the official head of the army responsible to the President and to 
 the Secretary of War for the proper conduct of this as for the 
 other branches of the military service," etc. 
 
 Now, these are the honest views of a professional 
 soldier, formed, of course, from the standpoint of a mili- 
 tary interest. The institution which was so graphically 
 described by Colonel Williams, one of its first superin- 
 tendents, as being "like a foundling, barely existing 
 among the mountains, and nurtured at a distance, out of 
 sight, and almost unknown to its legitimate parents," had, 
 in the course of seventy-five years, passed through various 
 stages of military incubation, and at length had blos- 
 somed out into an enormous tree, whose extended 
 branches covered the wide area of an entire military 
 department. The idea seemed ludicrous, though its tend- 
 ency was full of danger to a Government with the 
 declared policy of subordinating the military to the civil 
 power. 
 
 Five years of this experiment brought such a pressure 
 of hostile opinion to bear upon the Administration, that 
 the following general order was promulgated : 
 
 "War Department, Washington, July 13, 1882. 
 
 " I. By direction of the President, the Military Department of 
 West Point will be discontinued September i, 1882. 
 
 " II. By direction of the President, sections i and 2 of article 
 I of the general regulations for the United States Military Acad- 
 emy are hereby amended to read as follows: 
 
 " I. The General of the army, under the War Department, 
 shall have supervision and charge of the United States Military 
 
ABOLITION OF WEST POINT DEPARTMENT. 263 
 
 Academy. He will watch over its administration and discipline 
 and the instruction of the corps of cadets, and will make reports 
 thereof to the Secretary of War. 
 
 " 2. The superintendent, and in his absence the next in rank, 
 shall have the immediate government and military command of 
 the Academy, and shall be commandant of the military post of 
 West Point. The superintendent will render, through the Adju- 
 tant-General, to the General of the army, for submission to 
 the Secretary of War, all required reports, returns, and estimates 
 concerning the Academy. 
 
 " Robert T. Lincoln, Secretary of War." 
 
 Comment upon this order will be reserved for another 
 place. Having now completed a somewhat extended 
 account of military education in the United States as it 
 has been connected with West Point, the author will pro- 
 ceed to trace its further development in the direction of 
 special naval education, which finally resulted in the estab- 
 lishment of the Naval Academy. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HISTORY OF NAVAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES — 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE NAVY DEPARTMENT SEPARATION OF 
 
 THE WAR AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS FIRST SUGGESTION 
 
 OF A NAVAL SCHOOL BY SECRETARY m'hENRY THE 
 
 FIRST ACTUAL PROVISION FOR NAVAL EDUCATION, JAN- 
 UARY 2, 1813 REVIEW OF LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS 
 
 governor's ISLAND SUGGESTED AS THE SITE FOR A 
 
 NAVAL SCHOOL ATTEMPT TO OBTAIN LEGISLATION 
 
 BY A "rider" DEFEATED IN CONGRESS A PASSING 
 
 GLANCE AT THE DEPARTMENT BARNACLE EXPRESSIVE 
 
 LANGUAGE OF THE AMERICAN SAILOR TABLE SHOWING 
 
 CONDITION OF NAVAL SCHOOLS IN 1 833. 
 
 •I 
 
 T is not necessary to the present purpose to enter 
 upon a consideration of the Naval Academy with the 
 same detail of statement given to the institution at West 
 Point in the preceding pages. The subject itself does 
 not admit of this. The Academy at Annapolis hardly 
 numbers half the years of the older school, and, from the 
 nature of the two branches of the service, it must be 
 considered of less importance. Apart from this consid- 
 eration, the author has now to say that it is not his pur- 
 pose to attack, in the following pages, the idea of prelim- 
 inary training and preparatory education as a proper basis 
 
 upon which to achieve expertness in the military calling, 
 
 264 
 
A UTHOR BELIE VES IN MILITAR Y TRAINING. 265 
 
 but simply to arraign, in the strong terms that he believes 
 the subject demands, the system upon which both institu- 
 tions are founded, and which renders them, in his opinion, 
 inimical to the best interests of republican government. 
 
 From the idea of a trained soldiery to that of a trained 
 marine the transition was no less rapid than natural. 
 Although the early records are very deficient in respect 
 of the sentiment leading up to the institution of a formal 
 naval school, there can be little doubt that the suggestion 
 of an army school far back in the first years of the Revo- 
 lution went hand in hand with that for the establishment 
 of a naval academy. So closely related were the interests 
 of the army and navy considered that their manage- 
 ment was at first confided to a single principal official. 
 On August 7, 1789, being only the sixth act passed by 
 the Congress that assembled under the newly adopted 
 Constitution, a law was approved entitled "An act to 
 establish an executive department to be denominated the 
 Department of War." The first section of this act reads 
 as follows : 
 
 "^f it enacted, etc., That there shall be an executive depart- 
 ment to be denominated the Department of War, and that there 
 shall be a principal officer therein, to be called the Secretary for the 
 Department of War, who shall perform and execute such duties as 
 shall from time to time be enjoined on or entrusted to him by the 
 President of the United States, agreeably to the Constitution, 
 relative to military commissions, or to the land or naval forces, 
 ships, or warlike stores of the United States, or to such other 
 matters respecting military or naval affairs as the President of the 
 United States shall assign to the said department, or relative to 
 the granting of lands to persons entitled thereto, for military ser- 
 vices rendered to the United States, or relative to Indian affairs; 
 
266 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 and furthermore, that the said principal officer shall conduct the 
 business of the said department in such manner as the President 
 of the United States shall from time to time order or instruct," etc. 
 
 Under this act, vesting the functions of what subse- 
 quently became two separate departments in a single 
 executive head, General Henry Knox, who had been in 
 charge of the War Department since 1785, was appointed 
 Secretary of War and of the Navy, which place he held 
 until the year 1795, when he was succeeded by Timothy 
 Pickering for about two years, and the latter by James 
 VIcHenry for nearly four years. On April 30, 1798, 
 Congress passed another law entitled " An act to estab- 
 lish an executive department to be denominated the 
 Department of the Navy." Section 5 of this act repeals 
 so much of the law of August 7, 1 789, as vests any charge 
 of naval matters in the Department of War. The two 
 departments of War and of the Navy thus became dis- 
 tinct and separate in their functions and operations. 
 
 No official suggestion of a naval school appears until 
 the submission of the communication of Secretary Mc- 
 Henry to Congress, bearing date of January 13, 1806. 
 This paper appears in full in the preceding pages. By 
 reference to the paper it will be observed that the Secre- 
 tary recommends the establishment of four schools, viz.: 
 The Fundamental School, the School of Engineers and 
 Artillerists, the School of Cavalry and Infantry, and the 
 School of the Navy. He recommends that the naval 
 school be provided with a director, a professor of mathe- 
 matics, a professor of geography and natural philosophy, 
 
M' HENRY'S SCHOOL OF THE NAVY. 267 
 
 an architect, and a designing and drawing-master. Of 
 the school itself he speaks as follows : 
 
 " The School of the Navy, to teach those appointed to, or 
 destined for this service the application of the knowledge acquired 
 in the Fundamental School in arithmetic, algebra, geometry, 
 statics, and navigation. To this end, after having passed exami- 
 nation, they shall make voyages or cruises under skillful officers, 
 for certain periods, during which time they ought to be exercised 
 in the maneuvers and observations most useful in service, and to 
 be instructed in whatever respects rigging of vessels of war, pilot- 
 age, and the management of cannon." 
 
 In justice it should be here remarked that the able pa- 
 per submitted by Secretary McHenry, and now quoted, has 
 been credited to Alexander Hamilton, who was said to 
 have prepared and recommended it in his capacity of 
 Inspector-General of the Army under Washington, dur- 
 ing the period when, prompted by hostile acts of the 
 French Directory, the army was reorganized in view of 
 the probable rupture with France. 
 
 This communication, as heretofore stated, was fol- 
 lowed as a sequitur by the act of March i6, 1802, estab- 
 lishing the Military Academy at West Point, but no 
 action whatever was taken looking in the direction of 
 establishing a separate naval school nor .of creating any 
 naval professorships even in the Military Academy. 
 
 In the report of Colonel Jonathan Williams to Presi- 
 dent Jefferson upon the condition of West Point as it 
 existed in the year 1808, which report has also been re- 
 produced in this volume,, the reader will perceive that, 
 under the head of his third proposition for placing the 
 
268 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 West Point school upon a better basis, Colonel Williams 
 recommends that a general professorship of mathematics 
 be established, and that to this branch should expressly 
 belong the teaching of nautical astronomy, geography, 
 and navigation. Nothing came of this recommendation, 
 however, in the way of legislation. 
 
 Apart from the frequent suggestion of the necessity of 
 a naval school, the subject seems to have slumbered until 
 the second war with Great Britain was actually upon us. 
 This, of course, was a period of excitement, when every 
 effort was made to develop to the highest degree the mili- 
 tary strength of the country, both upon the land and upon 
 the sea. The Academy at West Point received its first 
 real stimulus from the hands of the Government through 
 the act of April 29, 181 2, quoted in the preceding pages. 
 Among the various laws made during the first seven 
 months after the declaration of existing hostilities, there 
 is an act that authorized a measure which must be consid- 
 ered the germ of the present naval school in its very 
 earliest state of existence. The act' referred to is that 
 denominated "An act to increase the navy of the United 
 States," approved January 2, 1813. Section i of the act 
 authorizes the President to cause to be built and 
 equipped four ships to rate not less than twenty-four 
 guns, and six ships to rate forty-four guns each. Sections 
 2, 3, and 4 of the act enumerate the complement of offi- 
 cers of all classes and of men which each of the said ships 
 should carry, and in the enumeration of officers it is 
 stated that there shall be one schoolmaster, to be 
 
FIRST PROVISION FOR A SCHOOLMASTER. 269 
 
 appointed by the captain. Section 5 of the law enacts 
 that the pay of the schoolmaster shall be twenty-five 
 dollars per month and two rations per day. 
 
 Though this provision, as above remarked, must be 
 considered the very beginning, or rather the initial point 
 of departure, of the movement which has since found 
 development in the establishment of an exclusive naval 
 school, it appears from the records that the idea embraced 
 in the appointment of a regular "schoolmaster," who may 
 be said to have been "abroad "both as regards his own 
 person and the results upon his pupils, did not tend in the 
 particular direction of a specific naval education. 
 
 In those days there were large numbers of boys 
 attached to the navy as midshipmen, whose appointment 
 rested upon mere executive favor. These boys, as a rule, 
 had had but a very limited general education, and it was 
 designed, by the appointment of regular schoolmasters, 
 to supply this deficiency to some extent, particularly in 
 the direction of mathematics and of languages. 
 
 Under the authority cited, the crude attempt at a 
 school system was continued for a period of twenty-five 
 years or more. 
 
 In the year following the passage of the act of Jan- 
 uary 2, 1813, Secretary William Jones, who held the naval 
 portfolio under President Madison, proposed a step far in 
 advance of that so recently taken. Under a resolution of 
 the Senate, March 18, 18 14, the Secretary of the Navy 
 was directed to devise and digest a system for the better 
 organization of the Department of the Navy of the 
 
270 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 United States. In compliance with this direction, Secre- 
 tary Jones submitted a lengthy communication upon the 
 subject designated, under date of November 15, 1814. 
 The report is an able one, and embodies the outline of an 
 act " for the better organization of the Navy Depart- 
 ment." In the report under consideration Secretary 
 Jones takes occasion to make an additional recommenda- 
 tion in the following words : 
 
 " I would also respectfully suggest the expediency of provid- 
 ing by law for the establishment of a Naval Academy, with suita- 
 ble professors, for the instruction of the officers of the navy in 
 those branches of the mathematics and experimental philosophy, 
 and in the science and practice of gunnery, theory of naval archi- 
 tecture, and art of mechanical drawing, which are necessary to the 
 accomplishment of the naval officer." 
 
 This recommendation met with no responsive move- 
 ment upon the part of Congress. The usefulness of the 
 Military Academy itself at West Point was under process 
 of being tested, and the time was not ripe for the inaugu- 
 ration of a twin institution. 
 
 Some eight years elapsed before any further aqtion of 
 an official character appears to have been taken. The 
 question was the subject of much discussion in the 
 interim, however, and especially in connection with the 
 school at West Point. Under date of December 2, 1822, 
 Smith Thompson, then Secretary of the Navy, submitted 
 to President Monroe the "plan of a peace establishment 
 for the navy and marine corps." This document was 
 transmitted by the President under date of December 6, 
 1822, with a special message, to the House of Represen- 
 
MO VEMENT FOR A NA VAL A CADEM Y. 2 '7 1 
 
 tatives, from which had emanated the request that it be 
 prepared. The "plan" was also accompanied by a bill 
 " to fix and render permanent the naval peace establish- 
 ment of the United States," and at the conclusion of the 
 report itself the Secretary uses the following words : 
 
 ''Although, perhaps, not falling strictly within the scope of the 
 resolution, yet the present affords a fit opportunity of respectfully 
 suggesting the importance of establishing a naval academy for the 
 instruction of our young officers in the sciences connected with 
 their profession. As this is intended as a mere suggestion of a 
 measure deserving consideration, I have not thought proper to 
 present any plan for carrying it into effect. This may be done 
 hereafter, should the measure meet with a favorable reception; 
 nor is it deemed fit for me, at this time, to urge the many consid- 
 erations which will readily occur to all liberal and enlightened 
 minds in favor of such an institution." 
 
 This appeal in behalf of the movement fell upon ears 
 as deaf as those receiving a similar recommendation eight 
 years prior to that time. No action whatever was taken 
 upon the matter by Congress, 
 
 The next official attempt to carry the project into 
 execution was made by Samuel L. Southard, of New 
 Jersey, who served as Secretary of the Navy from Sep- 
 tember 1 6, 1823, till March 9, 1829, and who represented 
 his State in the United States Senate from 1833 to 1841, 
 the year of his death, having, previously to entering the 
 Cabinet, been elected to the same position, as well as to 
 others of high distinction. This gentleman was the most 
 earnest friend of the measure that had yet appeared in its 
 interest. 
 
 As far as the author is aware, the history of the move- 
 
2/2 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 ment to inaugurate a formal school in the United States 
 for special naval education has not been written with 
 documentary completeness; and partly with the view to 
 place the subject in a position admitting of easy reference 
 by those particularly interested in the details, the author 
 has collected the scanty material relating to it, and with- 
 out further apology to his readers reproduces it in full in 
 the present place. 
 
 In compliance with a resolution of the House of Rep- 
 resentatives made December 15, 1823, Secretary South- 
 ard, under date of January 24, 1824, submitted "a plan 
 for reorganizing ,the naval establishment." In recom- 
 mending an increase in the number of vessels then in 
 service, with an adequate number of officers, the Secre- 
 tary refers to the matter of naval education in the foUow- 
 *ng words : 
 
 " It ;s in vain to hope for a triumphant defense of our national 
 interests and character, then, without we thoroughly train, edu- 
 cate, and discipline those who have to fight our battles. To insure 
 such a defense beyond hazard, it is confidently believed that the 
 nation will cheerfully meet the requisite expense. Connected with 
 this point, it is not improper to suggest that the early education of 
 most of our officers is very unequal to the character they have sub- 
 sequently to sustain, and that an effectual remedy can be found 
 only in the establishment of a naval school." 
 
 For the two highest rates of vessels which the Secre- 
 tary recommends in his report, schoolmasters are to be 
 provided with the pay of $30 per month instead of $25, 
 as under the act of 1813. In support of this increase, the 
 Secretary remarks; "Schoolmasters are proposed for the 
 two highest rates of vessels, and, as we have yet no school 
 
SECRE TAR Y SO UTHARD ON NAVAL A CADEM Y. 2 7 J 
 
 for the instruction of young officers, and as the duties of 
 the chaplains, both as clergymen and teachers, demand 
 purity of character, enlargement of mind, and scientific 
 attainments, a higher salary ($30 in lieu of $25) would be 
 useful to secure the services of those who are worthy of 
 the station." 
 
 In his report on the "condition of the navy and 
 marine corps," made the second session of the Eight- 
 eenth Congress, through the President, and dated 
 November i, 1824, Secretary Southard again brings up 
 the subject of naval education as follows : 
 
 " Several laws seem necessary to render the establishment eco- 
 nomical and efficient. Among them are those which were under 
 consideration at the last session, for building ten sloops-of-war and 
 reorganizing the navy. To these ought to be added a revision of 
 the law for the better government of the navy, and the system of 
 courts-martial, but especially some provision should be made for 
 the education and instruction of the younger officers. We have 
 now the light of experience on this point in the army, and its sal- 
 utary effects are very manifest. Instruction is not less necessary 
 to the navy than to the army. I refer to the views taken of some 
 of these subjects in the reports made during the last session, and 
 it will be my duty to develop them more fully in answer to a reso 
 lution of the Senate now before me.'' 
 
 No result having followed these appeals for legisla- 
 tion, Secretary Southard invoked the aid of President 
 John Quincy Adams, who in his message to the first ses- 
 sion of the Nineteenth Congress, in December, 1825, 
 alluded to the subject in these words ; 
 
 * * * "The rules and regulations by which it [the navy] is 
 governed earnestly call for revision, and the want of a naval school 
 of instruction, corresponding with the Military Academy at West 
 
2 74 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Point, for the formation of scientific and accomplished officers, is 
 felt with daily increasing aggravation." 
 
 In his report dated December 2, 1825, and trans- 
 mitted to Congress by the President, Secretary Southard, 
 in commenting upon previous recommendations made by 
 himself, is disposed to take a rather gloomy view of naval 
 affairs. He remarks as follows: 
 
 "Without an organization of some kind — without a revision 
 of our penal code, and of our rules and regulations — and without 
 a naval school, tardy amendments may be made in the naval ser- 
 vice and in its administration, but it is in vain to hope for speedy, 
 useful, and very practical changes. * * * -pije experience of 
 the present year has confirmed most strongly the views taken on 
 all the subjects mentioned in the reports to which I refer you." 
 
 In making the open recommendation to establish and 
 locate a navai school at Governor's Island, in the State 
 of New York, a sum of $10,000 was asked in order that 
 it might be put into immediate operation. The Secre- 
 tary says in connection therewith : 
 
 * * * "The younger officers [of the navy] are taken from 
 the poor who have not the means of a good education, as well as 
 the rich who have. They enter, from the nature of their duties, at 
 so early an age that they cannot be accomplished nor even moder- 
 ately accurate scholars. They are constantly employed on ship- 
 board or in our navy-yards, where much advancement in learning 
 cannot be expected. The better instructed or more intelligent an 
 officer is, the more skillfully and precisely, and, of course, the more 
 economically will he perform the duties assigned to him. Ignor- 
 ance is always, skill is never, prodigal. The navy is also the 
 bearer of our honor and fame to every foreign shore. The Ameri- 
 can naval officer is, in fact, the representative of his country in 
 every port to which he goes, and by him is that country in a 
 greater or less degree estimated." Etc. 
 
The Naval Academy at Annapolis. 
 
 I. Cadet Quarters. 2. Dress-Parade. 3. Physical and Chemical 
 
 Laboratories — Practice Fleet in Distance. 
 
V/EfVS OF PRESIDENT ADAMS. 275 
 
 Considerable discussion of the subject followed this 
 renewed effort to obtain favorable legislation in behalf of 
 the measure now being considered. No other result 
 attended it, however, as Congress again adjourned with- 
 out adopting any law upon the subject. 
 
 At the meeting of the second session of the Nine- 
 teenth Congress, President John Quincy Adams, in his 
 annual message dated December 5, 1826, again brings 
 the matter before the body when speaking of the necessi- 
 ties of the navy and the expediency of its gradual 
 increase. The reference, which is neither urgent nor 
 emphatic, is made in the following words : 
 
 " In continuing to provide for the gradual increase of the navy, 
 it may not be necessary or expedient to add for the present any 
 more to the number of our ships; but should you deem it advisa- 
 ble to continue the yearly appropriation of half a million to the 
 same objects, it may be profitably expended in providing a supply 
 of timber to be seasoned, and other materials for future use, in the 
 ■construction of docks, or in laying the foundations of a school for 
 naval education, as to the wisdom of Congress either of those 
 measures may appear to claim the preference." 
 
 Again it appeared that Congress had no disposition 
 to entertain the project of a school, so repeatedly urged 
 by a few enthusiasts. By the act of March 3, 1827, the 
 appropriation for a supply' of good timber (live oak) was 
 promptly made, as was provision also for certain dry 
 ■docks, etc. Determined, however, that Congress should 
 not again adjourn without the desired legislation in favor 
 of an academy. Secretary Southard resolved upon the 
 expedient adopted in the case of the Academy at West 
 Point, when all effort to obtain separate legislation had 
 
276 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 failed ; that is, as will be remembered, to tie the legisla- 
 tion to some other bill, or, in more modern phraseology, 
 to put it on as a "rider." Accordingly, when the act of 
 March 3, 1827, entitled "An act for the gradual improve- 
 ment of the navy of the United States," was presented, it. 
 embraced several sections relating to the establishment of 
 an academy. These sections were as follow : 
 
 " Sec. 7. That the President of the United States be, and he 
 is hereby authorized to cause to be established a Naval Academy 
 for the instruction of such midshipmen and other officers in the navy 
 of the United States as may, from time to time, be attached thereto. 
 
 " Sec. 8. That the said Academy shall be governed by such 
 rules and regulations as shall, from time to time, be prescribed 
 under the direction of the President of the United States. 
 
 "Sec. 9. That the President of the United States be, and he 
 is hereby authorized to appoint for said Academy such professors, 
 assistant professors, ana teachers, as may, in his opinion, be neces- 
 sary, who shall receive such pay and emoluments as are now 
 received by similar professors, assistant professors, and teachers at 
 the Military Academy. 
 
 " Sec. 10. That the President of the United States be, and he 
 is hereby authorized to cause to be procured such books, imple- 
 ments, and apparatus, and to cause to be erected such buildings as 
 may be necessary and proper for said school. And to cause to be 
 
 purchased, if necessary, a quantity of land, not exceeding acres, 
 
 to include the site selected for the erection of said buildings, and 
 to procure from the State in which the said land may lie the juris- 
 diction over the same. 
 
 "Sec II. That there shall be laid before Congress, at their 
 next session, a list of the professors, assistant professors, and 
 teachers appointed under this act, with the compensation allowed 
 to each, the number of students admitted into the Academy, and 
 the rules and regulations prescribed for its government." 
 
 When this bill was under consideration in the Senate, 
 after having been reported from the committee of the 
 
DEFEA T OF NAVAL A CADEM Y BILL. 2 J J 
 
 whole, Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, moved to amend 
 by striking from the bill the sections above quoted. This 
 motion was lost by a vote of 24 nays to 22 yeas. The 
 blank was filled with the word "ten," when the bill was 
 ordered to be engrossed and read a third time. Upon 
 February 17, 1827, the bill came up in order, and was 
 duly passed by the Senate, by a vote of 28 yeas and 18 
 nays. Senators Thomas H. Benton and John Branch, the 
 latter of whom was made Secretary of the Navy two 
 years later, voting against the bill, as they had previously 
 voted to strike out the sections authorizing the Naval 
 Academy. Senator Levi Woodbury, who became Secre- 
 tary of the Navy in 1831, also voted against the bill upon 
 its final passage. 
 
 The bill having been sent to the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, it was returned from the latter body with three 
 amendments, the last of which proposed to strike out the 
 provisions for the establishment of a Naval Academy, 
 which amendment was carried in the House by a vote of 
 86 yeas and 78 nays. The Senate concurred in this 
 amendment by a vote of 22 yeas and 21 nays. Senators 
 Thomas H. Benton, John Branch, Thomas Clayton, Mah- 
 lon Dickerson, William R. King, John Randolph, Martin 
 Van Buren, and Levi Woodbury, among others, voting in 
 the affirmative. 
 
 Thus was defeated, by a direct vote of Congress, the 
 effort to establish a Government academy for the educa- 
 tion of naval officers. It had long been talked of and 
 recommended, as we have seen, but this was the first 
 
278 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 opportunity that had been presented to Congress whereby 
 the sentiment of its members might be ascertained 
 through official expression. The friends of the measure, 
 among whom was now the President, John Quincy 
 Adams, were determined not to abandon the attempt to 
 accompHsh its success. Upon the assembhng of the first 
 session of the Twentieth Congress, in December, 1827, the 
 President returned with increased warmth to the subject 
 in his annual message, expressing himself in the following 
 terms : 
 
 " The establishment of a Naval Academy, furnishing the means 
 of theoretic instruction to the youths who devote their lives to the 
 service of their country upon the ocean, still solicits the sanction 
 of the legislature. Practical seamanship and the art of naviga- 
 tion may be acquired upon the cruises of the squadrons which 
 from time to time are dispatched to distant seas, but a competent 
 knowledge even of the art of ship-building, the higher mathe- 
 matics, and astronomy — the literature which can place our officers 
 on a level of polished education with the officers of other maritime 
 nations — the knowledge of the laws, municipal and national, which 
 in their intercourse with foreign states and their governments are 
 continually called into operation ; and, above all, that acquaintance 
 with the principles of honor and justice, with the higher obliga- 
 tions of morals, and of general laws, human and divine, which con- 
 stitute the great distinction between the warrior-patriot and the 
 licensed robber and pirate — these can be systematically taught 
 and eminently acquired only in a permanent school, stationed upon 
 the shore and provided with the teachers, the instruments, and the 
 books conversant with and adapted to the communication of the 
 principles of these respective sciences to the youthful and inquiring 
 mind." Etc. 
 
 Notwithstanding this further recommendation of the 
 President, followed by such arguments and influences as 
 could be brought to bear by his Secretary of the Navy 
 
TRADITIONAL LEGACIES OF DEPARTMENTS. 2J() 
 
 and the friends of the measure in Congress, the matter 
 received no official action, the body again adjourned 
 without giving sanction to the strongly pressed Naval 
 Academy, and Secretary Southard became silent for several 
 years upon the subject. 
 
 There are certain state measures which seem to attach 
 themselves to a particular department of the Government 
 and to become, as it were, a part of the traditional policy 
 of that department. These measures go with the office 
 and have no binding relation to the officer. They are a 
 sort of heirloom, handed down through the fitful uncer- 
 tainties of official existence from the original owner to the 
 latest incumbent. The Military Academy at West Point 
 was one of these measures. Its conception originated in 
 the particular department to which its activity belongs, 
 and its final execution was accomplished, after several 
 years of strong effort, purely through the influence of the 
 War Department. The measure, as has been shown in 
 the previous pages, was resisted with much obstinacy by 
 Congress, but it was finally successful through the per^ 
 sistence of the executive. 
 
 The project for a Naval Academy was also one of the 
 measures spoken of above. First officially suggested by 
 McHenry, in his report of January 13, 1800, it was 
 pressed upon the attention of Congress for nearly thirty 
 years by various Administrations before the obje'ct was 
 fairly accomplished. Treated with neglect, and twice 
 defeated by direct vote of Congress, success was at 
 length achieved only though the decisive action of one 
 
28o THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 of the Naval Secretaries, who, regardless of legislative 
 action, took the responsibility of establishing the school 
 upon his own authority, though this was shared, of 
 course, by his colleagues and the President, 
 
 The operation of the influence of traditional policy 
 and example pertaining to an executive department was 
 curiously shown in the measure now occupying our atten- 
 tion. The Hon. John Branch, as United States Senator, 
 was strongly opposed to the sections of the act of 
 March 3, 1827, authorizing the establishment of a naval 
 school. His vote is recorded with those who endeavored 
 to strike from the bill those sections. He subsequently 
 voted against the passage of the act after the Senate had 
 refused to strike out the sections referred to. Still later 
 he voted to agree with the House amendment to the bill, 
 striking out the obnoxious sections, and finally his vote 
 was recorded for the bill after the sections referred to 
 had been expunged. With this record, as a Senator, 
 against the establishment of a naval school, he was 
 appointed two years later to be Secretary of the Navy, 
 under President Jackson, that is to say, upon March 9, 
 1829. Under date of December 6, 1830, he made his 
 annual report to the President, "showing the condition of 
 the navy in the year 1830," which report was transmitted 
 to Congress under cover of the Presidential message. 
 After entering the atmosphere of the Naval Department, 
 he underwent a metamorphosis of views strangely illus- 
 trative of the point herein suggested. The following 
 quotation from the report referred to, when contrasted 
 
CURIOUS OFFICIAL METAMORPHOSIS. 28 I 
 
 with his course upon the naval-academic measure while in 
 the Senate, will at least call forth " our special wonder- 
 ment," even should it fail "to overcome us like a summer 
 cloud": 
 
 "As a measure tending to give reputation and efficiency to the 
 navy, the cultivation of the minds of those who arte to compose its 
 active members is a subject of great national interest. It is a fact 
 which will not be questioned, that the early education of the offi- 
 cers of the navy is entirely unequal to the character they have sub- 
 sequently to sustain. 
 
 " Few appointments under the Government involve a necessity 
 for more general and scientific attainments. As officers of the 
 navy, they are required to act as judges of the law and evidence 
 on trials of their brother officers for offenses affecting the lives and 
 characters of the accused; as commanders of ships, they should 
 possess not only a practical acquaintance with seamanship, but an 
 accurate knowledge of those branches of mathematics connected 
 with the science of navigation, with astronomy and geography; 
 and as commanders of fleets or squadrons, they must be well 
 informed on all points of international law having reference to the 
 rights of neutrals and belligerents, the often-recurring question 
 of the rights of blockade, and other interdictions of intercourse 
 between powers standing in this relation to each other; to possess 
 an accurate acquaintance with the modern languages, to enable 
 them to enter into discussions on points of difference which may 
 arise with the representatives of foreign states speaking such for- 
 eign language; and it may often happen that the communications 
 can only be made advantageously in the language of the party 
 with whom the subject of dispute may exist. The sons of the 
 wealthy may obtain these advantages from the bounty of their 
 parents, but without the aid of public instruction how are the sons 
 of the less affluent to become qualified to command in the naval 
 service ? 
 
 " It may be further remarked that while a school on the most 
 liberal and comprehensive plan of instruction has been provided 
 for the military talent of the country, and has been endowed with 
 every attribute for the advancement of the education of the youth 
 
282 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 who aspire to a share in the toils or honors of a military life, the 
 only provision which has been authorized by law for the instruc- 
 tion of the midshipmen in the navy is to be found in the allowance 
 of twenty-five dollars per month to the schoolmasters retained on 
 board the larger vessels of war." 
 
 When we reflect upon the fact that the authorization 
 for a naval school upon a basis similar to that of the 
 Academy at West Point was only defeated by a single 
 vote in the United States Senate, about three years 
 before, and that that vote was given by Senator John 
 Branch, the position of Secretary John Branch may 
 appear rather anomalous to the ordinary reader. If, how- 
 ever, he should take the pains to survey the hull of the 
 good ship in which the Department of the Navy floate 
 and makes its interesting cruises, he could hardly fail to 
 discover the old-time barnacle attached thereto, which had 
 been making stereotyped reports upon divers matters, yea, 
 for many a year. It is true that the argument to prove 
 the necessity of instructing our naval officers in modern 
 languages, in order that they might be enabled "to enter 
 into discussions on points of difference which may arise 
 with the representatives of foreign states speaking such 
 foreign language," and especially, it may be added, if the 
 foreigners persisted in speaking such foreign language, is 
 at least original, if not strong, and new, if not convincing. 
 In 18 1 2, in 1846, in 1861, and for a few years succeeding 
 those dates, American naval officers held pretty animated 
 "discussions" with the representatives of foreign states. 
 But it is believed that their "communications" were not 
 made in the particular language of the party with whom 
 
FAILURE OF SECRETARY BRANCH. 283, 
 
 the "dispute" existed. It is somewhat to be feared, 
 indeed, that many of our gallant tars, unused to schools 
 and unlearned in languages, spoke with much abruptness 
 through iron throats and in thunder-toned voices. 
 
 To the observer of today it would appear that this 
 last argument, emanating from a naval authority as distin- 
 guished as Secretary Branch, must have operated to extin- 
 guish all further opposition, and that as a consequence the 
 long-desired Naval Academy would have been established 
 at once. To be sure, the Secretary was a lawyer by profes- 
 sion, and had never seen a ship until he took command 
 of the American navy on the banks of the Potomac. But 
 it is credibly recorded that he had seen the sea upon more 
 than one occasion, and that, if he had never smelt powder, 
 he had at least scented salt air. The truth must be 
 stated, however, without evasion or attempt at palliation. 
 Congress remained as obdurate as before; Secretary 
 Branch's recommendation fell as unheeded as the strokes 
 from the clock of time, and it must be confessed that there 
 now exist just grounds for the belief that Congress had 
 arrived at an appalling conclusion, viz.: that the public 
 interest would be promoted if the barnacle before alluded 
 to as the standard report-maker of the navy ashore, and 
 whose name, as it appears by the register, was Root, were 
 swept out with his chief from the Government marine- 
 garden. Root and Branch, so to put it. 
 
 Four years again passed without further official 
 attempt to establish the Academy. The expediency of 
 the measure, however, was constantly discussed. It was 
 
284 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 a sort of ghost that would not dov/n. Under date of 
 December 26, 1833, in response to a request from the 
 House Naval Committee, Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secre- 
 tary of the Navy from 1831 to 1833, furnished the chair- 
 man the following table of information concerning the 
 state of naval education at that date. 
 
 The naval schools, so-called, it may be here remarked, 
 embraced simply the schools on board the larger ships, 
 taught by schoolmasters employed under the law of Jan- 
 uary 2, 1813. 
 
 Table V. 
 
 Statement of the actual condition of the naval schools as at presen* organ- 
 ized, the number and character of the professors employed, of youths 
 instructed, and the annual expenditure to maintain them. 
 
 Number and Character 
 of Professors. 
 
 Number of 
 Youths In- 
 structed. 
 
 Annual Ex- 
 pense, Pay, 
 etc. 
 
 Contingencies. 
 
 Boston. 
 •One teacher of mathematics 
 and languages 
 
 New York. 
 'One teacher of mathematics, 
 
 6 ..... 
 
 $981.75 
 
 (981.75 
 ( 662,50 
 
 981.75 
 
 Small amount for books, 
 instruments, and sta- 
 tionery. Amount not 
 given. 
 
 Quarters or rooms as 
 furnished in receiving- 
 ships. 
 
 Norfolk. 
 ■One teacher of mathematics 
 and languages 
 
 ^i 
 
 
 
 
 Total ......,.,.,., 
 
 52 
 
 $3,fi07.75 
 
 
 From this table it will appear that in the year 1833 
 there were instructed fifty-two youths at an expense of 
 
CONDITION OF NA VAL SCHOOLS IN 1833. 285 
 
 $3,607.75, being at the rate of $69.38 per pupil annually. 
 That was cheap education. 
 
 But these were naval schools in name only. They 
 had no feature of an academy. They were not at all 
 representative of the institution which, through its friends, 
 had been pounding upon the doors of Congress for so 
 long. They were the germs spoken of in preceding 
 pages of the later establishment, whose advent, though 
 prayed for, had not occurred as yet. The birth of the 
 twin of the West Point Academy was destined to be 
 ■"somewhat delayed." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS, JAN. 3, 
 
 18.34 ANOTHER FAILURE TO SECURE LEGISLATION 
 
 ESTABLISHING A NAVAL ACADEMY MEMORIAL OF 
 
 NAVAL OFFICERS IN 1 836 SENATOR SOUTHARD's BILL 
 
 to locate a school at fortress monroe passes 
 
 the senate, but fails in the house secretary 
 
 Upshur's report — bill of secretary bayard, of 
 
 delaware report in connection therewith 
 
 another failure to obtain legislation. 
 
 WITH the table given at the close of the last chapter, 
 together with some relating documents, as a basis, 
 Mr. Watmough, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, 
 made a report to the House of Representatives, under 
 date of January 3, 1834, upon the subject of naval schools, 
 and accompanied it with a proposed bill. House Bill No. 
 1 2 7. This bill, however, as it would seem, was not designed 
 to renew the attempt to establish a Naval Academy, but 
 simply to improve the method of instruction then in actual 
 operation. This report is interesting as illustrative of 
 the state of the educational movement at the date of its 
 writing. It is, therefore, given in full as follows : 
 
 " The Committee on Naval Affairs, to which the subject was 
 referred, report: The Committee on Naval Affairs, taking into 
 consideration the condition of the naval schools as at present 
 
 286 
 
THE REPORT OF MR. WATMOUGH. 287 
 
 established at Boston, New York, and Norfolk, and their inade- 
 quacy to effect the object proposed, deem it a duty to present to 
 the House the accompanying bill. It is presumed no one will 
 question the vital importance of these institutions to the service, 
 both as it respects the well-being. of the junior officers and their 
 future usefulness to their country. 
 
 " By the subjoined letter (A) from the Secretary of the Navy it 
 will be found that there are 450 midshipmen in service. Of these 
 about one-half are supposed to be at sea, one-fifth on duty at shore 
 stations, and the remaining 135 are on leave, waiting orders, on 
 furlough, or sick. Admitting that of the latter class 35 are sick, 
 and this would seem to be a very large proportion, there still 
 remain one hundred youths left entirely to their own guidance, 
 freed from those restraints so essential to their period of life, and 
 subject alone to the influences of their own ardent impulses. The 
 consequences are in too many instances fatal. It is believed to be 
 the duty, as it assuredly is within the competency of Congress, to 
 arrest the evils resulting from this state of affairs. The appropria- 
 tions called for in the bill, under the judicious management of the 
 Secretary, will effect much. The third and fourth sections of the 
 bill, which provide an increase of the pay of the two respectable 
 grades of the service, the chaplains and schoolmasters, it is hoped 
 to have the effect to enhance greatly the benefits to be derived 
 from the appropriations, while in truth they do no more than the 
 original intention of Congress ii;i, creating those grades by placing 
 them on a footing consistent with their dignity and usefulness. 
 Their present rate of pay is admitted on all hands to be entirely 
 insufficient. A reference to the annexed letter of the Secretary, 
 marked B, with its accompanying statement (A) shows the actual 
 condition of the schools, the amount expended from the contingent 
 fund, but under no law, and the limited number of youths who are 
 enabled to avail themselves of what benefits do result. It is true 
 the department has lately issued an order requiring all midshipmen 
 not otherwise employed to repair to some one of these schools; but 
 as the Government does not feel itself authorized to allow the 
 traveling expenses incidental to such order, few will be able to 
 avail themselves of its benefits. The fifth section of the bill is 
 intended to obviate this difficulty. If, however, the whole number 
 should repair, as required, it will only afford an additional and 
 
288 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 paramount obligation for the passage of the bill. All which is 
 most respectfully submitted." 
 
 The bill of the Naval Committee was re^d, pro forma, 
 a first and second time, and then referred to the com- 
 mittee of the whole. This was the only reference it 
 received, however, as it was never referred to again in 
 Congress. It was buried beyond resurrection, the most 
 diligent search having failed to unearth it at the present 
 time. Whether this resulted as a consequence of Mr. 
 Watmough's unfortunate use of language, which made 
 him say that the chaplains and schoolmasters exclusively 
 represented the "two respectable grades of the service," 
 or of the indisposition of Congress to legislate further 
 upon the subject of naval education, cannot now be deter- 
 mined. 
 
 The next effort in the order of events was made by 
 an old friend of the project, the ex-Secretary of the 
 Navy, Samuel L. Southard, who had been reelected in 
 1833 to, represent the State of New Jersey in the United 
 States Senate, and who in 1841 became the President of 
 that body. The subject was brought up on a memorial 
 of naval officers, which, as possessed of historical interest,, 
 is here given in full : 
 
 "Twenty-fourth Congress — First Session. 
 
 "Resolutions of a Meeting of Sundry Officers of the Navy to Obtain the- 
 Establishment of a Naval School, April 23, 1836. Referred to the 
 Committee on Naval Affairs, and ordered to be printed. 
 
 "At a meeting of the commissioned and warrant officers of the 
 United States ship Constitution, held on board, for the pui-pose of: 
 
MEMORIAL OF NA VAL OFFICERS. 289 
 
 concerting measures to effect the establishment of a Naval Acad- 
 emy, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously 
 agreed to. 
 
 " Whereas, Having ever felt the most ardent desire to prosecute 
 successfully the profession to which we are devoted, to advance the 
 interests of the navy, and to perpetuate the commercial prosperity 
 of our common country, consigned in part to our safe keeping; and 
 taught, by the experience of the past, that neither industry nor 
 talent can spare the advantages offe.red by early education; earn- 
 estly desirous of the means of securing it, and deploring the inade- 
 quacy of the existing system to accomplish either the object of the 
 Government or to meet our heartfelt wishes for professional 
 instruction, and believing, as we do, that a respectful representa- 
 tion of the anxious hopes which the entire navy have ventured to 
 indulge for so many years, and to the consummation of which they 
 look with the deepest interest, will receive the consideration to 
 which so excellent an object is entitled, and find, from liberal 
 authorities, that indulgence which is ever acceded to generous 
 aspirations and laudable exertions; we have, therefore, 
 
 " I. Resolved, That we deem education to be of peculiar 
 importance to the sea officer; and that, amid the progressive 
 improvements in the arts and sciences which distinguish the pres- 
 ent age, the military marine would be most conspicuous, if guided 
 in its advance by the lights of education. 
 
 "2. Resolved, That we look to the establishment of a naval 
 school as the only means of imparting to the officers of the navy 
 that elementary instruction and scientific knowledge which, at the 
 present day, has become almost indispensable to the military sea- 
 man. 
 
 "3. Resolved, That, from the circumstances arising in part 
 from professional causes, the ship's schoolmasters can rarely, if 
 ever, impart such elementary or scientific knowledge, or advance 
 the educatidn of the naval officer; and that were the office abso- 
 lutely abolished (of so little utility it is) no evil would arise there- 
 from. 
 
 " 4. Resolved, That, believing the expense incurred by Govern- 
 ment, in providing ship's schoolmasters and professors of mathe- 
 matics, for the benefit of the junior officers of the navy (and from 
 which little or no advantage is derived), would liberally sustain a 
 
290 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 scientific institution, we should see with pleasure said funds 
 directed to the establishment and support of a naval school. 
 
 "5. Resolved, That copies of the proceedings be furnished to 
 the Secretary of the Navy, with the request that he will lend his 
 countenance and support to our undertaking. 
 
 " 6. Resolved, That we will, severally and collectively, use our 
 most strenuous exertions to effect an object so dear to us, and 
 which promises to confer so much dignity upon the navy, so much 
 honor on our beloved country. 
 
 " 7. Resolved, That a committee of ten be appointed to take 
 charge of the subject, and conduct it to its final disposition. 
 
 " 8. Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy be requested to 
 lay a copy of the foregoing resolutions before the President of the 
 United States, and that a copy of them be sent to the chairman of 
 the Committee on Naval Affairs in the Senate and in the House of 
 Representatives. 
 
 J. B. Montgomery, Lieut, 
 
 F. Ellery, Lieut. 
 
 Isaac Brinkerhoff, Asst. Surg. 
 Edward C. Rutledge, Lieut. 
 
 G. F. Pearson, Lieut. 
 James Ferguson, Master. 
 Thos. Theo. Sloan, Lieut. Mar. 
 Leovin Mynn Powell, Lieut. 
 Thomas \. Boyd, Surg. 
 James Everett, Chaplain. 
 Henry Etting, Purser. 
 
 Jos. L. C. Hardy, 
 
 Lieut. U. S. Marine Corps. 
 Montgomery Lewis, 
 
 Passed Midshipman. 
 J. W. Revere, Passed Mids'n. 
 Chas. Crillon Barton, 
 
 Passed Mids'n. 
 Jas. B. Lewis, Mids'n. 
 R. Lloyd Tilghman, Mids'n. 
 John N. Maffit, Mids'n. 
 Geo. T, Sinclair, Mids'n. 
 
 Geo. W. Randolph, Midshipman. 
 John F. Mercer, Passed Mids'n. 
 Francis S. Haggerty, Mids'n. 
 B. F. Shattuk, Mids'n. 
 
 E. E. Rogers, Mids'n. 
 Stephen D. Trenchard, Mids'n. 
 A. HuBLEY Jenkins, Mids'n. 
 
 W. T. Muse, Passed Mids'n. 
 Jas. F. Duncan, Passed Mids'n. 
 Fred'k Oakes, Jr., Passed Mids'n, 
 W. C. Nicholson, Lieut. 
 
 F. A. Neville, Lieut. 
 
 Jas. M. Berrien, Passed Mids'n. 
 Chas. Steedman, Passed Mids'n. 
 James L. Henderson. 
 
 Passed Mids'n. 
 Francis P. Hoban, Mids'n. 
 Jas. W. Cooke, Passed Mids'n. 
 Wm. Radford, Passed Mids'n. 
 Wm. Ronckerdorff, Mids'n. 
 Robt. Woodworth, Asst. Surg. 
 
ACTION OF CONGRESS UPON MEMORIAL. 29 1 
 
 " The undersigned officers of the United States ship Vandalia 
 concur entirely in the above preamble and resolutions. 
 
 ThoS. T. Webb, Master Com. Fayette Meynard, Mids'n. 
 
 E. T. Doughty, Lieut. Francis Alexander, Mids'n. • 
 
 Isaac N. Brown, Mids'n. S. C. Rowan, Acting Master. 
 
 Thos. W. Cumming, Mids'n. ^ M. C. Walkins, Mids'n. 
 
 Edwin A. Drake, Mids'n. Wm. M. Walker, Passed Mids'n. 
 
 Wm. Plumstead, Surg, Wm. Smith, Lieut. 
 
 R. N. Stembel, Mids'n. C. A. Hassler, Asst. Surg. 
 
 E, MussoN, Mids'n. J as. Brooks, Purser." 
 
 This memorial, having been presented to Congress, 
 was referred to the appropriate committee for consider- 
 ation. Of this committee ex-Secretary Southard was 
 chairman. Under the proceedings of the Senate, dated 
 May 14, 1836, the following record appears : 
 
 "Mr. Southard, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom 
 certain resolutions adopted at a meeting of commissioned and 
 warrant officers of the navy were referred, made a report, accom- 
 panied by a bill (No. 262) to establish a Naval Academy. Read and 
 passed to a second reading." 
 
 From the proceedings of the Senate upon Thursday, 
 June 30, we learn that the bill was read a second time and 
 considered as in committee of the whole. The result 
 of this consideration was that, upon the motion of 
 Senator Southard himself, the bill was ordered to lie 
 upon the table, and, like his predecessor's in the House 
 (Mr. Watmough's), it was never heard of again. The 
 bill was similar in features to that of 1827, which Mr. 
 Southard had so earnestly endeavored to have passed 
 while Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 Up to this date, tken, naval education remained as 
 
292 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 heretofore stated, being committed to the charge of 
 teachers who maintained a sort of irregular school upon 
 board of the receiving-ships. Under the act originally 
 authorizing their appointment they were termed "school- 
 masters," and their pay was fixed at $25 per month. 
 This pay was provided for out of the general contingency 
 fund, no specific appropriation therefor being made in 
 the general naval appropriation bills. In the act of 
 March 3, 1835, entitled "An act to regulate the pay 
 of the navy of the United States," the school- 
 masters are specifically provided for in the pay-list, and, 
 through the process of evolution, which pertains to 
 things marine as well as to things terrestrial, the simple 
 dominie became a professor of mathematics with an ap- 
 propriated salary of $1,200 per year "when attached to 
 vessels for sea service or in a yard." By the same act the 
 pay of midshipmen was fixed as follows : When attached 
 to vessels for sea service, $400 per year ; when on other 
 duty, $350 ; and when on leave of absence or waiting 
 orders, $300 per year. 
 
 After the second failure of Mr. Southard, in 1836, to 
 accomplish creative legislation for a Naval Academy, the 
 friends of the measure remained quiescent until the ap- 
 pointment of the Hon. Abel P. Upshur to be Secretary 
 of the Navy, the portfolio of which he held from Septem- 
 ber 13, 1 841, until July 24, 1843, nearly two years. 
 
 Secretary Upshur, in his first report, under date of 
 December 4, 1841, renewed the recommendations in favor 
 of special naval education. In this document he says: 
 
SECRE TAR Y UPSHUR ' S RECOMMENDA TIONS. 293 
 
 " The propriety of establishing naval schools has frequently- 
 been submitted to the consideration of Congress. I again respect- 
 fully bring it to your notice, as a subject of increasing interest to 
 the navy. The use of steam vessels in war will render necessary 
 a different order of scientific knowledge from that which has here- 
 tofore been required. If our navy should be increased by the 
 addition of any considerable number of steam vessels, engineers 
 will form an important class of naval officers. It will be necessary 
 to assign to them an appropriate rank, and to subject them to all 
 the laws of the service. Great care should be used in the selection 
 of them, because a great deal will depend upon their skill and 
 competency; hence, it is necessary that they should pass through 
 a prescribed course of instruction, and that the Government should 
 have the proof of their competency which an examination con- 
 ducted under their own rules would afford. The important object 
 can best be attained by the establishment of naval schools pro- 
 vided with all the necessary means of uniting practice with theory. 
 The advantages which the army has derived from the Academy at 
 West Point afford a sufficient proof that a siihilar institution for 
 the navy would produce like results. 
 
 " In connection with this subject I would ask your attention to 
 the situations of the professors of mathematics now employed in 
 the service. This useful class of men have no permanent connec- 
 tion with the navy, but are called in only as their services are 
 needed, and are not paid except when on actual duty. The conse- 
 quence is that they cannot rely on this employment for their sup- 
 port, and are often reluctantly driven to other pursuits. It is to 
 be- presumed that men whose talents and attainments qualify them 
 to be teachers in the navy are equally qualified to be teachers on 
 land; and as this latter is the less precarious position, the best 
 qualified will be apt to seek it. Hence, the department cannot 
 rely with any assurance on being able to command suitable pro- 
 fessors at all times when their services may be required. It is, I 
 think, of great importance that some provision should be made 
 upon this subject, I also recommend that a certain rank or posi- 
 tion be given to the professors, which will relieve them of the 
 necessity of messing and sleeping with their pupils. This close 
 and constant association is well calculated to weaken the respect 
 and influence which their relation to the young officer ought to 
 
294 "^HE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 inspire, and which is absolutely necessary to give due effect to 
 their instructions. I doubt whether their services upon the pres- 
 ent system are worth the money which they cost, although they 
 would be highly valuable under proper regulations." Etc. 
 
 In accordance with these recommendations, a bill was 
 prepared by Secretary Upshur, authorizing the establish- 
 ment of a naval school to be located at or near Fortress 
 Monroe, which bill was passed by the Senate but failed 
 in further progress, through lack of action in the House. 
 It has been claimed that this inaction was the result of a 
 want of time ; but this, manifestly, was not the case, as 
 other portions of the Secretary's report received full 
 attention. In compliance with his suggestions, the act of 
 August 31, 1842, was passed, enacting "That professors 
 of mathematics in the navy of the United States shall be 
 entitled to live and mess with the lieutenants of sea-going 
 and receiving vessels, and shall receive such rations as 
 lieutenants of the same ship or station shall receive ; " and 
 also the act authorizing the appointment of engineers 
 and assistants in the navy on steam vessels. 
 
 The fact is that the bill authorizing the naval school 
 could not pass the House because of the opposition 
 thereto. In his report of one year later, however — 
 December, 1842 — Secretary Upshur returned to the sub- 
 ject of the school with much zeal. The report now 
 referred to is one of the ablest in our navy records. It 
 displays knowledge of the subject to which it is devoted, 
 originality of thought, and presents few or no traces of 
 the department barnacle, which, perhaps, by this time, 
 
THE PERSONNEL OF THE NAVY. 
 
 295 
 
 had been Root-ed out. As representing the condition of 
 the navy at that period, as well as forming part of the 
 history of naval education, now being studied, the report 
 is worthy of being reproduced entire in these pages, did 
 the space permit. The author must content himself, 
 however, with a liberal quotation from this interesting 
 document. 
 
 In speaking of the subject of needed reforms in this 
 branch of the service. Secretary Upshur touches the 
 matter of the personnel of the navy, embracing within it 
 the question of a school, in the following manner : 
 
 " The. personnel of the navy is a subject of much deeper interest, 
 although it presents no greater difficulties. That abuses exist, and 
 that the public eye is occasionally offended with displays of dis- 
 reputable behavior, is not surprising. Such things might be 
 expected in any body of men equally numerous ; they are seen 
 every day in social circles on shore, without affixing to those circles 
 any individual or even general reproach. The navy is as free from 
 such scandals as any equal number of men in any order of society. 
 
 ' It is matter of just surprise that it should be so. Withdrawn in a 
 great degree, by the very nature of their pursuits, from the immedi- 
 ate influence of that public opinion which is the best corrective of 
 manners, and with a most imperfect system of laws and regulations 
 
 ■ as a substitute for it, what is there but their own sense of propriety 
 to prevent naval officers from falling into the worst excesses ? For 
 twenty years past the navy has received from the Government Iktle 
 more than a stepmother's care. It was established without plan 
 and has been conducted upon no principle fixed and regulated by 
 law. Left to get along as well as it could, the wonder is that it 
 retains even a remnant of the character which it won so gloriously 
 during the last war. 
 
 " Reform in this particular must commence with the midship- 
 men. After a time these boys become men, and these midshipmen 
 become lieutenants, and commanders, and captains. Hence it is of 
 the utmost importance that none should be appointed who are not 
 
296 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 duly qualified and suited in all respects to that peculiar service. 
 And yet to this great and fundamental truth no attention has 
 hitherto been paid. The department has been left free to appoint 
 whom it pleased, and as many as it pleased, without any law what- 
 ever to guide or regulate the judgment. The only rule by which 
 the Secretary can be governed is to appoint those who are, or seem 
 to be, best recommended, and yet in half the cases the boy himself 
 is as well known as those who certify in his favor. Hence the 
 Secretary acts in the dark, and must of necessity be often in error. 
 It is a notorious fact that wayward and incorrigible boys, whom 
 parental authority cannot control, are often sent to the navy as a 
 mere school of discipline, or to save them from the reproach to 
 which their 'conduct exposes them on shore. It is not often that 
 skillful officers or valuable men are made out of such material. 
 The corrective which I propose is this : 
 
 " I. The naval establishment shall be fixed by law, ascertaining 
 among other things the number of officers to be allowed in each 
 grade. There must be a due proportion among the several grades 
 or else it will be impossible that the different duties of the service 
 can be properly discharged. In this respect the proviso of the 
 appropriation bill of the last session of Congress, limiting the num- 
 ber of midshipmen to the number who were in service on the ist 
 of Jantiary, 1841, and of other officers to the number who were in 
 service on the ist of January, 1842, will, if persisted in, prove 
 extremely unfortunate in its action. 'Y\\e. precise proportion for the 
 effective officering of a ship depends upon her class. 
 
 " 2. There should be established proper naval schools on shore. 
 Little or no attention has hitherto been paid to the proper educa- 
 tion of naval officers. Through a long course of years the young 
 midshipmen were left to educate themselves and one another, and 
 it is creditable to them that they lost few opportunities of doing so. 
 Suitable teachers are now provided for them, but their schools are 
 kept in receiving-ships and cruising vessels in the midst of a thou- 
 sand interruptions and impediments, which render the whole system 
 of little or no value. 
 
 " Under such circumstances the foundation of a solid and useful 
 education can rarely be laid. This subject was brought to the 
 attention of Congress at its last session, and a bill establishing a 
 naval school passed the Senate. 
 
OUTLINE SUGGESTED BY SECRETARY UPSHUR. 297 
 
 "It was not acted upon by the House of Representatives for 
 want of time. I again earnestly recommend it, convinced as 
 I . am that its effect upon the navy will be in the highest degree 
 beneficial. If adopted, Congress will of course prescribe such 
 rules and regulations in regard to it as may seem to them proper, 
 but I respectfully suggest the following as the outline of the 
 system : 
 
 " The school shall be established at such of the old military 
 fortifications on the seaboard as may afford suitable accommoda- 
 tions and as may not be required by the War Department. 
 
 " The officers and teachers shall be supplied from those actually 
 in the naval service, and all nautical instruments, boats for prac- 
 tice, etc., shall be furnished from the navy. This will save nearly 
 the whole expense of the schools. 
 
 " Instruction in the schools shall be given to candidates for 
 admission into the navy, and to midshipmen actually in the ser- 
 vice. 
 
 " The admission of candidates shall be regulated by law, as is 
 done in regard to the West Point Academy. 
 
 " No boy shall receive an acting appointment in the navy until 
 he shall have passed a certain period of diligent study at a naval 
 school, nor unless he shall produce the necessary certificates from 
 his officers and instructors of his good conduct, capacity, physical 
 ability, and general fitness. 
 
 "Among those who shall produce such certificates appoint- 
 ments shall be made, according to such rule as Congress shall pre- 
 scribe. 
 
 " These precautions will afford a reasonable amount of assur- 
 ance that no boy will be admitted into the navy without being 
 qualified for and worthy of that station. 
 
 "But the watchful care of the Government over him should 
 not stop here. He should receive, in the first instance, an acting 
 appointment, as is now the practice, and not be entitled to a full 
 appointment until he shall have seen at least one year's service at 
 sea, and made suitable progress in the science and practical duties 
 of the service. After receiving his full appointment, he should 
 pass not less than five years in active service at sea before he 
 should be entitled to examination for a warrant as ' Passed Mid- 
 shipman.' 
 
298 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 " That examination should be rigorous and thorough, and none 
 should be entitled to it who could not produce the most satisfac- 
 tory proofs of good conduct, attainments, capacity, and general 
 fitness. By this time the boy will have attained a pei iod of life 
 when the character is generally well developed, and in some degree 
 fixed, so that the country will have good reason to trust him in the 
 higher grades of the service. A corps of officers formed of such 
 material would probably present few instances of misconduct or 
 incapacity, and would reflect honor on the country, while rendering 
 to it the most valuable services. 
 
 " This system could not fail to relieve the personnel of the 
 navy, after a time, of all its present incumbrances, and would cer- 
 tainly tend to keep it in a healthy condition. But it would be too 
 slow in its operation tor the cure of existing evils. Probably there 
 never was a similar institution in any country into which abuses 
 have not crept, after so long a period as thirty years of profound 
 peace and of consequent neglect. Governments and their peoples 
 are too apt to overlook the military arm when there is no immedi- 
 ate need of its protection, forgetting the wise maxim that in peace 
 we should prepare for war. Our navy has experienced its full 
 share pf those unfavorable influences, and the natural consequence 
 is seen in the admitted fact that jt contains some officers who do 
 no credit to their commissions. Their number, however, is much 
 smaller than might have been justly expected under the operation 
 of so many discouraging and corrupting causes. Every nation 
 finds it necessary, after particular intervals of peace, to revise and 
 reform its military establishments, and the time has now arrived 
 when such a corrective may be advantageously applied to the uavy 
 of the United States. 
 
 ^ ^ >K :t: % 
 
 " If this system should be fully and faithfully carried out, I do 
 not perceive that anything more will be necessary to insure to the 
 navy competent and honorable officers. Hitherto it has been their 
 great misfortune that, with fewer opportunities than others to 
 educate themselves, the Government has done nothing to educate 
 them. The cadet from West Point enters the army well founded 
 in the principles of solid and useful learning and fully prepared to 
 engage with advantage in any pursuit, whether of civil or military 
 life. The candidate for the navy, on the contrary, is deemed well 
 
FAILURE OF SECRETARY UPSHUR'S ATTEMPT. 299 
 
 enough qualified if he be able to read and write, to answer a few 
 simple questions in geography and English grammar, and to solve 
 plain problems in the elementary rules of arithmetic. Why should 
 this difference be made ? Important as a proper preparatory edu- 
 cation may be to the army officer, it is even more important to the 
 officer of the navy. Apart from the fact that he has few oppor- 
 tunities to improve himself, it is to be remembered that he is the 
 most frequent representative of his country abroad, the standard 
 by which foreign nations will be most apt to measure her moral and 
 intellectual character. He is also frequently intrusted with the im- 
 portant and delicate negotiations involving the rights of our citizens 
 and the peace and honor of our country. The function of the naval 
 commander is much more useful, important and dignified than is 
 generally supposed. To his skill and vigilance are intrusted at 
 every hour of the day and night the safety of his ship and the lives 
 of his crew. The honor of his country's flag, and, in a great degree, 
 her harmonious relations in peace and her protection in war, are 
 among the awful trusts with which he is clothed. Very few men 
 can be found qualified in every respect for so high and imposing an 
 office, and, unhappily, there are too few among those who now hold 
 it who duly feel its importance and dignity. I humbly think that 
 it is a high duty of Government to adopt every means calculated in 
 any degree to elevate the standard of character in the naval com- 
 mander and to fit him in knowledge, in professional skill, and in per- 
 sonal character, to discharge the high and solemn duties of his office. 
 " This can best be done by giving him a suitable preparatory 
 education and by providing proper and ready means of removing 
 him from the ranks of his profession whenever he may be found 
 unworthy to occupy a place in them." Etc. 
 
 Emanating from a source of such great intelligence 
 and familiarity with the subject under consideration, the 
 appeal of Secretary Upshur was worthy of serious and 
 profound thought. This it undoubtedly received at the 
 third session of the Twenty-seventh Congress, when the 
 report was submitted by the President, John Tyler. 
 Eloquent and strong as was the argument in support of 
 
300 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 the proposed measure, no greater degree of success at- 
 tended the effort than followed the previous attempts to 
 obtain legislation for a Naval Academy. 
 
 But one more attempt was now to be made to persuade 
 Congress to enact the desired legislation before the ap- 
 pearance of the Napoleon of the occasion, who, ignoring 
 Congress and the law-makers, called the workmen to his 
 aid, constructed the long-talked-of edifice over night, and 
 quietly appeared at the next session of Congress -asking a 
 ratification of his act and intrusting the infant institution 
 to the fostering care of the Government. 
 
 It is worth while to complete the history of the various 
 efforts to found the Academy under direct legislation by 
 quoting in full the report of Secretary Bayard, of Dela- 
 ware, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, made at the 
 second session of the Twenty-eighth Congress, under date 
 of February lo, 1845, a-S also the accompanying outline of 
 the draft of a bill providing for the establishment of a 
 naval school. 
 
 Section i of the bill orders the establishment of a naval 
 school, under direction of the Secretary of the Navy, on 
 board of a vessel of the United States, in connection with 
 Fort Norfolk, on Elizabeth River, in the State of Virginia, 
 as a shore station. The same official to prescribe the 
 course of study, and rules for its government and disci- 
 pline ; to employ professors and teachers, etc. 
 
 Section 2 prescribes the mode of appointing pupils, 
 which mode differs from that at present in force. 
 
 Section j prescribes the sea service that each pupil 
 
SENA TOR BA YARD ' S NA VAL BILL. 
 
 301 
 
 must have, after undergoing the primary tuition at the 
 school, for eighteen months, and receiving an appointment 
 as midshipman, and also the additional course of study at 
 the school after his return. 
 
 Section 4 relates to the pay of officers, teachers, and 
 pupils. 
 
 Section 5 abolishes the former system of teaching, and 
 appropriates the pay of the professors under it to the new 
 establishment. 
 
 The report of Senator Bayard is as follows: 
 
 " The bill in question proposes the establishment of a naval 
 school, and for that purpose to employ a ship of the United States, 
 in connection with Fort Norfolk, on Elizabeth River, in the State of 
 Virginia. The object is not to form an expensive establishment in 
 any respect resembling the Military Academy at West Point, but 
 merely to employ the existing means of instruction belonging to 
 the service in a more effectual manner, and in some measure to 
 insure, on the part of those who are admitted into the navy, the 
 desired attributes of physical and intellectual strength and of moral 
 worth. If the plan is adopted, the present annual charge upon the 
 naval establishment for the instruction of midshipmen will be suf- 
 ficient for the support of the school, while the advantage gained in 
 point of instruction will, in the opinion of the committee, be very 
 great. 
 
 " In order properly to understand and appreciate the measure, 
 it will be necessary to contrast it with the existing mode of admis- 
 sion into the navy, and of instruction subsequently received. 
 Under the existing laws and regulations of the department, the 
 appointment of midshipmen is made by the Secretary, without any 
 check whatever upon the exercise of his discretion, and is the result, 
 for the most part, of personal or political influence. The regula- 
 tions require that the individual shall not be less than fourteen nor 
 more than twenty years of age, and his first order is for sea service. 
 The learning required is a slight knowledge of English grammar 
 and of the elements of arithmetic and geography ; and these attain- 
 
302 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 ments are not closely scrutinized. There is no provision for ascer- 
 taining either his physical condition or his mental or moral culture; 
 but his fitness is presumed from the fact of his recommendation 
 by some political or personal friend. Instances have occurred in 
 which boys, who have been thought by their acquaintances to be 
 good for nothing else, have yet been thought go^od enough for a 
 service which, in its perils and its responsibilities, requires high 
 qualities of physical and intellectual vigor, as well as moral worth. 
 His scientific instruction commences at sea or in a foreign port, amidst 
 the noise and distraction of a crowded ship, and the interruptions 
 of the various calls of duty. Having been five years in the service, 
 three of which must have been passed in active duty at sea, and 
 having attained the age of twenty years, the midshipman may 
 be examined for promotion. To prepare for this examination, he 
 spends a few months at the naval asylum at Philadelphia, where a 
 school has been established for that purpose. 
 
 " This meager course of instruction furnishes the sum of his 
 attainments. Such are the provisions for the training of this 
 important branch of officers — the future commanders of a service 
 in which they are to bear with honor the flag of the nation, in peace 
 and in war, at home and abroad, on the high seas and in the ports 
 of foreign nations — the armed embassadors of the country, who 
 must be able to fight and to negotiate, and whose duties require 
 that they should be familiar not only with naval tactics and the 
 whole circle of nautical science, but with the principles of interna- 
 tional law. The object of the bill under consideration is to provide, 
 in some measure, a remedy for^these defects. 
 
 "The materials of a ship may be collected, and the ship built, 
 in a few months ; but the training of an officer is the work of years, 
 and must be commenced at an early period of life. The science 
 and skill of the officer is part of the military wealth of the country ; 
 and if it be necessary and proper to provide a supply of timber and 
 naval stores, to build ships, to cast cannon, to form depots of arms 
 and munitions of war, it is not less so to train and support a suffi- 
 cient number of competent officers. 
 
 " The Constitution of the United States has given to Congress, 
 in express terms, the power ' to provide and maintain a navy ; ' and 
 there is no longer any doubt in the popular mind or among states- 
 men as to the policy of using the power. The protection of the 
 
CLASSES OF NA VAL OFFICERS. 303 
 
 .commerce, and the preservation of the security and honor of the 
 country depend upon it. 
 
 " Assuming that the present scale of the establishment, both in 
 its personnel and its material, is such as is commensurate with the 
 wants and dignity of the nation, it is obviously necessary, in order 
 to maintain it, that some provision should be made for its \period- 
 ical renovation. Hy^^ personnel of the navy may be divided into the 
 officers and men, the latter branch of which is recruited from the 
 merchant service and from the school of, apprentices. 
 
 " The officers may be divided into the civil and military 
 branches of the service, and the military branch may be again 
 divided into the commissioned and warrant officers. The commis- 
 sioned officers of the military branch are the captains, commanders, 
 and lieutenants. Of these there are 68 captains, 96 commanders, 
 and 328 lieutenants. This class of commissioned officers is 
 recruited from the midshipmen, who belong to the class of warrant 
 officers. The proviso of the naval appropriation act of August 4, 
 1842, limits the number of midshipmen as a class, embracing the 
 passed and other midshipmen, to 451 ; and there are at present 159 
 passed midshipmen, and 314 midshipmen, being an excess of 
 twenty-two beyond the number limited by that act. The number 
 of commissioned officers in the military branch (namely, of 
 •captains, commanders, and lieutenants) is 492, and the number of 
 passed and other midshipmen 473, — making a totality of 965 ; 
 which suffers, taking the experience of the last three years, an 
 annual diminution in its different grades, from death, resignation, 
 and dismission, of about thirty. At the expiration, therefore, of 
 another year, this totality will be reduced below the number limited 
 by the proviso of the act of August 4, 1842. Admitting, then, 
 that the scale prescribed by that act is the proper one for a peace 
 ■establishment, it is time to provide for its maintenance by pre- 
 scribing the mode in which the class of midshipmen shall be 
 recruited and kept full. 
 
 " Whether the respective number of officers in each of these 
 grades be wisely adjusted, is a question that depends upon the 
 view which is taken of the wants of the service, and of the claims 
 of the officers to promotion, which is the great incentive of the pro- 
 fession. It has been well observed by the British Commissioners, 
 in their report of March, 1840, that 'in a fluctuating and uncer- 
 
304 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 tain establishment, the continued fear of reduction would operate 
 to check the energies of those holding employment therein, as 
 their anxieties might be more directed to their individual position 
 than to a satisfactory discharge of their duties.' 
 
 " In relation to the matter of promotion, it may be remarked 
 that the present junior commander on the register had been in 
 service, at the time of his promotion, more than twenty-six years, 
 of which period he had been for more than sixteen years a lieuten- 
 ant, and that a midshipman now entering the service would not, 
 under the present establishment in the regular order of promotion, 
 probably attain the rank of commander under thirty years. It is 
 not, therefore, unreasonable to assume that there will be no mate- 
 rial change in the number of officers prescribed by that act. The 
 annual appointments, then, necessary to be made in order to keep 
 the different grades of these officers full, according to the scale of 
 the present peace establishment, are, as has been stated, about 
 thirty. There is no want of applicants for admission into the ser- 
 vice, and an important point is to devise some mode of selection 
 from among the numerous candidates which may secure the best 
 moral and physical attributes. 
 
 "The bill proposes, for this purpose, to authorize the Secretary 
 of the Navy to select, at stated periods of eighteen months, which 
 have reference to the course of instruction, sixty individuals from 
 the applicants, who shall form the class of candidates for admis- 
 sion Into the navy. The individuals selected are not to be less than 
 thirteen nor more than fifteen years of age, and are to be examined 
 under regulations of the department as to their physical condition 
 and moral cultivation. If found to be possessed of the requisite 
 qualifications, they are then to be admitted into the naval school. 
 At this school they are to be instructed in suitable studies for the 
 period of eighteen months, and at the end of that time are to be 
 examined by a board composed of the professors of the school and 
 of competent officers appointed by the Secretary, and classed 
 according to their respective merit As yet they are only candi- 
 dates for admission into the navy, and from this class thus 
 instructed, the oldest of whom will not be more than sixteen and a 
 half years old, and the youngest not less than fourteen and a half 
 years, it is proposed, in the order of their merit, to appoint the 
 number of midshipmen necessary to supply the wants of the ser- 
 
PROPOSED PLAN FOR NA VAL SCHOOL. 
 
 305 
 
 vice. For the purpose of subsistence while attending the school^ 
 it is proposed to allovv them one-half the pay of midshipmen wait- 
 ing orders. After the appointment of the requisite number of 
 midshipmen there will be no further occasion for the services of 
 the rest of the class, and they will merely retire from the school to 
 pursue such vocations in life as their parents or guardians may 
 indicate, having derived the benefit of instruction for eighteen 
 months in branches of knowledge which may be useful to them 
 through life. Immediately on receiving his warrant the young 
 midshipman is to be sent to sea, to be employed in active duty for 
 the period of three years. On his arrival in the United States he 
 is to return to the naval school and prosecute his studies for 
 another period of eighteen months, at the expiration of which he 
 will undergo an examination, when, if found qualified, he will rank 
 as a passed midshipman, and may, when occasion offers, be pro- 
 moted to the rank of a commissioned officer. It will be perceived 
 that the change which is proposed in the existing regulations is in 
 the mode of appointing midshipmen and in the method of their 
 instruction — the object being in the first instance to msure, as far 
 as can be done, the appointment of such only as are fit for the ser- 
 vice, and, in the second instance, to provide a more enlarged course 
 of study and mstruction under more favorable circumstances than 
 he now enjoys. The term of sea service required prior to exami- 
 nation for promotion is the same under both systems. 
 
 " It remains only to say a few words in relation to the organi- 
 zation of the^ school, its course of instruction, and the expense of 
 the establishment. 
 
 " For its organization it will require the following officers, 
 which the service will supply : 
 
 " Captain or commander, as supenntendent. 
 
 " Commander or lieutenant, as instructor in naval tactics, seaman- 
 ship, gunnery, etc. 
 
 "Lieutenants. Two or three lieutenants, as assistants to the 
 instructor in naval tactics, seamanship, gunnery, etc. 
 
 "Boatswain for the school-ship, who will instruct in the use 
 and conversion of ropes, rigging, and in the sailor's art. 
 
 " Gunner for the school-ship, to instruct in the equipment of 
 guns and fitting all things necessary to the gunner's department 
 on board shis- 
 
306 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 '^Carpenter for the school-ship, to instruct in the repair of 
 masts, yards, rudders, and to construct models for illustration. 
 
 " For the civil establishment of the school : 
 
 " Two professors of mathematics. 
 
 " A teacher of French. 
 
 "A teacher of Spanish. 
 
 " A teacher of drawing. 
 
 "A professor of engineering or general knowledge and four 
 assistants. 
 
 "The course of instruction would embrace, in the first eighteen 
 months, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, plane and spherical trigo- 
 nometry, surveying and navigation, nautical astronomy, analytical 
 geometry, with the collateral studies of the French and Spanish 
 languages, drawing, grammar, geography, and history, and an 
 initiation to seamanship. 
 
 " The course of instruction for the last eighteen months, after 
 three years' sea service and preparatory to examination for pro- 
 motion, would embrace the following studies : Descriptive geom- 
 etry, differential and integral calculus, mechanics, the theory 
 and application of steam power, hydrographic optics, electricity 
 and magnetism, astronomy, gunnery and pyrotechny, naval archi- 
 tecture, naval tactics, with the application of the principles of 
 mechanical philosophy to the various operations of seamanship, 
 moral science, international and military law. 
 
 " The expense of the establishment will be less than the amount 
 now expended for the purpose of instruction. The amount now 
 expended is something overthirty thousand dollars, as follows : 
 
 Twenty-two professors of mathematics, at $1,200 $26,400 
 
 Rations and contingent allowances 2, 500 
 
 Three teachers of languages, at $500 ., 1,500 
 
 Total $30,400 
 
 " It is proposed to abolish all the professorships, except such as 
 are necessary for and attached to the school, and to appropriate the 
 sum now expended for them to the eetablishment and support of 
 the school. 
 
 " The expenses of the school, as a charge on the naval estab- 
 lishment, would consist only of the pay of the candidates for ad- 
 mission and of the pay of the civil branch of the school, as follows: 
 
ESTIMA TED EXPENSE OF NA VAL SCHOOL. 307 
 
 Sixty candidates for admission, at $150 % 9,000 
 
 Two professors of mathematics, at $1,400 2,800 
 
 One teaclier of French, at |8oo 800 
 
 One teacher of Spanish, at $800 800 
 
 One teacher of drawing, at $800 800 
 
 One professor of engineering or general linowledge, at $1,400 1.400 
 
 Four assistants, at $800 3,200 
 
 Total $18,800 
 
 " The employment of the naval officers who will be attached to 
 the school adds nothing to the expense of the establishment, since 
 there is no addition made to the number of officers, and they would 
 receive their pay whether so employed or not. 
 
 "Upon the whole, it is apparent that, using the means which 
 are furnished by the ordinary peace establishments of the navy, 
 the school can be established and supported without any addi- 
 tional expenditure, by abolishing the professorships in the service 
 generally, and employing for its support the amount now expended 
 in the present imperfect system of instruction." 
 
 The scheme set forth in the foregoing report and the 
 accompanying bill embraces, as will be perceived after a 
 short consideration, some features of considerable merit. 
 The project, however, under this last impulse, was des- 
 tined to an issue no more successful than had attended 
 all previous efforts to obtain direct Congressional legisla- 
 tion under which to create and organize a Naval Acad- 
 emy. It was pushed with considerable pertinacity by 
 persons of high influence, but by a neglect to legislate, 
 Congress tacitly refused to sanction the measure, which 
 it was believed would now be finally remanded to the 
 ■"tomb of all the Capulets." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 A NEW VIEW OF THE NAVAL ACADEMY SECRETARY BAN- 
 CROFT SOLVES THE DIFFICULTY AN EFFECTIVE METHOD 
 
 TO OVERCOME OBSTINATE LEGISLATORS DOCUMENTS IN 
 
 THE CASE THE FIRST SUPERINTENDENT, COMMANDER 
 
 FRANKLIN BUCHANAN OUTBREAK OF THE MEXICAN 
 
 WAR FIRST RECOGNITION OF THE ACADEMY BY CON- 
 GRESS TABLE SHOWING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE 
 
 NAVAL ACADEMY FROM 1 845 TO 1 886 THE APPRO- 
 PRIATION FOR 1886 IN DETAIL TABLE SHOWING 
 
 NUMBER OF CADETS ADMITTED FROM ITS ORGANIZATION 
 
 THE REGULATIONS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE 
 
 ACADEMY. 
 
 A FTER the failure of Senator Bayard's bill it became 
 -^--*- evident that no legislation under which an Aca- 
 demy might be established could be expected from Congress. 
 The Administration had changed upon the 4th of March, 
 and James K. Polk had assumed the duties of the Presi- 
 dency. James Buchanan became his Secretary of State, 
 William L. Marcy his Secretary of War, and George 
 Bancroft his Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 The new Administration was cordially in favor of the 
 Naval Academy, and the determination to create it was 
 soon reached. The ground was reviewed and the statutes 
 searched, but no provision of law could be found that, 
 
 under any construction, might authorize its establishment 
 
 308 
 
INGENIOUS METHOD TO SOLVE A DIFFICULTY. 3O9 
 
 The position was perplexing, but a method was suggested 
 through which the Gordian knot might be cut. Neither 
 provision of the Constitution nor any law of Congress 
 expressly authorized the establishment of a Naval Acad- 
 emy ; but did any Constitutional provision or Congres- 
 sional enactment expressly prohibit the establishment of ci 
 Naval Academy? The suggestion was quaint, but there 
 were, evidently, adhesive qualities in it. The distinction 
 between a school and an academy was adroitly ignored, 
 and the details were soon arranged. Mr. Bancroft, the 
 Secretary of the Navy, under the general supervision of 
 naval instruction which was devolved upon him by exist- 
 ing law, determined to remove the pupils to a fixed point 
 upon the shore. With this purpose in view he solicited a 
 transfer of Fort Severn, at Annapolis, to the Navy 
 Department, by the Secretary of War. This request was 
 complied with, and within six months of the failure of 
 Senator Bayard to obtain Congressional sanction for the 
 establishment of the Academy it became un fait accompli, 
 through an artifice which, but for the intervention of an 
 unexpected circumstance — the certainty of a war with 
 Mexico — would probably have received the disapproval 
 of Congress and an annulment of the procedure. 
 
 The reproduction of two documents, in this connec- 
 tion, will place the reader in full possession of the ultimate 
 method by which the long-talked-of project was accom- 
 plished. 
 
 The first of these is the following letter from Secre- 
 tary Bancroft to Commander Franklin Buchanan: 
 
3IO THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 " Navy Department, August 7, 1845. 
 
 " Sir : The Secretary of War, with the assent of the President, 
 is prepared to transfer Fort Severn to the Navy Department, for 
 the purpose of establishing there a school for midshipmen. 
 
 " In carrying this design into effect it is my desire to avoid all 
 unnecessary expense, to create no places of easy service, no com- 
 mands that are not strictly necessary, to incur no charge that may 
 ■demand nevsr annual appropriations, but, by a more wise applica- 
 tion of moneys already appropriated and officers already author- 
 ized, to provide for the better education of the young ofHcers of the 
 navy. It is my design not to create new officers, but, by economy 
 of administration, to give vigor of action to, those who at present 
 are available; not to invoke new legislation, but to execute more 
 effectually existing laws. Placed by their profession in connection 
 with the world, visiting in their career of service every climate and 
 leading people, the officers of the American navy, if they gain but 
 opportunity for scientific instruction, may make themselves as dis- 
 tinguished for culture as they have been for gallant conduct. 
 
 " To this end it is proposed to collect the midshipmen who 
 from time to time are on shore and give them occupation during 
 their stay on land, in the study of mathematics, nautical astronomy, 
 theory of morals, international law, gunnery, use of steam, the 
 Spanish and French languages, and other branches essential in the 
 present day to the accomplishment of a naval officer. 
 
 " The effect of such an employment of the midshipmen cannot 
 but be favorable to them and to the service. At present they are 
 left, when waiting orders on shore, masters of their own motions, 
 without steady occupation, young, and exulting in the relief from 
 the restraint of discipline on shipboard. 
 
 " In collecting them at Annapolis for purpose of instruction, 
 you will begin with the principle that a warrant in the navy, far 
 from being an excuse for licentious freedom, is to be held a pledge 
 for subordination, industry, and regularity — for sobriety and 
 assiduous attention to duty. Far from consenting that the tone 
 of the discipline and morality should be less than at the universities 
 or colleges of our country, the President expects such supervision 
 and management as shall make of them an exemplary body of 
 which the country may be proud. 
 
 " To this end you have all the powers for discipline conferred 
 
LETTER OF INSTRUCTION TO SUPERINTENDENT. 3II 
 
 by the laws of the United States and the certainty that the depart- 
 ment will recommend no one for promotion who is proved unworthy 
 of it, from idleness or ill conduct or continuing ignorance, and who 
 cannot bear the test of a rigid examination. 
 
 " For the purpose of instruction the departments can select 
 from among twenty-two professors and three teachers of languages. 
 This force, which is now almost wasted by the manner in which it 
 is applied, may be concentrated in such a manncj- as to produce 
 the most satisfactory results. Besides, the list of chaplains is so 
 great that they cannot all be employed at sea, and the range of 
 selection of teachers may -be enlarged by taking from their number 
 some who would prefer giving instruction at the school to serving 
 afloat. The object of the department being to make the simplest 
 and most effective arrangement for a school, you will be the highest 
 officer in the establishment and will be intrusted with its govern- 
 ment. It is my wish, if it be possible, to send no other naval officer 
 to the school except such as may be able and willing to give 
 instruction. Among the officers junior to yourself there are many 
 whose acquisitions and tastes may lead them to desire such situa- 
 tions. For this end the department would cheerfully detach three 
 or four of the lieutenants and passed midshipmen, who, while they 
 would give instruction, would be ready to aid you in affairs of 
 discipline and government. 
 
 " One great difficulty remains to be considered. At our colleges 
 and at West Point young men are trained in a series of consecutive 
 years. The laws of the United States do not sanction a preliminary 
 school for the navy, they only provide for the instruction of officers 
 who already are in the navy. The pupils of the naval school being, 
 therefore, officers in the public service, will be liable at all times to 
 be called from their studies and sent on public duty. Midshipmen, 
 too, on their return from sea, at whatever season of the year, will 
 be sent to the school. Under these circumstances you will be 
 obliged to manage your classes in such a manner as will leave 
 opportunity for those who arrive to be attached to classes suited to 
 the stage of their progress in their studies. It will be difficult to 
 manage a system of studies which will meet this emergency, but 
 with the fixed resolve which you will bring to the work, and with 
 perseverance, you will succeed. 
 
 " Having thus expressed to you some general views, I leave 
 
312 THE VOL UNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 you, with such assistance as you may require, to prepare and lay 
 before this department for its approbation a plan for the organiza- 
 tion of the naval school at Fort Severn, Annapolis. 
 
 " The posts to which you and those associated with you will be 
 called, are intended to be posts of labor ; but they will also be 
 posts of the highest usefulness and consideration. To yourself, to 
 whose diligence and care the organization of the school is intrusted, 
 will belong in a good degree the responsibility of a wise arrange- 
 ment. Do not be discouraged by the many inconveniences and 
 difficulties which you will certainly encounter, and rely implicitly 
 on this department as disposed to second and sustain you, under 
 the law, in every effort to improve the character of the younger 
 branch of the service. 
 
 " I am very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " George Bancroft. 
 " Com'r Franklin Buchanan,- 
 
 " United States Navy, Washington." 
 
 The second of these documents is the following 
 extract from the annual report of Secretary Bancroft, 
 dated December i, 1845, and transmitted by President 
 Polk to the first session of the Twenty-ninth Congress : 
 
 " Congress, in its great desire to improve the navy, had per- 
 mitted the department to employ professors and instructors at an 
 annual cost of about twenty-eight thousand two hundred dollars ; 
 and it has been usual, besides the few employed at the receiving- 
 ships and the naval asylum, to send professors with the midship- 
 men into every ocean and clime. But the ship is not friendly to 
 study, and the office of professor rapidly degenerated into a sine- 
 cure ; often not so much was done as the elder officers would 
 cheerfully do for their juniors ; the teachers on board of the receiv- 
 ing-ships gave little instruction, or none whatever, so that the 
 expenditure was fruitless of great results. Many of the professors 
 were able and willing ; but the system was a bad one. The idea 
 naturally suggested itself, of seizing the time when the midshipmen 
 are on shore, and appropriating it to their culture. Instead of 
 sending migratory professors to sea with each handful of midship- 
 
A NAVAL A CADEM Y FIN ALL V CJiEA TED. 3 I 3 
 
 men, the midshipmen themselves, in the intervals between sea duty, 
 might be collected in a body, and devote their time to suitable 
 instruction. For the pay of the instructors Congress has provided ; 
 in looking out for a modest shelter for the pupils, I was encouraged 
 to ask for Fort Severn, at Annapolis. The transfer was readily 
 made by order of the Secretary of War, and a school was immedi- 
 ately organized, on an unostentatious and frugal plan. This insti- 
 tution, by giving some preliminary instruction to the midshipmen 
 before their first cruise, by extending an affectionate but firm 
 supervision over them as they return from sea, by providing for 
 them suitable culture before they pass to a higher grade, by reject- 
 ing from the service all who fail in capacity or in good disposition 
 to use their time well, will go far to renovate and improve the 
 American navy. 
 
 " The' plan pursued has been unpretending, but it is hoped will 
 prove efficient. A few professors give more and better instruction 
 than four and twenty at sea. No supernumerary officer has been 
 ordered to Annapolis ; no idle man is attached to the establish- 
 ment. Commander Buchanan, to whom the organization of the 
 school was intrusted, has carried his instructions into effect with 
 precision and sound judgment, and with a wise adaptation of sim- 
 ple and moderate means to a great and noble end. Let not 
 Congress infer that new expenses are to be incurred. Less than 
 the amount that has hitherto been at the disposal of the depart- 
 ment for purposes of culture, will support the school, and repair 
 and enlarge the quarters received from the hospitality of the army." 
 
 Without anticipating the future unfolding of the 
 subject, attention may be called to the closing sentences 
 of the above extract. The change was introduced as a 
 reform, educational and pecuniary. The former it cer- 
 tainly was ; but in the last sense, the pretense of saving is 
 somewhat ridiculous, in face of the large outlays that soon 
 occurred, and which have continued in increasing ratio up 
 to the present time. 
 
 The foregoing record, however, completes the history 
 
314 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 of the establishment of the Naval Academy at Annapolis. 
 The Academy at West Point has a legitimate raison 
 d'Hre. It cannot boast of parentage under a special and 
 exclusive act of Congress ; but nevertheless it has the 
 warrant of legislative enactment prior to birth. The 
 Academy at Annapolis has no such legitimate parentage. 
 It is a sort of filius nullius, adopted by a kindly Gov- 
 ernment under pressure and the compulsion of circum- 
 stances. Stripped of certain objections hereafter to be 
 stated, the Academy, under the fostering care of the 
 Government, has become a useful institution. 
 
 It was created, however, without sanction of law, by 
 an Administration that, departing from the fixed tra- 
 ditions of our Government, inaugurated a war of pure 
 conquest against a neighboring and friendly country, for 
 the purpose of adding additional slave territory to the 
 United States. That the territory subsequently acquired 
 did not become wholly slave territory was no fault of that 
 and subsequent Democratic Administrations. 
 
 Once fairly located at Fort Severn, the school was 
 , placed under the charge of Commander Franklin 
 Buchanan, who became its first superintendent, which 
 position he occupied for a period of two years. The 
 present generation has still some remembrance of this 
 unfaithful servant. He belongs to a class of persons of 
 whom this volume must contain some particular mention 
 in the later pages. From a boy of fifteen, when he 
 entered the American navy as a midshipman, up to the 
 year 1861, he was supported, educated, and honored by 
 
RECORD OF SUPERINTENDENT BUCHANAN. 315- 
 
 the Government of the United States. For all that he 
 was he was indebted to that Government. The year 
 1 86 1 found him a captain in the navy, and in less than 
 seven weeks after a Republican had been inaugurated 
 President of the United States he deserted the Govern- 
 ment that had reared, fed, and educated him, using the 
 education he had thus obtained against the very Govern- 
 ment that had nurtured him. He superintended the 
 fitting-out of the Merrimac and commanded her in the 
 attack upon our fleet in Hampton Roads, through which 
 attack so many true and loyal men lost their lives. He 
 subsequently became a rear admiral in the Confederate 
 service. 
 
 Apart from all comment upon the method of creation, 
 however, and all stricture upon the organization, the fact 
 remained that the simple school system authorized by the 
 Government had been transferred into an academic 
 system ; a location had been selected, school buildings 
 and appliances obtained ; a superintendent appointed, with 
 full faculties, etc. All this was done under the pretext 
 that no alteration had been made other than to change 
 the previous system of instruction, with the migratory 
 professors and pupils, to a fixed establishment of precisely 
 similar character upon the shore. 
 
 Within a year after the establishment of the Naval 
 Academy the Mexican War was fully upon us. The cir- 
 cumstance was propitious for the new-born offspring, and 
 it was made the most of by its friends. The first recog- 
 nition of the establishment by Congress in the appropri- 
 
3 1 6 THE VOL UNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 ation bill was sufiFicient to secure it against subsequent 
 
 clanger. In the naval appropriation bill for the fiscal year 
 
 ending June 30, 1847, this recognition was secured in the 
 
 following language : 
 
 " Sec. 4. That of the money appropriated in this act for the 
 pay of the navy, and contingent expenses enumerated, an amount 
 not exceeding twenty-eight thousand and two hundred dollars 
 may be expended, under direction of the Secretary of the Navy, 
 for repairs, improvements, and instruction at Fort Severn, Annap- 
 olis, Maryland." 
 
