«5°,* •^o-? " .S -oV^ ./\, s.^"^ ^^"^ • » "^ •^ » « "* V^ •^' O « h •^t oV' •?.'' 'oV' "^ot? ROGER SHERMAN OIX LIEUT. COL. U. S. A. Roger Sherman Dix Brevet Lieut. Col. U. S. A. Being a Brief Account of his Public Services and Death. From Official and other Authentic Sources. ILLUSTRATED. By HOMER L. CLARK. Member of the Washington County Historical Society. WASHINGTON. PA. PUBLISHED 8Y THE AUTHOR 1905 LIBRARY of OONGRESS Two Copies rtectiivcu JUL 8 «y05 Oouvnaiii tuirv COPY B. E4-l\ •T]£ Copyrighted, 1905 BY HOMER L. CLARK. Press of Observer Job Rooms, Washington, Pa. COL. DIX. (From a daguerreotype in possession of Miss Emma Sherman Ui Mrs. F. D. Schuyler, of Huntington, L. I.) and This little book is dedicated to her to whom I am indebted for the idea of writing it — MY MOTHER. H. L. C. Washington, Pa., May 1, 1905. PREFACE, ,L^- ^Ai, HE MEXICAN WAR is now generally viewed ^ ??r '^Z ^^ ^^^^ light of ancient history, yet that s(f. ^^ y period of our National growth, perhaps more ^^IxyAA//^ than any other, bears a definite relation to present day history yet in the making. That war and its immediate results gave the United States the geographical predominance in North America out of which has grown virtual overlordship of the Western Hemisphere. The writer is persuaded that the life of a gallant soldier who rendered distinguished service in a critical battle of that war has a definite historical value, and makes no apology for presenting it, save regret for its fragmentary character. It is hoped that other matter introduced may prove not uninteresting; the more so that writers of United States History, almost without exception, have entirely ignored the first work of internal improvement undertaken by the General Government and have given no account of the terrible Cholera visitations near the middle of the last century. To the many who have aided him in obtaining infor- mation relative to the subject the writer returns his thanks, and especially so to Rev. Morgan Dix, D. C. L., of New York, for permission to reproduce the letters of Col. Dix which form the most valuable part of the work. H. L. C. Washington, Pa., May 1. 1905. Geographical. ^4 HE little village of Hillsborough, now better known as Scenery Hill, clings to the broken ^ eastern slope of the highest of the foot hills ^^\6A/^^ of Southwestern Pennsylvania, that once de- batable region claimed first alike by England and France and later by both Virginia and Pennsylvania. This region Washington visited repeatedly. First in 1753 as a peaceful envoy to the French forts at Venango and Leboeuf and in each of the two years succeeding, with fire and sword. Later he came again on peaceful errands yet on conquest bent, for he surveyed and obtained title to considerable tracts of land and laid out the little town of Perryopolis on the same plan as later the National Capital on a large scale. To this region he sent during his term as President a United States Army, threatening to come in person if needs were to quell the Whiskey Insurrection, while the company of Minute Men organized at Washington, Pa., the same spring under State authority warily watched the frontier Indians from their post at Ryerson's on the head waters of Wheeling creek, and never raised a hand to LIEUT.-COL. DIX. curb the disorder of their turbulent wliite fellow citizens with whose aims they were doubtless in sympathy. From the summit of Hillsborough hill which com- mands a view of upwards of thirty miles in every direction, may be seen the sites of scores of stills seized or destroyed by Washington's Revenue Officers, for spread out to the northward like a map lies the whole extent of the valley of Pigeon Creek, from its first fountains to where it joins the Monongahela at Parkinson's Ferry (now Monongahela City), the worst storm center of that lawless time. A pall of smoke by day and a glow of fire by night, ever renewed by the insatiable fires of the great steel plants at Homestead and Braddock and the blazing coke ovens of the Youghiogheny valley, marks the line of Braddock's advance against Fort Duquesne and there, where the smoke now shows thickest at the mouth of Turtle creek he forded the river and drew up in battle line his red-coated Regulars and blue-coated Virginians that fatal July noonday, one hundred and fifty years ago. Following the fall of Fort Duquesne three years later a great tide of immigration came pouring over Laurel Hill by Braddock's road to settle the only section of Pennsyl- vania ever won in war between European nations. Sixty years later was opened the road designated in Acts of Congress as the Cumberland Road but known locally then and now as the National Pike which at once became, as Gen. Sherman termed it a quarter of a century later, the great highway of travel East and West. GEOGRAPHICAL. At the time of which we write the road had lost something of its commanding position as a highway of National commerce by the opening of the Erie and Penn- sylvania Portage Canal routes but