 In the bill of the following year the same amount was 
 appropriated, for the same purpose, with the addition of 
 the words : " and for the purchase of land for the use of 
 the naval school at that place, not exceeding twelve . 
 acres." 
 
 From this time onward the offspring was fairly 
 adopted as the nation's child, and under the paternal care 
 it has gradually developed into vigorous maturity. 
 
 Under this portion of the author's subject it now 
 remains only to exhibit the general expense account of 
 the institution, and to present a summary of such legisla- 
 tion in connection with it as may be of interest to the 
 reader. 
 
 In one respect, at least, the navy appropriation bills 
 differ from those of the army. The latter appropriate 
 separately for the Military Academy at West Point, and 
 enumerate specifically the various items of expense — 
 including amounts for teachers of all classes, for repairs, 
 for workmen, etc. — and, likewise, the regular annual 
 amounts for " pay of the cadets." The naval bills appro- 
 
TOTAL EXPENSE OF NA VAL ACADEMY. 
 
 317 
 
 priate separately, also, for the Naval Academy, but the 
 pay of the cadets is included in the general budget of 
 navy pay, and therefore does not constitute a separate 
 Item. This circumstance renders it somewhat difficult to 
 present the precise expense in detail without access to 
 official documents. The purpose of the present volume 
 hardly requires such detail. 
 
 The expense account of the Academy, therefore, 
 stands as follows, tabulated by years : 
 
 Table VI. 
 
 Showing appropriations for the Naval Academy, from 1845 to 1886, less 
 only the pay of the cadets. 
 
 Years. 
 
 1845 to 1846. 
 
 1846 to 1847. 
 
 1847 to 1848. 
 
 1848 to 1849. 
 
 1849 t° 1850. 
 
 1850 to 1851. 
 
 1851 to 1852. 
 
 1852 to 1853. 
 
 1853 to 1854. 
 
 Purposes. 
 
 Teachers' salaries 
 
 Repairs, improvements, and instruction 
 
 Repairs, improvements, and instruction, and for the 
 
 purchase of twelve acres of land 
 
 Improvements and repairs % 19,300 
 
 Instruction 28,200 
 
 For support of Naval School 
 
 For instruction % 28,200 
 
 For imp't and repair of buildings and grounds 28,200 
 
 Instruction % 28,200 
 
 Repairs and erections of buildings 26,700 
 
 Repairs and erections of buildings % 28,000 
 
 Quarters for professors and students 75,000 
 
 Contingent fund 21,700 
 
 Instruction 28,200 
 
 Imp't and repair of buildings and grounds, and 
 support of Academy % 46,059 
 
 Purchase of land, extending walls, making 
 new roads, wharf, building, and furnishing 
 hospital, etc 38,000 
 
 Amounts. 
 
 28,200 
 28,200 
 
 28,200 
 
 47,500 
 218,200 
 
 56,400 
 
 54,900 
 
 152,900 
 
 ,84,059 
 
3i8 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Purposes. 
 
 Amounts. 
 
 1854 to 1855. 
 
 1855 to 1856. 
 
 1856 to 1857. 
 
 1857 to 1858. 
 
 1858 to 1859. 
 
 1859 to i860. 
 i860 to 1861. 
 
 1861 to 1862. 
 
 1862 to 1863. 
 
 1863 to 1864. 
 
 1864 to 1865. 
 
 1865 to 1866. 
 
 1866 to 1867. 
 
 1867 to 1868. 
 
 lees to 1869. 
 
 Erection and repair of buildings, imp't and 
 preservation of grounds, and contingencies. $ 39,678 
 
 Barlow's Planetarium 2,000 
 
 Instruction 28,200 
 
 Repairs of buildings, heating works, and sup- 
 port of Academy % 25,044 
 
 Sea-wall and roads 23,000 
 
 Repairs, imp'ts, and support of Academy 
 
 Repairs, imp'ts, and support of Academy 
 
 Repairs, imp'ts, and support of Academy 
 
 Repairs, imp'ts, and support of Academy 
 
 Repairs, imp'ts, and support of Academy 
 
 Repairs, imp'ts, and support of Academy 
 
 Academy removed at breaking out of Rebellion to 
 Newport, R. I. Such appropriation as was neces- 
 sary for the year was covered by general appropria- 
 tion, except the item for mileage of Board of Visitors. 
 
 For expenses of watchmen and others, and contingen- 
 cies of the Academy 
 
 [In September, 1865, Academy removed back to An- 
 napolis.] Expenses of professors, watchmen, and 
 others, and contingencies of the Academy 
 
 Contingencies of the Academy 
 
 Mileage of visitors % 1,000 
 
 Pay of civil officers, professors, watchmen, and 
 others, contingent expenses and repairs. . . . 198,429 
 
 Purchase of Government House and ground of 
 the State of Maryland 25,000 
 
 Purchase of other grounds 25,000 
 
 Erection of buildings 100,000 
 
 Erection of machine shops 2,000 
 
 Erection of mural tablets and enlargement of 
 chapel 7,000 
 
 Pay of civil officers, professors, watchmen, and 
 
 others, and contingent account.. $283,913 
 
 Mileage of visitors 2,000 
 
 Salaries and wages $122,000 
 
 Contingent account 63,450 
 
 Repairs 10,000 
 
 Steam engineering dep't and laborers 5,000 
 
 69,878 
 
 48,044 
 39,595 
 42,307 
 45.671 
 50,000 
 57,096 
 49,567 
 
 24,881 
 
 101,831 
 115,620 
 
 358,429 
 
 285,913 
 
 200,450 
 
ITEMS OF NA VAL ACADEMY EXPENSE. 
 
 319 
 
 Years. 
 
 Purposes. 
 
 Amounts. 
 
 l86g to 1870. 
 
 1870 to 1871. 
 
 1871 to 1872. 
 
 1872 to 1873. 
 
 1873 to 1874. 
 1S74 to 1875. 
 
 1875 to 1876. 
 
 1876 to 1877. 
 
 1877 to 1878. 
 
 1878 to 1879. 
 
 1879 to 1880. 
 
 1880 to 1881. 
 i88i to 1882. 
 1882 to 1883. 
 1S83 to 1884. 
 
 1884 to 1885. 
 
 1885 to 1886. 
 
 Salaries and wages $105,294 
 
 Contingent account 61,450 
 
 Repairs 8,680 
 
 Steam engineering dep't 5,000 
 
 Board of Visitors 2,000 
 
 For a 
 For al 
 For a! 
 For a 
 For al 
 For a! 
 For a 
 For a 
 For a! 
 For a! 
 For al 
 For al 
 For a! 
 Foral 
 For al 
 For al 
 
 purposes . 
 purposes, 
 purposes, 
 purposes . 
 purposes . 
 purposes, 
 purposes . 
 purposes, 
 purposes, 
 purposes, 
 purposes, 
 purposes . 
 purposes . 
 purposes, 
 purposes . 
 purposes. 
 
 $ 182,424 
 190,340 
 213,082 
 
 199.457 
 199,456 
 176,300 
 183,616 
 197,095 
 190,095 
 184,278 
 186,493 
 
 211,143 
 211,943 
 188,979 
 179,382 
 90,663 
 180,628 
 
 Total general appropriations for Naval Academy. 
 
 I5.054.355 
 
 For the purpose of affording an idea of the basis upon 
 which the Naval Academy is at present organized, the 
 following items of the last appropriation bill may be use- 
 fully given in this connection : 
 
 "For twelve professors and assistants of various branches and 
 of languages, sword master and two assistants, boxing master and 
 gymnast, assistant librarian, secretary of Academy, three clerks of 
 the superintendent, one clerk of the commandant of cadets, one 
 clerk of the paymaster, one dentist (salary $1,600), one baker, one 
 mechanic, one cook, one messenger of the superintendent, one 
 armorer, one gunner's mate, one quarter gunner, one cockswain, 
 one seaman in department of seamanship, one attendant in depart- 
 ment of astronomy, one attendant in department of physics and 
 
320 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 chemistry, six attendants of recitation-rooms, one band-master, 
 twenty-eight first-class musicians and seven second-class — . 
 
 In all $53,559 
 
 Captain of the watch and watchmen 23,025 
 
 Mechanics and laborers ' 14,576 
 
 Employfes in steam enginery department 7,668 
 
 Repairs 21,000 
 
 Fuel and lights 17,000 
 
 For books — increase of library 2,000 
 
 For stationery, maps, etc 2,000 
 
 For department of physics and chemistry 2,500 
 
 For miscellaneous (steam pipes and fitting, rent of building for Academy, 
 freight, cartage, music, musical and astronomical instruments, uni- 
 form for band, telegrams, maintenance of teams, current expenses 
 and repairs of all kinds, incidental labor and expenses not included 
 
 under any other head) 34,6oo 
 
 Materials for repairs, etc 1,800 
 
 Mileage, board of visitors, etc., etc 1,500 
 
 The foregoing list of items reads something like a 
 modern "bank statement," but, as before intimated herein, 
 it is not the purpose of the author to find fault with the 
 expense account of either of the national academies. The 
 quotation is made solely for the information of the general 
 reader, who may not have ready access to the ofificial 
 documents. 
 
 The 'following table, exhibiting the whole number of 
 cadets admitted to the Naval Academy for a period of 
 forty years, has been compiled from ofificial sources. 
 
 Among its other features of interest, it will be ob- 
 served that during the first three years of the war, the 
 admissions to the Academy were greater than during any 
 equal period of its history, either before or since the 
 Rebellion. This single circumstance speaks strongly for 
 the patriotism of the youth of the North. 
 
TOTAL CADETS ADMITTED TO ANNAPOLIS. 
 
 321 
 
 Table VII. 
 
 Statement showing the number of cadets admitted annually to the Naval 
 Academy since its organization in 1845. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Number. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Number. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Number. 
 
 1845 
 
 10 
 
 i860 
 
 96 
 
 1875 
 
 118 
 
 1846 
 
 22 
 
 1 861 
 
 193 
 
 1876 
 
 119 
 
 1847 
 
 45 
 
 1862 
 
 196 
 
 1877 
 
 105 
 
 1S48 
 
 48 
 
 1863 
 
 190 
 
 1878 
 
 66 
 
 1849 
 
 31 
 
 1864 
 
 150 
 
 1879 
 
 68 
 
 1850 
 
 52 
 
 1865 
 
 130 
 
 1880 
 
 67 
 
 1851 
 
 54 
 
 1866 
 
 147 
 
 1881 
 
 64 
 
 1852 
 
 44 
 
 1867 
 
 70 
 
 1882 
 
 59 
 
 1853 
 
 36 
 
 1868 
 
 49 
 
 1883 
 
 US 
 
 1854 
 
 72 
 
 1869 
 
 87 
 
 1884 
 
 93 
 
 1855 
 
 34 
 
 1870 
 
 lOI 
 
 1885 
 
 86 
 
 1856 
 
 73 
 91 
 
 1871 
 1872 
 
 86 
 109 
 
 
 
 1857 
 
 
 
 1858 
 
 58 
 
 1873 
 
 in 
 
 Total pupils. . 
 
 - •••3,560 
 
 1859 
 
 lOI 
 
 1874 
 
 114 
 
 
 
 From the foregoing exhibits it will appear that there 
 have been 3,560 cadets admitted to the Academy, up to 
 and including the year 1885, while the expenditures for 
 the same time have been $5,034,355. To arrive at the 
 true total of expense, however, it will be necessary, as 
 heretofore stated, to add the pay of the 3,560 cadets 
 who have been admitted into the institution. 
 
 A statement of the principal regulations of the Acad- 
 emy, taken from the Revised Statutes, may appropriately 
 close this part of the author's subject : 
 
 " That hereafter there shall be no appointment of cadet mid- 
 shipmen or cadet engineers at the Naval Academy ; but in lieu 
 thereof, naval cadets shall be appointed from each Congressional 
 
32 2 ' THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 ». 
 
 district and at large, as now provided by law for cadet midship- 
 men (one for every member or delegate of the House of Represent- 
 atives, one for the District of Columbia, and ten appointed annually 
 at large, provided there shall not be at any time in the Academy 
 more than ten at large), and all the undergraduates of the Naval 
 Academy shall hereafter be designated and called naval cadets, and 
 from those who successfully complete the six years' course, appoint- 
 ments shall hereafter be made as it is necessary to fill vacancies in 
 the lower grades of the line and engineer corps of the navy, and 
 of the marine corps ; provided, that no greater number of appoint- 
 ments into these grades shall be made each year than shall 
 equal the number of vacancies which has occurred in the same 
 grades during the preceding year ; such appointments to be made 
 from the graduates of the year at the conclusion of their six years' 
 course, in the order of merit, as determined by the Academic 
 Board , the assignment to the various corps to be made by the 
 Secretary of the Navy upon the recommendation of the Academic 
 Board. But nothing herein contained shall reduce the number of 
 appointments from such graduates below ten ' in each year, nor 
 deprive of such appointment any graduate who may complete the 
 six years' course during the year 1882. And if there be a surplus 
 , of graduates, those who do not receive appointments shall be given 
 a certificate of graduation and honorable discharge, and one year's 
 sea pay, as now provided by law for cadet midshipmen ($1,000). 
 
 " That any cadet whose position in his class entitles him to be 
 retained in the service may, upon his own application, be honorably 
 discharged at the end of four years' course at the Naval Academy, 
 with a proper certificate of graduation. 
 
 " That the Secretary of the Navy may prescribe a special 
 course of study and training at home or abroad for any naval 
 cadet. 
 
 " That the pay of naval cadets shall be five hundred dollars 
 per year. 
 
 " All candidates for admission in the Academy shall be exam- 
 ined according to such regulations and at such stated times as the 
 Secretary of the Navy may prescribe. Candidates rejected at such 
 examination shall not have the privilege of another examination 
 for admission to the same class, unless recommended by the Board 
 of Examiners. 
 
LAWS GOVERNING NAVAL ACADEMY. 323 
 
 " Candidates allowed for Congressional districts, for Territories, 
 and for the District of Columbia, must be actual residents of the 
 districts or Territories, respectively, from which they are nomi- 
 nated. And all candidates must, at the time of their examination 
 for admission, be between the ages of fourteen and eighteen years, 
 and physically sound, well formed, and of robust constitution. 
 
 " The academic course shall be six years. 
 
 " All graduates of the Naval Academy who are assigned to the 
 line of the navy, on the successful completion of their six years' 
 •course, shall be commissioned ensigns in the navy. 
 
 "The course for cadet engineers shall be four years, including 
 two years of service on naval steamers. 
 
 "Naval cadets charged with 'hazing' shall be court-martialed, 
 and if found guilty by the court, they shall, upon its recommenda- 
 tion, be dismissed, and such cadet shall always be ineligible to 
 reappointment." 
 
The VOLUNTEER'S Departure. 
 
PART II. 
 
 CONSIDERATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PRESENT MILITARY SYSTEM 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 325 
 
THE PRESENT MILITARY SYSTEM OF THE 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE OBJECTS OF THE MILITARY AND NAVAL ACADEMIES 
 
 THE OBLIGATIONS OF GRADUATES TO THE GENERAL GOV- 
 ERNMENT TRIBUTE OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN TO THE 
 
 LOYAL SOLDIERS AND SAILORS THE GRADUATED ARMY 
 
 OFFICERS AND NON-GRADUATES OF THE ACADEMY WHO 
 
 WENT INTO THE REBELLION DESERTERS FROM THE 
 
 NAVY GRADUATES OF THE NAVAL ACADEMY FROM 1 845 
 
 TO i860. 
 
 THE author has made the history of the national 
 institutions at West Point and Annapolis some- 
 what fuller than the strict requirements of the present 
 work demand, because it seemed to him that the litera- 
 ture of the subject — perhaps it were better to say its biblio- 
 graphy — warrants the detail. The volumes already exist- 
 ing upon these institutions, while possessed of merit, and 
 especially that of Captain Boynton upon the History of 
 West Point, are more particularly addressed to the pro- 
 fessional soldier and sailor. It is hoped by the author 
 of the present volume that his description of the two 
 
 institutions may more nearly supply a want of the general 
 
 327 
 
328 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 public for information upon a subject that is possessed of 
 the highest interest to our people at large. 
 
 Having fully described the origin of the national 
 academies, it falls within the plan of the author to inquire 
 into their progress and to scrutinize their present adapta- 
 tion to the requirements of the American Republic. It 
 has long been the writer's belief that, as they were orig- 
 inally organized and as they now exist, they are not only 
 unproductive of the results necessary to be obtained from 
 such institutions, but that they contain many elements that 
 might under certain circumstances prove dangerous to 
 the best interests, and perhaps even, to the long con- 
 tinued life of the Republic, The author is aware that 
 he is treading upon delicate ground in opening a 
 discussion as to the merit of these institutions. The 
 proposition that disciplined soldiers are more efficient 
 than those undisciplined, and that special education in 
 the art and science of war creates more successful officers 
 than the absence of such education, has' come to be recog- 
 nized as indisputable, while the fact that we have two 
 institutions especially established for the purpose of im- 
 parting an expert military and naval education is accepted 
 by the majority of people as a sort of sequence warrant- 
 ing a proposition and conclusion that may be briefly stated 
 thus : Special military education is necessary to the 
 making of the perfect soldier, and as our law has amply 
 provided for imparting it, all of our soldiers are perfect. 
 This species of logic is not very different in kind and not 
 far removed in practical result from that once employed 
 
in a distinguished legislative assembly to seat a member 
 who was in political accord with a majority of the body, 
 but who had been given a certificate of election in face 
 of the most glaring violation of law. The committee 
 reported that. Mr, Smith's case admitted of a logical state- 
 ment from which there was no escape : that Mr. Smith, 
 the holder of the certificate of election, was either entitled 
 to the seat, or he was not entitled to it ; the contestant 
 had declared that Smith was not entitled to it ; therefore, 
 according to the contestant himself, the seat belonged to 
 Smith through sheer force of logic. 
 
 It is the purpose of the author to examine somewhat 
 critically the institutions referred to, with the view to 
 ascertain whether, as they have been ^nd are now organ- 
 ized, they are free of objection, and whether they repre- 
 sent the system that should be adopted by a government 
 ■ like our own. In making such an examination the author 
 can have no other purpose than that to contribute to the 
 best interest of the country. His effort will be to discuss 
 the questions connected with the subject of the usefulness 
 of the academies in a temperate and wholly impartial 
 manner. Having nothing of which to make personal 
 complaint, and with a practical experience of the topics 
 upon which he writes, his views should be unbiased. 
 These views, be they valuable or not, will now be submit- 
 ted to the people of the United States, to whom the 
 whole subject is of incalculable importance. 
 
 As preliminary to the discussion purposed by the 
 author, however, it seems desirable to make record of a 
 
330 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 personal fact, as it may be termed, relating to those who 
 have received a technical military or naval education from 
 the hands of the Government. The fact belongs to the 
 public record of our country, though an extreme magna- 
 nimity has prompted its concealment from the general 
 people. Upon the very threshold of the present investi- 
 gation the author is made to realize the great delicacy of 
 his task. Frank and open statement, however, closely 
 relates to the subject to be considered, and underlies the 
 future of the Government. This fact is sufificient for the 
 writer ; and, though individuals having a personal interest 
 in the concealment, or in a complete distortion of the 
 truth, will, undoubtedly, in order to break the force of 
 legitimate argument and conclusion, allege a purpose of 
 the author to revive bitter memories and to foment sec- 
 tional hatreds, he will continue to place his trust in the 
 fairness of his countrymen, in whose service his best 
 efforts have been employed during all his life. 
 
 At the outbreak of the Civil War, in 1861, the Acad- 
 emy at West Point had been established fifty-nine years, 
 dating from its legal organization in 1802 ; while the 
 Academy at Annapolis had been upon a working basis for 
 sixteen years, dating from 1845, 'he year of its permanent 
 location at Fort Severn. The fact is, however, as fully 
 appears in the preceding pages, that a regular school for 
 naval instruction had been maintained by the Govern- 
 ment for a much longer period, and that most if not 
 all of the higher naval officers in the service of the 
 United States at the breaking out of civil warfare had 
 
RESPONSIBILITY OF OFFICERS TO GOVERNMENT. 33 1 
 
 been educated by and at the expense of the Government. 
 So far as the mihtary ofificers are concerned, the venerable 
 Winfield Scott represented one of the very few then in 
 actual service who had not been educated at and gradu- 
 ated from the West Point Academy. 
 
 Upon entering the service of the Government, one 
 and all alike took the oath of loyal support of that Gov- 
 ernment. Now, this Government was representative, not 
 of any factional number of the States, but of the whole 
 number of States and Territories comprising the Amer- 
 ican Union. Theoretically, the money which went to 
 construct the edifices at West Point and at Annapolis, to 
 equip them as academies of instruction, to pay teachers, 
 to support pupils, etc., etc., was contributed by all of the 
 States in a certain proportion. The fact is, however, that 
 the Northern States of the Union, being greatly more 
 populous and wealthy than the Southern States, so called, 
 paid the expense of these institutions in that excess 
 directly represented by the greater revenues of the Gen- 
 eral Government, based upon the mere fact of their 
 increased population and wealth. Putting this palpable 
 circumstance — which represents the greater obligation 
 of the alumni to one section than to another — entirely 
 aside, it appears that all of the military and naval officials 
 who received their special education at West Point and 
 Annapolis were indebted for that education and for their 
 personal maintenance through varying periods — gener- 
 ally from their early youth up to the year spoken of — to 
 all of the States of the American Union. They were 
 
332 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 sworn by oath, and bound by every consideration of 
 honor and principle, to the service of those States — not 
 to one of them, nor yet to a dozen of them, but to one 
 and all of them, representing the Government of the 
 United States, whose bread they had eaten, whose money 
 they had received, and from which they had obtained a 
 technical or specific education in war that they had 
 distinctly obligated themselves to use in defense of the 
 Union of States constituting the Government. 
 
 This fact is thus strongly drawn because of the relevance 
 it possesses to the inquiry concerning the full measure of 
 usefulness of these national institutions. Within a few 
 years past, exculpation for the attempt to break up the 
 Union has assumed a somewhat new form. It is urged 
 that the right of a State to secede from the Union was, to 
 put it in its best form, but an unsettled question ; that 
 the people who attempted secession were sincere believ- 
 ers in their legal right to pursue that course ; that, being 
 honest in the conviction, they owed a paramount duty to 
 their State governments, and that for these reasons it is 
 not right that they should be held responsible for violating 
 a principle that has never been established under any 
 binding constitutional interpretation. It is not the 
 present intention to enter into a discussion of questions 
 growing out of this position, nor to inquire as to the 
 extent of its justice, if any it have. The fact to be dealt 
 with at this time is that, upon the inauguration of hostili- 
 ties against the United States by a certain number of 
 States composing the Union, there were a large number of 
 
POSITION OF THE ARMY OFFICIALS. 333 
 
 citizens who, after having pledged themselves solemnly to 
 support the Government, after having obtained as a 
 bounty from it a military education, after having received 
 a maintenance for a varying number of years, were 
 wholly without justification for the course pursued by 
 them ; these citizens not being at all covered by the 
 defense above stated in behalf of the general doctrine of 
 secession. 
 
 The individuals composing the army and navy of the 
 United States — those of them, more particularly, who 
 have received their education and maintenance from the 
 Government — more nearly represent the Government, 
 -with a single exception (that of the judiciary), than any 
 other individuals or class of people that compose it. 
 They zx^ permanently attached to it. This cannot be said 
 of any other class of public servants in the whole Govern- 
 ment service, except those belonging to its judicial branch. 
 Presidents, Cabinet officers, Senators, members, foreign 
 ministers, consuls, revenue officers, postmasters, clerks, 
 and in short, the whole list of public employes, come and 
 go ; but the army and navy hold on forever. They are 
 the only class, with the exception above noted, that are 
 removed from direct responsibility and accountability to 
 the people, at the polls. Changes of party do not affect 
 them. They stand with the expounders of justice, as the 
 representatives of a government that may change every 
 official connected with it, except themselves, at short 
 intervals of time. 
 
 Under this view of the case, their relation to the Gov- 
 
334 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 ernment is peculiar, not to say extraordinary. An ex- 
 civil officer of the Government has no connection with it 
 other than that of a simple citizen, with the privileges and 
 obligations pertaining to the character of a citizen. 
 Whatever claim may be made that, under the theory of a 
 supreme allegiance to a State, individuals were justified in 
 following their States in the secession movement, no such 
 claim can be made in behalf of those members of the 
 army and navy who not only deserted the Government, 
 but went into the ranks of those attempting to de- 
 stroy it. No State sovereignty claim can extend its 
 mitigating influence over them. They belong to the 
 Government per se, and they had no personality that was 
 not distinctly and emphatically absorbed by the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 If the issues submitted to the arbitrament of arms 
 during the late civil conflict are really and finally settled 
 by a sincere acquiescence in the supremacy of the 
 National Government, certainly no good citizen will wish 
 to revive the bitterness then engendered, nor even the 
 remembrance of past events, except in so far as they pos- 
 sess an important bearing upon the future of the country 
 and the interests of its people. The subject now touched 
 upon, however, has present vitality in connection with the 
 matter of our inquiry, viz. : the soundness of the system 
 upon which our national military and naval education is 
 based. That it is not sound, and that its defects are 
 largely responsible for the conduct of those faithless offi- 
 cers who abandoned their country in its hour of peril, the 
 
VIEWS OF SIMON CAMERON: 335 
 
 author believes to be susceptible of demonstration. The 
 following quotation from the report of the Hon. Simon 
 Cameron, Secretary of War under President Lincoln, 
 will serve to show how nearly fatal to the life of the Gov- 
 ernment was the conduct of the men upon whom the 
 country should have been able to rely in any emergency. 
 In this report, dated July i, 1861, Secretary Cameron 
 said : 
 
 * * * " The large disaffection at the present crisis of United 
 States army officers has excited most profound astonishment, 
 and naturally provokes inquiry as to its cause. But for this startling 
 defection the Rebellion never could have assumed formidable proportions. 
 The mere accident of birth in a particular section, or the influence 
 of a belief in particular political theories, furnishes no satisfactory 
 explanation of this remarkable fact. The majority of these officers 
 solicited and obtained a military education at the hands of the 
 Government — a mark of special favor conferred by the laws of 
 Congress to only one in seventy thousand inhabitants. At the 
 National Military Academy they were received and treated as the 
 adopted children of the Republic. By the peculiar relations thus 
 established, they virtually became bound, by more than ordinary 
 obligations of honor, to remain faithful to their flag. The ques- 
 tion may be asked, in view of the extraordinary treachery dis- 
 played, whether its promoting cause may not be traced to a radical 
 defect in the system of education itself." 
 
 The following extract from the report of the Hon. 
 Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, dated July 4, 
 1 86 1, being germane to the same matter, may be appro- 
 priately quoted in this connection : 
 
 * * * " Since the 4th of March two hundred and fifty-nine 
 officers of the navy have resigned their commissions or been dis- 
 missed from the service. This diminution of officers, at a time 
 when the force was greatly enlarged, and when the whole naval 
 
336 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 armament of the country was put in requisition, has compelled the 
 department to send many of our public vessels to sea without a 
 full complement of officers. To some extent this deficiency has 
 been supplied by gentlemen formerly connected with the navy who 
 had retired to civil pursuits in peaceable times, but who, in the 
 spirit of true patriotism, came promptly forward in the hour of 
 their country's peril, and made voluntary tender- of their services 
 to sustain the flag and the country. The department gladly 
 availed itself of the tender thus patriotically made, and received 
 these gentlemen into the service in the capacity of acting lieuten- 
 ants. The alacrity with which they presented themselves for duty 
 in any position the Government might assign them, when others, 
 who had been the honored and trusted recipients of Government 
 favors, were deserting the standard, was no less honorable to them 
 than to the profession which they adorned, and the country which 
 they loved." 
 
 These two quotations illustrate a pregnant fact in the 
 history of the late war which shows conclusively that, had 
 the recreant officers of the army and navy remained 
 faithful to their solemn trusts, the sacrifices of human life 
 which were made would not have been required, and that 
 the limits of the Rebellion would scarcely have exceeded 
 the proportions of a huge but badly organized mob. 
 
 In thus commenting upon the recreant members of 
 both branches of the war service, the author takes particu- 
 lar pleasure in recording another fact, interesting in itself 
 and important in its relation to the subject of military and 
 naval education in our two national academies. This fact 
 is represented by the circumstance that treason to the 
 Government in the military and naval arms was confined 
 to the officers whom the Government was specially educat- 
 ing for its defense. Justice to the faithful, as well as the 
 relevancy of the fact to the present subject, requires its 
 
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S TRIBUTE TO LOYALTY. 2)11 
 
 full Statement in this connection. The reader will pardon 
 an extract in this place from the message of President 
 Lincoln, read at the commencement of the first session of 
 the Thirty-seventh Congress, and dated July 4, 1861, 
 which states in the terse and graphic style of that great 
 statesman and patriotic man the grateful fact now 
 spoken of. 
 
 "It is worthy of note," said thie lamented President, "that 
 while in this, the Government's hour of trial, large numbers of 
 those in the army and navy who have been favored with the offices 
 have resigned and proved false to the hand which had pampered 
 them, not one common soldier or common sailor is known to have 
 deserted his flag. 
 
 " Great honor is due to those officers who remained true despite 
 the example of their treacherous associates, but the greatest honor 
 and the most important fact of all is the unanimous firmness of the 
 common soldiers and common sailors. To the last man, so far as 
 known, they have successfully resisted the traitorous efforts of those 
 whose commands but an hour before they obeyed as absolute law. 
 This is the patriotic instinct of a plain people. They understand 
 without an argument that the destroying the Government which 
 was made by Washington means no good to them." 
 
 What a glorious tribute to the American common 
 soldier and sailor is this! And what an unanswerable 
 demand lies within the mere statement of the fact for the 
 inauguration and establishment of a system of national 
 military education which shall at one and the same time 
 save us from a repetition of such wholesale treachery as 
 was witnessed in 1861, and give to our country the services 
 of its patriotic citizens especially educated to serve in its 
 defense. 
 
 If it be possible to define different degrees of a crime 
 
338 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 as great as that of treason, those who, after having 
 received a mihtary or naval education from the Govern- 
 ment, used it in an attempt to destroy that Government, 
 were certainly guilty of the supreme infamy of the late 
 Rebellion. The traitorous statesmen who had held high 
 place under the Government might fulminate upon paper, 
 with little other damage than that resulting from the 
 destruction of writing-materials. It was the traitorous 
 defenders of the Government that made the Rebellion 
 practicable. Had they kept the faith of soldiers; had 
 they been true to the obligations of honest men and 
 citizens, there would have been no Rebellion, and the 
 nation . would not have been called upon to endure the 
 sacrifices of blood and treasure which followed as a direct 
 consequence of their treason. 
 
 It has been remarked in the first part of the present 
 chapter that what the author terms 2l personal fact has 
 been suppressed in the public records through extreme 
 magnanimity. The official registers of the army and 
 navy contain the names of the loyal and disloyal, with no 
 distinguishing mark other than to note under the regu- 
 lar headings, Resigned, Dropped, Dismissed, etc., the 
 names of those who infamously betrayed their trusts, 
 the reader being left wholly without information as to 
 why certain officers resigned, why certain others were 
 dropped, and certain others were dismissed. 
 
 At the close of a civil war which determined the 
 indissoluble character of the American Union and estab- 
 lished the authority of the Government over States that 
 
MAGNANIMITY OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 339 
 
 had resorted to armed rebellion upon an enormous scale, 
 the nations of the world were astonished at the mag- 
 nanimity of the conquerors to the conquered. Such a 
 spectacle of charitable forgiveness as then occurred, 
 whereby leaders who, by every law and usage of nations, 
 had merited summary execution, were freely pardoned 
 and restored to the full privileges of citizenship, was 
 never before witnessed from the time that rebellion 
 against governments first took the desperate chances of 
 success or of certain death to the instigators. Men hob- 
 bling about the streets, mutilated in the defense of their 
 country ; noble-hearted women clad in vestments of deep- 
 est black and mourning the loss of husband, brother, 
 relative, or friend ; and orphaned children, from whom the 
 protecting and supporting arm of the father had been cruel- 
 ly wrenched, joined, one and all, in a sentiment of forgive- 
 ness, while the whole people gave fervent response to the 
 words of the mighty chief of the Union host when ex- 
 claiming from the American Capitol, " Let us have 
 peace ! " 
 
 The course of forbearance and forgiveness pursued by 
 the Government was supremely worthy of the people of 
 the United States. It was grand; it was magnanimous ; 
 it was wise ; it was far-seeing. It is but a few months 
 ago that an unfortunate Canadian, smarting under the 
 pain of undoubted wrong and Government oppression, 
 inaugurated a feeble resistance to the lawful authority, 
 whereby a mere handful of men lost their lives. It was a 
 very small rebellion at best, and was based upon griev- 
 
340 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 ances that the Government had refused or neglected to 
 remedy, after repeated efforts had been made. When 
 the leader, Riel, had been taken, no representation was 
 sufficient to mitigate the sentence, and he was executed 
 like a common felon upon the scaffold. 
 
 As these lines are being written an extraordinary- 
 scene is taking place in some of the States lately in rebel- 
 lion. The corner-stone of a monument to the dead 
 soldiers of the vanquished Confederacy has been laid with 
 great pomp and amid wild enthusiasm by the executive 
 head of the late Confederacy, Mr. Jefferson Davis. This 
 unsuccessful chieftain has been* permitted by the Ameri- 
 can people to live quietly in the enjoyment of his home 
 and family, unharmed and unmolested. At this moment 
 he is making addresses and emitting sentiments for which 
 in any other country of the world he would be hanged 
 with as little ceremony as possible. Impotent of harm 
 himself, the general public cares little as to what he may 
 say or do. But the painful warning of the case lies in 
 the significant and earnest response of the people that 
 are taking part in the ceremonies now being performed. 
 Mr. Davis has assured the shouting crowds that the 
 Southern cause is not lost, and the announcement has 
 been received with noisy approval. The- thoughtful 
 people of the North, who, with wide-open arms, received 
 their Southern brothers in a spirit of magnanimous recon- 
 ciliation that has no parallel in history, understand the 
 purport of this sentiment and are viewing these demon- 
 strations with silent alarm. Some are being led to ques- 
 
LO YAL TV AT A PREMIUM. 34 1 
 
 tion the wisdom of the magnanimity of the Government 
 and the people of the North in attempting the recon- 
 struction of the Southern States upon a basis of such 
 great leniency. 
 
 However all this may be, one policy is plainly neces- 
 sary. Let the extreme of kindness be preserved toward 
 our brothers of the South. Let us continue to extend 
 the hand of fellowship and national brotherhood. Let us 
 blot out the animosities of the war and eradicate every 
 trace of bitterness between the sections if the Southern 
 people will consent to it. But for the sake of our 
 national existence and the honor and manhood of our 
 people let us never cease to stigmatize treason as a crime, 
 and to laud patriotism and fidelity to our country as 
 among the sublimest of virtues. These are foundation- 
 stones upon ^yhich rests the perpetuity of the American 
 Government. When weak sentimentality, under the 
 form of mistaken magnanimity, shall fear to applaud the 
 right lest the feelings of the wrong be wounded; when 
 the record of the brave, the loyal, the true, shall be cast 
 into the shade lest its exhibition may bring under light the 
 wickedness of the unworthy, the disloyal, the treacher- 
 ous, then may we well exclaim with the Roman Senator, 
 " It is all over with the Republic," and mournfully await 
 with folded hands the downfall of free governments and 
 the expiration of the genius of liberty. 
 
 In December, 1863, the United States Senate adopted 
 a resolution requesting the Secretary of the Navy to 
 report to that body the names of all officers of the navy 
 
342 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 and of the marine corps who left the service to engage in 
 rebellion. In response to this resolution the Secretary 
 furnished the desired information, which is repeated in 
 the present volume. So far as the author's information 
 extends, however, no such information relating to officers 
 of the army has ever been drawn from the records of the 
 departments and placed in a position of accessibility to 
 the public. Believing that justice to the brave officers 
 who remained faithful to their trust demands it, and that 
 the policy of concealing, as far as possible, the names of 
 the faithless has the germ of future evil in it, the author 
 has caused to be prepared, though with considerable diffi- 
 culty, a list of the army officers who deserted their coun- 
 try, either to ally themselves with its enemies or to remain 
 passive spectators of its destruction. The list may not 
 be critically accurate, though it is believed to be substan- 
 tially correct. 
 
 The reader will observe that those whose names are 
 followed by an abbreviation for a Northern State indicate 
 men of the North who went into the service and pay of 
 the enemy. Fortunately, these latter names are few in 
 number. 
 
 Table VIII. 
 
 Exhibiting a list of army officers, graduates of the Military Academy 
 at West Point, who left the service of the United States upon the 
 inauguration of the Rebellion in 1861. 
 
 Major and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel William H. T. Walker, 
 Tenth Infantry, December 20, i860. 
 
 Captain Robert P. Maclay, Eighth Infantry, December 31, 
 i860. (Penn.) 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. ARMY. 343 
 
 Second Lieutenant Francis A. Sharp, First Artillery, Jan- 
 uary 10, i860. (Ind.) 
 
 Second Lieutenant John R. Church, First Cavalry, October 
 30, i860. 
 
 Brigadier-General Joseph E. Johnston, Quartermaster-General, 
 April 22, 1861. 
 
 Colonel Samuel Cooper, Adjutant-General, March 7, 1861. 
 
 Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-General Albert S. Johnston, Sec- 
 ond Cavalry, May 3, 1861. 
 
 Colonel Robert E. Lee, First Cavalry, April 25, 1861. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel George B. Crittenden, of the Regiment of 
 Mounted Riflemen, June 10, 1861. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel William J. Hardee, First Cavalry, Jan- 
 uary 31, 1861. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Gabriel J. Rains, Fifth Infantry, July 31, 
 1861. 
 
 Major Richard B. Lee, Commissary of Subsistence, May 9, 1861. 
 
 Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel John B. Grayson, Com- 
 missary of Subsistence, July i, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Major William W. Mackall, Assistant Adjutant-General, 
 July 3, 1861. 
 
 Major and Brevet Colonel Benjamin Huger, Ordnance Depart- 
 ment, April 22, 1861. 
 
 Major Theophilus H. Holmes, Eighth Infantry, April 22, 1861. 
 
 Major Robert S. Garnett, Ninth Infantry, April 30, 1861. 
 
 Major Earl Van Dorn, Second Cavalry, January 31, 1861. 
 
 Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel John H. Winder, Third 
 Artillery, April 27, 1861. 
 
 Major Edmund K. Smith, Second Cavalry, April 6, 1861. 
 
 Major Richard C. Gatlin, Fifth Infantry, May 20, 1861. 
 
 Major Henry H. Sibley, First Dragoons, May 13, 1861. 
 
 Captain James A. J. Bradford, Ordnance Department, May i, 
 1861. 
 
 Captain and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Abraham C. Meyers, 
 Assistant Quartermaster, January 23, 1861. 
 
 Captain and Brevet Major Henry C. Wayne, Assistant Quar- 
 termaster, December 31, i860. 
 
 Captain and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel John B. Magruder, 
 First Artillery, April 20, 1861. 
 
344 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Captain and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Ruggles, Fifth 
 Infantry, May 7, 1861. (Mass.) 
 
 Captain and Brevet Major Larkin Smith, Eighth Infantry, 
 May 13, 1861. 
 
 Captain Thomas Jordon, Assistant Quartermaster, May 2, 1861. 
 
 Captain and Brevet Major James G. Martin, Assistant Quar- 
 termaster, June 14, 1861. 
 
 Captain Arnold Elzy, Second Artillery, April 25, 1861. 
 
 Captain Lucius B. Northrop, First Dragoons, January 8, 1861. 
 
 Captain Richard S. Ewell, First Dragoons, May 7, 1861. 
 
 Captain and Brevet Major John C. Pemberton, Fourth Artil- 
 lery, April 29, 1861. (Penn.) 
 
 Captain William B. Blair, Commissary of Subsistence, May 14, 
 1861. 
 
 Captain John P. McCown, Fourth Artillery, May 17, 1861. 
 
 Captain and Brevet Major Edward Johnson, Sixth Infantry 
 June 10, 1861. 
 
 Captain Ruben P. Campbell, Second Dragoons, May 11, 1861. 
 
 Captain Lafayette McLaws, Seventh Infantry, March 23, 1861. 
 
 Captain William Steele, Second Dragoons, May 30, 1861. (N. Y.) 
 
 Captain and Brevet Major Peter G. T. Beauregard, Corps of 
 Engineers, February 20, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Captain David R. Jones, Assistant Adjutant-General, 
 February 15, 1861. 
 
 Captain Jeremy F. Gilmer, Corps of Engineers, June 29, 1861. 
 
 Captain Samuel Jones, First Artillery, April 27, 1861. 
 
 Captain Edmunds B. Halloway, Eighth Infantry, May 14, 1861. 
 
 Captain John M. Jones, Seventh Infantry, May 27, 1861. 
 
 Captain Richard H. Anderson, Second Dragoons, March 3, 
 1861. 
 
 Captain George E. Pickett, Ninth Infantry, June 25, 1861. 
 
 Captain William M. Gardner, Second Infantry, January 19, 
 1861. 
 
 Captain Barnard E. Bee, Tenth Infantry, March 3, 1861. 
 
 Captain Henry Heth, Tenth Infantry, April 25, 1861. 
 
 Captain Charles S. Winder, Ninth Infantry, April i, 1861. 
 
 Captain and Brevet Major Samuel S. Anderson, Second Artil- 
 lery, April 27, 1 86 1. 
 
 Captain William N. R. Beall, First Cavalry, August 20, 186 1. 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. ARMY. 345 
 
 Captain Richard B. Garnett, Sixth Infantry, May 17, 1861. 
 
 Captain Josiah Gorgas, Ordnance Department, April 3, 1861. 
 (Penn.) 
 
 Captain Eugene E. McKean, Assistant Quartermaster, April 
 25, 1861. 
 
 Captain James M. Hawes, Second Dragoons, May 9, 1861. 
 
 Captain George H. Steuart, First Cavalry, April 22, 1861. 
 
 Captain Nathan G. Evans, Second Cavalry, February 27, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Captain John Withers, Assistant Adjutant-General and 
 First Lieutenant Fourth Infantry, March i, 1861. 
 
 Captain Martin L. Smith, Corps of Topographical Engineers, 
 April I, 1861. (N. Y.) 
 
 Captain Alfred Cumming, Tenth Infantry, January 19, 1861, 
 
 Captain John A. Brown, Fourth Artillery, July 3, i86i. 
 
 Captain John Adams, First Dragoons, May 31, 1861. 
 
 Captain George W. Ley, Sixth Infantry, Aide-de-camp and 
 ex-officio Lieutenant-Colonel, March 2, 1861. 
 
 Captain James Mcintosh, First Cavalry, May 7, 1861. 
 
 Captain John W. Frazer, Ninth Infantry, March 15, 1861. 
 
 Captain Seth M. Barton, First Infantry, June n, 1861. 
 
 Captain William L. Cabell, Assistant Quartermaster and First 
 Lieutenant Seventh Infantry, April 20, 1861. 
 
 Captain William D. Smith, Second Dragoons, January 28, 1861. 
 
 Captain William H. C. Whiting, Corps of Engineers, February 
 20, 1861. 
 
 Captain Edward D. Blake, Eighth Infantry, June 11, 1861. 
 
 Captain Cadmus M. Wilcox, Seventh Infantry, June 8, 1861. 
 
 Captain Charles W. Field, Second Cavalry, May 30, 1861. 
 
 Captain Robert Ransom, First Cavalry, May 24, 1861. 
 
 Captain James E. B. Stuart, First Cavalry, May 14, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant William G. Gill, Fourth Artillery, February 
 4,1861. (N.J.) 
 
 First Lieutenant Ambrose P. Hill, First Artillery, March i, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Armistead L. Long, Second Artillery, June 10, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Caleb Huse, First Artillery, February 25, 
 1861. (Mass.) 
 
 First Lieutenant Thomas K. Jackson, Eighth Infantry, April 
 I, 1861. 
 
346 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 First Lieutenant James L Corley, Sixth Infantry, May 4, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Robert Johnston, First Dragoons, April 25, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Thomas G. Williams, First Infantry, March 
 15, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant John H. Forney, Tenth Infantry, January 23, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Robert G. Cole, Eighth Infantry, January 28, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Philip Stockton, First Cavalry, February 25, 
 1861. (N. J.) 
 
 First Lieutenant Thornton A. Washington, First Infantry, 
 April 8, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant George B. Anderson, Second Dragoons, April 
 25, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Samuel H. Reynolds, First Infantry, July 28, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant John T. Shaaff, Second Cavalry, February 22, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant George B. Cosby, Second Cavalry, May 10, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Stephen D. Lee, Fourth Artillery, February 
 
 20, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant James L. White, Third Artillery, March 3, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant William R. Boggs, Ordnance Department, 
 February i, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant John Pegram, Second Dragoons, May 10, i86t. 
 
 First Lieutenant Henry H.Walker, Sixth Infantry, May 3, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant John B. Villepigue, Second Dragoons, March 
 31, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Matthew L. Davis, Third Infantry, May 13, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant William D. Pendar, First Dragoons, March 
 
 21, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant John Mullins, Second Dragoons, April 24, 1861. 
 First Lieutenant Thomas M. Jones, Eighth Infantry, February 
 28, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant John B. Hood, Second Cavalry, April 16, i86i. 
 
DESEHTEJiS FROM THE U. S. ARMY. 347 
 
 First Lieutenant Lucius L. Rich, Fifth Infantry, May 13, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant George W. C. Lee, Corps of Engineers, May 
 2, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Laurence S. Baker, Regiment of Mounted 
 Riflemen, May 10, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant James A. Smith, Sixth Infantry, May 9, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Hylan B. Lyon, Third Artillery, April 30, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant John T. Mercer, First Dragoons, April 26, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant John O. Long, Second Infantry, May 2, 1861. 
 (111.) 
 
 First Lieutenant James H. Hill, Tenth Infantry, May i, 186 1. 
 (Me.) 
 
 First Lieutenant Frank S. Armistead, Tenth Infantry, June 14, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Lunsford L. Lomax, First Cavalry, April 25, 
 1861. (R. L) 
 
 First Lieutenant Fitzhugh Lee, Second Cavalry, May 21, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Manning M. Kimmel, Second Cavalry, 
 August 14, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant George Jackson, Second Dragoons, June i, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Richard H. Brewer, First Dragoons, May 13, ' 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Arthur S. Cunningham, Tenth Infantry, June 
 25, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Lafayette Peck, Eighth Infantry, August 23, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Richard V. Bonneau, Third Infantry, 
 March 2, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Horace Randall, First Dragoons, Febru- 
 ary 27, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Frederick L. Childs, First Artillery, March 
 4, 1861. (Me.) 
 
 Second Lieutenant Robert C. Hill, Fifth Infantry, March 3, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Owen K. McLemore, Sixth Infantry, April 
 8, i86i. 
 
 Second Lieutenant James P. Major, Second Cavalry, March 21, 
 1861. 
 
348 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Second Lieutenant William H. Jackson, Regiment of Mounted 
 Riflemen, May i6, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Aurelius F. Cone, First Infantry, May 13, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Paul J. Quattlebaum, Ninth Infantry, June 
 29, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant John S. Marmaduke, Seventh Infantry, 
 April 17, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant George W. Holt, Third Infantry, February 
 28, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Henry C. McNeill, Regiment of Mounted 
 Riflemen, May 12, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Robert H. Anderson, Ninth Infantry, May 
 17, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Thomas J. Berry, Second Dragoons, Janu- 
 ary 28, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Oliver H. Fish, First Cavalry, May i, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Samuel W. Ferguson, First Dragoons, 
 March i, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Richard K. Meade, Jr., Corps of Engineers, 
 May I, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant George A. Cunningham, Second Cavalry, 
 February 27, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Edward P. Alexander, Corps of Engineers, 
 May I, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Byron M. Thomas, Fifth Infantry, April 6, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant James H. Hallonquist, Fourth Artillery, 
 January 1, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Solomon Williams, Second Dragoons, May 
 
 3, i86i- 
 
 Second Lieutenant William G. Robinson, Second Infantry, 
 May 17, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Andrew Jackson, Jr., First Cavalry, May 7, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Joseph Wheeler, Jr., Regiment of Mounted 
 Riflemen, April 22, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant John R. B. Burtwell, First Cavalry, March 
 21, 1861. 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. ARMY. 349 
 
 Second Lieutenant Frank Huger, Tenth Infantry, May 21, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Edward D. B. Riley, Fourth Infantry, June 
 13, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant John S. Saunders, Ordnance Department, 
 April 22, 1861 
 
 Second Lieutenant Stephen D. Ramseur, Fourth Artillery, 
 April 6, 1 86 1. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Moses H. Wright, Ordnance Department, 
 May 30, 1 86 1. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant William P. Smith, Corps of Topo- 
 graphical Engineers, April 27, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant Moses J. White, Ordnance Depart- 
 ment, February 7, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant Joseph Dixon, Corps of Topograph- 
 ical Engineers, June 28, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant William H. Echols, Corps of Topo- 
 graphical Engineers, March 21, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant Charles R. Collins, Corps of Topo- 
 graphical Engineers, June 10, 1861. (Penn.) 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant Samuel H. Lockett, Corps of Engi- 
 neers, February i, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant Robert F. Beckham, Corps of Topo- 
 graphical Engineers, May 3, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant Benjamin F. Sloan, Jr., Second Dra- 
 goons, March 2, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant Wade H. Gibbes, Second Cavalry, 
 January i, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant Harold Borland, Fifth Infantry, 
 March 31, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant Mathais W. Henry, Regiment of 
 Mounted Riflemen, August 19, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant George O. Watts, Regiment of 
 Mounted Riflemen, August 10, 1861. 
 
 Paymaster Lloyd J. Beall, April 22, 1861. 
 
 Paymaster Robert H. Chilton, April 29, 1861. 
 
 Paymaster Thomas G. Rhett, April i, i86i. 
 
 Paymaster James Longstreet, June i, 1861. 
 
350 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA, 
 
 Declined. 
 
 By Major William W. Mackall, Assistant Adjutant-General, the 
 appointment of Assistant Adjutant-General, with the rank of Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel, to date from May ii, 1861. 
 
 Dropped. 
 
 Captain Alexander W. Reynolds, Assistant Quartermaster, 
 October 4, 1861. 
 
 Captain Franklin Gardner, Tenth Infantry, May 7, 1861. 
 (N. Y.) 
 
 Captain Henry B. Davidson, First Dragoons, July 30, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant-James Deshler, Tenth Infantry, July 15, 1861. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Captain Carter L. Stevenson, Fifth Infantry, June 25, 1861. 
 
 Captain Dabney H. Maury, Assistant Adjutant-General, June 
 25, 1861. 
 
 Captain Charles H. Tyler, Second Dragoons, June 6, 1861. 
 
 Captain Beverly H. Robertson, Second Dragoons, August Z^ 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives, Corps of Topographical 
 Engineers, December 26, 1861. (N. Y.) 
 
 Second Lieutenant Nathaniel R. Chambliss, Third Artillery,, 
 May 25, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Olin F. Rice, Sixth Infantry, June 6, i86r. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Charles E. Patterson, Fourth Infantry, 
 June 6, i86i. (Ind.) 
 
 Second Lieutenant Charles C. Campbell, First Cavalry, June 
 6, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant John M. Kerr, Regiment of Mounted 
 Riflemen, July 13, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant Llewellyn G. Hoxton, Ordnance 
 Department, May 23, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant Clarence Derrick, of the Corps of 
 Engineers, July 16, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant Frank A. Reynolds, Second Dra- 
 goons, July 16, 1861. 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. ARMY. 35 I 
 
 First Lieutenant Walter H. Stevens, Corps of Engineers, May 
 a, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Charles H. Rundell, Fourth Infantry, June 6, 
 1861. (N. Y.) 
 
 Table IX. 
 
 Exhibiting a list of army officers, non-graduates of the Military Academy 
 at West Point, who left the service of the United States upon the 
 inauguration of the Rebellion in 1861. 
 
 Resigned. 
 
 Captain John Donovant, Tenth Infantry, December, 29, i860. 
 
 Colonel Thomas T. Fauntleroy, First Dragoons, May 13, 1861. 
 
 Colonel Matthew M. Payne, Second Artillery, July 23, 1861. 
 
 Colonel William W. Loring, of the Regiment of Mounted Rifle- 
 men, May 13, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Major George Deas, Assistant Adjutant-General, Feb- 
 ruary 25, 1861. 
 
 Captain Henry Little, Seventh Infantry, May 7, 1861. 
 
 Captain and Brevet Major Joseph Selden, Eighth Infantry, 
 April 27, 1861. 
 
 Captain Andrew J. Lindsay, Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, 
 May s, 1861. 
 
 Captain John G. Walker, Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, July 
 31, 1861. 
 
 Captain Thomas Claiborne, Jr., Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, 
 May 14, 1861. 
 
 Captain and Brevet Major Lewis A. Armistead, Sixth Infantry, 
 May 26, 1861. 
 
 Captain William D. De Saussure, First Cavalry, March 1, 
 1861. 
 
 Captain James J. Archer, Ninth Infantry, May 14, 1861. 
 
 Captain William R. Bradfute, Second Cavalry, March 21, 1861. 
 
 Captain William S. Walker, First Cavalry, May i, 1861. 
 
 Captain Crawford Fletcher, Ninth Infantry, March i, 1861. 
 
 Captain Francis C. Armstrong, Second Dragoons, August 13, 
 i86i. 
 
 First Lieutenant Anderson Merchant, Second Artillery, May 2, 
 1861. 
 
352 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 First Lieutenant Julius A. De Lagnel, Second Artillery, May 17, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Caleb Smith, Second Infantry, May 3, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Walter H. Jenifer, Second Cavalry, April 30, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Henry B. Kelly, Tenth Infantry, February 27, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant George W. Carr, Ninth Infantry, February 20, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Alfred Iverson, Jr., First Cavalry, March 21, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Lawrence W. O'Bannon, Third Infantry, 
 March 31, 1861 
 
 First Lieutenant Edward F. Bagley, Fourth Artillery, March i, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Alexander E. Steen, Third Infantry May 10, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Walter Jones, First Infantry, May 10, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Edwin J. Harvie, Ninth Infantry, March 13, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant George S. James, Fourth Artillery, February 
 I, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Charles D. Anderson, Fourth Artillery, April 
 I, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Aaron B. Hardcastle, Sixth Infantry, May 7, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Richard H. Riddick, First Cavalry, May 9, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Thomas B. Edelin, Seventh Infantry, May 30, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant John G. Taylor, Eighth Infantry, June 7, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant William Kearny, Tenth Infantry, June i, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant John R. Cooke, Eighth Infantry, May 30, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Joseph F. Minter, Second Cavalry, March 31, 
 i86i. 
 
 First Lieutenant John R. Waddy, Fourth Artillery, July 26, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Charles W. Phifer, Second Cavalry, April i, 
 1861. 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. ARMY. 353 
 
 First Lieutenant Edward Ingraham, First Cavalry, May 2, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant Nathaniel Wickliffe, Ninth Infantry, May 17, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant William O. Williams, Second Cavalry, June 
 10, i86i. 
 
 First Lieutenant William H. Brown, Eleventh Infantry, Octo- 
 ber 23, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant William Butler, Second Artillery, February 
 I, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant St. Clair Bearing, Second Artillery, Febru- 
 ary 7, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Arthur Shaaff, Fourth Infantry, July 10, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant William F. Lee, Second Infantry, April 30, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Joseph P. Jones, Second Artillery, January 
 28, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Alexander M. Haskell, First Infantry, May 
 I, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Francis Mallory, Fourth Infantry, July 10, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant James K. McCall, Fourth Infantry, April 
 25, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant William E. Burnett, First Infantry, July 17, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant James Howard, Third Artillery, April 3, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Gabriel H. Hill, Third Artillery, April 29, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant James H. Holman, First Infantry, April 17, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Samuel M. Cooper, First Artillery, April 5, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Alexander B. Montgomery, Fourth Artil- 
 lery, March 3, 1861. 
 
 Surgeon Samuel P. Moore, February 25, r86i. 
 
 Surgeon David C. De Leon, February 19, 1861. 
 
 Surgeon Thomas C. Madison, August 17, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Charles H. Smith, April 25, 1861. 
 
354 I'HE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon John M. Haden, April 25, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Thomas H. Williams, June i, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Edward W. Johns, April 22, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon William W. Anderson, April 20, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Elisha P. Langworthy, April 30, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Aquila T. Ridgely, June 23, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Andrew J. Foard, April i, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Richard Potts, May 7, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Robert L. Brodie, May 7, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Nathaniel S. Crowell, May 17, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon John J. Gaenslen, August 17, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Asa Wall, May 11, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Charles Brewer, May 7, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Edward N. Covey, June i, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon William A. Carswell, March 25, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon James H. Berrien, March 17, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Archibald M. Fauntleroy, May 9, 1861. 
 
 Paymaster Henry Hill, June 14, 1861. 
 
 Paymaster Sackfield Maclin, March i, 1861. 
 
 Paymaster Abraham B. Ragan, June 30, 1861. 
 
 Military Storekeeper John M. Gait, Ordnance Department, 
 February 28, 1861. 
 
 Military Storekeeper Briscoe G. Baldwin, Jr., Ordnance 
 Department, April 22, 1861. 
 
 Military Storekeeper Theodore Lewis, Ordnance Department, 
 February 18, 186 1. 
 
 Military Storekeeper Frederick C. Humphreys, Ordnance 
 Department, May 22, 1861. 
 
 Dropped. 
 
 Captain Robert R. Garland, Seventh Infantry, May 23, 186 1. 
 Assistant Surgeon James C. Herndon, November 27, 1861. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Brigadier and Brevet Major-General David E. Twiggs, March 
 1, 1861. 
 
 Captain John McNab, Tenth Infantry, July i, 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant James E. Slaughter, First Artillery, May 14, 
 1861. 
 
The VOLUNTEER'S Return. 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. NAVY. 355 
 
 First Lieutenant Andrew Jackson, Third Infantry, June 6, 
 1861. 
 
 First Lieutenant John Thomas Goode, Fourth Artillery, July 
 3, 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Edward Dillon, Sixth Infantry, June 25, 
 1861. 
 
 Second Lieutenant William W. McCreery, Fourth Artillery, 
 June 3, 1861. 
 
 Brevet Second Lieutenant James P. Parker, Fourth Infantry, 
 July 16, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Lafayette Guild, July i, 1861. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon David P, Ramseur, August 17, 1861, 
 
 Paymaster Albert J. Smith, June 20, 1861. 
 
 In presenting a list of naval officers who also deserted 
 the standard of their country, the author avails himself 
 of the entire report of the Secretary of the Navy, hereto- 
 fore referred to. The details relating to each individual 
 are fuller than it has been possible to obtain in con- 
 nection with the deserting army officers, but it is deficient 
 in an important particular, viz.: that it does not desig- 
 nate the graduates of the Naval Academy at Annapolis. 
 The author has attempted to supply the deficiency by 
 giving as complete a list as he has been able to obtain of 
 the graduates of the Academy, from the year 1845 to the 
 year i860 inclusive. 
 
 A comparison of the list of graduates of the Naval 
 Academy during the years indicated with the list of 
 deserters to the Confederate service, as given by Secre- 
 tary Welles, will show whether the deserting officer en- 
 tered the United States navy through the Academy, or 
 by prior appointment as midshipman. Unfortunately, the 
 names of a number of individuals appear in the list of 
 
356 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 graduates from the Naval Academy and also in that of 
 deserters from the naval service. 
 
 The report of the Secretary of the Navy is as follows : 
 
 "Report of the Secretary of the Navy, 
 
 " Transmitting, in answer to a resolution of the Senate of the 2 \si of 
 December, 1863, a Hst of officers of the navy and of the marine 
 corps who, between the first day of December, i860, and the first day 
 of December, 1863, left the service, with the grade and rank of each. 
 January 5, 1864. Read, referred to the Committee on Naval 
 Affairs, and ordered to be printed. 
 
 "Navy Department, December 29, 1863. 
 "Sir: The resolution of the Senate, dated the 21st instant, 
 which directs ' that the Secretary of the Navy be requested to 
 report to the Senate the names of all officers of the navy and of 
 the marine corps who, between the first day of December, i860, 
 and the first day of December, 1863, left the service, either by 
 resignation or desertion, stating which, to engage in the rebellion 
 against the Government of the United States, giving the grade or 
 rank, and also designating such (if any) as have been formally dis- 
 missed by the President,' has been received, and I have the honor 
 to transmit herewith a statement embodying the information 
 called for. 
 
 " It will be observed that the names of all officers who have left 
 the service between the periods referred to, for whatever cause, are 
 embraced in the list submitted. Those marked as being in the 
 ' rebel navy ' are ascertained to have entered that service from a 
 copy of the ' register of the commissioned and warrant officers of 
 the navy of the Confederate States, to January i, 1863,' published at 
 Richmond, Virginia, and now in the possession of the department. 
 " Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 "Gideon Welles, 
 
 " Secretary of the Navy. 
 "Hon. H. Hamlin, 
 
 " Vice-President of the United States, and President of 
 the Senate." 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. NAVY. 
 
 357 
 
 Table X. 
 
 List of all Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps who 
 left the Service between December i, i860, and December i, 1863, by 
 resignation, dismissal, or desertion, to engage in the Rebellion against 
 the Government, or otherwise. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 How left the 
 service. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Lawrence Rousseau 
 
 Captain .... 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Thomas M. Newell 
 
 Captain 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Isaac Mayo 
 
 Captain .... 
 Captain . . . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Died day o£ dismissal. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 French Forest 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Josiah Tattnal 
 
 Captain 
 
 Captain .... 
 Captain 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 At the South. 
 
 Huffh N. Pace 
 
 Harrison H. Cocke 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Victor M. Randolph. . . . 
 
 Captain .... 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Franklin Buchanan 
 
 Captain . . , 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 George N. HoUins 
 
 Captain 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Duncan N. Ingraham. . . 
 
 Captain .... 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 George A. Magruder . . . 
 
 Captain 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Residing in Canada. 
 
 Samuel Barron 
 
 Captain 
 
 Captain 
 
 Dismissed 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 William F. Lynch 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Isaac S. Sterrett 
 
 Captain . . . . 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Joseph Meyers 
 
 Commander 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South 
 
 William Green 
 
 Commander 
 
 At the South 
 
 Edward B. Boutwell 
 
 Commander 
 
 ^^k L&X^.. k-/\./ LiLLlA* 
 
 Residing in Washington. 
 
 Sidney Smith Lee 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 William C. Whittle 
 
 Commander 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Robert D. Thorburn 
 
 Commander 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 John Manning 
 
 Commander 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South 
 
 Robert G. Robb 
 
 Commander 
 
 r\.\. LllC OUULll. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 William W. Hunter 
 
 Commander 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Murray Mason 
 
 Commander 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Ebenezer Farrand 
 
 Commander 
 
 Charles H. McBlair. . . . 
 
 Commander 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Archibald B. Fairfax . . . 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 William McBlair 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Joined rebel navy; since dead 
 
 Richard L. Page 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Frederick Chatard 
 
 Commander 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Arthur Sinclair 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Chas. H. A. H. Kennedy 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
358 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 How left the 
 service. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Thomas W. Brent 
 
 Commander 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 JohnK. Mitchell 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Matthew F. Maury 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Raphael Semmes 
 
 Commander 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Edward L. Handy 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 William Chandler 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 By court-martial. 
 
 John R. Tucker 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Thomas J. Page 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Robert F. Pinckney 
 
 Commander 
 
 Thomas R. Rootes 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Henry J. Hartstene 
 
 Commander 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 James L. Henderson . . . 
 
 Commander 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 William T. Muse 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Thomas T. Hunter 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel service. 
 
 Charles F. Mcintosh . . . 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Joined rebel service; killed 
 at New Orleans. 
 
 George H. Preble 
 
 Commander 
 
 Dismissed.. 
 
 Neglect of duty; since rein- 
 
 James W. Cooke 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. [stated. 
 
 Chas. F. M. Spots wood. 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 J. J. B. Walbach 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts not known. 
 
 William L. Maury 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned... 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Francis B. Renshaw 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 James H. North 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Robert B. Pegram 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed.. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Richard L. Tilghman . . . 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 Did not go south. 
 
 Charles Hunter 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Sentence of court-martial. 
 
 George T. Sinclair 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Carter B. Poindexter. . . 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 James B. Lewis 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed.. 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Henry H. Lewis 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 George W. Harrison 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 James D. Johnston 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 James N. Maffit, 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Washington Gwathmey. 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 "William A. Wayne 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Joined rebel navy; since dead 
 
 Peter U. Murphy 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Isaac N. Brown 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 John J. Guthrie 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Joseph N. Barney 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed.. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 S. Chase Barney 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Thomas B. Huger 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned... 
 
 Joined rebel navy ; since killed 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. NAVY. 
 
 359 
 
 
 
 How left the 
 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 service. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 John Rutlege 
 
 Lieutenant 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Catesby ap R. Jones 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Silas Bent 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. , 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Van R. Morgan 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 John S. Taylor 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Joined rebel army; since dead 
 
 E. Lloyd Winder 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 John H. Parker 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Joel S. Kennard 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 John Wilkinson 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 W. Winder Pollock 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Charles M. Morris 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Chas. M. Fauntleroy . . . 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Wm. B. Fitzgerald 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Joined rebel navy; since died. 
 
 Alphonse Barbot 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 By sentence of court-martial; 
 in rebel navy. 
 
 John S. Maury 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Charles W. Hays 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Henry K. Stevens 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Joined rebel navy ; since killed 
 
 Reginald Fairfax 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Joined rebel navy; since dead 
 
 William A. Webb 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Maurice Simons 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Charles C. Semmes 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Julian Meyers 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. [unknown. 
 For misconduct; whereabouts 
 
 Robert M. McArann . . . 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Alex. F. Warley 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 John W. Bennett 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Jonathan H. Carter 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Augustus McLaughlin.. 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 William H. Parker 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 J. Pembroke Jones 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 William L. Powell 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel army. 
 
 William H. Murdaugh.. 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 John M. Brooke 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. [Navy. 
 
 Joseph D. Danels 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Acting Lieutenant U. S. 
 
 John Kell 
 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 In rebel navy. [unknown. 
 
 Alex. M. De Bree 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Edward A. Selden 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 For misconduct; whereabouts 
 
 James H. Rochelle 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Robert D. Minor 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 N. H. VanZandt 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 David P. McCorkle 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 William Sharp 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
360 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 
 
 How left the 
 
 
 
 Names, 
 
 Rank. 
 
 Service. 
 
 Remarki 
 
 . 
 
 James J. Waddell 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 Did not go south. 
 
 
 Robert Selden 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 
 George H. Bier 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Charles P. McGary 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Hunter Davidson 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 JJulany A. Forest 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Joined rebel navy 
 
 since dead 
 
 Robert R. Carter 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 John R. Hamilton 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Oscar F. Johnston 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Beverly Kennon 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 John Taylor Wood. ... 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 John R. Eggleston 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Robert T. Chapman. . . . 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Wm. P. A. Campbell . . . 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Joseph D. Blake 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Wm. T. Glassell 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Benj. P. Loyall 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Wm. H. Ward 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 J. W. Dunnington 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 F E Shepherd 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Thos. P. Pelot 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 [unknown. 
 
 A. J. McCartney 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 For misconduct; whereabouts 
 
 William G. Dozier 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 William L. Bradford 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Philip Porcher 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 [unknown. 
 
 George E. Law 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 For misconduct; whereabouts 
 
 H H. Dalton 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 George S. Shryock 
 
 
 Thomas K. Porter 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel army. 
 
 
 J. W. Alexander 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 John M. Stribling 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Joined rebel navy 
 
 since dead 
 
 Charles J. Graves 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Walter R. Butt 
 
 Lieutenant . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 
 Master ... . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Thos. B. Mills 
 
 Master 
 
 
 Wm. A. Kerr 
 
 Master . ... 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Wm. C. Whittle 
 
 Master 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 
 Master 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 At the South. 
 
 
 H. A. F. Young 
 
 Master 
 
 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Wilburn B. Hall 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy 
 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. NAVY. 
 
 361 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 How Uft the 
 service. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Chas. W. Read 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned... 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Edmund G. Read 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Thomas L. Dornin 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 James L. Hoole 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Francis L. Hoge 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Samuel W. Averett 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 James L. Tayloe 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 S. W. Hackett 
 
 Midshipman 
 Midshipman 
 
 
 
 Geo. A. Borchert 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Thos. L. Harrison 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Henry B. Claiborne .... 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Hillary Cenas 
 
 Midshipman 
 Midshipman 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 Not at the South. 
 
 A. D. Wharton 
 
 
 Charles H. Rogers 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Edward H. Clark 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Robert C. Hopkins...,. 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Wm. L. Marsh 
 
 Midshipman 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Charles H. Potter 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Wm. Hammett 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Morrow W. Lowry 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Allen C. Kelton 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Charles H. Ballance 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Charles W. Reynolds. . . 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 C. C. Clements 
 
 Midshipman 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Charles T. Pond 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Charles B. Goodkin . . . 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Henry W. Sprole 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Thos. G. Welles 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Henry C. TownSend 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Frederick Sturteyant . . . 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 C. P. Hone 
 
 Midshipman 
 Midshipman 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 E. F. J.Warren 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Francis D. Campbell . . . 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Wm. Johnston 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Richard F. James 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 R. H. Bi'shnell 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Smith Egbert 
 
 Midshipman 
 Midshipman 
 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Robert J. Sperry 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 George A. Crall 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Henry D. Wyman 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Henry D. Fuller 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Thomas Williams 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed.. 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
362 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 How left the 
 service. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 James P. Wygum 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 William E. Lathey ..... 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Joseph K. Kelsoe 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 F. H. Bolenius 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Francis D. Foote 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 William J. Schroeder. . . 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 James K. Goodhue 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 James P. Hale 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 William B. Murray 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Charles McJ. Engle 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 William A. McKown . . . 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Thaddeus P. Anderson. 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Buchanan Beale 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Richard L. Ross 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Thomas S. Flood 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Francis W. Perkins 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Stephen D. Adams 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 John McK. Duncan 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 F. M. Keith 
 
 Midshipman 
 Midshipman 
 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 William B. McMichael . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 P. McL. Washebaugh . . 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 John F. Fisher 
 
 Midshipman 
 Midshipman 
 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Alfred W. Baylies 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Charles J. Blake 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Erastus M. Parker 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Mitchell M. Jamar 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 
 Midshipman 
 Midshipman 
 
 
 
 Charlep J. Buchan 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Lawrence Mallory 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Charles T. Jewett 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Stephen D. Field 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 John Dunscomb 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Frederick L. Lincoln . . . 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 John T. Tinker 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Franklin Kneass 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 George W. Lewis 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Henry H. Wilson 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Robert S. Ryers 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Charles H. Sedgwick... 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed.. 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Hobart Berrien, Jr 
 
 Midshipman 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 
 Midshipman 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 
 Not at tJieSouth. 
 In rebel-navy. 
 
 Robert C. Fonte 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. NAVY. 
 
 2^2, 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 f/ow left the 
 sci'jice. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 R. H. Bacot 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 John T. Walker 
 
 Wm. W. Wilkinson .... 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Ochran C. Howard. . . . . 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Robert Flournoy 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Napoleon J. Smith 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Sardine G. Stone 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Francis M. Robey 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 John R. Price 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Wm. F. Robinson 
 
 Jas. G. Baldwin 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Isaac C. Holconjbe 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 HughL. Hill 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Robert Payne 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 Resigned... 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Jas. A. Meriwether 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Raphael Moses 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Horatio G. McClintock. 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. E. Pinckney 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Barron Carter 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Thos. M. Berrien 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. Van Comstock 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 John H. Comstock 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Wm. W. Carnes 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 M. P. Goodwyn 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 John H. Ingraham 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Dabney M. Scales 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Thos. G. Garrett 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 John M. Reber 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Joseph D. Wilson 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 John F. Holden 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. A. Hicks 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. P. Lee 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 A. G. Hudgins 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 H. H. Dougherty 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 W. R. Dalton 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 George D. Bryan 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy 
 
 Giles F. Appleton 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Chas. H. Daniels 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 U. S. marine corps. 
 
 Jas. W. Ahl 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 John C. Fortune 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Silas S. WiUett 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned... 
 
 Temporary service U. S. N 
 
3^4 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 How left the 
 sei-vice. 
 
 Remarks, 
 
 William W.Young 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 John A. Hopkins 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 James A. Peters 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Benj. Heath, Jr 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Louis E. Fagan 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Edward P. Guthrie 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Robert E. Carmody' 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. H. Hivling 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 H. H. Marmaduke 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Edward S. Buggies 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 David A. Telfair 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 In rebel army. 
 
 Wm. C. Osterloh 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 John S. Livingston 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Le R. H. Washington . . 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Henry S. H. Williams . . 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Lucius E. Heath 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. B. Gushing 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned... 
 
 Lieutenant, U. S. navy. 
 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned... 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 James E. Fiske 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 James M. Morgan 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Edward J. McDermott. . 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Thos. L. Moore 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 George A. Howard 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Wm. P. Mason 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Henrv C Holt 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Mortimer M. Benton... 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Francis T. Chew 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Joseph P. Claybrook . . . 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Andrew P. Beirne 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Wm. C. Hutter 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Robert A. Camm 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Richard S. Floyd 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Daniel Carroll 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. C. Jackson 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. W. Read 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Joseph M. Gardner 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Chas. F. Sevier 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Aug. 0. Wright 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel army. 
 
 Theo. Sturdivant 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. ARMY. 
 
 365 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 How left the 
 service. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Alex. M. Mason 
 
 Algernon S. Worth 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 H. B. Littlepage 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 James M. Stafford 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Henry S. Cooke 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Henry C. McDaniel 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 James M. Pearson 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Wm. J. Carroll 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Wyndham R. Mayo .... 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Onis A. Browne 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Henry L. Vaughan 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Gale W. Sparks . : 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Wm. D. Goode 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n , 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Joseph B. Peyton 
 
 Julien M. Spencer 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Charles K. King 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Jefferson Phelps 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Wm. M. Pipkin 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Gustavus English 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. J. Craig 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Chas. L. Schultz 
 
 Alfred F. Brady 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. A. Duer 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Thos. L. Morris 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 E. Buckmaster 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 C. H. Brantingham 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Thos. R. Brookes 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 George F. Hyam 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Franklin S. Cantrell 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Daniel W. Davies 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 John C. Doughty 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. D. Groves 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Henry F. Struse 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. A. Doliver 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Robert W. Alexander . . 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 James B. Baker 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. Robinson 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm H Smith 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown 
 
 Junius D. Crabb 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Francis 0. Blake 
 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
366 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Navies. 
 
 How left the 
 service. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Wm. H. Dunn 
 
 Wm. H. Webb 
 
 Alfreds. Newlin 
 
 George H. Laughton . . . 
 
 Peter V. Bussing 
 
 George J. Richardson . . 
 
 Wm. A. Hess 
 
 Amariah H. Hicks 
 
 Edward D. Breed 
 
 Samuel C. Buckingham. 
 Norris P. Stockwell .... 
 
 Arnold H. Dohrman 
 
 Wm. H. Mott 
 
 Henry W. Golden 
 
 Peter V. Hasker , 
 
 Joseph L. Bay 
 
 Edward Rodman 
 
 Henry O. Proctor 
 
 Lewis M. Albright 
 
 Walter S. Johns 
 
 Edward P. Nillis 
 
 George H. Chapman . . . 
 
 Samuel R. Whitall 
 
 Arthur P. Selby 
 
 Edgar A. De Camp 
 
 Francis D. Campbell . . . 
 
 F. Y. Commager 
 
 Chas. H. Poor, Jr 
 
 John A. Hopkins 
 
 Wm. R. Hunter 
 
 Jas. E. Whitwell 
 
 Julius M. Beemer 
 
 John C. Connor 
 
 Edwin S. Fowle 
 
 F. H. Freeman 
 
 Goorge Blacknall 
 
 James Cornick 
 
 Wm. F. Patton 
 
 W. A. W. Spotswood. . . 
 
 Lewis W. Minor 
 
 Wm. F. McClenahan. . . 
 Daniel S. Green 
 
 Ac'g Mid' 
 Ac'g Mid 
 Ac'g 
 Ac'g 
 
 Mid' 
 Mid 
 
 Ac'g Mid' 
 rMid 
 
 rMid' 
 
 Ac'g 
 
 Ac'g 
 
 Ac'g Mid 
 Ac'g Mid' 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Ac'g Mid'n. 
 Surgeon . . 
 Surgeon . . 
 Surgeon . . 
 Surgeon . . 
 Snrgenn. . 
 Surgeon. . 
 Surgeon . . 
 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned. . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned. . 
 Resigned. . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned. . 
 Resigned.. 
 Dismissed. 
 Dismissed. 
 Dismissed. 
 Dismissed. 
 Dismissed. 
 Dismissed. 
 Dismissed. 
 Dismissed. 
 Dismissed. 
 Dismissed. 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned. . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned. . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 Resigned . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Died at the South. 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. ARMY. 
 
 367 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 How left the 
 service. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 John T, Mason 
 
 Surgeon 
 
 Surgeon. . . . 
 
 Resigned... 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 William B. Sinclair 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Richard W.Jeffrey 
 
 Surgeon 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Thomas B. Steele 
 
 Surgeon 
 
 Resigned... 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 James F. Harrison 
 
 Surgeon 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 William D. Harrison , . . 
 
 Surgeon. .. . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 William J. Hay 
 
 Surgeon . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 William M. Page 
 
 Surgeon 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Randolph F. Mason 
 
 Surgeon 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Charles F. Fahs 
 
 Surgeon 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Morris B. Beck 
 
 P Ass't Sur. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 J. W. B. Greenhow 
 
 P.Ass'tSur. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 D. B. Philips 
 
 P.Ass'tSur. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 John Ward 
 
 P.Ass'tSur. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 William F. Carrington . . 
 
 P.Ass'tSur. 
 
 Charles H. Williamson . 
 
 P.Ass'tSur. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Arthur M. Lynah 
 
 P.Ass'tSur. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 William E. Wysham .... 
 
 P.Ass'tSur. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Daniel B. Conrad 
 
 P.Ass'tSur. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Francis L. Gait 
 
 P.Ass'tSur. 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 H. W. M. Washington . 
 
 P.Ass'tSur. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 H. L. Sheldon 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 Dismissed 
 
 Did not go south. 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 A. S. Garnett 
 
 J. W. Sanford, Jr 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Charles Lowndes, Jr. . . 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Charles E. Lining 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Thomas J. Charlton 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 M. P. Christian 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Robert J. Freeman 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Dismissed.. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Bennett W. Green 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Dismissed.. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Joseph D. Grafton 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 James E. Lindsay 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 James W. Herty 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 0. S. Iglehart 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Not at thp South 
 
 F. Van Bibber 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 John Homans . . . • 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 Resigned... 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Charles Carter 
 
 Not flt thp South 
 
 Charles O. Carpenter. . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 R. E. Van Geison 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Not at the South, 
 
 Alexander Hutchins 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 James H. Mears 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 William F. Terry 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
368 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Names, 
 
 How left the 
 
 Remarks, 
 
 Thomas H. Whitney . . . 
 
 J. Otis Burt 
 
 John De Bree 
 
 Thomas B. Nalle 
 
 L. Warrington 
 
 Thomas R. Ware 
 
 James A. Semple. 
 
 Richard T. Allison 
 
 John Johnson 
 
 W. W. J. Kelly 
 
 R. F. Gallaher 
 
 James K. Harwood .... 
 
 George R. Ritchie 
 
 Henry Meyers 
 
 Felix Senac 
 
 John W. Nixon 
 
 Miles H. Morris 
 
 George W. Clark 
 
 Granville T. Pierce 
 
 Benjamin F. Camp 
 
 Charles W. Thomas 
 
 James A. Coleman 
 
 Alexander W. Lawrence 
 Thomas J. Robinson . . . 
 
 Fred. G. Hesse 
 
 William P. Williamson . 
 
 Samuel Archbold 
 
 Michael Quinn 
 
 James H. Warner 
 
 N. P. Patterson 
 
 Thomas A. Jackson .... 
 
 Robert H. Long 
 
 William C. Wheeler .... 
 
 T. B. C. Stump 
 
 Edward W. Manning... 
 
 Henry A. Ramsay 
 
 Richard C. Potts 
 
 Virginius Freeman 
 
 George W. City 
 
 William P. De Sanno. . . 
 George W. Alexander . . 
 James M. Adams 
 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 Ass't Surg'n 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 Paymaster . 
 As'tPaym'r. 
 Chaplain . . . 
 Chaplain . . . 
 Prof. Math'cs 
 Prof. Math'cs 
 Prof. Math'cs 
 Chief Eng'r. 
 Chief Eng'r. 
 Chief Eng'r. 
 Chief Eng'r. 
 Chief Eng'r . 
 Chief Eng'r. 
 Chief Eng'r. 
 Chief Eng'r. 
 istAs'tEng'r 
 istAs'tEng'r 
 IstAs'tEng'r 
 IstAs'tEng'r 
 IstAs'tEng'r 
 IstAs'tEng'r 
 IstAs'tEng'r 
 IstAs'tEng'r 
 IstAs'tEng'r 
 
 Rcfig:ned. . 
 
 Resigned. . 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Resigned . . 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Resigned . . 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Resigned . . 
 
 Resigned . . 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Resigned . . 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Resigned. . 
 
 Resigned . . 
 
 Resigned . . 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Resigned. . 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Resigned . . 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Resigned.. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. , 
 
 Dismissed. , 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Dismissed. 
 
 Resigned. . 
 
 Resigned . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 At the South. 
 
 In rebel army. 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 At the South. 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Temporary service U. S. 
 
 N. 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. NAVY. 
 
 369 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 Horn left the 
 service. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Charles Schroeder. . . . . . 
 
 I St As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Philip L. Mars 
 
 1st As 
 
 tEn. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 
 1st As 
 2d As 
 
 tEn. 
 tEn. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Marshal P. Jordan 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Charles H. Levy 
 
 2d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Wm. Frick, Jr 
 
 2d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Jas. S. Wright 
 
 2d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 John W. Tynan 
 
 2d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Klijah Laws 
 
 2d As 
 2d As 
 
 t En. 
 t En. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Loudon Campbell 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Thos. J. Griffin 
 
 2d As 
 
 tEn. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 R. A. Copeland 
 
 2d As 
 
 tEn. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 C A Chiolev 
 
 2d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 A. B. Campbell 
 
 2d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 W. A. R. Latimer 
 
 2d As 
 
 tEn. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Temporary service U. S. N. 
 
 E S Boynton 
 
 2d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Newton Champion 
 
 2d As 
 
 tEn. 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 George W. Thorne 
 
 2d As 
 
 tEn. 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 W. S. Thompson 
 
 3d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Deserted . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 E. L. Dick 
 
 3d As 
 3d As 
 
 t En. 
 tEn. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 
 Wm. H. Glading 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 F. A. R. George 
 
 3d As 
 
 tEn. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 James Plunkett 
 
 3d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 H X Wrieht 
 
 3d As 
 3d As 
 3d As 
 3d As 
 
 t En 
 
 Dismissed 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 E. C. Patten 
 
 t En. 
 t En. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 W N. Miller 
 
 
 G. W. Tcnnent 
 
 t En. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 W C Starr 
 
 3d As 
 3d As 
 3d As 
 3d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 Dismissed 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Rem' Herriner 
 
 t En. 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 
 t En. 
 
 
 John T. Tucker 
 
 t En. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 L. L. Olmstead 
 
 3d As 
 
 tEn. 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Chas. W. Jordan 
 
 3d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 W H. Fuller 
 
 3d As 
 3d As 
 
 tEn. 
 tEn. 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned. .. 
 
 
 Sebastian Crolius 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 George W.W. Dove 
 
 3d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 F R Arnold 
 
 3d As 
 3cl As 
 
 t En. 
 t En. 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. M. Habershaw . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 W. W. Shipman 
 
 3d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Resigned . , . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 T. S. Smith 
 
 3d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Resigned... 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Tnspnh Mercer 
 
 3d As 
 3d As 
 
 t En. 
 
 Resigned... 
 Resigned... 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 G. W. Wilkinson 
 
 t En. 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
370 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 How left the 
 service. 
 
 Remarks, 
 
 John E. Cooper 
 
 H. R. Lawrence 
 
 R F. Hatfield 
 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En.' 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En. 
 3d As't En . 
 Boatswain . . 
 Boatswain . . 
 Boatswain . . 
 Boatswain . . 
 Boatswain . . 
 Boatswain . . 
 Boatswain . . 
 Boatswain . . 
 Boatswain . . 
 Boatswain . . 
 Boatswain . . 
 Boatswain . . 
 
 Gunner 
 
 Gunner 
 
 Gunner 
 
 Gunner .... 
 
 Gunner 
 
 Gunner .... 
 Gunner .... 
 Gunner .... 
 
 Gunner 
 
 Gunner 
 
 Gunner 
 
 Gunner .... 
 Gunner .... 
 Gunner .... 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 Resigned . . . 
 Resigned.. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Resigned . . . 
 Resigned . . . 
 Resigned . . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned.. . 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned . . . 
 Resigned . . . 
 Resigned. .. 
 Resigned.. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Deserted . . . 
 Deserted . . . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Deserted . . . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Resigned.. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Deserted... 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed.. 
 Dismissed. . 
 Resigned . . . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed . . 
 Resigned. . . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Thos. Petterick 
 
 E. S. Hutchinson 
 
 T. M. Mitchell 
 
 Edward Curtis 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 C J. Cooper 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Chas. B. Dahlgren 
 
 C. S. Hunt 
 
 Temporary service U. S. N. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 John Stell 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Noah W. Moffett 
 
 Isaac J. Griffiths 
 
 R. E. Halsey 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Peter C Riley 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 B. J. McGurran 
 
 Wm. Smith 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 At the South. 
 
 John Dunderdale 
 
 Chas. H. Hasker 
 
 James M. Miller 
 
 Henry P. Grace 
 
 Wm. Winchester 
 
 George Dean 
 
 At the South. 
 In rebel navy. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Did not go South. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown* 
 
 A. J. Robinson 
 
 Joseph Shankland 
 
 Nelson Goodrich 
 
 C H. Hatfield 
 
 J. C. Myers 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 John Owins 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Charles B. Oliver 
 
 John A. Lovett ........ 
 
 Charles Moran , 
 
 L. K. Ellis 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Temporary service U. S. N. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Herman Peters 
 
 Otis H. Gilmore 
 
 Wm Summers 
 
 Benj. Roberts 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. Wade 
 
 
 G. H. Brooks 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Wm. Yates 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 John Duncan 
 
 Whereabouts unnnown. 
 
 George A. Parkhurst. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
DESERTERS FROM THE U. S. NAVY 
 
 371 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 How left the 
 service. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Samuel' Cross 
 
 Gunner 
 
 Gunner .... 
 
 Dismissed . . 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Charles A. Stephenson . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Charles Seymour 
 
 Gunner 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Charles De Bevoise 
 
 Gunner 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Temporary service U. S. N. 
 
 Charles L. Duncan 
 
 Gunner 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 William Knight 
 
 Carpenter . . 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 James Meads 
 
 Carpenter . . 
 
 Deserted . . . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Henry G. Thomas 
 
 Carpenter . . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 John T. Rustic 
 
 Carpenter . . 
 Carpenter . . 
 Carpenter . . 
 
 Deserted . . . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Lewis Holmes 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Robert M. Bain 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 Edward Williams 
 
 Carpenter . . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 D. M. W. Nash 
 
 Carpenter . . 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 John H. Conly 
 
 Carpenter . 
 Carpenter . . 
 
 Resigned. .. 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 
 J. B. Hoover 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 James Kinnear 
 
 Carpenter . . 
 
 Resigned... 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 G. M. Doughty 
 
 Carpenter . . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Washington Duckett . . . 
 
 Carpenter . . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Jacob M . Dallas 
 
 Carpenter . . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 John Shannon 
 
 Carpenter . . 
 Sail-maker . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 Resigned. , . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 William Bennett 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 
 George D. Blackford . . . 
 
 Sail-maker . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 William M. Mahoney. . . 
 
 Sail-maker . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 S H. Boutwell 
 
 Sail-maker . 
 Sail-maker . 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 Resigned.. . 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 S V. Turner 
 
 In rebel navy. 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Thomas Mellen 
 
 Sail-maker . 
 
 George H. Wrightman . 
 
 Sail-maker . 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown 
 
 
 Mari 
 
 ME Corps. 
 
 
 Henry B. Tyler 
 
 Major 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 George H. Terrett 
 
 Major 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Jabez C. Rich 
 
 Captain 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Algernon S. Taylor . . . . 
 
 Captain 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Robert Tansill 
 
 Captain 
 
 Captain 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 John D. Simms 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Israel Green 
 
 1st Lieuten't 
 1st Lieuten't 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed . . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 J. R. H. Tatnall ....... 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Adam N. Baker 
 
 1st Lieuten't 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Charles A. Henderson. , 
 
 1st Lieuten't 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Henry B. Tyler 
 
 1st Lieuten't 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Julius E. Meiere ...,,.. 
 
 1st Lieuten't 
 
 Dismissed . . 
 
 At the South. 
 
372 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA, 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 How left the 
 service. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Geo. P. Turner 
 
 1st Lieuten't 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Thos. S. Wilson 
 
 1st Lieuten't 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Alex. W. Stark 
 
 1st Lieuten't 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Andrew J. Hays 
 
 1st Lieuten't 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Geo. Holmes 
 
 1st Lieuten't 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 S. H. Matthews 
 
 1st Lieuten't 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Robert Kidd 
 
 1st Lieuten't 
 2d Lieuten't 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 Dismissed.. 
 
 
 Geo. W. Cummins 
 
 Whereabouts unknown. 
 