was still the route of the Western Fast Mail and since the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road to Cumberland had become as great a trunk line of passenger travel comparatively as is the Pennsylvania Rail Road to-day. Located nine stages west of Cumberland and four east of Wheeling Hillsborough was an important station and flourished until the withdrawal of the through stages which inevitably followed the opening of the rail road to Wheeling. The coaching period was the heyday of Hills- borough's prosperity, its golden age. Its residents were in the township of West Bethlehem, for the village has never been incorporated, but scarcely of it. They were for the most part Scotch Irish and English from the East, attracted thither by the business opportunities of a stage station. The rural population was largely German, an offshoot of that emigration from the Palatinate and neighboring prov- inces, driven out during the second quarter of the eigh- teenth century by a persecution as relentless as it was bloodless. These Germans had lingered for a time in the Cumberland Valley and perhaps gained their first knowl- edge of the fertility of the ultamontane soil by service as wagoners in Braddock's or Forbes' expeditions. They were essentially a community of farmers with no taste LIEUT.-COL. DIX. for village life. Many even located their dwelling remote from the highways for greater seclusion. The traffic on the road gave them a ready and active market for their produce which being consumed, so to say, on the spot escaped the cost of transportation to distant markets and the profits of middlemen, the tavern landlords alone excepted. Those living directly on the line of the road escaped even this tax. Immense droves of fat cattle, sheep and hogs by the hundreds and horses roped together in bunches of six or more were constantly passing eastward and the drovers bought and fed the forage of the farmers in their own wide barnyards by the roadside. Great Conestoga wagons built at Lancaster and having a capacity of five tons, toiled slowly east and west, the bells on their teams of four and six jingling merrily. There was no hauling of "empties" by this old freight line. They loaded down to Baltimore with bacon, grain and whiskey, up with salt-fish or general merchandise. Not least, a long procession of stages passed back and forth between Wheeling and Cumberland. There were mail coaches and extra stages horsed with teams of the best blood and breeding money could buy; the Eclipse, the Henry Clay, Black Hawk and Winflower strains. The driver, an expert whip, carried in his pouch a way bill on which was entered the name and destination of every passenger, and if a mail coach, every bag carried, letter GEOGRAPHICAL. pouches being described as lock-mail, newspaper bags as canvass. The speed attained in emergencies is almost incredible. It is well authenticated that a mail coach carried Polk's message announcing a state of war with Mexico from Cumberland to Wheeling — 131 miles — in twelve hours, stopping long enough in Uniontown for the passengers it also carried to breakfast. On the withdrawal of the stages Hillsborough sank into a Rip VanWinkle- like sleep. The trade of the busy- stores rapidly dwindled. The more of them closed their doors forever. The coach houses or taverns became dwel- lings. The wagon stands, as teamsters' inns were called, met a like fate. Some stage drivers took up other occupa- tions, others went West to drive on the Overland. No new buildings were erected, none pulled down, fire destroj^ed but few. Hillsborough appeared to be a permanently "finished town." But the sleeper has awakened. The millionaire coal operator has pushed his rail road close up to the foot of the northern steepest slope of the hill. The smoke from the great boiler house clouds the sky. The shafts pierce deep into the earth. From a thousand feet below the little church and cemetery which crown the hill the rattling cages daily lift a thousand tons of coal, to be dumped noisily into the yawning hoppers of huge steel cars and hurried away to the ports of the great lakes, to New Eng- land and upper Canada. iU LIEUT.-COL. DIX. Stores have multiplied. Smart dwellings and tidy miners' tenements have sprung up as if in the night. The unfamiliar tongues of Eastern Europe, mingled with the soft dialect of the Southern negro are heard about the old tavern doors. A National Bank flourishes. The town has lost its old flavor and individuality. It is proper that it should bear a new name. In what follows an attempt will be made to give a picture of a night's happenings in Hillsborough in 1849; as incidental to recalling the life and achievements of a noble patriot and gallant Christian soldier who sleeps on the hill, laid there by reverent though stranger hands on January 7, 1849, Brevet Lieut. Col. Roger Sherman Dix, of the United States Regular Army, whose gallant behavior at Beuna Vista merits undying remembrance. HISTORICAL. 