 Calvin L. Sayers 
 
 2d Lieuten't 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Henry L. Ingraham 
 
 2d Lieuten't 
 
 Resigned . . . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 Becket K. Howell 
 
 2d Lieuten't 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 At the South. 
 
 J. H. Rathbone 
 
 2d Lieuten't 
 
 Resigned.. . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 Oscar B. Grant , 
 
 2d Lieuten't 
 
 Resigned. . . 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 J. M. Reber 
 
 zd Lieuten't 
 2d Lieuten't 
 
 Dismissed. . 
 Resigned... 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 D. M. Sells... 
 
 Not at the South. 
 
 
 
 Table XI, 
 
 Exhibiting names of the graduates of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, 
 from the year 1845 to the year i860, inclusive, as far as it has been 
 possible to obtain them. 
 
 Year 1845. 
 
 Chandler, Ralph; Hamilton, J. R.; Hays, William B.; Hodge, 
 George R.; Houston, Thomas T.; McGunnede, Wilson. 
 
 Year 1846. 
 
 Braine, Daniel L.; Breese, Kidder R.; Breese, Samuel L,; Broad- 
 head, Edgar; Carnes, Edwin O.; Foster, James P.; Gherardi, Ban- 
 croft; Gray, Edwin F.; Johnson, Philip C, Jr.; Johnson, Oscar F.; 
 Kennon, Beverly, Jr.; Kimberly, Lewis; Morris, George U.; Parlcer, 
 James, Jr.; Rainey, John D.; Smith, Charles B. ; Sproston, John G.; 
 Watters, John. 
 
GRADUA TKS OF THE NA VAL ACADEMY. 373 
 
 Year 1847. 
 
 Belknap, George E.; Benham, A. E. K.; Blake, Joseph D.; 
 Bowen, Richard T.; Brose, Frederick F.; Campbell, William P. A.; 
 Chapman, Robert T.; Cornwell, John J.; Cummings, Andrew B.; 
 Eggleston, John R.; Flusser, Charles W.; Tyffe, Joseph P.; Gwin, 
 William; Hand, B. E.; Harmony, D. B.; Irwin, John; Lovell, Will- 
 iam S.; Maxwell, James G.; Mygat, J. P. K.; Newman, L. H.; Oak- 
 ley, E. H.; Stillwell, James; Thoburn, Charles E.; Totten, Wash-, 
 ington; Williams, E. P.; Wilson, Henry; Wood, John S. 
 
 Year 1848. 
 
 Abbott, Trevett; Baker, F. H.; Bruce, James; Erben, Henry, 
 Jr.; Fitz Hugh, William E.; Garland, Hudson M.; Gillis, James H.; 
 Glassell, William T.; Greene, Charles H.; Greer, James A.; Hile- 
 man, Julius G.; Hester, Isaac W.; Johnston, John E.; Livingstone, 
 De Grasse; McCann, William P.; Owen, Elias K.; Pendergrast, 
 Austin; SJferritt, Joseph S.; Spedden, Edward T.; Weaver, Aaron W. 
 
 Year 1849. 
 
 Adams, Henry A., Jr.; Brown, George; Chever, William H; 
 Cushman, Charles H.; Dunnington, John W.; Hawley, Charles E.; 
 Loyall, Benjamin P.; May, Robert L.; McCrea, Edward P.; Morri- 
 son, George F.; Pelot, Thomas P.; Sheppard, Francis E.; Shirk, 
 James W.; Stanton, Oscar M.; Stockton, Edward C; Taylor, Bush- 
 rod B.; Taylor, Jesse, Jr.; Thomas, Calvin F.; Ward, William H. 
 
 Year 1850. 
 
 Armstrong, .(Eneas; Babcock, Chas. A.; Bacon, Geo.; Beards- 
 ley, L. A.; Bord, Robert, Jr.; Bradford, Wm. L.; Campbell, Mar- 
 shall C; Carpenter, Chas. C; Chaplain, Jas. C; Dana, Wm. H.; 
 Dozier, Wm. G.; Izard, Allen C; Kirkland, W. A.; McCartney, A. 
 J.; Meade, Richard W., Jr.; Mitchell, John G.; Peck, Chas. F.; Pot- 
 ter, Edward E.; Ramsay, Francis M.; Walker, J. G. 
 
 Year 1851. 
 
 Barnes, J. S.; Blodgett, George M.; Buchanan, Thomas McK.; 
 Cain, John, Jr.; Grossman, A. F.; Dalton, H. H.; Fitch, Le Roy; 
 Graham, R. W. M.; Hopkins Alfred; Law, George E.; Lea, Edward; 
 
374 '^H^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Lull, E. P.; Matthews, E. O.; Miller, Joseph N.; Norton, Charles S.; 
 Perkins, George H.; Porcher, Philip; Selfridge, T. O.; Sicard, 
 Montgomery; Stribbling, J. M.; Todd, J. M. 
 
 Year 1852. 
 
 Allen, Weld. N.; Bigelow, George A.; Bradford, R. F.; Bunce, 
 
 F. M.; Cooke, A. P.; Evans, W. E.; Gove, G. D.; Green, N.; Hat- 
 field, C; McDougall, C. J.; Merchant, Clark; Miller, S. W.; Mills, 
 T. B.; Mosely, J. C; Porter, T. K.; Prichett, J. M.; Seely, H. B.; 
 Shyrock, G. S.; Wallace, R. R. 
 
 Year 1853. 
 
 Alexander, J. W.; Blake, T. B.; Eastman, T. H.; Graves, C. J.; 
 Harris, J. W.; Kelly, J. W.; McNair, F. V.; Pythian, R. L.; Terry, 
 Edward; Todd, H. D.; Wilson, Byron; Yates, A. R. 
 
 Year 1854. 
 
 Bishop, Joshua; Blue, H. M.; Dewey, George, Farquhar, N. H.; 
 Franklin, C. L.; Furber, E. G.; Grimball, John; Howell, J. A.; 
 Howison, H. L.; Judson, C. O.; Kautz, Albert; Kerr, W. A.; May, 
 L. C; McCook, R. S.; Prentiss, Roderick; Reed, A. V.; Schoon- 
 maker, C. M.; Spencer, T. S.; Stores, G. S.; Swazey, C. H.; White, 
 
 G. B.; Whittle, W. C, Jr. 
 
 Year 1855. 
 
 Averitt, S. W.; Borchert, George; Butt, W. R.; Cenas, Hillary; 
 Clayburn, H. B.; Greene, S. D.; Hackett, S. H.; Hall, W. B.; Cahe, 
 T. F.; McKenzie, A. S.; Read, E. G.; Remey, G. C; Taylor, J. L.; 
 Walker, E. A.; Wiltse, G. C. 
 
 Year 1856. 
 
 Ames, S. D.; Barton, W. H.; Brown, F. S.; Casey, Silas; Daven- 
 port, F. O.; Darnin, T. L.; Gillet, S. P.; Harrison, T. L.; Hoge, F. 
 L.; Hoole, J. L.; Mahan, A. T.; Manley, H. D.; Marvin, J. D.; Mc- 
 Carty, S. A.; McNair, A. R. ; O'Kane, James; Paddock, S. B. ; 
 Philip, J. W.; Read, C. W.; Robeson, H. B; Schley, W. S.; Stuy- 
 vesant, M. S.; Swann, T. L.; Watson, J. C; Wharton, A. D.; 
 Whitehead, William. 
 
GRADUA TES OF THE NA VAL ACADEMY. 3 75 
 
 Year 1857. 
 
 Bache, G. W.; Backus, Sylvanus; Bowen, T. C; Cromwell, 
 B. J.; Dexter, A.; Duer, R. K.; Graham, J. D.; Hayward, G. W.; 
 Higginson, F. J.; Kempff, Lewis; McFarland, John; McGlensey, 
 J. F.; McKay, C. E.; Mullen, H. E.; PhcEnix, Lloyd; Picking, 
 H. F.; Robertson, J. P.; Rodgers, Frederick; Rowland, J. H.; 
 Ryan, G. P.; Sampson, W. T.; Snell, A. T.; Steece, T.; Stewart, 
 W. F.; Tallman, H. C.; Thomas, N. W.; Tyson, H. B.; Weidman, J. 
 
 Year 1858. 
 
 Blake, E. C. V.; Blake, H. J.; Bradley, J. B.; Brewer, E. T.; 
 Caruthers, J. K.; Cotton, C. S.; Day, B. F.; Forest, M.; Hunting- 
 ton, C. L.; Kellog, E. N.; Lambson, R. H.; Mitchell, A. N.; Nich- 
 olls, S. W.; Preston, S. W.; Read, J. J.; Smith, F. R.; Sumner, 
 G. W.; Terry, S. W.; Wimple, D. D.; Zimmerman, C. W. 
 
 Year 1859. 
 
 Abbott, Walter; Adams, L. P.; Alexander, A. C, Jr.; Ander- 
 son, John; Bartlett, J R.; Batcheller, O. A.; Blake, C. F.; Bridg- 
 man, W. R.; Brown, G. M.; Burker, A. S.; Chester, C. M.; Chew, 
 R. S.; Dana, W. S.; French, H. T.; Haskin, B. F.; Haswell, G. K.; 
 Hazeltine, E. C; Hunt, S. H.; Johnson, H. L.; Johnson, M. L.; 
 Jones, C. D.; Lowry, P. W.; Ludlow, N.; McClure, G. M.; McCor- 
 mick, A. H.; Miller, M.; Naile, F. I.; Pearson, F.; Porter, B. H.; 
 Preble, E. E.; Meed, J. H.; Ramsay, H. B.; Sanders, M. W.; Sands, 
 J. H.; Shepard, E. M.; Sigsbee. C. D.; Tracey, C. W.; Van Vleck, 
 W. A.; Wallace, J.; Wheeler, W. K.; Wood, G. W.; Woodward, E. T. 
 
 Year i860. 
 
 Barclay, C. J.; Brown, A. D.; Cassell, D. R.; Clark, C. E.; 
 Clark, J. D.; Coffin, G. W.; Coghlan, J. B.; Cook, F. A.; Cooper, 
 P. H.; Craven, C. H.; Crown inshield, A. S.; Davis, G. T.; Dick- 
 man, E. J.; Dunn, W.; Evans, R. D.; Glass, H.; Harris, I.; Hend- 
 rickson, W. W.; Hoff, W. B.; Irvin, R. C; Kellog, A. G.; Leary, 
 R. P.; McClay, W. W.; McCormick, F.; McGregor, C; Morris, F.; 
 Morris, L T. ; Mullen, D. W. ; Niles, M. ; Pegram, J. C. ; Pendleton, 
 C. A.; Ragsdale, J. K. P.; Sterling, Yates; Taylor, H. C; Wad- 
 leigh, G. H. ; Whiting, William H. ; Wiles, F. ; Wise, W. C. ; White, 
 A. H. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS PERTAINING TO GOVERNMENT MONARCH- 
 IES AND DEMOCRACIES OF THE PAST — CLASS-DISTINCTION 
 
 ASIATIC CIVILIZATION BLUE-BLOOD AND RED-BLOOD 
 
 THE ARISTOCRACIES OF THE GREEKS, ROMANS, SPAN- 
 IARDS AND ITALIANS THE FANTASTIC CASTE OF INDIA 
 
 SLAVERY THE LEGITIMATE OFFSPRING OF ARISTOCRACY 
 
 ANCIENT REPUBLICS DESTROYED BY CASTE AND SLAV- 
 ERY THE PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS OF ROME THE 
 
 REPUBLICS OF ITALY BUILT UPON TITLES OF NOBILITY. 
 
 BY reason of habit and general constitution man 
 cannot live alone ; while, as a consequence of his 
 mental and moral characteristics, it is very difficult for 
 him to live with his fellow man. This statement of fact 
 is no less embarrassing than true. The hermitical mode 
 of life has been somewhat extensively tried during the 
 history of the human kind, and especially by religious 
 enthusiasts. But it has never been productive of any 
 very satisfactory results in individual cases; while, as a 
 measure applicable to the whole human race, it must be 
 considered altogether impracticable, if not impossible. 
 
 The necessity of living in companionship has given 
 rise to a problem that has baffled the wisdom of all the 
 ages. How to live together in obedience to the better 
 instincts of humanity and to repress the selfishness, 
 
 avarice, ambition, injustice of the fallen nature, has 
 
 376 
 
THE VARIOUS FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 377 
 
 remained an open question down to our own time. A 
 general answer has been easily found in the single word 
 government, but unfortunately this word is susceptible of 
 as many interpretations as were the equivocal utterances 
 of the Grecian oracles. Not that there are so many plans 
 of government from which to choose. Political scientists, 
 excluding the primitive forms, as the patriarchal and the 
 tribal, as well as the more modern ecclesiastical, have 
 reduced all forms of government to three elementary 
 types : the monarchy, the aristocracy, and the democracy. 
 The ancients resolved all possible forms of matter into 
 the four elements : fire, earth, air, and water. Out of 
 these four units was supposed to be constructed every- 
 thing which we see, feel, and hear in the material world 
 upon which we live, and in the enormous space, with its 
 solar, planetary, and stellar bodies, which surrounds us. 
 The modern scientist, with an accuracy that can admit of 
 no doubt, has more intelligently determined the elements 
 of which the universe is composed; and, although they are 
 more numerous than the four simple elements of the 
 ancients, they are, nevertheless, very few. But, while the 
 myriad forms of matter which surround us are resolvable 
 into a very few elementary bodies, there is no such range 
 of governmental construction, so to speak, belonging to 
 the elementary molecules from which the science of gov- 
 ernment has been evolved. Chemistry shows us that 
 two elementary bodies may unite and harmoniously 
 form a third, wholly differing from either of the constitu- 
 ents. But the metamorphoses of the governmental units 
 
378 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 are exceedingly limited in character, very fragile, and, as 
 the chemists might say, very unstable. The monarchical 
 and the aristocratic elements are susceptible of a certain 
 kind of union ; but the true democratic type is wholly un- 
 combinable with either of the others — that is to say, 
 within the sense of the general usage of the terms. 
 
 Hence the problem presented has not related to mul- 
 tiplicity of forms or plans of government, but has always 
 covered the simple question. Which one of the possible 
 forms shall come out of a given conflict between men? 
 Down to the time of the Greek Republics the governments 
 of the world had been founded upon the rule of the many 
 by the few. For at least three thousand years before the 
 Dorian migration into Greece there was no exception to 
 that order of things ; and no men arose in all that time 
 with sufificient power to call in question the divine rights 
 of kings and of aristocratic rulers. Upon the basis of 
 conflict between the few and the many the whole battle 
 has been fought, and is still being fought in our own time. 
 It is a simple question of individual ambition against the 
 prerogatives, rights, and interests of mankind in general. 
 When that eminent usurper, Julius Caesar, was offered a 
 crown upon the Luper9al by a fellow patriot and com- 
 panion-in-arms, of whom it may be said — if history is to 
 be credited and the pleasantry may be excused — that he 
 had not a crown to his name, the donee declined the 
 proffer in a spirit of effusive self-sacrifice ; and much the 
 same thing happened at a later day in England. Caesar 
 rejected a crown, but made himself an emperor in every- 
 
THE NATURE OF THE SOLDIER. 2)79 
 
 thing save the name ; while the EngHsh tyrant Gloster, 
 with a protestive denial of ambition upon his lips, literally 
 cleaved his way to a throne. 
 
 Until the establishment of the American Republic 
 individual ambition had generally, if not always, succeeded 
 in overcoming the rights of the masses ; but the course of 
 kingly destiny has run in rough places, nevertheless. If 
 the people have had their questions, so have the monarchs, 
 and if the masses have been compelled to fight for their 
 rights, the rulers have been forced to battle for their 
 places. 
 
 The vital question that has afflicted all monarchs is 
 that relating to the use of other men in the preservation 
 of the individual privileges of the former. Nature has 
 made us all so nearly equal in the purely physical sense 
 that a single man, or a limited coterie of men, can only 
 usurp dominion at the expense of the greater number 
 through virtue of superior force. How to use that force 
 and at the same time to control it, has been the single 
 problem of monarchy and all forms of centralized govern- 
 ment. If a man fight as a business from which he re- 
 ceives pay and a livelihood, he will look upon his profes- 
 sion from a business standpoint, and will sell his services 
 in the best market. If the factor of mere pay be elimin- 
 ated from the question, the man must fight in behalf of 
 principle and self-interest, in which case he ceases at once 
 to be the stolid machine which kingly interest requires. 
 The principle involved in this proposition was well illus- 
 trated in the case of the Southern slaves at the breaking- 
 
380 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 out of the Civil War. When it became expedient to put 
 arms into their hands in order that they might fight for 
 the Union, the necessity of investing them soon or late 
 with the privilege of the ballot became apparent at once. 
 The American soldier does not fight for pay. He fights 
 for a government in which he has a personal interest and 
 of which he is an integral element. 
 
 The monarchical government, then, is certainly men- 
 aced, not alone by other governments seeking its down- 
 fall, but also by the dangerous instruments of its own 
 power, which, seeking self-interest in the most promising 
 direction, may find it convenient at any moment to turn 
 upon their own masters. 
 
 Democracies, too, have their perils. Where are the 
 Republics of Greece, that for five hundred years pretended 
 to assert the rule of the masses ? Where the Republic of 
 Rome, that for another five hundred years was professedly 
 based upon the legend, Vox populi, vox Dei? Where the 
 Dutch and Italian Republics, that made spasmodic efforts in 
 behalf of popular rule ? Fallen ! all fallen into a common 
 grave with the empires of Cyrus and Alexander, of Char- 
 lemagne and Napoleon. 
 
 The Republics of Greece, in the days of their early 
 purity, possessed elements that, if preserved, and combined 
 with others that would have come to them through lapse 
 of time and experience, such as federation of all the states 
 into a single governmental unit, and the cultivation of a 
 high type of morality, should have made them as imperish- 
 able as the' pyramids. The personal training of the Greek 
 
THE SOLDIERS OF GJ?EECE. 38 1 
 
 citizens, and especially those of Sparta, developed a power- 
 ful physique with traits of high courage, extreme endur- 
 ance, and — for that era — great love of country. Every 
 citizen of the republic was a soldier, and every soldier was 
 a citizen. Reared under the law that death must be 
 accepted in preference to defeat, cowardice was wholly 
 unknown to him ; and Homer's representation of the will- 
 ingness of Achilles to give up his own life after having 
 revenged the slaying of Patroclus by the killing of Hector, 
 undoubtedly paints a national trait of early Greek charac- 
 ter, conveyed though it be through the art of fiction and 
 inspiring verse. 
 
 But, unfortunately for the progress of the world, the 
 germs of Greek destruction were evolved out of the 
 conquest of Greece "from the native tribes. From that 
 conquest slavery emerged to curse, and ultimately to 
 assist in the downfall of, the republics that had shed such 
 brilliant light upon the ancient world. At the battle of 
 Marathon, the glory of which has been sung by poets and 
 perpetuated by writers and orators alike, where 10,000 
 Greeks defeated and put to rout an army of 110,000 
 Persians, a part of those engaged upon the Greek side 
 were slaves, though not considered soldiers, many of 
 whom fell upon the field of battle. 
 
 With the conquest of other states, the number of 
 slaves increased in the Greek Republics. Luxury and the 
 accumulation of wealth gradually caused a relaxation of 
 the abstemious, frugal, active life which gave to the 
 ancient Greek his splendid physical development, and 
 
382 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 made him the equal upon the battle-field of half a dozen 
 of the spiritless, hopeless soldiers of the Eastern despot- 
 isms. With, the progress of the Greeks in the acquisition 
 of power, the increase of wealth, the cultivation of learn- 
 ing, the refinements of an indolent life, the growth of 
 aristocratic and class distinctions, the weakening influence 
 of inter-state conflicts, resulting from narrow policy and cor- 
 rupting ambition, the people lost by degrees the strong Hel- 
 lenic personality, until, when the world stood within a cen- 
 tury and a half of the birth of Christ, Greece was ready to 
 become a province of that mighty power which had arisen 
 in the west, into whose strong keeping the supremacy 
 of the world was soon to pass. The historic land became 
 the Roman province Achia, and, though it still was Greece, 
 
 "'Twas living Greece no more." 
 
 Standing face to face with their mournful humiliation, 
 well might the degenerate Hellenes have exclaimed, " Oh ! 
 for the iron money of Lycurgus ! oh, for a return to the 
 severe simplicity of the fathers." 
 
 Among the pure weaknesses of human nature, there is 
 on,e that has had much to do with shaping the desti- 
 nies of governments and of peoples all along the rugged 
 pathway of human struggles. The remarkable trait of 
 character which prompts the majority of men and women 
 to make the effort to be thought better, to appear wiser 
 than and superior to others in all respects, is here referred 
 to. No disquisition upon morals is meditated, but the 
 fact is simply stated because of its bearing upon the sub- 
 
THE SUBJECT OF CLASS DISTINCTION. 383 
 
 ject under immediate treatment. This simple desire to 
 appear in the hght of a superior possesses all degrees of 
 intensity, and is underlaid by the differing motives of per- 
 sonal vanity, love of power and dominion, and the yearn- 
 ing for money, luxury, and ease. Pure intellectual 
 aspiration rests upon an entirely different plane, and 
 breathes a wholly different atmosphere. It is the noblest 
 of all ambitions, but unfortunately it is not the most com- 
 mon. 
 
 The superiority above alluded to, and aimed at in 
 every age, is made to be constituted of two elements — a 
 transmitted and an- acquired quality or virtue — and the 
 distinctions which are now to be considered are all founded 
 upon one of these two constituent elements. Since the 
 beginning of man, so far as we have any knowledge of his 
 history, individuals have arrogated preferment over their 
 fellows, and the practical result of this has been the crea- 
 tion of class-distinctions, with all their momentous conse- 
 quences. It is worth while, then, to consider the topic, in 
 view of its intimate relationship with the subject of gov- 
 ernment. It is a curious sentiment, and has had more to 
 do with the fate of nations than armies and implements of 
 war. 
 
 Monarchies and aristocracies only represent class- 
 distinction in different degrees, founded upon extrinsic 
 circumstances. Democracies in the pure sense can only 
 exist in the absence of every distinction save that based 
 upon intrinsic worth and merit. 
 
 Down to the time of the establishment of the Greek 
 
384 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Republics all governments of which we have any knowl- 
 edge were founded on, or were indissolubly interwoven 
 with, the idea of class-distinction. In the early Asiatic 
 civilizations kings and rulers were clothed with almost 
 divine attributes, while the ordinary people ran through 
 classes until a status was reached so low as to render 
 mere contact with it polluting to the superior being. It 
 is interesting to note the different qualities which have 
 conferred the personal or class preeminence now being 
 considered in different ages and among different peoples. 
 The first of all these qualities, that which bore the stamp 
 of the king metal, gold, upon it, was blood, and this 
 ennobling fluid gave a greater or less degree of pre- 
 eminence, according as it was blue or red in color. In 
 ancient Spain — that enchanting land of chivalry and 
 rapturous sentiment — the favoring quality had no rela- 
 tion to the church, to commerce, nor to the learned 
 professions, but descended directly from fearless warriors 
 and mighty conquerors into the veins of grandees, 
 hidalgos, and high-born senoritas. The hidalgo had red 
 blood, and therefore was less noble than the grandee, 
 whose vital fluid was of the purest blue. The former 
 alone was privileged to be called Don — a title equivalent 
 to Sir, as used in the English peerage. 
 
 But noble blood was not the exclusive gift of warriors 
 and conquerors among all nations. In India it descended 
 from Brahma, the creator, by whom caste or class-dis- 
 tinctions were established. In the despotisms of Asia it 
 came from a long line of rulers. When aristocracy 
 
THE LA WS OF CASTE IN INDIA. 385 
 
 began to rear itself as one of the most important agencies 
 destined to overthrow the Greek Republics, the privileged 
 class claimed their attributes as an inheritance from gods, 
 demi-gods, and celestial heroes. Others had a nobility 
 of old citizens, and Sparta one of pure conquest ; while 
 both of these, as well as others of the Greek states, more 
 notably Thebes, had an aristocracy of wealth. The 
 earlier Romans founded their claims upon primitive owner- 
 ship of the soil, but at a later period a pure aristocracy 
 of wealth was created. In some of the Italian Republics 
 the aristocracy was founded upon wealth obtained 
 through commerce. In other nations, as in England at 
 present, the sovereign could ennoble. 
 
 The subject is interesting, and the time spent in con- 
 sidering it more in detail will not be thrown away. 
 
 One of the most fantastic inventions ever devised, 
 involving the idea of class-distinction, has existed from 
 time immemorial in certain parts of India, and notably 
 in Hindostan. It was called caste by the Portuguese trad- 
 ers who first noticed it in their voyages, and this word has 
 been adopted pretty generally by other nations as repre- 
 sentative of the idea of class-distinction. The laws of 
 caste among the Hindoos were voluminous and minute. 
 Under these laws society was divided into several classes, 
 at the head of which stood the brahmin or priest, fol- 
 lowed by the warriors and rulers, the agriculturists and 
 traders, the laborers and servants, and lastly the pariahs, 
 or lowest of society, who were so utterly vile and degrad- 
 ing that their mere shadow falling upon a better man 
 
386 THE VOLUNTEER .SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 would pollute him. The priest or brahmin who would 
 eat with or even touch certain kinds of food consumed 
 by an inferior caste would be excluded from the society 
 of other brahmins as a polluted man, and the same 
 penalty would attach to the brahmin who would allow 
 the presence of an inferior within a certain distance while 
 eating. So rigid was the distinction of class under the 
 Hindoo code that an inferior was at times struck dead for 
 having accidentally touched a superior. This grotesque 
 system still exists. 
 
 The foregoing example of human weakness, arrogance, 
 and love of power is here referred to as an illustration of 
 the tyranny of class-distinction in connection with the 
 religious sentiment. The history of paganism through 
 the early ages furnishes additional examples, though 
 differing in degree of priestly preeminence and domina- 
 tion. 
 
 As a constituent of monarchical rule through every 
 period of the world's history down to our own times, the 
 reader is familiar with every phase of class-distinction, 
 from the sacredness of the king, who can do no wrong, 
 through the revolting array of nobles and aristocrats, 
 whose assumptions of superiority, built upon wealth or 
 the accident of birth, are an offense to him whose nature 
 and cultivation have made a man of the truest type and 
 character. With a consideration of this sort of royal 
 machinery the true American does not care to occupy 
 himself, except upon the principle by which we hope to 
 illuminate the future through means of the dying embers 
 
THE GREEK COMMONWEALTHS. 387 
 
 of the past. The republican is more deeply interested 
 in searching for the rocks upon which former efforts at 
 popular government have been stranded. Among the 
 destructive agents of past attempts at free government 
 authentic history shows the evil now being considered 
 -^-that of class-distinction — to be the most potent and 
 irresistible. 
 
 From the absolute lordship of the oriental nations to 
 the ideas of equality upon which the Greek Republics 
 were founded there was a very long step, extending in a 
 direction leading to the interest • of the common people. 
 It has been remarked by an able writer that with the 
 birth of the Greek commonwealths "the political and in- 
 tellectual life of the world began." The truth of this 
 remark is indisputable, and there seems no historical sub- 
 ject of such vast interest and importance to the political 
 economist and philosopher of the present era as the nar- 
 rative covering the rise and fall of the Greek states, 
 ■which extends through a period of over nine hundred 
 years. For a time they furnished a faint illustration of 
 democracy, and they might have afforded to the philoso- 
 phers of the time a mental vision, through the intervening 
 space of twenty-five hundred years, of the creation of an 
 enormous republic and a powerful nation, denominated 
 by one of the greatest of its sons "a government of the 
 people, for the people, and by the people." 
 
 Perfection in all things human must be the result of 
 growth. There is nothing with which man has to do 
 that has not grown from the crude conception, and there 
 
388 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 are not many things which have already passed the stage 
 of possible future growth. The establishment of the 
 Greek commonwealths was evolved out of the long 
 struggle of the masses with their rulers, and practically it 
 constituted the end of the divinely-appointed sovereigns 
 of the Eastern nations, and foreshadowed the coming 
 recognition of the grand principle teaching the brother- 
 hood of man. The results to mankind flowing from the 
 life of those states were wonderful indeed, but it was not 
 in the nature of things that perfection should be reached 
 within the fleeting span of one thousand years. The 
 agent of certain destruction went hand-in-hand with the 
 spirit of progress. A sentiment arose for the rule of the 
 people, but the word people embraced a most illiberal, 
 vicious, and destructive distinction which, after the lapse 
 of twenty-five centuries, nearly wrecked the life of the 
 greatest Republic ever existing. 
 
 It would be interesting to know with certainty when, 
 and under what circumstances, man first became a slave 
 to his fellow-man. But the institution of slavery ante- ' 
 dates all authentic history, and its beginning probably 
 runs back to the earliest intercourse between man and 
 man. It may be asserted that class-distinction is the 
 chief warrant for slavery, when not taking into consider- 
 ation the practice among barbarous and semi-civilized 
 nations in every age of making slaves of their captives in 
 war. Slavery was common to almost all nations when 
 the Greek Republics began their wonderful career; and 
 the Hellenes, aspiring to lead the way toward the rule of 
 
VARIOUS FORMS OF SLA VERY. 389 
 
 the people, acquiesced in the theory of human slavery 
 and adopted it in practice. The practice was bad in 
 principle, but it was the theory that chiefly opened the 
 chasm into which Grecian democracy was finally precipi- 
 tated. ^ 
 
 Perhaps with the increase of wealth and the indul- 
 gence of luxury, which the possession of wealth so press- 
 ingly invites, much the same growth of caste would have 
 occurred among the Greeks without the actual existence 
 of slavery. As every thoughtful person must admit, how- 
 ever, the system of a compulsory personal service is as 
 blighting to the faculties of the mind as it is to the ener- 
 gies of the body; and this observation holds good of 
 every form of slavery, whether that practiced by the 
 Greeks, or the incomparably baser system practiced within 
 our own enlightened age. Though the end might have 
 been the same, it is most evident that a true republic 
 recognizing the principles of slavery was as much of a 
 paradox one thousand years before Christ as it was 
 eighteen hundred years after his death. It was therefore 
 as certain that the Greek attempt at democracy should 
 fail in the absence of a broad recognition of the rights of 
 man, as it was inevitable that the American Republic 
 could only continue to exist through the abolition of an 
 accursed form of slavery which had been fastened upon 
 it at the birth as the last boon of expiring despotism 
 and wickedness. 
 
 As the Grecian states grew in power, in territorial 
 acquisition, in public and private wealth, in luxury. 
 
39° THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 refinement, and intellectual life, the leaven of class- 
 distinction, always present, became more and more 
 active. In Athens there existed a nobility of old 
 citizens, which gradually gave way to a pure aristoc- 
 racy of wealth. The struggles for supremacy of this 
 aristocracy with those of the other republics form one of 
 the most striking portions of Greek history. Every • 
 student is familiar with the long series of domestic wars, 
 growing out of the debasement of the Hellenic character, 
 that ultimately resulted in the subjugation of the Greek 
 states by mighty Rome, which latter, for some five hun- 
 dred years, also enacted the r6le of a republic, under the 
 interpretation of that day. 
 
 The Romans began the experiment of democratic 
 government upon a foundation as inadequate to the main- 
 tenance of a lasting structure as that laid by their Greek 
 predecessors. The right of property in man was a recog- 
 nized principle of the democracy of the Romans. This 
 fact alone proves conclusively that the people had no 
 broader idea of a pure democracy than had the signers of 
 1776 when declaring " that all men are created equal, and 
 endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, 
 and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
 happiness," in face of the contradictory circumstance 
 that human slavery was a recognized institution in the 
 free government they were about to create. 
 
 The privileged class of Rome — the patres, or patri- 
 cians — came into existence at a very early period in the 
 history of the republic. They were so privileged that 
 
THE PA TKICIANS AND PLEBEIANS OF ROME. 39 1 
 
 they managed to hold all the offices, to control the relig- 
 ion of the State, and to obtain exclusive enjoyment of the 
 common lands of the nation. The populus, or common 
 people, had no right except that to labor for a bare sup- 
 port. The patricians, claiming descent from the founders, 
 perverted the original land concessions into an absolute 
 right, termed yW quiritium by the Latin law. 
 
 With the lapse of time the distinction in society 
 became sharply drawn, under the terms pa^rz'cmn 2S^A ple- 
 beian. The latter class, however, increasing in number 
 faster than the former, began to wring concessions in their 
 own favor by agitation, and even by violence. First, mar- 
 riage among them was legalized ; then followed the right 
 to hold petty offices, then to enjoy more important ones. 
 The right to enter the military was won, then the enjoy- 
 ment of the privileges of civil jurisdiction, and still later a 
 right to participate in religious rites and ceremonies. 
 Agitation between the classes continued, the Agrarian 
 and Licinian laws became the excuse for frequent con- 
 flidts, and finally, after the lapse of nearly five hundred 
 years from the founding of the city, the strife between the 
 patricians and plebeians terminated with the abolition of 
 all distinction between them. 
 
 Then was the time for the establishment of a pure 
 republic, but the vision was overshadowed by the growing 
 lines of the coming empire. A curious and instructive 
 anomaly presented itself. The plebeian class, who for 
 more than four centuries and a half had been battling 
 against the aristocrats for the extension of common rights 
 
392 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 to all men, at last, having obtained those rights for them- 
 selves and having grown rich in the course of industrial 
 pursuits, became part composers of the nobility under the 
 empire. The descendants of former plebeians were trans- 
 formed into violent partisans of class-distinction. Boasting 
 of their ancestors, they claimed the jus imaginum, or right 
 of having the images of those ancestors, which constituted 
 a prerogative similar to the possession of a coat-of-arms at a 
 later period. As the empire grew in years, letters patent of 
 nobility were granted, conveying the right to a shield 
 blazoned with a coat-of-arms. The division of classes 
 became quite simple. There were but the noble and the 
 ignoble, the rich and the poor. It is very evident that at 
 that period of the Roman Republic the popular mind was 
 not sufficiently enlarged to comprehend the true nature 
 of a democratic government. 
 
 The later republics of Italy present this vicious tend- 
 ency to class-arrogance in a light still stronger than that 
 by which we view the course of the preceding attempts to 
 establish republican governments. The Venetian com- 
 monwealths were the most arbitrary of aristocracies, with 
 the common people excluded. The aristocracy grew upon 
 wealth accumulated purely through the operations of 
 trade, and a subsequent nobility was erected entirely com- 
 posed of those descended from the early officeholders. In 
 Florence the nobility was abolished, but another was sub- 
 sequently established composed of former commoners. 
 No more oligarchical- rule can be found in history than 
 that of Florentine democracy. Under the theory that an 
 
FAILURE OF ANCIENT REPUBLICS. 393 
 
 aristocracy is composed of the wisest, best, and most 
 cultured as well as the most wealthy persons of the state, 
 the unfortunate commoner stood a worse chance than his 
 predecessor, the plebeian of Rome, or his contemporary, 
 the roturier of France. 
 
 In summarizing the results of all past attempts at the 
 establishment of republican governments, it may justly be 
 said that in not one instance does it appear that the very 
 essence of democracy was understood or sought to be 
 reached by the projectors and subsequent administrators of 
 the various governments ; that is to say, that they were 
 totally ignorant of the extent to which their professions 
 should carry them, arid that they had not even approached 
 the vital principle of the true republic — the absolute 
 political and civil equality of men, and the non-existence 
 of any class-distinctions save those legitimately pertaining 
 to mental and moral worth and preeminence. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE LESSON OF CLASS-DISTINCTION — FORMER CONSTITUTION 
 
 OF SOCIETY IN THE SLAVE STATES THE PARIAHS OF 
 
 THE SOUTH, AND THE "POOR WHITE TRASH " THE 
 
 REBELLION A LOGICAL AND INEVITABLE CONCLUSION OF 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ARISTOCRACY BASED UPON 
 
 SLAVERY ARISTOCRATIC TENDENCIES OF OUR PRESENT 
 
 MILITARY SYSTEM OPPORTUNITIES OF C^SARISM OF- 
 FERED BY THE WAR THE WEST POINT ACADEMY NOT 
 
 TO BE CREDITED WITH UNSELFISH PATRIOTISM OR RARE 
 MILITARY ABILITIES GRANT AND LEE. 
 
 THERE will probably be none among the author's 
 readers to dispute the justice of the remarks con- 
 tained in the latter part of the preceding chapter, founded 
 as they are upon the well-established truth of historical 
 relation. There may be a few, however, who, while pursu- 
 ing them, may wonder what relevancy the matter of 
 caste or class-distinction can have to the subject of the 
 present volume. 
 
 The facts set forth have been so grouped as to illus- 
 trate under strong light a lesson which it would be well for 
 our people to heed and to study most carefully. Theo- 
 retically a republican form of government signifies abso- 
 lute equality, political and civil, of every one of its law- 
 abiding citizens. The history of the republics of the past 
 
 394 
 
CERTAIN ELEMENTS OF THE REBELLION. 395 
 
 vouches for the correctness of the theory in its practical 
 application, and forcibly emphasizes the fact that, as^soon 
 as the actual practice is made to conflict with the theory, 
 the government has begun its departure from the true 
 ideal of democracy. The author does not believe it to 
 be going too far to assert that every republic of past 
 times has found its destroyer in the growth and establish- 
 ment of class-distinction among its people. Complicat- 
 ing causes of downfall there have been which would 
 apparently contradict this assertion, but it is believed 
 that after stripping each individual case of indirect and 
 extraneous influences the actual agent of destruction will 
 be found to be the one indicated. 
 
 If this is a fact — and there seems no escape from the 
 admission that it is — there can be no such thing as over- 
 estimating its importance by the American people. As 
 heretofore intimated, a recognition of the right to hold 
 property in man, by his fellow-man, whether the skin of 
 the enslaved individual be white, black, red, yellow, or of 
 any other color, is a veritable foundation-stone of class- 
 distinction. 
 
 The author has attempted to trace in detail, in 
 another work, the causes and enveloping conditions of 
 the great Rebellion, and reference to that work is recom- 
 mended for a full exposition of his views. In this place 
 it may be briefly said that the original moral perversion of 
 our Southern fellow-citizen, which ultimately led to the 
 attempt to secede from the Union, was engrafted upon 
 and found its legitimate development in the system of 
 
39^ THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 human slavery practiced among them. Class-distinction 
 became the prominent feature of their political and social 
 organizations. The unfortunate negroes, like the pariahs 
 of Hindostan, were utterly vile and polluting from the 
 social standpoint, while the poor class of whites were so 
 completely crushed in aspiration, reared in such ignor- 
 ance, and smitten with such poverty, as to lead to their 
 general designation as "poor white trash." Except in 
 the cities and towns, where the operations of trade and 
 general industry permitted an intermediate stratum of 
 society, there were in strictness no middle classes of 
 people. The practical division of the whites was into the 
 upper and lower classes. The upper rode the lower with 
 boots and spur, and the under dog mounted the "nigger" 
 whip in hand. As the great product of the South brought 
 large wealth to the land-owners the feeling of caste con- 
 tinued to grow. Families began to reach back for titles 
 of gentility to their ancestors. Some could get no 
 farther than the early dignitaries of the provinces, but 
 many could trace a line of direct descent from a noble 
 stock of Great Britain. The upper classes came to 
 believe in their "good blood;" they despised trades- 
 people and cultivated a sort of mixed chivalry, com- 
 pounded of the ferocity of the feudal system and the 
 frothy " highfalutin " of the more modern Castilian. The 
 author would not willingly exaggerate the follies of the 
 Southern people as then constituted, and much less mis- 
 represent them, but impartiality could say no less, though 
 strict justice might require the saying of much more. 
 
CASTE SYSTEM OF THE SOUTH. 397 
 
 But with the feeHng of aristocracy existing in the 
 South for a score of years before the actual outbreak of 
 hostilities between the sections, it was impossible that 
 there should exist any sentiment of true democracy 
 among the Southern people, or any desire to remain 
 linked with the common hot"de of the North, who had no 
 ancestry, the great bulk of whom had no personal wealth, 
 and none of whom had any refinement or courtly man- 
 ners. Consequently, when the South lost control of the 
 General Government in 1861, the time had arrived when 
 people so diverse in feeling should separate, and more 
 emphatically had the time arrived when the aristocracy 
 of the sunny South should have a government representa- 
 tive of them, and not of a nation of trades-people like 
 those of the Northern States. The real purpose of the 
 attempted separation was obscured and perverted by the 
 Southern leaders, but the inexorable logic of the premises 
 leads to the certain conclusion that that purpose was to 
 erect a new government in consonance with the senti- 
 ments of those who were the leaders and directors of the 
 Southern people. That those sentiments did not run 
 abreast of the declaration by Lincoln for a govern- 
 ment for the people, of the people, and by the people, 
 admits of no argument whatever. It certainly was to be 
 a government recognizing class-distinction, and no subse- 
 quent coup dUtat would have been necessary to confirm 
 the traditional title of "good blood" by legislative enact- 
 ment. No Southern republic was possible under the 
 existing situation. The bane of republics had done its 
 
39^ THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 work, and, whether they knew it themselves or did not, the 
 monarchy was the inevitable end of successful separation. 
 
 Now, if we correctly interpret the utterances of 
 ancient history upon the subject of republican govern- 
 ment, and, coming down to our own time and our own 
 government, if we do not thrust behind us the broad facts 
 of the late Southern folly, we shall see how inimical to 
 the continuance qf the Republic is the sentiment underly- 
 ing the feeling of caste in a nation. But do the people 
 of the North need such a reminder? It is the opinion of 
 the author that they do. There are certain premonitions 
 of impending danger that a people ought always to heed, 
 as the ship-master does the barometric changes indicative 
 of the coming storm. As yet there may be no concealed 
 sighing for titles, and service, and all the trumpery that 
 the rdgime brings among our wealthy classes, but there 
 are certain preliminary indications of a growth certainly 
 destined to imperil • the integrity of the body politic. 
 Enormous concentration of wealth in individual and cor- 
 porate hands offers opportunities of potential influerrce, 
 seductive to the possessors and menacing to the healthful 
 interests of those unfavored with it. Every, man should 
 be entitled to the possession and enjoyment of wealth 
 legitimately acquired, but he should never pervert it to 
 the oppression of others, nor to deprive them of their 
 just rights. We live in a land where majorities rule ; and 
 the rich are always in a minority. This should never be 
 forgotten by our people. 
 
 The author has no purpose, however, to be led out of 
 
THE CHARGE OF ARISTOCRATIC TENDENCY. 399 
 
 the proper line of argument leading to the discussion of 
 the subject-matter of the present volume. The previous 
 remarks upon the subject of caste or class-distinction 
 have been adduced in order to show that the existence of 
 this evil is fatal to the well-being and even to the con- 
 tinued life of a republic. This being successfully estab- 
 lished, it will be easily admitted that everything tending 
 to the development of the feeling of class-exclusion 
 should be repressed, as a national policy, the only one 
 under which the Republic can hope to live. Does the 
 system under which the Academies at West Point and 
 Annapolis exist fall within the strict line of scrutiny as 
 to its character in this respect ? 
 
 In an official capacity the writer has been compelled 
 to observe both of these institutions for a number of 
 years, and the system upon which they are founded, in its 
 practical operation, has formed the subject of his careful 
 study. His conviction of the faultiness of the system, as 
 applied to the republican form of government, as well as 
 its absolute danger, has been strengthened, year by year, 
 as his observation and study have extended. It is pro- 
 posed to examine the principal objections to the system 
 at the present time. 
 
 The charge of promoting a spirit of aristocracy among 
 the army officials has been alleged against the institution 
 at West Point for over fifty years. Within the first half 
 century of its existence most determined attempts were 
 made to abolish it solely upon the ground of this princi- 
 pal allegation. The friends of the institution, however. 
 
400 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 have succeeded in so perverting the nature of the real 
 objections, as to readily defeat all attempts against 
 it. To illustrate the manner in which the vital point of 
 the charge -of aristocratic tendency has been covered from 
 the view of the people at large, a quotation is here intro- 
 duced from a report made by Chief of Engineers Joseph 
 G. Totten to the Hon. William L. Marcy, Secretary of 
 War, under date of November i, 1845, ^'^d by the latter 
 ofhcial transmitted under cover of his own report to Con- 
 gress. It may be premised that Colonel Totten' was him- 
 self a graduate at West Point, and, therefore, performed 
 a grateful duty in defending his alma mater. He was a 
 very competent officer, a loyal soldier, and a true repub- 
 lican in thought and action. Insincerity is not to be 
 alleged against him. He judged the institution from the 
 standpoint of his own high character, and, being blinded 
 himself to the defects of the institution, he assisted in 
 blinding his fellow-citizens also. It is curious to remark 
 how the sharp edge of a perfectly just accusation was 
 » turned, and has remained turned, by sophistry of the 
 thinnest texture. Colonel Totten says in the report 
 alluded to : 
 
 "A few general statements will comprise all that I deem it 
 important to present now in reference to certain accusations against 
 the management and tendencies of the institution. 
 
 " A very common charge is that the Military Academy is aris- 
 tocratical in its constitution. 
 
 " In relation to this erroneous allegation, I offer the following 
 tabular statement, exhibiting the condition in life of the cadets 
 who were in the school in the last four years, including 1845 : 
 
COLONEL TOTTEN'S STATISTICS. 
 
 401 
 
 1842 
 
 1843 
 
 1844 
 
 1845 
 
 Parents are or were farmers or planters 
 
 Parents are or were mechanics 
 
 Fathers are or were lawyers or judges 
 
 Parents are or were merchants 
 
 Parents are or were boarding-house or hotel-keepers 
 
 Fathers are or were physicians 
 
 Fathers are or were of the army, navy, or marine corps 
 
 Fathers are or were clergymen 
 
 Fathers are or were in the civil employment of the General 
 
 or State Government 
 
 Miscellaneous : as bank officials, editors, professors, engi 
 
 neers, masters of vessels, etc , 
 
 Occupation not stated : those having mothers only, or no 
 
 parents 
 
 61 
 
 12 
 
 125 
 
 15 
 2 
 
 13 
 6 
 
 15 
 
 34 
 
 68 
 22 
 35 
 27 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 23 
 17 
 
 Total. 
 
 221 212 224 236 
 
 Of these numbers there are without fathers living 
 
 26 
 22 
 
 57 
 16 
 
 44 
 
 18 
 
 rlR 
 
 Of these numbers without either father or mother 
 
 15 
 
 
 Total orphans 
 
 48 
 
 73 
 
 62 
 
 63 
 
 
 Of these numbers, the parents are stated to be in moderate 
 circumstances 
 
 
 156 
 
 26 
 
 6 
 
 18 
 
 150 
 
 37 
 8 
 
 19 
 
 164 
 36 
 
 Of these numbers, the parents are stated to be in reduced cir- 
 cumstances 
 
 182 
 
 Of these numbers, the parents are stated to be in indigent cir- 
 
 Of these numbers the parents are stated to be independent 
 in life 
 
 39 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 221 
 
 212 
 
 224 
 
 
 
 
 "It will be seen from this table that the sons of the wealthy 
 and independent in life compose but a very small proportion of the 
 young men at the Academy. It is now well understood through- 
 out the country that the nominations for cadet appointments are 
 made by the members of the House of Representatives, and the 
 
402 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 above statement clearly demonstrates, as was to be expected, that 
 this privilege has been exercised in a praiseworthy and impartial 
 manner. In truth, that it gives a helping hand to so many of the 
 poorer youths of our country, and qualifies them for the perform- 
 ance, in the ablest manner, of the highest duties of patriotism. 
 
 " It has been objected to the institution that its graduates 
 monopolize the appointments in the army, thereby entirely depriv- 
 ing persons educated elsewhere and engaged in the civil pursuits 
 of life of the privilege of receiving any military commission. 
 This objection is the result of mistaken views as to the manner of 
 making appointments into our army. The Military Academy forms 
 now, and has from the time of its foundation formed, a part of 
 the army, and all who are to be commissioned in the service, 
 instead of being appointed at once to the higher grade of second 
 lieutenant, receive a cadet appointment, and serve for four years 
 as warrant officers in a grade between that of first sergeant and 
 that of second lieutenant, and bearing the same relation to the 
 army that the midshipman does to the navy. That is to say, the 
 first military office into which the citizen enters is not that of lieu- 
 tenant, but that of cadet — just as the first appointment into the 
 navy is that of midshipman, and not that of lieutenant. While the 
 well-being of the army demands such a course, its small number 
 permits that all be thus instructed; and the grade of cadet is, 
 under our present organization, as much one of the steps in the 
 military ladder as any other grade. On the occasion of the 
 enlargement of the military force, this source would not supply 
 the requisite number of officers, and then, no doubt, many appoint- 
 ments would have to be made from private life. But then these 
 appointments would be made, not to lieutenancies alone, but to 
 all grades, even the highest; and if a principle drawn from the 
 necessity were now urged as a reason for appointing to the grade 
 of lieutenant, it would be found equally applicable to appointments 
 in any other grade, so that it might with equal justice be consid- 
 ered as a hardship that a citizen cannot under the present organi- 
 zation be made at once a captain, major, or colonel, etc., as that he 
 cannot be made a lieutenant. In several of the military services 
 of Europe the same grade of cadet introduces, even in the line, 
 the youthful aspirant to the sequence of military promotion. 
 
 " The young men who are appointed cadets, or warrant officers, 
 
COLONEL TOTTEN'S DEFENSE. 403 
 
 are nominated, as has been mentioned, by the members of the 
 House of Representatives, and are selected by them from among 
 the sons of men living in their respective districts, and engaged in 
 the various pursuits and professions of the country. It would 
 seeni, therefore, that the charge of monopoly is in every sense an 
 unmeaning one. Do young men when they receive appointments 
 as cadets so entirely change their relations to the country 
 as to lose all claim to citizenship? Are they not as much citizens 
 of the country as the young men of two-and-twenty who claim to 
 be appointed lieutenants immediately from the civil pursuit? of 
 life ? Is not the nation more certain of securing competent officers 
 — officers qualified to perform, and devoted to, their duties — by 
 subjecting each one for a number of years to the severe ordeal 
 which the Military Academy affords ? While in the lowest grade, 
 the cadets are required to devote all their energies to the acquisi- 
 tion of such a knowledge of their profession as will raise them to 
 that standard of acquirement which much experience has shown 
 it wise and proper to exact of those upon whom the higher mili- 
 tary appointments are to be conferred. This standard, which 
 varies for different arms of service, is not considered too high. In 
 truth, the proficiency which it requires is essential to qualify the 
 young officer for the efficient performance of the various duties of 
 his station. Much of the information necessary to form a good 
 officer, being of a peculiar nature, can only be acquired in connec- 
 tion with a military establishment. The question then arises, how 
 and at what time can this indispensable knowledge be imparted 
 in the best and most economical manner? Ought the plan to be 
 that now pursued, of selecting a number of young men each year, at 
 the age when the mind is plastic and capable of rapid improvement, 
 and sending them to an establishment especially fitted for instruc- 
 tion, there diligently to study and to serve for a number of years 
 in a low grade and with small compensation; or, as suggested, 
 should gentlemen of more advanced age be appointed to the 
 higher grade of lieutenant, and sent with better compensation at 
 once to the various military posts of the country to receive the 
 requisite instruction ? The plan now followed has many advan- 
 tages over the last, both in point of economy and efficiency. 
 
 "An impression prevails with some that the number of cadets 
 at the Academy is too large, that it might be somewhat reduced 
 
404 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 and then furnish a sufficient number of scientific officers for the 
 army as now organized. This subject was so fully discussed in my 
 last report, to which I beg leave to again refer, that it is not deemed 
 necessary to repeat the many facts and statements then fully set 
 forth. It may be simply mentioned that the graduates of each 
 year very little exceed in number the vacancies accruing annually 
 in the army by deaths, resignations, and other casualties, and that 
 the brevet lieutenants accruing to the service from this small excess 
 are constantly and advantageously employed, either with their com- 
 . panies, on the coast survey, or on other detached duties. Many of 
 the higher grades of officers are necessarily separated from their 
 companies at all times, as assistant adjutants-general, assistant 
 commissaries, assistant quartermasters ; on the recruiting service; 
 as aides-de-camp ; on the coast survey; as assistant professors and 
 instructors at West Point, and on other special services, making a 
 total at the present time of eighty-eight," exclusive of the officers 
 who are acting as adjutants of the different regiments, who are 
 sick, who are on leaves of absence, or detached by other casualties. 
 The legitimate duties of all these officers must be performed by 
 others, and the brevet lieutenants furnish the means of supplying 
 in part their places in their respective companies. They are thus 
 called upon to do the duties appertaining to higher ranks in the 
 army — sometimes one, two, or even three grades above their own. 
 " In this connection I will also remark that we ought not to 
 lose sight of the fundamental principle which should always govern 
 our peace establishment, namely, that of a skeleton force, small, 
 but capable of sudden augmentation, in order that a much larger 
 force may be speedily organized and brought to a state of efficiency 
 in times of emergency with the least possible delay. On a sudden 
 increase of the army, the present companies might be doubled ; at 
 least, some of the non-commissioned officers could be withdrawn 
 to mix with the companies of the new regiments, a portion of the 
 officers of experience would be promoted to the same regiments, to 
 the regimental staff, and to the general staff of the army ; thus 
 securing to the country in a very brief period a large and well 
 disciplined army." Etc., etc. 
 
 A careful consideration of the attempted refutation 
 of charges against the West Point Academy, as set 
 
THE REAL CHARGE EVADED. 405 
 
 forth in the foregoing report of Colonel Totten, will be 
 sufficiently convincing, not only that the arguments upon 
 which the refutation is based are deceptive and valueless, 
 but, also, that the real charge against the institution — 
 that of its aristocratic tendency — is wholly evaded in this 
 attempted defense. 
 
 In the preparation of a table of statistics such as 
 accompanies the report of Colonel Totten. it might be 
 easy enough to ascertain with entire accuracy the profes- 
 sions or callings of the parents of the students at the 
 Academy during any period of years, but when the 
 worthy chief, in his ready zeal to defend the institution 
 against all assault, attempts to classify the parents them- 
 selves into those "in moderate circumstances," "those 
 in reduced circumstances," "those in indigent circum- 
 stances," "those independent in life" (this latter class 
 constituting a very small ratio of the whole number), the 
 reader can hardly help being struck by the conviction 
 that the author of the defense has gone altogether too far 
 for material which, under the most favorable interpreta- 
 tion, can have but slight bearing on the case, and which, 
 in any event, must be wholly untrustworthy and uncertain 
 in character. When it comes to considering how many par- 
 ents each student has, or whether he be a half or a whole 
 orphan, in connection with its bearing upon the aristo- 
 cratic tendencies of the institution, it is difficult to 
 repress the smile evoked by the utter absurdity of the 
 proposition. 
 
 But the main point in the matter is that the reply is a 
 
406 , THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 complete evasion of the charge of an aristocratic ten- 
 dency, so long alleged as an objection to the institution 
 at West Point as well as to its sister institution at Annap- 
 olis. The whole question at issue is perverted, and the 
 facts adduced have no bearing whatever upon the case. 
 Over a quarter of a century subsequent to the date of 
 Colonel Totten's report, "the aristocratical tendency" of 
 the students at West Point among themselves was, it is 
 true, most painfully manifested in the exhibition of a 
 class-feeling that led to the persecution of cadets whose 
 parents, while, perhaps, in "indigent circumstances," had 
 also the misfortune — a criminal and wholly disqualifying 
 one, in the minds of the West Point persecutors — to 
 possess a colored skin. Apart from this exhibition of 
 narrow-minded tyranny, confined, it is to be hoped, to a 
 few, the author is not aware that there exists, or that 
 there has existed, or that it has been generally charged 
 that there exists, a feeling of caste-distinction among the 
 students themselves of our national academies. 
 
 The charge goes wholly beyond that, and assumes a 
 much more pernicious character, because it affects the 
 national interest. In broad terms, then, it may be said 
 that the tendency of our present military and naval system 
 of edtication is to create a body of Tnen in a republican coun- 
 try, the very nature of the circumstances under which the 
 body is created and m.aintained implying the same feature 
 of class-distinction, or of aristocracy, that distinguishes the 
 similar bodies of m,en in purely aristocratic or monarchical 
 countries. 
 
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CMSARISM. 407 
 
 Upon the very threshold of the argument which the 
 author is now briefly to make, he draws emphatic attention 
 to the fact that his allegations as above set forth lie against 
 the system and not against individuals who have received 
 or may receive their military or naval education at either 
 of the institutions now under discussion. The country 
 has had many illustrations of able and patriotic soldiers 
 and sailors, offsprings of both institutions. The renowned 
 soldier who led the Union armies to victory was a gradu- 
 ate of West Point, as were also his great marshals, Sher- 
 man, Sheridan, Hancock, and others. These brave men 
 were not only patriotic and extraordinarily skilled in their 
 profession, but they were, and those of them yet left with 
 us still are, utterly destitute of any taint savoring of the 
 odor that clings around an aristocracy. The author will 
 be pardoned for going still farther, to say that our own 
 generation is not fully appreciative of the pure character 
 of the men referred to. Full justice to their names will 
 only come at a later period in history, and this is said in 
 no derogation of the gratitude and discernment of the 
 loyal citizens of the present day who have done so much 
 in recognition of their heroes. But there are some sur- 
 vivors of the great conflict who know that the opportunity 
 to attempt the rdle of a Csesar or of a Napoleon was pre- 
 sented to more than one of the great generals to whom 
 the life of the Republic is due. That there was abso- 
 lutely no tinge of personal ambition at the expense of 
 country among the really great leaders, implies not only 
 love of country, but deep love of republican institutions. 
 
4o8 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 All honor to the men who saved us, not only from a 
 Southern monarchy, but likewise from a Northern dictator- 
 ship. 
 
 Having said this much in laudation of some of the 
 alumni of West Point, it is not to be admitted for a 
 moment that the institution is to be wholly credited with 
 either the creation of their rare military abilities or their 
 utter freedom from aristocratic tendency and yearnings, 
 as manifested by their simple love of country and pure de- 
 votion to the forms of a true republic. The mere per- 
 sonnel of these soldiers argues nothing in favor of the 
 system at West Point. It must never be overlooked in 
 the consideration of such a question that a majority of 
 the Southern leaders, who so nearly succeeded in grasp- 
 ing victory for their cause, were graduates of the same 
 institution at West Point. The statistics are not at hand 
 to prove the fact that a greater portion of the Southern 
 leaders were graduated from this institution than were the 
 same proportion of Northern leaders, but there cannot be 
 much room for doubt upon the point. The able captain 
 of the Southern Rebellion, measured by the test of class- 
 standing, more nearly represented West Point than did 
 his great adversary Ulysses S. Grant. A reference to 
 Table IV., upon page 246, will disclose the fact that 
 while the one stood near the head of his classes, the other 
 did not reach sufficiently near the foot of his own to get 
 his name upon the table. This circumstance proves more 
 than would, at first view, appear. 
 
 Comparison between the two great captains of the 
 
GRANT AND LEE COMPARED. 4O9 
 
 war in the aspect of military skill would serve no useful 
 purpose, but the leading facts of their public career afford 
 most profitable material for reflection. The Northerner — 
 born in humble circumstances ; reared to a life of hard 
 toil and self-dependence ; schooled in the simple virtues 
 of the poor — wholly failed to distinguish himself in the 
 curriculum of studies at the Academy, and, indeed, barely 
 passed the final examination. When the time came, 
 however, for an application of the crucial test, found in 
 practical demonstration, lo ! the dull pupil was trans- 
 formed into a military genius never surpassed, if indeed 
 ever equaled, in the whole annals of war. But further 
 than this, his early home education and training had 
 permanently instilled into his mind and heart the value 
 and love of republican institutions, and when the dread 
 crisis came, requiring all citizens of the country to decide 
 as to their fealty, party friends and considerations were 
 thrust aside by the simple-hearted patriot, and the whole 
 power of his superb genius was thrown to the support of 
 the Government of the people. The Southerner — born 
 in a line of ancestry carefully preserved and boasted of; 
 descended from families that with each succeeding gen- 
 eration approached nearer and nearer the atmosphere in 
 which republican feeling withers and the flower of caste 
 reaches perfection ; reared in affluence ; supplied with 
 every requisite to make life a brilliant success ; a child of 
 the Government ; a sworn defender of the whole coun- 
 try — met that crisis in an entirely different manner. He 
 was as true to the teachings of his early education as was 
 
4IO THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 his great antagonist. The latter was the growth of 
 honest repubhcanism ; the former the scion of an incipient 
 aristocracy. Having no faith in the theory upon which 
 republics are built, he held no sympathy for the Rfepublic 
 in practice, and when the menaced country called aloud 
 in the agony of its great peril, " Help me, Cassius, or I 
 sink," he coldly opened the flood-gates of revolution, and 
 with his own hand poured down the waters of destruction 
 upon its head. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE PRESENT MILITARY SYSTEM INIMICAL TO REPUBLICAN 
 
 INSTITUTIONS LIFE-SERVICE IN THE ARMY AND NAVY 
 
 COMPARISON WITH THE JUDICIAL SERVICE OF THE GOV- 
 ERNMENT COURTS-MARTIAL AND COURTS-JUDICIAL 
 
 DOES THE CONSTITUTION AUTHORIZE CONGRESS TO CRE- 
 ATE A CONTINUOUS MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT? THE 
 
 MILITARY PRACTICALLY BEYOND THE REACH OF THE 
 
 SOVEREIGN PEOPLE THE PRESENT SYSTEM WHOLLY 
 
 UN-AMERICAN THE TERRIBLE LESSON OF THE REBEL- 
 LION DANGERS OF CONFINING MILITARY KNOWLEDGE 
 
 TO A COMPARATIVELY SMALL NUMBER OF CITIZENS. 
 
 IN the preceding chapter the author has stated that the 
 charge against the national academies of a tendency 
 to foster the growth of the aristocratic sentiment has no 
 bearing upon discriminations of class among the pupils 
 themselves. The evil of the system in that direction 
 lies in the erection of a body of men into an organization 
 that, by reason of the principle upon which it is con 
 stituted, is directly opposed to the theories upon which 
 republics are founded and upon which alone they 
 can exist. A pupil entering those academies under- 
 stands that he is tendered a life-occupation, with the 
 privilege of relinquishing it should he desire to do so, 
 but with no power vested in the Government to deprive 
 
 him of it so long as his conduct is at all passable. 
 
 411 
 
412 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 An interesting discussion involving the matter just 
 touched upon occurred in the United States Senate dur- 
 ing the first session of the Forty-ninth Congress. This 
 discussion arose upon a bill to restore to the naval regis- 
 ter the names of certain pupils who, by the act of 1882, 
 had been discharged from the Naval Academy. This act, 
 it may be briefly explained, was passed in view of the 
 fact of an annual surplus of graduates from the Academy 
 in excess of the vacancies occurring in the service each 
 year, whereby a number of the graduates were left with- 
 out places to which they could be assigned. The legisla- 
 tion enacted in 1882 to meet this difficulty provided that 
 only the first ten in class-standing at the annual examina- 
 tions should be assigned to places, while the others who 
 had also successfully passed the examinations might 
 receive a diploma and a sum of money — about one thou- 
 sand dollars — in lieu of an assignment. A number of the 
 class of that year who failed to get into the naval service 
 by reason of this legislation subsequently petitioned Con- 
 gress to place their names upon the naval register, claim- 
 ing that they had entered the Academy with the under- 
 standing, warranted by uninterrupted usage, that they 
 were to be permanently received into the naval service of 
 the United States. It was upon the consideration of a 
 bill granting the request of the petitioners that the dis- 
 cussion above alluded to took place. 
 
 The discussion seemed to indicate the pretty unani- 
 mous opinion that Congress has the power to legislate 
 upon the subject of admission to the naval service — and 
 
DIFFICULTY OF DISMISSING OFFICIALS. 413 
 
 by logical sequence to the army also — through the 
 national academies, but no expression was made upon the 
 equally vital point of abbreviating the career of an officer 
 who has already entered into one or the other service. 
 For the information of the reader it may be stated before 
 leaving the point that the bill to reinstate the applicants 
 failed to pass the Senate. 
 
 But, returning to the matter of terminating the career 
 of an official already in the service, it will be suggested at 
 once that he is amenable to the laws covering proper 
 conduct, and that in violating them a ready means is 
 afforded of removing him from the service. Were this 
 means a radical preventive of ill-conduct and a certain 
 sluice-gate whereby offensive and unworthy persons might 
 always be discharged, the fact would not even then reach 
 to the point which the author wishes to raise, viz.: that 
 the pupil upon entering the United States service, either 
 as one of the highest ten or of any other number, under- 
 stands that upon compliance with the imposed requisites 
 he is to enjoy a life-service only to be terminated by him- 
 self. This point is dwelt upon because of the bearing it 
 has in a moral sense upon the question under discussion. 
 While the means spoken of above may appear wholly 
 sufficient to purge the military or naval service of unworthy 
 material, the remedy is not to be accepted in a too radical 
 sense. Ordinary bad conduct in the army or navy is not 
 dealt with by the judicial arm of the Government, but 
 jurisdiction is remitted to the service itself to which the 
 official belongs. His case is considered and adjudicated 
 
414 ^-^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 by means of courts-martial, which are a very different 
 thing from civil courts of justice, although justice is 
 sought to be reached by them. Courts-martial and 
 courts-judicial should be in spirit and essence one and 
 the same thing, but with no disrespect to the military or 
 naval service it may be said that there is a difference in 
 both spirit and essence largely growing out of the changed 
 relations of the individual under the service of strict 
 discipline which the military and naval necessity imposes. 
 Thus, a sentinel found sleeping at his post on duty would, 
 under martial law, be condemned to death, though the 
 civil law would prescribe no such penalty for a policeman 
 found sleeping upon his beat. Conversely, a man found 
 intoxicated in civil life would be sent to a lock-up, while 
 a soldier or sailor might become intoxicated with impun- 
 ity, etc. 
 
 All of this aside, however, the broad fact to be borne 
 in mind is that the individual entering the service of the 
 United States, in its army or navy branch, as an officer, 
 practically has a life-occupation under the Government 
 secured to him. There is but one other branch of the 
 National Government of which this can be said — the 
 judicial branch. With this single exception every indi- 
 vidual, from the President down to the most unimportant 
 clerk, is directly or indirectly within accountability to the 
 electors of the country. Some further exception to this 
 sweeping rule has been sought to be created of 'late 
 years through the establishment of the Civil Service. 
 There are well-defined distinctions, however, existing 
 
COURTS-MARTIAL AND COURTS-JUDICIAL. 415 
 
 between the military and the judicial servants of the 
 Government which make the former, in the respect in 
 which we are now viewing the case, altogether superior to 
 the latter, theoretically considered the higher branch of 
 the Government, as, in matters belonging to its jurisdic- 
 tion, it has the last decision over Congress and the 
 executive. By section i of article III. of the Constitu- 
 tion it is provided that "the judges, both of the Supreme 
 and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good 
 behavior," but the same instrument, while authorizing 
 the Congress "to raise and support armies, to provide 
 and maintain a navy, and to make rules for the govern- 
 ment and regulation of the land and naval forces," has 
 nowhere expressly said that the officers of the military 
 and naval branch shall only hold during good behavior. 
 The power to make such a regulation is, of course, dele- 
 gated to Congress, but it does not appear that this body 
 has ever specifically laid down the rules which the Consti- 
 tution establishes in the case of the judges. Under 
 the codes of the War and Naval Departments members 
 of both services are amenable to trial for offenses against 
 the codes, but under the most favorable aspect there is a 
 very wide distinction between the specific enunciation of 
 a rule in the fundamental law itself and the delegation of 
 power to make rules in general to some other authority 
 by the same document. The source of appointing power 
 is the same for officers of the army and navy as it is for 
 judges of the Supreme and inferior courts, and they are 
 all supposed to be amenable to the same authority. 
 
41 6 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Why, then, is it specifically provided in the Constitution 
 itself that the judiciary shall only hold during good 
 behavior, while the instrument remains silent upon the 
 office tenure of the only other permanent branch of the 
 Government — the army and navy of the country? 
 
 This is no place to go into the discussion of a ques- 
 tion which must be raised soon or late, as it appears to the 
 author. This question is whether section 12 of article 
 I. of the Constitution, giving to Congress the power " to 
 raise and support armies," though " no appropriation of 
 money to that use shall be for a longer term than two 
 years," really furnishes at all a warrant for a regular and 
 continuous military establishment in the sense of a stand- 
 ing army as it is now understood. This authority follows 
 immediately the section conferring upon Congress the 
 authority "to declare war," etc., and immediately precedes 
 in subject-separation the provision authorizing Congress 
 " to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the 
 laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, repel inva- 
 sions," etc. 
 
 As above intimated, however, the discussion of such a 
 question is entirely foreign to the author's present pur- 
 pose. The point to be made clear at this moment is the 
 practical difference between the office tenure of the two 
 permanent branches of the Government — the judiciary 
 and the army and navy. The difference constituted by 
 positive declaration in case of the former, and the entire 
 absence of any such declaration in case of the latter, is a 
 very practical one when followed into the ramifications of 
 
OFFICE-TENURE OF THE MILITARY. 417 
 
 actual application or operation. This point of difference 
 will be readily grasped by any reflecting mind and need 
 not be dwelt upon nor be followed to its rational con- 
 clusion. 
 
 There is still another distinction, however, inherent to 
 the nature of the two bodies of individuals. The military 
 profession — embracing within the general term of military 
 both the army and navy — is an exclusive one in a sense 
 that its members constitute a distinct entity in the com- 
 munity. The knowledge of this body, theoretical, and 
 especially practical, is confined to the body. The mem- 
 bers of the profession are clothed in uniforms radically 
 differing from the garb of a simple citizen ; they live 
 apart from the general community and under their own 
 laws and regulations ; they are legally invested with 
 weapons and a power over the lives of other men ; and 
 they constitute that force which is potent to defend or 
 destroy a nation. They are the embodiment of the im- 
 perium in imperio. Being thus a body apart from the 
 general constituents of the community, amenable only to 
 their own authorities and their own internal regulations, 
 they pass out of the scrutiny of civil society. Should one 
 of the members of the body commit an offense subjecting 
 him to the penalties prescribed by the military, not the 
 civil, authority, he is tried by a military and not by a civil 
 court. To the constitution, rules of procedure, preroga- 
 tives, etc., of such a court the general public are, as a rule, 
 entire strangers. It inay be said, in a general sense, that 
 the whole proceeding, from the court-martial to the con- 
 
41 8 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 sideration and disposal of the sentence by the War or 
 Navy Department, is as far removed from the scrutiny 
 and knowledge of the people at large as though it had 
 taken place in the- heart of Africa. 
 
 A man occupying the position of a judicial ofificer of 
 the Government moves within the immediate circle of 
 civil society. He is subject to its constant scrutiny both 
 in his official and personal character. His profession is 
 not technical in the military interpretation. Should a 
 judicial officer offend in a personal or a moral sense, the 
 eyes of the multitude are upon him, and the people are 
 quick to demand that he be brought to a proper account. 
 Should he.be incompetent in a legal sense, or corrupt in 
 the administration of his office, there are thousands of 
 men about him, learned in the profession and fully com- 
 petent to detect incapability or dishonesty. The Ameri- 
 can people, as a rule, are a nation of lawyers from force 
 of general education and forms of life. Should a judicial 
 officer place himself within the pale of investigation, his 
 trial becomes a matter of national concern : it is con- 
 ducted, so to speak, before the people " themselves, who 
 thus become in a certain sense the last judges of the 
 matter. 
 
 From this lengthened statement it must appear that a 
 judicial officer has a greatly less certain tenure of official 
 life than has a member of the especially favored class of 
 American citizens whose names make up the official rosters 
 of the American army and navy. 
 
 In all that essentially constitutes such a relation, these 
 
Famous Military Leaders- 
 
THE MILITARY A PRIVILEGED CLASS. 419 
 
 latter are a highly privileged class. During early youth 
 they are endowed with a most liberal education at the 
 public expense, and upon the completion of their academic 
 course they are placed at the beginning of an ofificial 
 career involving a life-tenure which, through the mere 
 casualties of nature, carries them through progressive 
 stages of higher honor and greater emolument until finally 
 they are retired from active service at a certain age to 
 enjoy the rest of life upon a fixed salary from the Govern- 
 ment. No change of political parties affects them. They 
 are wholly beyond the reach of the sovereign people. Presi- 
 dents, senators, representatives in Congress, and, through 
 these, Cabinet officers, foreign ministers and consuls, de- 
 partment officials spread over the entire country, and, in 
 brief, the whole personnel of the General and State Gov- 
 ernments, are called at fixed intervals to the bar of the 
 whole people; judgment is pronounced upon them as 
 public servants; the policy for the next stated term of 
 official investiture is marked out ; individuals are assigned 
 to the various places of trust, and the common people go 
 back to the duties of their daily life. 
 
 Now this formula is the very essence of a popular 
 government, and just to the extent that it is departed from 
 does the government fail in the perfect ideal of the true 
 republic. Of late years there has been a strong tendency 
 among some of the public men of our country to extend 
 the privileged, or, as it may be said, the life-tenure class 
 of officeholders. This tendency grows, as the author 
 believes, from the too common disposition to look to the 
 
420 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 monarchical forms of government for models upon which 
 to perfect republican institutions. The idea seems absurd. 
 One of the contemplated innovations consists of creating 
 a diplomatic and consular corps with a life-tenure of office, 
 as is the practice of all European monarchies, as it also is 
 of the Republic of France. Such a practice would be 
 pernicious alike to the theory upon which our Governmjent 
 is founded and to the healthful results of its practical 
 operations considered from a standpoint of our foreign 
 relations, as well as in the peril of the mere example. To 
 call into being a life-class of this description would be to 
 create a body of men who, far removed from the scrutiny 
 of their fellow-citizens, and possessing a security of office- 
 tenure, would become as indolent, presumptive, inefficient, 
 and aristocratic as are the generality of the monarchical 
 foreign representatives. As much as, and even more than 
 any other class of American officeholders, our foreign min- 
 isters and consuls need the stimulus to action and fidelity 
 which periodical accountability to the people alone can give. 
 Under our present system, it may be remarked that the 
 United States has a more efficient foreign corps, in the 
 general make-up, than any other country. 
 
 Hence, instead of extending the privileged classes, it 
 should be our effort to confine their number to the very 
 minimum compatible with the necessity of administra- 
 tion. 
 
 But to resume the consideration of the army and navy 
 class with which we have to do in the present volume, the 
 foregoing facts and arguments may be now cited in cor- 
 
DANGERS OF A LIFE-TENURE. 42 1 
 
 roboration of the charge so frequently made against the 
 system of national academies, that it is aristocratic in its 
 tendencies. Why should it not be ? The case rests upon 
 a basis as fixed and unvarying as a mathematical problem, 
 which simply requires a statement of the factors in order 
 to produce the inevitable result. The young men of 
 these national institutions are prepared for their career by 
 an education which, in the points of liberality and general 
 application, can be secured at but few of the collegiate 
 institutions of America. With this education they are 
 started upon a career promising much honor and great 
 glory, and which, as frequently stated, practically covers a 
 life-tenure irrespective of any civil or political authority 
 whatever. Further than this, they are the defenders of 
 the Government — the firm rock upon which the nation 
 rests. Why should not such conditions result, especially 
 in the absence of the strength of mind, possessed 
 by a Grant, a Sherman, a Sheridan, and by many 
 others, in the gradual growth of a feeling of superiority 
 over the commoner conditions of men ? Let the advo- 
 cates of the system say what they will, this is the legiti- 
 mate, and it is the practical effect. The American army 
 or navy officer, if worthy in private character, has a ready 
 entrde into every grade of society at home and abroad. It 
 makes no difference if in his school days he belonged to 
 the class whose parents were in " indigent circumstances," 
 as described by the worthy Colonel Totten, his reception 
 into any society whatever is assured by the honorable 
 class-position which he occupies. Therefore, notwith- 
 
422 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Standing the exceptions which may be freely adduced to 
 the contrary, the tendency to the creation and growth of 
 the caste or aristocratic feehng exists as a veritable and 
 incontrovertible fact, and it may be said in general terms 
 that it w9s through the feeling of aristocracy engendered 
 in Southern people as a part of their domestic system, 
 added to by the education and tendencies of the West 
 Point system, that such men as Lee and his confreres 
 found it so easy to glide from the defense of their 
 country into an open war upon its life. The tendency, 
 then, is there ; the circumstances warrant it, and it 
 requires strong republicanism to resist it. 
 
 The army and navy are, numerically, so infinitesimal, 
 as compared with the fifty odd million common people, 
 that the military power is wholly swallowed up, so far as 
 any dangerous possibility is concerned. In the present 
 disposition of things, the evil is wholly theoretical, not 
 practical. But, unquestionably, the system of a privi- 
 leged class, holding a life-tenure of office, is foreign to 
 the constitution and best interests of a republic. 
 
 In view of these statements, the question may be 
 asked, whether the author would favor a political tenure 
 for army officers, and whether he would advocate the 
 abolition of our schools of military and naval instruction 
 at West Point and Annapolis. 
 
 In reply to the first question of such a nature, he 
 ■would answer no, most emphatically, and he would go 
 farther than this, and assert his belief that there is 
 already too much of a political character in the system 
 
OBJECTIONS TO THE MILITARY SYSTEM, 423 
 
 for the promotion of the healthfulness of the system 
 itself. The author intends to offer some remarks upon 
 this point in the ensuing chapter, in further objection to 
 the system of the academies, and hence he defers 
 other comment upon it in this place. 
 
 As to whether he would advocate the abolition of the 
 system of a trained soldiery, his negative would be 
 equally emphatic. Hamilton said that "war, like most 
 other things, is a science to be acquired and perfected by 
 diligence, by perseverance, by time, and by practice." It 
 is to be presumed that no intelligent person in this age 
 will be disposed to take issue with a statement which the 
 experience of every decade more strongly confirms. But, 
 while none could go farther than does the author in 
 advocacy of preliminary education and training as a 
 means to produce an efficient soldiery, yet he does not 
 believe that the present system under which military edu- 
 cation is imparted by the national institutions is the 
 system best adapted to the needs of the American Repub- 
 lic. Upon the contrary, he believes it to be restrictive, 
 inadequate to the end of its creation, and wholly 
 un-American in nature. 
 
 It is restrictive, because it confines the benefits of 
 education and the possibilities of distinction to a rela- 
 tively few individuals, whose selection for this favored 
 position is made upon a basis about as unfair as anything 
 could be. 
 
 It is inadequate to the end of its creation by reason of 
 the inopportune method of selecting the individuals. 
 
424 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 The author will endeavor to illustrate this feature of the 
 case in a stronger light in the ensuing chapter. 
 
 Lastly, it is un-American in almost every sense. All 
 other positions of honor and emolument, under our sys- 
 tem of government, are open to the competition of every 
 individual, upon the basis of merit. There is no hin- 
 drance to any citizen in the effort to reach the highest 
 offices of the Republic, if he can demonstrate in the 
 right way that he has a special fitness for the position he 
 aspires to. The author now more particularly refers to 
 young men starting in life, though the statement is gen- 
 eral in application. As a candidate for West Point or 
 Annapolis, however, all questions of the personality of 
 the applicant are out of consideration : literally, he may 
 be said to be "in the hands of his friends." The author 
 will not further anticipate, in this place, the remarks he 
 designs to make in the following chapter. 
 
 But the system is most decidedly un-American in 
 this : that it confines a knowledge of the military art to 
 a comparatively few persons, and the legitimate effects of 
 this are bad in every respect. To constitute a small 
 body of men the sole military experts of a nation is to 
 invest them with a tremendous power for evil, should 
 they, in the course of human weakness, ever see fit to use 
 it. Is there a necessity for emphasizing the truth of such 
 a statement to a people who, within a quarter of a cen- 
 tury past, have had a practical demonstration of it applied 
 to their own case? When, at the breaking-out of the 
 Rebellion, so many of our official army and navy staff. 
 
THE SYSTEM IS UN-AMERICAN. 425 
 
 whom the nation had been so carefully educating in the 
 art of war, turned their expert knowledge and training 
 against the Government, what would have been the result 
 if the absconders had succeeded in taking away from 
 their allegiance the faithful men who, in remaining loyal 
 to their country, covered themselves with never-dying 
 fame? This band of officers, who were not drawn from 
 their allegiance to pure republicanism by the allurements 
 of class-distinction, was denominated the pis aller of the 
 Republic — its last hope. Under the unwise system of 
 our national academies, whereby their graduates were 
 established as the bulwark of the Government, and the 
 volunteer soldier was crushed in every aspiration and 
 every attempt, that band of loyalists from West 
 Point and Annapolis largely deserved the designation. 
 Had our Government adopted a more liberal and a more 
 general system of expert education, the fate of the nation 
 would not have hung as it did upon the mere thread of 
 accident. 
 
 It has been reserved to the present paragraph to 
 say that in no sense is the system more un-American 
 than in the circumstance of its foreign origin. Military 
 schools are of modern date, and the idea of such an insti- 
 tution in America was borrowed entirely from European 
 example in the last century, and most particularly was it 
 borrowed from France, the military record and career of 
 which nation, from the year 1792 until the fall of the 
 great Napoleon in the year 1815, need no illustration 
 from the hand of the author of the present volume. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE METHOD OF APPOINTMENT TO WEST POINT AND ANNAP- 
 OLIS ITS POLITICAL CHARACTER AND USE AS POLITICAL 
 
 PATRONAGE A FORTUNATE SELECTION TO WEST POINT 
 
 OR ANNAPOLIS, UNDER THE PRESENT SYSTEM, A MERE 
 ACCIDENT STATISTICS OF POPULATION, IN THEIR POLIT- 
 ICAL BEARING UPON CADET APPOINTMENTS CONSTITU- 
 TION OF THE ARMY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL 
 
 WAR ANIMUS OF THE DESERTING OFFICERS THE 
 
 HIGH-CLASS GRADUATES OF WEST POINT MANY GRADU- 
 ATES, BUT FEW SOLDIERS INDIVIDUAL RECORDS STA- 
 TISTICAL r6SUM6 of the RESULTS OF THE ACADEMY 
 
 THE GREAT NAMES OF THE CIVIL CONFLICT UPON BOTH 
 
 SIDES THOSE OF LOW CLASSMEN THE DANGERS OF A 
 
 SMALL MILITARY CLASS NECESSITY OF BROADENING THE 
 
 MILITARY SYSTEM. 
 
 THE worthy Colonel Totten, in the report made to 
 the Secretary of War in the year 1845, in refutation 
 of certain allegations that had pretty constantly been 
 charged against the West Point institution, a portion of 
 which report is quoted in a preceding chapter of this vol- 
 ume, adduces with a good deal of display the method 
 of cadet appointment as one of the great merits of the 
 system. "The young men," says he, "who are appointed 
 
 cadets or warrant officers are nominated, as has been 
 
 426 
 
POLITICAL CHARACTER OF CADET APPOINTMENT. 427 
 
 mentioned, by the members of the House of Representa- 
 tives, and are selected by them from among the sons of 
 men living in their respective districts, and engaged in 
 the various pursuits and professions of the country," etc. 
 
 Now, this method of appointment, which Colonel 
 Totten commends as direct evidence that there is no 
 monopolizing tendency connected with the system, and as 
 indirect evidence, it would seem, of the fortunate mode 
 of cadet appointment, forms, in the opinion of the author, 
 a very strong objection to the national system, as applied 
 to the Academies of West Point and Annapolis alike. It 
 is objected to by the author for at least three reasons : 
 First, the system is political in character, and as such it is 
 wholly unfair ; second, the method pursued is inadequate 
 to produce the best results of such institutions (that is to 
 say, that the system fails to give the best material for the 
 development of high military talent); and third, it is' not 
 the most conducive to the safety of republican govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Under the system of appointment pursued for many 
 years past, each member of the House of Representatives 
 nominates a candidate for admission to each academy, 
 and the President of the United States possesses the 
 privilege to nominate ten persons as candidates at large. 
 It will hardly be claimed that this method of appointment is 
 other than a purely political one. Like any other polit- 
 ical appointment, it is a part of the patronage of those to 
 whom it is conceded, and, without making any personal 
 arraignment, it may be alleged that this has been the 
 
428 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 practical application of the method. The boy with an 
 influential father or family connections has pretty gener- 
 ally received the nomination regardless of the question of 
 fitness for the career of a soldier or sailor. This may be 
 stated without impugning the motives of the Congressman 
 or President making an appointment to any greater de- 
 gree than attaches to the appointment of a postmaster, or 
 of any other Government employe. The hard facts of the 
 American political system are too well fixed and widely 
 recognized to warrant any delicacy in the discussion of 
 the system itself. It is not within the scope of the present 
 volume to consider the question whether the system is 
 wholly bad, as claimed by some, wholly good, as claimed 
 by others, or a mixture of good and bad, as claimed by 
 others still. The fact involved is what we desire to reach 
 in the present case, and it is a fact not to be gainsaid, 
 that the present method of appointing cadets to our 
 national academies is political in theory and in practice. 
 
 So well recognized is the truth of this statement, that 
 of late years there have been some instances of Congress- 
 men establishing a rule for their own districts, under 
 which they have nominated the candidate who has suc- 
 ceeded in passing the best examination before a consti- 
 tuted board, irrespective of his political connections or 
 family influence. This plan is certainly better than that 
 under which the Representative allows himself to select 
 his candidate indiscriminately and in accordance with his 
 own ideas of expediency, but it still fails to reach with 
 certainty the class of youth which it should be the policy 
 
ILLUSTRA TION FROM GEN. KILPA TRICK'S CASE. 429 
 
 of the system of appointment to obtain for our army and 
 navy. Neither has the plan been adopted generally, and 
 if the author is not mistaken in his information, the 
 method alluded to is not only not gaining ground, but is 
 rather upon the decline. 
 
 It is fortunate for the good name of our people that 
 the actual nominations have been made generally under 
 the legitimate license of our purely political system, and 
 that the instance presented some years ago, of a Congress- 
 man who endeavored to enforce payment of a stipulated 
 sum of money agreed upon as the price of his appointing 
 power, stands alone in its shameless iniquity. 
 
 The political character of the appointing system is 
 illustrated under a different phase by an anecdote of the 
 late General Judson Kilpatrick, related by the Comte de 
 Paris in his valuable " History of the Civil War of 
 America." Kilpatrick, when a youth of eighteen, desired 
 to enter West Point, but, having no political friends to 
 secure the nomination for him, made an agreement with a 
 candidate for the House of Representatives from his 
 district in New Jersey, by which he was to stump the 
 district for the candidate, who, in case of being elected, 
 was to nominate Kilpatrick to West Point. Young as he 
 was, Kilpatrick rendered effective service in the campaign 
 and was rewarded with the appointment. 
 
 This same anecdote, if true, is instructive in another 
 sense. The youth, without prompting from family or 
 relations, had formed for himself the determination to 
 become a soldier, thus evincing natural predisposition for 
 
430 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 the career. His subsequent record in the War of the 
 Rebellion as a brave and brilliant commander, though he 
 had no high-class standing at West Point, is strongly con- 
 firmatory of one of the points made by the author in the 
 present chapter in reference to a selection of military 
 pupils based upon inherent aptitude, to the exclusion of 
 selection by political favoritism. 
 
 It has been stated by many great military authorities 
 that no degree of scholastic education and training can 
 make a distinguished soldier of a man who has not the 
 inherent qualifications of a soldier. The same statement 
 has been made more than once in the present volume. 
 Evidently, then, the calling of a military life requires a 
 qualification that can never be reached, except as an acci- 
 dent, through a selection made under political methods. 
 This objection is so potent of itself that it should have 
 caused the abandonment of the system of appointment 
 long ago. But there is a twin-evil connected with this 
 phase of the matter that is, perhaps, as pernicious to the 
 healthy results of the system as is that just dwelt upon. 
 
 This may be explained as follows : The cadet 
 appointment being entirely a result of party politics, as has 
 been shown, the political predominance of each class of 
 cadets will very accurately correspond with the political 
 predominance of each House of Representatives under 
 which they receive appointments. The one is but the 
 shadow of the other. This state of affairs, in the practical 
 aspect, was well illustrated in the very institutions now 
 being treated of at the outbreak of the Southern Rebellion. 
 
COMMENTS UPON TABLES TWO AND THREE. 43 1 
 
 If the reader will turn to page 244 of the present vol- 
 ume and consider carefully the tabular statement there 
 presented, marked II., he will be able to make several 
 interesting deductions, all of which it will not be necessary 
 to refer to in the present connection, but that which the 
 author desires to comment upon for the purpose now in view 
 is to be considered in connection with the tabular state- 
 ment to be found on page 245, marked III. The first of 
 these tables, as will be seen, furnishes a numerical compar- 
 ison of the slaveholding and non-slaveholding States of the 
 Union, compiled from the censuses of 18 10 and i860, the 
 latter being the year preceding the outbreak of the Rebel- 
 lion. The second table presents a substantially complete 
 statement of the total number of cadets admitted to West 
 Point, with the States from which they were appointed, 
 from the year 1802, when the institution was formally 
 established, to the beginning of the RebelHon, in 1861. 
 
 Referring to table II., it will be perceived that the 
 total population of the slaveholding States in the year 
 i860 was 12,240,293. The table will show that the total 
 population of the non-slaveholding States in the same 
 year (i860) was 18,977,728, or 6,737,435 (roughly 
 stated, nearly one-fourth) more than the population of 
 the Southern States. Table III. will show that dur- 
 ing the life of the Military Academy up to the period 
 named, viz., the outbreak of the Rebellion, there had 
 been admitted a total of 4,438 cadets ; that of this 
 number there were appointed from the non-slaveholding 
 States 2,278; and from the slaveholding States, 2,126, 
 
432 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 including those from the District of Columbia and those 
 appointed by the executive, no account being made of 
 those appointed from the Territories, eight in number, nor 
 of the twenty-six whose States of residence are marked 
 unknown in the table. The main point of the present 
 illustrations being to show not only the numbers of those 
 appointed from the Southern States, who, having been 
 appointed by Southern Democrats, were necessarily of 
 Democratic politics also, but likew;ise the number of 
 those appointed from the non-slaveholding States Demo- 
 cratic in politics, the author has deemed it fair to include 
 in the number of Southern appointments the total quota 
 of appointments at large, for the obvious reason that 
 for a greater portion of the whole period the Demo- 
 cratic party administered the Government, and that dur- 
 ing the entire period from 1802 to 1861 the influence 
 of the South controlled the Government in all its oper- 
 ations. 
 
 Upon the basis above stated, without taking fractions 
 into account, the Southern States had sent to the Mili- 
 tary Academy one cadet for every 5,757 of their entire 
 population, while the Northern States had sent only one 
 cadet for every 8,330 of their whole population. If it be 
 objected, however, that it would be unjust to charge all of 
 the appointments at large to the Southern States, the 
 showing would still be largely in favor of the latter. 
 Excluding these appointments, there would still be left to 
 the debit of those States 1,819 cadet appointments, 
 which, without computing the fraction, would make one 
 
STA TJSTICS OF ST A TE POPULA TION. 433 
 
 appointment to every 6,729 of the population, as against 
 one to every 8,330 from the Northern States. 
 
 It is not pretended that these estimates are critically 
 accurate, because the same ratio of discrepancy of popu- 
 lation between the two sections has not precisely existed 
 through each year of the half century between 18 10 and 
 i860. Thus in 18 10 the population of the Northern 
 States only exceeded that of the Southern States by 
 some 302,043 inhabitants, while in i860 the population of 
 the former exceeded that of the latter by some 6,737,435 
 inhabitants. While, therefore, the estimate is faulty in 
 this respect, yet the statement illustrates with sufficient 
 accuracy the points which the author is endeavoring to 
 bring out in this connection. The first of these points 
 is the political nature of the cadet appointment, which 
 under our present system — and the same is true of that 
 of the past, when the nomination came direct from the 
 executive — makes the majority of the appointments to 
 West Point and Annapolis to follow the political char- 
 acter of the appointing authority. The second point is 
 the long preponderance of the Southern over the North- 
 ern States of the Union, the apprehended interruption to 
 which preponderance in i860 furnished the South a pre- 
 text for revolution, and the sons that she had sent to West 
 Point and Annapolis the opportunity to turn the knowl- 
 edge received from the Government against it. 
 
 The foregoing illustration of the political character of 
 the cadet-appointment to West Point and to Annapolis 
 brings into bold relief, as the author believes, the per- 
 
434 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 nicious nature of the appointing system. Nearly one-half 
 of the entire admissions to West Point for nearly sixty 
 years was composed of representatives of the South and 
 of the Democratic party, loyal to the leading principle upon 
 which that party was constructed, viz. : the legitimacy of 
 slavery. Upon the election of a Republican President, the 
 Southern leaders persisted in construing the significance 
 of that election as an attack upon the institution of 
 slavery with a deep-settled purpose to abolish it. The 
 army at that time was crowded with Southern representa- 
 tives, who, forgetting country, went into what was openly 
 declared to be, by its Southern projectors, a political 
 war. Had there always been a non-political system of 
 appointment to West Point and Annapolis, there would 
 have existed a higher tone and a broader scope of mind 
 among the army and navy ofificials, which would have 
 saved the country from the terrible disasters that befell it 
 during the struggle lasting from 1861 to 1865. 
 
 Bad as was and is the appointment system, however, 
 there were men that had received their military or naval 
 education under it who, when the question of sustaining 
 the creeds of a party or the fancied rights of a section at 
 the expense of their united country was presented to 
 them, rose to the full altitude of patriotism and proved 
 themselves to be happy accidents under an unfortunate 
 system. Lucky, indeed, was it for the perpetuity of the 
 Republic that such men as Grant, and Sherman, and 
 Sheridan, and many others — accidents of the system — 
 were not only born soldiers, but that they were broad 
 
THE POLITICS OF THE ARMY. 43^ 
 
 enough of mind and republican enough of principle to 
 rise above party and its associations, and to cast their 
 strength to the support of country and of freedom. 
 
 A writer in The Nation, in the number for March 29, 
 1866, denies the hostiHty of West Point, at the outbreak 
 of the Rebelhon, which has been constantly charged upon 
 it. He remarks that "the graduates failed to compre- 
 hend the political situation. Almost everywhere in it 
 (the army) were still current the same ideas about the 
 sacredness of slavery, the same cant about the evils of 
 agitation, the same classification of secessionists and anti- 
 slavgry men as alike disunionists," etc. The writer is 
 entirely correct as to the general currency in the army of 
 the idea of the sacredness of slavery, but it is hardly pos- 
 sible that any believer in the sacredness of slavery failed 
 to comprehend the political situation. It would have 
 been far better for the country and for the noble volunteer 
 soldiery who were called in to settle the question at issue 
 between the sections had the army ignored the political 
 situation entirely and held itself in readiness to obey the 
 higher, nobler call of country. 
 
 But there was a curious anomaly about this matter of 
 the politics of the army which furnishes the author the 
 unusual opportunity to attack the system of cadet-appoint- 
 ment from both sides of the same question. The side 
 which views the appointee as a mere political favorite 
 owing his position to partisanship has just been consid- 
 ered and condemned because of its tendency to fill the 
 army with mere politicians to the exclusion of genuine 
 
4.36 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 soldiers. The author now desires to indulge in an ap- 
 parent paradox and to reprobate the system of appoint- 
 ment because there is no politics in the army and navy. 
 
 It is one of the prime duties of all citizens of the 
 Republic to become thoroughly conversant with every 
 question of a political nature affecting the well-being of 
 their country, as upon an intelligent knowledge of all 
 public subjects depends the value of a man in the dis- 
 charge of the prerogatives of citizenship. It is one of the 
 most potent objections to a life-tenure of office in a 
 republic that it tends to withdraw the interest of the indi- 
 vidual vested with the tenure from all questions connected 
 with the politico-economic affairs of his government. His 
 own position in life is assured to him without further effort 
 upon his part, and, the stimulus of personal benefit which 
 so strongly promotes human activity being withdrawn 
 from the direction of public affairs, he is apt to become 
 indifferent to obligations of the first importance to his 
 country. As the army or naval officer once fairly in the 
 service of the Government possesses the consciousness, as 
 heretofore stated, that even within very broad limits he is 
 wholly beyond the reach of individual politicians and 
 political parties, it might be inferred as a natural conse- 
 quence that he would soon or late lose his interest in 
 everything connected with state affairs which has no 
 bearing direct or indirect upon the narrow circle of which 
 he is a constituent. Do we find that the actual fact bears 
 out the inference iii practical operation? A writer in The 
 Nation for March 15, 1866, in commenting upon the army 
 
THE ARMY NOT WELL-INFORMED. 
 
 437 
 
 as a class, says "they are not well-informed, nor liberal- 
 minded ; " thus reaching farther than the limit of the 
 inference just suggested. The same writer asserts that 
 "many clergymen are bred at this school for soldiers" 
 (West Point). Apart, however, from all this, the author 
 believes it to be a fact that as a class the American army 
 and naval officers take but little interest in- the political 
 affairs of their country ; that but few of them have any 
 intimate knowledge of the great issues dividing the chief 
 parties, as that of the currency, of the tariff, of our exter- 
 nal and internal commercial relations, etc.; that they 
 seldom exercise the privilege of the elective franchise ; and 
 that many of them, especially the naval officers, who spend 
 so large a part of their lives in foreign waters, never vote 
 at all. 
 
 Now all of this is wrong, assuming the statement to 
 be true as above made. No individual, nor group or 
 class of individuals, not disqualified under the laws, should 
 be withdrawn from the weight of responsibility which the 
 functions of citizenship entail. Citizenship under a gov- 
 ernment that is administered by the whole people, and not 
 by the select few, carries with it obligations as well as 
 privileges. The latter of these should never be renounced, 
 the former never evaded. 
 
 In view of this statement the question may be asked, 
 how are these different positions to be reconciled ; how 
 does it happen that politics was supreme in the army 
 and navy in 1861, while the charge is made and sus- 
 tained at the same time that the system under which 
 
438 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 the officers of those bodies are created has the effect 
 to withdraw them from all interest in political affairs, 
 and therefore is detrimental to the best interests of the 
 country? The reply to such a query is not difficult 
 to find. The question of slavery was political in character 
 beyond doubt, but it was vastly more than that. It was 
 a subject that entwined itself with the domestic and social 
 relations of the people among whom it existed ; it was the 
 foundation-stone upon which their class-aspirations were 
 built. It is not necessary to repeat the statements made 
 in preceding pages which relate to the subject of slavery 
 in its caste or class aspects. It is safe to say that the 
 army and navy officers who defaulted in their trust in the 
 year 1861 had no basis whatever upon which to found 
 a strictly political excuse for their action. They cared 
 nothing for other questions of government, and as an ab- 
 stract issue of national policy they cared as little for the 
 institution of slavery. Their whole interest in the latter was 
 centered in another aspect of the subject much farther- 
 reaching in consequences than its extension in a purely polit- 
 ical direction, covering effects relating only to the national 
 economy. Such of them as were graduates of West Point 
 or Annapolis had primarily received the appointment to 
 those institutions through the machinery of party politics, 
 but once having entered the service they became as obliv- 
 ious to the questions of party in detail as those who fol- 
 low them under the same system to a life-tenure under 
 the Government. 
 
 Hence, it may be said that the system of appointment 
 
INADEQUACY OF THE MILITARY SYSTEM. 439 
 
 is to be condemned because it involves the simple ques- 
 tion of politics for admission into the national academies ; 
 and it is further to be condemned because, when once 
 the officer is made, the system, in its extension, strongly 
 tends to strip him of his value as a simple citizen and 
 elector of the Republic. But can a system be devised 
 that may obviate this political defect? The author 
 believes that one can be, and in the subsequent pages he 
 will have some suggestions to offer upon this important 
 subject. 
 
 Thus much for the first or political objection which 
 the author has to make against the national system of 
 appointment to the Military and Naval Academies. The 
 second of the objections presented relates to its inade- 
 quacy in the production of the best results to the nation. 
 A late writer, in reiterating a well-established truth, has 
 forcibly said that "education can develop ability, but 
 never take the place of it. It may make a soldier, but it 
 cannot make a general." Now, then, what shall be said 
 of a system of general-making — for that is what all mili- 
 tary systems should aim at — which wholly ignores the 
 first principle upon which military education should be 
 based, viz.: the selection of the material which, under 
 the developing influence of education, may be molded 
 into a standard of usual or, perhaps, of exceptional excel- 
 lence? No pretense can be made that the present and 
 past systems of appointment to these academies have 
 any reference whatever to the requisite qualification 
 which should precede all others in the selection of 
 
440 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 young men to be developed into officers, and who shall 
 be competent to lead to victory that most invincible 
 of all soldiers — the American volunteer! Under the 
 operation of our exclusively political system of appoint- 
 ment, those young men are presented as candidates for 
 entry into the academies who are able, through the 
 influence of friends, to obtain nominations from the Con- 
 gressmen of the districts in which they live, or from the 
 President of the United States direct. That is the 
 essence of the whole matter All must admit it to be a 
 very imperfect method in this progressive age. 
 
 This reasoning, which may be considered only a 
 priori in character, is amply vindicated by the results of 
 the ex post facto experience. No more forcible testimony 
 could be appealed to than the record of the institution 
 now under chief scrutiny. With a view of interrogating 
 that record, the author has presented the table upon page 
 246, marked IV., which gives the individual position 
 of every graduate of the four highest classes, from the 
 year 1802 to the year 1861 inclusive. If any young man 
 with sufficient education to pass a very ordinary examina- 
 tion in the rudimentary English branches may be edu- 
 cated into a successful soldier after a prescribed course of 
 study in mathematics, engineering, and the other branches 
 forming part of the curriculum at West Point, then, mani- 
 festly, the graduates with the highest class-standing should 
 be those who would become most distinguished in the 
 practical exercise of the military profession. 
 
 The table presented by the author will not only afford 
 
WEST POINT MAXES FE W SOLDIERS. 44 1 
 
 much interesting information to the general reader, but 
 will yield, also, much matter for careful reflection. The 
 point which it is now the purpose to draw out is that 
 which illustrates the results of the attempt to make sol- 
 diers by the process of mere education. 
 
 In the first place, let the reader, through the various 
 works, ^ biographical and others, that may serve to show 
 the subsequent career of each graduate of the highest 
 class-standing, as given in the table, follow the history of 
 the whole number. One of the first surprises which must 
 attend such an operation will embrace the reflection that 
 the institution, in all the years of its work, has made, 
 comparatively speaking, an infinitesimal number of sol- 
 diers. It has sent from its halls professors and teachers 
 by the score ; it has furnished to the country lawyers and 
 preachers, bank presidents, officers of insurance com- 
 panies, engineers (for public and private works) in abund- 
 ance, etc., etc.; but there is not a prominent university in 
 the country of which the same cannot be said. What we 
 expect of a military school is that it shall make expert 
 military men. 
 
 Though an investigation, such as suggested, into the 
 subsequent history of all the graduates whose names are 
 given in the table, would occupy too much space for the 
 scope of the present volume, a brief mention of the heads 
 of the first classes will sufficiently subserve the author's 
 present purpose. The table, as will be noticed, begins 
 
 •One of the best of these is the work of G. W. Cullum, heretofore mentioned 
 in these pages. 
 
442 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 with the year 1802, and the first graduate of the institu- 
 tion presents so favorable an opportunity in his history 
 and relations for illustrating the author's subject, in more 
 than one of its branches, that he is unwilling that it 
 should be lost. This graduate of the institution was 
 General Joseph G, Swift, who received the honor of 
 being its first alumnus in October, 1802. General, 
 then Lieutenant, Swift entered the engineer corps, of 
 course, as pretty much all of his successors have tried to 
 do, and, excepting the period of his service as superin- 
 tendent of the Academy, his time was chiefly spent in 
 engineer work, principally about New York City. 
 Though he possessed an experience of ten years as a mili- 
 tary officer when the War of 1812 came into the country, 
 General Swift, the West Pointer, made no distinguishing 
 mark as an officer in the field, though as an engineer his 
 service was highly honorable. Fortunately for the coun- 
 try General Joseph Swift had a brother, John Swift, who, 
 during that war, without a West Point education, had 
 been made a brigadier-general of New York volunteers. 
 The volunteer General rendered most brilliant service 
 to the country as an officer in the field, and after a 
 successful campaign in Upper Canada, during which he 
 succeeded in cutting off an important picket o-f the Brit- 
 ish, he lost his life upon the field of battle. The case of 
 these two brothiers is instructive, even after this lapse of 
 time. The regular West Point officer, who evidently 
 had no inspiration for a successful military career, passed 
 his life in a service for which he would have been as well 
 
RECORDS OF HIGH CLASSMEN. 443 
 
 fitted by special education received from an appropriate 
 civil institution, while his brother, a simple volunteer, 
 undoubtedly possessed that inherent something, hereto- 
 fore referred to in preceding pages, which made him a 
 brilliant soldier without the aid of the conventional aca- 
 demic education. This strong contrast between the col- 
 lege-made soldier and the soldier fashioned by the hand 
 of nature has been witnessed in the history of our country 
 many times since. 
 
 The subject is of a public character, and a warrant for 
 considering the personnel oi the table is thereby afforded 
 us, freed from the reserve belonging to private life and 
 acts. Let us scrutinize it, then, and endeavor to learn 
 whatever good lesson it may teach. 
 
 General Joseph G. Swift, the first graduate of the 
 institution, in 1802, as has been said, was an accomplished 
 engineer and teacher of mathematics. Apart from work 
 of this kind, he appears to have had but one experience 
 in actual battle, in 181 2, and it is certain that he made no 
 distinctive mark as a military leader. In 181 8 he 
 resigned from the army to accept civil appointments. 
 
 Samuel Gates, of the class of 1804, resigned from the 
 army in less than eighteen months, and has left no mili- 
 tary record. 
 
 G. Bomford, of the class of 1805, invented the 
 " Columbiad," thereby advancing the military interest, 
 though he made no special mark as a military leader. 
 
 William Gates, of the class of 1806, rendered long and 
 honorable military service. 
 
444 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 The head of the class of 1807 saw service in 181 2 and 
 was "disbanded" in 1815. 
 
 The head man of 1808 served in the War of 181 2 and 
 resigned in 181 5 to become a lawyer in the City of 
 Washington. 
 
 The first graduate of 1809 was in the War of 181 2, but 
 resigned from the army in 181 6. 
 
 The head of the class, of 181 1 was killed in battle the 
 following year. 
 
 The head of the class of 181 2 met a frightful death at 
 the hands of the Indians. 
 
 The head of the class of 1813 left the service in six 
 years without special military record. 
 
 The head in 18 14 saw honorable military service and 
 was killed in 1835. 
 
 The head in 18 15 left the service the following year 
 without military record. 
 
 The head in 181 7 had no special military history. 
 
 The head graduate of 1818 saw some military service. 
 
 The leader of 1819 was an engineer officer, and spent 
 his life at different army posts. 
 
 The honor graduate of 1820 saw engineer service and 
 left no distinctive military record. 
 
 The head classman of 1821 was a teacher until 1834, 
 when he left the army to become a teacher in civil life. 
 
 The head man of 1822 had a simple engineer record, 
 and did not go to the Mexican Wan 
 
 The honor graduate of 1823 saw service only as an 
 engineer and professor, and when his country needed his 
 
RECORDS OF HEAD CLASSMEN. 445 
 
 services to aid in suppressing the Rebellion he quietly 
 resigned from the army, in 1861, after having received 
 the support of the Government for nearly forty years. 
 
 The head of the graduating class of 1825 resigned 
 from the army within a period of four years, and though 
 subsequently achieving distinction in civil life as an engi- 
 neer and chief of the coast survey, he is without any mili- 
 tary record. 
 
 The honor graduate of 1826 became a teacher of 
 mathematics and has left no military record. 
 
 The head of the class of 1827 served in the Mexican 
 War, as well as in the first part of the War of the Rebel- 
 lion, resigning from the service in 1864. He reached the 
 brevet rank of colonel. 
 
 The honor graduate of 1828 spent his life as a pro- 
 fessor of mathematics, and became the author of several 
 books on geometry. He had no military record. 
 
 The cadet who heads the class of 1829, of which 
 Robert E. Lee was second, resigned from the engineer 
 corps in two years after graduating; he then became a 
 lawyer, and, subsequently, an editor. He has no military 
 record. 
 
 The graduate who carried off the honors of the year 
 1830 was the son of the first alumnus of the Military 
 Academy. His acquirements as an engineer gave him an 
 honorable record in the planning and construction of 
 military works. His only military experience was at the 
 siege of Vera Cruz, where his engineering services were 
 
446 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 of a valuable nature. Apart from this, he has left no 
 military record. 
 
 The head of the graduating class of 1831 resigned 
 from the service within two years after graduation. He 
 then studied divinity, entered the ministry, and became a 
 distinguished clergyman, devoting his life to the church. 
 He had no military record. 
 
 The head classman of 1832 was in one engagement of 
 the Florida War. He resigned from the army within 
 four years after graduation to engage in mercantile pur- 
 suits. He is without military record. 
 
 The head of the class of 1833 spent his life as an 
 engineer and as an instructor. He saw no service in the 
 Mexican War, which occurred during his period, and, 
 dying before the outbreak of the Rebellion, he has left 
 no military record. It may be remarked, en passant, that 
 Francis H. Smith, who graduated No. 50 in the same 
 class, devoted the education bestowed upon him to the 
 attempted destruction of the Union. 
 
 The honor graduate of 1834 spent the most of his 
 career in the engineer service, though he saw some 
 service in Mexico, where he received a brevet rank. 
 
 The head man of 1835 resigned from the service in 
 two years, but reentered the army during the Rebellion, 
 and rendered honorable service. 
 
 The honor graduate of 1836 saw no military service 
 proper, though his career covered the period of the Mexi- 
 can War. His services were rendered in an engineering 
 capacity. 
 
RECORDS OF HEAD CLASSMEN. 447 
 
 H. W. Benham, the laureate of 1837, forms the first 
 example in the list of a highly distinguished soldier. The 
 record shows that there was no mistake of a vocation for 
 this pupil. He has no history as an engineer ofificer 
 kept stationed by the influence of friends in the "society 
 places." His career was purely military, while his record 
 in the Mexican War and in the War of the Rebellion, 
 during which latter he rose to the rank of brevet major- 
 general of the Union army, was most honorable to him 
 as an accomplished soldier. 
 
 The head of the class of 1838 affords another instance 
 of the engineer officer. His career extended to the be- 
 ginning of the Mexican War. He has left no military 
 record. 
 
 The head man of 1839.. I- I- Stevens, presents another 
 cheering example of a prize in the cadet lottery. He dis- 
 tinguished himself to such an extent in Mexico that Gen- 
 eral Scott pronounced him to be "the most promising 
 officer of his age ;" and this, it may be remarked, was said 
 at the moment Ulysses S. Grant was also serving as a 
 yopng officer in Scott's army. Between the close of the 
 Mexican War and the outbreak of the Rebellion, Stevens 
 rendered many public services. During the War of Seces- 
 sion he threw the whole weight of his superior military 
 talent and fine education to the support of his imperiled 
 country, for which he gave up his life upon the field of 
 battle. He rose to the rank of major-general. 
 
 The head man of 1840 chills the hope beginning to 
 grow from the example of Stevens. This honor graduate 
 
448 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 passed the next five years of his life as an engineer and 
 assistant professor at West Point. He then resigned 
 from the army, but was reappointed toward the close of 
 hostilities in Mexico, though he saw some service during 
 the final scenes. He again resigned and became a planter 
 in Louisiana, his native State, of which he subsequently 
 became governor. At the outbreak of the Rebellion he 
 turned his education against his country, and with his fel- 
 low-rebels sought to destroy it. 
 
 The first graduate of 1841, Zebulon B. Tower, again 
 furnishes an agreeable exception to the rdgime of the 
 dilettant engineer officer. He served with honor in 
 Mexico and rendered distinguished service during the 
 War of the Rebellion, in which he won the rank of 
 major-general. 
 
 The head of the class of 1842 became a professor of 
 engineering in Harvard University. At the outbreak of 
 the Rebellion, however, he entered the Union army and 
 won the rank of brigadier-general. 
 
 The list is further illuminated by the career of the 
 head graduate of 1843, W. B. Franklin, who distinguished 
 himself in Mexico and achieved high rank in the War of 
 the Rebellion. 
 
 The head man of 1844 has no distinctive military 
 record. He was an engineer officer in the Fremont expe- 
 dition and a professor of mathematics at West Point. 
 
 The honor graduate of 1845 deserted his country 
 in its hour of peril. He was in temporary command 
 during Terry's successful assault on Fort Fisher ; he was 
 
RECORDS OF HEAD CLASSMEN. 44c, 
 
 wounded in the fight, and subsequently died in a Union 
 hospital. 
 
 The head man of 1846 has left a good military record. 
 
 The honor graduate of 1847 resigned from the army 
 after the firing upon Fort Sumter, just when his country 
 needed his services. 
 
 The honor man of 1848 resigned from the army in 
 1856 and has left no military record. 
 
 The head of the class of 1849 presents another ex- 
 ample of the oasis in the desert. The gallant and 
 valuable services of General Q. A. Gilmore during the 
 Rebellion are well known. He richly merited the rank of 
 major-general, which he won. 
 
 The first graduate of 1850, F. E. Prime, won distinc- 
 tion during the War of the Rebellion. 
 
 The leader of 1851, G. L. Andrews, demonstrated his 
 military ability throughout the Rebellion. His services 
 were most valuable and won for him the rank of brevet 
 major-general of volunteers. 
 
 The honor man of 1852, T. L. Casey, also rendered 
 good service during the Rebellion and won a brevet 
 rank. 
 
 The class of 1853 is headed by the ever-to-be-lamented 
 James B. McPherson, who combined fine scholarship with 
 an inborn military genius, and thus was constituted an 
 ideal soldier. He died all too soon for his own glory and 
 for his country's good. With no academic training what- 
 ever, McPherson would still have been a great soldier. 
 
 The head of the class of 1854 gave his class-standing. 
 
450 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 which was all he had of the soldier, to the service of th' 
 Southern Confederacy. 
 
 From this point to the year 1861, embracing seven 
 graduating classes, there is presented an unbroken line of 
 soldiers who proved themselves not only true to their 
 country, but — in varying degrees — capable military 
 men. There is no quasi-civilian in the list constituted of 
 the names of C. B. Comstock, G. W. Snyder (killed at 
 Manassas), J. C. Palfrey, W. C. Paine (disabled in 1863), 
 W. E. Merrill, W. McFarland, and H. A. Du Pont. 
 
 With the foregoing list of names and the data accom- 
 panying it, the reader will be able to draw his own deduc- 
 tions. The list prior to the year 1825 — when the table 
 of Captain Boynton begins — has less interest in illustra- 
 tion of the present subject than has that portion of it 
 covering the subsequent period. Some of the graduates 
 of the Academy between the years 1802 and 1824 saw 
 actual service either in the War o,f 1812 or in subordinate 
 conflicts with the Indians; some few saw service in Mex- 
 ico, and a very few remained attached to the army up to 
 the close of the Rebellion, as, for example, Jos. G. Totten, 
 H. W. Brewerton, and G. S. Greene. Many of them 
 resigned from the army either immediately upon gradua- 
 tion or at varying periods afterward. A large number 
 spent their lives in engineer service, or in teaching at 
 West Point. Many others, availing themselves of the 
 Governinent education, became engineers or teachers of 
 mathematics in civil life; others became practicing law- 
 yers ; a few studied medicine and became practicing physi- 
 
GENERAL REVIEW OF THE LIST. 451 
 
 clans ; one at least (A. Mordecai, class of 1823) lived upon 
 the Government for more than forty years, and then 
 ■deserted it upon the approach of the dread crisis of 1861. 
 What will most strike the reader upon a review of the 
 whole list between the years mentioned is the fact that it 
 does not contain the name of a single individual who has 
 left a distinctive record stamping him with the qualities of 
 a great military leader. Many of them saw honorable ser- 
 vice in the field, and others in the departments of teach- 
 ing or in garrison duty to which they were assigned ; but 
 the same can be said of volunteer soldiers who served by 
 their side and had never seen West Point or any other 
 military school. One of the graduates — G. Bomford — 
 served in the. army honorably, and invented the Colum- 
 biad; another — R. P. Parrott, class of 1824 — remained 
 in the service for twelve years, when he resigned and 
 became judge of a civil court, and afterward proprietor 
 of a foundry, when he invented the Parrott gun. The 
 author has no wish to detract from the merit of any of the 
 individuals under consideration. Their service, such as it 
 vi^as, may have been honorable, but the present purpose 
 is to weigh the school at West Point, not as the alma 
 mater of professors, engineers, lawyers, doctors, or even of 
 inventors of guns, but as the kind mother of distinctive 
 military men superior in arms and in fame to those who 
 never enjoyed the advantages of a scholastic military 
 •education. 
 
 The list embraced within the years 1825 and 1861 has 
 more interest for the reader in connection with the present 
 
452 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 subject than that which precedes it, for the dhief reason 
 that the period embraces two wars in the history of our 
 country, the latter of which was of such proportions as to 
 afford scope for the full display of the military talent and 
 genius of the West Point alumni who participated in it. 
 The statistics herein given in connection with the head 
 classmen of the Academy between the years above men- 
 tioned will demonstrate that of the whole number given 
 — some thirty-seven in all — about thirty-three per cent, 
 never saw a battle ; nearly fifty per cent, have left no mili- 
 tary record ; three of the number went into the Rebellion ; 
 a little over fifty per cent, had military records of varying 
 degrees of importance and excellence, while only a little 
 more than one-fifth of the number rose to the standard of 
 the great soldier. In making this latter statement the 
 author must again say that he has no intention to detract 
 from the well-earned credit of those who served their 
 country well, but the present demand is for facts with 
 which to elucidate an important problem, and it is well 
 known that among the head classmen of the Military 
 Academy such men as Stevens, McPherson, and the others 
 already mentioned, have no duplicates in the history of 
 the school. 
 
 The authof is aware that the showing of the facts is 
 strong in character, but the figures render it invulnerable 
 to attack. These cannot be changed, though the attempt 
 will be made by ultra-scholastics to explain away their 
 significance. It may be claimed that class-standing at 
 West Point does not strictly represent actual scholarship. 
 
CONFIRM A TION B Y XEGA TIVE E VIDENCE. 453 
 
 but that it also embraces points of college discipline. 
 Such a reply can only be valid to a very limited degree, 
 as even the fossiliferous system of West Point can 
 scarcely be so absurd as to place a pupil at the head of 
 his class upon a record for turning down his bedspread 
 with prescribed regularity. 
 
 The foregoing facts in connection with class-stand- 
 ing at the Military Academy are openly affirmative in 
 character. They may be strongly supplemented by a 
 negative evidence equally confirmatory of the point 
 raised by the author. Where are the names of the 
 soldiers upon both sides who won a merited title to high 
 military genius during the late civil conflict? Why do 
 they not appear upon this honor roll of West Point ? 
 Why is there no place upon it for the names of Grant, No. 
 21 in class; Sherman, No. 6; Sheridan, "glorious Phil," 
 No. 34; Pope, Hancock, Anderson, McDowell, Heintzel- 
 man. Hooker, Hunter, Lyon, Reno, George H. Thomas, 
 StuFgis, Burnside, and others upon the Union side; and 
 of Joseph E. Johnston, No. 13; A. S.' Johnston; "Stone- 
 wall" Jackson, No. 17; Magruder, Van Dorn, Jubal 
 Early, Longstreet, J. E. B. Stuart, Ewell, the saintly 
 Bishop Polk, and the commander-in-chief of the Confed- 
 erate forces, Jefferson Davis, on the rebel side? The 
 author scarcely needs to attempt an answer to such ques- 
 tions. 
 
 The testimony given, then, by the published records of 
 West Point must be held to be conclusive as to the inade- 
 quacy of the appointing system by which pupils are 
 
454 ^-^-S VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 admitted to our national academies. These pupils, 
 expected to become accomplislied soldiers and sailors, are 
 picked up, so to express it, at random, without any regard 
 to the question of fitness or aptitude. The pupil himself 
 is generally a passive agent in the matter. The iather of 
 the boy settles the question of profession in the large 
 majority of cases. Of one son he resolves to "make" a 
 lawyer, of another a doctor, of a third a minister of the 
 gospel, of a fourth a distinguished soldier, and of a fifth a 
 brilliant naval officer. In the last two cases the faculties 
 at West Point and Annapolis undertake to give the 
 finishing strokes in the "making" process. There is 
 some statistical law under which certain events, as the 
 commission of crime, accidents by fire/ storm, shipwreck, 
 etc., are numerically predicted for a given period of time, 
 and it is just possible that under a similar law there will 
 always be a certain proportion of army and naval cadets, 
 out of a given number of appointees, whose aptitude for 
 their chosen profession may be justified by the subse- 
 quent record. But as a practical rule for the safety and 
 well-being of this progressive nation, the author ventures 
 to suggest that it possesses some elements of grotesque- 
 ness bordering upon absurdity. The whole subject is 
 one of great seriousness to the people of the United 
 States, and no effort should be spared looking to the 
 grand end of selecting, under an enlightened and effective 
 system, the most available material for the soldiers and 
 sailors of our country — the men who are to become its 
 defenders against nations which cultivate the art and 
 
DANCER OF CONFINING MILITAR V KNO WLEDCE. 45 5 
 
 science of war as a specialty. Tlie idea of sustaining 
 national military academies for the making of lawyers, 
 priests, clergymen, professors of mathematics, editors, 
 school-teachers, surveyors, or any other calling except 
 that of the military art, had better be abandoned as 
 soon as possible. If it be necessary to the progress of 
 the nation that the Government should provide for edu- 
 cation in the professions mentioned, let a grand poly- 
 technic institution be created, which may meet the neces- 
 sity, but let it be distinct and wholly separate from the 
 national military academies. 
 
 The third and last objection to the system of military 
 education, as now conducted, which the author desires to 
 raise in the present connection, is that relating to its 
 expediency as viewed from the standpoint of national 
 security. There seems to be no cause for any present 
 apprehension that danger to republican institutions 
 exists from the army and navy of the United States, 
 though the war of the Rebellion pretty strongly illus- 
 trated certain possibilities when danger from such a 
 source was least expected. But the objection now 
 urged may be entirely based upon the general principle 
 of the case. It is a well-established fact that it is danger- 
 ous to the safety of any government to have a knowledge 
 of the military art confined to a comparatively small 
 number of people, as the latter would possess the power, 
 even should they never entertain the inclination, to con- 
 trol, or, to put it more broadly, to conquer the rest of the 
 community. Now, does not our present system directly 
 
456 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 lead to the creation of a comparatively small military class 
 exclusively vested with a knowledge of the art of war? 
 Most certainly it does, and the potent influence of this 
 small class has been, and is now, supreme in every rela- 
 tion belonging to it. The class of which the author 
 speaks is especially powerful in two respects : first, its 
 members possess the life-tenure of office, and, therefore, 
 enjoy a special privilege, upon which aristocracies are 
 legitimately built ; and second, they enjoy an exclusive 
 knowledge of the profession of arms. All knowledge is 
 power, and a knowledge of arms is supreme in the affairs 
 of nations. An enthusiastic playwright has declared the 
 pen to be mightier than the sword, but the author's 
 observation leads him to believe the declaration to be 
 more poetic than practical. A vigorous cavalry charge 
 has seemed to him much more convincing than the work 
 of many pens, even though of steel themselves. 
 
 It would be strange, perhaps, if such elements as 
 those just named should go unappreciated or unused 
 even in a republican country, and it appears most certain 
 that they have not in the case under consideration. As 
 the repository of our military knowledge and resources, 
 the Government habitually looks to its army and navy 
 class in all matters pertaining to those branches of admin- 
 istration, and, briefly stated, the result of our system has 
 been to constitute both the army and navy the closest 
 corporations in the country. The entrance to a recog- 
 nized career in either one or the other service lies only 
 through the picket lines of West Point or Annapolis. 
 
"REGULAR" AND "IRREGULAR" OFFICERS. 457 
 
 All knowledge not obtained there is spurious, and all sol- 
 diers and sailors not made there are considered mere pre- 
 tenders. These are strong words, but nevertheless true, 
 as all must concede who are familiar with the facts of the 
 situation. Until the occurrence of a most notable cir- 
 cumstance of quite recent date, the corporations named 
 have been supreme in the management of the military 
 policy of the country : they have controlled the whole 
 organization of military affairs, and they have regulated 
 all the appointments of the army and naval services. 
 They have arrogated to the graduates of the national 
 academies the appellation of regular officers in opposition 
 to volunteer officers, who by contrast have become irreg- 
 ular, and, as a consequence, pretenders in the profession 
 of arms. Hence, from the earliest operation of our pres- 
 ent system the regular officer has climbed over the head 
 of the volunteer officer, without regard to real ability or 
 qualification, in all promotions for which the two classes 
 were competitors. 
 
 The author will set forth this phase of the question at 
 much greater length in subsequent chapters of the pres- 
 ent volume. He has called attention to it in the present 
 place because of its strong exemplification of the evils of 
 the national system from the standpoint from which the 
 subject is now being viewed. Military knowledge should 
 be more generalized and legitimized in the United States. 
 The system is much too narrow for the best interests of 
 our great country. 
 
 It is not meant by this that the Government should 
 
458 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 resort to a measure which constitutes the life of mon- 
 archies and aristocracies, viz.: the creation of a large 
 standing army, which would be a standing menace to the 
 liberties of the people. The author refers not to armies, 
 but to a general diffusion of advanced military knowledge 
 among the greatest possible number of people. He 
 means to take an expert knowledge of the military art 
 and science away from the keeping of a small privileged 
 class and to entrust it to the people of the Republic. 
 This can be done, without doubt, and when it is done the 
 nation will never again be placed in the position of peril 
 which so nearly extinguished its life when men whom it 
 trusted proved faithless to their obligations. 
 
Three Typical Volunteer Generals. 
 I. General John Stark and his Green Mountain Boys. 2. General Logan in 
 the Rain before Donelson. 3. General Terry at Fott Fisher. 
 
PART III. 
 
 A DEMAND FOR JUSTICE, 
 
A DEMAND FOR JUSTICE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE COLONISTS AS SOLDIERS — THE INDIAN CONFLICTS 
 
 BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN VOLUNTEER AT LEXINGTON 
 
 THE RIGHT ARM OF THE COUNTRY FROM BUNKER HILL 
 TO APPOMATTOX THE AMERICAN PLAN OF ARMY ORGAN- 
 IZATION UNJUST TREATMENT OF THE VOLUNTEER — - 
 
 QUALITIES THAT FORM THE SOLDIER IN BATTLE DISCI- 
 PLINE UPON DRESS-PARADE AND UNDER FIRE PERSONAL 
 
 BRAVERY A CHARACTERISTIC OF THE VOLUNTEER THE 
 
 HEROES OF THE REVOLUTION GENERAL KNOX's EFFORTS 
 
 TO DIFFUSE MILITARY KNOWLEDGE AND TRAINING THE 
 
 WAR OF l8l2 AND ITS VOLUNTEERS THE WAR WITH 
 
 MEXICO — THE GREAT CIVIL STRIFE. 
 
 THE introductory chapter of the present volume has 
 been devoted to a general consideration of the 
 American citizen-soldier. It is the present purpose to 
 take up the thread of this interesting subject and carry it 
 to a further conclusion. 
 
 Under the colonial condition, we had no original mili- 
 tary system. The incident struggles of pioneer life, with 
 an enemy of civilization ever alert and always blood- 
 thirsty and unmerciful, had accustomed the colonists to 
 
462 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 the use of arms in the defense of person, family, and 
 home. To that extent they were soldiers ; or it may 
 better be said that they had certain qualifications which 
 rendered the transition from the life of a civilian to the 
 career of a soldier much less difficult than under the ordi- 
 nary circumstances. They were possessed of watchfulness, 
 energy of action, and quickness in the adoption of expedi- 
 ents. They had become familiar with danger, and fearless 
 in meeting it. They were trained to the use of arms, and 
 practice had made them unerring marksmen. Unused to 
 luxury in any form, and for the most part reared with habits 
 of frugality and hardy toil, they were models of physical de- 
 velopment and robust manhood. All of these qualifica- 
 tions were invaluable to the formation of a soldier. But 
 they lacked the discipline which enters so largely into the 
 composition of an efficient soldier. When the war 
 between England and France was in progress the Ameri- 
 can colonists were presented with their first real opportu- 
 nity to learn the attributes of a soldier under a state of 
 organized warfare. The English officers that led the 
 American forces were men of military education and 
 experience, even though unaccustomed to the Indian 
 modes of hostility, as in the case of Braddock, who paid 
 the penalty of deficiency with his life. But from these 
 officers and their veteran troops the colonists learned les- 
 sons, and reaped an experience which made ultimate 
 success possible in the Revolution which was so quickly 
 to follow the struggle between the two European powers 
 named. With the close of the " Seven Years' War" in 
 
BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN VOLUNTEER. 463 
 
 1 763, the French lost their colonial possessions in America ; 
 and in 1775, twelve years later, the first armed conflict 
 between England and her own colonists took place at 
 Lexington — an event which was marked by two circum- 
 stances of the most profound consequence to mankind in 
 general. The first of these was the birth of the American 
 ■ volunteer ; the second, the beginning of a labor des- 
 tined to terminate with the advent of a new nation, the 
 cherished offspring from the womb of the suffering ages. 
 Elder brother and yoiinger sister, the volunteer has stood 
 as a bulwark of protection to his beautiful charge upon all 
 the bloody fields that have menaced her destiny, from 
 Bunker Hill to Appomattox Court-house. So long as 
 the strong arm of the American citizen-soldier is extended 
 in protection of the American Republic, it will endure as a 
 blessing to all races of men ; but when that protecting arm 
 falls, the American Union must fall with it. 
 
 The governments of the Old World owe their continu- 
 ance to standing armies, raised and maintained by regular 
 pay or by stern compulsion. The United States possesses 
 no standing army in the popular sense of that designation. 
 Its policy and traditions, in fact the very essence of the 
 nation's existence, repudiate any such contrivance. The 
 theory of the national defense rests upon what the French 
 call cadres, mere skeleton organizations, of diminutive pro- 
 portions, which in time of peace are sufficient to man the 
 coast defenses, and to protect the people from that in- 
 veterate enemy of civilization and progress, the Indian of 
 the frontiers, and which In time of war serves as the 
 
464 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 nucleus about which the enormous armies that the country 
 is capable of putting into the field may form themselves 
 into fighting legions. 
 
 Practically considered, then, the nation has no army 
 in time of peace, though, when the clarion voice of war 
 resounds through the land, the country throughout its 
 vast extent becomes, if necessary, one bristling camp of 
 fighting men. This is a most interesting circumstance, 
 and one that has challenged the attention of men of all 
 nations and of all creeds. It is a circumstance quite 
 unique in character, and forms at least one exception to 
 the oft-quoted words of the wise man, "There is nothing 
 new under the sun." It is so new that it has no precise 
 parallel in all history: it belongs to the genius of the 
 American Republic ; and it is possible only to a govern- 
 ment founded upon a basis substantially identical with 
 that upon which our free institutions so securely rest. 
 
 Singularly enough, while the capital fact of our 
 national life and well-being is well known to, and thor- 
 oughly appreciated by, all other nations, there are many 
 of our own people who remain so far blinded to its ulti- 
 mate importance as to be quite insensible to the practical 
 necessities involved in it. A military school for the edu- 
 cation of a comparatively limited number of military offi- 
 cers has been established and in active operation, as we 
 have seen in the previous pages, for a period of more 
 than four-score years. A certain number of men, to con- 
 stitute, with their officers, what is called "the army of the 
 United States," but who, in fact, constitute a sort of 
 
UNPROGRESSIVENESS OF MILITARY SYSTEM. 465 
 
 national police force, are mustered into the service and 
 pay of the Government as often as it may be necessary 
 to preserve the numerical requisites of the body spoken 
 of. This is well enough as the initial or departing point 
 of our military school, but the point is too small for great 
 extension. Thirty or forty thousand soldiers are quite 
 sufficient for the needs of the country in a state of peace 
 and international quietude, but the absurdity of relying 
 upon such a number of educated and well-disciplined 
 troops to represent the military power of sixty million 
 people in a condition of war need scarcely be dwelt 
 upon. From the period of the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence, when the colonies numbered little if any more than 
 three million inhabitants, down to the close of the recent 
 Civil War, the volunteer soldiers have constituted the 
 prime military power of the Government. More than 
 that, they must continue in occupancy of that position 
 until the liberties of the people are unfortunately sunk 
 under the iron heel of a standing army. 
 
 The plain fact that the author has taken so much 
 pains to emphasize in more than one place is insuscepti- 
 ble of controversy or denial ; and yet, with the experience 
 of a war occurring about once in an average of every 
 twenty-seven and one-half years, including that of the 
 Revolution — there having been four wars (exclusive of 
 the Indian struggles and the hostilities with the Barbary 
 pirates) in one hundred and ten years — the governing 
 power has not advanced the national military scheme a 
 single step beyond the scope embraced within the insuffi- 
 
466 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 cient ground covered by the academies at West Point 
 and Annapolis. With the fact, heretofore stated, plainly 
 before us, that the volunteer force of the country consti- 
 tutes its real defensive dependence, together with the 
 lessons furnished by the invariable first failures of heroic, 
 but raw, undisciplined levies of troops, which come to us 
 from almost every battle-field, it seems remarkable that, in 
 all this experience of a people progressive to an almost 
 unparalleled degree, there should have been but little or 
 no effort to advance in a direction running so closely 
 abreast of the national welfare, and even of the national 
 existence. Surprising as the circumstance really is, how- 
 ever, it seems surpassed in mysterious incomprehensibility 
 by another fact, as open and undeniable as the first, which 
 is, that the volunteer, who is and always has been the 
 acknowledged defense of the country, should be the sub- 
 ject of an unfair treatment and an unwise as well as an 
 unjust discrimination well calculated to destroy the very 
 feature of the American Government which has so sur- 
 prised the modern world — the volunteer system of the 
 great Republic. 
 
 Let us consider the branch of the subject covered by 
 these two points. 
 
 All military men know that among the many requisites 
 of an efificient soldiery there are at least two qualifications 
 absolutely indispensable. These are, first, a discipline 
 amounting to a blind obedience to the commands of the 
 ofificer ; and, second, such a disregard of an enemy's fire 
 as will enable the soldier to perform his duties and to pre- 
 
QUALITIES NECESSARY TO THE SOLDIER. 46/ 
 
 serve his discipline as unconcernedly and as absolutely as 
 though the enemy's guns were simply exploding harmless 
 powder and as though his swords and bayonets were made 
 of wood. These two qualifications, so to call them, are 
 worth vastly more than personal bravery alone upon 
 the battle-field. To a large extent they are acquired 
 qualities, for while the idea of discipline may be conveyed 
 by military schools as well as the mechanical act of 
 moving in bodies according to set rules, true discipline in 
 its ideal perfection can only be acquired in the action 
 of battle. And as for the second of the qualifications 
 spoken of, as well or better might it be attempted to teach 
 a man how to go to sea without the penalty of sea-sick- 
 ness in the first experiences, as to instruct him in a 
 school how to stand an enemy's fire. Immunity from the 
 first of these can only be secured from the roll of a ship 
 as it breasts the crested wave, and indifference to the 
 second can only be acquired amid the roar of artillery and 
 the serpent-like hiss of the death-dealing small arms. 
 The two qualities in the effective soldier go hand-in-hand ; 
 they are united in him as firmly as were the Siamese twins 
 by their bond of living structure. 
 
 A closer analysis will develop the facts more clearly. 
 
 A justly admired poet has embraced an important and 
 far-reaching truth in the following lines, which have 
 become the subject of almost daily quotation : 
 
 Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, 
 As to be hated needs but to be seen ; 
 Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face. 
 We first endure, then pity, then embrace." 
 
468 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 In the present place there is no disquisition to be made 
 upon the subject of vice, but the fact expressed in the fore- 
 going Hues admirably illustrates the effect of usage in its 
 general operation upon mankind. Men become accustomed 
 to facing danger in myriad shapes and forms. Nor does 
 the circumstance of their doing so always imply bravery 
 of the individual. Familiarity with a certain form of 
 danger acquaints the observer with its nature, enabling 
 him to know its real attributes and to calmly appreciate 
 its real effects. Some men go to sea, for example, and 
 learn to be impassive amid the wild raging of the ele- 
 ments, while they would fly before a simple but unfamiliar 
 danger upon land. Others go down into coal mines 
 whose passages and chambers are full of explosive gases, 
 with the nature of which the miners become so familiar 
 as never to lose their presence, of mind in case of an acci- 
 dental explosion, being constantly ready to throw them- 
 selves, as quickly as the flash of the gas itself, flat upon 
 the ground, where the atmospheric air invariably settles, 
 in which they may be safe from harm until the gas in the 
 upper stratum has been consumed. But put such men 
 upon the ocean, with the danger of shipwreck staring 
 them in the face, and they might blanch with fear, or be 
 unable to stand for trembling, at the threatening of a 
 death far less terrible and less painful than that they have 
 so many times faced with indifference in the bowels of 
 the earth. 
 
 In these and all other cases illustrating the same point 
 the apparent paradox presented is to be explained wholly 
 
VALUE OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE. 469 
 
 upon the ground of usage, and upon that knowledge of 
 or familiarity with a thing which usage alone can give. 
 
 Here, then, is one of the elemental attributes of all 
 soldiers, whether in the line or in the rank and file, 
 which no academy can teach nor oral precept convey, 
 but which can only be learned in the noisy school held 
 upon the battle-ground. 
 
 It has been said that discipline goes hand-in-hand 
 with the quality just considered, for it must be self- 
 evident that without the indifference to the enemy's mis- 
 siles heretofore mentioned there could be no effective 
 discipline upon the battle-field. 
 
 To march, to wheel, to move singly and in column, 
 and to go through the manual of arms at the word of 
 command upon a dress-parade, when under the view of 
 fair women and admiring fellow-citizens, is one thing; 
 and to perform these same marches and evolutions in 
 front of batteries belching fire and brimstone and iron 
 shells, is quite another thing. Under stern familiarity 
 with that particular form of danger which attends a can- 
 non when, like a volcano, it may be said to be in erup- 
 tion, the soldier learns to realize its full proportions and 
 to be as indifferent to it as the men who learn to play 
 with venomous reptiles are with another form of danger. 
 The soldier comes to understand after sufficient ex- 
 perience that, terrible as appears the blazing fire from line 
 after line of artillery and rifles, the number of chances of 
 his escape from being hit by the enemy's balls and bullets 
 is largely in excess of the chances that he takes of being 
 
470 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Struck by them. With the feeling that he is not walking 
 deliberately up to certain death, and with a firm con- 
 fidence in the wisdom and competency of his officers, as 
 well as reliance that his comrades will maintain the disci- 
 pline that should move them in a solid body, elbow to el- 
 bow, in advancing line, he becoines a soldier such as those 
 who have won all the great battles of the world have been. 
 Let it not be understood from this commentary that 
 the author eliminates the quality of personal bravery in 
 the contestants upon a battle-field from the question of 
 the results of the contest, leaving it to be decided purely 
 upon the circumstances of more or less perfect discipline 
 and greater or less recklessness as to danger. The pre- 
 vious pages have dwelt upon the peculiar quality which 
 renders the American volunteer soldier such a tremen- 
 dous power upon the field of battle — the quality of rare 
 personal courage backed by and resting upon the noble 
 inspiration of patriotism and love of freedom. There is 
 a wide difference between recklessness of life and the 
 pure courage which so ennobles its possessor. Many of 
 the most despicable characters of history have been 
 reckless of life, while all true worth implies courage 
 of high degree. The instance of a gifted military officer 
 who fell at an early day of the late war in one of the 
 border States will not soon be forgotten. He was placed 
 in the trying position attached to those who engaged in 
 a struggle with former friends and neighbors to save the 
 border States from being drawn into the whirlpool of 
 secession — a position which brought them into a deadly 
 
THE CASE OF GEN. NATHANIEL LYON. 471 
 
 personal antagonism with the maddened advocates of 
 rebellion. The gallant officer referred to saved the State 
 of Missouri from secession by a noble exhibition of 
 courage which terminated in his death upon a hard-fought 
 field. Every possible means of persuasion, coercion, and 
 threat failed to swerve him from his high sense of duty ; 
 and as a last effort to dispose of him he was subjected to 
 the mortification of a personal challenge and the taunt of 
 cowardice because he was too brave to uselessly throw 
 away a life of inestimable value to his country. His was 
 a courage of an order before which mere recklessness of 
 life shrinks to the background as an ignoble blight upon 
 fair character. It was the courage of patriotism, of prin- 
 ciple, of holy self-sacrifice ; it was the courage of the vol- 
 unteer soldier of America, reflected by one of its most 
 accomplished military officers. 
 
 Hence, while recklessness upon the field does not of a 
 necessity imply the attribute of true courage, neither does 
 the absence of it imply cowardice. In many of the battles 
 of the late war, whole regiments of the bravest troops 
 frequently broke before the fire of the enemy and fled as 
 though panic-stricken, who were afterwards formed into 
 line and moved upon the foe in unflinching constancy, 
 until victory perched upon the Union standard. As a 
 rule, panics upon the battle-field are not the result of per- 
 sonal fear or cowardice, strange as such a statement may 
 seem. Generally they result from a sudden shock or from 
 a loss of confidence that their fellow-troops will stand and 
 act together. So long as a soldier feels that his comrades 
 
472 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OP AMERICA. 
 
 will movei firmly at his side — so long as the feeling of 
 reliant companionship can be maintained, just so long will 
 a soldier of good morale remain firmly at his post until the 
 tide of battle turns either for or against him. But let a 
 break suddenly occur, and even among the bravest troops 
 the tendency is almost irresistible to fly before a danger 
 augmented by an imagination which has with the quick- 
 ness of the hurricane broken from the safe moorings of 
 unimpassioned reason. 
 
 In this circumstance is strongly reflected the value of 
 discipline to troops upon the field. A proper discipline 
 not only teaches them how to move and stand together, 
 but it also inspires them with the confidence that they will 
 stand and move together. That feeling is a prerequisite to 
 success upon the field. The soldier knows that the eff^orts 
 of a few are unavailing against a multitude, and if he be 
 really brave he will not care to throw away his life in a 
 hopeless struggle. But give him the confidence that he is 
 sustained to the exteint of rendering combined effort, 
 more or less productive of some good result, and he will 
 present an entirely different aspect in the grim play of 
 battle. If he can have an absolute confidence that his 
 comrades are firmly held to strict discipline under the 
 officers, he will possess the very strongest incentive to 
 observe the same discipline himself. 
 
 To the practical soldier who has borne the labor and 
 faced the dangers of many hard-fought fields the forego- 
 ing observations, so evident in character, may appear to be 
 wholly superfluous. But, hoping to claim the attention of 
 
CONFIDENCE UPON THE BA TTLE-FIELD. 
 
 473 
 
 many readers who, while having Httle or no practical 
 knowledge of military affairs, are nevertheless potent to 
 affect legislation, the author has deemed it best to illus- 
 trate the subject upon which he writes in a plain and 
 homely manner. 
 
 Enough has been said to demonstrate the indispens- 
 able value to the soldier of the qualities treated of, be he 
 officer or private. Mere personal bravery in a body of 
 troops without discipline counts for little against an enemy 
 thoroughly under the control of a vigorous and enlight- 
 ened discipline. This fact alone explains the reverses 
 which the American troops so frequently met in the first 
 periods of the Revolution, of the War of 1812, and to 
 some extent of the Southern Rebellion. When hostilities 
 began between the colonists and the British troops in 
 1 775, the revolting provinces possessed no semblance of 
 a regular army. A crude militia organization existed, as 
 well as bodies called regulars, and there were soldiers, too, 
 who had served in the Seven Years' War against France ; 
 but, practically speaking, the army which was to achieve the 
 independence of the colonies was yet to be formed. It 
 would be useless to go into a detail in the present volume 
 of those weary first years of the Revolution, when the 
 raw, undisciplined, illy armed, poorly clothed, and insuffi- 
 ciently fed troops of the struggling colonies were pitted 
 against the veterans of a nation with which the art and 
 practice of war was a fixed profession. Nearly always 
 beaten and driven from position to position, and from 
 place to place, by a foe superior in all that belongs to the 
 
474 ^-^-S VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 mere trade of war, the suffering volunteers of the Revolu- 
 tion, never daunted by hardships, never dejected by hope- 
 lessness, never driven from their purpose to achieve inde- 
 pendence by defeat in battle, followed the lead of 
 the glorious Washington, and in every encounter 
 reflected those distinguished attributes of the American 
 soldier which, with the acquisition of discipline and a 
 more extended experience, enabled them to crush the vet- 
 eran legions of the British oppressor upon the glorious 
 and most memorable field of Yorktown. 
 
 After the American Government had begun life upon 
 its own account, the guiding spirit of its destiny endeav- 
 ored to create a military organization which, while free 
 from the dangerous tendencies of a standing army, would, 
 nevertheless, obviate, in case of foreign war, the utter lack 
 of military preparation with which the colonists began 
 the struggle for independence. Foremost among those 
 who gave earnest attention to the subject were Wash- 
 ington, Knox, Hamilton, and others. As a result of 
 their efforts in this direction the scheme for the effective 
 organizaton of the militia, as given in full in the previous 
 pages, was presented to Congress as the basis of a law by 
 General Henry Knox, then Secretary of War. As before 
 observed, this scheme was supposed to embody the views 
 of Washington upon the necessities of the case in general, 
 if not in detail. As has also been related, Congress 
 virtually refused to adopt the scheme so ably prepared 
 by General Knox, and, emasculating it of all effectiveness, 
 adopted in lieu of the original plan the harmless and, it 
 
THE MILITARY SCHOOLS OF FRANCE. 475 
 
 may be said also, the absurd militia law approved May 8, 
 1 792. After the many struggles and vicissitudes hereto- 
 fore detailed in these pages, the legislation necessary for 
 the successful establishment of the Academy at West 
 Point was enacted. This plan, as has been remarked, 
 was also one of the favored projects of Washington, 
 though the law providing for the effective establishment 
 of the Academy was not passed until after his death. 
 The two projects were intended to go hand-in-hand : the 
 militia bill to provide for the general military education 
 of the whole people, and the Academy to furnish a 
 sufficient number of educated officers to lead our armies. 
 The plan in its entirety was broad and comprehensive in 
 scope, and, had there been earnest action in the direction 
 of following the spirit of both the proposed measures, 
 important results would undoubtedly have followed in the 
 next war with which our people were to be afflicted. At 
 the beginning of the present century, however, there was 
 .a strong sympathy among the Americans for the French 
 upon account of the long-existing hostility between the 
 latter people and the English, whom the Americans 
 detested as late enemies upon the field and as the 
 destroyers of relatives, friends, and homes. The sym- 
 pathy spoken of was more active and fervent because of 
 the material aid lent to the colonists by the French in the 
 latter period of the Revolution. The sympathy partook 
 of the disposition to imitate the customs and institutions 
 of France. The first military school in the latter country 
 had been created by Louis XV., about the year 1751, 
 
476 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 at Vincennes, though it was afterward removed to the 
 Champs de Mars, Paris, where it still remains. The 
 pupils, who were all young noblemen, numbered about 
 five hundred. Subsequently other schools were estab- 
 lished, that in which Napoleon I. received his educa- 
 tion being located at Brienne. This wonderful military 
 genius, fully comprehending the advantages of an expert 
 education, founded another school at Fontainebleau in 
 1802, which, however, was subsequently removed to St. 
 Cyr. The sympathy of the Americans with the French, 
 notwithstanding the events that so nearly drove them to a 
 hostile collision at this very period, as well as the military 
 enthusiasm which the great Frenchman created every- 
 where, was undoubtedly somewhat instrumental in the 
 passage of the law of March 16, 1802, which gave life to 
 the Academy at West Point. But there was no French 
 model under the militia law of General Knox. Conscrip- 
 tion and actual service was the French precedent in that 
 direction. Congressional action gave birth to the twin 
 military measures — the Academy and the militia bills. 
 One of these died after a lingering struggle for existence, 
 and the other survived through a precarious contest with 
 adverse circumstances. 
 
 After a peace of less than thirty years, following the 
 Revolution, the United States was forced into the War of 
 1812. It was a war that should have been avoided, and 
 it seems safe to say that it would have been honorably 
 avoided had the Administration been vested in the people 
 of the North. The grievances which led to the war were 
 
THE VOLUNTEER IN 1812. 477 
 
 mutual without doubt, and the existence of a spirit of 
 reason, backed by the desire to render justice animating 
 the heads of the belHgerent nations, would have saved an 
 armed conflict, with the consequent loss of life and 
 property. 
 
 But the war came, and, as upon the previous occasion, 
 the American volunteer was quickly upon the field. 
 Entire lack of military preparation and training was pro- 
 ductive, in the first period of the war, of pretty constant 
 reverses to the American arms. The conflict was unpop- 
 ular in the North, however, and it never became national 
 in any sense. Until the wanton outrage upon the city 
 and public buildings of Washington was perpetrated there 
 was no general enthusiasm in the sections. By that base 
 act of vandalism, the British furnished all the incentive 
 to national union that afterward existed. But the quotas 
 of troops were furnished for periods far too short to 
 admit of the attainment of a discipline among the soldiers 
 which would have rendered them invincible upon every 
 battle-field. Had an efficient militia training been 
 adopted and practically followed after the Revolution, 
 backed by the proper cooperation of all the States, there 
 can be no doubt whatever that Canada in its entirety 
 would have been attached to the American Union as the 
 grand result of the War of 181 2. But the conditions 
 were against it. The war was not popular, and troops 
 were begrudgingly furnished by a portion of the States. 
 At the outbreak of hostilities, the militia were raw and 
 undisciplined, and by the time they acquired the practical 
 
478 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 training which would have made the invasion of Canada 
 by a sufficient force an inevitable success, the star of the 
 great Napoleon had set, and England, being thereby 
 released from her contest upon the Continent, was ena- 
 bled to furnish a sufficient force to effectually protect her 
 American provinces. The might-have-been of the case 
 was soon realized by our people. Notwithstanding the 
 lessons of the conflict, the return of peace was followed 
 by no effort to devise a feasible method through which 
 the weakness of an untrained militia might be obviated to 
 the greatest extent compatible with the unwarlike pur- 
 poses and character of the United States. The injunc- 
 tion, "In time of peace prepare for war," was overlooked 
 or disregarded by a people who desired and expected to 
 be at peace with all the world. 
 
 In just thirty-one years more this desire and expecta- 
 tion were again disappointed. The restless statesmen of 
 the South, always upon the alert to protect the "domestic 
 institution " upon which their social structure rested, and 
 firmly determined to possess and administer in the inter- 
 ests of a section the control of the General Government, 
 easily found a pretext for a war with our feeble neighbor 
 upon the southern line of the United States. The inev- 
 itable result of such a war, in the acquisition of territory 
 destined to increase the political power of the Southern 
 States, needed no gift of prophecy to clearly foresee. 
 
 The Mexican War, forced upon the country under the 
 then existing Administration, like that of 1812, was 
 unpopular in the North. The peace-desiring inhabitants 
 
THE VOLUNTEER IN THE MEXICAN WAR. 479 
 
 of the country could see no cause nor common justifica- 
 tion for it. There was no issue between the contending 
 governments that could not and should not have been 
 settled by peaceful methods, and in a manner honorable 
 and satisfactory to both parties. But the war was rudely 
 thrust upon the country, and the demonstrated conse- 
 quence of it was to vastly increase the political power of 
 the Southern States of the Union. To the War of the 
 Revolution — the only general war in which the country, 
 up to the present period, should have been engaged — 
 the Northern States of the Union, as then formed, con- 
 tributed, in round numbers, three-fourths of all the troops 
 raised by the colonies. To the War of 1812 and the 
 Mexican War of 1846, the Northern States, in each case, 
 contributed only about one-half the number of troops 
 sent by the Southern States. 
 
 At the inauguration of the Mexican War, the regular 
 army, including the marines, numbered 27,500 men, and 
 these, being first put into the field, having had the advan- 
 tage of military training, were Successful against the 
 enemy in all of the earliest battles of the contest, begin- 
 ning with Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. When the 
 volunteers went to the field, the same bravery and patri- 
 otic determination to uphold the flag of their country was 
 witnessed, but, also, though to a greatly less degree, the 
 same necessity for military training that had emphasized 
 itself during the early period of the previous wars became 
 a record of all their first experiences in battle. This 
 necessity, however, was less apparent because of the fact 
 
480 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 that nearly one-fourth of the troops sent to the war (the 
 whole number bemg estimated at 101,000) consisted of 
 trained men. 
 
 As a result of this war upon our future military estab- 
 lishment, the bill establishing the Naval Academy at 
 Annapolis can alone be pointed to. The militia law of 
 1792 remained upon the statute-book, and at the conclu- 
 sion of hostilities with our unfortunate neighbor our peo- 
 ple laid themselves down to a dream of uninterrupted 
 peace. 
 
 Alas, for the uncertainty of human hope ! The treaty 
 of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed upon February 2, 1848,, 
 and in a few months over thirteen years from the date of 
 that event the United States entered upon the most 
 terrific struggle of modern history — a struggle which 
 involved the question of the continued life or the speedy 
 death of the Nation. Without other preparation than 
 that derived from the handful of regular troops constitut- 
 ing the army of the United States, and from the militia 
 organizations developed' by and maintained under the 
 general laws of the various States, the country was called 
 to a war in which not thousands, as before, but mill- 
 ions of men were to become the actors. Our brothers of 
 the South had again beaten the long-roll, and summoned 
 the loyalists of the North to a conflict of huge propor- 
 tions, and destined to be attended with the most mighty 
 results. The American volunteer, after his short sleep, 
 was again hurried to the field of battle, this time, how- 
 ever, to find himself arrayed, not against a foreign foe;^ 
 
REBELLION AGAIN CALLS THE VOLUNTEER. 48 1 
 
 but face to face, bayonet to bayonet, with his brother, by 
 whose side he had fought the haughty Briton, and by the 
 aid of whose valiant arm the stars and stripes had floated 
 in triumph over the capital of Mexico. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE GREAT VOLUNTEERS OF THE REVOLUTION GENERAL 
 
 WASHINGTON GEN. NATHANIEL GREENE AND HIS ARMY 
 
 OF UNTRAINED VOLUNTEERS COMPARISON OF GREENe's 
 
 UNFORESHADOWING YOUTH WITH THAT OF NAPOLEON 
 
 THE GREAT WASHINGTON'S YOUTH A GLANCE AT THE 
 
 FORESHADOWINGS OF GEN. GRANT BURGOYNE AND THE 
 
 VOLUNTEERS WHO OPPOSED HIM JOHN STARK AND HIS 
 
 GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS ALEXANDER HAMILTON, HENRY 
 
 KNOX, " MAD ANTHONY WAYNE," ISRAEL PUTNAM, ETHAN 
 ALLEN, FRANCIS MARION, THOMAS SUMTER, NATHAN 
 HALE, AND OTHER GREAT VOLUNTEERS THE PROFES- 
 SIONAL SOLDIERS OF THE REVOLUTION GEN. CHARLES 
 
 LEE AND HIS INGLORIOUS CAREER UNDER WASHINGTON 
 
 THE CASE OF GEN. CONWAY NAPOLEONISM THE 
 
 BIRTH OF PROFESSIONAL SOLDIERY. 
 
 THE brief recapitulation of, and running commentary 
 upon, the several wars in which the United States has 
 been engaged, contained in the closing half of the last 
 chapter, have been presented with the specific purpose to 
 give Strong emphasis to the statement previously made, 
 and to which, it would seem, no exception can justly be 
 taken, viz.: that it has always been the volunteer of 
 America and not the regular soldier who has constituted 
 
 its true military power. 
 
 482 
 
WASHINGTON AS A VOLUNTEER. 483 
 
 Arrived at this point of the subject, it is now the 
 author's purpose, as a preliminary to the review of the 
 injustice of our Government and people to the volunteer 
 system, which is to be presented in the subsequent pages 
 of this volume, to glance rapidly at the men who, through 
 the perils of war, have rendered possible the present 
 growth and commercial as also intellectual greatness of 
 the United States. 
 
 As remarked in the preceding chapter, the American 
 colonies had no general army when the crisis of war with 
 the mother country, a nation of venerable war tradition 
 and power, was sprung upon them. Neither had they 
 officers educated in special military institutions nor those 
 bred to the art of war under long-experienced and cele- 
 brated military chiefs. The central figure of the struggle 
 for independence. General George Washington, whom 
 more than one people have pronounced to be "first in 
 war," was himself first among the volunteers of America. 
 He was wholly without the preliminary military education 
 which is now regarded as indispensable to the making of 
 a successful officer. Educated as a simple land surveyor, 
 Washington had no military experience beyond a connec- 
 tion with the Virginia militia, until commissioned as 
 lieutenant-colonel of six companies of one hundred men 
 each, with a part of which he set out against the French 
 on the Ohio. At the battle of the Monongahela, where 
 Braddock was defeated and lost his life, he was volunteer 
 aide to that General, who, however, as the result so 
 fatally proved, was inferior to his young aide as a military 
 
484 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 officer. With this slender amount of miHtary experience, 
 reinforced by the position of colonel of the Virginia 
 forces, including the militia and the colonial regulars in 
 the contests with the hostile Indians, Washington was 
 called by the Second Continental Congress, of which he 
 was a member, to be commander-in-chief of the American 
 army in the impending war with the mother country. 
 All readers of American history in detail are familiar with 
 the striking character of Washington from a military 
 point of view. Considering the material at his comm.and 
 and the circumstances under which he conducted the war, 
 as well as the conditions by which he was hampered and 
 bound down, it is doubtful that he has been surpassed as 
 a military commander in all of the annals of war. No 
 amount of preliminary technical education could have 
 made a greater general of the hero of Trenton, Princeton, 
 p.nd Yorktown. His genius was natural, and bloomed 
 into the perfection attained under the developing influence 
 of actual warfare. 
 
 Thus much of the great volunteer General who led the 
 hope of the blow for Independence. What may be said of 
 the other striking characters of that momentous struggle ? 
 
 Probably no officer of the Revolutionary army enjoyed 
 the confidence and personal esteem of Washington to the 
 full extent that did Major-General Nathaniel Greene ; and 
 no single officer rendered more effective service in the 
 accomplishment of the final triumph, Afrith the excep- 
 tion of the commander-in-chief himself. Greene's father 
 was a blacksmith by trade and a preacher in the 
 
GEN. GREENE ORIGINALLY A BLACKSMITH. 485 
 
 Society of Friends, and the future soldier therefore was 
 brought up in a creed a prime article of which is the con- 
 demnation of war and of all violent measures in the rela- 
 tions between nations and between private individuals. 
 His book education during childhood and youth was of 
 the most rudimentary character. He first worked upon 
 a farm, then in a mill, and finally learned the trade of the 
 blacksmith, at which he worked for a considerable time. 
 These facts are mentioned more particularly to illustrate 
 the wonderful expansiveness of true genius, which, no 
 matter what the surrounding obstacles, or with what 
 strength and persistency the effort is made by mistaken 
 relatives and friends to give it a different direction, will as 
 certainly attain its legitimate development as is the air 
 we breathe to permeate all space about the planet which 
 it envelops. 
 
 Beginning the study of law, the storm-cloud of the 
 Revolution broke over the country and called into life and 
 active growth the latent military genius of the patriotic 
 youth of the resisting colonies. From the nature of the 
 influences under which Greene was reared, he was wholly 
 without military training. Under the driving force of an 
 irresistible genius he broke from the peaceful traditions of 
 family and friends, to join a company belonging to his 
 State militia. The threat of expulsion from the Society, 
 which was afterwards unhesitatingly executed, failed to 
 restrain to the least extent the steed which, having once 
 gotten the bit into his mouth, had dashed off for a race 
 with the wind. Rapidly developing his ability, he was 
 
486 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 made a brigadier-general of the Rhode Island militia, three 
 regiments of which he led to Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
 after the battle of Lexington. So striking was their disci- 
 pline in contrast with the raw troops in general, that 
 Greene at once fell under the eye of Washington, and 
 was. instantly taken at his full worth by the penetrating 
 judgment of his chief. From this time he developed with 
 great rapidity. He was appointed to be brigadier-general 
 in the Continental army in June, 1 775, and in fifteen months 
 afterward he was made a major-general. At the battle 
 of Trenton he rendered brilliant service. Being in com- 
 mand of the left wing of the army, by a magnificent effort 
 he captured the British artillery and completely cut off 
 the enemy's retreat to Princeton. At Brand3rwine, by a 
 rapid march and a dogged stand, he undoubtedly saved 
 the whole Continental army from total ruin. He dis- 
 played conspicuous ability at Germantown, Monmouth, 
 and in a retreat from Rhode Island. At Springfield, 
 Massachusetts, he successfully opposed the advance of five 
 thousand British troops, ably officered, with only two bri- 
 gades- and a small body of militia at his disposal. He was 
 placed in command of the army during Washington's 
 temporary absence in 1780. Appointed to succeed 
 General Gates in the latter year, his military record in the 
 South was strikingly brilliant. The enemy had beaten 
 Gates at Camden, South Carolina, and was reveling 
 under the prestige of victory. He was well provided with 
 clothing, food, and arms. The people of the South were 
 depressed and impoverished. Greene immediately dis- 
 
GREENE'S CAMPAIGNS IN THE SOUTH. 487 
 
 played the attributes of a great military genius. He 
 reorganized and strengthened his small command. With 
 a portion of his army under Morgan, the battle of the 
 Cowpens was fought and won by the hitherto despondent 
 Americans. During the ensuing several months Greene 
 executed a series of movements which are held by cele- 
 brated strategists of our own time to rank high among 
 the most noted campaigns of the great generals. His 
 army was small, badly clothed, badly fed, and badly armed, 
 but with it Greene succeeded in keeping Cornwallis upon 
 the constant move. He compelled the British army to 
 evacuate Georgia and all parts of the Carolinas except the 
 towns of Savannah and Charleston, and, as the termina- 
 tion of his remarkable strategic movements, he drove 
 Cornwallis, with his army, into the peninsula of Virginia, 
 where Washington pounced upon him and administered 
 the coup de grace to the British arms at Yorktown. 
 
 The case of General Nathaniel Greene is one of the 
 most striking and at the same time one of the most 
 instructive in the annals of military history. Without 
 any enlarged English education, except such as he 
 acquired through his own tutorship after being grown; 
 with no military tendencies about his family and social 
 surroundings to give his mind a bent in that direction; 
 with no friend or teacher to inflame his young imagina- 
 tion with tales of war and "hair-breadth 'scapes by flood 
 and field;" without apparent aspiration for other than the 
 arts of peace — under the magic touchstone of opportunity 
 his military genius blazed out with the suddenness of the 
 
488 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 full-faced sun as it quickly emerges from behind a fugi- 
 tive cloud. Nor can it be successfully maintained that 
 his genius was only relative to the times and circum- 
 stances of his activity. His opponent in the South, Lord 
 Cornwallis, was by far the ablest officer sent by England 
 to America during ihe Colonial Revolution. Highly 
 educated at Eton and Cambridge, he was a captain in 
 the British army at the age of twenty, at which age 
 Greene had only begun the study of law in his native vil- 
 lage. He was an aide-de-camp in the German campaign 
 of 1 761, and upon the breaking-out of hostilities in the 
 American colonies he was commissioned as major-general. 
 His army scarcely contained a raw recruit, being com- 
 posed almost entirely of English veterans. Greene's 
 army, like himself, were volunteers, and fought under the 
 most discouraging conditions and circumstances. Fur- 
 ther than all this, Greene's campaign in the South, which 
 was the beginning of the successful end of the Revolu- 
 tion, is admitted by military experts, in the present 
 advanced state of the art and science of war, to challenge 
 comparison with the most distinguished military cam- 
 paigns of ancient and modern times. 
 
 Hence, it must appear to the most ardent advocate of 
 a preliminary military education as a prerequisite of all 
 military greatness, that Greene's case suggests embarrass- 
 ing perplexities to the sweeping theories of the scholas- 
 tics. Within the narrow scope of his education there had 
 not been embraced even the outlines of mathematical 
 instruction, though through the spiir of ambition he ac- 
 
THE GENIUS OF NAPOLEON FORESHADOWED. 489 
 
 quired some knowledge of Latin and of mathematics in 
 the moments of rest from his work, and by the friendly 
 light of the blazing forge. But he was as unlearned in 
 engineering as in the modern languages, and he knew no 
 more of the elements of military science than he did of 
 the ordinary routine of military drill and tactics. With 
 simple patriotism he entered the service of his country, 
 and in less than eighteen months thereafter he had proved 
 himself an accomplished military leader. Considered in 
 all of its bearings, his case must be held to afford remark- 
 able negative proof against the common belief that high 
 military talent and successful leadership can only be the 
 product of a set course of instruction by a military 
 academy. 
 
 In one of its aspects the case of General Greene fur- 
 nishes an exception to those of great military men. Many 
 of these, if not the most of them, indeed, have furnished, 
 before the youth of the individual has been completed, 
 some glimpse at least of the orbit in which the genius was 
 destined to play. The wild storm seldom breaks over the 
 face of the peaceful ocean without giving the experienced 
 mariner some indications of its approach, and it is not 
 often that genius suddenly asserts itself in a particular 
 direction without furnishing to a close observer some 
 intimations in connection with its certain unfolding. 
 
 Whatever view we may take of the general effect 
 upon the world of the career of the great Napoleon, it 
 must be conceded by all that he ranks among the first 
 military geniuses of recorded history. His genius, how- 
 
490 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 ever, unlike Greene's, did not flash unheralded over the 
 field of military glory. While the merest child, his fav- 
 orite plaything was a small brass cannon, weighing about 
 thirty pounds, which was long preserved as a relic of the 
 great captain in his native island of Corsica. While most 
 children of the age at which he then was are engaged 
 with toys and innocent play as the routine of their daily 
 life. Napoleon loved to sit upon his father's knee and 
 listen to stories of the engagements between the French 
 and Corsicans, as related by his parent, who was a dis- 
 tinguished soldier of the Corsican army. The Incident 
 of the snow fort is no less generally known than well 
 attested. While at school in Brienne, in the winter of 
 1784, there occurred an unusually heavy fall of snow. 
 Napoleon, being then but fifteen years old, divided his 
 schoolmates into two parties, and, having erected a fortifi- 
 cation of snow, with regular bastions and the usual mili- 
 tary essentials, placed one of the parties within the fortifi- 
 cation to defend it, and the other in front to attack it, 
 while he constituted himself commander-in-chief of both 
 forces. The sham fight raged for nearly three weeks, 
 and became so realistic that many of the boys were 
 seriously hurt, when the authorities of the school were 
 obliged to put a stop to Napoleon's first campaign. The 
 whole period of the future soldier's youth and pupilage is 
 filled with anecdotes illustrating in the most unmistakable 
 manner the military bent of his extraordinary genius. 
 
 Much the same preliminary notice of the coming 
 event was furnished during the youth of the immortal 
 
WASHINGTON'S MILITAR Y FORESHADO WINGS. 49 1 
 
 Washington. His elder brother, Lawrence, had served 
 as captain in one of the Enghsh campaigns in the West 
 Indies, and upon his return poured into the ever-wilHng 
 ears of his child-brother, George, the most glowing narra- 
 tives of battle and glory. Speaking of this portion of 
 Washington's life, Irving in his charming history of the 
 Father of his Country says that " all of his amusements 
 took a military turn. He rnade soldiers of his school- 
 mates ; they had their mimic parades, reviews, and sham- 
 fights. A boy named William Bustle was sometimes his 
 competitor, but George was commander-in-chief of 
 Hobby's school." Upon leaving school, so strong was 
 the young man's bent in the direction of a military life, 
 that, with the consent of his family, arrangements were 
 made for his entry into the navy. At the last moment, 
 when his trunk was already on board the vessel in which 
 he was to sail, and he himself was upon the point of em- 
 barkation, the fond mother relented, and withdrew her 
 consent, and the ever-dutiful son gave up his most 
 cherished wish. 
 
 Th^ very slender knowledge of military affairs pos- 
 sessed by Washington up to the moment that he was 
 called into active service has already been stated at the 
 commencement of the present chapter. Though so 
 wholly untaught in military science, his judgment and 
 many of the rare qualities which shone so resplendently 
 during the dreary campaigns of the patriots of the Revo- 
 lution were fully announced during the fatal march of 
 Braddock against the French and Indians, at which time 
 
492 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 the youthful Washington, as has been said, was a volun- 
 teer aide upon the General's staff. Of Braddock himself, 
 Irving says that he "was a veteran in service and had 
 been upwards of forty years in the guards, that school of 
 exact discipline and technical punctilios." Notwithstand- 
 ing this great disparity between the educated veteran 
 officer and the stripling aide, Washington gave him 
 advice which, had it been followed, would in all prob- 
 ability have given an entirely different result to the 
 expedition. Of this Irving further remarks that " Brad- 
 dock could not carry out Washington's advice in detail. 
 His military education was in the way : bigoted to the 
 regular and elaborate tactics of Europe, he could not 
 stoop to the make-shift expedients of a new country where 
 every difficulty is encountered and mastered in a rough- 
 and-ready style. In consequence of adhering to technical 
 rules and military forms, General Braddock had consumed 
 a month in marching little more than one hundred miles." 
 Upon this same point Washington himself subsequently 
 wrote : " I found that instead of pushing on with vigor, 
 without regarding a little rough road, they were .halting 
 to level every mole-hill, and to erect bridges over every 
 brook, by which means we were four days in getting 
 twelve miles." These illustrations of the youth and early 
 military experiences of one whose military glory will 
 never fade from the history of battle-fields serve to pic- 
 ture faithfully the expansive direction of his brilliant 
 genius. 
 
 Turning for a moment to the example of our more 
 
MILITAX Y FORESHADO WINGS OF GRANT. 493 
 
 modern military marvel — the revered captain of the 
 Union struggle — though we cannot find in the scant 
 material of his early life, as furnished by his biographers, 
 direct evidence of his future bent, we can, nevertheless, 
 in the qualities of quick judgment, stern decision, and 
 unyielding determination, which one and all accord to 
 mark his very earliest character, discern the peculiar attri 
 butes which so inseparably belong to the great soldier. 
 Modest almost to a fault, as was Ulysses Grant, it is not 
 improbable that the very traits of character which would 
 indelibly mark the line of his future greatness were left 
 by him entirely unmentioned to his various biographers. 
 There exists, however, a paragraph in his "Personal 
 Memoirs," which, unconsciously to himself, who believed 
 he had no military taste, perhaps most fully illustrates the 
 latent spirit concealed in one who was destined to write 
 his name upon the scroll of the world's great soldiers. 
 The paragraph alluded to is inscribed in the simple style 
 of the author of the " Memoirs," and is as follows : 
 
 " During my first five years' encampment, General Scott vis- 
 ited West Point, and reviewed the cadets. With his commanding 
 figure, his quite colossal size, and showy uniform, I thought him 
 the finest specimen of manhood my eyes had ever beheld, and the 
 most to be envied. I could never resemble him in appearance, but 
 I believe I did have a presentiment, for a moment, that some day I 
 should occupy his place on review, although I had no intention 
 then of remaining in the army."' 
 
 What a charmingly modest confession is contained in 
 those simple words, and how fully does the confession 
 
 'Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, vol. I., page 41. 
 
494 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 itself mark the latent inspiration of that wonderful genius, 
 who belongs not alone to his own generation, but to all 
 future time ! 
 
 To return from a digression which, the author hopes, 
 may not be deemed profitless,, let us continue the brief 
 survey of the more prominent figures of the Revolution 
 with which the present chapter is engaged. 
 
 The surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga was one of 
 the decisive events of the war, as has been elsewhere inti- 
 mated in the present pages. That victory not only 
 revived the drooping hopes of the patriots, but it also 
 furnished the ultimate inducement which decided the 
 French Government to enter into an alliance with the 
 colonies. The surrender took place after the battle of 
 Saratoga, but the result had been rendered inevitable 
 before the occurrence of that battle. The actors in the 
 events connected with Burgoyne's campaign are possessed 
 of a peculiar interest. 
 
 Burgoyne himself was an educated and experienced 
 ofificer of the British army. Creasy (" Fifteen Decisive 
 Battles of the World") says of him that "he had gained 
 celebrity by some bold and dashing exploits in Portugal 
 during the last war ; he was personally as brave an ofificer 
 as ever headed British troops ; he had considerable skill 
 as a tactician, and his general intellectual abilities and 
 acquirements were of a high order. He had several able 
 and experienced men under him, among whom were 
 Major-General Phillips and Brigadier-General Frazer." 
 Of his troops the same author says that "seven thousand 
 
PERSONNEL OF THE BURGOYNE EXPEDITION. 495 
 
 veteran troops were sent out from England, with a corps 
 of artillery abundantly supplied, and led by select and 
 experienced officers." To these was added an auxiliary 
 force of over two thousand Canadians, with a large num- 
 ber of Indians. The object of the expedition was to 
 crush out all opposition in Northern New York, from the 
 lakes southward, and by the possession of the line down 
 the Hudson River to cut the New England States, which 
 were considered the only effective enemies, entirely apart 
 from the other colonies. Burgoyne himself started down 
 Lake Champlain and took Crown Point and Fort Ticon- 
 deroga, but, that no force might be left in his rear, 
 Colonel St. Leger was sent to take Fort Oswego, after 
 which he was to rejoin Burgoyne. The whole plan mis- 
 carried. St. Leger was defeated at the battle of Oris- 
 kany by the American volunteers under the brave Gen- 
 eral Herkimer, who lost his life, though the British force 
 was driven down the St. Lawrence, away from the main 
 army. In moving down Lake George, detachments sent 
 out by Burgoyne in quest of stores were met and utterly 
 defeated by the gallant General John Stark and his Green 
 Mountain boys. Burgoyne was utterly broken by these 
 reverses before reaching the Hudson River, and his 
 troops were appalled by the constantly swelling numbers 
 of the Americans. Burke, in the "Annual Register for 
 1777," quoted by Creasy, in speaking of the growing 
 force of the American volunteers, says that " 'an army 
 was poured forth by the woods, mountains, and marshes, 
 which in this part were thickly sown with plantations and 
 
496 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 villages. The Americans recalled their courage, and, 
 when their regular army seemed to be entirely wasted, the 
 spirit of the country produced a much greater and more 
 formidable force.' " 
 
 Major-General Philip Schuyler had been in command 
 of the Northern Department, but General Horatio Gates, 
 who had been scheming to succeed him, obtained the 
 object of his desires just in time to carry off the credit of 
 the crushing victory over Burgoyne. No impartial 
 student of the events of that time can fail to award the 
 honor of preparing everything for the final victory to 
 General Schuyler, 
 
 General Horatio Gates was born in England, and at 
 an early age he entered the British army and soon 
 acquired the rank of major. He was subsequently sta- 
 tioned at Halifax, and still later accompanied Braddock's 
 expedition and was severely wounded. Retiring from 
 the army, he purchased an estate in Virginia, where the 
 Revolutionary outbreak found him. Entering the ser- 
 vice of the patriot army, he was assigned to the Northern 
 Department, where he made an almost fatal blunder in 
 withdrawing the entire American force from Crown 
 Point. For this he was generally censured, and Schuyler 
 was appointed to succeed him. When the latter had pre- 
 pared the trap which was to capture Burgoyne and his 
 army, Gates, through intrigue, superseded him at the 
 opportune moment to reap the whole prestige for himself. 
 Elated by the success of the achievement, Gates and his 
 friends of the "Conway Cabal" fomented a scheme by 
 
GEN'S GATES, HERKIMER AND SCHUYLER. 497 
 
 which Washington was to be displaced and Gates made 
 commander-in-chief of the army. The scheme failed, as 
 all know, and Gates subsequently proved his military 
 incompetency through the crushing defeat by Cornwallis 
 at Camden, South Carolina. This defeat is considered to 
 have been the most disastrous suffered by the colonists 
 during the entire war, and it terminated the military 
 career of an officer whose military education and service 
 in the British army should have made him a most valu- 
 able acquisition to the Americans. 
 
 Brigadier-General Nicholas Herkimer, who so gal- 
 lantly defeated Colonel St. Leger at the battle of Oris- 
 kany, and thus administered the first blow leading to the 
 final defeat of Burgoyne, was reared in civil life. During 
 the hostilities with the French and their Indian allies he 
 entered the militia and commanded at Fort Herkimer in 
 1758. Upon the outbreak of the Revolution he again 
 entered the New York militia, and was made briofadier- 
 general, terminating his service with the sacrifice of a 
 valuable life. For the important services he rendered to 
 the country. Congress voted him a monument. 
 
 General Philip Schuyler, the real hero of the Bur- 
 goyne surrender, was also a civilian. The French and 
 Indian war gave him his first entrance to the State mil- 
 itia, while the outbreak of the Revolution furnished the 
 second. He was soon made a major-general, and ren- 
 dered the most signal service as a volunteer ofificer. 
 Alter he had been so unjustly treated by the Gates clique, 
 instead of playing the part of the sulk, General Schuyler 
 
498 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 magnanimously offered to serve his country in any private 
 capacity whateven He had not the military aspiration of 
 Gates, the regular officer, but, actuated by the patriotism 
 of pure principle, he was willing to sink personal renown 
 under the good of the country. 
 
 That glorious representative of the volunteer soldiery 
 of America, Major-General John Stark, was reared upon 
 a farm and followed the plow until he was twenty-four 
 years of age. His first military experience was acquired 
 through service in a militia company during the French 
 and Indian war. As a simple lieutenant he gained much 
 credit by conducting a retreat after all the superior 
 officers had been killed or wounded. The first gun of 
 the Revolution found him ready to enter the ranks of 
 the volunteers. He distinguished himself at Bunker Hill, 
 commanded the vanguard at Trenton, and should have 
 been promoted for his gallant service at Princeton, though 
 he was not. Nettled at the injury done him, he returned 
 to his farm, but when again called upon to the defense 
 against Burgoyne, he quickly raised a force of Green 
 Mountain men and administered the second blow, through . 
 which the British General was destined so soon to fall. 
 He took part in the first battle of Saratoga, and con- 
 tinued to render valuable service to the patriot cause until 
 the close of hostilities. He was a man of no book educa- 
 tion, but he boi-e as true a heart as ever beat in soldier's 
 breast. He knew nothing of mathematics, nor of engi- 
 neering, nor of the art of war as taught in the schools 
 but he knew a red-coat veteran upon sight, and gener- 
 
Volunteer Heroes of the Revolution. 
 
 I. Greene. 2. Wayne. 3. Putnam. 4. Washington. 
 6. Knox. 7. Hamilton. 
 
 5. Stark. 
 
GEN. STARK VERSUS BRITISH VETERANS. 499 
 
 ally it was a very unpropitious day for the said veteran 
 Tvhen "Mollie" Stark's husband got his eye upon him. 
 This great volunteer General of the Revolution was a 
 soldier by pure inspiration and natural character, and no 
 amount of scholastic education would have made him a 
 more successful officer than he became through the sheer 
 force of natural genius developed and matured by rough 
 experience upon the field of battle. 
 
 A consideration of the gallant soldiers who fought 
 first for the independence of the nation, subsequently 
 for its honor, and lately for its preservation, is a pleasure 
 of fascinating interest. In a volume limited to the com- 
 pass of the present, however, it is impossible to extend the 
 subject to the proportions that every American, proud of 
 his country and his people, would naturally wish. In 
 furtherance of the immediate objects of his task, it is only 
 permitted to the author that he throw the light first here, 
 then there, in order that in succession it may fall upon the 
 bold points of our historic coast-line, so that they may 
 more fully serve as guiding objects in the navigation of 
 the future. A brief summary, then, of a few others of the 
 strong men of the Revolutionary struggle must suffice for 
 the present purpose. 
 