11 "^ Historical. "^ it^' Ai^ N a bitterly cold winter morning, Saturday, © ^ January 6, 1849, to be exact, the new and y swift steamboat Telegraph No. 2 lay moored in the Ohio at Wheeling, almost beneath the new bridge which Governor Johnson of Penn- sylvania denounced in his next annual message as an obstruction to the navigation of Western waters. Thin wreaths of smoke curled lightly from her tall graceful chimneys. Heavy masses of floating ice ground roughly against her larboard quarter, making her strain at her creaking shore lines. She had arrived late in the night and Captain Mason learning that the river was closed higher up had determined to lay up here and make no present attempt to reach his home port of Pittsburg. The roustabouts were busy getting out cargo and a miscellaneous assortment of bales and boxes lay heaped upon the sloping wharf to say nothing of barrels of sugar and molasses and hogsheads of tobacco. Shortly after eight o'clock an extra stage of the "old line" drove down 12 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. to the wharf. Six gentlemen, two of them wearing the fatigue uniform and scarlet lined cloaks of Regular Army officers, came down the gang plank, followed by black deck hands carrying trunks and portmanteaus. Threading their way through the heaped up merchandise the party reached the stage. The baggage was thrown on the boot and the heavy leather cover strapped securely down. The travel- lers entered the stage, the driver headed his team east- ward at a brisk trot which soon became a slow walk as the steep ascent of Wheeling hill was encountered. This obstacle surmounted and the Clay monument passed the stage whirled rapidly over the narrow level floor of the Wheeling Creek Valley, the driver urging his team to its best speed, for after the State line sixteen miles out, should be passed there would be no more long level stretches until the distant valley of Wills Creek, a few miles west of Cumberland should be reached. The hoarse rumble of the wheels and the loud hoof- beats of the horses on the frozen road heralded the ap- proach of the stage and when the old stone tavern at Roney's Point was reached fresh horses stood harnessed by the roadside. The driver threw the reins on the horses' backs. The hostler and grooms undid the neck straps and traces and in a twinkling the fresh teams were hooked up. The driver wrapped his blanket more tightly around him, adjusted the reins in his left hand, cracked his long lashed whip about the ears of the leaders and the HISTORICAL. la Stage was off for Claysville where a short stop was made for luncheon and fresh horses. Shortly after two o'clock the stage pulled up before the old National Hotel in Washington. The travellers came in to warm themselves before the roaring coal fire in the wide bar room which served as an office for the hotel and stage company as well. The driver handed his way bill to Mr. Lane, the landlord and stage agent, who after checking it up observed to Col. Dix, Vv^hom he knew, that he was not looking well. The Colonel replied that he was feeling indisposed but thought himself able to continue the journey. The agent handed the way bill to the waiting driver, the passengers again boarded the stage. A slam of the door, a snap of the whip and the stage swung around the corner and rapidly disappeared out Maiden street. A short time after leaving Washington Col. Dix said to his clerk: "Ah! Goddard, I feel I am doomed, but I must try to bear up and get to the wife and little girls at Baltimore." At half-past five the stage was toiling slowly, with smoking horses, up the long western slope of Hillsborough hill. The summit reached, the team of its own accord quickened its pace and the stage dashed down the steep village street in the gathering dusk. A sharp turn to the left at the end of the first pitch of the hill, a flash of fire struck from the rough cobble pavement of the stage yard, and the conveyance pulled up before the old stone tavern, older than the village itself. The towering and expansive 14 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. form of Samuel Youman, described by Col. Searight as the second largest man on the road, stood on the wide porch his hand extended to greet his coming guests. Tjie party passed into the house. The horses were unhitched and left to stroll at will to the huge stone drinking trough and thence to the long barn back of the tavern. The arrival of the stage attracted little attention. Hillsborough was accustomed to meeting distinguished travellers face to face. Three of the last four Presidents- elect had passed this way to be inaugurated, the fourth would come in six weeks more in the person of General Taylor. Even the uniforms of Col. Dix and Maj. Anderson called forth little comment. During the Mexican War period, just closed, the sight of gold lace and shoulder straps had become a common one. The first thing to arouse unusual curiosity was that the stage was left stand- ing in the yard and no relay of horses, as was usual, brought out. Plainly the party had put up for the night. The political campaign closed two months earlier had been a heated one. In every Whig house hung colored prints of Genl. Taylor mounted on a white horse or standing with drawn sword, beneath the caption, "Gen'l Zachary Taylor, Rough and Ready, the Hero of Palo Alto, Reseca de la Palma, Monterey and Buena Vista." The history of the war in Northern Mexico had been ventilated more thoroughly from the stump and in the Whig news- papers than it ever has been since and was fresh in the public mind. The way bill in the landlord's hands revealed HISTORICAL. 