 Alexander Hamilton, who, in wealth of natural intellect, 
 Tareadth of mental power, enlargement of culture, and ver- 
 satility of genius, was one of the greatest of public men of 
 this country, was also one of its most able and distin- 
 -guished volunteer soldiers. He began life in a counting- 
 house, and the education which he subsequently received, 
 
500 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 first in a private school in New Jersey, and afterward at 
 King's College, was purely of a civil character, covering 
 •only the ordinary branches of an English education. 
 Upon the bursting of the war-cloud, young Hamilton 
 began the assiduous study of military tactics, and in 1776 
 he was made a captain of artillery. He rendered gallant 
 and important service at Long Island, White Plains, Mon- 
 mouth, Princeton, Trenton, and Yorktown. He served 
 upon Washington's staff with distinction, and in 1798, 
 when the French Directory by repeated acts of hostility 
 caused the reorganization of the army in anticipation of 
 war between France and the new Republic in America, 
 Hamilton was appointed Inspector-General, with the rank 
 of major-general, and second only to Washington. In the 
 following year, when the country was called to universal 
 lamentation for the death of the revered Father of his 
 Country, so highly was Hamilton's military ability consid- 
 ered that he was named to succeed the great soldier as 
 commander of the American army. It was after the surren- 
 der of Cornwallis that Hamilton commenced the study of 
 law, which he began to practice in 1 783. With his most 
 eminent qualities as a jurist and statesman, as well as with 
 the services rendered to his country in a civil capacity, 
 the student of American history is wholly familiar. In 
 a military aspect his character was as remarkable as that 
 of General Nathaniel Greene. Up to the very outbreak 
 of the hostilities neither the one nor the other had any 
 military knowledge, theoretical or practical, and yet both 
 became under practical training most important military 
 
THE VOLUNTEERS HAMILTON AND KNOX. 50I 
 
 ofificers, each largely contributing to the ultimate triumph 
 of the colonial arms. 
 
 The case of General Henry Knox has already been 
 touched in the previous pages in connection with his 
 scheme for the general training of the militia. At present 
 it need only be said that at the outstart in life Knox pos- 
 sessed the elements of a common-school education only. 
 His only military knowledge prior to experience in actual 
 warfare was derived from connection with a local artillery 
 company. He was a volunteer aide at the battle of 
 Bunker Hill, and attracted the notice of Washington by 
 his skill as an artillerist. In 1 776 he was made a brigadier' 
 general, and commanded the main artillery throughout the 
 war. He distinguished himself in all of the chief battles 
 of the Revolution, only suffering in prestige once, which 
 was at Germantown, when, by too closely following estab- 
 lished military maxims, a portion of the unfavorable result 
 was attributed to him. In all else, his reputation as a 
 splendid ofificer is unchallenged. His subsequent brilliant 
 service to the country as Secretary of War, with charge 
 of the navy, need not here be commented upon. It is the 
 striking case of Henry Knox — the civilian who, without 
 preliminary military knowledge or education, became one 
 of the most competent and trusted generals of the Rev- 
 olution — that is here considered. 
 
 Still another brilliant figure of the war is General 
 Anthony Wayne — "Mad Anthony," as his enthusiastic 
 troops called him in admiration of his dashing bravery 
 and startling rapidity of movement and execution. 
 
502 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Wayne served with great distinction and dclat throughout 
 the war, and was one of the most trusted of Washington's 
 officers and advisers. What reader of his brilliant storm- 
 ing of Stony Point, on the Hudson, can fail to be thrilled 
 by his gallant achievement at that place. And yet 
 Anthony Wayne, like so many of his fellow-generals, pos- 
 I sessed no preliminary education of a military character. 
 Until 1774 he followed the occupation of a farmer, 
 conjoining with it the business of a land surveyor. After 
 the smoke of Lexington had blown away, and the dead of 
 Bunker Hill had been laid to an eternal rest, Wayne 
 raised a regiment (in September, 1775), and in something 
 more than a year his capability and soldierly knowledge 
 caused him to be made a brigadier-general. His example 
 shines from the pages of our history as that of another 
 great soldier developed from inherent genius, amid the 
 thunders of battle and the clash of arms. 
 
 Other figures of the struggle whose services were of 
 the most indispensable value in the achievement of the 
 glorious end pass rapidly before us in connection with the 
 present topic. Who can forget that Warren,' who fell at 
 Bunker Hill, was a civilian educated as a physician, and 
 that his military knowledge and rank were acquired during 
 the threatening crisis of war. Who, that General Daniel 
 Morgan, whose record as a dashing soldier in so many 
 conflicts can never be dimmed by time, was an illiterate 
 boy upon his father's farm until the age of seventeen, when 
 he became a wagoner in the Braddock expedition, and thus 
 acquired a practical military knowledge in the field ? Who, 
 
LINCOLN, PUTNAM, ALLEN, MARION. 503 
 
 that General Benjamin Lincoln, another luminous example 
 of superior military capacity, and with Morgan one of the 
 heroes of the Southern campaign under Greene which 
 finally drove Cornwallis to his fate at Yorktown, was a 
 farmer at the outbreak of the Revolution? Who, that 
 General Israel Putnam, famous for his military achieve- 
 ments, was plowing in his field when the news of the 
 battle of Lexington reached him, and that, unyoking his 
 horses and leaving his plow standing in the furrow, he 
 rode off to Boston ; that he returned to raise a regiment ; 
 and that, after a brilliant service in the field, he further 
 displayed his military sagacity in the selection of West 
 Point as the site of a strategic fortification ? Who, that 
 the renowned soldier and partisan fighter. General Ethan 
 Allen, was one of the proprietors of an iron furnace, with 
 but little English education and no military knowledge or 
 experience until the reverberation of the guns at Lexing- 
 ton caused him to bound into the saddle and subsequently 
 to become a brilliant leader in the struggle for freedom ? 
 Who, that General Francis Marion, " the swamp-fox " of 
 the South, was in his youth a seaman and in subsequent 
 life a farmer, who left his plow to fight the Indians, there- 
 by gaining the only military knowledge and experience 
 that he possessed as the preliminaries of the great part he 
 enacted as a partisan leader in the battle-fields of the 
 Southern section? Who, that his celebrated colleague. 
 General Thomas Sumter, was originally a farmer, who 
 had seen some practical service as a volunteer in the 
 Braddock expedition and in fighting the Cherokee 
 
504 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Indians? Or what American can ever forget that Nathan 
 Hale, the volunteer, whose rare qualities caused his selec- 
 tion for a service no less important than hazardous, and 
 who, in dying upon a British gibbet, expressed the regret 
 that he had "only one Hfe to give to his country," was an 
 unpretending school-teacher with no military knowledge 
 nor previous experience in military affairs ? 
 
 The author has reserved for a closing notice another 
 of the prominent generals of the Revolution, though it is 
 much to be regretted that with the mention of his name 
 the voice of eulogy must be hushed. Major-General 
 Charles Lee was born in England and entered the En- 
 glish army at an early age, and he received such military 
 education as the foremost military power of Europe then 
 bestowed upon those entering its service. Sent by his 
 government to America in 1754, he was with Braddock 
 at the battle of the Monongahela, and was subsequently 
 wounded in an attempt upon Ticonderoga. Next sent to 
 Portugal, under Burgoyne, he won considerable distinc- 
 tion. A few years later he became a major-general in the 
 service of the King of Poland, but, not being satisfied, after 
 roaming over Europe, he returned to England, when he 
 v/as made a lieutenant-colonel and placed upon half-pay. 
 Disappointed that he did not receive expected promotion, 
 he espoused the American side of the controversy with 
 the mother country, undoubtedly with an ulterior pur- 
 pose, considering his selfish character. After some 
 further lapse of time he came to America and purchased 
 land in Virginia. After the battles of Lexington and 
 
RECORD OF GEN. CHARLES LEE. 505 
 
 Bunker Hill, Congress, at the instance of his friends, made 
 him a major-general, when he at once resigned his com- 
 mission in the English and entered the American army. 
 Possessed of fine military ability, and brave as he was 
 able, his first efforts in behalf of the Americans were very 
 successful ; but it was not long before his personal ambi- 
 tion began the destruction of his usefulness. In pursuit of 
 his own purposes, he disregarded the repeated injunctions 
 of Washington, and, being taken prisoner, his disobedience 
 of orders prevented the colonists from reaping a well- 
 earned victory at Monmouth. He was tried by court- 
 martial and sentenced to suspension from his command 
 for a year. Prior to these occurrences Lee had been 
 engaged in a conspiracy with General Thomas Conway 
 and others to cause General Washington to be superseded 
 by the utterly incompetent Horatio Gates. Conway, 
 though Irish by birth, was educated for the army in 
 France, and received from that government a decoration 
 and the rank of captain. Coming to America, he was 
 made a major-general in 1777, and was at Brandywine 
 and Germantbwn. He was at the head of the league to 
 displace Washington, which was known as the " Conway 
 Cabal." In the eyes of these educated military men 
 Washington was nothing but a volunteer officer, wholly 
 unfitted for his exalted position. Who can doubt, con- 
 sidering the character of these conspirators, that, had 
 their scheme been successful, the Revolution would have 
 terminated in defeat ; or, in the possible event of suc- 
 cess, that a form of government entirely different from the 
 
506 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 present form would have arisen from the ashes of the ex- 
 tinguished colonies ? 
 
 Lee, Conway, Gates, were educated military officers, 
 and they were soldiers by profession. The readiness with 
 which they shifted their obligations proved them to be 
 mere soldiers of fortune, and that their swords would serve 
 the cause which would yield to them the greatest considera- 
 tion. They possessed no elements of the glorious volun- 
 teer soldier, who, with no consideration of profession or 
 trade to inflame ambition and to create a thirst for per- 
 sonal gain, fights for principle, for truth, for honor, for 
 family, for country, and who, when his cause is won, doffs his 
 military garb, lays away the sword and gun, and mingles 
 with his fellow-citizens in the peaceful pursuits of indus- 
 trial life. It is not possible for a Napoleon to be made 
 from the material of the American volunteer. The 
 Napoleon must be a soldier by profession in a country 
 wherein the army is omnipotent, and he must spring, not 
 from the ranks composed of men of whom Captain Nathan 
 Hale was a fair representative, but from those of which 
 Charles Lee and Thomas Conway were legitimate off- 
 spring. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE WAR OF l8l2 — THE VOLUNTEER UPON THE SEA — THE 
 WONDERFUL ACHIEVEMENTS OF PAUL JONES THE VIC- 
 TORY OF THE CONSTELLATION OVER THE l'iNSURGENTE 
 
 THE AMERICAN SAILOR ISAAC HULL VICTORY OF THE 
 
 "OLD ironsides" OVER THE GUERRIERE REMARKABLE 
 
 CAPTURES BY COMMODORE PORTER WITH THE ESSEX 
 
 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF DECATUR THE THRILLING 
 
 EXPLOITS OF CAPTAIN ISAAC JONES — BRILLIANT ACHIEVE- 
 MENTS OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. 
 
 WITHIN less than a generation from the close of 
 the Revolutionary contest, the American volun- 
 teer was again called to arms for the War of 1812, 
 This war, as has been remarked elsewhere in the present 
 pages, should not have taken place. It was a useless, 
 profitless, not to say causeless, contest. Wrong existed, 
 undoubtedly, but it was such wrong as two intelligent 
 nations could easily have removed without an appeal to 
 arms. But the war came, and the volunteer again sprang 
 to the defense of his country. 
 
 The emergency found us precisely where we had been 
 at the beginning of the struggle for independence, with 
 strong latent military power, but with undisciplined troops 
 and no organized system for the arming, moving, and 
 
 maintenance of a large army. As it requires from one 
 
 507 
 
508 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 and a half to two years of active field experience to bring 
 to a condition of full effectiveness raw levies of troops, the 
 first results of the conflicts with the British veterans were 
 generally adverse to the American side. The contest, 
 however, was destined to be comparatively brief, though 
 the loss of life and the destruction of property which 
 ensued could illy be afforded by the young Republic. The 
 circumstances under which the war was fought by both 
 parties render their consideration in connection with the 
 more immediate purposes of the present volume particu- 
 larly favorable to the author's object. These conspired 
 to make the contest naval in character to a great 
 extent — that is to say, the most marked successes 
 of the war upon the American side, and those prob- 
 ably which contributed more largely than the successes 
 upon land to bring it to a speedier termination, were 
 gained upon the water. This fact lies directly within 
 the lines upon which the author's subject is being 
 treated. 
 
 At the commencement of the war, the Academy at 
 West Point had been fairly established for a decade of 
 years, and some of the graduates of the institution partici- 
 pated in the several campaigns. With the exception of 
 the old plan of instruction by special school-teachers, 
 already detailed fully in the preceding pages, there was 
 no academic system of naval education until the year 
 1845, 3-t which time the Academy at Annapolis was 
 regularly established, as has been heretofore seen. The 
 bearings of this fact upon the author's subject will pres- 
 
THE ENGLISH NAVY UNDER ALFRED. 509 
 
 ently form an interesting topic of investigation and dis- 
 course. 
 
 As regards our ancient antagonist, it may be remarked 
 that the insular position of England necessarily made of 
 her a maritime nation from a very early period. Her 
 merchant marine has constantly kept abreast of the prog- 
 ress in naval construction, and in some respects it may 
 be justly alleged that she has led that progress. The form- 
 ation of her navy dates back to the time of Alfred the 
 Great, who began its regular construction under the 
 necessities involved in the defense of the country against 
 Danish invaders as well as against pirates. This mon- 
 arch has been called the first English admiral, because he 
 was the first English sovereign that commanded his own 
 fleet in battle. From the time of Alfred to that of 
 Henry VHI., the condition of the navy fluctuated through 
 different grades of efficiency. When the latter monarch 
 came to the throne, he began its reorganization and 
 establishment upon a basis from which it grew to be 
 the most powerful, all things considered, of that time. 
 It was under the splendid reign of his daughter Elizabeth 
 that the English fleet defeated the world-renowned Span- 
 ish Armada, that remarkable naval force, which comprised 
 one hundred and fifty ships, three thousand cannon, and 
 twenty thousand men. 
 
 Though, to read the account of the English navy, as it 
 existed under the corrupt reign of Charles H., as given 
 by Macaulay in his history of England, one could well 
 imagine that he was perusing an American campaign 
 
5IO THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 article inveighing against bloated contractors and dis- 
 honest government officials, yet, undoubtedly, since that 
 memorable period in Elizabeth's reign England has 
 steadily improved and increased her maritime resources 
 in accordance with the general development of the nation. 
 She has claimed that the sails of her merchant marine 
 "whiten every sea," while the proud "wooden walls" 
 inspired respectful awe in every would-be foe until the 
 battle between the Monitor and Merrimac, in Hampton 
 Roads, incontinently threw them down with a suddenness 
 of effect strongly resembling the result of the angel's 
 blast before the gates of Jericho. 
 
 When the War of 1 8 1 2 was fought, however, the age 
 of steam and of iron ships had not yet arrived, and Eng- 
 land proclaimed herself then, as now, to be " mistress of 
 the seas." 
 
 The American colonists were navigators to a certain 
 extent, from the earliest settlements upon the Atlantic 
 seaboard. This circumstance arose from the necessities 
 of trade amongst them, and, in order to protect their 
 craft, as well as the settlements, from the incursions of 
 freebooters and hostile Indians, their little vessels were 
 variously armed. Nothing like a navy existed, however,, 
 up to the year 1775. As soon as it was possible to make- 
 any move in the matter, Congress took steps, after the 
 battle of Lexington, toward the formation and organiza- 
 tion of a naval force. Twenty cruisers had been built by 
 the close of the year 1775. The first ensign displayed by 
 an American man-of-war was hoisted by the remarkable 
 
THE AMERICAN NA VY IN 1812. 5 1 1 
 
 John Paul Jones on board his ship, the Alfred. Upon his 
 first cruise he captured no less than sixteen prizes belong- 
 ing to the British merchant service. The feats of this 
 plucky seaman in the Bon Homme Richard never pall in 
 interest by repetition in the American ear. Small and 
 insufficient as was considered the American navy during 
 the Revolution, it nevertheless swept the seas of British 
 merchant ships, and even made descents upon the coasts 
 of the British isles. The number of prizes captured 
 during the first year of the Revolution was 342, and 
 during the second year 467. 
 
 By the close of the year 1 798, in view of the probable 
 war with France, the Republic had gotten twenty-three 
 men-of-war upon the water, the invincible character of this 
 little navy with its brave seamen being well reflected in 
 the brilliant engagement between the Constellation and 
 the French frigate L' Insurgente, which resulted in the 
 capture of the latter by the American ship. 
 
 At the beginning of the War of 181 2, our navy con- 
 sisted of about seventeen efficient vessels, eight of these 
 being frigates. With this small force upon the water, 
 our brave seamen proposed to meet a foe whose boast it 
 was that "Britannia rules, the wave." With powerful and 
 numerous ships, manned by educated officers and by vet- 
 eran seamen, well disciplined through long service and 
 experience, the haughty Britons declared that they would 
 soon sweep "the little bits of striped bunting" of the 
 Yankees from the seas. 
 
 After the surrender of Detroit, at the very commence- 
 
512 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 ment of the war, and the subsequent reverses to the 
 American arms along the Canadian border, the country 
 was cast into the deepest gloom. Thoughtful men of all 
 parties now realized the extreme folly of plunging the 
 new Republic, wholly unprepared with disciplined troops 
 and munitions of war, into a conflict with a nation like 
 Great Britain, engaged though she was in a war in Eu- 
 rope — a nation as unscrupulous as powerful, since she 
 made no concealment of a purpose to let loose upon the 
 Americans a savage foe who neither knew nor cared for 
 the rules and amenities of civilized warfare. If, within 
 the first three months from the declaration of war, the 
 United States could have receded with honor from her 
 position, there can be no doubt that public sentiment in 
 that direction was sufificiently strong to have compelled 
 the Government to do so. In this condition of despond- 
 ency and crimination, a light of hope suddenly flashed 
 from the waters of the ocean, and the thunders of battle 
 announced that the American navy had been heard from. 
 The Constitution, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, 
 encountered in her cruise the Guerriire, one of the best 
 and finest frigates of the British navy. The English 
 commander immediately prepared to bag his game. The 
 Yankee captain maneuvered skillfully for position, and for 
 some time received the British fire without- returning it. 
 Broadside after broadside was poured into the American 
 ship, and still the brave Hull made no response. But 
 when the opportune moment arrived the fire from the 
 American became terrific. For fifteen minutes Hull 
 
AMERICAN SAILORS ASTONISH THE WORLD. 513 
 
 poured his broadsides into the enemy, with hardly a 
 moment's intermission in the dreadful roar of his guns. 
 At the end of that time, he had swept away the enemy's 
 mizzen-mast and got his opponent under a raking fire. 
 This was poured into the Guerrilre for fifteen minutes 
 longer, when, with his masts and every spar gone, his 
 decks wet with blood, and his vessel so near sinking that 
 a few more shots would have carried it down, the aston- 
 ished Briton surrendered to an enemy whose fine seaman- 
 ship and courage were a portentous revelation. 
 
 The news of this unexpected victory created the wild- 
 est enthusiasm throughout the country. Among the Euro- 
 pean nations, by which the English ships and sailors had 
 been considered invincible, the surprise was unbounded, 
 and the American naval power came to be considered the 
 phenomenon of maritime warfare. But the exhibition of 
 this gigantic power was not destined to rest for full vindi- 
 cation upon a single showing in battle. A series of the 
 most remarkable exploits in naval contests continually 
 sent the exciting thrill of victory through the American 
 pulse, and as continually electrified the British foe and 
 the fighting nations of the Old World. 
 
 The Essex, under Commodore Porter, fell in with the 
 fleet of a frigate. Keeping at a safe distance until night, 
 the dashing seaman rushed in and captured a brig with 
 one hundred and fifty men aboard, subsequently receiv- 
 ing a handsome ransom for the ship after paroling the 
 men on oath not to serve again during the war. In his 
 letter to the Secretary of the Navy the Commodore 
 
514 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 regretted that he had not had a sloop with him, as he would 
 have been able in that event to "surround" and capture 
 the whole fleet. 
 
 Running across the British sloop-of-war Alert, the 
 commander of the latter, who was out in search of " bits 
 of striped bunting," sent a broadside into the Essex. 
 Porter took the British vessel in a very short engage- 
 ment, capturing over five hundred prisoners with it. 
 
 Following close upon these events came the record of 
 a splendid achievement by Commodore Decatur. Being 
 in command of the President, Decatur fell in, off the West- 
 ern Islands, with the British frigate Macedonian, carry- 
 ing forty-nine guns and three hundred men, Being a 
 vessel of the largest class, and manned by a veteran crew, 
 her commander expected to make short work of the 
 American. The sea was rough, and the Briton had the 
 advantage of a position to the windward. The superi- 
 ority of the American gunnery in this action was an 
 additional source of surprise. The guns were served 
 with remarkable effect, while the rapidity of their blaze 
 induced the enemy to believe at one time that the 
 American was on fire. The fight, owing to the roughness 
 of the sea, took place at long range, and at the end of 
 two hours the Briton surrendered, after he had suffered 
 a loss of one hundred and twenty-four men killed and 
 wounded, and when his ship's masts had been shot away 
 and the hull riddled with shot. The American ship suf- 
 fered so little from the enemy's fire that she was not com- 
 pelled to go to port, while she only lost five seamen in 
 
BRITANNIA 'S RULE OF THE WA VE DISPUTED. 515 
 
 the action. The Macedonian was subsequently repaired, 
 and added to the American fleet. 
 
 The tremendous sensation caused by this affair was 
 still unabated when the news of the exploit of Captain 
 Isaac Jones was received to rekindle the general rejoicing. 
 Jones was in command of the sloop-of-war Wasp, which 
 had suffered considerably in her rigging during bad 
 weather, and, before he had had time to repair damage, he 
 fell in with the British brig Frolic, of twenty-two guns, con- 
 voying a fleet of merchant ships. Though the sea was 
 exceedingly rough, and the Wasp not in her best fighting 
 trim, Captain Jones prepared for action. The gunnery 
 of the Americans, in this as in the previous case, was 
 remarkable. The Briton fired invariably as his vessel 
 rose from the water, and thus the damage he inflicted, 
 was largely expended upon the masts and rigging of the 
 American. Captain Jones, upon the contrary, fired as; 
 his vessel sank and thus poured his shot into the enemy's 
 hull. When the American finally got alongside of the 
 Frolic to board her it was found that there were no 
 British seamen left on deck to pull down the flag. The 
 engagement lasted forty-three minutes, and was one of 
 the bloodiest upon record, considering the number of 
 men engaged. The brilliancy of this exploit could not be 
 dimmed by the circumstance that the Wasp and her prize 
 were both taken upon the same day by a British seventy- 
 four. 
 
 Within six months from the declaration of war 
 between the United States and Great Britain the boast o£ 
 
5l6 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 the latter to the sovereignty of the seas had not only 
 been disputed, but entirely disproved, by a nation not yet 
 counting three decades of an autonomous existence. 
 The powers of Europe, which had long accepted the 
 naval pretension of England, could not understand it, and 
 the English people themselves were as much befogged in 
 an attempted explanation as were all others. Between 
 the months of June and November, comprising the first 
 five months of hostilities, some two hundred and fifty 
 vessels were captured by the American volunteer navy, 
 ^nd over three thousand prisoners were taken. Of 
 the vessels taken nearly sixty were armed, with a 
 total armament of neariy six hundred of the best guns 
 ■made at that time. In order to ascertain the causes of 
 the unexpected results of the encounters between the 
 American and British vessels, the English Government 
 araised committees of investigation, with a hope of solving 
 the secret of the extraordinary skill of the American sea- 
 men in the tactical management of their ships and in the 
 destructive character of their gunnery. The result of the 
 investigations, in the language of a writer of that day, 
 was a recommendation to the Navy Board " to put their 
 heroes again to school that they might learn to cope 
 with this new, this subtle and most extraordinary enemy." 
 The most inexplicable part of it all was that this remark- 
 able enemy, so difficult to comprehend, possessed no 
 naval schools. During the war of the Revolution Eng- 
 land had come to understand thoroughly the problem of 
 the volunteer soldiery of America. Through the brilliant 
 
OMNIPRESENCE OF THE AMERICAN RIFLEMAN. 5 I 7 
 
 campaigns of Washington, campaigns not less brilliant 
 under defeat than when accompanied with victory; through 
 the campaign against Burgoyne, when Schuyler and his 
 brave men obstructed the advance, and Stark with his glo- 
 rious Green Mountain volunteers completely crippled the 
 expedition by the blow at Bennington ; and through the 
 campaign of Greene in the South, which resulted in driv- 
 ing Cornwallis to his doom at Yorktown, the English 
 Government had learned the remarkable characteristics 
 of the force with which it had been contending. Its 
 soldiers had frequently seen the American army, with 
 which a battle had just been fought, reduced to a mere 
 handful of half-starved men — men who, as Washington 
 said, "literally served in the field, since most of them had 
 no tents to cover them,"^ and who were so driven by lack 
 of proper supplies that the great General at one time 
 declared they would have "to starve, to dissolve, or to 
 disperse in quest of food."^ But the same English sol- 
 diers had seen this handful of men so augmented or 
 swelled in numbers during a single night or day that 
 they were able to achieve a victory at the very time their 
 enemies were congratulating themselves upon the ease 
 with which they would be able to capture the whole force. 
 The English subjugators found that in the rebellious 
 land every man was a soldier when occasion demanded, 
 and during many a sad experience they had seen that 
 every tree, every nook, and every rock concealed a foe 
 with deadly missile. 
 
 'History of the United States, Doyle. 2 Ibid. 
 
51 8 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 But all this had been upon terra firma, and not upon 
 the sea or lakes, the navigation of which involves suitable 
 vessels, with the knowledge of their sailing and manage- 
 ment, and the fighting of a battle upon the water requir- 
 ing ordnance and technical knowledge as well as practical 
 experience, in order that it may be effectively served from 
 the ever-changing position of a ship upon the water. The 
 problem was wholly different from that of thirty years 
 before. There could be but one explanation of the case 
 entertained by the arrogant Englishman — the disasters to 
 the British ships were the result of accident, and it was im- 
 possible that they should be repeated. Systematic naval 
 education and veteran discipline would obviate it all, and 
 the Yankee sailors would soon be swept from the waters. 
 
 This prediction was not destined to be realized. The 
 English vessels in squadron ravaged the Atlantic coast, 
 and in the burning of defenseless towns committed acts of 
 vandalism for which the English may yet suffer through 
 the precedent then established. One of the most flagrant 
 of these acts was the destruction of the National Capital, 
 with the wanton burning of the Government archives. 
 But all of this destruction was accomplished by fleets of 
 vessels, the enemy never daring to risk an equal naval en- 
 gagement. When our brave seamen had an opportunity to 
 meet the enemy's vessels upon anything approaching fair 
 conditions, the result was almost always in our favor. 
 
 The third naval triumph of the Americans took place 
 in the capture of the British frigate Java off the coast of 
 Salvador, This vessel was armed with forty-nine guns and 
 
"DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP." 519 
 
 manned by a crew of four hundred men. The Constitution 
 — "Old Ironsides" — commanded by Bainbridge, again 
 covered herself, as well as the officers and crew, with imper- 
 ishable fame. After this the Hornet, commanded by 
 Captain Lawrence, ever to be remembered in American 
 annals by his dying order upon a subsequent occasion — 
 " Don't give up the ship! " — captured the English brig Res- 
 olution, of ten guns, and with nearly $25,000 on board. 
 Continuing his cruise Captain Lawrence ran across the 
 Peacock, a large British man-of-war superior to the Hornet 
 in force. Lawrence took his opponent in about fifteen 
 minutes after the action began, killing the captain, and 
 killing or wounding the greater portion of the crew. The 
 Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant Burrows, made a 
 prize of the British man-of-war Boxer. The gallant 
 Porter cleared the South Atlantic and South Pacific of 
 British merchant ships while cruising in the Essex, and 
 was denounced by the English Government in conse- 
 quence thereof as a pirate. It required the combined 
 attack of two of the best English ships to finally capture 
 Porter and to destroy his gallant vessel. During the 
 year 1814, our naval triumphs upon the ocean reached a 
 splendid culmination, and furnished a fitting supplement 
 to the brilliant victories of the American seamen upon the 
 Northern lakes. During the year named the American 
 sloop Peacock, Captain Warrington, captured the Epervier, 
 with a large amount of money on board. The Wasp, 
 under Captain Blakely, having taken seven merchantmen, 
 captured the English ship Reindeer after a gallant action of 
 
520 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 about twenty minutes, during which more than half of the 
 British crew were killed and wounded. The Wasp in con- 
 tinuing her cruise met and sank the British man-of-war 
 Avon, captured several merchantmen, but never returned 
 to port, her fate and that of her gallant commander and 
 crew being a mystery to the present day. As a close 
 to the list of victories by, our infant navy in the year 1814, 
 the Constitution, under Captain Stewart, captured two of 
 the enemy's ships sailing in consort — the frigate Cyane 
 of thirty-four guns, and the sloop-of-war Levant, of 
 eighteen thirty-two-pound carronades ; while the Hornet, 
 under Captain Biddle, captured the British man-of-war 
 Penguin, of eighteen guns and a twelve-pound carronade. 
 
 The foregoing commentary upon the remarkable vic- 
 tories upon the sea won by a young nation from the first 
 naval power of the world is confined in its narrative to the 
 achievements of what is called the " regular " navy. But, 
 as is well known, the achievements of these were supple- 
 mented by the important service rendered by the volunteer 
 navy, composed of daring spirits who, under authority of 
 letters-of-marque, struck the enemy, through his com- 
 merce, upon every sea and in almost every port. The 
 exploits of these skillful navigators and brave men carried 
 consternation to the foe, and added increased renown to 
 the naval power of the United States. 
 
 In disregard of chronological order it has been re- 
 served by the author as a closing comment upon the 
 glories of our sailor army of the War of 1 8 1 2 to mention 
 the victories upon those inland seas of America, the 
 
AMERICAN SAILORS ON NOR THERN LAKES. 5 2 1 
 
 lakes upon our northern frontier. Of these victories two 
 were of especial importance to the American cause, 
 because of the decisiveness of their character and results 
 — those of the fleet under Perry and of the combined 
 land and naval forces at Plattsburgh. 
 
 At an earlier date Captain Chauncey had rendered in- 
 finite service to the land forces in various engagements 
 upon the shores of Lake Erie, but with the progress of 
 the war the British naval force had become so greatly in- 
 creased that the necessity to meet it upon something like 
 equal terms became very apparent. The work of pre- 
 paring a fleet was intrusted to Captain Perry, who suc- 
 ceeded by dint of great enterprise in getting it in a state 
 of readiness during the first week of August, 1813. He 
 at once began a search for the enemy, and upon the morn- 
 ing of September 10 the American and British fleets met 
 upon the broad waters of Lake Erie to test the question 
 of naval superiority. The previous victories of the 
 Americans upon the ocean had been gained in contests 
 between single ships, and now a test of the ability of our 
 seamen to conduct a contest in fleet was to be decided. 
 The surprising result of that test is well known to every 
 American. The British fleet, commanded by an officer 
 who had won distinction at Trafalgar, and greatly superior 
 to the American fleet in size of vessels and number of 
 guns, was beaten by the American commander and his 
 gallant men, who captured every vessel of the enemy's 
 fleet — such a result having been until then unknown in 
 naval warfare. 
 
522 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 The victory at Plattsburgh gave a crowning glory to 
 the achievements of our naval forces. Sir George Pre- 
 vost, commanding the British fleet, conceived the renewal 
 of the strategic movement attempted during the Revolu- 
 tion by Burgoyne, whereby the line of the Hudson River 
 might be seized and held as the base of hostile operations 
 against the sections of the country lying upon either side of 
 it. The termination of the war with Napoleon in March, 
 1 8 14, which resulted in sending the wonderful French 
 General to the Island of Elba, enabled the English Gov- 
 ernment to dispatch strong reinforcements against the 
 Americans. The Army of the Garonne, which had won 
 such distinction under Wellington, was transferred to 
 Canada, and, in order to enable Sir George Prevost to 
 successfully carry out the important campaign in contem- 
 plation, some fourteen thousand of these troops were 
 assigned to his command. The garrison of Plattsburgh 
 was first to be reduced. On the 3d of September the 
 British land forces began the investment of the town of 
 Plattsburgh, and, though annoyed and retarded by the 
 American troops, the English took possession of it, while 
 our own small force retreated to the works located upon 
 the opposite bank of the Saranac River, just at the point 
 where it empties into Lake Champlain. The fleet which 
 the English brought to cooperate with their land force 
 consisted of the frigate Confiance, with thirty-nine guns, 
 twenty-seven of which were twenty-four-pounders; the 
 brig Linnet, of sixteen guns ; the sloops Chub and Finch, 
 
THE HISTORIC HUDSON LINE AGAIN. 523 
 
 each carrying eleven guns ; and thirteen galleys, five of 
 which carried two guns and the others one.^ 
 
 The fortifications, commanded by the gallant General 
 Macomb, were garrisoned by a force of regular troops not 
 exceeding 1,500 in number; but this force, when news 
 of the attack was fairly confirmed, was gradually aug- 
 mented to a surprising degree by the flocking in of the 
 militia from New York and Vermont, and of the mysteri- 
 ous and omnipresent volunteer, who came with his rifle 
 and provisions, prepared to give Prevost the reception 
 which Burgoyne had received some thirty-seven years 
 before. 
 
 The American fleet, which was commanded by Com- 
 modore Macdonough, had also to a large extent been im- 
 provised by that brave and capable ofificer. One of the 
 vessels of his fleet had been constructed with such rapidity 
 that, only eighteen days before it was taken into action, 
 the timber of which it was built had been growing in the 
 tree upon the shores of the lake,^ The fleet, however, 
 was inferior to that of the British, the guns of the latter 
 numbering ninety-five, while those of the American num- 
 bered eighty-six, and the ' number of the seamen of the 
 British amounting to upward of one thousand, while that 
 of the American fleet only comprised about eight hundred. 
 
 Under this state of things the action for the reduction 
 of the forts was begun by Sir George Prevost with his 
 land forces, while the two fleets engaged each other upon 
 
 ' History of the War of 1812, Brackenridge. ' Ibid. 
 
524 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 the lake. The whole importance of the contest centered 
 in the battle between the rival fleets, as without the 
 supremacy of the lake the campaign of Prevost must fail 
 to attain the desired result. During the progress of the 
 naval conflict three separate attempts were made by the 
 troops of Prevost to cross the river in order to storm the 
 American works, each attempt being defeated with loss to 
 the enemy. One of these attempts consisted of the effort 
 to cross by a ford some three miles above the works. 
 This ford, however, was defended by a body of militia 
 and volunteers posted in the adjoining wood, who poured 
 such a deadly fire into the storming detachment that it 
 retreated in the greatest disorder, with a loss of one-half 
 its numbers. 
 
 The course of the action between the fleets soon 
 shifted the brunt of battle upon the two principal ships 
 of the contending parties — the American ship Saratoga 
 and the British frigate Confiance, Two circumstances 
 strongly operated in favor of the enemy : first, the supe- 
 rior weight of his guns ; and second, the mistake of the 
 commander of the American ship Eagle, who, in shifting 
 his vessel from the prescribed line of action, exposed the 
 Saratoga to a strong fire from the enemy. Both of the 
 contending vessels suffered fearfully, the battery of each 
 upon the starboard side having been wholly dismounted 
 and rendered unserviceable. In this emergency, the 
 whole result of the conflict depended upon the execution 
 of a movement considered to be one of the most difficult 
 in the range of ship-management. This movement con- 
 
ASTONISHING NA VAL BA TTLE A T PLA TTSB URGH. 525 
 
 sisted of the attempt to wind the vessel around so as to^ 
 bring the port side, with its battery of guns, to bear upon, 
 the enemy. The Confiance made the attempt to accom-^ 
 plish the movement, with the most determined persist- 
 ence, but wholly failed of success. The Saratoga exe- 
 cuted the movement with such celerity that in a very 
 short time she was enabled to pour her port-broadsides 
 into the Confiance with such terrible efifect that the latter 
 soon struck her flag to the gallant American, and within 
 thirty minutes afterward every vessel of the British fleet 
 surrendered. 
 
 This gallant naval action — gallant upon both sides — 
 was one of the most destructive, considering the number 
 of ships and men engaged, upon record. When the 
 battle was over, the vessels composing both squadrons, 
 lay almost helplessly upon the water. Masts there were 
 none, and not a sailcloth was to be seen in either fleet. 
 The hull of the Saratoga was pierced by fifty-five round 
 shot, while the Confiance was riddled with one hundred and 
 five shot-holes. The total loss on the American fleet was. 
 about fifty killed and some sixty wounded. The enemy 
 lost eighty-five in killed and over one hundred wounded. 
 But one of the most surprising results of the contest con- 
 sisted of the fact that the number of prisoners captured 
 by the Americans, some eight hundred and fifty in the 
 total, exceeded the whole number of officers and men ia 
 the American fleet. 
 
 This remarkable conflict at and before Plattsburgh 
 was as decisive in character as was the battle of Saratoga^ 
 
526 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 fought by Burgoyne in 1776. In the total defeat and 
 capture of the British fleet on Lake Champlain, Prevost 
 bitterly realized the failure of his whole scheme of inva- 
 sion. It then became with him no longer a question of 
 hoped-for victory, but the result of the naval conflict had 
 rendered it a question how to get out of the position that 
 he occupied, in order that his army might be saved from 
 capture or utter annihilation. His own force had attained 
 its numerical maximum with the commencement of the 
 offensive operations, and it had been decreasing through 
 casualties and desertions with frightful rapidity. Not so, 
 however, with the Americans. Being quite unadvised of 
 the intended movement, the latter were wholly unpre- 
 pared for it. The force at the place, as before said, did 
 not exceed fifteen hundred troops, while the works were 
 in no condition to withstand an assault in force. But 
 from the hour that the intention of the enemy became 
 apparent, the American army began to grow with mush- 
 room-like rapidity. Sir George Prevost beheld it swell- 
 ing, like the incoming tide, with every leaping wave. He 
 was amazed at the sight which presented itself to his 
 anxious view. "Who are these men, and whence do they 
 come?" was the question that he so feverishly put to his 
 friends. Some of them were able to afford the desired 
 information, as they had had some previous experience with 
 the stern citizen-soldier of the United States. The volun- 
 teers confronted Prevost like a wall of granite ; they 
 bung upon his rear, and swarmed upon his flanks until his 
 position became perilous in the extreme. In this emer- 
 
FLIGHT OF THE BRITISH INVADER. 527" 
 
 gency, with his navy swept out of existence by a foe whom, 
 his skilled officers and crews affected to despise, and his 
 army hourly decreased by the sharpshooters of the 
 forest, he pursued the only course left to him. Keep- 
 ing up a show of maintaining the offensive during the 
 day, when night drew its friendly shadows over both 
 armies, and left the spectral hulks upon the fair bosom of 
 the lake as ghostly relics of the strifes of men, the British 
 army took to hasty flight, abandoning sick and wounded 
 to their late antagonists, and leaving great quantities of 
 arms and provisions to fall into their hands. But they 
 were not permitted to escape as easily as Prevost had 
 hoped. With the quickness of the panther the Ameri- 
 cans were upon them, and before the British army had 
 reached a position of security, at least one thousand of its 
 fleeing soldiers had been picked off or captured by the 
 pursuing avengers. 
 
 Both land and marine forces participated in the glories of 
 the day. To our naval fame the result was particularly favor- 
 able. It was the second time during the existing war that the 
 sailors of the United States had confronted the veteran 
 navy of Great Britain in a contest between squadrons, 
 and it was also the second time that American seaman- 
 ship and valor had humbled the pride of Albion in such a 
 test of superiority. September lo, 1813, and September 
 II, 1 8 14 — the first being the date of Perry's victory on 
 Lake Erie, and the second that of Macdonough on Lake 
 Champlain — mark two of the most brilliant events in the 
 history of our country. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE LOGIC OF THE NAVAL SUPERIORITY OF THE AMERICAN 
 
 VOLUNTEER SAILOR THE NAVAL HEROES OF l8l2, AND 
 
 OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL CONFLICT THE LAND VOLUN- 
 TEERS OF l8l2 PROMINENT VOLUNTEER OFFICERS, 
 
 "WITH A SKETCH OF THEIR PREVIOUS HISTORY THE 
 
 GALLANTRY OF THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER RECOGNIZED BY 
 
 CONGRESS THE MEXICAN WAR ITS INJUSTICE AND 
 
 UNPOPULARITY AT THE NORTH THE VOLUNTEER OF THE 
 
 MEXICAN WAR UNTRAINED, BUT INVINCIBLE THE 
 
 VOLUNTEER SOLDIERS WINFIELD SCOTT AND ZACHARY 
 TAYLOR THE REMARKABLE CAREER OF JOHN E. WOOL. 
 
 THE repetition of well-known facts in American his- 
 tory SO fully detailed in the preceding chapter has 
 not been indulged in by the author with any view to pre- 
 sent these facts in a more striking shape or more interest- 
 ing form than may be found in the standard text-books of 
 the schools, or in the more voluminous works for greater 
 minuteness of instruction. The circumstances related by 
 the author possess in themselves an absorbing interest 
 for every true American. The author's purpose lies within 
 the scope of two reasons : first, as has already been inti- 
 mated, up to the period of the War of 1812 no effort 
 whatever had been made to establish a distinct educational 
 
 system for naval instruction, in consequence of which such 
 
 528 
 
THE HERO OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 529 
 
 seamanship and naval talent and ability in maritime con- 
 tests as we then possessed, when contrasted with the like 
 attributes or qualifications as have been since developed 
 under a most liberal system of education, must precisely rep- 
 resent the value, or perhaps it may be more practically 
 said, the necessity, of the educational system established in 
 later years; and second, a relation of those inspiring 
 deeds of our gallant sailors affords a suitable preface to an 
 inquiry into the personnel oi America's naval heroes. 
 
 Without any particular order of arrangement, some of 
 the sailors who so brilliantly honored themselves and their 
 country during the war which has claimed consideration 
 in the preceding pages will be passed under brief review 
 in the present chapter. 
 
 And first of the hero of Lake Cham plain. Commo- 
 dore Thomas Macdonough was the son of a Revolutionary 
 officer who after the close of hostilities became a judge. 
 With the mere rudiments of an English education, 
 young Macdonough entered the United States navy at 
 the early age of seventeen years as midshipman, and on 
 board of a vessel he received a practical education in 
 seamanship and the art of naval warfare. He was an apt 
 pupil, and endowed by nature with the attributes of a suc- 
 cessful sailor. He saw service against the Barbary pirates 
 under Decatur, and he was one of the party who so dar- 
 ingly recovered the Philadelphia and assisted In her 
 destruction during the night of February i6, 1804, before 
 the city of Tripoli. 
 
 His great reputation rests upon the distinguished 
 
530 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 victory which he achieved on Lake Champlain as narrated 
 in the last chapter. His opponent in that engagement 
 was Commodore George Downie, an experienced officer 
 of the British navy who lost his life during the action. In 
 appreciation of his great service in thwarting at the outset 
 a most dangerous movement the American Congress pro- 
 moted Macdonough, and presented him with a testimonial 
 in the shape of a gold medal. He was also the recipient 
 of various civic honors, while the State of Vermont pre- 
 sented him with an estate overlooking the scene of the 
 battle. Had he been a less skillful seaman, he must have 
 failed to defeat the enemy upon the occasion referred to. 
 Oliver H. Perry, the hero of Lake Erie, received the 
 same practical naval education as did Macdonough. He 
 was a midshipman at the early age of fourteen years, and 
 also served in the Barbary war. In 1812 he had charge 
 of a flotilla of gun-boats in New York harbor, and early in 
 1 81 3 he was sent to serve under Chauncey, on Lake 
 Ontario. Later in the same year he was given the com- 
 mand of the squadron on Lake Erie, and, having gotten 
 his small fleet of nine vessels equipped and ready for 
 action, he fought the battle and achieved the brilliant 
 victory which so illuminates the naval annals of our coun- 
 try. He subsequently assisted General Harrison at the 
 re-taking of Detroit, and commanded the Java in Deca- 
 tur's squadron at a still later date. His victory over the 
 foe on Lake Erie was the first refutation of the British 
 slander that there were no sailors in the American service 
 sufficiently versed in their profession to enable them to 
 
SKETCH OF OLIVER H. PERRY. 531 
 
 fight in squadron. The defeat itself amply demonstrated 
 the great ability of the seaman who had received his only 
 education upon the sea, while two actions of his in con- 
 nection with the battle illustrate his gallantry as a sol- 
 dier and the rare modesty of his character as a man. No 
 more brilliant act of daring appears in the naval records 
 of the world than that of Perry in passing in an open 
 boat, exposed to the fire of the enemy, from his disabled 
 ship to the Niagara, to which latter he transferred his 
 flag. And certainly no great victory was ever heralded by 
 conqueror in more simple and modest words than those 
 used by Perry in announcing the result of the battle to 
 General Harrison. After his defeat of the Lydian King, 
 the conquering Csesar wrote, "/ came, / saw, / con- 
 quered." The glorious Perry simply said, " We have met 
 the enemy and they are ours" — not one word of this 
 remarkable dispatch containing the letter /, either large 
 or small. 
 
 Captain Isaac Chauncey, the third of the great naval 
 commanders who reflected such honor upon the Ameri- 
 can navy during the contest of 1812-1814 upon the 
 waters and shores of the Northern lakes, began his naval 
 career under circumstances still less favorable to a scho- 
 lastic training than either of his distinguished colleagues 
 Perry and Macdonough. With no opportunities whatever, 
 for the acquisition of even a common-school education, 
 Chauncey entered the merchant service at a very early 
 age. So rapidly did he acquire a practical knowledge of 
 his profession that at the age of nineteen he commanded 
 
532 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 a ship belonging to John Jacob Astor, in which he made 
 regular voyages to and from the East Indies. Upon the 
 regular organization of our navy Chauncey possessed 
 sufficient influence to obtain the appointment of lieuten- 
 ant, thus skipping, as it were, the preliminary service of a 
 midshipman in a man-of-war. As the development of his 
 subsequent brilliant career so fully demonstrated, his case 
 was but another example of the certainty with which 
 genius in any direction of life overleaps adverse con- 
 ditions and triumphantly asserts itself in spite of the most 
 formidable obstacles. He acted with great gallantry in 
 several affairs off the coast of Tripoli during the hostili- 
 ties growing out of the outrages upon our commerce by 
 the rulers of that benighted state. During the war of 
 1812 Chauncey had charge of our naval operations on 
 Lake Ontario, and though he had no opportunity to dis- 
 tinguish himself by a single great and decisive battle, 
 such as was given to Macdonough and Perry, his brilliant 
 service was continuously rendered, and largely con- 
 tributed to the reaping of such victories as really crowned 
 the American arms within' the scope of his scene of 
 operations, while but for the fleet, which he so ably 
 handled, the damage inflicted on us in that quarter would 
 have been vastly greater than it was. At the attack 
 upon and capture of York, now Toronto, the capital of 
 Upper Canada and the general depot of supplies and 
 stores for all the Western British ports, he rendered the 
 most indispensable service. His cooperation at the 
 attack upon Fort George enabled our troops to capture 
 
SKETCH OF CAPT. ISAAC CHAUNCEY. 533 
 
 that important post, the effect of which capture was to 
 compel the British to evacuate the whole Niagara fron- 
 tier. His skill in his profession, and the dash which 
 distinguished him as a naval captain, were remarkably 
 manifested in his campaigns against the British fleet upon 
 Lake Ontario, commanded by Sir James Yeo, an English 
 naval officer of long experience and considerable reputa- 
 tion. With a fleet never superior, and generally inferior to 
 that of Yeo, Chauncey kept the latter continually on the 
 run to avoid an engagement. The indefatigable Ameri- 
 can chased the Englishman first here and then there, in 
 the hope to bring him to a fight. At last Chauncey suc- 
 ceeded in overtaking the enemy in York Bay, and imme- 
 diately set upon him. A short engagement ensued, during 
 which Chauncey managed his flag-ship with such admirable 
 tactical skill that his achievements in that direction still 
 form a subject of eulogy among naval men. Before the 
 whole of the American fleet could be brought into action 
 upon this occasion Sir James Yeo had had enough of it. 
 Hoisting all sail, he started for the cooler regions of the 
 lake, and with a favoring gale, which rendered pursuit 
 impossible, he saved his fleet from the destruction which 
 must have overtaken it at the hands of the gallant Ameri- 
 can and his men. 
 
 Turning now in the review of the naval heroes of 
 1812 from the interior lakes upon the north to the mon- 
 arch of waters, the ever-rolling ocean, we behold one of 
 the most conspicuous commanders that ever served our 
 country — Stephen Decatur. 
 
534 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 The history of this gallant seaman as it is applied to 
 his early preparation for his subsequent career was not 
 different from that of Perry and Macdonough. His 
 primary education was simply such as the undeveloped 
 school-system of the latter part of the last century afforded. 
 At the age of nineteen he was appointed midshipman in 
 the navy, and his education as a sailor and an ofificer was 
 practical in character. The gallant services rendered by 
 this distinguished officer are well known to every Amer- 
 ican, and need no repetition here. The author simply 
 points to Decatur's name in illustration of the present sub- 
 ject of inquiry — the primal conditions underlying the 
 career of our most remarkable naval figures. 
 I Isaac Hull, the brilliant commander of the Constitution 
 when the first capture of the War of 1812 was made — 
 that of the Guerrihre — was, like Chauncey, a seaman in 
 the merchant service when made lieutenant in the 
 American navy. He had no preliminary education save 
 that which he had obtained on board his ship. His cap- 
 ture of the Guerriire gave him world-wide fame, and 
 made his gallant deed the subject of universal conversa- 
 tion and praise among his admiring countrymen. But his 
 great fame did not rest upon this brilliant exploit alone. 
 He rendered distinguished service upon the coast of 
 Barbary in the first years of the present century, and 
 before the celebrated capture with which his name will be 
 forever associated he made a display of seamaijship 
 which confounded the enemy and drew forth the greatest 
 admiration. When starting upon his cruise just prior to 
 
SKE TCH OF ISA A C HULL. 535 
 
 the capture spoken of, Hull's vessel was chased by a whole 
 squadron of British ships, and his capture or destruction 
 seemed inevitable. Suddenly there fell a calm of wind, 
 and the pursuers and pursued lay almost as quiet and 
 
 almost as idle 
 
 "as a painted ship 
 
 Upon a painted ocean." 
 
 The British commander took little heed of this, feeling 
 secure in the belief that his prey was within his easy 
 grasp. But a wonderful sight soon met his astonished 
 view. In the deep calm, when scarcely enough air was in 
 motion to shake the folds from the listless flags above, 
 the Yankee ship began to steal away with the noiseless 
 tread of the Arab. Slowly but surely away she went until 
 she was far beyond pursuit by the petrified Briton, and 
 nothing was again heard of her until the thrilling capture 
 of the Guerrilre became generally known. The ingenious 
 Hull had escaped from the British squadron by a 
 measure as novel as it was happy in conception. This 
 consisted in sending small boats ahead with a kedge, and 
 in then warping the ship up to it. This operation being 
 continuously repeated, the Constitution walked away from 
 the becalmed English ship, leaving its officers wholly in 
 ignorance of the agency through which it had been 
 accomplished. 
 
 Captain James Lawrence, of fragrant memory among 
 his admiring countrymen, was educated with a view to the 
 study and practice of law. At an early age, however, he gave 
 unmistakable evidence of the bent of his inclination for the 
 
536 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 life of a sailor, and when free to do so by the death of a 
 father, who, however good the intention, endeavored to 
 subvert the genius of his boy into a channel through 
 which it was not designed to run, he adopted it. His 
 preliminary naval education was obtained as a midship- 
 man upon a man-of-war. The reader is well acquainted 
 with his brilliant career up to the moment of his unfortu- 
 nate end, when, before expiring, he uttered the memor- 
 able words which have become the motto of the American 
 navy — " Don't give up the ship ! " 
 
 Commodore William Bainbridge, another of the dis- 
 tinguished naval heroes of our country, went to sea at the 
 age of sixteen years in a merchantman, and in three years 
 afterward he was intrusted with the command of a mer- 
 chant vessel, continuing in that service for an additional 
 period of five years, when he was appointed to command 
 the Retaliation, oi the United States navy. His subse- 
 quent brilliant career in the navy of his country from the 
 years 1798 to 1821 is matter of our general history. 
 
 Commodore Jacob Jones, another of the naval com- 
 manders whose rare seamanship and ability lent such re- 
 nown to the navy during the period under review, had an 
 introduction to the career of a great naval captain entirely 
 different from all of his contemporaries that have here 
 been considered. He was educated to be a physician, 
 graduated at a Philadelphia medical school, and practiced 
 medicine for a time in his native State, Delaware. He 
 was made clerk of the Supreme Court of Delaware and 
 abandoned his profession to enter upon his new duties. 
 
American Naval Heroes. 
 
 I. Farragut. 2. Chauncey. 3. Worden. 4. Macdonough. 
 5. Perry. 6. Hull. 
 
SKE TCH OF JONES AND FOR TER. 537 
 
 Until he was thirty years of age he was quite unac- 
 quainted with the details of a ship's construction, and at 
 the age of thirty-one he entered the United States navy 
 as a midshipman. After less than two years' service in 
 this capacity he was made lieutenant, from which position 
 he rose rapidly to be one of the most distinguished officers 
 of the navy. His gallant fight with and capture of the 
 British sloop-of-war Frolic, a. vessel greatly superior in 
 force to the Wasp, which latter he commanded, has already 
 been related in the preceding pages. This exploit was 
 rewarded by the bestowal of distinguished honors by sev- 
 eral of the States. 
 
 Commodore David Porter, one of the very ablest of 
 the naval commanders during our War of 1812, was the 
 son of a captain of a merchant vessel, and from the age 
 of sixteen to nineteen years he learned practical seaman- 
 ship on board a merchantman trading with the West 
 India Islands. At nineteen he entered the United States 
 navy as midshipman, and thus began his very remarkable 
 naval career. He saw service in the action between the 
 American ship Constellation and the French L'Insurgente, 
 which resulted in the defeat of the latter, and for meri- 
 torious conduct upon that occasion young Porter received 
 promotion. His capture of the British ship Alert, while 
 commanding the Essex, has already been mentioned by 
 the author. His remarkable cruise in the latter, 
 which finally terminated in the destruction of his ship in 
 a Chilean neutral port by two British men-of-war, forms 
 one of the most interesting chapters of naval history. 
 
538 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Commodore Joshua Barney had a distinguished career 
 as a naval officer through both the American struggles 
 with Great Britain — the War of the Revolution and the 
 War of 1812. His school life only extended to his tenth 
 year, after which age he went to sea, and by an accident 
 became commander of a ship at sixteen. In 1775 he 
 was made master's mate of the American sloop-of-war 
 Hornet, and from that time forward until after the close 
 of the War of 18 12 his services to his country were of the 
 most distinguished character. He was one of the promi- 
 nent defenders of the City of Washington during the 
 British attack on the national capital, and during the 
 battle of Bladensburg he was severely wounded and taken 
 prisoner by the enemy. 
 
 The foregoing running sketch of American naval offi- 
 cers, who formed a bright portion of the remarkable 
 galaxy of great naval captains, and whose daring deeds 
 shed such glory upon our naval power during a critical 
 period In our history, noways represents the full list of 
 those who gained honorable distinction during the crisis 
 referred to. The enumeration has been made from the 
 names of those whose deeds have shone most brightly in 
 American naval annals. Since the time of Hull, Decatur, 
 Balnbridge, Jones, Lawrence, Porter, Barney, Perry, 
 Macdonough, and Chauncey, the whole system of naval 
 tactics and naval warfare in general has been revolution- 
 ized by the Introduction of steam In war-ships, of iron 
 casing, and of enormously heavy guns and projectiles. 
 Since their time, too, a host of brilliant names have 
 
SKETCH OF MODERN NA VAL HEROES. 539 
 
 adorned the American navy, as that of Dupont, of Far- 
 ragut, of Goldsborough, of Rowan, of Rodgers, of Foote, 
 of Paulding, of John L. Wooden, of D. D. Porter, and 
 of many others equally deserving of mention. Some of 
 these learned their profession under the old system ; many 
 of them under the crude attempts at scholastic edu- 
 cation upon ship-board, already detailed in the first part 
 of this volume. Perhaps a few of the younger officers 
 who saw service during the Rebellion were graduates of 
 the Academy at Annapolis. A recital of the splendid 
 naval feats of the American civil conflict would neces- 
 sarily carry the author into a detail of the various naval 
 engagements of that conflict, and devolve upon him a 
 task which neither his present subject nor the limits of 
 the present volume would permit. But without seeking 
 to detract from the brilliant records of subsequent naval 
 heroes, which are the legitimate heritages of the Ameri- 
 can people, yet, considered in the character of purely 
 naval officers, it may be asked, with pertinence and pro- 
 priety, how much more successful as practical seamen 
 and successful fighters — to use that expression in default 
 of a better — would have been those naval worthies of 
 1 81 2, had they been the recipients of avast preparatory 
 education, covering a knowledge of various branches of 
 learning, some of which are ornamental, and others of 
 which include a detail of studies seldom ever used in 
 practical application ? 
 
 The author has so constantly asseverated his belief in 
 the efficacy of preparatory education, both for the soldier 
 
540 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 and the sailor, that he has little fear of being misunder- 
 stood in presenting such a question, except it may be by 
 those having a purpose to distort his meaning. A knowl- 
 edge of the branches pertaining to the art of war, whether 
 practiced upon the land or sea, is indisputably necessary 
 to success in that art. But to reiterate the position, it 
 may be alleged that the youth or man who has the nat- 
 ural genius, seeking development into the noted soldier or 
 sailor — a soldier like Nathaniel Greene, or a sailor like 
 Jacob Jones, whose natural bent asserted itself after he 
 had adopted another profession, and had arrived at the 
 age of thirty-one years — will conquer the knowledge per- 
 taining to the^ art early in life, if he have the facilities 
 afforded to him, and later, if he have not. But if a 
 youth or man have not the natural inspiration of the 
 great naval commander, no course of drill in mathematics 
 and its divisional branches, no course of study in naviga- 
 tion, nor of tactics, nor of gunnery, etc., will enable him 
 to shine in the profession as did the blunt old Isaac 
 Hull, or his contemporary heroes, who, though more 
 accomplished in the book-learning and literature of the 
 naval profession, were far less so than the modern aca- 
 demic standard exacts as prerequisite to the career of a 
 naval officer. 
 
 It has already been remarked of our volunteer soldiers 
 of 1812 that, owing to the lack of necessary discipline and 
 to the inability of the Government to furnish the supplies 
 and munitions of war with the requisite regularity and 
 expedition, they generally suffered reverses in the early 
 
SKETCH OF GREAT VOLUNTEER SO..DIERS. 541 
 
 engagements of the conflict, and that in consequence of 
 this fact the hope of the nation for the first sixteen 
 months was centered in the brilliant exploits of its small 
 navy. Although these evils were never fully overcome, 
 owing to the short term of enlistment of the troops, and 
 to the comparatively brief period during which the war 
 lasted, yet the time came when these defects were so far 
 remedied that our land forces fully sustained the rep- 
 utation of the. American volunteer soldiers, and, revers- 
 ing the order at the beginning of the campaign, bore off 
 the prestige of victory from every field whereon they were 
 not opposed by an overwhelming majority. To recount 
 the various struggles in which our noble- soldiers exhibited 
 such splendid courage and effectiveness, both in victory 
 and in defeat, would require an amount of space not now 
 at the command of the author. The most that he can do 
 is to glance at the prominent figures of the time who led 
 our troops to honor upon every field. 
 
 William Henry Harrison, who as Major-General of 
 the Kentucky militia bore such an important part in the 
 War of 181 2, and who subsequently became the ninth 
 President of the United States, had no preliminary educa- 
 tion. Designed by his father to be a physician, young 
 Harrison was put to the study of medicine, which the 
 lad soon discovered was not his vocation. Being offered 
 the commission of ensign by Washington, he turned his 
 attention to military affairs, and for the period of the suc- 
 ceeding six years, during which time he rose to the rank of 
 captain, he was engaged in various battles with the 
 
542 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Indians, in all of which he displayed much gallantry as 
 well as much ability as an officer. At the termination of 
 the period mentioned he resigned from the army and was 
 appointed to be Secretary of the Northwest Territory, 
 from which date the political career began which was 
 ended by his election to the Presidency of his country. 
 After negotiating a number of treaties with the Indians he 
 again took the field against the celebrated chief Tecum- 
 seh, and became the hero of the widely-sung battle of Tip- 
 pecanoe, in the year 1811. During the War of 181 2 he 
 gathered distinguished military honors, his defense of Fort 
 Meigs and his victory at the battle of the Thames 
 creating immense enthusiasm throughout the country. 
 
 General Harrison was a shining example of the Amer- 
 ican citizen-soldier. Intended for another calling in life, 
 and without any preceding education to give to his subse- 
 quent career a military direction, the inspiration came 
 upon presentation of the first opportunity to gather glory 
 from the battle-field. That this inspiration was not based 
 upon a simple casualty, carrying him into the ranks as a 
 mere incident of frontier life at that early day, is suffi- 
 ciently proven by the strong logic of the record which 
 follows the uncouth stripling from his first aspiration for 
 a soldier's life to his high position as a military com- 
 mander fully equal in ability to the veteran officers of a 
 war-pursuing nation. 
 
 In the career of Major-General Winfield Scott we are 
 again presented with a remarkable instance of the agency 
 of the natural bent in giving direction to future develop- 
 
SKETCH OF HARRISON AND SCOTT. 543 
 
 ment. Young Scott was educated to the law, and was 
 admitted to the bar in 1806. Two years afterward, he 
 was appointed to be a captain of artillery, and from that 
 time his distinguished military career commenced. This 
 career extended over all of the wars in which our country 
 has been engaged since the close of the Revolution. In 
 that of 181 2 his first laurels were won, and the fame of 
 the hero of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane became known 
 not only among his admiring countrymen, but recognized 
 by the military talent of Europe. His splendid record in 
 the Mexican War is one of the most flattering pages of 
 American military history, while his greatness as a mili- 
 tary genius was still acknowledged when, at the age of 
 seventy-five years, he gave the first directions in the 
 huge struggle of the Rebellion, after our Military 
 Academy at West Point had given education, and exit 
 to many soldiers whose distinguished careers became so 
 marked during the war between the sections. Though 
 General Scott was a warm advocate, in later years, of an 
 academic military education, he shone forth, in his own 
 person, as an example, not alone of the very great mili- 
 tary man, but, also, of the circumstance so strongly 
 insisted upon in these pages, that true military genius will 
 find expansion and assert its supremacy in spite of every 
 obstacle and of every attempt to turn it from its course. 
 Winfield Scott possessed a military reputation fully recog- 
 nized by all contemporary military men. His record is 
 that of an accomplished and brilliant officer, and one of 
 the most sterling representatives of the volunteer soldiery 
 
544 ^-^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 of the United States. The dark ordeal of the late Civil 
 War brought to light many of these representative sol- 
 diers of a gallant and freedom-loving people. The names 
 of some of these will be mentioned in the succeeding 
 chapter. 
 
 Another of the remarkable figures of. the War of 1812 
 was that of General Andrew Jackson, whose gallant vic- 
 tory over the British General Pakenham at New Orleans, 
 upon the 8th of January, 18 15, confirmed his previous 
 reputation as a military leader of the first order. Jack- 
 son's parents, as is well known, came from Ireland in 
 1 765. Two years later Andrew was born in South Caro- 
 lina. He entered the Revolutionary army when fourteen 
 years of age, and, having been taken prisoner, he was 
 twice wounded with a sword for obstinately refusing to 
 black the boots of a British officer. After the close of 
 the war he studied law, and when nineteen years of age 
 he was admitted to practice in North Carolina. Remov- 
 ing to Tennessee, he became identified with the politics of 
 the State, and held various public positions, including 
 that of United States senator and judge of the Supreme 
 Court of Tennessee. He was major-general of the State 
 militia from 1798 to 18 14. His fine campaigns against 
 the Creek Indians are well-known to all readers of Ameri- 
 can history, while his victory at New Orleans with an 
 inferior force over Sir Edward Pakenham, an officer who 
 had served with great distinction in all the principal 
 engagements of Wellington during the campaigns in 
 France and in Spain, and who led an army of British 
 
SKETCH OF " OLD HICKOR Y." 545 
 
 veterans against the defenses of New Orleans, was one 
 of the most brilliant in the history of battles. With no 
 preliminary education pertaining to a military life, except 
 such as he received upon the field, General Jackson's 
 career furnishes indisputable proof of the existence of the 
 inherent military genius which belonged to him as a 
 natural birthright. His remarkable and happy expedient 
 of constructing his defenses of bales of cotton, impene- 
 trable by the shots of the enemy, displayed an originality 
 of genius which no degree of classical education could 
 have added to in the least. His military career is deeply 
 cut in the pages of history, and the hero of New Orleans 
 is another luminous exemplification of the attributes of 
 the untaught natural soldier of America. 
 
 Richard M. Johnson, who served with such distinc- 
 tion under General Harrison in the campaigns upon the 
 Canadian border, and for whom was warmly claimed the 
 credit of putting a termination to the life of the able but 
 bloody chief Tecumseh, at the battle of the Thames, 
 was a practicing lawyer at the outbreak of the war, with 
 no military experience whatever. After serving his 
 country with most signal ability as a volunteer officer, 
 he resumed the practice of his profession and gathered 
 fresh laurels in civil life. His political career, which was 
 long and useful, was crowned by his elevation to the 
 Vice-Presidency of the United States. 
 
 To these names could be added, did space permit, a 
 long list of other gallant volunteer officers whose able ser- 
 vices lent such effectiveness to the American cause and 
 
546 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 reflected such great honor upon the American soldiery. 
 Such a Hst would embrace the names of the deeply 
 lamented Pike, who lost his life at the capture of York ; of 
 General Greene Clay, the volunteer soldier of Kentucky ; 
 of General Isaac Shelby, the distinguished war Governor 
 of the same State; of General Jacob Brown, born of a 
 Quaker family, a school-teacher in early life, afterward a 
 surveyor, then a lawyer, then a politician, and finally a 
 volunteer soldier in the War of 181 2, and whose services 
 in this capacity were acknowledged by Congress with a 
 gold medal and a resolution of thanks; of General Henry 
 Leavenworth, a practitioner of law until the beginning of 
 the War of 181 2, and whose services in the Canadian 
 campaign were so invaluable that he was continued in 
 the regular army after the close of the war, and whose 
 name is permanently attached to the military post on the 
 Missouri River (Fort Leavenworth) which he estab- 
 lished ; of the brave General George Croghan, whose 
 remarkable sortie from Fort Meigs won for him imperish- 
 able glory ; of General John Swift, of the New York 
 militia, already mentioned herein, and who lost his 
 life after successfully cutting off a picket of the enemy 
 near Fort George ; of General E. W. Ripley, also a prac- 
 ticing lawyer until he volunteered to serve his country 
 during the War of 181 2, and who in recognition of his dis- 
 tinguished service received from Congress a gold medal, 
 upon which were engraven the names of the battles in 
 which he had borne such a conspicuous part — " Niagara, 
 Chippewa, Erie;" of General William J. Worth, who 
 
SKETCH OF GENERAL WORTH. 547 
 
 began life in the humble capacity of trader's clerk, 
 whose scanty education scarcely covered a knowledge of 
 the English rudiments, and whose military services, begin- 
 ning in 1813 upon the Canadian border, were continued 
 through subsequent campaigns against the Indians and 
 through the Mexican War, and who, from a position of a 
 purely commercial character, became one of the most dis- 
 tinguished military officers' in the regular army of the 
 United States, receiving a sword of honor from Congress 
 in recognition of his brilliant deeds, as also others from the 
 States of New York and Louisiana, and from his native 
 county of Columbia, and whose memory is perpetuated by 
 his native State with the splendid monument which faces 
 Madison Square in the City of New York ; of the brave 
 old Revolutionary officer General Henry Miller, who left 
 the practice of law to engage in the struggle for inde- 
 pendence, and who, then an old man, commanded a 
 brigade of militia in the defense of the city of Baltimore 
 after the British outrage upojj the National Capital ; and 
 also of many others who bore a most distinguished part 
 in the second struggle with the British nation. 
 
 In conclusion of this hasty review of the officers dis- 
 tinguishing themselves in 1812, mention must also be 
 made of the fact that our Government and people at 
 large were no less appreciative of the valor of the men in 
 the ranks who with such splendid courage sustained the 
 high character of the volunteer soldier of America. The 
 following joint resolution, passed by Congress, and ap- 
 proved by the President February 27, 181 5, though re- 
 
548 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 lating to the victory of New Orleans, will serve as a fit 
 illustration of the grateful sentiments of our people to 
 the men who had carried the musket and the flag in all 
 the battles of the war. The full text of the resolution is 
 herewith given : 
 
 " Resolved, etc., That the thanks of Congress ' be, and they are 
 hereby given to Major-General Jackson, and through him to the offi- 
 cers and soldiers of the regular arnjy, of the military and volunteers 
 Tinder his command, the greater portion of which troops consisted of 
 militia and volunteers suddenly collected together, for their uni- 
 iorm gallantry and good conduct conspicuously displayed against 
 the enemy from the time of his standing before New Orleans until 
 ;his final expulsion therefrom; and particularly for the valor, skill, 
 and good conduct on the 8th of January last, in repulsing with 
 great slaughter a numerous British army of chosen veterans when 
 attempting by a bold and daring attack to carry by storm the 
 works hastily thrown up for the protection of New Orleans, and 
 thereby obtaining a most signal victory over the enemy, with a 
 disparity of loss on his part unexampled in military annals." 
 
 Before closing the present chapter the author desires 
 to devote a brief space to the war following that of 1812, 
 after an interval of some thirty years, viz. : 'the war with 
 Mexico. 
 
 The Mexican War, from 1 846-1 848, as has already 
 been observed, was a conflict into which the country was 
 also plunged by the demands and action of certain South- 
 ern statesmen and their Northern allies. It was generally 
 unpopular in the North for the double reason that it was 
 a war hastily precipitated upon a weak neighboring state, 
 and that its purpose, of adding, by conquest, territory to 
 increase the political power of the Southern States, was so 
 apparent as to be perceived by all. Volunteering from 
 
OUR MILITARY RESOURCES IN i%Ab. ' 549 
 
 the Northern States was therefore slow, and it was only 
 under the stimulus of the duty of an American citizen- 
 soldier to maintain the honor and dignity of his flag that 
 any general response to the call for volunteers was 
 made in the States m.entioned. It has been roughly 
 estimated that during the war spoken of the North fur- 
 nished only about one-half as many volunteers as 
 were sent from the Southern States. However this 
 statement may tally with the exact figures, it is cer- 
 tain that those who did enlist exhibited the same qualities 
 which had marked the soldier of the Revolution as well 
 as the soldier of 1 812. At the outbreak of hostilities the 
 country was even less prepared for war than upon the 
 outbreak of the contest of 18 12. When General Taylor 
 was ordered to the Texas frontier in the latter part of 
 1845 the numerical force of the army of the United States 
 was inferior to that of any year from 1808 to the period 
 mentioned. As appears from the report of the Adjutant- 
 General, dated November 26, 1845, Taylor's force in 
 Texas, after all the available troops which could be spared 
 by the Government from the Atlantic, the West, and the 
 Northwest divisions had been sent to him, only amounted 
 to about four thousand men, including the general staff. 
 As to any provisions for increasing the efficiency of the 
 reserve troops of the country as represented by the militia 
 and volunteers, it may fairly be said that no advance, no 
 progress had been made since the close of the second war 
 with the mother country. This remark, however, does 
 not apply to the ability of the country in 1846 to equip, 
 
550 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 supply, and maintain a large army, and to do so with 
 greatly more efficiency than during any previous period 
 of its history. The Republic had increased within thirty 
 years in population, wealth, power, and general resources, 
 to a vast extent, and it was amply able upon the occur- 
 rence of a casus belli enlisting the enthusiasm of the whole 
 people to place an arrny in the field beside which that 
 which actually invaded- Mexico would have been very in- 
 significant. As it was, however, the same difficulty with 
 raw, undisciplined troops operated against our arms in 
 the earlier battles just as had happened in our previous 
 experiences. The battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la 
 Palma, which resulted so advantageously to the Ameri- 
 cans, were fought by Taylor with his small force of regular 
 soldiers. The subsequent battles at Monterey and Buena 
 Vista and other engagements were gained, according to 
 the reports of the Mexican officers, because the American 
 volunteers wouldnt acknowledge that they were whipped 
 when according to every law of the schools they should 
 have been. 
 
 As time went on, however, the work of discipline and 
 the educating influence of actual field experience brought 
 out, as always before, the full effectiveness of the Ameri- 
 can citizen-soldier, and in the subsequent campaigns under 
 Taylor, and the final ones under Scott, leading to the 
 placing of the American flag upon the palaces of the 
 Mexican capital, the volunteers of our country reaped a 
 renown that can never fade from the pages of our history. 
 
 The war now under consideration was marked by an 
 
SKETCH OF "OLD ROUGH-AND-READY." 55 I 
 
 entirely new feature in American military annals. The 
 Academy at West Point had been in operation for a period 
 of forty-four years, and it was time that its fruitfulness 
 should be exhibited. The first showing of the institution 
 may be said to have been made at this crisis. Many of 
 its graduates saw actual service for the first time during 
 the campaigns in Mexico. They were attached in many 
 cases to regiments by a brevet rank. Among those of 
 the West Point graduates in Mexico were some who won, 
 everlasting fame and glory in the civil conflict so soon to 
 shake the country like a mighty convulsion of the earth. 
 The immortal name of Ulysses S. Grant heads the roll of 
 honor in the field, though it never stood very high upon 
 the records of his military alma mater. 
 
 The two central figures of our war with Mexico were 
 Generals Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor. The 
 former of these celebrated military leaders has already 
 occupied attention and received comment in the pre- 
 ceding pages of this chapter, and nothing further can be 
 said by the author which could enhance the brilliant 
 record of that justly celebrated General. 
 
 A few words, however, will be permitted by the reader 
 upon his great colleague-in-arms. General Zachary Taylor, 
 the " old rough-and-ready" of the "boys in blue." 
 
 Taylor was the son of a Revolutionary soldier who 
 reared his boy upon his plantation in Kentucky, accus- 
 toming the youth to the hard labor of a farm. With no 
 education whatever, nor opportunity of obtaining one, 
 young Taylor worked away to earn his living and to make 
 
552 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 something of himself, until at the age of twenty-four years 
 he was appointed first lieutenant, Seventh Infantry. 
 During the War of 1812 he received the brevet rank of 
 major for gallant conduct in the Indian assault on Fort 
 Harrison, this being the first instance of brevet promo- 
 tion in our service. He earned distinction in subsequent 
 battles of that war. In the Black Hawk War and in 
 Florida he gained increased military fame from his various 
 battles with the Indians. In the year 1840 he was ap- 
 pointed to command the Army of the Southwest, and in 
 1846 he began the series of battles with the Mexicans 
 which raised his name to the highest pinnacle of military 
 glory — a glory which, in his case, as expressed by the 
 poet Montgomery, led "but to the grave." The great 
 dclat and popularity which attached to his military charac- 
 ter — for he had no political prestige or record — caused 
 his nomination and election to the Presidency of the 
 United States, and his death followed soon after his 
 inauguration, probably from imprisonment in the White 
 House after having led the active, open-air life of a 
 soldier for so long a time. 
 
 The case of General Taylor is certainly remarkable in 
 the confirmation it presents of the existence of a natural 
 bent or aptitude for the military calling, which bent or 
 aptitude will always burst the bonds of every restraint, 
 as the river, artificially turned from its legitimate 
 course, gathers a flood which, sweeping away ev&ry im- 
 pediment, will carry the waters triumphantly to the sea. 
 
 Still another illustration of the same fact is presented 
 
SKETCH OF MAJ.-GENERAL WOOL. 553 
 
 to US by the case of Major-General John E. Wool, men- 
 tion of whom, though serving with great distinction in the 
 War of 181 2, has been reserved for the present connec- 
 tion. This distinguished soldier was, like Taylor, the son 
 of a Revolutionary officer, who was unable to give the 
 youth any educational advantages. Engaging in trade, 
 young Wool managed to become proprietor of a book- 
 store in Troy, N, Y., by the time he had reached his 
 majority. Having suffered the loss of his business by fire, 
 he began the study of law, but, availing himself of the 
 influence of Governor Clinton, he soon after received the 
 appointment of captain in the Thirteenth Infantry, the 
 War of 18 1 2 being then impending. At the period of 
 receiving his commission in the army of the United 
 States, like Taylor again, he had reached the twenty- 
 fourth year of his age. 
 
 His brilliant career as one of the ablest military men 
 from that time until his death in 1869 forms an important 
 and interesting part of the war annals of our country. 
 As an officer of the regular army he served with distinc- 
 tion through the last war with England, through the 
 Mexican War, and through the War of Secession. He 
 organized, armed, and equipped, in the West, 12,000 
 volunteers for service in Mexico within a period of six 
 weeks. He commanded in the absence of General Tay- 
 lor during the first part of the battle of Buena Vista, and 
 was breveted major-general for his gallant services at 
 that time, also receiving swords from Congress and from 
 his native State. His services during the Rebellion were 
 
554 "^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 of the greatest value to the Union cause. As an organ- 
 izer of troops it is said he had no superior. 
 
 Though the task would be one of a most grateful 
 character, the author is compelled to forego a more de- 
 tailed mention, in the present place, of a number of other 
 gallant, able, and distinguished volunteer soldiers who 
 figured with honor upon the battle-fields of Mexico. The 
 names of some of these will appear in the following chap- 
 ter. The campaign against Mexico witnessed the advent 
 upon the actual stage of war of a number of young offi- 
 cers who had received a preparatory military education at 
 the West Point Academy and who afterward figured 
 with more or less prominence upon the battle-fields of the 
 civil conflict. The Mexican War, however, bore fruit in 
 another direction perhaps no less important to the country 
 than the circumstance just mentioned, as it furnished a 
 school of practical experience to a large number of volun- 
 teer soldiers whose names are now written upon an im- 
 perishable page as the heroic defenders of their country 
 against the internal agitators who so rashly sought to 
 destroy it. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE AMERICAN CIVIL CONFLICT — MILITARY RESOURCES OF 
 
 THE COUNTRY AT THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR THE 
 
 VOLUNTEER PRESERVES THE UNION, ABOLISHES SLAVERY, 
 
 AND REVOLUTIONIZES THE OLD METHODS OF WARFARE 
 
 A REVIEW OF SOME OF THE VOLUNTEER OFFICERS OF THE 
 
 REBELLION THE ACADEMIC SOLDIER AND THE SOLDIER 
 
 BY NATURAL GENIUS THE NAVAL HEROES OF THE 
 
 REBELLION CONCLUDING COMMENTARY UPON ALL OF 
 
 THE FACTS. 
 
 THE assertion that the last armed conflict in which 
 the people of the United States were engaged was 
 also forced upon them by Southern statesmen, does 
 not need the testimony of the author in order that it may 
 receive confirmation. While it is far from his intention to 
 fan the flame of sectional crimination, yet it is wholly 
 within place in such a volume as the present to at least 
 note the indisputable fact that since the achievement of 
 independence the American people have been called to 
 sustain no general war which has not been thrust upon 
 them in the interest of an unrepublican aristocracy rest- 
 ing upon the equally unrepublican and thrice-accursed 
 system of human slavery. 
 
 The American Republic, great in the annals of peace, 
 admired by every nation of the world, and respected in 
 
 555 
 
556 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 every land and upon every sea, was called upon in the 
 year 1861 to meet an ordeal through which any other 
 then living government would have tumbled into frag- 
 ments so small as to be insusceptible of reconstruction. 
 The nations of Europe looked upon the intestine conflict 
 with utter amazement, and as they looked but one com- 
 mon sentiment found expression from men grown gray in 
 the public service of states, which expression but intoned 
 a requiem over the dying struggles of the monster Repub- 
 lic of America. As man was never born to die, so his last 
 and best hope on earth was never created to perish so 
 prematurely. The disease which had attacked the nation 
 was terrible in its deadly strength, but the remedy was 
 close at hand and indigenous to the soil. It lay in the 
 patriotism of the people, and in the strong arm and cour- 
 ageous heart of that marvelous power, the American vol- 
 unteer soldier. 
 
 It would be wholly a work of supererogation to 
 attempt even an outline of the great civil conflict through 
 which the country has passed within the quick memory of 
 those now living, and while so many of the actual partici- 
 pants in the conflict still live to enjoy the honors they 
 have so nobly won. Upon the detailed history of that 
 fearful crisis in our national life it may truly be said, " of 
 books there is no end." In that direction the field seems 
 to have been fully covered, and it only remains to the 
 author to preserve unbroken and intact the thread leading 
 to the end for which the writer has been induced to 
 undertake his present task. 
 
MILITIA REGIMENTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 557 
 
 In one respect at least the outbreak of the Civil War 
 found a decided advance in the inilitary establishment of 
 the country over that of any other period of its history. 
 This advance consisted of a more general diffusion of mil- 
 itary knowledge and practical training through the militia 
 organizations of the several States. In the fifteen years 
 of internal and external peace that lay between the out- 
 break of the Mexican and Civil wars, there had been a 
 special stimulus to military organization and drill in the 
 principal States and cities. The youth of the country, as 
 never before, had become attached to organizations exist- 
 ing under the State militia laws, which latter, under peri- 
 odical remodeling and enlarged State legislation, had 
 reached a degree of effective usefulness never before 
 attained. It resulted from this that during the opening 
 crisis of the conflict whole regiments of thoroughly trained 
 soldiers, simply needing some experience with the actual 
 blaze of battle to miake them veteran troops, were placed 
 temporarily at the service of the Government. Further 
 than this, however, many of these same soldiers went into 
 the permanent service of the Government for the period 
 of the war, and from this same source were drawn many 
 who developed into the finest volunteer officers that led 
 our gallant troops to victory. 
 
 In another respect, too, there had been an advance in 
 the military resources of the country, though this advance, 
 singularly enough, was turned against the Union cause. 
 There had been a gradual accumulation of improved 
 arms and implements of war at the various arsenals and 
 
558 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 posts, and new fortifications had been erected upon 
 frontier and coast line, though it must be confessed that 
 neither the supply of war implements and material nor 
 the number or strength of the various fortifications was at 
 all adequate to the actual requirements of an immense 
 nation like our own. Such material, however, as the Gov- 
 ernment possessed was transferred by the Secretary of 
 War to the hands of the enemies of the Union, thus leav- 
 ing the Government at the commencement of the conflict 
 in a worse condition than if it had accumulated no mate- 
 rial whatever. 
 
 Under such conditions the Civil War began, and the 
 American volunteer once more took the field in defense 
 of his country and the liberty of all mankind — for this 
 issue was fairly involved in the contest. 
 
 The scenes which followed have become a marvel for 
 all succeeding ages. Upon the part of the South, the 
 forces were practically raised through a draft, which, 
 toward the close of the war, embraced every male, young 
 or old, at all capable of bearing arms. But in the North, 
 where every man felt himself to be the special preserver 
 of his country, the vast armies which were marshaled to 
 the field were raised by volunteering, with the exception 
 of those produced by a draft unwisely ordered through a 
 mistaken judgment. The number thus raised did not 
 exceed 300,000, while the number of those who volun- 
 tarily entered the armies of the country was more than 
 one and one-half millions. 
 
 The most of these brave men — indeed, an overwhelm- 
 
THE VOLUNTEER IN THE CIVIL WAR. 559 
 
 ing percentage of them — were wholly unlearned in the 
 military art, and entirely without experience in its prac- 
 tical employment. They possessed all the attributes of 
 the men who had follov/ed the fortunes of the campaigns 
 for independence, of the men who again contended with 
 the British foe in 1812, allied as he was with the tribes of 
 savage Indians, and of the men who, under Scott and 
 Taylor, had maintained the glory and honor of the Amer- 
 ican flag through the pest-dealing lowlands and the tower- 
 ing mountain elevations of the country with which we 
 were precipitated into war in 1846, But, as was the case 
 in all of the wars mentioned, the volunteer, while possess- 
 ing the most remarkable attributes of a soldier, was 
 lacking in those elements of efficiency which can only be 
 acquired under the fire of an enemy. He was a "raw" 
 man, in the military vernacular, though it was not long 
 until the drill of the battle-field made the Union soldiers 
 a body of troops such as probably had never been placed 
 upon the march since the contention of nation with 
 nation began. To fully recount the glorious conduct of 
 these troops, through the various conflicts which led to 
 the subjugation of the Rebellion, would require the space 
 of a dozen volumes of the size of the present. Results 
 were obtained of the most profound importance. The 
 Union was preserved and cemented beyond the possibility 
 of a future rupture ; the system of slavery, in theory and 
 in practice, was radically abolished ; and four million 
 bondmen were not alone blessed with freedom, but they 
 were likewise placed upon an equality before the law with 
 
560 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Other citizens of the Republic. But these were not the 
 only results obtained : the great nation devoted to peace 
 and to the pursuit of national and individual development 
 and welfare — the nation without a navy, the nation with- 
 out an army, the nation which simply existed through tol- 
 erance of the great powers — suddenly astounded the 
 world by entirely revolutionizing the system of naval war- 
 fare, and by demonstrating a military power which no 
 nation of the world could even hope to successfully 
 encounter upon the soil of America. All honor to the 
 glorious soldier who has achieved these beneficent results. 
 Let paeans be sung to him through all the ages, and to 
 the latest moment of his earthly existence let his bene- 
 fited countrymen continue their admiration of and care 
 for his personal welfare. Let his example be held before 
 the youth of our country as one claiming their emulation, 
 and let his fame and glory pass into history as the 
 traditional legacy of a freedom-loving people. 
 
 Turning from the fascinating view of the American 
 volunteer as a soldier in the ranks, let us take a hasty 
 view of him as an ofificer during the late fearful struggle 
 for national existence. As the limits assigned to his 
 present task compel the author to brevity, nothing further 
 than a running commentary upon some, though very far 
 from all, of the prominent volunteer officers of the Civil 
 War can be indulged in. In the review of a list of offi- 
 cers so comparatively few in number, the reader will bear 
 in mind that the purpose of the present volume only leads 
 the author to the citation of examples in illustration of 
 
SKETCH OF GEN. A. H. TERRY. 56 1 
 
 his immediate subject, and not to a eulogy of, or an 
 attempt to render to each worthy officer the justice due 
 him. For the same reason, no mention is made of the 
 West Point officers who so triumphantly vindicated their 
 military education and the justice of their first selection 
 to be cadets at the National Academy. The honored 
 names of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, McPherson, Thomas, 
 and of many others, need no eulogy in the present vol- 
 ume. Their fame is a part of the nation's history ; it can 
 never be tarnished by selfish depreciation, nor too much 
 lauded by a grateful country. 
 
 Without any order in the selection indicative of invid- 
 iousness, let us first consider the case of General Alfred 
 H. Terry. 
 
 The case of this highly accomplished and most suc- 
 cessful officer, viewed from the military standpoint, must 
 be considered to be a very remarkable one. He received 
 a high literary education from Yale College, and, subse- 
 quently studying law, he was admitted to the bar when 
 he was twenty-one years of age. Six years afterward, he 
 was made clerk of the court of New Haven County, 
 where he resided, which position he continued to fill for 
 the six following years. During the time, however, that 
 he was driving away at the law, the real bent of his 
 genius was forcing him into the direction of a military 
 life. He had become attached to the New Haven 
 County militia, and in 1854 he was given the command 
 of the Second Regiment, in which command he continued 
 until the outbreak of the Rebellion, at which date his real 
 
563 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 military career began. He was then nearly thirty-three 
 years of age, and within the period of five years there- 
 after he was acknowledged to be one of the finest military 
 men in the service of the United States. This extraor- 
 dinary instance of military development after the first 
 half of the years of an ordinary life had been devoted to 
 the cultivation and practice of a civil profession, and 
 when the subject of remark had had none of those spe- 
 cial branches entering into his education which are con- 
 sidered by the modern world to form an indispensable 
 part of the qualifications of every military officer, needs 
 no extended comment in its application to the author's 
 special subject. The mere statement of facts is suffi- 
 ciently conclusive of the correctness of the author's posi- 
 tion and argument, apart from the other numerous exam- 
 ples which have been herein adduced. 
 
 Every school-boy of the country is thoroughly con- 
 versant with the brilliant career of General Terry during 
 the late war, and no general repetition of it is necessary 
 in these pages. One of his achievements, however, is so 
 pertinent to the author's objective point of argument, in 
 that it directly represents a strong comparison between 
 inherent military genius and the military art of the 
 schools, that, without a purpose to be personally invidi- 
 ous, the author feels wholly justified in speaking of it at 
 length. Every military reader of the present pages will 
 perceive at once that the Fort Fisher incident is now 
 referred to. 
 
 Fort Fisher and its surroundings constituted the rebel 
 
THE AFFAIR OF FORT FISHER. 563 
 
 defense of the harbor of Wilmington, N. C. During the 
 progress of the war which, under the mighty genius of 
 Grant, was rapidly approaching its close, the port of Wil- 
 mington was left as the only one on the Southern coast 
 accessible to blockade-runners. As such it was of the 
 utmost importance to the Union cause that it should 
 be closed. But a still further importance attached to it, 
 as connected with the comprehensive and consummate 
 plan which General Grant had formed to finally crush the 
 Rebellion. The General-in-Chief had determined that 
 the same force should subdue Fort Fisher, thus closing 
 the port, that he intended should march into North Caro- 
 lina and there prevent the gathering of Confederate 
 troops, so that Sherman, in his northward march, might 
 crush Johnston, while he (Grant) subdued Lee at Rich- 
 mond and Petersburg. Fort Fisher was a vital point, 
 therefore, in a double sense, and Grant determined that 
 the assault upon it should not fail. To carry out his pur- 
 pose he sent one of the most powerful fleets ever got 
 together to attack it from the sea. This fleet consisted 
 of about sixty vessels, under the immediate command of 
 Admiral Porter. As a land force he sent a body of 
 selected men, numbering about six thousand five hun- 
 dred, whose immediate command was given to General 
 Godfrey Weitzel. The commander of the Department 
 of Virginia and North Carolina, General Benjamin F. 
 Butler, took station upon one of the ships, where he could 
 be in ready signal communication with the commander of 
 the land force. 
 
564 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Three months before the attack General Weitzel, with 
 General C. K. Graham, had made a reconnoissance of the 
 work from the sea side, in order to determine its strength 
 and the number of men necessary to take it, and a report 
 thereon was made by these ofificers. That was in Sep- 
 tember, 1864, and the attempt to capture it was made 
 in the following December. 
 
 General Weitzel, who had been especially selected for 
 the expedition, was a high-class West Point graduate, 
 Tvith the reputation to be one of the most able and accom- 
 plished engineers who ever left the Academy. 
 
 Admiral Porter began the siege at the appointed time, 
 and, as appears from the record, thought he had dis- 
 mounted the enemy's guns. Weitzel landed a part of his 
 force, and after a thorough reconnoissance of the work 
 reported to General Butler that in his judgment, as well 
 as in that of his officers, a successful assault with the 
 troops at hand would be impossible, as they could not 
 operate when the fleet was firing, while, if the fleet dis- 
 continued to fire, the guns of the fort would be turned 
 upon the land forces, and to lead them against such a fire 
 would be simple murder. The result was that General 
 Butler recalled the force to the ships, and the expedition 
 failed. General Grant was highly incensed at this result. 
 He knew well enough that he could have carried the 
 work with the means provided, and in his "General 
 Report of the Operations of the Army" he censured 
 General Butler for the recall of the troops, and, upon 
 General Grant's request, the former was relieved of tke 
 
GEN. TERRY TAKES FORT FISHER. 565 
 
 command of the department and General Ord was 
 appointed to succeed him. 
 
 Grant requested Admiral Porter to remain until he 
 could organize another attack. Sending a few additional 
 troops, some twelve or thirteen hundred, as a reinforce- 
 ment, the General-in-Chief selected General A. H. Terry 
 to command the land forces during the second attack. 
 He had chosen a brilliant engineer the first time, and he 
 now chose a volunteer officer without any preliminary 
 military education. The result of this wise choice of that 
 astute man is well known to the reader. Terry went 
 ashore with the same men that Weitzel led, under the 
 protection of the fleet, and, instead of reconnoitering to 
 see if the work could be carried, he burnt his ships in the 
 figurative sense, and proceeded to carry it. 
 
 This affair gave rise to heated discussion and to much 
 misrepresentation of facts. Regular army officers, feeling 
 that the reputation of West Point was at stake, 
 denounced General Butler as the cause of the fiasco. 
 General Grant censured him because he failed to carry 
 out the express order for the intrenchment of the troops 
 on shore and hastily recalled them without accomplish- 
 ing the end of the expedition. General Butler defended 
 himself by adducing testimony, embracing that of the 
 rebel General Whiting, commander pro tempore of the 
 department, who was wounded and captured in the fort, 
 which testimony was intended to show that the work at that 
 tkne could not have been taken. Knowing the excellent 
 qualities of General Butler very well, the author has never 
 
566 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 doubted that, had he commanded in person on shore, he 
 would have carried the work, with the assistance of the 
 fleet, beyond a doubt. Butler's real vindication seems to 
 rest upon the fact that he failed because he relied upon the 
 statement of an ' officer whose judgment, according to 
 report, was not to be impeached. 
 
 That distinguished and accomplished soldier, Major- 
 General E. D. Sumner, was engaged in mercantile pur- 
 suits until twenty-three years of age, at which time he 
 was appointed a second lieutenant in the United States 
 army, without any previous military education or experi- 
 ence. From this time his brilliant career as a regular army 
 officer, with which the reader is familiar, began. General 
 Philip Kearney, who had few equals in all that goes to 
 make the successful soldier, with high accomplishment 
 and admirable intrepidity, was a student of law until he 
 reached his twenty-second year, when he was made a lieu- 
 tenant in the First Dragoons. Soon after he was sent to 
 Europe by the Government to study and report upon the 
 French cavalry tactics. He fought in Africa and attained 
 the cross of the Legion of Honon He wag distinguished 
 in the Mexican War, where he lost an arm. He fought 
 in Italy and received additional honors. His services in 
 the War of the Rebellion were of the highest value. In 
 a word, he was a volunteer soldier of America, recognized 
 in Europe as one of the finest military men of his time. 
 General Daniel Sickles, another brilliant and distin- 
 guished soldier, was a practicing lawyer and a prominent 
 politician until he was nearly forty years of age, at which 
 
SKETCH OF GEN. DANIEL SICKLES. 567 
 
 time he went to the Civil War as colonel of a volunteer 
 regiment that he had raised. The eminently brilliant 
 military career of General Sickles is well known to all 
 Americans, and needs no eulogy from the author. 
 Major-General J. D. Cox was also a practicing lawyer and 
 politician until his thirty-third year. With no previous 
 military education or experience he entered the army in 
 1 86 1 as a volunteer and rose to the highest military rank. 
 His distinguished services are so well known as to need 
 no repetition in this place. Major-General Jeff. C. Davis 
 left school when a little over eighteen to join Colonel 
 James H. Lane's volunteer regiment for the Mexican 
 War. For gallant conduct in the several battles under 
 Taylor he was made second lieutenant in the regular 
 army. He was one of the gallant spirits who defended 
 Fort Sumter under Robert Anderson, and his subsequent 
 military record covers services of the highest importance 
 to the Government. General Lewis Wallace, who dis- 
 tinguished himself throughout the Civil War, was a 
 student of law who went to the Mexican War as a volun- 
 teer. After the close of that war he became a practicing 
 lawyer, and so remained until the civil conflict took him 
 to the field. General W. H. L. Wallace, a young lawyer, 
 volunteered as a private in the Mexican War, and, after 
 earning promotion, returned to the practice of law, in 
 which he remained until the outbreak of the Rebellion. 
 His services were of a brilliant character up to his death, 
 at Shiloh. General James S. Wadsworth was educated 
 for civil pursuits, and was a most prominent public 
 
568 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 man until the outbreak of the RebelHon, when he had 
 reached his fifty-fourth year. At this late time in life he 
 entered the volunteer army and rendered most distin- 
 guished service. David B. Birney practiced law until his 
 thirty-sixth year. With no military knowledge whatever, 
 he entered the service in 1861 as a volunteer, and through 
 a brilliant military career he rose to the rank of major- 
 general. After the wounding of General Sickles at Get- 
 tysburg he took command of the corps. Frank P. Blair, 
 of Missouri, who gained distinction as a soldier during the 
 Civil War, was also a lawyer, and, as a young man, had 
 served as a private in the Mexican War. He attained 
 the rank of major-general through brilliant service in the 
 West and South. The gallant John A. McClernand 
 was a farmer's boy who conquered a knowledge of the 
 law and was admitted to its practice. He was a volun- 
 teer during the hostilities against the Sac and Fox 
 Indians. Returning to the law, he was a prominent public 
 man when the Rebellion broke out, at which time he was 
 nearly fifty years of age. His military career was a line 
 of distinguished successes, as all know. 
 
 The distinguished General John M. Palmer was a law- 
 yer and public man up to the outbreak of the Rebellion, 
 when, at the age of forty-four years, he became a volun- 
 teer soldier, achieving a brilliant record, and being made 
 major-general in recognition of his services. The 
 brothers Daniel and Robert L. McCook were lawyers 
 with no military knowledge until they became volunteers 
 in 1861. Their services were recognized by promotion 
 
SKETCHES OF GALLANT VOLUNTEER OFFICERS. 569 
 
 to the grade of brigadier-general. The distinguished 
 Michael Corcoran was educated as a civilian and entered 
 the volunteer army in 1861 as colonel of a New York 
 militia regiment — the Sixty-ninth — which gathered 'im- 
 perishable garlands for gallant and invincible fighting. 
 General Corcoran's record as a military officer of great 
 capacity has never been called in question. General 
 James Shields was a lawyer by profession, and had seen 
 some military service in the Florida War. Entering the 
 Mexican War as a volunteer, he achieved great distinction 
 as a gallant and capable soldier, and was made brigadier- 
 general. Returning to civil life at the close of the Mex- 
 ican War, he again became a soldier at the outbreak of the 
 Rebellion. His gallant record needs no repetition. The 
 celebrated Irish leader Thomas Francis Meagher had no 
 military experience until he was nearly forty years of age, 
 when he entered the volunteer service of our country as 
 captain in the glorious Sixty-ninth New York. His 
 services as a soldier were of such distinction as to earn 
 the promotion to the grade of brigadier-general. Colonel 
 James Mulligan, the hero of the defense of Lexington in 
 the State of Missouri, was educated to be a lawyer. When 
 thirty-one years of age, he volunteered for the defense of 
 his country. His distinguished record as a soldier will 
 remain an imperishable part of American history. The 
 gallant John A. Dix was educated to the law, and went into 
 the War of 1 8 1 2 as a volunteer. H is career as a public man 
 up to the breaking-out of the Rebellion is well known. 
 Though over sixty years of age, he demonstrated evident 
 
570 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 military talent during the struggle of the nation for life. 
 Generals Benjamin Butler, Thomas Ewing, James A. 
 Garfield, John W. Geary, John F. Hartranft, Robert B. 
 Mitchell, M. F. Force, Richard Oglesby, General John 
 F. Miller, General Lucius Fairchild, General John E. 
 Smith, and many other distinguished volunteers of the late 
 war were educated to law and were engaged in practice or 
 in public life when entering the service in 1861. General 
 James H. Lane, Robert H. Milroy, and many other dis- 
 tinguished ofificers of the Rebellion were lawyers by pro- 
 fession who had seen service in the Mexican War. 
 General James G. Blunt, the gallant defender of Kansas 
 and Missouri, was a practicing physician of Southern 
 Kansas at the outbreak of the war, with no knowledge of 
 military affairs. His career upon the border in defense of 
 the Union was remarkable in its exhibition of rare mili- 
 tary genius. 
 
 In the foregoing enumeration the author has selected 
 the names presented at random as strong illustrations of 
 the subject under consideration. Other instances equally 
 to the point could easily be presented. The history of 
 the civil conflict abounds with names of brilliant military 
 men who up to the time of entering the service had 
 received no military education, and who had enjoyed no 
 military experience whatever. 
 
 It will be observed that such illustrations as have thus 
 been cited are confined to citizens of the United States 
 more or less distinguished in the capacity of the soldier. 
 It would be easy to summon to the view of the reader 
 
ANECDO TE OF BARpN JOMINI. 5 7 1 
 
 examples of great military men of all ages and countries 
 of the world whose careers tell the same story as is 
 revealed to us in modern times. In closing the com- 
 mentary the reader's permission is asked for the mention 
 of one example taken from the Old World — that of 
 Baron Henri Jomini. This distinguished individual, as all 
 know, was the author of over thirty volumes upon the art 
 of war in its different branches and phases. His treatises 
 are the standards of all nations. Jomini was a Swiss by 
 birth, and he seems to have had the pure military inspira- 
 tion. As a very young man he made every attempt to 
 obtain a military education, but, being disappointed in this, 
 he was forced into commercial pursuits for a livelihood. 
 While serving in the capacity of broker's clerk for a firm 
 in Paris, he made the acquaintance of General Ney, by 
 whose aid he was brought to the notice of Napoleon. At 
 the age of twenty-five he produced the first part of his cel- 
 ebrated work entitled " A Treatise upon Great Military 
 Operations." He is the only rival Napoleon ever had in 
 the development of those intricate plans — tactical and 
 strategical — in the practical application of which the 
 great Frenchman filled the military world with awe and 
 astonishment. After reading J omini's first book Napoleon 
 is said to have been angry because its publication was per- 
 mitted, as all of his (Napoleon's) military secrets would 
 thus be exposed to his enemies. As a practical military 
 man Jomini obtained great distinction in the French 
 campaigns under the Emperor, and subsequently in the 
 Russian service. His example is that of a man who has 
 
572 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 given military laws to the world and who, with no prelim- 
 inary advantages whatever, but by the inspiration of 
 inherent genius, made himself the great teacher of 
 teachers, and the acknowledged exponent of the art of 
 war. 
 
 In the preceding citation of the names of our Amer- 
 ican heroes no mention is made of the great central figures 
 of our naval achievements during the war of the Rebellion 
 — of our Dupont, our Farragut, our Goldsborough, our 
 Rowan, our Rodgers, our Foote, our John L. Worden, 
 and our David D. Porter. These distinguished men- were, 
 without exception, reared under the old system of making 
 sailors, and by their glorious record during that eventful 
 struggle they proved themselves worthy representatives 
 of those great characters who during the War of 1812 
 raised the standard of the American navy, small in size as 
 it then was, to a rank inferior to none. 
 
 Even with this omission there may be some of his 
 readers disposed to the opinion that the author has illus- 
 trated this branch of his subject with too great profuse- 
 ness. It should not be forgotten, however, that the 
 matter under investigation and argument belongs to that 
 class of subjects which, in the establishment of fixed and 
 safe rules of deduction, require the support of many facts 
 all bearing upon the main proposition. The old proverb 
 declares that "one swallow makes no spring," and it is no 
 less true that one instance establishes no general law. It 
 has been the author's purpose to fix beyond the reach of 
 successful contradiction the two propositions heretofore 
 
''WHITE GIFTS AND INJUN GIFTS." 573 
 
 maintained in these pages, viz. : that the past and present 
 life of the American RepubHc is the gift of its citizen- 
 soldiery, while its future lies in the same hands ; and that 
 where the true military afiflatus exists as a native endow- 
 ment, it will find expansion, regardless of preliminary 
 teaching and in defiance of every restraint. The impulse 
 belongs to the inherent, or, more broadly stated, to the 
 physical constitution of the individual. This fact has 
 been stated by innumerable writers in many forms of 
 assertion, but, perhaps, in none more simply or more poeti- 
 cally than in that of our own novelist, Fenimore Cooper, 
 who makes the "Deerslayer" say, in the novel of that 
 name, after an honest homily upon the Indian character : 
 "All men, whoever they be, have their gifts: -the white 
 man has white gifts, and the Injun man has Injun gifts." 
 A greater truth lay beneath the surface of the hardy 
 frontiersman's simple homily than was dreamed of in his 
 crude philosophy. 
 
 There is one other point that the author feels impelled 
 to mention in closing this branch of his subject. One 
 aspect of the question has been dwelt upon and abun- 
 dantly illustrated by living reference and example. The 
 author has admitted everywhere the great advantage of 
 an expert education, so to express it, to the individual 
 possessing the intimate aptitude for the military profession. 
 Further than this, he has emphatically declared that no 
 degree of preparatory education, nor of scholastic train- 
 ing, can make a competent and reliable ofificer of a man 
 who is destitute of the aptitude mentioned. Beyond this; 
 
574 '^^^ VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 he has not gone, but he has now arrived at a point, relat- 
 ing to the same subject, at which he is prepared to make 
 still another proposition. Briefly stated, this may be 
 ■covered by the following assertion : that, in certain mental 
 compositions, the extreme scholastic training for the mili- 
 tary life is positively detrimental to the quick conception 
 and rapid execution of those military plans and move- 
 ments through which one military man accomplishes vic- 
 tory in opposition to another. 
 
 Upon this point the example of the British General 
 Braddock, already cited in the previous pages, may again 
 be brought to view. Irving, in his Life of Washington, 
 says that " Braddock was a veteran in service, having been 
 upwards of forty years in the Guards — that school of 
 ■exact discipline and technical punctilios." Of Braddock's 
 celebrated expedition Washington himself wrote : " I 
 found that instead of pushing on with vigor, without 
 regarding a little rough road, they were halting to level 
 every mole-hill and to erect bridges over every brook, by 
 which means we were four days in getting twelve miles." 
 Irving still further remarks of Braddock's failure to adopt 
 the wholesome advice of Washington, a soldier by nature, 
 as the after record proves, that "the military education of 
 the former stood in the way. He was so bigoted to the 
 regular and elaborate tactics of Europe that he could not 
 stoop, to the make-shift expedients of a new, country, 
 "where every difficulty is encountered and mastered in a 
 rough-and-ready style, and that in consequence of adher- 
 ing to technical rules and military forms General Brad- 
 
GENERAL WEITZEL AND FORT FISHER. 575 
 
 dock consumed more than a month in marching some- 
 thing above one hundred miles." 
 
 But it seems unnecessary to go as far back as the time 
 of Braddock to find much more pronounced demonstration 
 of the assertion above made. With no personal feeling 
 against our worthy soldiers, and dealing exclusively with 
 matters belonging to the general people, the citation of 
 examples from our late war certainly cannot be objected 
 to, provided, of course, that the underlying facts be fairly 
 stated. What significance, then, has the affair at Fort 
 Fisher, already touched upon in the present chapter? By 
 reference to the table of West Point graduates it will be 
 found that General Weitzel, who commanded the land 
 force during the first expedition, stood second in the list 
 of «/2<»«72z for the year 1855. -^s far as book knowledge 
 of his profession was concerned. General Weitzel was a 
 highly accomplished officer ; indeed, his knowledge of 
 engineering was exceptional, and it may be added that 
 his personal bravery was never called in question. Then, 
 why did he not take Fort Fisher? General Terry, a 
 simple volunteer soldier of the war, with no elaborately 
 cultivated knowledge of mathematics and engineering in 
 all of their branches and ramifications, with the same 
 fleet, commanded by the same officer, and with the iden- 
 tical men who composed the first force, swelled by an 
 insignificant reinforcement of a few hundred troops to 
 meet a like reinforcement of the enemy, took the work 
 within a month of General Weitzel's failure. This con- 
 trast was so strongly against the present system of mili- 
 
576 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 tary education that it was sought to cast the onus of 
 blame upon that gallant and undoubtedly capable military 
 man, General Benjamin Butler, who, as commander of 
 the department, had general command of the first expedi- 
 tion. That this charge had no foundation in justice 
 appears self-evident from the fact that General Butler did 
 not go ashore at all, but that he wholly relied upon the 
 report of his subordinate officer. There can be no dis- 
 pute of the record upon this point. 
 
 The truth of the matter is that General Weitzel's 
 judgment of the impregnability of the work was founded 
 upon the precepts of his academic education, and not 
 opon the comprehensive expedients and brilliant dash of 
 the soldier, in whose lexicon the word fail has no place. 
 It is a circumstance as amusing as it is well attested 
 that during many of the battles in Mexico the Mexicans 
 believed that, according to every law of the books and 
 every precept of the professors of their military academy, 
 the Americans had been whipped, and they were pro- 
 foundly astonished, not to say chagrined, that the 
 " Yengee " volunteers persisted in saying that they were 
 not whipped, and that they had no intention of being 
 whipped. The illustration may not be considered very 
 apt by some, but within the narrow circle of the principle 
 underlying the timid move upon Fort Fisher and the 
 obstinate resistance of the volunteers in Mexico is to be 
 found an explanation of the real difference between the 
 over-educated academic military strategist and the sol- 
 dier who has been endowed by nature with those ele- 
 
WOODEN GUNS AND MALTREATED SOLDIERS. 577 
 
 ments of success which , neither precept can give nor" 
 example impart. 
 
 Were the author disposed to follow this subject to 
 the point of exhaustion, he could make an array of well 
 known cases, gathered from many of the greatest battle- 
 fields of the recent war, and he could further set forth, 
 in strong light, the instance of a picked army — large, 
 well equipped, well officered, and all eagerness for the 
 conflict — compelled to lie for months in disease-breeding 
 swamps while elaborate siege operations were being car- 
 ried out by the General in command — a man distin- 
 guished for his professional accomplishments — the ter- 
 mination of which operations revealed the circumstance 
 that the enemy had fled an indefinite time previously, 
 leaving to our troops the capture of a stock of wooden 
 artillery against whose frowning muzzles such elaborate 
 and expensive precautions had been taken. But, having 
 proven by the examples and facts herein cited that mili- 
 tary education alone cannot make a military man, the 
 author is willing to leave the subject at this point to the 
 reflective minds of his fellow-citizens. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE INJUSTICE OF THE PRESENT MILITARY SYSTEM TO 
 
 THE CITIZEN-SOLDIERY THE AGGRESSIVENESS OF WEST 
 
 POINT THE VOLUNTEER CONSIDERED A CHARLATAN BY 
 
 THE ACADEMIC SOLDIERS THE COUNTRY IMPERILED 
 
 BY FEUDS BETWEEN THE PROFESSIONAL SOLDIERS OF 
 THE ACADEMY USURPATION OF MILITARY LEGISLA- 
 TION BY WEST POINT INFLUENCE OFFICIAL LIST OF 
 
 THE RETIRED OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES, SHOW- 
 ING THEIR NAMES, RANK, AND ANNUAL PAY AND 
 
 ALLOWANCES A STARTLING EXHIBIT OF INJUSTICE TO 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER, 
 
 THE military power of the Republic, then, has always 
 resided, does now reside, and must continue to 
 reside, as long as the present form of government exists, 
 in the volunteers — the citizen-soldiers of America, 
 Every obligation which is imposed by national and per- 
 sonal protection belongs in the main to them — the 
 strong right arm of our free institutions. It is no part of 
 the author's purpose to complain that the people at large 
 have not been duly grateful to their benefactors for the 
 sacrifices made by the latter. The national cemeteries, 
 the beautiful monuments, the pension lists of the Govern- 
 ment, the touching services of appreciation annually per- 
 formed at the graves of the nation's defenders, all attest 
 
 578 
 
PAY OF THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER. 579 
 
 the pervading gratitude of our people. But, uncon- 
 sciously to the latter, our military system, which has 
 been so fully discussed herein, has been so formed and 
 so conducted as to impose upon our volunteer soldiery 
 the most flagrant injustice. To the showing of this 
 point the present chapter will be devoted. 
 
 Though the American soldier, volunteer and regular, 
 receives a higher rate of money compensation while in 
 service than does the soldier of any European nation, 
 this compensation is by no means adequate to the nature 
 of the case ; nor does the sum paid by our people upon 
 account of military defense and protection even nearly 
 approximate the yearly average of the sum paid by any 
 first-class nation upon the same account. The explana- 
 tion of this fact is sufficiently obvious, being found in the 
 circumstan.ee that while the pay of the European soldier 
 is small, his service and the resulting expense to his gov- 
 ernment are continuous, while the pay of the American 
 volunteer is periodical, the Government only being called 
 to disburse it when a state of actual war exists. In this 
 respect the Government enjoys the favorable position of 
 a private employer who is able to call to his service at any 
 moment an employ^ for a limited period, and who is free 
 to dismiss him when the service is performed. This priv- 
 ilege is one resulting from our republican Government. 
 The people constitute the Government : to them belongs 
 the purse, and upon them devolves the duty of maintain- 
 ing their privileges. 
 
 The foregoing statements concerning the pay of our 
 
580 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 volunteer soldiers are made in this connection not be- 
 cause of any complaint against the rate of emolument, 
 but to emphasize the demand that their present emolu- 
 ments, being none too great, should not be endangered 
 by the attempts of individuals or parties to manufacture 
 political capital upon the basis of an economy as false as 
 it is pernicious and as unjust as it is dangerous to the best 
 interests of the country. 
 
 Beyond all this, however, which the author has thrown 
 in as an incidental suggestion, the volunteer soldiery has 
 ever been placed in a false position, involving, as before 
 said, the most flagrant injustice to a body of men without 
 whose patriotic services the Republic could not survive 
 an armed attack of any strength by its enemies. 
 
 Strangely enough the military interest of the govern- 
 ing clashes of our country has always centered in the 
 small body of men — a mere national police force — called 
 the "regular" army of the United States. Since the 
 effective establishment of the Academy at West Point 
 this institution has been constituted the special reposi- 
 tory of the entire military establishment. Instead of its 
 functions being limited to imparting an education in the 
 science and art of war to such pupils as may be sent there 
 for the purpose of receiving it, the institution, arrogating 
 to itself the sole military knowledge of a people military 
 by natural impulse and by the general habits and sur- 
 roundings of their life, has for years past taken posses- 
 sion of the military interests of the Government and has 
 conducted those interests as the sole property of the 
 
GOVERNMENT INFLUENCE OF WEST POINT. 58 1 
 
 select circle which by the decrees of West Point has been 
 constituted the only true exponent of the art of war upon 
 the American continent. 
 
 Now, this may seem a harsh statement, and by some it 
 may be deemed an ill-natured one. The author sincerely 
 wishes that the facts were not such as to compel it, but 
 there is no volunteer soldier in our country who does not 
 know that they are. The matter now under consideration 
 is one of great importance to our country ; and it is the 
 duty of every citizen to become familiar with the question 
 embraced in it, as this question, soon or late, must be 
 met and solved by our people. 
 
 The assertion just made that the West Point influence 
 had become the dominating power of our military 
 interests does not need much argument for its support, 
 as a superficial investigation of the facts will be amply 
 sufficient to demonstrate its truth. This influence, in vir- 
 tue of our military system, by which expert military knowl- 
 edge of the country is confined by the Government to 
 the small number of individuals whose names constitute 
 the official roster of the United States army, has usurped 
 the military organization of the country to an extent not 
 realized by a superficial observer. Giving the institution 
 personality, it may be said that West Point has pushed 
 itself to the head of the various executive bureaus of the 
 War Department. It has installed itself in the Quarter- 
 master-General's office, in that of the Paymaster-General, 
 of the Commissary-General, of the Adjutant-General, of the 
 Inspector-General, etc., etc. Its officers, with some recent 
 
582 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 exceptions, fill the whole army, and while it has not as yet 
 taken the Cabinet portfolio of the War Department, it 
 practically directs that department, as, because of the cir- 
 cumstance that the War Secretary is generally a civilian, 
 the actual administration of the office falls upon the mili- 
 tary advisers of the Government. But West Point goes 
 farther than this, and by means of its potent and extended 
 influence it manages to control to a very large extent the 
 military legislation of Congress. 
 
 The effect of this preeminence has been, and still is, 
 to prevent any development of the volunteer service. 
 Regarding no man as a competent soldier who does not 
 pass the sacred portals of West Point, an ex-cathedra ban 
 is pronounced by the institution against the volunteer 
 ofificer, who is then registered as an empyric in the profes- 
 sion of arms. 
 
 At the outbreak of the late Civil War, the whole 
 organization of the army was thus in the hands of West 
 Point. Such being the case, the entire roster of the 
 institution was exhausted in officering the various divis- 
 ions of the army before an important command was given 
 to a volunteer. This is a well-known fact. But the evil 
 went farther than that, and the hostility of West Point to 
 the volunteer officers openly manifested itself in attempts 
 by — perhaps we may say — the majority of the " regular" 
 ■officers to prevent any volunteer from being a successful 
 ofificer. It is a shame upon us that in that dreadful crisis 
 of our country's fate there were many flagrant instances of 
 failure to our arms, and consequent peril to the nation. 
 
WEST POINT AGAINST THE VOLUNTEERS. 583 
 
 arising from a determination to prevent the success of the 
 volunteer officers. 
 
 This utter sacrifice of the country's fate upon the altar 
 of professional jealousy by those who had been reared by 
 the nation expressly to defend it, was cruel and most 
 wicked. But the jealousy spoken of was not confined to 
 hostility against the volunteer officers. This green-eyed 
 monster, so perversive of the noblest impulses of man, was 
 extended, in not a few instances only, to the ranks of the 
 elect themselves ; and it is a notorious fact that the nation's 
 life was seriously imperiled upon at least one momentous 
 occasion by the feuds between the partisans of different 
 West Point commanders. This latter circumstance is in 
 itself a strong argument against the impolicy of confining 
 the military interests of a great nation to so select a 
 circle of individuals as constitute the military peace estab- 
 lishment of our country. 
 
 The effect of the West Point system, then, has been to 
 manacle and even to crush, as far as possible, the volun- 
 teer and his aspirations for recognition. For years we have 
 been compelled to witness a systematic elevation of the 
 regular over the head of the volunteer, without regard to 
 questions of fitness and ability, in every instance where 
 the two classes have come in competition. Through the 
 constant assertions of West Point, the people at large had 
 arrived at the belief of the superiority of the academically 
 educated soldier, and it required the brilliant deeds of the 
 volunteer hosts of the civil struggle to prevent the general 
 acceptance of that belief. It has been a part of the task 
 
584 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 of the present work to explode this false pretension of the 
 Military Academy. 
 
 It has been said herein that the West Point influence 
 has controlled the military legislation of the General 
 Government. The statute books furnish ample demon- 
 stration of the truth of this assertion. But, apart from the 
 usurpation of the .government machinery of our military 
 system, the oppression of the volunteer ofificers is nowhere 
 more flagrantly exhibited than in the discrimination 
 between the two classes of ofificers in the matter of pay, 
 etc. The facts relating to this point are so little known 
 by the general people that the author has caused to be 
 prepared an ofificial list of the retired ofificers of the 
 United States, showing their rank and annual pay and 
 allowances, to December 31, 1885. This interesting table, 
 which the author appends to this chapter, marked Table 
 XII., tells its own story, and therefore admits of but 
 little argument. The reader will doubtless ask why a 
 captain, for instance, of the regular army, disabled by a 
 wound in a certain battle, should be retired upon a pay of 
 $2,100 or of $1,800, while a captain of the volunteer 
 service, perhaps wounded in a precisely similar manner, 
 upon the same day and in the same battle, should receive 
 as a pension the miserable pittance of $240 per year, and 
 possibly be compelled to struggle pretty hard for even 
 that sum. 
 
 The author has asked that question a great many 
 times of those who should be able to answer it, but he 
 has never received any satisfactory explanation. If it be 
 
VOLUNTEERS MUST RECEIVE JUSTICE. 585 
 
 alleged, as it usually is, that the regular officer makes a 
 life profession of the military calling, and therefore 
 deserves subsequent support, it may be replied that the 
 volunteer soldier, in the ranks or as an officer, is much 
 more deserving, upon all accounts, of the generous sup- 
 port of his country. During the period that his services 
 are not actually needed he contributes to the maintenance 
 of the Government in the capacity of a private citizen, and 
 draws nothing from its treasury. When danger threatens 
 the nation he leaves his private business, his family, 
 friends, home comforts — everything, to render vital ser- 
 vice to that nation. Returning to his home after an 
 absence sufficiently prolonged to break up his business, 
 disabled from his wound and without a competence — 
 with a family to support, perhaps — what must be the 
 future of* that man? 
 
 There is something here that calls upon us in tones 
 that we should not disregard to look to the interests of 
 the nation in this very direction. Knowing that the very 
 life of the Government rests in the hands of its volunteer 
 soldiery, is it wise, is it just, is it safe, to tamper with a 
 subject of complaint wider, deeper than many dream of? 
 
 The subject thus presented is one of vast importance 
 to the American people, and the author urges upon his 
 fellow-citizens the supreme duty of investigating our mili- 
 tary system and remodeling it so as to bring it fully to 
 rest upon a firm basis of justice, as well as of wise expedi- 
 ency. The attached table will amply repay the reader 
 for a careful perusal. 
 
586 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 TAm.E XII. 
 
 List of retired officers of the United States Army — Rank, pay, and allow- 
 ances per annum, to December 31, 1885. 
 
 
 
 Annual pay 
 
 Pension to 
 
 Name. 
 
 Rank, 
 
 and 
 
 Volunteers 
 
 
 
 allowances. 
 
 of equal rank. 
 
 1. Sherman, William T.. 
 
 General 
 
 $13,500 
 
 
 Sherman, William T. . . 
 
 General, quarters. 
 
 Total 
 
 1,500 
 
 
 Sherman, William T. . . 
 
 |i5,ooo 
 
 $ 5,625 
 5,625 
 5,625 
 5,625 
 5.625 
 
 5,500 
 
 
 I. Rickets, James B 
 
 
 $360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 Maior-General 
 
 3. Robinson, John C 
 
 4. Carroll, Samuel S 
 
 5. McDowell, Irvin 
 
 I. Paul, Gabriel R 
 
 Major-General 
 
 
 Maior-General 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 Paul, Gabriel R 
 
 Brigadier-General, q'trs . 
 
 720 
 
 360 
 360 
 
 
 
 Paul, Gabriel R 
 
 Total 
 
 $ 6,220 
 $ 4,125 
 
 360 
 360 
 
 2. Harney, William S 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 3. Fessenden, Francis. . . . 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4,125 
 
 360 
 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4,125 
 4,125 
 
 360 
 360 
 
 5. Johnson, Richard W. . . 
 
 6. Wood, Thomas J 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4,125 
 
 360 
 
 7. Sweeney, Thomas W.. 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4,125 
 
 360 
 
 8. Mcintosh, John B.. .. 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4,125 
 
 360 
 
 9. Hardin, Martin D 
 
 Bjrigadier-General 
 
 4,125 
 
 360 
 
 lO.Brice, Benjamin W. . . . 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4.125 
 
 360 
 
 II. Crawford, Samuel W. . . 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4,125 
 
 360 
 
 12. Cooke, Philip St. J 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4,125 
 
 360 
 
 \'X Hott Toseoh 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4,125 
 4,125 
 
 360 
 360 
 
 14. Emory, William H 
 
 15. Hammond, William A. . 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 Without pay 
 
 
 16. Townsend, Edward D. . 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4,125 
 
 360 
 
 17. Marcy, Randolph B 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4,125 
 
 360 
 
 18. Dunn, William McK... 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4,125 
 
 360 
 
 19. Meigs, Montgomery C. . 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4.125 
 
 360 
 
 20. Brown, Nathan W 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 4,125 
 
 360 
 
RETIRED OFFICERS OF THE U. S. ARMY. 
 
 587 
 
 Names. 
 
 Annual pay 
 
 and 
 allowances. 
 
 Pension to 
 
 Volunteers 
 
 of equal rank. 
 
 21. Rucker, Daniel H 
 
 22. Ingalls, Rufus 
 
 23. Wright, Horatio G 
 
 24. McKenzie, Ronald S. . . 
 
 25. Augur, Christ. C 
 
 26. Davis, Nelson H 
 
 1. Sewell, Washington 
 
 2. Day, Hannibal 
 
 3. Morrison, Pitcairn 
 
 4. Cady, Albemarle 
 
 5. Walker, Moses B 
 
 6. Hunter, David 
 
 7. Yates, Theodore 
 
 8. Alexander, Edward B. . 
 
 9. Swords, Thomas 
 
 ID. Clary, Robert E 
 
 11. Lewis, John R 
 
 12. Catlin, Isaac S 
 
 13. Dawson, Samuel K 
 
 14. Swayne, Wager 
 
 15. Carrington, Henry B . . 
 
 16. Shepherd, Oliver L. . . . 
 
 17. Graham, Lawrence 
 
 18. Hinks, Edward W 
 
 19. Starr, Samuel H 
 
 20. Rodcnbaugh, Theoph. F 
 
 21. Kilpatrick, Robert L.. . 
 
 22. McNett, Andrew J 
 
 23. Pulford, John 
 
 24. Reeve, Isaac V. D 
 
 25. Granger, Robert S 
 
 26. Doubleday, Abner 
 
 27. Cullum, George W 
 
 28. Wallen, Henry D 
 
 29. Bomford, James V 
 
 30. Whiteley, Robert H. K. 
 
 31. Brooks, Horace 
 
 32. Reynolds, Joseph J. . . 
 
 33. Roberts, Joseph 
 
 34. Allen, Robert 
 
 Brigadier-General 
 Brigadier-General 
 Brigadier-General 
 Brigadier-General 
 Brigadier-General 
 Brigadier-General 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel , 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 Colonel 
 
 I4.125 
 4.125 
 4.125 
 4.125 
 4.125 
 4,125 
 
 375 
 375 
 
 .375 
 375 
 
 .375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 
 .375 
 375 
 
 .375 
 375 
 
 .375 
 375 
 375 
 
 .375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 
 .375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 375 
 
 $360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 
588 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA, 
 
 Name. 
 
 Annual pay 
 
 Pension to 
 
 and 
 
 Volunteers 
 
 allowances. 
 
 of equalrank. 
 
 $3,375 
 
 $360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 ■ 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 8,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3.375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3.375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3,375 
 
 360 
 
 3.375 
 
 360 
 
 35. Pitcher, Thomas G. . . . 
 
 36. De Trobriand, Phil. R . 
 
 37. Floyd-Jones, DeLaney. 
 38.. Palmer, Innis N 
 
 39. Woodward, George H . . 
 
 40. Elliott, Washington L. . 
 
 41. Gregg, John I 
 
 42. Oakes, James 
 
 43. Vodges, Israel 
 
 44. Schriver, Edmund 
 
 45. Van Vliet, Stewart 
 
 46. Woods, Samuel 
 
 47. Smith, John E 
 
 48. Crittenden, Thomas L. 
 
 49. Hagner, Peter V 
 
 50. Fry, James B 
 
 51. Haller, Granville O 
 
 52. Lugenbeel, Pinkney... 
 
 53. King, John H 
 
 54. Flint, Franklin F 
 
 55. Brannaer, John M 
 
 56. Kilburn, Charles L 
 
 57. Wood, William H 
 
 58. Macomb, John N 
 
 59. King, William S 
 
 60. Howe, Albion P 
 
 61. Conrad, Joseph 
 
 62. De Russey, Gustavus . . 
 
 63. Laidley, Theodore T. S . 
 
 64. Tower, Z. B 
 
 65. Thom, George 
 
 66. Van Voast, James 
 
 67. Penny paker, Galusha . . 
 
 68. Ekin, James A 
 
 69. Hunt, Henry J 
 
 70. Getty, George W 
 
 71. Dent, Frederick F. ... 
 
 72. Raynolds, William F.. 
 
 73. Clarke, Henry F 
 
 74. Hammond, John F.... 
 
 75. Bartlett, William H. C. 
 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 
RETIRED OFFICERS OF THE U. S. ARMY. 
 
 589 
 
 Name. 
 
 Annual pay 
 
 and 
 allowances. 
 
 Pension to 
 
 Volunteers 
 
 of equal rank. 
 
 76. Weir, Robert W 
 
 77. Kendrick, Henry L., 
 
 78. Forsyth, John 
 
 79. De Janon, Patrice . . , 
 
 80. Wheeler, James B.. 
 8i. Head, John F 
 
 82. Andrews, George P. , 
 
 83. Clitz, Henry B 
 
 84. Campbell, John . 
 
 1. Chapman, William . , 
 
 2. Whiting, Daniel P. . , 
 
 3. Sitgreaves, Lorenzo , 
 
 4. Hill, Bennett H 
 
 5. Wallace, George W. . 
 
 6. Woodruff, Dickinson 
 
 7. Gibson, Augustus A... 
 
 8. Maley, Thomas E... 
 g. Shea, Thomas 
 
 ID. Gile, George W 
 
 11. Avery, Robert 
 
 12. Wessells, Henry W. . 
 
 13. Hayman, Samuel B. , 
 
 14. Duncan, Thomas..., 
 
 15. Montgomery, Alexander 
 
 16. Bootes, Levi C 
 
 17. Wyse, Francis 
 
 18. Stewart, Joseph 
 
 19. Prince, Henry 
 
 20. Potter, James B. M. . . . 
 
 21. Myers, William 
 
 22. Evans, Andrew W 
 
 23. Brotherton, David H . . 
 
 24. Dallas, Alexander J... 
 
 25. Moore, Orlando H.... 
 
 26. Alexander, Andrew J. . 
 
 27. Layton, Caleb R 
 
 28. Dana, James I 
 
 1. Judd, Henry B. .. 
 
 2. Austine, William. 
 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 Colonel 
 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieu tenant- 
 Lieutenant 
 Lieutenant 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant. 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant- 
 Lieutenant 
 Lieutenant 
 Lieutenant- 
 
 •Colonel. 
 -Colonel . 
 -Colonel. 
 ■Colonel. 
 -Colonel. 
 •Colonel. 
 -Colonel. 
 -Colonel. 
 -Colonel . 
 -Colonel . 
 Colonel. 
 -Colonel. 
 -Colonel. 
 Colonel. 
 -Colonel. 
 -Colonel 
 -Colonel. 
 -Colonel. 
 -Colonel. 
 •Colonel. 
 Colonel. 
 Colonel. 
 Colonel. 
 ■Colonel . 
 -Colonel. 
 Colonel . 
 Colonel. 
 Colonel. 
 
 $3,375 
 ■3,375 
 3,150 
 3,375 
 3.375 
 3,375 
 3,375 
 3-375 
 3.375 
 
 000 
 ,000 
 000 
 000 
 ,000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 ,000 
 ,000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 000 
 
 Major. 
 Major. 
 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 
 $360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360, 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 300 
 300 
 
590 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Name, 
 
 Rank. 
 
 Annual pay 
 
 and 
 allowances. 
 
 Pension to 
 
 Volunteers 
 
 of equal rank. 
 
 3. Edgar, William F 
 
 4. McArthur, Joseph H. 
 
 5. Whittlesey, Joseph H . 
 
 6. Caldwell, James N. . . 
 
 7. Prince; William E. . . . 
 
 8. Tracy, Albert 
 
 g. Clark, Joseph C, Jr. . 
 
 10. Lynde, Isaac 
 
 11. Larned, Frank H 
 
 12. Freedley, Henry W 
 
 13. Randall, Burton 
 
 14. Hudson, Edward McK 
 
 15. Williams, George A.. 
 
 16. Fleming, Hugh B.... 
 
 17. Lane, William B 
 
 18. Lee, Samuel P 
 
 ig. Bissell, Lyman 
 
 20. Collins, Joseph B 
 
 21. Prime, Frederick E. . . , 
 
 22. Morris, Robert M 
 
 23. Brua, John P 
 
 24. Burbank, Jacob E.... 
 
 25. McKibbin, David B... 
 
 26. Enos, Herbert M 
 
 27. Seymour, Freeman . . . 
 
 28. Walker, Robert C 
 
 2g. Dunn, Thomas S 
 
 30. Latimer, Alfred E 
 
 31. Robertson, James M. . . 
 
 32. Nugent, Robert 
 
 33. Ludington, Elisha H . . 
 
 34. Potter, Joseph A 
 
 35. Hambright, Henry A.. 
 
 36. Stanhope, Philip W. . . . 
 
 37. Judd, Edwin D 
 
 38. Hawley, William 
 
 3g. Belger, James . . . . . 
 
 40. Bankhead, Henry C... 
 Ji. Eaton, Joseph H 
 
 42. McLaughlin, Nap. B... 
 
 43. McMillan, James 
 
 Major. 
 Major. 
 Major. 
 Major. 
 Major. 
 Major. 
 Major. 
 Major. 
 Major. 
 Major. 
 Major. 
 Major. 
 Major. , 
 Major. , 
 Major. , 
 Major. . 
 Major . 
 Major. , 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. , 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major,. 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major . . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 
 12,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,437.50 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,437.50 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 2,625 
 
 $300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 30a 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300^ 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 300- 
 300 
 300 
 30& 
 300 ■ 
 300 
 300 
 300 
 
RETIRED OFFICERS OF THE U. S. ARMY. 
 
 591 
 
 Name. 
 
 Annual pay 
 
 Pension to 
 
 and 
 
 Volunteers 
 
 allowances. 
 
 of equal rank 
 
 $2,625 
 
 I300 
 
 2,625 
 
 300 
 
 2,625 
 
 300 
 
 2,625 
 
 300 
 
 2,205 
 
 300 
 
 2,625 
 
 300 
 
 2,625 
 
 300 
 
 2,625 
 
 300 
 
 2,625 
 
 300 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 2,100 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 2,100 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 2,IOO 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 2,100 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 2,100 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 2,100 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 2,100 
 
 240 
 
 2,100 
 
 240 
 
 44. Clarke, Robert D 
 
 45. Brooke, Edmund H.. 
 
 46. IngersoU, Edward 
 
 47. Vedder, Nicholas 
 
 48. Smith, Thomas C. H. 
 
 49. Bridgman, Frank 
 
 50. Tourtellote, John E. . 
 
 51. Gould, William P 
 
 52. Eckerson, Theodore . . 
 
 1. Tidball, Joseph L 
 
 2. Symmes, John C 
 
 3. Garland, John S 
 
 4. Churchill, Charles C. 
 
 5. Drake, Alexander E.. 
 
 6. Pease, William R 
 
 7. Walker, Thomas W. . . 
 
 8. Dickinson, William. .. 
 g. Bates, Francis H 
 
 10. King, Benjamin 
 
 11. Holmes, Charles 
 
 12. Hendershott, Henry B 
 
 13. Murry, Alexander . , . 
 
 14. Thompson, A. B 
 
 15. Stivers, Charles B.... 
 
 16. Brand, Thomas T 
 
 17. Quirk, Paul 
 
 18. Walcott, William H.. 
 
 19. Townsend, Alfred 
 
 20. Kellogg, Josiah H. . . . 
 
 21. McGown, George 
 
 22. Bailey, Thomas C. J. . 
 
 23. Lowe, William B 
 
 24. McNally, Christ. H... 
 
 25. Powell, James 
 
 26. Morgan, Henry C... 
 
 27. Reeves, Thomas H. . . 
 
 28. McDonald, John 
 
 29. Huxford, William P.., 
 
 30. Watson, Malbone F... 
 
 31. Culbertson, Howard.., 
 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 Major. . 
 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 Captain 
 
592 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 Name^ 
 
 Annual pay 
 
 and 
 allowances. 
 
 Pensions to 
 
 Volunteers 
 
 of eqrial rank. 
 
 32. Noble, Henry B 
 
 33. Walker, John H 
 
 34. Badeau, Adam 
 
 35. Dodge, Theodore 
 
 36. Butler, John H 
 
 37. Sprague, Willington G 
 
 38. Judd, George E 
 
 39. Norton, Thomas H. . . 
 
 40. Sundberg, William R. 
 
 41. Pyne, Charles M . . . . 
 
 42. Bates, James A 
 
 43. Greene, Charles T . . . . 
 
 44. Gardner, Hezekiah. ... 
 
 45. Crone, Louis E 
 
 46. Catlin, Robert 
 
 47. Barnitz, Albert 
 
 48. Gelray, Joseph W. . . . 
 
 49. White, George Q 
 
 50. Minor, William C 
 
 51. Cleghorn, John F 
 
 52. Von Schirach, Frederick 
 ,53. Hoag, John M 
 
 54. Kelliher, John , 
 
 55. Tyler, Richard W 
 
 56. Niles, Alanson E , 
 
 57. Keller, Jacob W , 
 
 58. Gaskill, Edwin C 
 
 59. Dawes, William J 
 
 60. Bourne, William R 
 
 61. McLaughlin, George H 
 
 62. Rives, Wright , 
 
 63. Hearn, James A 
 
 64. De Gross, Jacob C 
 
 65. Conway, Edwin J , 
 
 66. Merrell, William H.... 
 
 67. Hill, George D 
 
 68. Atwell, William P 
 
 69. Johnson, William S 
 
 70. Brown, Andrew M 
 
 71. Meyer, Edward S 
 
 72. Nelson, William 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Capt 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Capta: 
 
 Capt: 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Capta: 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Capta: 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Capta: 
 
 Captai 
 
 Captai 
 
 Capta: 
 
 Capta: 
 
 Captai 
 
 Capta: 
 
 Capta: 
 
 Capta: 
 
 Captai 
 
 Capta: 
 
 Capta 
 
 Captai 
 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 
 R 
 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 ;n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 
 $1,890 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 i,8go 
 2,100 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 i,8go 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 2, too 
 i,8go 
 1,890 
 1,950 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 i,8go 
 i,8go 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 
 2,100 
 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 
 1.755 
 2,100 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 1,890 
 
 $240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 
RETIRED OFFICERS OF THE U. S. ARMY. 
 
 593 
 
 Name. 
 
 Annual pay 
 
 and 
 allowances. 
 
 Pensions to 
 
 Volunteers 
 
 of equal rank. 
 
 73. Rittenhouse, Benj. F. . 
 
 74. Hascall, Herbert A. . . 
 
 75. Thompson, William... 
 75. Sturgeon, Shelden 
 
 77. Schwenck, Samuel K. . 
 
 78. Gallupe, George S. . . . 
 
 79. Bochm, Peter M 
 
 80. Catlin, Lynde 
 
 81. Kerin, Joseph 
 
 82. Clarke, Charles E 
 
 83. Reynolds, Frank 
 
 84. Armstrong, Samuel F. 
 
 85. Johnston, John L 
 
 86. Lafferty, John 
 
 87. Bristol, Henry B 
 
 88. Parker, Richard C 
 
 89. Miller, John 
 
 90. Stewart, James 
 
 91. Van Wiele, John B 
 
 92. Thompkins, James S. . 
 
 93. McCleave, William . . . 
 
 94. Schreiner, Herman... 
 
 95. Ford, George E 
 
 96. Merritt, Thomas E.... 
 
 97. McGinnis, James T. . . 
 
 98. McConnell, William . . 
 
 99. Irwin, David A 
 
 ICO. Vanderslice, Joseph H. 
 loi. Wells, Elijah R 
 
 102. Taylor, Alfred B 
 
 103. Fitzgerald, Michael J. 
 
 104. Ward, Edward W 
 
 105. Krautinger, Adolph W. 
 
 106. Bo wen, Edgar C 
 
 107. King, Charles 
 
 108. Hottsinpiller, Chas. W. 
 
 109. Mallery, Garrick 
 
 110. Rendlebrock, Joseph. . 
 
 111. Trimble, Joel G 
 
 112. Coster, John H 
 
 113. Shoemaker, William R 
 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Capta: 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Capta 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Capta 
 Capta: 
 Capta: 
 Captai 
 Capta: 
 Captai 
 Capta: 
 Capta: 
 Captai 
 Capta 
 Capta 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Capta: 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 a 
 n 
 n 
 ;n 
 :n 
 n 
 ,n 
 a 
 n 
 h 
 n 
 n 
 in 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 
 11,890 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 
 'JflOO 
 
 2,100 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 1,890 
 1,950 
 i,8go 
 1,890 
 2, too 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 i,8go 
 2,100 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 2,100 
 2,100 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 2,100 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 2,100 
 i,8go 
 2,100 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 1,890 
 1,890 
 2,100 
 2,100 
 2,100 
 8,100 
 
 $240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 
594 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 114. 
 115. 
 116. 
 117. 
 118. 
 119. 
 120. 
 121. 
 122. 
 123. 
 124. 
 
 125. 
 126. 
 127. 
 128. 
 I2g. 
 130. 
 131. 
 132. 
 133- 
 134. 
 135- 
 136. 
 
 137- 
 138. 
 139. 
 140. 
 141. 
 142. 
 143- 
 144. 
 145. 
 146. 
 147. 
 148. 
 149. 
 150. 
 151- 
 152. 
 153. 
 154- 
 
 Potter, Reuben M 
 Gilbreth, Benj. H. . 
 Ellsworth, Ephraim 
 Whyte, Frederick.. 
 
 Biggs, Herman 
 
 Falck, William 
 
 Rollins, James H. 
 McConnell, Charles C 
 Goodloe, Archibald H 
 Lee, D. Mortimer . . . 
 Adams, Williams .... 
 Armes, George A... 
 
 Pollock, Robert 
 
 White, John C 
 
 Walker, John P 
 
 Faulk, Wm. L 
 
 Strang, Edward J . . . 
 Taylor, Rodney M . . . 
 
 Clift, Emory W 
 
 McGilway, John 
 
 Steelhammer, Chas.. 
 Whipple, Stephen G. 
 
 Lee, John 
 
 McArthur, Malcolm . 
 
 Monahan. Dean 
 
 Morse, Chas. E 
 
 Gunther, Sebastian . . 
 Nixon, John B ..... . 
 
 Kendall, Frederick A 
 Spencer, James H. . . 
 Abbott, Lemuel A. . . 
 Gibson, Edwin O.. . 
 
 Hunt, Thos. B 
 
 Ewing, Evarts S 
 
 Hawkins, Chas 
 
 Azpell, Thos. F 
 
 Shorkly, George 
 
 Lynde, Fred'k M 
 
 Nave, Andrew H 
 
 Kingsbury, Wm. E.. 
 Benson, Henry M... 
 
 Captai 
 Capta: 
 Capta: 
 Capta: 
 Capta; 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Capta: 
 Capta: 
 Capta: 
 Capta; 
 Capta: 
 Capta; 
 Capta: 
 Capta: 
 Capta: 
 Captai 
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 Captai 
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 Captai 
 Capta: 
 Captai 
 Capta; 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Capta; 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Captai 
 Capta: 
 Captai 
 Capta: 
 Capta: 
 Captai 
 Capta: 
 Capta: 
 Capta: 
 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 m 
 n 
 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 in 
 !n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 
 100 
 100 
 100 
 650 
 890 
 100 
 8go 
 890 
 8go 
 100 
 890 
 890 
 890 
 100 
 950 
 100 
 890 
 8go 
 890 
 8go 
 100 
 100 
 890 
 100 
 8go 
 100 
 8go 
 8go 
 890 
 
 ICG 
 
 890 
 950 
 8go 
 890 
 100 
 8go 
 8go 
 loo 
 8go 
 8go 
 
 $240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 140 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 140 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 240 
 
RETIRED OFFICERS OF THE U. S. ARMY. 
 
 595 
 
 
 
 Annual pay 
 
 Pensions to 
 
 Name. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 and 
 
 Volunteers 
 
 
 
 allowances. 
 
 of equal rank. 
 
 155. Martin, "Wm. P 
 
 Captain 
 
 $2,100 
 
 I240 
 
 I. Brownell, Francis E. . 
 
 First Lieutenant ....... 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 2. Williams, George 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 3. Fitch, Wm. G 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 4^ Hutchinson, Merrill N. 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 X.575 
 
 204 
 
 5. Douglass, Wm. 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 6. Pennock, Wm. T 
 
 First Lieutenant .... ... 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 7. Davis, Robert 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1.575 
 
 204 
 
 8. Perkins, Rollins 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,462.50 
 
 204 
 
 9. Coffman, Jos. C 
 
 First Lieutenant ........ 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 10. Campbell, Geo. I 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 II. Leavey, Jas. T 
 
 First Lieutenant .... 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 12. Halleck, Walter F. . . . 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1.575 
 
 204 
 
 13. Converse, Oscar I.... 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 14. Kennicutt, Ransom. . . 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1.575 
 
 204 
 
 15. Shurly, Edmund R. P. 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 16. Williams, Ephraim. . . . 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 17. Knox, Edward B 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 18. Curtis, Chas. A 
 
 First Lieutenant ........ 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 19. Dubois, Richard C 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 20. Mulikin, Jas. R 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 21. Leonard, John 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 22. Hogarty, Michael J.. . 
 
 First Lieutenant .... ... 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 23. Bowker, Hugh D 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1.575 
 
 204 
 
 24. Rice, Frank R 
 
 First Lieutenant .... 
 
 1.575 
 
 204 
 
 25. Cortelyon, David H . . 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 26. Williams, Henry R... 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1.575 
 
 204 
 
 27. Hays, Jos. H 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,560 
 1,462.50 
 
 204 
 204 
 
 28. Smith, Jos. M 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 2g. Crawford, Alex. McL. 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1.575 
 
 304 
 
 30. Walter, Isaac N 
 
 First Lieutenant ........ 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 31. Keyes, Chas. W 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,462 
 
 204 
 
 32. Kuhn, Henry H 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 33. Hoppy, Edward 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 34. Mellen, Henry B 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 
 
 1.575 
 1,575 
 1,350 
 
 204 
 
 204 
 204 
 
 <?6. Tvler. lohn 
 
 First Lieutenant ... ... , 
 
 37. Cottel, Hampden S... 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 38. Carter, Robert G 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 39. Olmstead, Freeman E. 
 
 First Lieutenant .... 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
596 
 
 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 
 
 Annual fay 
 
 Pensions to 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 and 
 
 Volunteers 
 
 
 
 allowances. 
 
 of equal rank. 
 
 40. Jones, Henry R. . . 
 
 First Lieutenant ........ 
 
 $1,575 
 
 $204 
 
 41. Ezekiel, David I. ..... . 
 
 First Lieutenant ........ 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 42. Marcotte, Henry. ...... 
 
 First Lieutenant ........ 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 43. Abfaie, George E 
 
 First Lieutenant ....... 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 44. Gross, Frank P 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 45. Walton, John M 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,560 
 
 204 
 
 46. AUsworth, Edward 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 47. Budd, George W 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 48. Dunton, Warren R 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 49. Yeckley, Jonathan A. . . 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 
 
 1,575 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 204 
 
 51. Jennings, Gilbert S 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 52. Rutherford, Robert G. . 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 53. Craycroft, William T . . . 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 54. Braden, Charles 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 55. Boswell, Benjamin D.. 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 56. Miller, William H 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 57. Whitman, Royal E 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 58. Nelson, William H . . . . 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 59. Cresson, Charles C ... 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 60. Stephenson, William. . . 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 61. Abbott, AsaT...... .. 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 62. Von Lucttwitz, A. H. . . 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,560 
 
 204 
 
 63. Orelman, Louis H 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 64. Lewis, Granville 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 65. Bamister, John 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 66. Bronson, Nelson 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 67. Trout, John F 
 
 First Lieutenant . . 
 
 1,575 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 68. Griffith, David A 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 204 
 
 6g. Briggs, Thomas B 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 70. Love, George M 
 
 First Lieutenant . 
 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 71. Clark, Edwin R 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,462 
 
 204 
 
 72. Barnard, Phineas P. . . . 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,680 
 
 204 
 
 73. O'Brien, Michael 
 
 First Lieutenant 
 
 1,462 
 
 204 
 
 
 
 1,575 
 1,575 
 
 204 
 
 I. McQuiston, Henry 
 
 Second Lieutenant 
 
 180 
 
 2. Davison, James 
 
 Second Lieutenant 
 
 1.470 
 
 i8o 
 
 3. Moore, Michael 
 
 Second Lieutenant 
 
 1.479 
 
 180 
 
 4. Hogarty, William P. . . . 
 
 Second Lieutenant 
 
 1.470 
 
 180 
 
 5. Madden, Frank 
 
 Second Lieutenant 
 
 1.470 
 
 180 
 
RETIRED OFFICERS OF THE U. S. ARMY. 
 
 597 
 
 Names. 
 
 Rank. 
 
 Annual pay 
 
 Pensions to 
 
 and 
 
 Volunteers 
 
 allowances. 
 
 of equal rank. 
 
 $1,470 
 
 |i8o 
 
 1,470 
 
 180 
 
 1,470 
 
 180 
 
 1.470 
 
 i8o 
 
 J, 470 
 
 180 
 
 1,470 
 
 180 
 
 1,260 
 
 180 
 
 1,755 
 
 240 
 
 i,8go 
 
 240 
 
 1,755 
 
 240 
 
 1,575 
 
 240 
 
 1,755 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,755 
 
 240 
 
 1,620 
 
 240 
 
 1,890 
 
 240 
 
 1,485 
 
 240 
 
 6. Mangan, Michael 
 
 7. Walker, Samuel 
 
 8. Bayne, Andrew C 
 
 9. Magnitzky, Gustave . . , 
 
 10. Reed, Thomas B 
 
 u. Williams, William N. . , 
 
 12. Benjamin, Edward A . , 
 
 1. Gilmore, Alexander 
 
 2. Van Wyck, George P . , 
 
 3. Wright, Alpha , 
 
 4. Collins, Gamaliel , 
 
 5. Kelley, Moses J 
 
 6. Chase, Dudley 
 
 7. White, David 
 
 8. Reynolds, Charles 
 
 9. Woart, John 
 
 10. Porter, Jeremiah 
 
 11. Blake, Charles M 
 
 12. Van Horn, Thomas B. . 
 
 13. Baldridge, Benjamin L 
 
 Second Lieutenant 
 Second Lieutenant 
 Second Lieutenant 
 Second Lieutenant 
 Second Lieutenant 
 Second Lieutenant 
 Second Lieutenant 
 
 Chaplain 
 
 Chaplain 
 
 Chaplain 
 
 Chaplain 
 
 Chaplain 
 
 Chaplain 
 
 Chaplain 
 
 Chaplain 
 
 Chaplain 
 
 Chaplain 
 
 Chaplain 
 
 Chaplain . . .-. 
 
 Chaplain 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 AN APPEAL MADE TO THE PEOPLE THE REMODELING OF 
 
 OUR PRESENT MILITARY SYSTEM A NATIONAL NECES- 
 SITY A GLANCE AT THE SCHOOLS AND SYSTEMS OF 
 
 FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND PRUSSIA THREE CARDINAL 
 
 PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH THE AMERICAN MILITARY 
 SYSTEM SHOULD BE BASED A VAST ARMY OF CITIZEN- 
 SOLDIERS THE SPECIAL EDUCATION OF OFFICERS WITH 
 
 THE INBORN MILITARY SPIRIT CONCLUDING COM- 
 MENTS. 
 
 SHOULD the perusal of the foregoing pages result 
 in drawing the attention of the American people, 
 first, to the fact of the deficiency of our present military 
 system, together with its possible dangers, and, second, 
 to the dependence of the Republic upon its volunteer 
 soldiery, together with the great injustice to which that 
 all-important element of our liberties has been and still is 
 subjected, the author will feel amply repaid for the labor 
 which the preparation of the present volume has cost him. 
 A volunteer soldier himself, he has waited in the vain 
 hope that some other pen more able than his own would 
 be applied to the work herein undertaken. Having thus 
 broken the ground of a great subject, he entertains the 
 hope that others may enter a field which has long invited 
 
 laborers. 
 
 598 
 
DANCERS OF INJUSTICE TO VOLUNTEERS. 599 
 
 Having treated the subject upon the plan developed 
 through the preceding pages, the reader may naturally 
 ask that the author elaborate and present a plan of organ- 
 ization which may at one and the same time abolish the 
 evils of the present system, and likewise do justice to the 
 volunteer soldiery in whose behalf the volume has been 
 prepared. But the purpose of the author has been to 
 stop short of the point indicated, for two principal reasons 
 which appear to him to be sufficiently cogent to justify 
 him in following the plan determined upon. The first of 
 these reasons is that the subject is one which must be 
 preceded by long discussion, general conviction, and 
 popular demand, before legislation can be framed and suc- 
 cessfully enacted to meet it. The second of them is that 
 the author has no desire to weaken whatever force his 
 preceding arguments and his general showing of the sub- 
 ject may possess by subjecting himself to the charge that 
 he is the victim either of a hallucination of wrong where 
 no real wrong exists, or of a theory with which he has 
 rushed into print for the purpose of astonishing his 
 countrymen by a display of zeal and sagacity. 
 
 But while refraining from the task of detailing a system 
 to meet the requirements, of our great and progressive 
 nation, it certainly cannot be objected to should the 
 author state some general principles which he believes 
 must underlie any intelligent, just, and feasible effort 
 toward the accomplishment of the desired end. 
 
 But, first of all, let there be no delay whatever upon 
 the part of the people to demand of our legislators that 
 
600 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 the ofificial oppression of the volunteer soldiery shall 
 cease at once, and that the unwise and unjust discrimina- 
 tion against them in the matter of pecuniary emolument 
 as well as in all other respects be removed. The abuse is 
 so deeply seated and is sustained by such wide-spread in- 
 fluence that action belongs to the people at large ; and the 
 author thus appeals to them in behalf of his fellow- 
 soldiers, in the name of justice, and in the higher in- 
 terests of the Republic itself. 
 
 In the fabrication of a military system for the United 
 States which shall be wholly adapted to the necessities of 
 our peculiar form of government, but little aid can be 
 borrowed from the nations of Europe, One great mis- 
 take of many of our public men has lain in the direction 
 of endeavoring to follow the precedents of monarchical 
 governments in establishing the institutions of a republic. 
 As has heretofore been stated in the present volume, the 
 original idea of creating a military school in the United 
 States was borrowed from the example of France, which 
 nation, under Napoleon, at that time was exciting the 
 military enthusiasm of all the world. 
 
 Schools for the purpose spoken of had been in opera- 
 tion in France from the time of Louis XV. The first of 
 these was founded by that monarch at Vincennes about the 
 year 1761. It soon had some five hundred pupils, all of 
 whom were sons of noblemen. At a later period it was re- 
 moved to the Champ de Mars, Paris, and it remains the 
 principal military school of that country. The school at 
 St. Cyr, near Versailles, was established by the great 
 
MILITARY SCHOOLS OF EUROPE. 6oi 
 
 Napoleon himself at Fontainebleau in the year 1802, but 
 not long afterward it was removed to St. Cyr. It has 
 some three hundred pupils whose ages range between 
 eighteen and twenty years. After a course of two years 
 at St. Cyr, some of these pupils go to the £cole d'Etat 
 Majeur; others are sent to the cavalry school at Laumur, 
 and still others to the army, with the grade of sub- 
 lieutenant of infantry. In 1764 there was also a school 
 at La Fldche founded by Louis XV. Even before the 
 "Seven Years' War" between France and England, there 
 was an artillery school in every town of France where a 
 regiment of artillery was stationed. 
 
 The feature connected with the present French sys- 
 tem, which is so far in advance of our own, is that the 
 military education by the state is subject to universal 
 competition, not being, as under our own law, vested in 
 public men to be used as a constituent of political patron- 
 age. In the army two-thirds of the line commissions and 
 one-third of those for the scientific corps are given to 
 non-commissioned officers. The remaining commissions 
 in the line and scientific corps, and all appointments to 
 the staff, are conferred by competition after a thorough 
 course of education. After an open competition, candi- 
 dates for the army are sent, according to the degree of 
 merit exhibited, either to the infantry school at St. Cyr 
 or to the widely-celebrated Polytechnique. At both of 
 these institutions the pupils have a right to the support 
 of the state. 
 
 The English law is similar as to competition. All 
 
6o2 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 candidates for admission to the Royal Artillery or to the 
 Royal Engineers must go through the Military Academy 
 at Woolwich. Entrance to this institution is obtained by 
 competitive examination. This feature is radically differ- 
 ent from our own. Instead of being supported by the 
 state, as with us, the pupil must pay a large sum an- 
 nually during the whole time that he remains at the 
 institution. This payment is sufficiently large to bar out 
 any pupil of small means. It amounts to about ;^i20 for 
 the son of a civilian, though the son of a military or naval 
 officer is entered at a less rate. The curriculum of 
 studies embraces the general branches of a liberal educa- 
 tion, and includes the higher mathematics, fortification, 
 gunnery, etc. When the course is completed the cadets 
 may compete for vacancies in the engineer and artillery 
 corps. Those who best pass the examination have the 
 choice of the former, which is, as with us, the 
 favorite corps. Those who obtain commissions in the 
 engineer corps go to Chatham to complete their course, 
 being under pay, while the artillery cadets join the artil- 
 lery regiments at once with the commission of lieutenant. 
 The cost of the school to the government is almost 
 nothing. There is also a higher school at Sandhurst, 
 where theoretical knowledge of the science of war is im- 
 parted. A staff college was also established in 1858. 
 
 The Prussian system is much more elaborate than 
 either of the preceding, and in the feature of universality 
 of military tuition more nearly represents the necessities 
 of our own country, though the enforced service of every 
 
ESSENTIALS OF A MILITARY SYSTEM. 603 
 
 citizen is too closely allied with the methods of monarchy 
 to find any imitation in a republican government. 
 
 In devising a system for the United States three 
 cardinal considerations must underlie the whole fabric. 
 First, the system of military education must be entirely 
 divorced from politics ; second, the entrance to the army, 
 and, it may be added, to the navy as well, must be free to 
 all, and actual merit and fitness must be constituted the 
 test of official place and rank in either branch of our 
 national service, so that all vestige of class-favoritism and 
 class-distinction in America may be swept away and the 
 positions of honor and trust in the army and navy be 
 open to the general competition, through merit, of our 
 citizens, as are all positions of our Government, from that 
 of President to the lowest on the list ; and third, military 
 knowledge must be diffused among the general people to 
 the double end that they may be better prepared for mili- 
 tary duties upon the outbreak of hostilities with any 
 adversary, and that the dangers arising from reposing 
 military education solely in a small class of individuals 
 may be forever averted. 
 
 These fundamental conditions of a military system 
 for the United States should not be difficult of accom- 
 plishment. Observing his purpose to refrain from the 
 presentation of a plan in detail, for the reasons already 
 stated, the author may, nevertheless, be permitted to 
 offer a few general views upon the subject, which must be 
 considered as mere suggestions by his fellow-citizens. 
 
 In urging the removal of cadet appointments from 
 
604 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 the circle of politics, the writer hopes that the discussion 
 of this branch of the subject already indulged in may be 
 sufficient to win the acquiescence of every citizen of the 
 Republic. The proper method, and the only one pro- 
 motive of the selection of candidates for the army and 
 navy upon the basis of a special aptitude for those call- 
 ings, which qualification has been so largely dwelt upon 
 in this volume, is that of general competitive examina- 
 tion by a qualified and impartial national board. This 
 suggestion is to be supplemented by another, presently to 
 be mentioned, which will cover the idea to give to every 
 American youth the opportunity of acquiring, at the 
 State and national expense, the knowledge pertaining to 
 the rudimentary branches of military education, which 
 knowledge, of necessity, must be at the base of such a 
 competitive examination as is contemplated by the 
 author. 
 
 Merely for the purpose of demonstrating the entire 
 feasibility of erecting a military system which, while 
 being in harmony with the principles and practices of a 
 pure republican government, would be instrumental in 
 developing to the fullest extent the enormous military 
 strength of the United States, thus making of the nation 
 what of right it is entitled to become, and what of neces- 
 sity it should quickly be made — one of the first war 
 powers of the world — let us draw, with no pretense to 
 a perfection which only comes through time and sad 
 experience, the rough outlines of a comprehensive mili- 
 tary establishment. 
 
OUTLIA'E OF A MILITARY SYSTEM. 605 
 
 To begin, then, with the draft of the plan, though the 
 actual measure proposed would not stand first in order 
 for obvious reasons, the present functions of the acade- 
 mies at West Point and Annapolis, as the first and only 
 sources of military and naval education, should cease, 
 and those institutions be reserved for the functions pres- 
 ently to be mentioned. Let the General Government 
 obligate itself to establish and maintain, at its own 
 experjse, a military department in every State university, 
 upon a scale proportionate to the population of each par- 
 ticular State. Let this department be accessible to every 
 youth of the State of a certain age who desires to enter 
 it. Let the branches there to be taught, by competent 
 professors, embrace the rudiments of a military educa- 
 tion, to include a thorough gymnastic training, the ele- 
 mentary and higher mathematics, drawing, natural and 
 experimental philosophy, military and civil engineering, 
 ancient and modern history, infantry tactics, the use of 
 the sword, as much of a knowledge of ordnance and of 
 gunnery as it is practicable to teach in such an institution, 
 etc., etc. 
 
 After the completion of a specific course let there be 
 held, by a national board expressly constituted for this pur- 
 pose, a competitive examination for the grade of military 
 and naval cadet upon which to enter the finishing schools 
 at West Point and Annapolis — the number of admis- 
 sions to be regulated by the necessities of the service, as, 
 from time to time, they may require. At these two 
 higher schools let the completing studies be pursued. At 
 
6o6 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 West Point, in addition to a review of previous branches, 
 there should be taught, as there now is, cavalry and 
 infantry tactics, practical military engineering, ordnance 
 and gunnery, the French and Spanish languages, to> 
 which should also be added the German language. 
 the elements of law, of ethics, etc. At Annapolis such 
 branches of knowledge as are technical to the naval pro^ 
 fession should be added to the studies previously pur- 
 sued, including the practical training at sea, etc., etc. 
 Upon the completion of the whole course at either insti- 
 tution, and the passing of the prescribed final examina- 
 tion, the cadet to be admitted, as now, to the selected 
 branch of the public service, with its established grade 
 and pay. 
 
 In addition to this portion of the general scheme the 
 several States should remodel their public schools so as to- 
 include, as a part of the education given by them, the 
 daily practice of gymnastics and the regular drill of the 
 infantry soldier, under competent teachers. By wise: 
 action in this direction, and with but little extra expense,, 
 every youth of the country could be instructed in the ele- 
 mentary training of the soldier. Further than this, by 
 more attention to general hygiene and the physical devel- 
 opment of the pupil, through athletic exercise, the body 
 would expand in power with the mind of the boy, and, as 
 a result, while we should rear intellectual men, we should 
 also rear a nation of strong, healthy, powerful citizens. 
 The world progresses undoubtedly. It does move, as 
 Gahleo said, and in more directions than one, but in the 
 
NECESSITY OF STATE MILITARY LEGISLATION. boj 
 
 matter now being considered we could well go back two 
 thousand five hundred years and adopt the manual train- 
 ing, the physical development system of the iron men of 
 ancient Greece, who ruled their puny contemporaries by 
 virtue of strong arms and strong bodies, and the fire of 
 whose intellectual power has shone resplendently through 
 all the growing centuries. In the direction of reform as 
 now indicated, there is an immense field for the American 
 statesmen of today. The author knows no more certain 
 road to fame in the annals of history than successful work 
 in the channel now pointed out. 
 
 In addition to the action by States in the matter of 
 physical and military training, as just dwelt upon, each 
 State should extend and improve its militia system, and 
 encourage young men, by favoring legislation, to become 
 attached to the militia service. 
 
 Without indulging in more extended remarks, the 
 author may point to the advantage of a system founded, 
 in some degree, within the lines above marked out. The 
 result of placing it within the power of every youth to 
 obtain the elements of a military or naval education, with 
 which to offer himself as a candidate for permanent ser- 
 vice in the army or navy of his country, would infallibly 
 be to correct the evils of our present system, first, by 
 removing the appointments from politics, and second, by 
 bringing to the front the youth who, in seeking of their 
 own free will the military or naval career, would thus to a 
 very large degree indicate the possession of that inherent 
 fitness or aptitude in a particular direction which has 
 
6o8 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 been so lengthily discussed in the present pages. Other 
 advantages to be secured from such a system must be 
 very obvious. One of the most important of these would 
 be to diffuse a military knowledge throughout the masses of 
 the people, to make of every youth an inchoate and avail- 
 able soldier, and thus to remove the evil of reposing the 
 whole military knowledge, and with it the military re- 
 sources of the nation, to the keeping of a comparatively 
 small number of men, who, believing themselves to hold 
 the destiny of the country within their charge, must be 
 disposed to arrogate to themselves the attributes of a 
 select society. The existence of this feature is wholly 
 inconsistent with the ideas of republican government. 
 
 Two leading objections to a system as above marked 
 out mayJae brought to bear against it. The first of 
 these may allege the difficulty of harmonizing the attri- 
 butes of the National Government with those of the State 
 governments in order that the prerogatives of each 
 may remain unimpaired. To this it may be answered 
 that while the National and State governments are 
 distinct in existence and in functions, the people of the 
 United States are the same wherever resident, and that, 
 when once they are convinced of the necessity of any 
 particular national measure, they are not very slow in 
 bringing fastidious State rulers into accord with general 
 sentiment. But, as the author is fully aware that consid- 
 eration and discussion of a national measure, with a view 
 to final harmony of all classes, involve a lapse of time 
 more or less considerable, he has, at the beginning of the 
 
EXPENSE OF A MILITARY SYSTEM. 609 
 
 present chapter, presented this as one of the reasons for 
 hesitancy to offer at the present moment a definite plan 
 of military establishment. 
 
 The second of these objections might allege the 
 increased expense which would be entailed upon the 
 General Government. To this it can be replied that 
 this is one of those measures of governmental policy in 
 the establishment of which any small economy is apt 
 to be attended with disastrous results to the general 
 welfare. As the nation of fifty million inhabitants cannot 
 be run upon the scale of the young Government embrac- 
 ing only three millions, neither can the defensive estab- 
 lishments of the former be bound within the narrow 
 limits of the latter. But further than this, it may be suc- 
 cessfully maintained that the highest economy exists in 
 the greater outlay, which operates to prevent war entirely 
 or to reduce it to the minimum of time and of expendi- 
 ture which the prosecution of war certainly entails. 
 
 If, however, the question of outlay be examined a 
 little more critically, the location of the actual economies 
 will be found to be a subject open to considerable discus- 
 sion. In addition to the objections herein alleged against 
 our military and naval systems, a perusal of the expenses 
 of the academies, as given in the previous pages, will 
 amply demonstrate the great wastefulness of the systems 
 spoken of. From the year 1802 to the year 1876 — the 
 author has no record since the latter date — there were 
 graduated from West Point only 2,613 cadets, which 
 number, as shown by the record, is less than one-half of 
 
6lO THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 those who entered the institution during the period men- 
 tioned. In computing the cost to the Government of 
 each graduate, from his entry into the institution to his 
 admission to the army, it would not be fair, of course, to 
 take the total of appropriations and pro-rate it upon each 
 graduate, because there are embraced within the appro- 
 priations amounts expended for buildings, improvements, 
 apparatus, books, etc., etc., which remain for the benefit 
 of future pupils. But the reader who has any particular 
 interest in the inquiry will find it possible to make some 
 curious as well as instructive deductions relative to both 
 academies from the tables of expense to be found in 
 detail in the volumes of Revised Statutes. And it is 
 further to be remarked that under the present system, 
 whereby pupils are sent to be educated into soldiers and 
 Bailors with no assuring probability that they have any 
 fitness for those professions, this proportion of rejected 
 students, whose education costs the Government so large 
 a sum, must continue to be at least as great in the future 
 as in the past, so that for every soldier or sailor actually 
 made the Government must pay the cost of educating 
 two. Such a system is wasteful and extravagant upon its 
 very face. 
 
 A new difficulty — one legitimate to such a system, 
 and which might have easily been foreseen, has of late 
 presented, itself in connection with the academies. From 
 the lack of any regulation covering the question of supply 
 and demand, both institutions have been overcrowded 
 with students for some time past. The naval school was 
 
MORE GRADUATES THAN COMMISSIONS. 6ll 
 
 the first to feel the difficulty attending this influx of 
 young graduates into a service already full, and, instead 
 of meeting the question in a rational manner and upon a 
 statistical basis, a thorough Procrustean operation was 
 .esorted to, whereby the nether extremities of the unduly 
 elongated naval infant were cut off, to correspond with 
 the length of the downy bed of the American navy. 
 Pupils were admitted upon the old basis, but a law was 
 passed providing that only the highest ten upon the 
 final examination should receive commissions, while the 
 remainder of the graduates should receive one thousand 
 dollars in money, and with their educations be told to go 
 their way. During the present year, the same difficulty 
 presented itself with the school at West Point. There 
 were more graduates than commissions. 
 
 Under such a state of affairs, what folly it seems 
 to endeavor to patch a rent in the official military and 
 naval uniforms which is so hopelessly large and so pain- 
 fully visible. Under the make-shift provision just spoken 
 of, what would the American people have suffered 
 by the loss to the army of Ulysses S. Grant, who only 
 stood twenty-first in his class? If the author, disagreeing 
 with the fallacy that scholastic education alone makes the 
 soldier, did not believe that General Grant possessed the 
 inherent attributes of a great military genius, which would 
 have found certain vent if he had never seen West Point, 
 he would be disposed to tremble for the future of the 
 country, lest some military type of the "mute, inglorious 
 Milton" might suffer untimely extinguishment through 
 
6l2 THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 failure to reach a standard of class-merit largely based 
 upon punctilios of decorum. The measure of legislation 
 above referred to, as the author well knows, received the 
 sanction of many legislators, because it was felt that the 
 time had not come for the sweeping change which intelli- 
 gent law-makers have for some time realized must be 
 made in the whole system of military and naval educa- 
 tion. But the time of open discussion, at least, seems to 
 have arrived, and the author has ventured to begin it in 
 the present pages. 
 
 The simple plan of a more comprehensive system 
 which has been presented in mere skeleton form, and 
 lacking all of the beautiful details of a completed organ- 
 ism, is contemplated to embrace within it the present 
 naval school, placed upon the higher plane indicated in 
 the preceding pages. Upon a proper basis the author 
 believes in the efficacy of naval education, though all 
 must admit that the system which produced the naval 
 heroes of 1812 and of 1861 has not been excelled as yet 
 by the national establishment at Annapolis. Not only is 
 separate naval education a creation of modern progress, 
 but the separation of the two branches of the military 
 service is an outgrowth of the same progress. The fol- 
 lowing quotation from Macaulay's History of England 
 illustrates this fact very fully. In speaking of the era of 
 Charles II., Macaulay says: "Most of the ships which 
 were afloat were commanded by men who had not been 
 bred to the sea. This, it is true, was not an abuse 
 introduced by the government of Charles. No state, 
 
THE ENGLISH NAVY UNDER CHARLES II. 613 
 
 ancient or modern, had before that time made a com- 
 plete separation between the naval and military services. 
 In the great civilized nations of antiquity, Cymon and 
 Lysander, Pompey and Agrippa had fought battles by 
 sea as well as by land. Nor had the impulse which 
 nautical science received at the close of the fifteenth 
 century produced any new division of labor. At Flod- 
 den the right wing of the victorious army was led by 
 the Admiral of England. At Jarnac and Moncontour, 
 the Huguenot ranks were marshaled by the Admiral of 
 France. Neither John of Austria, the conqueror of 
 Lepanto, nor Lord Howard of Effingham, to whose 
 direction the marine of England was confined when 
 the Spanish invaders were approaching our shores, had 
 received the education of a sailor. Raleigh, highly cele- 
 brated as a military commander, had served during many 
 years as a soldier in France, the Netherlands, and Ireland. 
 Blake had distinguished himself by his skillful and valiant 
 defense of an inland town before he humbled the pride of 
 Holland and of Castile on the ocean. Since the Restora- 
 tion the same system has been followed. Great fleets had 
 been entrusted to the direction of Rupert and Monk — 
 Rupert, who was renowned chiefly as a hot and daring 
 cavalry officer, and Monk, who, when he wished his ship 
 to change her course, moved the mirth of his crew by 
 calling out 'wheel to the left.'" 
 
 The great future, always before us, is constantly filled 
 with surprises. Forty years ago a distinct academy was 
 established at Annapolis for imparting a special naval 
 
6l4 I'HE VOLUNTEER SOLDIER OF AMERICA. 
 
 education. Large sums of money have since been 
 expended by the National Government to make it com- 
 plete in all of its departments. Graduates have been 
 annually turned out from this institution who, as it has 
 been supposed, would represent the highest degree of 
 expert naval culture, and who would be able to carry 
 success to the American arms in all our future naval con- 
 tests. Our people have entertained the belief that under 
 the system of naval education at Annapolis they possessed 
 a model institution fully up to the developments of the 
 age. With the introduction of steam into naval vessels, 
 the Government hastened to supply the facilities for an 
 adequate engineer education. But oh, the irony of ex- 
 perience ! After forty years of naval education at An- 
 napolis, embracing in its course the whole age of steam 
 in war-ships, it has been found necessary to establish a 
 Naval College at Newport, R. I., for the purpose of 
 teaching naval war. This institution was founded in 
 September last, by Rear Admiral Stephen B. Luce, com- 
 mander of the North Atlantic squadron, and organized 
 with a superintendent and a staff of naval professors, as 
 also with a corps of civilian lecturers. In his opening 
 address, Admiral Luce said that by the study of the land 
 campaigns of Alexander the Great, and the stories of the 
 maneuvers, the play and counter-play of Turenne and his 
 great opponent Montecuculli, and of other materials, it 
 was proposed to build up the science of naval warfare. 
 " For, having no authoritative treatise on the art of naval 
 warfare under steam," said the Admiral, " having no rec- 
 
FINAL APPEAL FOR THE VOLUNTEER. 615 
 
 ognized tactical order of battle, being deficient even in 
 the terminology of steam tactics, we must perforce resort 
 to the well-known rules of the military art with a view of 
 their application to the military movements of a fleet, and 
 from the well-recognized methods of disposing troops for 
 battle ascertain the principles which should govern fleet 
 formations," etc., etc. 
 
 The author refrains from the extended comment which 
 this phase of the subject so plainly invites, and contents 
 himself with presenting the facts to the consideration of his 
 fellow-citizens. That a radical reform in our whole sys- 
 tem of military and naval education is urgently demanded, 
 no reflecting mind will dispute after a careful perusal of 
 the facts relating to those branches of the public service 
 which have been massed in the present volume, and the 
 author but manifests his confidence in the enlightened 
 judgment of the citizens of the United States when 
 expressing the belief that, after their attention has been 
 called not alone to the requirements of the public situa- 
 tion, but also to the plain demands of justice, the Ameri- 
 can volunteer — as the pivotal point upon which the 
 security of our people and the perpetuation of their liber- 
 ties so safely rest — will receive the full meed of appreci- 
 ation and the exact measure of justice to which his 
 patriotism and his self-sacrifice so richly entitle him. 
 
 THE END. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 MILITARY REMINISCENCES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE WAR IN THE WEST 
 
 FROM THE JOURNAL OF 
 
 JOHN A. LOGAN, 
 
 LATE MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS, tJ. S. A. 
 
 6lJ 
 
MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 These Reminiscences have been compiled by the editor from the journal 
 of General Logan. The manuscript covers a complete history of the mil- 
 itary operations of the Union armies of the West, from the battle of 
 Belmont to the surrender of General Johiuton. The very limited space 
 at the present command of the editor has necessitated a condensation of 
 material which presents the merest outline of General Logan s valuable 
 contribution to the history of the War in the West. But the extracts 
 here given, in the form of Reminiscences, brief as they are, cannot fail to 
 be of great interest to the readers of "The Volunteer Soldier." 
 
 C. A. L. 
 
 The Battle of Belmont. 
 
 CAIRO was the most important military point in the West at 
 the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion. Its topographical 
 situation is remarkable. It is the point where the Mississippi and the 
 Ohio rivers meet, after having received into their floods the tribu- 
 tary streams which drain more than one-half of the great interior 
 valley of our country. It is also the center from which a circle 
 may be drawn, with a diameter of less than 350 miles, within 
 which will be included parts of the States of Mississippi, Alabama, 
 Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas. 
 
 General Grant was appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers 
 on the 7th of August, 1861, but his commission was dated back to 
 May 17th. The military district of Southeastern Missouri was 
 constituted of Southeastern Missouri, Southern Illinois, and all of 
 
 Western Kentucky and Tennessee that the Union army might be 
 
 619 
 
620 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 able to hold. Cairo was the headquarters of the district. By 
 order of General Fremont, General Grant was assigned to the 
 command of the district named, which command he formally- 
 assumed on the ist of September, 1861, although he did not reach 
 Cairo until the 2nd, when he at once established his headquarters 
 at that point. Several regiments of Union troops, including my 
 own, the Thirty-first Illinois, were already there, and had been 
 under course of drill, and of formation into brigades by McCler- 
 nand. 
 
 On the day that General Grant reached Cairo, the rebel Gen- 
 eral, Leonidas Polk, with a considerable force from Western 
 Tennessee, entered Kentucky and seized the towns of Hickman 
 and Columbus, upon the left bank of the Mississippi, the former 
 being about twenty-seven miles and the latter about twelve miles 
 south of Cairo. 
 
 General Grant at once notified the Kentucky Legislature, 
 through the proper channel, of this violation of the neutral soil of 
 the State, when a resolution was adopted declaring that " Ken- 
 tucky expects the Confederate or Tennessee troops to be with- 
 drawn from her soil unconditionally." To this fulmination Polk 
 paid no attention, a course which, doubtless, the legislative body 
 expected that he would pursue. 
 
 General Grant then seized Paducah, in the State of Kentucky, 
 situated at the confluence of the Tennessee with the Ohio River, 
 and General C. F. Smith was placed in command at that point. 
 Soon afterward General Smith occupied Smithland, situated at the 
 north of the Cumberland River. General Grant then asked per- 
 mission of General Fremont to make an attempt to capture Col- 
 umbus, which permission, however, was not granted. Polk had 
 begun to fortify Columbus with all the means at his command, 
 while General Grant spent most of his time in organizing and 
 disciplining the raw troops which were continually arriving. 
 
 Nearly opposite to Columbus, on the right bank of the 
 Mississippi, and situated in the State of Missouri, was a place 
 
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 62 I 
 
 called Belmont, which had been a mere steamboat landing, and 
 around which had clustered a group of houses. Belmont was situ- 
 ated upon a river flat, with marshes almost entirely cutting it off 
 from the mainland. The place was commanded by the works 
 erected on the bluffs at Columbus by Polk, who had succeeded in 
 putting into position to command the river at that point nearly 
 one hundred and fifty guns, nearly all of which were thirty-two 
 and sixty-four-pounders. After the completion of these formid- 
 able works, Polk began the fortification of other points upon the 
 river, between Columbus and Memphis, among which were 
 included Fort Pillow, just above Memphis, Hickman, Island Num- 
 ber Ten, and New Madrid. These points were located in bends of 
 the river, and at distances varying from fifteen to twenty-three 
 miles below Columbus. 
 
 General Grant had been no less active than his rebel opponent. 
 He had fortified Paducah and erected Fort Holt, on the Kentucky 
 side, and had also built some works at Bird's Point, on the Mis- 
 souri side, opposite Cairo. He had also constructed a fleet of 
 vessels, composed of river steamboats, with a heavy plating of 
 iron, to render them capable of resisting the enemy's shot. These 
 were armed as well as the opportunity permitted ; while ramming- 
 vessels and convoys were also improvised. 
 
 General Fremont was in pursuit of Sterling Price in the south- 
 western part of Missouri, and, fearing that the Confederates would 
 be reinforced by Polk, via the landing-place called Belmont, Fre- 
 mont instructed General Grant, under date of November sth, to 
 'make a strong feint upon Columbus. Grant had previously sent 
 Colonel Oglesby into Missouri, some fifty miles southwest of 
 Cairo, to drive out a body of rebels reported to be congregated 
 there. After Fremont's order, Grant sent another regiment to 
 Oglesby, with an order to march toward New Madrid, and thus to 
 threaten Belmont from the west and south, while Grant himself 
 advanced upon the same place from the north. The 7th of Novem- 
 ber was fixed as the day upon which to make the combined dem- 
 
62 2 MILITAR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 onstration. General Grant had three transports, some five regi- 
 ments of infantry, one of cavalry, and a section of artillery, 3,114 
 men all told. These were formed into two small brigades, com- 
 manded by General McClernand and Colonel Dougherty, and con- 
 voyed by two gun-boats. 
 
 The weather was not all that could be desired, but the men 
 composing our force were in good condition, and eager for a trial 
 of strength. The boys of the Thirty-first Illinois were in splendid 
 spirits, and were determined to give a good account of them- 
 selves. 
 