15 the identity of the travellers and the citizens soon crowded into the wide barroom to tender them the customary in- frrmal reception. Major Anderson greeted them cordially bat explained that Col. Dix felt so indisposed that he had retired to his room. His discomfort momentarily increas- ing, physicians were sent for and Dr. Jos. W. Alexander, who afterwards served with distinction as a surgeon in the Civil War and who at the time of his death, a few years since, had been for many years Medical Director of the great State Reform School at Morganza, responded, and with him his colleague, Dr. Winston Rogers. In re- sponse to their inquiries Col. Dix explained that he had at first attributed his illness to an attack of indigestion, oysters which he had eaten at Wheeling having apparently disagreed with him. The usual remedies were applied but the patient grew rapidly and alarmingly worse. Severe attacks of cramps came on followed by periods of deep exhaustion. Alexander's soft blue eyes grew moist and his kindly face grew grave. It was whispered about the house that the patient might be suffering from the terrible disease that was devastating the West and South. The assembled throng rapidly melted away and stood in little knots on the street or in the stores excitedly discussing the situation. Eight o'clock came, nine o'clock passed. The doctors had not left the house. At ten o'clock the light still burned brightly in the sick room. Curious passers by saw through the uncurtained window the doctors with coats off and sleeves rolled up working over IG LIEUT.-COL. DIX. their suffering patient. The village sank into troubled sleep. Shortly after one o'clock Dr. Alexander dropped the pulseless wrist and shook his head. Maj. Anderson was deeply affected. Mr. Goddard broke out in sobs. He had been with Col. Dix for many months and had become deeply attached to him. Soon the harsh rasp of the saw and the loud insistent rat-tat of the hammer at the undertaker's shop across the way woke the troubled sleepers to tell them that Col. Dix had passed away and the dreaded Cholera had claimed a victim in their midst. No doubt being entertained as to the nature of the Colonel's disease it was thought best to prepare for burial at once. His trunk was opened and his dress uniform taken out and brushed, the undertaker came to measure him for his last earthly tenement. The village sexton was roused and set about his work. Soon the dead lay as if clad for dress-parade on the bed where he had breathed his last and hidden from view by a broad snowy sheet spread canopy wise over the old fashioned bedstead. At last all was ready. The undertaker with the sexton brought the coffin on a bier, a black wooden stretcher with folding legs. The bier was set down in the middle of tiie room. The Colonel's mortal remains were laid in the coffin, a small flag was laid on his breast and his cloak wrapped about him. The lid was fastened down. Major Anderson took his place at the head and in choking tones read the burial service from the Colonel's own prayer book. HISTORICAL. 17 The doctors and tavern folks acting as bearers "lifted" and passed out into the frosty air, the friends following and the mournful little procession moved up the hill through the long shadows for the moon within a few hours of full hung low in the West. Some residents looked with curious eyes through their closed windows, the more timid cowered back in alarm. The short journey done, on the bleak and wind swept hill top the cofRn was quickly lowered to its final resting place. That last scene must have been intensely dramatic; Major Anderson reading the last brief prayers by the flaring light of the sexton's lantern, the few friends standing by with bowed heads. Striking indeed was the resemblance to that burial on another January night on the ramparts of Corunna, forty years before. Only the distant booming of the guns and the near by sobbing of the surf was wanting to complete the picture and Dix like Moore "lay like a warrior with his martial cloak around him." The last rites over the travellers returned to the tavern and a hasty breakfast was served. With a heavy heart Mr. Goddard took charge of his chief's official papers and his little personal effects. He thought of the anxieties of the past weeks, the long tedious days and nights on the river, the alarm when the Cholera