 General Smith was directed to make a feint from Paducah to 
 the rear of Columbus, while General Grant was making a demon- 
 stration in front of the place. Polk, however, had learned of 
 Oglesby's advance toward New Madrid, and, with the purpose of 
 intercepting the Union force, he had sent a considerable body 
 of men across the river to land at Belmont, who were in camp 
 at that place. Under this phase of affairs General Grant deter- 
 mmed that, instead of making a mere feint against Columbus, 
 he would attack the rebel force at Belmont direct, capture or 
 disperse the troops defending it, and again retire to Cairo. 
 
 At 6 o'clock A. M. we moved down the river, and at Hunter's 
 Landing, on the Missouri side, sheltered from the batteries at 
 Columbus by the v/oods, we debarked our force. Leaving one 
 battalion at the landing as a reserve and guard for the transports, 
 we marched upon the enemy's camp direct, situated some three 
 miles down the river. It was located on the river flat in a large 
 clearing, and was protected on the land sides by abattis and breast- 
 works, and upon the river side by the formidable batteries of 
 Columbus. The ground over which we were compelled to travel 
 was wooded and marshy. 
 
 The rebel force consisted of a regiment of infantry with a 
 battery of six guns, but this force was added to after the com- 
 mencement of the battle by three additional regiments from 
 Columl^us, under General Pillow. 
 
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 623 
 
 Our advance — deployed as skirmishers — was met by a hot 
 reception from the rebels, but the latter were driven back, step by 
 step, upon their camp. After three hours of hard fighting, during 
 which our brave volunteers, under lead of their officers, fought 
 with the effectiveness of trained veterans, an order of assault was 
 made; our boys with desperate valor charged and cleared the 
 abattis, took the camp with several hundred prisoners and all of 
 the rebel artillery, and drove the remnant of the enemy over the 
 river bank, forcing them to leave a well-cooked breakfast behind 
 them. This remnant might also have been captured had our 
 troops pursued the enemy immediately. But, fatigued with the hard 
 march and fight, hunger invited them to the untouched breakfast, 
 which seemed to have been especially prepared for them, and many 
 of our men proceeded to devour it. After this, speech-making was 
 indulged in, and loud cheers given for the Union. 
 
 The flying rebels, under protection of the river bank, had 
 safely gained the woods while all this was going on. General 
 Grant, fully aware of the danger, and feeling that the direct object 
 of the expedition had been accomplished, attempted to restore dis- 
 cipline among his men, and then gave order to fire the camp pre- 
 paratory to a return. Up to this time the Confederates at Colum- 
 bus had refrained from firing, lest their own soldiers might suffer 
 as severely as the Unionists; but now that the flames of the burn- 
 ing camp announced the defeat and dispersion of the rebels, the 
 heavy guns at Columbus opened a severe fire, which soon recalled 
 our men to their sense of danger. So general had been the jubi- 
 lation that only one regiment of our troops, the Thirty-first Illinois, 
 had retained its formation in ranks. 
 
 The order to return to the transports was now given by Gen- 
 eral Grant, but the rebel commander at Columbus determined to 
 retrieve the day for General Pillow, if possible. He therefore sent 
 a force of about four thousand men, under General Cheatham, up 
 the river in steamboats to intercept the return of our force to the 
 transports at Hunter's Landing. In consequence of the bend of 
 
624 MILITAR y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the river near Belmont this movement was concealed from the 
 view of our men, though General Grant observed it. Pillow's 
 defeated forces that had escaped to the wood had re-formed, 
 and, having been joined by Cheatham's reinforcements, they formed 
 a line of battle between our troops and the transports. 
 
 The situation was serious, and the cry " We are surrounded " 
 being passed from mouth to mouth, many of our men became dis- 
 couraged. At this point offers were made to General Grant, by 
 officers of the command, to lead the way in the effort to cut 
 through the rebel line. General Grant, realizing the temper of his 
 officers, restored full confidence to the men by the utterance, " We 
 have whipped them once, and can do it again." The Thirty-first 
 Illinois charged the enemy, and cleared a passage for the retreat 
 of our troops; but Polk's troops continued to harass the rear and 
 flank of our retreating columns, though every attempt to gain a 
 decisive advantage was foiled by the gallant Thirty-first Illinois, 
 which cleared a way no less than three times through a vastly 
 superior force of the enemy. 
 
 At length, reaching the transports, our men rapidly embarked, 
 carrying with them the two pieces of artillery with which they 
 commenced the march and two rebel guns, the other four of the 
 six captured having been spiked on the retreat. General Grant 
 then rode back alone to withdraw the guard left in the morning, 
 but found that they had already hurried on board. The rebels 
 having been still further reinforced. General Grant rode with all 
 haste to the transports, and, sliding down the steep bank with his 
 horse, he rode over a gang plank pushed out for him from the last 
 transport as it was leaving. 
 
 It was about four o'clock when the transports shoved off, and 
 the fire of the rebel musketry was not at all comfortable. Very 
 soon our gunboats, under command of Lieutenant Walke, threw 
 grape and canister into the enemy with such effect that they pre- 
 cipitately sought the shelter of the woods. One of our brave boys 
 was killed, and three were wounded on board the vessels by the 
 
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. 625 
 
 rebel fire, which almost invariably overshot us. The expedition 
 reached Cairo without further molestation. 
 
 The numbers engaged upon both sides, as also the numbers of 
 killed and wounded, have been variously estimated. Generat 
 Grant claimed that we had about 2,500 men engaged, exclusive of 
 the guard left at the transports. The rebel journals called the 
 battle a great victory for the Confederates. The truth is that it 
 was a most disastrous defeat of the rebel troops, and a victory of 
 almost the first magnitude for the Union cause. 
 
 According to the statements of the various Confederate offi- 
 cials, their whole force, including subsequent reinforcements, 
 numbered at the least 7,000 men, which was more than double the 
 numbers of the Union force. Our own loss in killed, wounded, 
 and captured could not have exceeded 550, while it was probably 
 less than that figure. The loss of the enemy, according to the 
 most trustworthy estimates, was not less than 640. Apart from these 
 advantages to, the Union cause, however, there are others to be 
 reckoned among the first in importance. Oglesby was not cut off. 
 Price was not reinforced by Polk from Columbus, and the fruit of 
 victory, as relating to these prime objects, was wholly with us. 
 
 The battle was important to us in still other respects. It had 
 been the constant claim of the Southern people that one of their 
 men could whip five Northerners. The battle of Belmont, if it did 
 not demonstrate to the rebels themselves that one Union soldier 
 could whip two Confederates, proved to the satisfaction of our 
 own men that they were at least equal to the enemy man to man. 
 The battle gave many, if not the most of our men then engaged, 
 their first smell of powder. It inspired confidence in their own 
 abilities as soldiers, as well as in the skill of their officers. It 
 taught a lesson concerning the value of discipline which our men 
 remembered and repeated to others upon almost every subsequent 
 battle-field, for their position at Belmont, owing to their own lack 
 of caution, hajj been very perilous. 
 
 These were the general fruits of the conflict, but the foregoing- 
 
626 MILITAR Y REMINISCENCES 
 
 Statement of them hardly represents full justice to the Union 
 troops who participated in that initial conflict. A few words will 
 suffice to show more in detail the advantages gained. General 
 Grant, with about the same number of men, had attacked and 
 defeated the force of General Pillow, protected by abattis and the 
 guns of Columbus. He had fired and sacked the enemy's camp; 
 he had cut his way through a force more than double the number 
 of his own, composed of fresh men from Columbus, unfatigued by 
 inarching as ours were; he had brought off two guns safely, and 
 spiked four others; he had defeated the rebel reinforcement of 
 Price, the successful accomplishment of which reinforcement 
 would have been a calamity to the Union cause the extent of 
 •which none could foresee. If this were a Confederate victory, 
 there could scarcely be too many of them. 
 
 The Capture of Fort Henry. 
 
 Soon after the battle of Belmont, General Fremont was replaced 
 by General Hunter. The latter fell back upon Rolla from the 
 position before Price. Upon November 12th, 1861, Major-Genera] 
 Henry W. Halleck superseded Hunter, and assumed command of 
 the Department of the Missouri, which had been made to include 
 Arkansas and the part of Kentucky lying west of the Cumberland 
 River. The State of Tennessee and the eastern part of the State 
 of Kentucky were erected into a command under General Don 
 Carlos Buell. These changes ensued upon the retirement of 
 Major-General Winfield Scott from the chief command of the 
 armies and the succession of General George B. McClellan thereto. 
 After the battle of Belmont the Confederate commanders in 
 the West formed their great strategic line, which was in fact but 
 an extension of a line from the Potomac to the Mississippi. The 
 left of the line in the West rested at Columbus, Ky., and its right 
 at Bowling Green in the same State. At Columbus was Polk, with 
 his fortifications and armament of one hundred apd forty guns, 
 •covering the river passage to Memphis and the farther South. At 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT HENR Y. 62/ 
 
 Bowling Green, General Buckner was in command, under Gen- 
 eral Albert Sidney Johnston, with a large army, the place being in 
 communication by rail with Memphis and Columbus, and situated 
 at a distance of ninety miles from Louisville and sixty miles from 
 Nashville. Near the center of this line, and crossing it at right 
 angles, ran the two important rivers known as the Cumberland 
 and the Tennessee, which meander in their course through most 
 of the Southern States above the cotton-belt. These two rivers 
 flow into the Ohio at points not very far apart; and at a distance 
 of about seventy miles on a straight line from where they empty 
 into the Ohio the two streams are not more than eleven miles 
 apart. At the points of closest approach the Confederates had 
 established two very strong posts. These posts commanded the 
 two rivers, respectively, and also the Memphis and Ohio Railroad, 
 which crossed both rivers just above the newly erected fortifica- 
 tions. The fortification on the Tennessee River was called Fort 
 Henry, and that upon the Cumberland River Fort Donelson. 
 
 General Grant, as also other officers under his command at 
 Cairo, realized from the first establishment of this line that the 
 taking of these two points by the Union forces would be attended 
 with momentous consequences. The rebel line would be cut in 
 two, and the enemy be compelled to retire below the line of the 
 border slave States, whereby the war in the West, instead of being 
 carried to the banks of the Ohio and of the Mississippi rivers, with 
 all of the sad consequences to the North that ultimately followed, 
 would have been confined to the States where the spirit of seces- 
 sion was the most rampant. 
 
 Had General Grant been invested at this early stage with full 
 and single authority to carry on the campaign according to his 
 own views and plans, there can be no doubt that the Rebellion 
 would have been crushed, if not within " the ninety days " pre- 
 scribed by Secretary Seward, at least within a twelvemonth from 
 its origin. But he was under the command of an officer who 
 possessed many of the worst qualities of the professional soldier. 
 
628 MILITAR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 A mere book-worm, with no practical tact whatever, he was 
 responsible to as large an extent, if not indeed to a larger extent, 
 for the great proportions the Rebellion ultimately assumed, than 
 any individual, either in or out of the army. Absolutely unfitted 
 to direct any important military movement, he was vain beyond 
 counsel, and jealous to a surprising degree. He hampered Gen- 
 eral Grant from the moment he realized the energy of the young 
 officer up to the time that he no longer had power to molest him. 
 Up to a certain point of the early operations in the West, Grant 
 went through a continuous struggle to do what his judgment told 
 him ought to be done. 
 
 The latter foresaw from an early moment the necessity certain 
 to arise for vessels with which to carry on hostile operations upon 
 the various navigable water-courses. Hence, while disciplining his 
 troops at Cairo, he pushed forward, under supervision of Flag 
 Officer A. H. Foote, the construction of those iron-clad gun-boats, 
 transports, and convoy vessels which rendered such invaluable ser- 
 vice in the subsequent operations against the enemy. 
 
 General Grant's district of Cairo had been enlarged by various 
 additions and then denominated the district of Southern Missouri. 
 He had previously made a demonstration toward Mayfield and 
 Murry in two columns, the one being under General McClernand 
 and the other under C. F. Smith, which had at least a favorable 
 result as a reconnoissance at these points. The movements were 
 made, however, under the most difficult circumstances, the roads 
 being almost impassable and the weather stormy and cold. By 
 threatening the enemy's railroad communications between Colum- 
 bus and Bowling Green, the reinforcement of either Buckner or 
 Zollicoffer, on his right, from Columbus, was prevented; and thus 
 General Thomas was enabled to meet and disperse Zollicoffer's 
 army at Mill Springs in Eastern Kentucky. At length General 
 Grant's long-sought permission to advance upon the enemy's center 
 was given, and on the first of February the following order, 
 authorizing the advance, was received by General Grant : 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT HENRY. 629 
 
 "Headquarters of the Department of the Missouri, 
 
 " St. Louis, January 30. 
 " Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, Cairo, III.. 
 
 " You will immediately prepare to send forward to Fort Henry, on the Ten- 
 nessee River, all your available forces from Smithland, Paducah, Cairo, Fort 
 Hope, Bird's Point, etc. Special garrisons must be left to hold these places against 
 an attack from Columbus. As the roads are now almost impassable for large 
 forces, and as your command is very deficient in transportation, the troops will be 
 taken in steamers up the Tennessee River as far as practicable. Supplies will 
 also be taken up in steamers as far as possible. Flag-Officer Foote will protect 
 the transports with his gun-boats. The Benton, and perhaps some others, should 
 be left for the defense of Cairo. Fort Henry should be taken and held at all 
 hazards. I shall immediately send you three additional companies of artillery 
 from this place. The river front of the fort is armed with twenty-pounders, and 
 it may be necessary for you to take some guns of large caliber, and establish a 
 battery on the opposite side of the river. It is believed that the guns on the land 
 side are of small caliber and can be silenced by our field artillery. It is said that 
 the north side of the river, below the fort, is favorable for landing. If so, you 
 will land and rapidly occupy the road to Dover and fully invest the place, so as to 
 cut off the retreat of the garrison. Lieutenant-Colonel McPherson, United States 
 Engineers, will immediately report to you to act as chief engineer of the expe- 
 dition. It is very probable that an attempt will be made from Columbus to 
 reinforce Fort Henry, also Fort Donelson, at Dover. If you can occupy the road 
 to Dover you can prevent the latter. The steamers will give you the means of 
 crossing from one side of the river to the other. It is said that there is a masked 
 battery opposite the island below Fort Henry. If this cannot be avoided or turned, 
 it must be taken. 
 
 " Having invested Fort Henry, the cavalry forces will be sent forward to 
 break up the railroad from Paris to Dover. The bridges should be rendered 
 impassable, but not destroyed. 
 
 ' ' A telegram from Washington says that Beauregard left Manassas four days 
 ago with fifteen regiments for the line of Columbus and Bowling Green. It is, 
 therefore, of the greatest importance that we get that line before he arrives. You 
 will move with the least delay possible. You will furnish Commodore Foote with 
 a copy of this letter. A telegraph line will be extended as rapidly as possible 
 from Paducah east of the Tennessee River to Fort Henry. Wires and operators 
 will be sent from St. Louis. H. W. Halleck, 
 
 " Major-General." 
 
 On the 2nd of February, only twenty-four hours after receiving 
 the official order, General Grant with fifteen thousand men, carry- 
 ing three days' rations in their haversacks, left Cairo on steam 
 transports, convoyed by a fleet of seven gun-boats under Flag- 
 Officer Foote, and started up the Ohio River for the mouth of the 
 Tennessee, some forty-five miles distant by water, and for Fort 
 
630 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Henry, some sixty or more miles up, and on the eastern bank of 
 the Tennessee. 
 
 After a brief pause at Paducah for the better disposition of the 
 forces, the evening of Monday, the 3d, found the fleet steam- 
 ing rapidly up the muddy waters of the Tennessee and through 
 heavy rains, under the protection of the gun-boats Essex, St. Louis, 
 Cincinnati, Carondelet, Tyler, Conestoga, and Lexington, the Cin- 
 cinnati being the flag-ship. On the morning of Tuesday, the 4th, 
 the fleet was moored some ten mil^s below the fort. The attack 
 having been set for Thursday, the 6th, General Grant, with the 
 ^ssex and two others of the gun-boats, made a reconnoissance on 
 Tuesday toward the fort, shelling the woods on each side of the 
 river as they advanced, in order to unmask concealed batteries, if 
 any existed, and subsequently shelling Fort Henry, so as to draw 
 its fire and ascertain the range of its guns. During this operation 
 the Essex was struck by a thirty-two-pound shot. Wednesday 
 -was consumed in debarking the troops about three or four miles 
 ibelow the fort, a short distance below Panther Island, which 
 loccupied the center of the river. They were landed on both sides 
 of the river. Meanwhile two of the gun-boats proceeded to clear 
 the stream of rebel torpedoes, and General Grant and Commodore 
 Foote arranged the plan of battle for the following morning. The 
 Comte de Paris says of Fort Henry that, "set upon low and 
 marshy ground, its sides protected by two streams, that work pre- 
 sented the appearance of a regular bastioned pentagon. It had an 
 armament of seventeen guns, placed en barbette, twelve of which 
 pointed toward the river. Three thousand Confederates occupied 
 the fort, under General Tilghman." Tilghman, in his own report 
 made to the Confederate War Department, places his garrison at 
 2,734 men, and states that eleven of his heavy guns bore on the 
 river, while Colonel Gilmer, the rebel engineer, acknowledges 
 twelve. On the west or Kentucky side of the river, on the heights 
 commanding Fort Henry, stood unfinished works known as Fort 
 Heiman. The town of Dover was an important station connecting 
 
THE CAP TURE OF FOR T HENR Y. 63 1 
 
 with the railroad communication between Bowling Green and Col- 
 umbus, and was within the outer lines of Fort Donelson, on the 
 Cumberland, ten miles or more away. The Dover road was, there- 
 fore, the Fort Donelson road also. The plan of battle was as fol- 
 lows: On the morning of the 6th General C. F. Smith was to 
 advance with two brigades along the western or Kentucky bank 
 upon Fort Heiman, while the main body of the Union forces, 
 under General McClernand, was to advance at eleven o'clock a. m. 
 from Bailey's Ferry, and cross Panther Creek to the Dover road, 
 which led up to the center of the land side of Fort Henry, and, 
 continuing to the large creek behind, complete the investment of 
 the latter fort, and cut off the escape of the garrison or its succor 
 by any available reinforcements from Fort Donelson. At the same 
 time the gun-boats were to attack from the water side. Smith was 
 to bring his artillery to bear upon the fort from the heights of Fort 
 Heiman, and at the opportune moment the position was to be car- 
 ried by assault of the military forces from the land side. This 
 programme, however, miscarried. The Union forces, upon reach- 
 ing the west bank of the river, found that Fort Heiman had 
 already been evacuated and Fort Henry had surrendered. On the 
 east or Tennessee side of the river the ground was badly cut up 
 with slippery hills and miry ravines, nearly all the distance to be 
 marched being either under water from the overflow of the Ten- 
 nessee or thoroughly soaked by the tremendous storm of the pre- 
 vious night, and in consequence of this fact McClernand was also 
 too late. The march was well described in these words by one 
 who was with McClernand's column : ' 
 
 " Our route was along a rough cart path which twisted and 
 turned about among the high wooded hills in a most perplexing 
 manner. The storm of the previous night had soaked the alluvial 
 soil of the bottoms, until under the tread of the troops it speedily 
 became reduced to the consistency of soft porridge of almost 
 
 * The army correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette. 
 
632 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 immeasurable depth, rendering marching very difficult for the 
 infantry, and for the artillery almost impassable. For some three 
 hours we thus struggled along, when suddenly the roar of a heavy 
 gun came booming over the hills, and another and another told us 
 that the gun-boats had commenced the attack. For an instant the 
 entire column seemed to halt to listen; then, springing forward, we 
 pushed on with redoubled vigor. But mile after mile of slippery 
 hills and muddy swamps were passed over, and still the fort seemed 
 no nearer. We could plainly hear the roar of the guns and the 
 whistle of the huge shells through the air, but the high hills and 
 dense woods completely obstructed the view. Suddenly the firing 
 ceased. We listened for it to recommence, but all was still. We 
 looked in each other's faces and wonderingly asked, what does it 
 mean ? Is it possible that our gun-boats have been beaten back ? 
 For that the rebels should abandon this immense fortification, on 
 which the labor of thousands of negro slaves had been expended 
 for months, after barely an hour's defense, and before our land 
 troops had even come in sight of them, seemed too improbable to 
 suppose. Cautiously we pressed forward, but ere long one of our 
 advance scouts came galloping back, announcing that the rebels 
 had abandoned the fort and seemed to be forming in line of battle 
 on the hills adjoining. With a cheer our boys pressed forward. 
 Soon came another messenger, shouting that the enemy had aban- 
 doned his intrenchments completely and was now in full retreat 
 through the woods. 
 
 " On we went, plunging through the deep mud and fording 
 swollen creeks until, on the summit of a hill higher than any we 
 had previously surmounted, we came upon the tattered line of the 
 rebel fortifications. An earthen breastwork defended by an im- 
 mense, long rifle-pit stretched away on either side, until it was lost 
 to sight in the thick woods. Outside of this the timber had been 
 felled in a belt of several rods in width, forming a barrier very 
 difficult for footmen and impassable for cavalry. This breastwork 
 inclosed fully a square mile. Crossing it and pushing forward, we 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT HENRY. 633 
 
 came .soon to another similar line of defense, and further on still 
 another, before we reached the fort itself, and, crossing a deep 
 slough which protected it on the land side, we stood within the 
 rebel stronghold." 
 
 While McClernand's column was thus struggling with the diffi- 
 culties interposed by nature and art to their advance upon the land 
 side of Fort Henry, and C. F. Smith's column on the other side of 
 the river was laboriously marching upon Fort Heiman, the scene 
 taking place during the river attack was, briefly, as follows : Com- 
 modore Foote had under his command seven gun-boats. Of these 
 three were unarmored, and four were iron-clad, though not wholly 
 so. His plan of advance was for three of the iron-clads, the 
 St. Louis, Carondelet, and Essex, to keep side by side with his 
 own iron-clad, the Cincinnati, and to steam slowly up the river, 
 "bows on," toward the fort — their speed to be regulated by that 
 of his own vessel — while the unarmored gun-boats Tyler, Conestoga, 
 and Lexington were to form side by side a second line in the rear 
 of the first, and, from a position of comparative safety, to bombard 
 Fort Henry and the rebel encampment over the heads of the 
 advance division of "turtle" iron-clads. This programme was 
 carried out to the letter. Immediately after passing the upper end 
 of the wooded island called Panther Island, which was about a 
 mile and a quarter below the fort, the Cincinnati opened fire at 
 12.30 p. M., throwing a shell with a fifteen-second fuse from an 
 eight-inch Dahlgren into the fort. The St. Louis and Carondelet 
 threw similar missiles, while the Essex fired eighty-pound shells. 
 The rebel guns instantly replied, and the firing soon became general. 
 Twelve guns of the fort were trailed upon the attacking squadron, 
 whose van could only bring to bear upon the enemy the bow guns, 
 some seven or twelve in number, the accounts varying. The fire 
 from the slowly but steadily advancing gun-boats was very delib- 
 erate, accurate, and destructive, their shells plunging into the fort 
 and camp with all the precision of target practice. "And now," 
 says the Boston Journal's graphic account, " there was a visible 
 
634 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 commotion in the rebel camp. The first shell from the Cincinnati 
 threw the troops into disorder, and at the fourth round, unable to 
 stand the terrible hail which was bringing sure destruction, they 
 broke and fled, leaving arms, ammunition, provisions, blankets, tents, 
 everything, and poured out of the intrenchment a motley, panic- 
 stricken rabble, taking the road toward Dover. A portion jumped on 
 board a small steamboat which was lying in the creek above the fort, 
 and escaped up the river. * * * Straight onward moved the 
 boats, swerving neither to the right nor to the left. As they neared 
 the fort their firing became more and more destructive. The sand- 
 bags and gabions were knocked about, covering the guns and 
 smothering those wha served them. At an early moment in the 
 fight the rifled gun of the rebels burst. * * * The gun-boats 
 were repeatedly hit, and those portions which were not plated with 
 iron were badly riddled. 
 
 " The fight had lasted fifty minutes with scarcely a casualty 
 on our part, when a twenty-four-pound shot entered the Essex, 
 passed through the thick oak planking surrounding the boilers and 
 engines, and entered the starboard boiler, instantly disabling her, 
 filling the entire boat with steam, and scalding twenty -nine officers 
 and men of her crew. She at once dropped behind and floated 
 down with the stream until taken up by a tug and towed to the 
 encampment. 
 
 " The rebels were greatly encouraged by this circumstance. 
 They revived their flagging fire and evidently felt that victory was 
 still to be theirs. But the fleet did not falter for a moment. It 
 kept on straight forward to the batteries as if nothing had oc- 
 curred. The vessels were now at close range. Their shells tore 
 up the embankments as they exploded directly over the guns. One 
 eighty-pound shell killed or wounded every person serving one of 
 the guns; while the shots of the enemy which struck the iron 
 plating of the gun-boats glanced off, doing no harm. There were 
 no signs of retreat, none of stopping, on the part of Commodore 
 Foote, and those who beheld the fleet supposed from the indica- 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT HENRY. 635 
 
 tions that he was going to run straight on to the shore and pour 
 in his fire at two rods' distance. 
 
 " Such coolness, determination, and energy had not been 
 counted on by the rebel General, and at forty-six minutes past 
 one, or one hour and twelve minutes from the commencement of 
 the fight, when the gun-boats were within three or four hundred 
 yards of the fort, the rebel flag came down by the run. 
 
 " In an instant all firing ceased. * * * The St. Louis, being- 
 nearest, immediately sent a boat on shore, and the stars and stripes 
 went up with a wild huzzah from the crews. General Tilghman, 
 who commanded the rebels, asked for Commodore Foote. Word 
 was sent from the Cincinnati that Commodore Foote would be 
 happy to receive him on board that gun-boat, and the gig of the 
 Cincinnati was sent to the shore. The rebel General entered it, and 
 soon stood before the Commodore. General Tilghman asked for 
 terms. ' No, sir,' was the Commodore's reply; ' your surrender 
 must be unconditional.' ' Well, sir, if I must surrender, it gives 
 me pleasure to surrender to so brave an officer as you.' ' You do 
 perfectly right to surrender, sir, but I should not have surrendered 
 on any condition.' ' Why so ? I do not understand you.' ' Be- 
 cause I was fully determined to capture the fort, or to go to the 
 bottom.' The rebel General opened his eyes at this remark and 
 replied: 'I thought I had you, Commodore, but you were too 
 much for me.' 'But how could you fight against the old flag ? ' 
 ' Well, it did come hard at first, but if the North had only let us 
 alone there would have been no trouble. But they would not 
 abide by the Constitution.' Commodore Foote assured him that 
 he and all of the South were mistaken." 
 
 There were some seven hundred shots, in all, fired during this 
 gallant fight, some four hundred by the attacking squadron, and 
 over three hundred by the fort. The fort was badly damaged, 
 while four of the gun-boats were struck, to-wit: the Cincinnati \n 
 thirty-one places, the St. Louis in seven, the Carondelet in six, and 
 the Essex in fifteen, one of which disabled the latter. The rebel 
 
636 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 General Tilghman afterward stated that his reasons for concen- 
 trating his fire on the Cincinnati were because she was the flag-ship 
 and he hoped to disable her; and thus by getting her and the 
 Commodore out of the way, the other vessels would be an easier 
 prey to his guns; and because, also, she had got the range of the 
 fort better, and her fire, especially just before the surrender, was 
 most terrific. One of the rebel shots split the muzzle of one of 
 the largest guns on the flag-ship; another completely decap- 
 itated one of the gunners; while a third, a hundred-and-twenty- 
 eight-pounder,striick without penetrating the iron-clad pilot-house 
 at a point only a few inches from the head of the Commodore, who 
 was inside with the pilots, the violence of the concussion eliciting 
 from them all a " very decided grunt.'' 
 
 The Essex, besides the twenty-nine officers and men of her crew 
 scalded, according to the report of Commodore Foote, also had 
 nineteen soldiers on board who were injured. The Cincinnati lost 
 only one killed and nine wounded by the enemy's fire. This com- 
 prised the total Union loss. The enemy's casualties were compar- 
 atively small, being five killed and sixteen wounded. The rebel 
 General Tilghman and staff, with sixty artillerists, were taken pris- 
 oners, and there were also captured twenty guns and seventeen 
 mortars, the guns being mostly of heavy caliber ; a hospital ship, 
 with sixty rebel sick, and barracks and tents capable of accommo- 
 dating 15,000 men, all of which were turned over to General Grant 
 half an hour or more after the surrender, upon his arrival in 
 force. 
 
 The Thirty-first Illinois Regiment was the first to enter the 
 breastworks, and also among the first to enter the fort. The same 
 night it was my privilege to take Warren Stewart's cavalry and 
 part of the Thirty-first Illinois, and to press the enemy on the direct 
 road to Dover, in the performance of which duty ten pieces of the 
 enemy's artillery were taken and secured. General Grant's report, 
 written from Fort Henry, was as follows: 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT HENRY. 637 
 
 "Headquarters District of Cairo, 
 " Fort Henry, February 6, 1861. 
 " Captain J. T. Kelton, St. Louis, Mo. . 
 
 " Enclosed I send you my orders for the attack upon Fort Henry. Owing to 
 dispatches received from Major-General Halleck and corroborating information 
 here, to the eftect that the enemy were rapidly reinforcing, I thought it impera- 
 tively necessary that the fort should be carried to-day. My forces were not up at 
 eleven o'clock last night when my orders were written; therefore I did not deem 
 it practicable to set an earlier hour than eleven o'clock to-day to commence the 
 investment. The gun-boats started the same hour to commence the attack, and 
 engaged the enemy at not over six hundred yards. 
 
 " In a little over one hour all the batteries were silenced, and the fort sur- 
 rendered at discretion to Flag-OfBcer Foote, giving us all their guns, camp equi- 
 page, etc. The prisoners taken were General Tilghman and staff, Captain Taylor 
 and company, and the sick. The garrison, I think, must have commenced the 
 retreat last night, or at an early hour this morning. Had I not felt it an impera- 
 tive duty to attack Fort Henry to-day, I should have made the investment com- 
 plete and delayed until to-morrow so as to have secured the garrison. I do not 
 now believe, however, that the result would have been any more satisfactory. 
 
 " The gun-boats have proved themselves well able to resist a severe cannon- 
 ading. All the iron-clads received more or less shots, the flag-ship some twenty- 
 eight, without any serious damage to any except the Essex. * * * 
 
 " I shall take and destroy Fort Donelson on the 8th, and return to Fort Henry 
 with the forces employed, unless it looks possible to occupy the place with a 
 small force that could retreat easily to the main body. I shall regard it more in 
 the light of an advanced gran4 guard than as a permanent post. * * * 
 
 " U. S. Grant, 
 
 " Brigadier-General."' 
 
 In General Grant's dispatch to Halleck he simply said: 
 " Fort Henry is ours. The gun-boats silenced the batteries before 
 the investment was completed. * * * i shall take and destroy 
 Fort Donelson on the 8th, and return to Fort Henry." His writ- 
 ten report of the same date contains similar language. 
 
 It was subsequently decided, however, that the land advance 
 upon Fort Donelson must be delayed, and that the gun-boats 
 should first start' down the Tennessee, along the intervening bend 
 of the Ohio, and up the Cumberland toward Donelson, convoying 
 transports with reinforcements turned back or gathered on the 
 way down, which should be landed on the west bank of the Cum- 
 berland just below Fort Donelson, establishing a new supply-base 
 
 ' Badeau's Appendix. 
 
638 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 there, and cooperating with the other farces that would, in the 
 interim, march entirely overland to that fort. 
 
 Meanwhile, and immediately upon the surrender of Fort 
 Henry, Commodore Foote had ordered Lieutenant-Commander 
 Phelps, with his division of three unarmored gun-boats, to steam 
 up the Tennessee River to Benton, "to remove the rails, and so far 
 render the bridge of the railroad for transportation and communi- 
 cation between Bowling Green and Columbus useless, and after- 
 ward to pursue the rebel gun-boats and secure their capture if 
 possible" — orders which not only resulted in the destruction of 
 the railroad bridge, and the capture or destruction of the rebel 
 vessels and much material of war, but also in the triumphant carry- 
 ing of the Union flag through the State of Tennessee and into Ala- 
 bama, until the shallow water at Muscle Shoals, near Florence, 
 prevented a farther ascent of the river. 
 
 The Capture of Fort Donelson. 
 
 Polk with a large rebel army was at Columbus, on the Missis- 
 sippi, which point constituted the rebel left, covering Memphis. 
 Albert Sidney Johnston was at Bowling Green, Ky., which consti- 
 tuted the rebel right, impregnably fortified, and occupied by 
 another army of at least fifty thousand effective men. The Union 
 General George H. Thomas (under Buell's orders) had annihilated 
 Zollicoffer's forces at Mill Spring. Thomas having turned one 
 flank of the enemy's position at Bowling Green, Grant's capture of 
 Fort Henry threatened the other. 
 
 An immediate result of the fall of Fort Henry was the evacua- 
 tion of Bowling Green and its occupation by the Union forces 
 under Buell, while part of Sidney Johnston's rebel army fell back 
 upon Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, which city, besides being 
 located on the Cumberland River, was one of the great railroad 
 centers of the Southern and border States. While being forced to 
 this retrograde movement, however, Johnston was fully aware of 
 the great importance of holding Fort Donelson, both for defensive 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 639 
 
 and offensive reasons — defensive of the new rebel right at Nash- 
 ville by the Cumberland River approach, and offensive because it 
 was a point from which as a base either Fort Henry might be 
 taken or other and stronger rebel works on the Tennessee might 
 be constructed. In the accomplishment of that end, both streams 
 being once more placed under rebel domination, the threatened 
 Union advance through the border States of Kentucky and Ten- 
 nessee upon the Gulf States would be checked if not prevented, 
 and the rebels would then dominate both States, besides being able 
 to threaten Missouri. Hence Johnston lost no time, after he had 
 evacuated Bowling Green, in sending from that and the intermedi- 
 ate towns of Russellville and Cumberland City, on the line of the 
 Memphis and Ohio Railroad, strong reinforcements — all the 
 troops, in fact, which he could spare — to Fort Donelson, under 
 Generals Buckner, Pillow, and Floyd; and these officers, suc- 
 cessively upon their arrival, by reason of seniority in rank, assumed 
 chief command of the fort and the rebel forces there assem- 
 bled. But while Johnston, on the one hand, hurried all the rebel 
 troops possible to be sent in order to defend Fort Donelson, so, on 
 the other, Grant's repeated and urgent demands for reinforce- 
 ments ultimately brought such Union troops by rail and water as 
 could be spared from Hunter's command in Kansas, from other 
 commands in Missouri under Halleck, and even by the long circuit 
 of the Green, the Ohio, and the Cumberland rivers, from Buell's 
 Department of Eastern Kentucky. In the immediate present, 
 however. Grant could only be absolutely certain of the fifteen 
 thousand men that he had with him, and with these, in case he 
 could get no other assistance, he intended to attack, as soon as 
 possible, at least an equal force of rebels sheltered behind massive 
 earth-works and protected by numerous guns of heavy caliber. 
 The undertaking was a desperate one. Grant's original intention, 
 as may be gathered from his dispatches, was to march immedi- 
 ately across from Fort Henry after its fall, and to carry Fort Don- 
 elson by storm. But delay was necessitated, first, by the deeply 
 
640 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 flooded condition of the country; second, by the non-appearance 
 of the three gun-boats that had gone up the Tennessee on their 
 brilliantly successful expedition; and third, by the uncertainty as 
 to whether and to what extent Commodore Foote, who had gone to 
 Cairo with his new gun-boats or iron-clad " turtles " for repairs, 
 would cooperate by naval attack with the land forces. The posi- 
 tion as it then existed may be briefly described as follows: At the 
 outer point of an elbow or rounded right angle formed by the 
 Cumberland River, where, after running for hundreds of miles 
 westwardly with the evident design of emptying into the Ten- 
 nessee at Fort Henry, the Cumberland suddenly changes its course 
 when twelve miles distant from the latter river, and then runs par- 
 allel with it northward to the Ohio. 
 
 Upon a circular, bluff-faced eminence stands the town of 
 Dover, looking eastwardly up the Cumberland and northwardly 
 down that stream. Closely encircling the broad round, eminence 
 upon which Dover rests is a marshy ravine, opening out in spots 
 to a quarter of a mile or more in width, and through which two 
 small creeks rising in its western part fall away respectively north 
 and south across the land side of the town, both then running east- 
 wardly above and below it into the river. An irregular ridge, 
 shaped like a horse-shoe, its ends touching the river, next sur- 
 rounds the. town. Outside this horse-shoe ridge of hills there exist 
 marshy ravines and land overflowed by the creeks. At a point at 
 the foot of this ridge or range, to the southwestward of the town, 
 and about a mile from the river, into which it flows eastwardly, is 
 Wynn's Creek, then much swollen. At the same point rises the 
 south fork of another and much larger creek, called Indian Creek, 
 which fork, running westwardly and then sweeping around to the 
 northward and eastward, empties easterly through Indian Creek 
 into the river below the town, just as Wynn's Creek empties above 
 Dover, thus forming, as it were, a second water-ditch encircling the 
 town. Beyond this, inland, is a range of hills extending from the 
 river all the way around to the upper part of Indian Creek. About 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 641 
 
 two and one-half miles from the river-elbow, where Dover is 
 located, and down the river on its eastern bank, is the mouth of a 
 very large creek known as Hickman Creek, which was so backed 
 up by the high water of the river, and filled with the waters of 
 recent rains, as to be impassable save by boats or bridges ; and 
 about half-way between its mouth and the town of Dover is the 
 mouth of Indian Creek, also greatly swollen at that time. In 
 order to properly appreciate what both nature and science had 
 done for Fort Donelson, it must be remembered that the fort> 
 which inclosed about one hundred acres, with its massive bas- 
 tioned earth-works, frowned from the summit of the high river 
 bluffs which tower one hundred feet above the Cumberland, its 
 flanks protected by these swollen creeks ; that the guns of the fort 
 itself, as well as those of the two water batteries lower down the 
 bluff — some twenty heavy guns in all — owing to a slight deflec- 
 tion of its downward course, completely raked and swept the river 
 as far as they could carry down the stream in the direction whence 
 any attacking fleet must approach. The river defenses of Fort 
 Donelson were, therefore, very much stronger than those of Fort 
 Henry, whether the number of guns that could be brought to bear 
 on the hostile fleet, the raking position they held, or their greater 
 elevation and plunging power be considered. In fact, on the water 
 side Donelson may be said to have been almost impregnable. Of 
 the land side of the fort, where danger from the coming attack was 
 to be mainly apprehended, it may be said that some three and a 
 half miles inland, and almost due west from the fort, rise both of 
 the two streams before mentioned, to-wit: Hickman and Indian 
 Creeks. Hickman Creek runs due north two miles, and then, hav- 
 ing passed the small house that became General Grant's headquar- 
 ters, turns abruptly and runs a little south of east into the river 
 just below the fort. Indian Creek, rising at almost the same point, 
 runs due south for over a mile, and then as abruptly turns and 
 runs north of east into the river just above the fort. Between the 
 north and south lines of the upper waters of these overflowed 
 
642 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 creeks are three successive hill ranges, very irregular, full of arms 
 and spurs, yet preservihg some general features. (?f parallelism the 
 one to the other, as well as to the convex land front of the hill 
 crowned by the fort. Between these parallel hill ranges are 
 marshy ravines or valleys, and through all these marshy ravines, 
 .flowing north and south, are other forks or feeders liable to be 
 flooded, and emptying into Hickman and Indian Creeks, respect- 
 ively. Here, then, was a succession of defenses provided by 
 inature, and independent of the dense timber which covered both 
 hill and ravine. 
 
 But art and military science had hurriedly completed the rebel 
 works. Their right and center extended along the second irregu- 
 Jar ridge in front of the fort, their flanks, like those of the fort, 
 43rotected by Hickman and Indian Creeks, and the left extended 
 from Indian Creek along that second hill range which nature her- 
 •self has provided for the defense of Dover. Except where broken 
 by Indian Creek and its south fork, the rebel line of defense ran 
 along the selected ridge, at a mean distance of two miles from the 
 river face, from Hickman Creek down to and across Indian Creek, 
 and then, crossing the south fork thereof, sweeping around on the 
 abutting ridge to the west and south of Dover (constituting the 
 «outh leg of the horse-shoe ridge before mentioned), rested on the 
 river bank or bottom, between Wynn's Creek and the creek still 
 aiearer Dover. Thus the line of rebel works inclosed a space of 
 .about two and one-half miles broad by three and one-half miles in 
 Jength, up the river from Hickman to Wynn's Creek. Within this 
 inclosed space of some nine miles square Fort Donelson stood 
 near one end and Dover near the other, and the intervening spaces 
 were filled with ridges, ravines, creek-forks, and hastily constructed 
 road-ways, in addition to the regular roads which led from Dover 
 to the south or northwestwardly toward Fort Henry. There was also 
 .a regular road running along the entire line inside of the rebel 
 works. Secondary lines as well as various detached works erected 
 .at commanding points overlooking the outer line of defenses added 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 643 
 
 greatly to its strength, while the abattis formed of the dense tree- 
 growth was another element of safety for the fortifications and 
 their defenders. The works themselves were principally rifle-pit 
 intrenchments, but at nine points in the line were batteries armed 
 with the artillery of eight field batteries. The entire number of 
 rebel guns on the lines of works in the main fortifications and 
 otherwise, including the light batteries, was some sixty-five pieces. 
 The outer line of works' followed the exterior face of the ridge 
 aforesaid, thus dominating its slope of fifty to eighty feet depth, 
 and the broad forest-covered creek bottoms and ravines beyond. 
 In these miry depressions as well as upon the outer ascent of the 
 ridge forming this defensive line, the dense brush, small oaks, and 
 other trees, having been slashed breast-high, with the tops felled 
 toward an advancing enemy while the butts remained fixed to the 
 stumps, formed lines of rough abattis, which, with the tangled 
 under-brush, slippery hill-side, and boggy creek beds, made the 
 difficulties of approach to these outer works almost insurmountable, 
 especially as in some parts, where the ravines widen into valleys, the 
 entire space was obstructed with this entangling abattis. Further- 
 more, the woods, and the rough, broken character of the hills, 
 spurs, and ravines, for a distance far beyond the works, enabled 
 field batteries to be masked, and used to great advantage against 
 an advancing enemy, long before he could reach the ridges that 
 faced the rebel intrenched line. Securely and comfortably camped 
 upon the ridges within this line of outer works, the rebels had 
 gathered by the night of the 12th of February an army which, 
 comprising the original garrison of nearly four thousand, and aug- 
 mented by the fugitives from Fort Henry, together with the sub- 
 sequent additions of 1,860 from Polk's army at Columbus, Ky., 
 and of twelve thousand under Floyd, Pillow, and Buckner, from 
 Johnson's army at Bowling Green and points between it and Fort 
 Donelson, numbered over twenty thousand men. Such was the 
 fort and garrison, commanded by three rebel brigadier-generals, 
 
644 MILITAR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 against which Brigadier-General Grant was audaciously moving 
 with fifteen thousand men. 
 
 The time which circumstances had compelled him to consume 
 at Fort Henry before proceeding to march upon Fort Donelson 
 had not been lost by the Union commander. He had reorganized 
 his forces, besides making strenuous efforts to provide for aug- 
 menting them from Cairo and elsewhere. He had now formed his 
 army, thereafter to be known during the war as the Army of the 
 Tennessee, into three divisions. 
 
 The First Division, under Brigadier-General John A. McCler- 
 nand, conaprising three brigades, to-wit: 
 
 First Brigade, Colonel Richard J. Oglesby, including five 
 infantry regiments, to-wit: The Eighth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colo- 
 nel Frank L. Rhodes; Eighteenth Illinois, Colonel Michael K. Law- 
 ler; Twenty-ninth Illinois, Colonel James S. Reardon; Thirtieth 
 Illinois, Colonel P. B. Fonke; and Thirty-first Illinois, Colonel 
 John A. Logan; and eight companies of cavalry, two of them 
 belonging to the Second Illinois Cavalry, two to the regular army, 
 and four of them independent Illinois companies; and two Illinois 
 batteries of light artillery, under Captains Schwartz and Dresser. 
 
 Second Brigade, Colonel W. H. L. Wallace, including four 
 infantry regiments, to-wit: The Eleventh Illinois, Lieutenant-Colo- 
 nel Thomas E. G. Ransom; Twentieth Illinois, Colonel C. Carroll 
 Marsh; Forty-fifth Illinois, Colonel John E. Smith; and Forty- 
 eighth Illinois, Colonel Isham N. Haynie; also the Fourth Regi- 
 ment Illinois Cavalry, Colonel T. Lyle Dickey; and two Illinois 
 batteries of light artillery, under Captains Taylor and McAllister. 
 
 Third Brigade, Colonel William R. Morrison, including two 
 infantry regiments, to-wit: the Seventeenth Illinois, Colonel 
 Leonard F. Ross; and the Forty-ninth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Phineas Pease. 
 
 The Second Division, under Brigadier-General Charles F. 
 Smith, comprised five brigades, to-wit: 
 
 First Brigade, Colonel John McArthur, including three 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 645 
 
 infantry regiments, to-wit: the Ninth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Jesse J. Phillips; Twelfth Illinois, Colonel A. L. Chetlain; and 
 Forty-first Illinois, Colonel Isaac C. Pugh. 
 
 Second Brigade, Colonel Lewis Wallace (left at Fort Henry, 
 and subsequently merged into the Provisional or Third Division). 
 
 Third Brigade, Colonel John Cook, including five infantry 
 regiments, to-wit: the Fifty-second Indiana, Colonel James M. 
 Smith; Seventh Illinois, Colonel Andrew J. Babcock; Fiftieth Illi- 
 nois, Colonel Moses M. Bayne; Thirteenth Missouri, Colonel C. J. 
 Wright; and Twelfth Iowa, Colonel Joseph I. Woods. Also three 
 Missouri batteries of light artillery, under Captains Richardson, 
 Welker, and Stone. 
 
 Fourth Brigade, Colonel Jacob G. Lanman, including four 
 infantry regiments, to-wit: the Twenty-fifth Indiana, Colonel 
 James C. Veatch; Second Iowa, Colonel James M, Suttle; Seventh 
 Iowa, Lieutenant-Colonel James C. Parrott; and Fourteenth Iowa, 
 Colonel William T. Shaw. Also Birge's sharp-shooters. 
 
 Fifth Brigade, Colonel Morgan L. Smith, including two 
 infantry regiments, to-wit : the Eighth Missouri, Major John 
 McDonald; the Eleventh Indiana, Colonel George F. McGinnis. 
 
 The Third Division, under Brigadier-General Lewis Wallace,, 
 comprised three brigades, to-wit: 
 
 First Brigade, Colonel Charles Cruft, including four infantry 
 regiments, to-wit: the Thirty-first Indiana, Lieutenant-Colonel 
 John Osborne; Forty-fourth Indiana, Colonel H. B. Reed; Seven- 
 teenth Kentucky, Colonel John H. McHenry, Jr.; Twenty-fifth 
 Kentucky, Colonel James M. Shackelford. 
 
 Second Brigade (attached to the Third Brigade, under 
 Colonel Thayer), including three infantry regiments, to-wit: the 
 Forty-sixth Illinois, Colonel John A. Davis; Fifty-seventh Illinois,, 
 Colonel Cyrus D. Baldwin; and Fifty-eighth Illinois, Colonel Will- 
 iam F. Lynch. 
 
 Third Brigade, Colonel John M. Thayer, including four 
 infantry regiments, to-wit: the First Nebraska, Lieutenant-Colonel 
 
646 MILITAR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 William D. McCord; Fifty-eighth Ohio, Colonel Valentine Bausen- 
 wein; Sixty-eighth Ohio, Colonel Samuel H. Steadman; and Sev- 
 enty-sixth Ohio, Colonel William B. Woods. 
 
 Also attached to this division, but not brigaded, Cpmpany A 
 of the Thirty-second Illinois infantry, and Battery A of the First 
 Illinois Light Artillery, Lieutenant P. P. Wood. 
 
 As early as the seventh, the day after the capture of Fort 
 Henry, our cavalry, fording the two miles of heavily flooded land 
 a.t the rear, had advanced across the neck of land between Forts 
 Henry and Donelson, to reconnoiter and feel the position of the 
 ■enemy. Scarcely a day had passed without a brush between them 
 and the enemy under Forrest, or with the rebel pickets or outposts. 
 On the eleventh of February General Grant sent the greater part 
 of General Lewis Wallace's division down the river on the trans- 
 ports to meet Foote's gun-boats, now on the way from Cairo, with 
 instructions to follow them up the Ohio and the Cumberland to a 
 point on its west bank below the mouth of Hickman Creek, where 
 they were to land and effect a junction with the main body of the 
 army before Donelson, the balance of the division being detailed 
 for garrison duty at Fort Henry. McClernand's and Smith's divis- 
 ions were ordered to advance from the swamps of Fort Henry, 
 and camp for the night on the comparatively dry ground beyond. 
 The men of the Union army were in the best possible spirits. 
 Somewhat chagrined at having reached Fort Henry only to find it 
 captured by the naval forces, and by the delay that had since una- 
 voidably ensued, they burned for a chance to show their mettle to 
 the enemy, and now that they were upon the eve of meeting him, 
 our boys joyfully shouted and sang the refrain, " On to Donelson," 
 while the elasticity of their swinging step showed the confident 
 and martial spirit that animated each one, from their great com- 
 mander to the smallest drummer-boy. Night settled upon the 
 small Union army in bivouac. The morning sun of Wednesday, 
 the twelfth of February, found the tentless Union army, which 
 moved without transportation and depended solely upon the 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 647 
 
 knapsack and haversack for sustenance and comfort, somewhat 
 chilled by the inclement night, but disposed not to complain, in 
 view of the glorious prospect so near ahead. At an early hour the 
 order to advance was given, and with exultant cheers the line of 
 march was taken up on the " Ridge Road " and on the " Telegraph 
 Road " to Dover. To McClernand's division fell the honor of 
 leading the advance of both columns. Colonel Oglesby's brigade, 
 with its companies of Illinois light cavalry, was at the front, fol- 
 lowed by its five Illinois infantry regiments. Schwartz's and 
 Dresser's batteries of Illinois light artillery led the column on the 
 Ridge Road, while Colonel W. H. L. Wallace's brigade, with the 
 Fourth Regiment of Illinois cavalry, was at the front, followed by 
 its four Illinois infantry regiments, and Taylor's and McAllister's 
 batteries of Illinois artillery, heading the column on the Telegraph 
 or direct road. It was about noon when W. H. L. Wallace's 
 brigade came in sight of Fort Donelson, and found itself barred 
 by the impassable waters of Hickman Creek from nearer approach 
 to the outer rebel line of works, whose right safely rested upon 
 them. Turning to his right, Wallace marched his brigade up to 
 and around the head of the creek to the Ridge road, where, join- 
 ing Oglesby's brigade, the two columns united into one and 
 repulsed a brisk cavalry attack made by Forrest, after which the 
 column moved slowly southward, feeling its way toward Indian 
 Creek and Dover. General Force has described the incidents of 
 the afternoon as follows: "The day was spent feeling through the 
 thick woods and along deep ravines and high, narrow, winding 
 ridges. At times a distant glimpse was caught through some 
 opening of the gleam of tents crowning a height. At times a regi- 
 ment tearing its way through blinding undergrowth was startled 
 and cut by the sudden discharge from a battery almost overhead, 
 which it had come upon unawares. The advancing skirmish line 
 was in constant desultory conflict with the posted picket line. 
 Where an opening through the timber permitted, our batteries 
 occasionally took a temporary position and engaged those of the 
 
648 MILITAR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 enemy. The afternoon passed in thus developing the fire of the 
 line of works, feeling toward a position, and acquiring an idea of 
 the formation of the ground. By night, Smith's division was in 
 line in front of Buckner, and McClernand's division had crossed 
 Indian Creek and reached the Wynn's Creek road. The column 
 had marched without transportation. The men had nothing but 
 what they carried in knapsack and haversack. Shelter tents had 
 not yet come into use. The danger of drawing the enemy's fire 
 prevented the lighting of camp-fires. The army bivouacked in line 
 of battle. The besieged resumed at night their task, which had 
 been interrupted by the afternoon skirmishing, of completing and 
 strengthening their works." 
 
 The night was chilling, yet, weary with the march across from 
 Fort Henry and the toilsome movements of the afternoon and 
 evening, our men slept soundly on their arms. Thursday, the 
 thirteenth day of February, dawned upon our weary troops, who, 
 hastily consuming their scant and uncooked rations, began to 
 inquire if there was any news of the fleet. None having arrived, 
 our brave boys resolutely turned their faces to the enemy and 
 commenced another day, the second of the siege, which, like the 
 previous afternoon, was largely spent in pressing our right forward 
 to the south and east along the Ridge and the Wyman Creek 
 roads, in progging the enemy at various points to keep him 
 employed, in attempting to uncover his line and reveal his 
 strength, as well as, under the cover of a heavy cannonade, to 
 secure points of advantage for our own more extended, and, there- 
 fore, weaker line of investment. 
 
 While McClernand's division, with Oglesby's brigade in ad- 
 vance, still cautiously pushed southward, Lanman's brigade of 
 C. F. Smith's division pressed directly forward to the front until 
 opposite the extreme right of Buckner's line, held by the rebel 
 Colonel Hanson, when Veatch's Twenty-fifth Indiana gallantly 
 advanced down the outer ridge, across the slashed timber of the 
 creek bottom, and up the abattis-protected slope of the ridge 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 649 
 
 crowned by the enemy's works, under a galling fire from above. 
 But it was impossible to struggle through the tangled abattis under 
 such a fire as was poured out, and, after maintaining his position 
 for two hours, Veatch was forced to retire. Parrott's Seventh 
 Iowa, supported by Shaw's Fourteenth Iowa, subsequently ad- 
 vanced to the left of Veatch's former position, protected by the fire 
 of Birge's sharp-shooters, but later the regiment was withdrawn. 
 Meanwhile, on Lanman's immediate right. Cook's brigade made 
 a demonstration against the enemy's works in front. Babcock's 
 Seventh Illinois, on the right of the brigade, woke a rebel battery 
 and retired, while the balance of the brigade took a position on a 
 ridge some fifteen hundred feet from and overlooking the rebel 
 breastworks. Upon the right, McClernand's batteries of both 
 light and heavy artillery being served with such effect as to com- 
 pletely silence some of the rebels' best served batteries, besides 
 spreading consternation in the enemy's intrenched camp by a well- 
 timed shower of shells, that officer determined to carry the position 
 by storm. To his Third Brigade (Morrison's) was assigned the 
 honor of the perilous assault, Colonel Haynie, of the Forty-eighth 
 Illinois (Morrison's senior), being ordered to join him and take 
 command. Haynie, with Ross' Seventeenth Illinois, and his own 
 Forty-eighth Illinois, was to storm the right face of the rebel 
 salient, and Morrison, with his Forty-ninth Illinois, was to carry 
 its left face, McAllister's battery covering the assault. At the 
 word of command the two small columns advanced almost simul- 
 taneously, firing across the intervening timbered valley, and upon 
 emerging from their partial cover they attempted to scale the 
 opposite sides of the acclivity. But the s^eep slopes were tangled 
 with obstructed timber and slashed abattis. Our brave men strug- 
 gled through and over line upon line of it, tearing through the 
 prickly boughs under a storm of shot from Maney's battery above, 
 and the cross-fire of rebel batteries and musketry along the rebel 
 line for hundreds of yards on either side; but the fire at last drove 
 them back. John E. Smith's Forty-fifth Illinois advanced to sup- 
 
650 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 port the Forty-ninth. On the double-quick the four spirited regi- 
 ments dashed forward again, when the plunging cannonade and 
 musketry volleys from above, crossing with the fire from battery 
 and rifle-pit beyond, once more drove back our gallant boys. But 
 again they advanced with a wild rush up the steep hillside, their 
 intrepid commanders leading, and this time the blazing line of 
 rifle-pits was actually reached by part of the command. But the fire 
 grew hotter and hotter. For half a mile on either side the rebel 
 line concentrated its lateral, enfilading artillery and infantry fire 
 upon the storming columns, and Maney's battery belched grape 
 and cannister and shrapnel into their very faces. Morrison was 
 wounded. Our men, in the teeth of this withering fire, failed to 
 scale the intrenchments and fell back in good order, but leaving 
 most of their wounded on the slope. Suddenly the dead leaves on 
 the slopes caught fire, and, blazing fiercely for awhile, put an end 
 to the sufferings of most of our wounded men, though not before 
 some humane rebels were able to drag a few into their lines. The 
 rebels lost about one hundred killed and wounded during these 
 various spirited attacks upon their positions. 
 
 Evening approached, and our artillery was strongly posted so 
 as to command the various roads leading away from the rebel 
 intrenchments, and especially those to the south. Our lines 
 extended from Hickman's Creek along the irregular ridges which 
 surrounded and were almost parallel to the crescent-shaped line of 
 the enemy, almost reaching to the bank of the Cumberland above 
 Dover. Our men, hungry and cold — for their rations were about 
 exhausted, and the weather had suddenly changed from that of 
 crisp spring to mid-winter — again laid down on their arms in line of 
 battle, within musket range of the enemy's line, v/ithout camp-fires, 
 and many of them without covering. On Friday, the 14th of Feb- 
 ruary, the gun-boat Carondelet had arrived at the landing, with the 
 rest of the gun-boats and transports close behind. Scarcely had 
 our poor fellows received their scant supply of rations and am- 
 munition, and proper attention been paid to such of the 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 65 I 
 
 wounded as had survived the terrible all-night's exposure to the 
 icy blast and pitiless sleet, than the preliminary battle on the water 
 front of Fort Donelson began. Steadily and slowly the four great 
 iron "turtles" advanced, opening fire from their twelve large bow 
 guns upon the water batteries mainly, but not neglecting those 
 which crowned the bluffs. The lower water battery, whose thick 
 ramparts of earth and sand-bags stood thirty feet above the water, 
 responded briskly with its nine thirty-two-pound guns and twenty- 
 inch Columbiad, while the upper water battery of two thirty-two- 
 pounders and one rified one-hundred-and-twenty-eight-pounder, 
 and the eight other heavy guns, mounted on the upper works of 
 the bluff, joined in the fierce fire. Nearer and nearer came the 
 apparently invulnerable floating steam -forts; faster and faster flew 
 the missiles of destruction and death; louder and more discordant 
 grew the sounds of battle. The booming of the guns, the hissing- 
 of the shot, the scream of the shell, and the peculiar harsh, metal- 
 lic thud which distinguished the impact of the rebel shot upon the 
 coat-of-mail of our Union iron-clads, were heard. Gallantly the lat- 
 ter came on with their twelve guns, against twice as many heavy- 
 ones, whose raking cross-fire was both plunging and direct, fighting- 
 bravely against heavy odds, their brave crews resolved to conquer or 
 to sink. After two hours of the concerted attack all of our iron-clads> 
 despite their iron coating, were badly hulled, though not disabled 
 by the plunging shot. For a time it appeared that the fort must 
 fall, when a shot from the lower water battery snapped the rudder 
 chains of the Louisville, and in an instant she drifted helplessly 
 down the rapid current of the river. Almost at the same moment 
 another rebel shot entered the pilot-house of the flag-ship St. Louis^ 
 killing the pilot, laming Commodore Foote with a falling timber,, 
 and destroying the wheel and additional steering-tackle. The 
 whole rebel fire was then concentrated upon the Carondelet and 
 Pittsburg, which were both already badly damaged. It seemed 
 useless to continue the fight under such overwhelming disadvan- 
 tages. The gallant flag-officer signaled the vessels to retire; and 
 
652 
 
 MILITAR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 thus, after a brilliant engagement of more than two hours, with an 
 enemy in an elevated fortified position admirably chosen, mounting 
 many more guns than his own — or at least able to bring into action 
 nearly two guns to his one — our gun-boat squadron was forced to 
 withdraw, fairly riddled by the enemy's shot. The Pittsburg was 
 struck twenty-one times, the Carondelet twenty-six times, the Louis- 
 mile thirty-five times, and the St. Louis fifty-nine times, while we 
 had lost fifty-four men killed and wounded. 
 
 But this brilliant naval attack, though not a success, was far 
 from a failure. It created a diversion in favor of Grant's army 
 that led to eventual success. It covered the debarkation, three 
 miles below and out of sight, of large and constantly arriving 
 Union reinforcements, and their junction with others at the front, 
 and kept the rebels so busy that Grant had ample time to strengthen 
 and extend his investing line and bring up more supplies of am- 
 munition. The coming of evening found his forces swollen to 
 22,000 men in three divisions — that of C. F. Smith at his left, that 
 of Lew. Wallace filling the gap in the center, and that of McCler- 
 nand at the right. But in order to pu^h our investing line more 
 closely to the right, McArthur's brigade of Smith's division was 
 sent from our left to the rear and around to our extreme right, 
 where it subsequently came into line, having on its left Oglesby's 
 brigade, which in turn had W. H. L. Wallace's brigade on its left. 
 The day had been more or less occupied in digging rifle-pits and 
 throwing up wide intrenchments, and properly posting and pro- 
 tecting our batteries with earth-works. Night came none too soon 
 for our worn soldiers, but with it again came the heavy downfall 
 of drifting snow and cutting sleet. 
 
 At this early period of the war, when army purveyors and 
 quartermasters neither understood the necessities of troops nor 
 how to meet and supply them, the life of the soldier, always hard 
 enough, was at its hardest. But exceptionally hard was the experi- 
 ence of our poor fellows at Donelson. Heavy rains, pelting hail- 
 storms, driving sleet, piercing blasts, and pitiless snow had attacked 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 653 
 
 them by turns. They had been forced to struggle through almost 
 impassable mud. They had been withont blankets and without 
 overcoats. Their rations had been exhausted, yet much of the 
 time, when shivering, freezing, and benumbed, they had been under 
 fire, even during the bitter cold watches of the night. The arrival 
 of the transports in the early morning had staved off further hun- 
 ger, but, half-starved as they had been, the poor fellows were raven- 
 ously hungry and the supplies were far from adequate. So, too, in 
 the matter of ammunition. There had been some ioaprovidence in 
 its use, and the supply was not sufficient to make up for the waste 
 of which raw troops are always more or less guilty. Wholly fagged 
 out, hungry, and freezing, our men lay sleeping, unsheltered, 
 through the sleeting night. 
 
 General Floyd had called a council of war. It was unanimously 
 decided by the rebel officers to make a sortie, to cut their way out, 
 and then retreat southwardly to Charlotte, half-way between Dover 
 and Nashville. Failing to do this, they realized that Grant, who 
 already had them almost completely invested on the land side, 
 would soon erect works commanding the Cumberland above Dover 
 and thus cut them off from supply or retreat, by way of the river, 
 when capitulation would be a simple matter of time. The sortie 
 was to have been made on Friday, the 14th, in the afternoon, 
 after the repulse of the Union gun-boats, and the movement had 
 already commenced when the order was countermanded and the 
 attack postponed until the early dawn of Saturday, the 15 th. The 
 delay proved fatal to the enemy's plan, as it n6t only enabled Grant 
 to make the admirable disposition of his troops and reinforcements 
 already noticed, but also gave time for the arrival and debarkation 
 during the night and early morning of still more fresh Union troops 
 and supplies. 
 
 Twelve thousand rebel infantry, under Pillow, were astir at 
 five o'clock in the morning. Two thousand rebel cavalry, under 
 Forrest, were stealing away through the overflowed marshes of the 
 river, near its bank, bound toward the south and rear of the Union 
 
654 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 right, while Buckner, with six thousand more, occupied the works 
 near the junction of our right and center. Pillow's column, in 
 light marching order with three days' rations, formed on open 
 ground back of his trenches on his own extreme left, and filed out 
 of his works along a road-way which crossed the valley between 
 the hostile lines and led up the slope to the Union right. McAr- 
 thur, who had come up the previous night, when darkness pre- 
 vented him from knowing exactly where he was, moved into posi- 
 tion, and formed his' brigade in line of battle on the right of 
 Oglesby's brigade. Pillow's line advanced to assault the position 
 of Oglesby and McArthur on the ridge, but was driven back by 
 their destructive fire. Advance after advance was pluckily made 
 with the same result. The enemy was invariably repulsed by our 
 brave boys. At last the enemy attempted a new maneuver. His 
 long front not only covered the fronts of Oglesby's and McAr- 
 thur's brigades, but by reason of superior numbers extended much 
 farther to his own left toward the river bank. Informed of the 
 existence of a depression or ravine running parallel with the river 
 and between it and the Union right flank, he marched the super- 
 fluous left of his column through it, unseen by the Union troops, 
 changed its front to the right, and advanced at right angles to the 
 Union line of battle up the ridge, firing upon McArthur's front 
 and rear, while the remainder of his column assaulted our front. 
 Thus overwhelmingly flanked and taken both in front and reverse, 
 Mc/Vrthur's brigade, running short of ammunition, fell back upon 
 Oglesby's brigade, which had been McClernand's center. Pillow 
 still advanced steadily and surely, rolling back McArthur's regi- 
 ments until he struck Oglesby's right. Buckner sallied forth, 
 under cover of the concentrated fire of Porter's, Maney's, and 
 Graves' batteries, and with his six thousand men advanced across 
 the valley to attack W. H. L. Wallace's brigade, McClernand's 
 left, but was driven back in confusion by the difficulties of 
 approach offered by the slippery and frosted earth, the ice-crusted 
 and snow-covered abattis-boughs, the deadly discharge of the 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT DOXELSON. 655 
 
 Union musketry, and the well-served fire of the Union batteries. 
 Pillow pressed forward, however, enveloping Oglesby's front, flank, 
 and rear. With desperate courage the men of this Union brigade, 
 as also of the others, resisted the odds against them of numbers 
 and position. The language of Pillow himself, touching the con- 
 duct of our Union boys in this sanguinary conflict, was: " They did 
 not retreat, but fell back fighting and contesting every inch of the 
 ground." 
 
 Hour after hour passed, and still the battle raged. The Ninth, 
 the Twelfth, and the Forty-first Illinois regiments, comprising Mc- 
 Arthur's brigade, as has been seen, had long since retired for more 
 ammunition. The Eighth, the Eighteenth, the Twenty-ninth, and 
 the Thirtieth, one after the other, were forced back by the terrible 
 cross-fire of the enemy, when the last regiment of the brigade — 
 the Thirty-first Illinois — was almost reached. Then occurred, 
 perhaps, the most critical moment of the battle. W. H. L. Wal- 
 lace's brigade, having repulsed Buckner's attack, still stood on the 
 left of McClernand's division line, while his right and center, all 
 except the Thirty-first Illinois and Schwartz's battery, were swept 
 back beyond the hope of recovery. At that moment a maneuver 
 was executed which for a time held the enemy in check. The 
 Eleventh Illinois was on the right of W. H. L. Wallace's brigade. 
 The Thirty-first Illinois — the remnant of Oglesby's brigade — was 
 on the right of the Eleventh Illinois. By suddenly throwing back 
 the right of the Thirty-first on its center, at right angles to its 
 left, Schwartz's battery was supported, and at the same time a 
 front was presented to the enemy's flanking advance, while the 
 rear of the Eleventh, as well as its own rear, was protected from 
 the enemy's reverse fire. At the very instant of making this rapid 
 movement, the Thirty-first Illinois received the full shock of the 
 advance of Pillow, as well as that of Buckner, who had been 
 ordered by Pillow to renew his assault upon W. H. L. Wallace's 
 brigade; but upon that regiment also presenting a wedge-like 
 double face to the combined attack of the enemy, it was able to 
 
656 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 protect; the well-served battery, as also the right of Wallace's bri- 
 gade, for a considerable period. Four hours had now elapsed since 
 the battle opened, and still W. H. L. Wallace's brigade, covered 
 by the Thirty-first Illinois, and aided by the batteries of Schwartz, 
 Taylor, and McAllister, now fast running out of ammunition, 
 heroically maintained this unequal contest against the combined 
 attaclcs of the infantry divisions of Pillow and Buckner, sup- 
 ported by the fire of the three rebel batteries at Heiman's salient, 
 while Forrest's cavalry, two thousand strong, hovered in the Union 
 rear. There were less than three thousand Union troops, weak 
 with hunger and exposure, against twenty thousand well-fed 
 rebels. The disadvantages, including those of position, were much 
 too great. It was impossible to win against such odds, yet assault 
 after assault was met and hurled back by the deadly fire of our 
 determined troops, who thus gained time, which was a help to us 
 and a loss to the enemy. Meanwhile McClernand had begged help 
 from Lewis Wallace, who commanded the Third Division of the 
 Union army, which formed the center of the entire original Union 
 line. But Grant was not present, and Lewis Wallace doubted his 
 authority to proceed without further orders from headquarters, as 
 he had been ordered to act on the defensive, and no one of Grant's' 
 staff, although both McPherson and Rawlins were upon it, was 
 willing to assume the responsibility asked for. The moment 
 arrived, however, when Lewis Wallace, seeing the critical condi- 
 tion of affairs, determined to take the responsibility, and sent one 
 of his two brigades — that of Cruft — embracing the Thirty-first 
 and Forty-fourth Indiana, and the Seventeenth and Twenty-fifth 
 Kentucky Regiments, to McClernand's support. Cruft went into 
 line of battle on the right of the Thirty-first Illinois, which, true 
 to an agreement between its Colonel and Colonel Ransom, of the 
 Eleventh Illinois, to stand by one another, was still tenaciously 
 " standing by " the Eleventh, which latter, failing to receive W. H. 
 L. Wallace's order to the brigade to fall back, also stuck by the 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 657 
 
 Thirty-first Illinois. These two slim regiments alone foughtdur- 
 ing a brief interval the whole rebel army. 
 
 At last Cruft came up on the double-quick. It was then that 
 the Thirty-first Illinois, having fired its last remaining roun^ of 
 ammunition, was withdrawn, '' marching steadily from the field," 
 but only after the lieutenant-colonel (White), the senior captain, and 
 thirty of the men had been killed, nearly three hundred of the 
 latter wounded, and I, too, had been wounded in two places. 
 
 The Eleventh Illinois, which still had ammunition, having 
 been engaged less time than the Thirty-first, gallantly essayed to 
 continue the unequal contest, but, unable to stand its ground, fell 
 back in disorder under pressure of a rebel cavalry charge, while 
 Cruft's brigade also retired half a mile, upon the new line of Lew. 
 Wallace's division. 
 
 Lew. Wallace had in the interval, since sending Cruft's brigade 
 to McClernand's support, formed his remaining brigade — a strong 
 one of seven regiments, being two brigades in one under Colonel 
 Thayer — into line of battle, on a cross-spur of the range and at 
 right angles to the line which he had previously occupied. This 
 new line now faced the victorious enemy, who, having rolled back 
 the Union right upon its center, according to the original plan of 
 Floyd, now rested in weariness and exhaustion upon the ground 
 from which at great cost McClernand had been driven. 
 
 Behind Lew. Wallace's new front of fresh troops McClernand's 
 fagged-out brigades were re-formed, and supplied with ammunition 
 with which to renew the stubborn and bloody contest. Cruft's 
 brigade then rested on the right of Thayer's brigade, which had 
 been rapidly deployed, formed in liiie of battle at right angles to 
 its former line, and was resolutely facing our former right. 
 
 The Union center, having changed front, with its fresh troops 
 was in condition to renew the battle. McClernand's division 
 was re-formed behind Lew. Wallace's battle line, and after being 
 supplied with cartridges was anxious again to meet the enemy. 
 
 When the victorious rebel troops advanced upon Lew. Wallace 
 
658 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the new programme failed, and instead of the Union forces giving 
 way they themselves were driven back in disorder, the First Ne- 
 braska especially distinguishing itself in the repulse. Again the 
 rebel troops advanced, and again they quailed and were driven 
 back in confusion by the withering fire of the Union musketry and 
 artillery. A third time they came, only to be hurled back by the 
 rain of Union grape, cannister, and minie balls. 
 
 The enemy for a while seemed paralyzed. Then Buckner com- 
 menced to reenter his trenches while Pillow stood hesitating. 
 
 General Grant, having been in consultation with Admiral Foote 
 ■upon his flag-ship, had received no information of the impending 
 disaster, but Captain Hellyer, one of the aides, galloped ' up and 
 informed the commanding General that the enemy had attacked 
 and driven back his right shortly after daybreak. General Grant 
 ordered C. F. Smith to prepare for an assault with his division 
 upon the rebel right, and then galloped on. By the time he reached 
 Lew. Wallace, whose troops had checked the enemy, there was a 
 lull in the battle. He was told that the rebel troops had with them 
 their knapsacks and haversacks. Upon learning this he at once 
 made u,p his mind that the enemy had advanced from theirjworks 
 in order to cut their way out. It was about three o'clock in the 
 afternoon when General Grant ordered a forward move upon the 
 ■enemy. 
 
 A little later Wallace's command advanced to carry the posi- 
 tion. Colonel Morgan L. Smith's Fifth Brigade, comprising the 
 Eighth Missouri and Eleventh Indiana, which Lew. Wallace had 
 brought with him from garrison duty at Fort Henry ; Cruft's 
 Brigade; the Third Brigade of McClernand's Division (the Seven- 
 teenth and Forty-ninth Illinois), now commanded by Colonel Leon- 
 ard F. Ross, being in support and reserve, made up the storming 
 party. 
 
 The enemy, fearing a more general attack, retired slowly and 
 unwillingly within, his trenches, our brave boys driving them over 
 the rough, thickly-wooded hills until after five o'clock, when Wal- 
 
THE CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON 659 
 
 lace, having reached a spot within four hundred feet of and over- 
 looking the rebel trencheS; halted and posted his picket line, he and 
 McClernand together having by this time recaptured from the now 
 weary and dispirited foe the six pieces of artillery which, with 
 thousands of small arms and hundreds of prisoners, had earlier in 
 the day been lost by us, and having also resumed possession of the 
 ground from which McClernand had been driven. On our extreme 
 left was Cook's brigade of C. F. Smith's division, then opposite 
 the extreme right of the enemy's works. Under cover of the fire 
 from the batteries of Richardson, Welker, and Stone (commanded 
 by Major Cavender), the Seventh and Fiftieth Illinois, Twelfth Iowa, 
 and Thirteenth Missouri, comprising the main strength of that 
 brigade, were maneuvering and threatening him without intending 
 a serious attack. 
 
 On the right of Cook's position was Lanman's brigade, to 
 which the Fifty-second Indiana had been temporarily attached. 
 General C. F. Smith himself, a gallant gray-haired veteran of the 
 regular army, who had been the commandant at West Point during 
 Grant's cadetship at the Military Academy, was with Lanman's 
 brigade. He had arranged that, while Cook's brigade was making 
 a demonstration against the enemy's extreme right, he himself 
 would in person take Lanman's brigade and make the real assault 
 upon the enemy's works at its front. Smith then ordered the 
 advance to sound. Instantly the forward movement commenced 
 under Grant's own eye. With Birge's sharp-shooters deployed on 
 either flank as skirmishers, the storming column, with quick, deter- 
 mined step, moved silently and steadily down the ridge-side to the 
 valley. 
 
 Up the steep slope pressed the assaulting column with fixed 
 bayonets, the white-headed old General electrifying his dauntless 
 men with waving hat and burning words, as he rode erect and 
 fearless at their head, undisturbed and untouched by the storm of 
 leaden hail which decimated their ranks — up the acclivity, steadily 
 despite the deadly fire, through and over every obstruction, firmly, 
 
660 MILITAR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 indomitably, resistlessly, up to the very mouths of the belching 
 rebel artillery and muskets, at the very crest of the trenches, and 
 then with a wild hurrah over into the enemy's works at last. 
 
 The advance of our victorious storming columns formed into 
 line, still driving the rebel Tennesseeans before them, when Buck- 
 ner, with Hanson's rebel regiment, returning from the sortie 
 against our right wing, reached that part of the rebel works. But 
 they were too late^ — the rebel intrenchments had been carried. 
 
 At last night fell upon the scene. Buckner still held the sec- 
 ond or inner ridge, and was busy throwing up intrenchments. C. 
 F. Smith held the elevated rebel works, the "key" to Fort Donel- 
 son, which he had stormed, and was now strengthening for attack. 
 Wallace was in possession of another commanding point, just out- 
 side the rebel works at the center. McClernand had re-occupied 
 all his old line, and pushed it nearly to the river. Such was the sit- 
 uation at night-fall. 
 
 Sunday, the i6th of February, was faintly dawning, and prep- 
 arations were making along the Union line to renew the assault 
 upon the enemy's position, when the men on our advanced left — 
 Lanman's brigade — heard the clear notes of a bugle, and observed 
 a flag of truce approaching from Fort Donelson. It accompanied 
 an oflBcer sent by Buckner as bearer of his letter to Grant. Direct- 
 ing their eyes toward the enemy's position, our brave boys saw 
 with bounding hearts the white flag flying from the fort itself, and 
 soon it was rumored along the whole Union line that the enemy 
 was asking terms of capitulation. 
 
 By the surrender of Fort Donelson there fell into our hands, 
 besides that stronghold, the men and material of the whole oppos- 
 ing army, save the 6,500 escaped and killed or wounded, to wit: 
 14,623 men, sixty-five cannon, and 17,600 small arms; besides 
 vast stores of supplies of all sorts, all of which had been gained 
 at a loss to the Union side of 3,329 men in killed, wounded, 
 and missing. The Confederate loss in killed and wounded was at 
 the least 2,500. 
 
'THE SIEGE OF CORINTH." 66 1 
 
 " The Siege of Corinth." 
 
 It was three days after the battle of Pittsburgh Landing that, 
 recovered from wounds received at Donelson, I reached Pittsburgh 
 Landing and reported, having in the meantime been promoted to 
 be a Brigadier-General, upon the especial recommendation of 
 General Grant, for "meritorious services."^ 
 
 On the 19th of April I was assigned to, and took command of 
 the First Brigade of McClernand's First Division Reserve Corps, 
 which brigade comprised the Eighth, Eighteenth, Thirtieth, 
 and Thirty-first Illinois (my old regiment), and the Twelfth 
 Michigan. 
 
 Meanwhile General Halleck had reached Pittsburgh Landing, 
 and in person had assumed the chief command. He fixed his 
 headquarters at the bluff near the landing. Savannah was devoted 
 mainly to hospital purposes. 
 
 During the ensuing two months General Grant was entirely 
 ignored in all of the military operations against Corinth. This 
 was due, in part, to an unreasoning and senseless clamor against 
 him, founded upon exaggeration and falsehood, and inspired and 
 
 ' The following is a copy of General Grant's official recommendation. — C. A. L. 
 
 " Headquarters District West Tennessee, 
 " Fort Henry, March 14, 1862. 
 " Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C. : 
 
 " I have been waiting for reports of sub-commanders at the battle of Fort 
 Donelson to make some recommendation of officers for advancement for meri- 
 torious services. These reports are not yet in, and, as the troops under my com- 
 mand are actively engaged, may not be for some time. I therefore take this 
 occasion to make some recommendations of officers who in my opinion should not 
 be neglected. I would particularly mention the names of Colonel J. D. Webster, 
 First Illinois Artillery; Morgan L. Smith, Eighth Missouri Volunteers; W. H. L. 
 Wallace, Eleventh Illinois Volunteers; and John A. Logan, Thirty-first Illinois 
 Volunteers. The two latter are from civil pursuits, but I have no hesitation in 
 fully indorsing them as in every way qualified for the position of Brigadier-Gen- 
 eral, and think they have fully earned the position on the field of battle. There 
 are others who may be equally meritorious, but I do not happen to know so well 
 their services. U. S. Grant, Major-General." 
 
662 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 fed by an envy which sought to remove him from command 
 entirely. The splendor of his achievements at Belmont, at Donel- 
 son, and at Pittsburgh Landing was temporarily obscured. He 
 was again " under a cloud," but it was the last that was to hang 
 over and depress his martial spirit during the continuance of the 
 war. 
 
 He still commanded the District of West Tennessee, but his 
 old army, the Army of the Tennessee, was his only in name. 
 
 He was appointed " second in command " of Halleck's grand 
 army, and thus it was that in the advance upon Corinth Halleck 
 managed to wreak his pitiful spite against him. 
 
 This advance was, perhaps, the most ludicrous feature of the 
 whole war. From an inexcusable lack of caution we fell into the 
 -other extreme, and became recklessly over-cautious. Halleck had 
 ihere an opportunity, which he improved to the fullest extent, of 
 proving that the stock of caution stored in his own person more 
 ■ than equaled any lack of it existing in the combined Union armies 
 'Of the West. Although it was little more than twenty miles from 
 Pittsburgh Landing to Corinth, yet every step of the slow advance 
 of the great Union army of 120,000 men, which he had gathered at 
 the former point and thereabouts — an advance which consumed 
 no less than six weeks, being equivalent to about half a mile per 
 day throughout — was punctuated and underscored with intrench- 
 ments. It was so much like the slow and methodical-looking push- 
 ing forward of line after line of parallels in a regular set siege, that, 
 ■in order to disarm hostile criticism and ridicule, Halleck himself 
 "termed it " the Siege of Corinth." And this worm-like movement, 
 this slow, fortified advance, was made by an army that numbered 
 two to one of the enemy against whom it was approaching. No 
 wonder the Union officers and men were alike restive under such a 
 'Condition of things. 
 
 It was late in April before Halleck's combined armies com- 
 menced this tedious advance. On the 23d of that month the long- 
 wished-for marching orders came. 
 
"THE SIEGE OF CORINTH." 663 
 
 On the morning of the 24th my brigade, carrying all camp and 
 garrison equipage, after constructing a road across a branch of 
 Owl Creek, moved forward two miles and went into camp at 
 " Camp Stanton," where we constructed the first field fortification, 
 comprising enfilading rifle-pits and lunettes. 
 
 On the 26th I sent Colonel Lawler, of the Eighteenth Illinois, 
 with six regiments of infantry, three companies of cavalry, and one 
 section of artillery, to reconnoiter in front and to the left of our 
 position, in the direction of Monterey (Pea Ridge), and to feel the 
 enemy. But while on the march executing his instructions Lawler 
 was halted and sent back to camp by an order from headquarters 
 of the Army of the Tennessee. 
 
 On the 30th my command, with the rest of the First Division 
 of the Reserve Corps, again moved forward some three miles 
 toward Monterey, where the division went into camp, its left rest- 
 ing on the Monterey road, some nine miles distant from that place, 
 my brigade being on the right of the division. Here we were 
 engaged for several days in repairing and constructing roads from 
 this camp back toward Pittsburgh Landing. 
 
 On the 2d of May, McClernand, being assigned to the command 
 of the Reserve Corps of the Army of the Tennessee, assigned me 
 by seniority of rank to the command of the Third (late First) 
 Division. On the following day, however, Brigadier-General H. 
 M. Judah was assigned by special field orders from the department 
 headquarters to the command of the division, and I subsequently 
 assumed command of my brigade at Camp No. 4, on the south 
 bank of Lick Creek, on the main Corinth road, one mile to the rear 
 of Monterey. The construction of bridges and roads now con- 
 sumed several days, during which frequent cavalry reconnoissances 
 were made. 
 
 On the nth of May the division moved forward and occupied 
 a camp lately occupied by General W. T. Sherman, at the crossing 
 of the old State line with the Purdy and Farmington road. We 
 completed the fortifications commenced at this camp by General 
 
664 MILJTAR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Sherman, constructed additional rifle-pits, and made frequent 
 reconnoissances, which met and almost invariably drove in the 
 enemies' pickets. 
 
 From this camp two companies of the Fourth Illinois Cavalry, 
 with Dollin's, and O'Harnett's, and Carmichael's Independent Com- 
 panies of Cavalry, all under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Wm. McCulloch, made a reconnoissance toward and beyond Purd)', 
 destroyed the Mobile and Ohio Railroad bridge across Cypress 
 Creek, five miles south of Bethel, captured a locomotive with four 
 men on it, placed themen under guard, and ran the engine into the 
 creek, thus destroying it. Subsequently, the rebels being discov- 
 ered drawn up in line of battle, our force advanced, giving them a 
 volley which broke their lines. They scattered in all directions, 
 continuing, however, to fire from cover of the trees. McCulloch's 
 dismounted cavalry, deployed as skirmishers, advanced, the enemy 
 still slowly retreating and firing, until, our men gaining on them, 
 the rebels turned and fled in rout through Purdy, dispersing in all 
 directions. The cavalry again mounted, charged through the 
 town, and, advancing to the bridge aforesaid, destroyed it, and re- 
 turned to the camp without loss. 
 
 With the object of driving the enemy beyond and destroying 
 the track of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, my brigade, with that of 
 General Ross in advance, accompanied by a battery of eight guns 
 and a battalion of the Fourth Illinois Cavalry, moved from the 
 camp at four o'clock in the morning, marched seven miles, drove 
 in the enemy's pickets, destroyed the road, and were back in camp 
 again by ten o'clock a. m. On the 21st of May my command again 
 advanced, with all camp and garrison equipage, to the position 
 vacated that day by Major-General Sherman, near Easel's house, 
 on the road to Corinth. On the 28th, at half-past one o'clock in 
 the morning, orders reached me to move up the First Brigade, 
 without camp equipage or transportation, to the extreme right of 
 General Sherman's division, by or before eight o'clock a.m., with 
 instructions to assist in driving the rebels from a loop-holed block- 
 
"THE SIEGE OF CORINTH." 665 
 
 house on Sherman's right front; also in driving back their pickets 
 and making a strong demonstration against or feint of attacking 
 Corinth. General Ross' brigade was at the same time ordered to 
 and came up in my rear. Through some misdirection we advanced 
 too far to the right, and approached the Mobile and Ohio Railroad 
 at Boey's Cut. The rebel pickets were in sight at a house on the 
 hill on the opposite side of the road. They retired, and we occu- 
 pied the position. Subsequently, General Ross' brigade occupied 
 this position, where fortifications were thrown up under the di- 
 rection of Brigadier-General Judah, and my brigade reached the 
 position assigned to it on the right of General Sherman, my left 
 resting on the right of General Denver's brigade and my right rest- 
 ing on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. 
 
 Light skirmishing immediately commenced at my front, grow- 
 ing heavier in the early afternoon, and still heavier just before 
 night-fall. The men of my command lay on their arms all night in 
 expectation of further attack. 
 
 During that night some men of my brigade, by applying their 
 ears to the rails of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, which ran from my 
 position southward through Corinth, and on to Mobile, had discov- 
 ered and reported to me — and I at once verified their report by like 
 means — that a great commotion which we could plainly hear from 
 the direction of Corinth, of trains entering and leaving it, with ac- 
 companying shouts of rebel soldiers, believed by some of our gen- 
 erals ^ to indicate the heavy reinforcement of Beauregard, was 
 
 1 In fact, from the night of the 26th to the morning of the 30th of May, Hal- 
 leck, Sherman, and Pope were completely at sea as to what that commotion 
 meant. Thus Sherman on the 27th reports to Halleck; " I cannot tell what the 
 cars were doing last night. They seemed to come from the south to a point this 
 side of Corinth, back down, and depart on the Memphis road. They were plainly 
 heard all night, and although I listened for hours, I confess I cannot give a reason- 
 able guess at their movements. * « * My picket officers report hearing the 
 march of troops, the sound of trains, etc., but they are unreliable. We can only 
 guess at what they were about last night." The same day Pope reports to Hal- 
 leck: "You no doubt heard last night the signal guns and rockets of the enemy. 
 From midnight to daylight they were running trains rapidly, I think, south on the 
 
666 MILITAR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 really caused by the coming into Corinth of empty trains, which were 
 loudly cheered itpon their arrival, and the departure thence in silence of 
 loaded trains. This made it plain that the enemy, instead of receiv- 
 ing reinforcements, was actually leaving Corinth. 
 
 This information I communicated to General Grant, request- 
 ing at the same time permission to advance and attack the enemy's 
 works at my front; but authority to do this was refused. 
 
 Early in the morning of the 29th I again asked leave to ad- 
 vance, believing only a small force of the enemy to be at my front, 
 but, as upon the previous day, permission was refused. 
 
 Desultory firing occupied the forenoon, but about four o'clock 
 p. M. my picket line, immediately in front, was attacked with great 
 vigor, volley after volley being fired by the enemy into our ranks, 
 and many of his bullets passing over the heads of the men stand- 
 ing in line of battle in the rear. The fire was returned with great 
 effect, and the enemy was forced to retire with a loss of some forty 
 men. This was the last skirmish that occurred on the right of the 
 line occupied by General Sherman and myself. My command, 
 being now relieved by McDowell's brigade, marched back to camp 
 at sundown. 
 
 Next morning. May 30th, the evacuation of Corinth and its 
 fortifications, which had been quietly proceeding for days, without 
 let or hindrance from Halleck, was definitely ascertained, and the 
 Union flag at last waved from its deserted works. 
 
 The rebels had escaped, leaving nothing behind them save 
 some empty tin pans and a number of "Quaker guns," consisting 
 of dummies made by cutting lengths of trees, blackening their 
 centers, and mounting them on wheels, like so many frowning can- 
 
 Mobile Road." Even as late as one o'clock A. M. of the 30th, Pope informed Hal- 
 leck: "The enemy is reinforcing heavily by trains in my front and on my left. 
 The cars are running constantly, and the cheering is immense every time they 
 unload in front of me. I have no doubt from all appearances that I shall be at- 
 tacked in heavy force at daylight." And it was not until six o'clock the same 
 morning that he had reached the more correct conclusion that " everything indi- 
 cates evacuation and retreat." 
 
"THE SIEGE OF CORINTH." 66/ 
 
 non, for the evident purpose of increasing the ultra caution that 
 had already loaded down Halleck's advance, and but for which 
 caution we might have captured Beauregard's army with Corinth. 
 
 Had the permission heretofore referred to been granted, the 
 onset of my brigade would undoubtedly have brought on at once 
 a general attack, and a great battle must have ensued, which, under 
 all the circumstances, could scarcely have ended otherwise than in 
 the defeat and surrender of Beauregard and his army, with the 
 capture of his material of war, and this again would probably 
 have resulted in the speedy collapse of the Rebellion itself. 
 
 As it was, however, Beauregard, completely outwitting Hal- 
 leck, had eluded us and fallen back along the line of the Mobile 
 and Ohio Railroad to Baldwin and Guntown, and finally to Tupelo, 
 some fifty miles south of Corinth, where, with good water and 
 a better chance for supplies of meat and provisions, the rebel forces 
 rested and were reorganized for future operations against the 
 Union armies. 
 
 All that we had gained, apparently, was the barren honor of 
 occupying an abandoned position, during the entire advance upon 
 which there had been very little fighting, save what has been here 
 mentioned, together with a brisk affair at Russell's in which two 
 of Sherman's brigades participated, and some sharper fighting on 
 two or three occasions at and near Farmington by some of Pope's 
 brigades on the Union left. 
 
 The story of the termination of Halleck's achievement was 
 fairly told. May 30th, by an army correspondent of McCook's 
 division of Buell's corps at the Union center: 
 
 " On the day the Second Division moved out, advances with 
 heavy cannonading were made by Thomas on the right and Pope 
 on the left, but not a response of any kind was elicited from the 
 enemy. During that night we could hear teams being driven off 
 and boxes being nailed in the rebel camp. Deserters, however, I 
 understand, reported that they were makinsr a stand and would 
 fight the next day. Considerable cannonading was done Dy our 
 
-668 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 forces, and yet no response, and yesterday the same. Last night 
 the same band sounded retreat, tattoo, and taps, all along the rebel 
 lines, moving from place to place, and this morning suspicion was 
 ripened into certainty when we saw dense volumes of smoke arise 
 in the direction of Corinth, and heard the report of an exploding 
 magazine. Corinth was evacuated, and Beauregard had achieved 
 another triumph. I do not know how the matter strikes abler 
 military men, but I think we have been fooled. The works are 
 far from being in\-'jlnerable, and the old joke of Quaker guns has 
 been played off upon us. They were only wooden guns with 
 stuffed 'Paddies' for gunners. I saw them. We approached clear 
 from Shiloh, in line of battle, and made preparations to defend 
 ourselves, compared with which the preparations of Beauregard 
 sink into insignificance. This morning we could have poured shot 
 and shell from over three hundred guns into works that never saw 
 the da}"^ when General Cook could not have taken his division into 
 them. The indications are that the rebel force here did not exceed 
 sixty thousand men. With what light I had I regarded the mode 
 of our advance upon Corinth as deep wisdom; with the light I now 
 have I do not.'' 
 
 Beauregard's own report of the evacuation, written June 13, 
 1862, at Tupelo, gives the reasons which impelled the evacuation 
 in these words: "The purposes and ends for which I had occupied 
 and held Corinth having been mainly accomplished by the last of 
 May, and by the 2Sth of that month having ascertained definitely 
 that the enemy had received large accessions to his already supe- 
 rior force, while ours had been reduced day by day, by diseases 
 resulting from bad water and inferior food, I felt it clearly my duty 
 to evacuate that position without delay. I was further induced to 
 this step by the fact that the enemy had declined my offer of bat- 
 tle twice made to him outside of my intrenched lines, and sedu- 
 lously avoided the separation of his corps, which he advanced 
 with uncommon caution under cover of heavy guns, strong 
 intrenchments constructed with unusual labor, and with singular 
 
"THE SIEGE OF CORINTH." 669 
 
 delay considering his strength and our relative inferiority in num- 
 bers. * * * ^(. j-jjg time finally prescribed the movement com- 
 menced and was accomplished without the knowledge of the 
 enemy, who only began to suspect the evacuation after broad day- 
 light on the morning of May 30th, when, having opened on the 
 lines from his formidable batteries of heavy and long-range guns 
 erected the night previous, he received no answer from any direc- 
 tion; but as our cavalry pickets still maintained their positions of 
 the previous day, he was not apparently fully satisfied of our 
 movements until some stores of little value in the town were 
 burned which could not be moved. It was then to his surprise the 
 enemy became satisfied that a large army, approached with such 
 extraordinary preparations, expense, labor, and timidity, had dis- 
 appeared from his front, with all its munitions and heavy guns, 
 leaving him without knowledge, as I am assured, whither it had 
 gone.'' 
 
 On the night of the 27th of May, Pope had sent a cavalry force 
 of two regiments under Colonel W. L. Elliott, to-wit: the Second 
 Iowa under Lieutenant-Colonel E. Hatch, and the Second Michi- 
 gan under Colonel Philip H. Sheridan, to ride around Corinth on 
 our left, tear up the Mobile Railroad, some twenty-two miles to the 
 south of it, and to do whatever further damage to the enemy 
 might be possible. 
 
 These cavalry raiders accordingly struck the line of railroad at 
 Booneville about two o'clock in the morning of May 30th. They 
 captured the town, finding in and around it from two thousand to 
 twenty-five hundred convalescent and sick rebel soldiers, as well 
 as a guard of from five hundred to seven hundred rebel infantry, 
 and some two hundred and fifty cavalry. 
 
 The raiders found near the railroad depot a train of twenty-six 
 large cars, with locomotive attached. Ten of the cars were loaded 
 with boxed and unboxed small arms and ammunition, besides a 
 platform car with three field pieces of artillery, the rest of the cars 
 being packed with " officers' baggage, clothing, provisions, and 
 
670 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 quartermaster's stores." The depot itself was stored with muni- 
 tions, subsistence, and other stores. 
 
 The enemy's sick were removed to a place of safety, the loco- 
 motive and cars were run into the ditch, and after the track and 
 switches above and below the town, as well as the platform, had 
 been well destroyed, Elliott's raiding party set fire to the depot 
 and cars and galloped away, having insured the destruction of 
 nearly half a million dollars' worth of property valuable to the 
 enemy for military purposes. It was in this dashing exploit that 
 Colonel Phil. Sheridan first attracted attention and began his 
 career of renown. 
 
 Upon the first of June, Halleck received from Pope an enthusi- 
 astic report pf the Elliott cavalry raid. This he at once telegraphed 
 in full to Secretary Stanton, and was rewarded the following day 
 by a telegram from the latter, saying: " Your brilliant and suc- 
 cessful achievement gives great joy over the whole land. Every 
 one is anxious to hear the latest news, and I hope you will tele- 
 graph frequently. The President would be glad to have the news 
 every hour. * * * General McClellan was attacked yesterday; 
 he had a hard battle, but drove the enemy back. He is not yet in 
 Richmond, but we hope he soon will be." 
 
 Meanwhile it became generally known that besides the divis- 
 ions of Rosecrans and Hamilton, and Granger's cavalry, belong- 
 ing to Pope's army, there had been added to it, to strengthen the 
 pursuit of the enemy — now supposed to be vigorously pressed — 
 the divisions of Davies and W. T. Sherman, of Thomas' corps. 
 Hence public expectation of decisive results waxed high. And 
 when the following dispatch was published the agitation of the 
 public mind in the North was extreme, as it Seemed to presage 
 the speedy capture or utter dispersion of the rebel forces under 
 Beauregard, Bragg, Polk, Van Dorn, Hardee, and Breckinridge, 
 with all the mighty consequences which in that event must have 
 ensued : 
 
"THE SIEGE OF CORINTH." 671 
 
 " Halleck's Headquarters, June 4th, 1862 
 " Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 
 
 " General Pope with forty thousand men is thirty miles south of Florence 
 (Corinth), pushing the enemy hard. He already reports ten thousand prisoners 
 and deserters from the enemy, and fifteen thousand stand of arms captured. 
 Thousands of the enemy are throwing away their arms. A farmer says that when 
 Beauregard learned that Colonel Elliott had cut the railroad on his line of retreat 
 he became frantic and told the men to save themselves the best way they could 
 We captured nine locomotives and a number of cars. One of the former is already 
 repaired and is running today. Several more will be in running order in a few 
 days. The result is all that I could possibly desire. 
 
 " H. W. Halleck, 
 " Major-General Commanding.'' 
 
 The effect of this sensational dispatch, artfully manufactured 
 
 for the purpose, apparently, of at one stroke obscuring whatever 
 
 glory McClellan might have gained in his recent repulse of the 
 
 enemy near Richmond, and at the same time of disarming public 
 
 criticism touching his own comparatively inglorious campaign 
 
 against Corinth, was even greater than Halleck had anticipated. It 
 
 at once elicited the following replies from Secretary Stanton and 
 
 President Lincoln : 
 
 " Washington, June 4, 1862. 
 " Your glorious dispatch has just been received, and I have sent it into every 
 State. The whole land will soon ring with applause at the achievement of your 
 gallant army and its able and victorious commander. 
 
 " Edwin M. Stanton, 
 
 " Secretary of War. 
 "To Major-General Halleck, Corinth." 
 
 " Washington, June 4, 1862. 
 " Your dispatch of today to Secretary of War received. Thanks for the good 
 
 news it brings. 
 
 "A. Lincoln. 
 " To Major-General Halleck." 
 
 It soon transpired, however, that the glowing expectations 
 raised in the public mind by Halleck's sensational dispatch were 
 doomed to disappointment; that some of its statements were exag- 
 gerations; and that the principal one, touching Pope, to-wit: th^at 
 '■ he already reports ten thousand prisoners and deserters from the 
 enemy," was absolutely and wholly untrue. 
 
672 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Beauregard's report of the 13th of June, made at Tupelo, 
 although taken with the allowances usually made for statements 
 coming from the enemy, helped to satisfy the public mind of the 
 untruthfulness of a part, at least, of that dispatch. It further 
 helped, however, to unjustly fix the odium upon the shoulders 
 of both Pope and Halleck, instead of upon those of Halleck 
 alone. 
 
 In that report Beauregard declared, touching the Elliott raid 
 on Booneville (May 30th), that instead of "ten thousand stand of 
 small arms " reported destroyed there, " the truth is, not to exceed 
 fifteen hundred, mostly inferior muskets, were lost on that occa- 
 sion." This statement is entirely upset, however, by the reports 
 of Colonel Elliott and Lieutenant-Colonel Hatch, of the Second 
 Iowa Cavalry. 
 
 Beauregard's report more justly described Halleck's telegraphic 
 reports just given as "equally inaccurate, reckless, and untrust- 
 worthy," touching the quantities of property and stores alleged 
 to have been destroyed by the enemy at Corinth, and touching 
 "General Pope's alleged pressing pursuit" of the enemy. "Major- 
 General Halleck's dispatch of June 4th," continues Beauregard, 
 "was particularly described as disgracefully untrue. Possibly, 
 however, he was duped by a subordinate. Nothing, for example, 
 can be wider from the truth than that ten thousand men and 
 fifteen thousand small arms of this army were captured or lost in 
 addition to those destroyed at Booneville. Some five hundred 
 inferior small arms were accidentally left by convalescents in a camp 
 four miles south of Corinth. No artillery of any description was 
 lost, no clothing, no tents worth removal were left standing.'' 
 
 While, therefore, it was generally acknowledged, at the time 
 that Beauregard's report was quoted from in the Northern as well 
 as Southern papers, that some of these dispatches, especially that 
 of June 4th, were gross exaggerations, yet so completely was Hal- 
 leck master of the art of wheedling the press, that very few sup- 
 posed him to be guilty of absolute falsification, and the public was 
 
" THE SIEGE OF CORINTH." 673 
 
 brought to believe that, as Beauregard himself intimates, Halleck 
 must have been duped by Pope. 
 
 Halleck took occasion, moreover, to confirm this false impres- 
 sion early in July, in the following deliberately penned letter: 
 
 " Corinth, Mississippi, July 3, 1862. 
 
 " In accordance with your instructions I telegraph you daily what informationi 
 I receive of events in this department, stating whether official or unofficial, and if 
 official giving the authority. I am not responsible for the truth of the statements 
 thus communicated. I have seen a published statement of General Beauregard 
 that my telegram respecting the capture of locomotives, prisoners, and arms, con- 
 tained as many lies as lines. The number of locomotives captured was reported 
 to be nine, and I so telegraphed you. General Beauregard says only seven. It 
 turns out on full investigation that we captured eleven. In regard to the number of 
 prisoners and arms taken I telegraphed the exact language of General Pope. If it was 
 erroneous, the responsibility is his, not mine. 
 
 "H. W. Halleck, Major-General. 
 
 "To Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War." 
 
 It may hardly be believed, save by those who already know of 
 his base duplicity toward General Grant, that in this letter Halleck 
 uttered an unmitigated falsehood. It must be evident upon reflec- 
 tion, however, that he who could be guilty of the course that Hal- 
 leck pursued toward General Grant, must have been capable of 
 pursuing a similar course toward any other army officer. 
 
 It is a fact susceptible of abundant proof that General Pope 
 never reported to Halleck, nor to any one else during the so-called 
 "pursuit" of the enemy from Corinth, "ten thousand prisoners 
 and deserters from the enemy and fifteen thousand stand of arms 
 captured," which Halleck here says is " the exact language of Gen- 
 eral Pope," and which the former telegraphed on the 4th of June, 
 1862. It is due to a brave, able, and truthful soldier, that history 
 shall set General Pope right in the estimation of his countrymen 
 by at least rendering to him this scant and long-delayed justice. 
 It can be broadly alleged that General Pope never made any such 
 stateinent of fact as that attributed to him by Halleck. No such 
 report or statement can be found. The most careful search of the 
 official documents fails to develop anything, directly or indirectly. 
 
6 74 MILITAR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 warranting either the language of Halleck's sensational dispatch 
 of the 4th of June, or his attempted defense of himself, of July 3d, 
 against Beauregard's charge of disgraceful falsification, by trying 
 to shift the blame upon General Pope's innocent shoulders. 
 
THE MISSISSIPPI CAMPAIGN. 
 
 I 
 
 N the attempt to take Vicksburg in the rear made by Gen- 
 eral Grant in the fall of 1862, 1 commanded the First Division of 
 the right wing of the Thirteenth Corps, so denominated, which 
 was organized at Bolivar, Tennessee. This command consisted of 
 the following troops: First Brigade, Colonel C. C. Marsh com- 
 manding; John E. Smith, Forty-fifth Illinois; L. S. Ozburum, 
 Thirty-first Illinois; Captain Conrad, Twentieth Illinois; J. H. 
 Howe, One-hundred-and-twenty-fourth. Illinois; Elias H. Evans, 
 Thirtieth Illinois. Second Brigade, M. D. Leggett commanding; 
 C. S. Chandler, Seventy-eighth Ohio; M. F. Force, Twentieth 
 Ohio; Shook, Sixty-eighth Ohio; W. P. Davis, Twenty- 
 third Indiana. Artillery — Ninth Indiana Battery; De Golyer's 
 Michigan Battery; W. S. Williams, Third Ohio Battery; W. H. 
 Bolton, Company D, First Illinois Artillery; G. C. Gunback, Com- 
 pany E, Second Illinois Infantry; besides Norton's Seventeenth 
 Illinois Infantry, detached. 
 
 Upon the arrival of the command at Memphis, Tennessee, the 
 Seventeenth Corps, under orders from the War Department, was 
 organized, I being assigned, on the nth of January, to the com- 
 mand of the Third Division, consisting of the following troops, 
 which remained with me intact until the fall of Vicksburg, and 
 until I was assigned to the command of the Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 on the 14th of November, 1863: 
 
 First Brigade, General John E. Smith commanding, consisted 
 of the Twenty-third Indiana, Colonel William P. Davis; Twentieth 
 Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel E. Richards; Thirty-first Illinois, E. S. 
 McCook; Forty-fifth Illinois, J. A. Maltby; One-hundred-and- 
 twenty-fourth Illinois, G. J. Sloan. 
 
 675 
 
676 ^ MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Second Brigade, M. D. Leggett commanding: Twentieth Ohio, 
 M. F. Force; Thirtieth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel Warren Shedd, 
 Seventy-eighth Ohio, Z. M. Chandler; Sixty-eighth Ohio, Colonel 
 R. K. Scott. 
 
 Third Brigade, Colonel John D. Stevenson commanding: Sev- 
 enth Missouri, Colonel W. S. Oliver; Eighth Illinois, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel R. H. Sturgis; Thirty-second Ohio, Colonel B. F. Potts, 
 and the Eighty-first Illinois, Colonel J. J. Dollins. C. J. Stolbrand, 
 Chief of Artillery; "D" of the First Illinois Artillery, H. A. Rog- 
 ers Captain commanding; " L" Second Illinois Artillery, Captain 
 W. H. Bolton; Third Ohio Battery, Captain W. S. Williams; "G" 
 Second Illinois, Captain F. S. Sparrestron; " A " Second Illinois. 
 Captain R. Hotaling. 
 
 I landed with my troops at Lake Providence, La., on the 22nd 
 of February, 1863, and moved to Milliken's Bend on the 25th of 
 April, thence by the way of Carthage and Perkins' Plantation to 
 Hard Times Landing, below Grand Gulf. In the meantime, the 
 transports had passed the rebel batteries at Vicksburg, the former 
 being commanded, almost exclusively, by volunteers from my own 
 division. 
 
 On the morning of the ist of May, my division was ferried 
 over the river, landed at Bruinsburg, and immediately pushed 
 toward Fort Gibson, where General John A. McClernand was en- 
 gaging the enemy, and attempting without success to drive him 
 from his position.' 
 
 * The official report of General Grant gives full credit to General Logan, as fol- 
 lows: " McClernand, who was with the right in person, sent repeated messages to 
 me before the arrival of Logan to send his and Quimby's divisions to him. Oster- 
 haus, of McClernand's oorps, did not move the enemy from the position occupied 
 by him on our left until Logan's division of McPherson's corps arrived. How- 
 ever, as soon as the advance of McPherson's corps, Logan's division, arrived, I 
 sent one brigade of the division to the left. By the judicious disposition made of 
 this brigade under the immediate supervision of McPhersoti and Logan, a position 
 was soon obtained, giving us an advantage, which drove the enemy from that part 
 of the field, to make no further stand south of Bayou Pierre, and the enemy was 
 here repulsed with a heavy loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners. He was pur- 
 
RA YMOND AND CHAMPION HILLS. 677 
 
 Battle of Raymond. 
 
 On the 12th of May, I struck the enemy again, at Raymond, 
 under Gregg and Walker, and after several hours of hard fighting, 
 drove him back, with heavy loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners, 
 many of the rebels throwing down their arms and deserting. My 
 own division alone participated in the fight. 
 
 Champion Hills. 
 
 On the 14th, we were at Jackson, Miss., and participated in the 
 light of that day; and after the capture of Jackson, on the 15th of 
 May, we marched toward Vicksburg, coming up with the enemy at 
 Champion Hills on the i6th. General Hovey, of McClernand's corps, 
 engaged the enemy first, and was about to retire from exhaustion 
 of his troops, when I came up, and by a movement on the right I 
 succeeded in turning the enemy's flank, and in capturing a large 
 number of guns and prisoners.* 
 
 sued toward Fort Gibson, but, night closing in, and the enemy making the appear- 
 ance of another stand, the troops slept upon their arms until daylight. Major 
 Stolbrand, with a section of one of General Logan's batteries, had the pleasure of 
 firing the last shot at the retreating enemy across the bridge, on the North Fork 
 of Bayou Pierre, just at dusk of that day." — C. A. L. 
 
 * General Grant, in his official report, says: " The battle of Champion Hills 
 was fought mainly by Logan's and Crocker's divisions of Mc'Pherson's corps, and 
 Hovey's division of McClernand's corps. During the hottest part of the engage- 
 ment Logan rode up and told me that if Hovey could make another dash at the 
 enemy he could come up from where he then was and capture the greater part of 
 their force. I immediately rode forward, and found the troops, that had been so 
 gallantly engaged for so many hours, withdrawn from their advanced position, 
 and were filling their cartridge-boxes. I desired them to use all dispatch, push 
 forward as soon as possible, and explained to them the position of Logan's 
 division. I proceeded still further forward, expecting every moment to see the 
 enemy, but when I reached what had been his line I found he was retreating." It 
 was thus by Logan's movement on the right that the battle of Champion Hills was 
 won. The enemy did not halt in his retreat until he had reached his stronghold 
 at Vicksburg. — C. A. L. 
 
678 MILITAR Y REMINISCENCES, 
 
 ViCKSBURG. 
 
 On the evening of the 17th, after the successful engagement at 
 Big Black, my division took the Jackson road, moved forward upon 
 the enemy's lines at Vicksburg, and at night on the i8th went into 
 position on the center of the circumvallating line which enveloped 
 Vicksburg. We then made the unsuccessful assault of the 19th and 
 22nd of May, and subsequently commenced our trenches and mines 
 for a regular siege. Upon the 4th of July, 1863, we had the satisfac- 
 tion of entering the city of Vicksburg.^ 
 
 * The ground in General Logan's front was recognized as the commanding 
 position of the entire line, and the battery constructed there was named "Battery 
 Logan." A nine-inch navy gun was planted in his front, served by the First 
 U. S. Infantry. His position was regarded by the enemy as a shining target for 
 all their missiles. A shell exploded in his tent during the siege. His quarters 
 were within a few yards of the main parapet, and became the station of observa- 
 tion for the officers of the entire line. Indeed, General Grant occupied that 
 position during the two days' assault, on the igth and 22d of May, as being the 
 most commanding point. It was from the front of General Logan's headquarters 
 that the mine was sprung which created such disaster to the enemy on the 25th 
 day of June, and which resulted in a flag of truce on the 3d of July, followed by 
 the surrender of Vicksburg on the 4th. General Logan was selected by General 
 Grant for consultation during the interviews with General Pemberton, in command 
 of the rebel force, looking to the surrender, and the terms of the surrender were 
 written and dictated near " Battery Logan." In consideration of the services of 
 General Logan during the siege, his command, by general orders, took the lead 
 in marching into Vicksburg on the 4th of July, and he was immediately afterward 
 assigned to the command of that city. This command he held, discharging its 
 delicate duties until the 14th of November, 1863, when he was, by orders from 
 the War Department, assigned to the command of the Fifteenth Corps. — C. A. L. 
 
THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN, 
 
 Resaca. 
 
 WE were now about to enter upon the famous Atlanta Cam- 
 paign. I had moved my headquarters to Huntsville, Ala- 
 bama, and therefore was the first to take up the march for Chatta- 
 nooga, the starting-point. The Army of the Tennessee, composed 
 of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Army Corps, under 
 command of General McPherson, was employed during this entire 
 campaign, in the language of General Sherman, as "the snapper to 
 the whip with which he purposed to punish the £nemy," and its move- 
 ments to the right and left of the other armies, constantly reaching 
 and occupying the most difficult and perilous positions, entailed upon 
 its several commanding officers delicate and exhausting duties. The 
 commanders of the three corps of the Army of the Tennessee 
 were, respectively, as follows: 
 
 Major-General John A. Logan, commanding the Fifteenth 
 Corps; Major-General G. M. Dodge, commanding the Sixteenth 
 Corps; Major-General Frank P. Blair, commanding the Seven- 
 teenth Corps. 
 
 While the main army, under the immediate supervision of Gen- 
 eral Sherman, was confronting the enemy at Dalton and Buzzard's 
 Roost, the first flank movement of the series made by the Army of 
 the Tennessee was to the right through Snake Creek Gap, upon 
 the town of Resaca. 
 
 The attempt to break the railroad at Resaca, and thus cut off 
 
 the retreat of the enemy, failed, not because of the timidity of any 
 
 one, as has been unjustly suggested, but because the place was 
 
 found so completely fortified that it ultimately required the best 
 
 efforts of Sherman's whole army to dislodge the enemy from that 
 
 679 
 
68o MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 position, and but for the splendid flank movement of the Fif- 
 teenth Corps upon the right of the line, on the 1 6th, of May, the 
 attack upon the enemy's position must have consumed days instead 
 of hours, before he would have been compelled to retreat. 
 
 The unsuccessful onslaught of General Hooker and Gen- 
 eral Howard, on the 13th of May, proves the wise discretion 
 of General McPherson in not attempting to carry the works 
 with a single army when first he reached Resaca, while the bril- 
 jiant charge made by the Fifteenth Corps, by which we were 
 enabled to turn the enemy's position, vindicates the previous action 
 of McPherson. 
 
 [The scene of the movement has been described as follows: 
 "Logan moved first and drew the first fire. In front of his Second 
 Division was an open field in which were the enemy's skirmishers, 
 and across in the woods his line of battle. At the bugle the division 
 fell into line, deployed skirmishers, and swept across the field, 
 driving the enemy in splendid style. General Logan accompanied 
 the line. At the same time Harrow, who had fallen back of the 
 main road to allow Morgan L. Smith to move to the right, moved on 
 double-quick to the left of Osterhaus, the two divisions pushing 
 into the thick wood on the left of the Second. Dodge moved his 
 command from the Ferry road down through the forest to fill up 
 the space between the Fifteenth and the Oestonala, his Fourth 
 Division, under General Veatch, having the advance. After cross- 
 ing the field. General Morgan L. Smith entered the wood, and 
 pushed rapidly for the hills in his front, and the whole Fifteenth 
 then moved suddenly forward, driving the enemy for a mile and 
 a half, until the corps were in position on the hills which they had 
 been ordered to take. The remainder of the afternoon was occu- 
 pied in intrenching the line, and putting batteries into position, while 
 skirmishers and pickets were constantly exchanging shots. 
 
 " The next day about noon General Logan received orders to 
 make an assault upon the rebel lines in his front. He directed the 
 assault to be made by one brigade from each of the First and 
 
THE BATTLE OF DALLAS. 68 1 
 
 Second Divisions — General Charles R. Wood's brigade of the 
 First Division, and General Giles A. Smith's of the Second. The 
 remainder of the command was placed in position to give such 
 immediate support to the charging party as circumstances might 
 require. General Logan was in front, busy along the line. It 
 being very difficult to cross the creek which ran between the 
 attacking column of the enemy, the troops were carried over to the 
 opposite bank on logs, or in any other feasible manner, under 
 cover of the fire from the batteries. It was six o'clock when 
 the skirmishers were advanced to the foot of the hill, and com- 
 menced driving the rebels. At the order of General Logan the 
 brigade sprang up from the bank under which they were covered, 
 deployed, and moved forward at double-quick. Very soon strong 
 forces displaying seven regimental colors were discovered moving 
 in column by regiments. The whole force of two brigades of 
 General Logan was deployed in the front. The rebel column 
 would strike it in a few minutes. If it broke our lines, the position 
 was gone and the two brigades lost. Logan hurried along the 
 front. His command reserved its fire until the enemy were within 
 sixty yards. The rebel column staggered, fell back, re-formed, and 
 renewed the assault. They were again repulsed, and made a last 
 attempt to turn Logan's flank. They were again driven back with 
 great loss, and under cover of the night, for it was then dark, they 
 left the field in possession of General Logan's troops, who 
 advanced and placed the flag of the Fiftyrseventh Ohio on the 
 abandoned redoubt. At two in the morning Resaca was destitute 
 of rebels. Our loss in the Fifteenth Corps was something over 
 three hundred, while the rebels admitted casualties to the number 
 of more than twenty-five hundred. Thus ended the first fight of 
 ■any moment in the Atlanta campaign." — C. A. L.J 
 
 Dallas. 
 
 As at Resaca, so at Dallas, the glorious Fifteenth Corps took 
 the brunt of the movement. I was again on the extreme right, 
 
682 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 and marched to Dallas, on the 27th of May, at four p. m., the whole 
 rebel army confronting me as we went into position beyond the 
 town. The 28th was spent in closing up my line, and preparing 
 for any attack which might be made. The enemy endeavored 
 during the whole day to feel my line, and not a moment passed 
 without shots between the skirmishers. I held the right with the 
 Sixteenth Corps under Dodge on my left, while Sherman was wait- 
 ing and expecting the Army of the Tennessee to move to the left 
 to close up on the enemy, whom he (Sherman) supposed to be on 
 his immediate front, that is to say, in front of the Army of the 
 Cumberland and the Army of the Ohio. But the fact is that 
 Johnston's entire command was centered upon our right flank, with 
 a determination to break through and to prevent any movement to 
 the left. Repeated and impatient orders were sent to McPherson 
 during the time he was hotly engaged with Johnston's army, to 
 move to the left and join Sherman. 
 
 On the 28th, Hardee's corps moved with twenty-three thou- 
 sand men upon my front, and then there ensued one of the severest 
 struggles of the entire campaign. Never did men fight more des- 
 perately than did the rebels to drive us from our position, as the 
 field of battle after the contest plainly showed. We found five 
 color-bearers, at the close of this sharp engagement, dead in their 
 places. We buried three hundred of the enemy and would have 
 buried more had not the rebels fired upon our stretcher-bearers, 
 driving them and all burying parties from the field. Fifty-four 
 rebels were buried in front of the Sixty-sixth Indiana. I had no 
 time to get up my artillery, and in this repulse of the repeated 
 attacks of the enemy I was compelled to depend almost entirely 
 upon the musketry. ^ 
 
 1 The report states that Geiieral Logan's leadership contributed greatly to 
 the success of the day. He rode along the entire line with an electric word for 
 each brave regiment, swinging his hat and cheering when the bullets were thick- 
 est, while his strong voice rose high above the roar of the fight. The splendid 
 enthusiasm of the man inspired such of the troops as required the inspiration 
 with a like temper. — C. A. L. 
 
THE A SSA UL T ON KENESA W MO UNTAIN. 683 
 
 The rebel loss was over twenty-five hundred. Three times the 
 enemy attacked, and were as often repulsed. One hundred and 
 fifty prisoners were taken. We lost two hundred and thirty-eight 
 brave fellows. The following commissioned officers were killed: 
 Colonel Dickerman, of the One-hundred-and-third Illinois; Major 
 Grisy, of the Forty-sixth Ohio; and Lieutenant Louell, of the 
 Twenty-seventh Ohio. At this place there occurred a night attack 
 upon us, which was brilliant as well as beautiful. A streaming 
 line of fire along the whole front, with a blaze of musketry and 
 artillery, lit up the sky with lurid glare. It accomplished nothing 
 for the rebels, however, save to cause loss of sleep to the tired sol- 
 diers of both sides. The three attacks were only intended to 
 prevent the movement contemplated by the Army of the Tennessee 
 to the left, as General Sherman had proposed. The Dallas fight 
 was the third of the three successive attacks of the enemy since 
 the opening of the campaign south of the Etowah, up to the 
 evening of the z8th. On the 2'5th Hooker was engaged in the 
 center, and on the 27th, Wood upon the left flank. 
 
 The Assault on Kenesaw Mountain. 
 
 On the 27th of June the attempt of General Sherman to carry 
 Kenesaw Mountain txjok place. The propriety of this movement, 
 as well as that of the attempt to dislodge the enemy from Buz- 
 zard's Roost, has been' hotly discussed by those of opposite views. 
 However, the orders having been given, the disposition of the 
 troops of the Army of the Tennessee was perfected with a view to 
 secure success in the assault if possible. The alacrity with which 
 the troops moved out to an attack which was universally considered 
 ill-advised, to say the least, was one of the strongest proofs exhib- 
 ited during the campaign of the complete discipline and soldierly 
 qualities of the volunteer soldier of the Western army. My corps 
 moved promptly at eight o'clock in the morning, and after an hour 
 and a quarter had cleared two lines of abattis, carried a line of earth- 
 works by a charge, followed the rout of the enemy up his rugged 
 
684 MILITAR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Strongholds, under a murderous cross-fire of artillery and a storm 
 of bullets, conquered every obstacle, planted the flag at the foot 
 of the insurmountable array of cliffs, threw up defenses of logs 
 and stones, and held the line despite the persistent efforts of the 
 enemy to dislodge us. We lost sixty officers and four hundred 
 men, killed and wounded. One of my regiments came out of the 
 fight with but five line and field officers fit for duty. The losses 
 were : Colonel Rice, of the Fifty-seventh Illinois, mortally 
 wounded; Colonel Parry, Fifty-fourth Ohio, and Colonel Walcott, 
 slightly wounded; Colonel Parnhill, Fortieth Illinois, and Captain 
 Augustine, commander of the Fifty-fifth Illinois, killed. The 
 Eighty-third Indiana lost two color-bearers while ascending the 
 mountain. 
 
 The average perpendicular height of the precipice against 
 which the charge was made was thirty feet. Along the verge of 
 this the enemy had drawn his line of battle, and his troops, as our 
 own approached, hurled down rocks^ clubs, and every conceivable 
 species of missiles, injuring, killing, and maiming many of our men. 
 The position of the enemy was turned by General Sherman's 
 " whip-snapper," the Army of the Tennessee. By another flank 
 movement this army was at Nickajack Creek on the 4th of July, 
 celebrating the anniversary of our independence by an artillery 
 fight with Johnston's rear guard, while he, with his main army, was 
 safely and quietly moving across Chattahoochee toward Atlanta. 
 The next movement was to the left flank through Marietta, cross- 
 ing the bridge at Rosswell built by Dodge, advancing through 
 Decatur, and going into position on the 2 1 st of July, after a severe 
 fight, with which we contested the range of hills that overlooks the 
 city of Atlanta. 
 
 On the night of the 21st I occupied an intrenched position, the 
 Army of the Ohio, under General Schofield, being upon my right, 
 and the Seventeenth Corps, under General Blair, upon my left. 
 The left flank was to have been occupied by General Dodge, com- 
 manding the Sixteenth Corps, who had been left out on the march 
 
THE FIRST BA TTLE OF A TLANTA. 685 
 
 ■of the preceding day by the connection of the Fifteenth and Seven- 
 teenth Corps of the Army of the Tennessee. The cavalry com- 
 mand which was covering the flanks of the Army of the Tennessee 
 — reporting to General McPherson — had been sent off by General 
 Sherman's orders to destroy the bridge near Covington, thus leav- 
 ing the left flank " in air." The trains were stopped at Decatur 
 and guarded by Sprague, of Ohio, with a brigade. The severe 
 fighting for the position which the Army of the Tennessee occu- 
 pied, and which it did not secure until dark of the 21st, led the 
 commanding officers of that army to believe that the enemy was in 
 force in our immediate front, and General Blair and I made dispo- 
 sition of our troops accordingly, under direction of General Mc- 
 Pherson, 
 
 The First Battle of Atlanta. 
 
 Very early on the morning of the 22d of July, 1864, Lieutenant 
 Willard Warner, of General Sherman's staff, came to the head- 
 quarters of General McPherson, and gave the following instruc- 
 tions from General Sherman to General McPherson, to-wit: 
 " General Sherman believes that the enemy have evacuated 
 Atlanta, and desires you to move rapidly forward beyond the city 
 toward East Point, leaving General Dodge, of the Sixteenth Corps, 
 upon the railroad, to destroy it effectually." This communication 
 was received by McPherson with a great deal of surprise, and he 
 expressed, without reservation, his doubts as to the correctness of 
 the report of the evacuation. However, he issued an order to me 
 to carry out the instructions received from General Sherman.' 
 
 Not satisfied, however, McPherson immediately ordered his 
 horse, and with his staff started to ride down to my headquarters 
 to talk over the instructions which he had already given me in 
 writing. Before he arrived at my headquarters, however, firing 
 was exchanged between our own and the enemy's pickets. In a 
 moment General McPherson was convinced that General Sherman 
 
 * This order has been quoted in the Memoir of General Logan. — C. A. L. 
 
686 MILITARY REMINISCENCLS. 
 
 was mistaken in the report that the enemy had evacuated Atlanta. 
 McPherson therefore instructed me to go into position for battle 
 (though I had already prepared my troops for the march), regard- 
 less of the order issued in the morning, which instruction I imme- 
 diately commenced to carry out, my command going into line 
 under fire. The order was also handed to General Blair, and Gen- 
 eral Dodge was directed to leave the railroad and with all possible 
 dispatch to take up his position on the left of the Seventeenth 
 Corps, in order to protect that flank, which was even then being 
 turned by the enemy, in the absence of Garrard's cavalry. 
 
 In the meantime McPherson had ridden over to General Sher- 
 man's headquarters and reported to him the disposition he had 
 made of his troops, in violation of the orders of the morning, and 
 to secure the assent of General Sherman to his course. After this 
 he rode back to see that his orders to Generals Blair, Dodge, and 
 to me were being promptly and' correctly carried out. The 
 exposed' position of the Seventeenth Corps, heretofore referred to, 
 owing to the absence of the cavalry under Garrard, had not been 
 wholly covered, when McPherson, about one o'clock (the firing 
 along the line having become general), rode out almost alone, his 
 staff all being occupied in the execution of previous orders. In 
 passing through a narrow bridle-path, McPherson came upon a 
 body of the enemy's troops — a stray company from Claiborne's 
 division of Hardee's corps — lying down in the woods, who, upon 
 seeing him approach, immediately arose, and commanded him 
 three times to halt. McPherson, at first supposing them to be 
 some of his own troops, lifted his hat in his usual courteous man- 
 ner, but, at once perceiving that he was in the presence of the 
 enemy, wheeled his horse, when he was immediately fired upon 
 and killed. The rebel company was captured afterward, and the 
 facts as here stated were given by the officers of the company. 
 Colonel Clark, McPherson's chief-of-staff, hearing the firing, 
 seeing McPherson's horse come back riderless, and satisfied that 
 McPherson was either killed or a prisoner, gave orders for the re- 
 
THE FIRST BA TTLE OF A TLANTA. 687 
 
 covery of the body, then rode to General Sherman and reported 
 the facts, and was directed by him to place General Logan in com- 
 mand of the Army of the Tennessee, I being the ranking officer 
 present. Before leaving General Sherman, Colonel Clark secured 
 a division of the Army of the Ohio, commanded by General J. D. 
 Cox, to march to a position where he could support the Army of 
 the Tennessee in case of emergency.^ 
 
 General Sherman, in his report of the battle, said: 
 " On the morning of the 22nd, somewhat to my surprise, this 
 whole line [meaning the line occupied by the armies on the day 
 preceding] was found abandoned, and I confess I thought the 
 enemy had resolved to give me Atlanta without further contest, but 
 as General Johnston had been relieved of his command and Gen- 
 eral Hood substituted, a new policy seemed resolved upon, of which 
 the bold attack upon our right was the index. Our advanced ranks 
 swept across the strong and well finished parapet of the enemy, 
 and close upon Atlanta we occupied a line in the form of a gen- 
 eral circle of about two miles radius, when we again found him 
 occupying a line of finished redoubts which had been prepared for 
 
 ' General Logan assumed command just as the engagement of that day be- 
 came general, and in person gave the orders and made disposition of the troops 
 that achieved victory in the hardest-fought battle of the Atlanta campaign. 
 
 In person he recovered the position lost by the right of his corps, and recap- 
 tured the twenty-four-pound Parrott battery of Captain De Gress. In person, too, 
 he directed the movement of the troops that repelled the seven successive attacks 
 of the enemy upon his line; and not until twelve o'clock at night, when the weary 
 soldiers were finally at rest, did he leave his command to go to General Sherman 
 in order to report the successes of the day. He was received at General Sherman's 
 headquarters with enthusiasm, and for his noble conduct during the critical hours 
 of the battle he was complimented in the highest terms by the General-in-Chief, 
 and assured, as General Logan has frequently related to the editor, of the perma- 
 nent command of the army, which he had upon that eventful day proved himself 
 fully capable to lead. 
 
 Of this memorable battle General Grant said in his official report: "About 
 one p. M. of this day the brave, accomplished, and noble-hearted McPherson was 
 killed. General Logan succeeded him and commanded the Army of the Tennes- 
 see throughout its desperate battle, and until he was superseded by Major-General 
 Howard on the 27th, with the same success and ability that had characterized him 
 in the command of a corps or division." — C. A. L. 
 
688 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 more than a year, covering all the roads leading into Atlanta, ami 
 after that we met him also busy in connecting those roads with 
 curtains strengthened by rifle- trenched abattis and chevaux de frise." 
 
 The report of General Sherman as to the position of his troops, 
 on that day is substantially correct, but his information is derived! 
 entirely from reports of subordinates, because he was not on any 
 part of the line during the fight, either by himself or by staff. He- 
 says: " I rode over it," meaning the line, " the next day, and it bore, 
 the marks of a bloody conflict. The enemy retired during the 
 night inside of Atlanta, and we remained masters of the situationri 
 outside." 
 
 In referring to his orders to me, concerning the battle of the- 
 22nd, General Sherman says in his " Memoirs ": " I soon dispatched 
 one of my own staff to General Logan, telling him to refuse his 
 left flank, and to fight the battle holding fast to Leggett's hill with 
 the Army of the Tennessee; that I would personally look to De- 
 catur and to the safety of his rear, and would reinforce him if he 
 needed it." Decatur, where the trains were parked, was seven, 
 miles distant.' 
 
 * The opinion has been expressed in military circles that the place of the 
 General-in-Chief, during so fierce and important a battle as that of the 22d, was 
 near the front, to supervise the conflict then raging, instead of at the rear, among 
 the quartermasters, commissaries, and other non-combatants. This opinion 
 seems to be strengthened by the circumstance that the able commander of the 
 Army of the Tennessee had been killed, and his place had been assumed by a. 
 volunteer — or, to put it more broadly, by a " political general " — whom the General- 
 in-Chief failed to promote to the permanent command of the army that had won 
 victory under him on the 22d, because, as the General-in-Chief alleged ten years 
 afterward, he did not consider the volunteer General equal to the command of 
 three corps. The consequences of rebel success in the battle then in progress 
 would have been most disastrous to the Union cause ; and in leaving the issue to. 
 an officer incompetent to handle so mamy troops, the General-in-Chief, by the irre- 
 sistible logic of the facts, was guilty either of a grave error, or of a great injustice. 
 If General Logan were incompetent to discharge the trust, as alleged in the ' ' Mem- 
 oirs" of General Sherman, the General-in-Chief was highly censurable in commit- 
 ting the direction of the battle to him. But if the General-in-Chief were justified, 
 by reason of General Logan's ability, in committing the direction of a battle that 
 might have been the turning-point of the Western campaign to the single hands of 
 
THE FIRST BA TTLE OF A TLANTA. 689 
 
 The battle of Atlanta, fought on the 22nd of July, 1864, must 
 be recorded as one of the " decisive battles of the war" — in fact, 
 the only decisive battle in 1864. It resulted in the fall of Atlanta 
 and enabled General Sherman to accomplish his march to the sea. 
 
 My report of the battle of the 22nd of July is as follows: 
 
 " Headquarters Department and Army of the Tennessee, 
 " Before Atlanta, Ga., July 24, 1864. 
 
 " General: I have the honor to report the following summary of the result of 
 the battle of the 22d inst. : Total loss in killed, wounded, and missing, three 
 thousand five hundred and twenty-one (3,521), and ten (10) pieces of artillery lost. 
 We have buried and delivered to the enemy, under a flag of truce sent by them, in 
 front of the Seventeenth Corps, one thousand (1,000) of their killed ; the number 
 of their dead in front of the Fourth Division of the same corps, including those on 
 ground not now occupied by our troops. General Blair reports will swell the num- 
 ber of their dead on his front to two thousand (2,000). The number of dead buried 
 in front of the Fifteenth Corps, up to this hour, is three hundred and sixty (360), 
 and the commanding officer reports at least as many more unburied. The number 
 of dead buried in front of the Sixteenth Corps was four hundred and twenty- 
 two (422). 
 
 "We have over one thousand (1,000) of their wounded in our hands ; a large 
 number of the wounded having been carried off during the night of the engage- 
 ment by them. 
 
 "We captured eighteen stands of colors, and have them now; we also cap- 
 tured five thousand (5,000) stands of arms. 
 
 "The attack was made on our line seven times, and was seven times repulsed. 
 Hood's, Hardee's, and Wheeler's cavalry engaged us. We have sent to the rear 
 one thousand (1,000) prisoners, including thirty-seven (37) commissioned officers 
 of high rank. We still occupy the field, and the troops are in fine spirits. 
 
 "Our total loss is three thousand five hundred and twenty-one (3,521), the 
 enemy's dead thus far reported, buried or delivered to them, is three thousand 
 two hundred and twenty-two (3,222). Total prisoners sent north, one thousand 
 and seventeen (1,017); ^oVaS. prisoners wounded in our hands, one thousand (1,000); 
 estimated loss of the enemy, ten thousand two hundred (10,200). 
 " Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 "John A. Logan, Major-General. 
 
 "To Major-General W. T. Sherman, Commanding Military Division of the 
 Mississippi." 
 
 The actual loss of the enemy was, however, acknowledged to 
 be greater than the number indicated in my report. 
 
 General Logan, the General-in-Chief was no less censurable in openly maligning 
 •he military character of one of the most distinguished soldiers of the Republic. — 
 C. A. L. 
 
690 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 The time was occupied until the 26th in reorganizing the vari- 
 ous commands, in performing the last offices to the gallant dead, 
 and in preparing for another movement, which was by the flank, 
 though this time to the right. It is but truth to say that a more 
 difficult and delicate movement of the army was not undertaken 
 during the war. The enemy were intrenched closely in our front, 
 almost within speaking distance on many parts of the line, when 
 the order came from General Sherman to withdraw under cover 
 of the night from our position, and move the three corps seven 
 miles to the right. It was necessary to deceive the enemy entirely 
 as to this movement, and the wheels of the gun-carriages and 
 caissons were bound with whisps of hay and straw, in order that 
 the utmost silence might prevail as the Army of the Tennessee 
 moved out from this position. I was in the saddle all night, and 
 with my staff personally superintended the movement of every 
 corps which drew out from its position, until all were withdrawn 
 without the slightest confusion. By daylight on the morning of 
 the 27 th, the three corps of the Army of the Tennessee were safely 
 upon their respective roads, prepared to go into their new positions, 
 and this without any casualty, while the enemy was left in complete 
 ignorance of the withdrawal.^ 
 
 1 Great praise must be given to General Logan for the military skill that he 
 exhibited upon that occasion. When it is considered that the darkness of the 
 night required the entire command almost to feel its way — it being impracticable 
 to use any light, even that of a torch, to guide the troops — the movement was 
 certainly or^ of the most remarkable of any made during the war, not except- 
 ing those made by officers graduated from West Point. Worn by anxiety 
 resulting from the responsibility of the command so suddenly davolved upon 
 him during the battle of the 22d, and wearied by the labor of the night move- 
 ment above related in face of the enemy, General Logan was informed on the 
 morning of the 27th, at the White House, where General Sherman was quar- 
 tered, that General O. O. Howard had been appointed to the command of the 
 Army of the Tennessee. It is needless to say that the announcement of General 
 Howard's assignment was not enthusiastically received, though the army, proba- 
 bly, had no personal objection to him. Without a word General Logan resumed 
 command of his old corps (the Fifteenth), and during the 27th he went into posi- 
 tion on the right of the line. General Blair of the Seventeenth Corps being on 
 his left, while General Dodge, of the Sixteenth, was upon the left flank. — C. A. L. 
 
\ ' ■ 
 
 
 The Second Battle of Atlanta. 
 
THE SECOND BA TTLE OF A TLANTA. 69 1 
 
 The Second Battle of Atlanta. 
 
 Rain poured in torrents as the army took up its position upon 
 that day, and it was late in the evening before the troops were all 
 deployed. Again the Army of the Tennessee was, by its right 
 flank, "in air." The enemy was again discovered late in the day 
 upon that flank, and as the Army of the Tennessee could not reach 
 so as to secure a position not easily turned, General Sherman 
 ordered General Jeff. C. Davis with his division to move at once 
 to support the right flank. 
 
 The morning of the 28th found the Army of the Tennessee 
 again confronting the enemy. Hardly had the Fifteenth Corps 
 thrown up their earth-works, with logs and rails covering the 
 front, when Hood came at us again. By eleven o'clock the fight- 
 ing became general along the entire line, and then there occurred 
 another desperate battle in which my brave Fifteenth Corps was 
 exclusively engaged, for, though two or three brigades from the 
 Seventeenth bad been ordered to its support, circumstances ren- 
 dered it unnecessary for the latter to take any part in the general 
 engagement. Six times did the enemy deploy from the woods in 
 ^^tpp9f; six times, with words of encouragement and threats 
 from their commanding officers, did they march up to receive the 
 deadly fire of the Fifteenth Corps, and as many times were they 
 repulsed. Perhaps in the history of the war there was never more 
 persistent and desperate gallantry displayed upon the part of the 
 rebels. Their defeat was complete, and the reports of the fight 
 show that the gallant Fifteenth Corps was chiefiy entitled to the 
 credit of the victory of July 28th.' 
 
 The following is my official report of the battle: 
 
 ' General Sherman says in his report of this battle: "General Logan on this 
 occasion was conspicuous, as on the 22nd, his corps being chiefly engaged, but 
 General Howard had drawn from the other corps, the Sixteenth and Seventeenth, 
 certain reserves which were near at hand but not used." — C. A. L. 
 
692 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 "Headquarters Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 
 " Before Atlanta, Ga., July 29, 1864. 
 
 " Colonel: I have the honor to report that in pursuance of orders I moved 
 my command into position on the right of the Seventeenth Army Corps, which was 
 the extreme right of the army in the field on the night and morning of the 27th 
 and 28th inst., and during my advance in line of battle to a more desirable posi- 
 tion we were met by the rebel infantry from Hood's and Lee's corps, who made 
 a desperate and determined attack at half past eleven o'clock of the morning of 
 the 28th. 
 
 " My lines were only protected by logs and rails hastily thrown in front of 
 them. The first onset was received and checked, and the battle commenced and 
 lasted until about three o'clock in the afternoon. During that time six successive 
 attacks were made, which were six times gallantly repulsed, and each time with 
 fearful loss to the enemy. Later in the evening my lines were several times 
 assaulted vigorously, but each assault terminated with like result. The most 
 of the fighting occurred on General Harrow's and Smith's fronts, which formed 
 the center and right of the line. The troops could not have displayed more cour- 
 age nor greater determination not to yield. Had they shown less they would 
 have been driven from their position. Brigadier-General Wood's, Harrow's and 
 Smith's division commands are entitled to great credit for gallant conduct and 
 skill in repelling the assaults. My thanks are due to Major-Generals Blair and 
 Dodge for sending me reinforcements at a time when they were much needed. 
 My loss was fifty killed, four hundred and thirty-nine wounded, and eighty-three 
 missing — aggregate, five hundred and seventy-two. 
 
 ' ' The division of General Harrow captured five battle-flags. There were 
 about one thousand five hundred or two thousand muskets captured ; one hundred 
 and six prisoners were taken, exclusive of seventy-three wounded who have been 
 removed to hospitals and are being taken care of by our surgeons. Five hundred 
 and sixty-five rebels up to this time have been buried, and about two hundred are 
 supposed to be yet unburied. Large numbers were undoubtedly carried away 
 during the night, as the enemy did not retire until nearly daylight. The enemy's 
 loss could not have been, in my judgment, less than six or seven thousand. 
 " I am very respectfully your obedient servant, 
 
 "John A. Logan, 
 " Major-General Commanding Fifteenth Army Corps. 
 "To Lieutenant-Colonel W. T. Clark, Assistant Adjutant-General." 
 
 The indorsement upon the report is as follows:' 
 
 " Headquarters Department of the Army of the Tennessee, 
 " Before Atlanta, Ga., July zg, 1864. 
 " In forwarding the within report I wish to express my high gratification with 
 the conduct of the troops engaged. I never saw better conduct in battle. 
 
 ' The suggestion seems natural that the officer that was acknowledged by both 
 of his superiors to have been the principal actor in two of the most decisive, and, 
 in fact, in the only battles of the Atlanta Campaign, must have been qualified to 
 command permanently the army which he had successfully led to victory. — C. A. L. 
 
THE BA TTLE OF JONESBORO. 693 
 
 " The General commanding the Fifteenth Army Corps, though ill and much 
 worn out, was indefatigable, and the success of the day is as much attributed to 
 him as to any one man. His officers, and in fact all the officers of his army that 
 commanded my observation, cooperated promptly and heartily with him. 
 
 "O. O. Howard, Major-General." 
 
 JONESBORO. 
 
 What General Sherman has called his flank movement was now 
 to take place. Failing to cut off the enemy's retreat by the use of 
 his cavalry, the General-in-Chief determined to throw his whole 
 army upon the railroad south of Atlanta. The method of accom- 
 plishing this result has been indicated by General Sherman in his 
 " Memoirs." 
 
 Again the Army of the Tennessee had the wide swing, outside, 
 and traveled the greater distance, and again struck the enemy first. 
 
 The several columns moved on the 29th of August — the Fif- 
 teenth Corps in advance — and passed the Renf o place, at which 
 point the orders were to stop. I pushed forward, saved the bridge 
 across Flint River, and went into position within half a mile of 
 Jonesboro. 
 
 On the 31st, I went into a fortified position, and was attacked 
 by Lee's and Hardee's corps. After two hours' hard fighting, we 
 repulsed the enemy, who withdrew, leaving four hundred dead on 
 the field, his total loss being over twenty-five hundred, as admitted 
 at the time. 
 
 General Sherman, in his report, says: " Hearing sounds of bat- 
 tle at Jonesboro about noon, orders were renewed to push the other 
 movements of the left and center, and about 4 p. m. the report ar- 
 rived that General Howard had utterly repulsed the enemy at 
 Jonesboro."' 
 
 ' It appears from this narration that General Logan, with the Fifteenth Corps, 
 fought another battle, with the results which had been previously obtained on the 
 22d and 28th of July; and that upon this occasion the engagement was commenced 
 and terminated without the knowledge of the General-in-Chief, other than that 
 conveyed to him by the victorious guns of the Fifteenth Army Corps. General 
 Howard, to whom the credit is given, had no suspicion, even, of the movement. — 
 C. A. L. 
 
694 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 As usual, the enemy disappeared before morning. He made a 
 stand at Lovejoy's Station. We followed him to that point, and 
 again had him in flank. I wished to attack him again, in order to 
 achieve, if it were possible, what the army had failed 'to accomplish 
 on the 31st, by reason of the want of cooperation of the other 
 troops; but, in the meantime Atlanta had fallen, and the General- 
 in-Chief decided to fall back. We then went into camp at Atlanta, 
 with the purpose to prepare for an excursion through Georgia, to 
 the sea. 
 
 Capture of Fort McAllister. 
 
 It remains to make mere mention of the last engagement of 
 the Fifteenth Army Corps, so long commanded by me. It is a fact 
 worthy of note that the troops composing this corps were origi- 
 nally organized at Belmont and took part in the engagement at 
 that place. There was never any distinct change in the organiza- 
 tion of the command from that time until it was mustered out in 
 1865. The men and officers came to know and love each other, and 
 to form attachments which have never been broken. 
 
 General Hazen's Division of the old Fifteenth Corps captured 
 Fort McAllister, which gave us Savannah. This was the last im- 
 portant engagement in which the Army of the Tennessee partici- 
 pated during the war. 
 
 After my arrival in camp, at Atlanta, the following congratula- 
 tory order was issued: 
 
 "Headquarters Fifteenth Army Corps, 
 
 " East Point, Ga., Sept. 11, 1864. 
 " Officers and Soldiers of the Fifteenth Army Corps: 
 
 ' ' You have borne your part in the accomplishment of the object of this cam- 
 paign, a part well and faithfully done. 
 
 " On the ist day of May, 1864, from Huntsville, Ala., and its vicinity, you 
 commenced the march. The marches and labors performed by you during this 
 campaign will hardly find a parallel in the history of war. The proud name hereto- 
 fore acquired by the Fifteenth Corps for soldierly bearing and daring deeds remains 
 untarnished — its luster undiramed. During the campaign you constituted the 
 main portion of the flanking column of the whole army. Your first move against 
 the enemy was around the right of the army at Resaca, where, by your gallantry. 
 
GEN. LOGAtr S CONGRATULATORY ORDER. 695 
 
 the enemy were driven from the hills and his works on the main road from Vila- 
 now to Resaca. On the retreat of the enemy, you moved on the right fiank of the 
 army by a circuitous route to Adairsville, in the same manner from there to 
 Kingston and Dallas, where, on the 28th day of May, you met the veteran corps 
 of Hardee, and in a severe and bloody contest you hurled him back, killing and 
 wounding over two thousand, besides capturing a large number of prisoners. You 
 then moved around to the left of the army, by way of Acworth, to Kenesaw 
 Mountain, where again you met the enemy, driving him from three lines of works, 
 capturing over three hundred prisoners. During your stay in front- of Kenesaw 
 Mountain, on the 27th of June, you made one of the most daring, bold, and heroic 
 charges of the war, against the almost impregnable position of the enemy on 
 Little Kenesaw. You were then moved, by way of Marietta, to Nickajack Creek, 
 on the right of the army; thence back to the extreme left by way of Marietta and 
 Roswell, to the Augusta Railroad, near Stone Mountain, a distance of fifty miles, 
 and after effectually destroying the railroad at this point, you moved by way of 
 Decatur to the immediate front of the rebel stronghold, Atlanta. Here, on the 
 22d day of July, you again performed your duty nobly ' as patriots and soldiers ' 
 in one of the most severe and sanguinary conflicts of the campaign. With hardly 
 time to recover your almost exhausted energies, you were moved around again to 
 the right of the army, only to encounter the same troops against whom you had 
 so recently contended, and the battle of the 28th of July, at Ezra Chapel, will 
 long be remembered by the officers and soldiers of this command. On that day 
 it was that the Fifteenth Corps, almost unaided and alone, for four hours contested 
 the field against the corps of Hardee and Lee. You drove them discomfited from 
 the field, causing them to leave their dead and many of their wounded in your 
 hands. ' The many noble and gallant deeds performed by you on that day will be 
 remembered among the proudest acts of our nation's history. After pressing the 
 enemy closely for several days, you again moved to the right of the army, to the 
 West Point Railroad, near Fairburn. After completely destroying the road for 
 some distance, you marched to Jonesboro, driving the enemy before you from 
 Pond Creek, a distance of ten miles. At this point you again met the enemy, 
 composed of Lee's and Hardee's corps, on the 31st of August, and punished them 
 severely, driving them in confusion from the field, with their dead and many 
 wounded and prisoners left in your hands. Here again by your skill and true 
 courage you kept sacred the reputation you have so long maintained, viz. : "The 
 Fifteenth Corps never meets the enemy but to strike and defeat him." On the ist 
 of September, the Fourteenth Corps attacked Hardee ; you at once opened fire on 
 him, and by your coBperation his defeat became a rout. Hood, hearing the news, 
 blew up his ammunition trains, retreated, and Atlanta was ours. 
 
 " You have marched during the campaign, in your windings, the distance of 
 four hundred miles, have put ' hors du combat' more of the enemy than your 
 corps numbers, have captured twelve stands of colors, 2,450 prisoners, and 210 
 deserters. 
 
 " The course of your march is marked by the graves of patriotic heroes who 
 have fallen by your side; but at the same time it is more plainly marked by the 
 blood of traitors who have defied the Constitution and laws, and insulted and 
 trampled under foot the glorious flag of our country. 
 
696 MILITARY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 " We deeply sympathize with the friends of those of our comrades-in-arms who 
 have fallen ; our sorrows are only appeased by the knowledge that they fell as brave 
 men, battling for the preservation and perpetuation of one of the best govern- 
 ments of earth. ' Peace be to their ashes.' 
 
 " You now rest for a short time from your labors. During the respite prepare 
 for future action. Let your country see at all times by your conduct that you 
 love the cause you have espoused; that you have no sympathy with any who 
 would by word or deed assist vile traitors in dismembering our mighty Republic 
 or trailing in the dust the emblem of our national greatness and glory. You are 
 the defenders of a Government that has blessed you heretofore with peace, happi- 
 ness, and prosperity. Its perpetuity depends upon your heroism, faithfulness, 
 and devotion. 
 
 "When the time shall come to go forward again, let us go with the determina- 
 tion to save our nation from threatened wreck and hopeless ruin, not forgetting 
 the appeal from widows and orphans that is borne to us upon every breeze to 
 avenge the loss of their loved ones who have fallen in defense of their country. 
 Be patient, obedient, and earnest, and the day is not far distant when you can re- 
 turn to your homes with the proud consolation that you have assisted in causing 
 the old banner to again wave from every mountain's top and over every town and 
 hamlet of our once happy land, and hear the shouts of triumph ascend from a 
 grateful people, proclaiming that once more we have one flag and one country. 
 
 " John A. Logan, 
 " Major-General Commanding." 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 Academies at West Point and An- 
 napolis should be finishing- 
 schools 605 
 
 Academies, Military and Naval, 
 
 overcrowding of 610 
 
 Absurd legislation to remedy. 611 
 Academies, the National, com- 
 ments upon 328 
 
 Academy, Military, early sugges- 
 tion of 121 
 
 President Washington upon .. . 122 
 Action to establish, in 1776 . . . 157 
 Opinions of army officers upon. 158 
 Secretary McHenry urges es- 
 tablishment of igi 
 
 Act creating the 201 
 
 President Jefferson upon 214 
 
 Report of Col. Williams upon. 214 
 
 Effect of War of 1812 upon 219 
 
 President Madison upon 2ig 
 
 Report upon, by Bernard and 
 
 McRae 223 
 
 John C. Calhoun upon 224 
 
 Attempts to abolish the 225 
 
 Acts of Congress relating to. . . 227 
 
 Laws governing the 229 
 
 Financial aspect of 240 
 
 Academy, Naval, first move to- 
 ward 268 
 
 First official suggestion for. . . 266 
 History of in the United States 264 
 Recommendation for at Gov- 
 ernor's Island 274 
 
 Action of William Jones upon 269 
 
 Smith Thompson upon 270 
 
 Congress on bill for 277 
 
 Page. 
 
 Samuel Southard upon 271 
 
 President Adams upon 293 
 
 Secretary Upshur upon 294 
 
 Senator Bayard upon 300 
 
 Bill introduced for 276 
 
 Action of Congress on the bill 277 
 
 Watmough's report upon 286 
 
 Secretary Branch upon 281 
 
 Established by Bancroft 308 
 
 Author's comments upon 313 
 
 Congressional recognition of. 316 
 
 Table of expense of 317 
 
 Annual expense of, in detail.. 320 
 
 Rules and regulations of 321 
 
 Memorial of officers for 288 
 
 Act of April 29, 1812, the real 
 charter of the Military Academy ; 
 
 text of 221 
 
 Act of March 16, 1802, establishing 
 
 Military Academy ; text of 201 
 
 Author's comments upon 210 
 
 Acts of Congress relating to the 
 
 Military Academy 227 
 
 Alexander the Great, case of, cited. 120 
 
 Anderson, General Robert 453 
 
 Andr6, Major, the British spy, cap- 
 tured by volunteers 113 
 
 Andrews, General G. L 449 
 
 Appeal to people in behalf of vol- 
 unteers 598 
 
 Appointments to West Point and 
 
 Annapolis, objections to stated. 426 
 Appropriations for Military Acad- 
 emy for 1885 and 1886 242 
 
 Naval Academy, total 317 
 
 Aristocracy, charge of, against 
 697 
 
698 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 West Point 399 
 
 Colonel Totten's defense 
 
 against charge of 400 
 
 The author's comments upon. . 405 
 Army, how vacancies in second 
 
 lieutenancies are filled 234 
 
 Army officers, list of, deserting 
 
 the Union cause 342, 351 
 
 Army of the Tennessee, organiza- 
 tion of 644 
 
 Army, politics of 435 
 
 The, not well-informed 437 
 
 Arnold, Benedict, personal charac- 
 ter of 112 
 
 Treason of 113 
 
 Artillerists and engineers,-act cre- 
 ating a corps of 171 
 
 Additional regiment provided 
 
 for •. 173 
 
 Atlanta, first battle of 685 
 
 Campaign 679 
 
 Second battle of 6gi 
 
 Batteries at Donelsqn 659 
 
 Bainbridge, Commodore, sketch of 536 
 Bancroft, Secretary, establishes 
 
 naval school 308 
 
 Instruction of to superintend- 
 ent 310 
 
 Report of to Congress 312 
 
 Barney, Commodore Joshua, 
 
 sketch of 538 
 
 Barnacle, the Government 279 
 
 Baum, British General, note of . . . 107 
 Bayard, Senator, report and bill 
 
 of, concerning naval school 300 
 
 Beauregard' s report of Elliott cav- 
 alry raid 672 
 
 Belmont, battle of 619 
 
 Benham, General H. W 447 
 
 Birney, General D. B., sketch of.. 568 
 
 Blair, General F. P ...568, 679 
 
 Blunt, General James G 570 
 
 Bon Homme Richard and Paul 
 Jones Sii 
 
 Page. 
 Bomford, G 443 
 
 Braddock, General, case of 574 
 
 Mistake of 492 
 
 Washington's opinion of 492 
 
 Branch, Secretary of Navy, action 
 
 of, on Naval Academy 281 
 
 Brewerton, H. W 450 
 
 Breyman, British General 107 
 
 Brown, General Jacob 546 
 
 Buchanan, Franklin, record of ... . 314 
 
 Buell, General Don Carlos 626 
 
 Burgoyne, General John, descrip- 
 tion of loi 
 
 Expedition of 102 
 
 Expedition, its object and 
 
 equipment 103 
 
 Progress and defeat of expedi- 
 tion 104 
 
 Description of actors in expe- 
 dition of 107 
 
 Sketch of 494 
 
 Butler, General B. F 570 
 
 At Fort Fisher 563 
 
 Burnside, General A. E 453 
 
 Cadet appointments must be re- 
 moved from politics 603 
 
 Cadet, grade of, established in 
 
 United States army 172 
 
 Definition of the word 173 
 
 Cadets, political nature of their 
 appointment 428 
 
 Cadres, basis of army organiza- 
 tion 463 
 
 Csesar, case cited 120 
 
 Csesarism, opportunities for in late 
 war 407 
 
 Cairo as a military point 619 
 
 Cameron, Secretary, report of, 
 upon absconding army ofiicers. . 335 
 
 Captures by American navy in 
 i8i2 516 
 
 Casey, General T. L 449 
 
 Caste, or class-distinction 382 
 
 In Southern States 396 
 
INDEX. 
 
 699 
 
 Page. 
 
 As a cause of Rebellion 397 
 
 At West Point 317, 399 
 
 Causes of the Rebellion 86 
 
 Champion Hills, battle of 677 
 
 Grant's report of 677 
 
 Chauncey, Captain, on Lakes Erie 
 
 and Ontario 521 
 
 Sketch of 531 
 
 Citizen-soldier, the American, gen- 
 eral view of 81 
 
 Clark, Colonel W. 1 686, 687, 692 
 
 Clay, General Greene 546 
 
 Colonists, the, as soldiers 461 
 
 Commissioners, American, in Eu- 
 rope, difficulties of, dissipated 
 
 after Burgoyne's defeat 106 
 
 Comstock, C. B 450 
 
 Constellation, victory of, over Z'/»- 
 
 surgente $11 
 
 Constitution, victory of, over the 
 
 Guerriire 512, 520 
 
 Conway, General Thomas S., con- 
 spirator against Washington. . . . 505 
 
 Cabal, the 505 
 
 Cook's brigade at Donelson 659 
 
 Corcoran, Colonel Michael, sketch 
 
 of 569 
 
 Corinth, siege of 661 
 
 Cornwallis, the British General, 
 
 sketch of 488 
 
 Courage, the true, of the soldier... 469 
 Courts-martial and courts-judicial. 416 
 
 Cox, General J. D ... 567 
 
 Croghan, Captain George 546 
 
 Cruft's brigade at Donelson 656 
 
 Cyrus, the Persian, case of, cited. . 120 
 
 Dallas, fight at 681 
 
 Danger, men become accustomed to 468 
 Dangers, possible, of a small mili- 
 tary establishment 455 
 
 Davis, General Jeff. C 567 
 
 Davis, Jefferson 453 
 
 Decatur, Commodore Stephen, 
 sketch of 533 
 
 Page. 
 Democracy, course of, among na- 
 tions 83 
 
 Department, West Point a military 261 
 Discipline, military, views of 
 Scipio, Cassar, Livy, Vegetius, 
 
 and Machiavel upon 194 
 
 Dix, General John A., sketch of. . . 569 
 
 Dodge, General G. M 679, 685 
 
 Donelson, capture of 638 
 
 Description of Fort 642 
 
 Dupont, Admiral 539, 572 
 
 Du Pont, H. A 450 
 
 Early, General Jubal 453 
 
 Education, military, drawbacks of. 574 
 
 Elliott's raid beyond Corinth 669 
 
 England, military schools of 601 
 
 Essex, the 514 
 
 Ewing, General Thomas 570 
 
 Fairchild, General Lucius 570 
 
 Farragut, Admiral 539, 572 
 
 Financial aspect of Military Acad- 
 emy; total cost of, from beginning 240 
 Fisher, Fort, comments upon affair 
 
 of 575 
 
 Fisher, Fort, the affair of 562 
 
 Foote, Admiral A. H 539, 572, 628 
 
 Force, General M. F 570, 647 
 
 France, military schools of . . .476, 600 
 
 Franklin, General W. B 448 
 
 Fremont, General J. C. . . 619, 620, 621 
 
 Superseded 626 
 
 French, the, sympathy of Ameri- 
 cans for 475 
 
 Garfield, James A 570 
 
 Gates, General Horatio, sketch of. 496 
 Gates, Horatio, American General, 
 
 sketch of 107 
 
 Geary, John W 570 
 
 Genius, nature and tendency of.. 120 
 
 Gilmore, General Q. A 449 
 
 Goldsborough, Admiral 539, 572 
 
 Goll, British General, note of 107 
 
700 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 Part of, in Burgoyne's defeat. 107 
 Government in general, forms of. 377 
 Graduates from Naval Academy, 
 
 list of 372 
 
 West Point Academy, list of. 246 
 
 Graham, General C. K 564 
 
 Grant and Lee, comparison between 409 
 Grant, General, military foreshad- 
 
 owings of 493 
 
 Grant, General U. S 
 
 434. 453, 561, 563. 564 
 
 At Belmont 619 
 
 At Fort Henry . 628 
 
 At Donelson 638 
 
 Bad treatment by Halleck 661 
 
 Report of battle at Port Gibson 676 
 Report of battle of Champion 
 
 Hills 677 
 
 Report of battle of Atlanta 687 
 
 Under our present military sys- 
 tem 611 
 
 Greene, Nathaniel, as a volunteer, 
 
 sketch of 484 
 
 Guadalupe Hidalgo, treaty of 480 
 
 Gun-boats at Fort Henry 630 
 
 Hale, Captain Nathan, the martyr. 504 
 
 Halleck, General H. W 626 
 
 Succeeds Hunter 626 
 
 Halleck, General H. W., asperses 
 
 General Pope 671 
 
 Halleck, General H..W., at Corinth 661 
 Unjust treatment of General 
 
 Grant 662 
 
 His absurd mistake at Corinth 662 
 Persecution of General Grant.. 661 
 
 Famous report from Pope 671 
 
 Absurd dispatches to Govern- 
 ment 673 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander, Secretary 
 
 McHenry's paper attributed to. . 267 
 Hamilton, British General, note of 107 
 Hamilton, General Alexander, 
 
 sketch of 499 
 
 Hancock, General W. S 453 
 
 Page. 
 Harrison, General W. H., sketch 
 
 of 541 
 
 Hartranft, John F 570 
 
 Heintzelman, General 453 
 
 Henry, Fort, capture of 626 
 
 Herkimer, General N., opposing 
 
 Burgoyne 497 
 
 High-class graduates from West 
 
 Point, table of 246 
 
 High classmen of West Point, ca- 
 reer of 443 
 
 Hooker, General Joseph 453 
 
 Hornet, the, under Captain Law- 
 rence 519 
 
 Horse artillery, McHenry's history 
 
 of 188 
 
 Howard, General O. O. ; tribute to 
 
 General Logan at Atlanta 692 
 
 Hudson River, early attempt to for- 
 tify 99 
 
 Renewed efforts to fortify after 
 
 Burgoyne's surrender loS 
 
 Washington's letter to General 
 Putnam upon the subject of 
 
 fortifying 108 
 
 Report of committee upon for- 
 tification of HO 
 
 Erection of Fort Arnold, after- 
 ward Fort Clinton iii 
 
 Construction of chain and boom 
 
 to obstruct the. 112 
 
 Hull, Captain Isaac, sketch of, 534, 535 
 Hunter, General D 453 
 
 Jackson, General Andrew, sketch 
 
 of 544 
 
 Jackson, General Stonewall 453 
 
 Java, the English ship, captured . . 519 
 Jefferson, President Thomas, urges 
 
 organization of militia 155 
 
 Jefferson, President, his message 
 
 upon the Military Academy 214 
 
 Johnson, Colonel Richard M., 
 
 sketch of 545 
 
 Johnston, General Joseph E 453 
 
INDEX. 
 
 701 
 
 Page. 
 
 Johnston, General A. S 453 
 
 Jomini, Baron, anecdote of 571 
 
 Jones, Secretary William, recom- 
 mends naval school 270 
 
 Jones, John Paul 511 
 
 Jones, Captain Jacob, sketch of . . . 536 
 Jonesboro, battle of, fought by Gen- 
 eral Logan 693 
 
 Judah, General H. M 663 
 
 Judiciary, differences between, and 
 army and navy 416 
 
 Kearney, General Philip, sketch of 566 
 Kenesaw Mountain, assault upon. . 685 
 Kilpatrick, General, case of, cited. 429 
 Knox, General Henry, action of 
 Congress upon militia report... . 153 
 
 Tribute to 170 
 
 Personal note of 125 
 
 Celebrated report of, on the 
 
 militia 125 
 
 First Secretary of War 266 
 
 Military sketch of 501 
 
 Land of military reservation, how 
 
 bought 237 
 
 Lane, General James H 570 
 
 Lawrence, Captain James, sketch 
 
 of 535 
 
 Leavenworth, General Henry 546 
 
 Lee and Grant, comparison of 409 
 
 Lee, General R. E 445 
 
 Lee, General Charles, of the Con- 
 way Cabal 504 
 
 Legget, General M. D 676 
 
 Life-tenure of army and naval offi- 
 cers 412 
 
 Absurdity of attempt to extend 420 
 
 Dangers of 421 
 
 Lincoln, General Benjamin 503 
 
 Lincoln, President, tribute to loyal 
 
 soldiers and sailors 337 
 
 Lincoln, Robert T., Secretary of 
 War, order abolishing Military 
 Department of West Point 262 
 
 Page. 
 Logan, General John A., memoir 
 
 of 25 
 
 Capacity for work 25 
 
 Senator CuUom's reminiscence 
 
 of 26 
 
 His work on " The Vohmteer 
 
 Soldier " 26 
 
 Remarkable last words of 26 
 
 Character of last work 27 
 
 Personal traits and character of 30 
 General Grant's anecdote of . . 34 
 Anecdote of, during the war. . 35 
 His love for the volunteers. . . 36 
 Anecdote in connection with 37 
 Refutation of charge against, 
 
 concerning Presidency 38 
 
 Legislative services of 39 
 
 Military record of 41 
 
 A volunteer in Mexican War. 41 
 His splendid career in the Civil 
 
 War 42 
 
 History of the injustice done 
 
 him after the death of Mc- 
 
 Pherson 42 
 
 Letters of General Sherman to 58-62 
 
 Grant's opinion of 53, 66 
 
 Hooker's opinion of 65 
 
 The incident connected with 
 
 General Thomas 56 
 
 Letters of Grant concerning 67, 68 
 Incident connected with first 
 
 Bull Run 73 
 
 Military reminiscences of 619 
 
 At the battle of Belmont 6ig 
 
 Capture of Fort Henry 626 
 
 Capture of Fort Donelson .... 638 
 
 Wounded at Donelson 657 
 
 At siege of Corinth 661 
 
 Recommended for promotion 
 
 by Grant 661 
 
 Letter of Grant recommending 
 
 his promotion 661 
 
 Discovers the evacuation of 
 
 Corinth 665 
 
 At battle of Port Gibson 676 
 
702 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 At battle of Raymond 677 
 
 At battle of Champion Hills. . 677 
 Position before Vicksburg. . . . 678 
 
 Entry into 678 
 
 At Resaca 679 
 
 At Dallas 682 
 
 At Kenesaw Mountain 683 
 
 At Atlanta 685 
 
 At Atlanta, takes command of 
 the Army of the Tennessee. . 685 
 
 Services of, at Atlanta 687 
 
 Grant's report of ; 687 
 
 Report of battle of Atlanta. . . 68g 
 Brilliant movement of, during 
 night of July 26, before At- 
 lanta 690 
 
 Fights second battle of Atlanta 691 
 Report on second battle of 
 
 Atlanta 692 
 
 Fights the battle of Jonesboro 693 
 Congratulatory order to troops 
 
 after arrival at Atlanta 694 
 
 Longstreet, General J 453 
 
 Luce, Admiral S. B 614 
 
 Lyon, General Nathaniel 453 
 
 Macaulay's account of English navy 6l2 
 Macdonough, hero of Plattsburgh, 
 
 sketch of 529 
 
 Macdonough, Commodore, hero of 
 
 Plattsburgh 523 
 
 Madison, President, message upon 
 
 Military Academy 219 
 
 Magruder, General 453 
 
 Marion, the "swamp-fox" 503 
 
 McAllister, Fort, capture of 694 
 
 McArthur, Colonel John 644 
 
 McClellan, General George B 626 
 
 McClernand, General John A. 
 
 569, 628, 644 
 
 McCook, DanieV and R. L., sketch 
 
 of 569 
 
 McCook's division at Corinth 667 
 
 McDowell, General 453 
 
 McFarland, W 450 
 
 Page. 
 McHenry, Secretary, report of, 
 
 upon military education 176 
 
 Plan of organizing foot artil- 
 lerists and horse artillerists . 186 
 Second paper upon a Military 
 
 Academy 191 
 
 McHenry's report ; comments upon 
 the attempt to prove a truism . . . 199 
 
 McPherson, J. B., General 
 
 449, 656, 685 
 
 Meagher, Thomas Francis, sketch 
 
 of 569 
 
 Merrill, W. E 450 
 
 Mexican War, troops in 479 
 
 Military Academy, action for, in 
 
 1776 157 
 
 Opinions of various army offi- 
 cers upon expediency of. . . . 158 
 McHenry again urges its estab- 
 lishment igi 
 
 Act creating 201 
 
 President Jefferson's message 
 
 upon 214 
 
 Report of Colonel Jonathan 
 
 Williams upon 214 
 
 Effects of the War of 1812 upon 219 
 
 Attempts to abolish the 225 
 
 Report of Bernard and McRae 
 
 upon 223 
 
 Acts of Congress relating to. . . 227 
 
 Laws governing 229 
 
 John C. Calhoun recommends 
 an additional academy for 
 
 the West and South 224 
 
 Financial aspect of 240 
 
 Military education, progress of... 174 
 Military school, early suggestion 
 
 of 121 
 
 Military system, consideration of.. 411 
 Summary of objections to ... . 423 
 
 Costliness of our present 609 
 
 Systems of France, England, 
 
 and Prussia 601 
 
 United States, author's idea of. 604 
 What the States should do 606 
 
INDEX. 
 
 703 
 
 Page. 
 Advantages of that of the au- 
 thor 607 
 
 Objections to considered 608 
 
 Militia regiments in War of Rebel- 
 lion 558 
 
 Militia bill of General Knox, re- 
 ports of committees upon neces- 
 sity of amending 155, 164 
 
 Efforts to render effective 163 
 
 Militia, the difficulty of arming the. 167 
 Enumeration of laws concern- 
 ing organization of 156 
 
 Formation of 473 
 
 Miller, General John F 570 
 
 Milroy, General R. H 570 
 
 Mississippi campaign 675 
 
 Army organization in 675 
 
 Mitchell, General R. B 570 
 
 Morgan, General Daniel, of Revo- 
 lutionary fame 502 
 
 Morrison, Colonel Wm. R 644 
 
 Mulligan, Colonel James, sketch of 569 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, case of, cited. 120 
 Foreshadowing of his genius. . 489 
 Naval Academy, first recognition 
 
 of, in appropriation bill 316 
 
 Table. of expense of 317 
 
 Annual expense in detail 320 
 
 Rules and regulations of 321 
 
 Naval education, history of, in 
 
 United States 264 
 
 Act of January 2, 1813, the 
 
 first move toward 268 
 
 Naval character of War of i8i2 . . . 508 
 Naval officers, list of, deserting 
 
 the Union 357 
 
 Memorial of, for a naval school 288 
 Naval school, first official sugges- 
 tion of, by Secretary McHenry . . 266 
 Action of Secretary Wm. Jones 269 
 Action of Secretary Smith 
 
 Thompson 270 
 
 Action of Secretary Samuel 
 Southard 271 
 
 Page. 
 Action of President J. Q. 
 
 Adams 273 
 
 Recommendation to establish 
 
 at Governor's Island 274 
 
 Bill for, introduced as a rider.. 276 
 Action of Congress on bill for. 277 
 Action of Secretary Branch' 
 
 upon 281 
 
 Representative Watmough's 
 
 report 286 
 
 At Annapolis, comments upon 313 
 
 Secretary Upshur's bill for 294 
 
 Senator Bayard's bill for 300 
 
 Secretary Bancroft's success- 
 ful stroke 308 
 
 Naval War College established at 
 
 Newport 614 
 
 Comments upon 614 
 
 Navy of England, progress of 509 
 
 Under Charles II 510 
 
 Nimrod the Hunter, case of, cited. . 117 
 
 Oglesby, Colonel R. J 644 
 
 Oglesby, General R. J 570 
 
 Paine, W. C 450 
 
 Palfrey, J. C 450 
 
 Palmer, General John M., sketch 
 
 of 568 
 
 Panics upon battle-field, nature of 471 
 
 Parrott, R. P 451 
 
 Paulding, Admiral 539 
 
 Pay of regular officers and volun- 
 teers ; unjust discrimination by 
 
 Government 584 
 
 Pay of the volunteer soldier 578 
 
 Perry, O. H., victory on Lake Erie 521 
 
 Sketch of 530 
 
 Plattsburgh, the victory at 522 
 
 Politics of the army 435 
 
 Polk, General L 453 
 
 Pope, General John 453, 670 
 
 Halleck's treatment of 673 
 
 Port Gibson, battle of 676 
 
 Grant's report 676 
 
704 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 Porter, Commodore David, sketch 
 
 of 537 
 
 Porter, Admiral D. D 539, 572 
 
 ' At Fort Fisher 563 
 
 Prefatory Note 77 
 
 President, ^z s\n^, victories of... 514 
 Prevost, Sir George, British General 522 
 
 Prime, F. E 449 
 
 Professional soldiers, comparison 
 
 of, with volunteers in Burgoyne's 
 
 expedition 108 
 
 Prussia, military system of 602 
 
 Puisegur, Marshal de, on the art 
 
 of war 195 
 
 Putnam, General Israel, sketch of. 503 
 
 Quakers of New England protest 
 
 against militia law 154 
 
 Quaker guns at Corinth 668 
 
 Ransom, Colonel, Eleventh Illinois 656 
 
 Rawlins, General J. A 656 
 
 Raw troops and raw cotton 156 
 
 Raymond, battle of 677 
 
 Rebel strategic line in the West ... 626 
 
 Regular and irregular officers 457 
 
 Reminiscences, military, of General 
 
 Logan 619 
 
 Reno, General 453 
 
 Republics of ancient times 381 
 
 Of the Old World 83 
 
 Resaca, battle at 679 
 
 Resources, military, in 1846 549 
 
 Riel, the Canadian, case of 340 
 
 Ripley, General E. W 546 
 
 Rodgers, Admiral 539, 572 
 
 Rowan, Admiral 539, 572 
 
 Sailors, the colonists as 510 
 
 Of 1812 518 
 
 Schoolmasters for navy appointed. . 268 
 
 Schoolmasters in navy, become 
 professors 292 
 
 School of military instruction pro- 
 vided 172 
 
 Page^ 
 Schools, military, of France and 
 
 England 6cK> 
 
 Schools of States should teach 
 
 drill of the soldier 6o6- 
 
 Schuyler, General Philip, American 
 volunteer, services of, in Bur- 
 goyne's defeat 108 
 
 Sketch of 496 
 
 Scott, General Winiield 542, 557 
 
 Shelby, General Isaac 546' 
 
 Sheridan, General Phil.. 434, 453, 561 
 
 At Corinth 669 
 
 Sherman, General W. T. .434, 453, 561 
 
 Deceived at Corinth 665 
 
 At Atlanta 686 
 
 Order to Willard Warner 685 
 
 Report of battle of Atlanta. . . 687 
 Equivocal position in matter of 
 
 General Logan's promotion. 687^ 
 Report of second battle of At- 
 lanta 691 
 
 Shields, General James, sketch of. 569 
 Sickles, General Daniel, sketch of. 566 
 Slavery as a cause of Rebellion. ... 86 
 
 Smith, General John E 570, 675 
 
 Smith, General C. F 620, 644 
 
 Smith's, Morgan L., brigade at 
 
 Donelson 658 
 
 Snyder, G. W 450 
 
 Soldier, qualities essential to the . . 466 
 Southard, Samuel L., Secretary of 
 
 Navy 271 
 
 Southard, Senator, report on Naval 
 
 Academy bill 291 
 
 Spaight, note of 107 
 
 Special education in life callings, 
 
 discussion of 117 
 
 Stanton, Secretary, telegram from. 671 
 Stark, General John, sketch of ... . 498 
 
 Stevens, I. I., General 447 
 
 Stevenson, Colonel John D 676 
 
 St. Leger, British General, note of 107 
 
 Stuart, General J. E. B 453 
 
 Sturgis, General S 453 
 
 Sumner, General E. D., sketch of. 566 
 
INDEX. 
 
 705 
 
 Page. 
 Sumter, General Thomas, the vol- 
 unteer 503 
 
 Swift, General John 546 
 
 Swift, Generals Joseph and John. . 442 
 
 Table I. Amounts appropriated 
 for Military Academy 240 
 
 Table II. Population of sections 
 in 1810 and i860 244 
 
 Table III. Residence of West 
 Point cadets 245 
 
 Table IV. List of high-class 
 graduates from West Point 246 
 
 Table V. Pupils in naval school 
 in 1833 284 
 
 Table VI. Appropriations for 
 Naval Academy 317 
 
 Table VII. Cadets admitted to 
 Annapolis 321 
 
 Table VIII. Army officers, gradu- 
 ates of Military Academy, de- 
 serting to. the Rebellion 342 
 
 Table IX. Army officers, non- 
 graduates, deserting to Rebellion 351 
 
 Table X. Naval officers deserting 
 to Rebellion 357 
 
 Table XI. List of graduates from 
 Naval Academy 372 
 
 Table XII. Showing pay of re- 
 tired officers of army 586 
 
 Comments upon discrimina- 
 tion of 586 
 
 Showing pensions of volun- 
 teers 586 
 
 Tables II. and III., comments upon 431 
 
 Table, Colonel Totten's, of West 
 Point classes 401 
 
 Taylor, General Zachary, sketch of 551 
 
 Terry, A. H., General, sketch of. . 561 
 
 Thayer, Colonel J. M 645 
 
 Thomas, General George H...453, 638 
 
 Thompson, Smith, Secretary of the 
 Navy 271 
 
 Totten, Colonel Joseph G 450 
 
 Tower, General Zebulon 458 
 
 Page. 
 Training, necessity of, for the sol- 
 dier 156 
 
 Military, argument for, by Sec- 
 retary McHenry 194 
 
 Tribute to Grant, Sherman, Sheri- 
 dan, Hancock, and others 407 
 
 Universities of States should have 
 
 military departments 605 
 
 Upshur, Secretary, report on na- 
 val education 293 
 
 Presentation of naval bill by. . 294 
 Second report of 293 
 
 Van Dorn, General 453 
 
 Vicksburg, fall of 678 
 
 General Logan's entry into... 678 
 
 Volunteer, birth of the 463 
 
 Volunteer soldier of America, sur- 
 prise of the European nations at 
 the, after Burgoyne's defeat. . . . 104 
 Description of the citizen-sol- 
 dier 103 
 
 Capture of Major Andrfe by. . . 114 
 Volunteer, the, in the War of 1812 
 
 476, 507 
 
 In the War of 1846 478 
 
 The support of the Republic. 482 
 
 In Mexico 550 
 
 In the Civil War 558 
 
 Volunteer officers of Rebellion 566 
 
 Volunteer soldiery, injustice to... . 580 
 
 Volunteers, author's appeal for... 598 
 
 Their refusal to be whipped in 
 
 Mexico 576 
 
 Pay of, considered 579 
 
 Volunteer soldiers, English ac- 
 quaintance with 517 
 
 Hard condition of, in Revolu- 
 tion 517 
 
 At Plattsburgh 526 
 
 Volunteer soldier vs. Lee, Conway , 
 and Gates 506 
 
 Wadsworti. General James S 567 
 
7o6 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Wallace, General Lew 567, 645 
 
 Wallace, General W. H. L. . . 567, 644 
 War Department, act creating, with 
 
 charge of navy 265 
 
 War of the Rebellion, results from 559 
 Washington as a volunteer sol- 
 dier 483 
 
 His foreshadowings of military 
 
 genius 491 
 
 President, refers to military 
 
 school in annual message ... 122 
 Recommending a Military 
 
 Academy 164 
 
 Wasp, the, victories of 515, 519 
 
 Watmough, Representative, report 
 
 on naval education 286 
 
 Wayne, General Anthony, military 
 
 sketch of 501 
 
 Weitzel, General Godfrey, at Fort 
 
 Fisher 563 
 
 Sketch of 575 
 
 Welles, Secretary, report quoted . . 335 
 
 West Point, historic interest of . . . . 95 
 
 Its strategic importance to the 
 
 colonists 96 
 
 First attempts to fortify 98 
 
 Page. 
 Renewed attempts to fortify 
 
 after Burgoyne's defeat 
 
 Attempt of Benedict Arnold to 
 
 deliver to the enemy 112 
 
 Graduates of, in the Mexican 
 
 War 551 
 
 Has made few soldiers 441 
 
 Influence of, in Government . . 581 
 
 Monopoly of offices by 581 
 
 Hostility of, to volunteers .... 582 
 
 Jealousy of regular ofl5cers 582 
 
 Aggfressiveness of 578 
 
 Monopoly of Government 
 
 places 581 
 
 Officers' jealousy of volunteers 582 
 Officers' jealousy of each other 583 
 Williams, Colonel Jonathan, report 
 
 upon Military Academy 214 
 
 Wooden guns in Rebellion 577 
 
 Wool, General John E., sketch of . 553 
 
 Wordeix, John L 539, 572 
 
 Worth, General William J., sketch 
 of. 546 
 
 Yeo, Sir James, British Commo- 
 dore 533 
 

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