appeared on board, the hasty burial of the first victim in mid stream. The sense of relief experienced when they had landed at Wheeling, the glad anticipation of his chief for an early reunion with his little family, the ajixious wife and eager little 18 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. girls awaiting at Baltimore the coming of the beloved husband and idolized father. Now his must be the heavy task of bearing the death tidings to the stricken family. The baggage was loaded, the horses brought out, the driver mounted the box and as the little party bade fare- well to the big hearted landlord and his family, the first rays of the sun as it rose from behind the blue mountains, fell upon the freshly heaped mound of earth upon the hill, a glorious promise of the Resurrection and the Life. BIOGRAPHICAL. 19 Biographical fii ^s^^ ^i.. OGER SHERMAN DIX was born at Bosca- ^ wen, N. H., June 7, 1810. His father was ^ ^ rw ^ Lieut. Col. Timothy Dix, who had served with "^ilvAA^^ir distinction in the Revolution and died in ser- vice at Sacketts Harbor, N. Y., when Roger was less than three years old. His mother, Lucy Hamp- den, nee Dix, was a woman of unusual force and spirit for although it is of record that "her husband left her with eight children and an estate badly neglected in conse- quence of his devotion to the public service" she was able to give her boys the best educational advantages that the time afforded. She took a keen interest in their careers and at the age of eighty could discuss politics with her famous step-son, Genl. Jno, A. Dix, with great wit and animation. At the time of the father's death, Jno. A. Dix was an Ensign in the U. S. Army and the youngest officer in the service. His subsequent long and brilliant career as Soldier, Statesman and Diplomat is too well known to need further mention here. 20 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. Of the boyhood of Roger Dix we know nothing. It is the family tradition that he always had an ambition to be a soldier. He must have been a precocious child for we find him at the age of eleven a student at the famous Philips Academy at Andover, Mass. The average age of students admitted that year was sixteen. The same year N. P. Willis, afterwards famous as a poet, was admitted. In 1824 came the immortal Oliver Wendell Holmes, who graduated the next year in the same class with young Dix. The year following Roger was at Hanover, N. H., a Dartmouth Freshman. Of the next year we have no account but it is probable that having been promised an appointment to West Point he was pursuing some studies with especial reference to the entrance examinations. July 1, 1827, he entered West Point and met for the first time Jefferson Davis, but the acquaintance could not have ripened into intimacy for Davis was a member of the graduating class. In 1832 Dix graduated with his class and immediately entered upon active army service in the Black Hawk expedition as Brevet 2nd Lieut. 7th Infantry. Active hostilities were over before he reached the seat of war. In 1833-34 he was on frontier duty at Ft, Smith. Ark. In January, 1834, while on duty at Fort Gibson, I. T., he was promoted 2nd Lieut. 7th Infantry and ]^tev in the same year was stationed at Little Rock. In February, 1835, he was again back at Fort Gibson being detailed for topographical duty from January 2G, 1835, to August 10, 183G, during which time (July 31, 1836,) he was promoted BIOGRAPHICAL. 21 First Lieutenant and sent on recruiting service. During 1837 and 1838 he was on Quartermaster duty at Carlisle, Pa., being promoted July 7, 1838, to the grade of Captain and Quartermaster. While stationed at Carlisle Captain Dix superintended the construction of the barracks there from his own designs. He was a draughtsman of unusual ability. His original plans for the Carlisle barracks are now in the possession of his daughter, Mrs. Katharine Dix Lawrence, of Plainfield, N. J. 1839 and 1840 found him on duty at Charleston, S. C, and Boston, Mass., whence he returned to frontier duty in the Southwest, serving as Captain in the 7th Infantry. When war with Mexico was threatened we find him at Ft. Jessup, La., with his command. September 30, 1845, he was promoted to be a paymaster with the rank of Major and accompanied General Taylor's army to Corpus Christi, Tex. Here he again met and became inti- mately acquainted with Jefferson Davis. At the same time he met for the first time Ulysses S. Grant. Upon both he so impressed his personalty that they never forgot him. Grant in his Memoirs speaks of a journey from Corpus Christi to Austin in company with a number of other officers. Major Dix being the only one he recalls by name. Years after President Grant at a reception in Washington sought out Col. Dix's youngest daughter and talked to her long and fluently, recalling minute incidents of his iicquaintance with her father, to the no little astonishment 22 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. of many guests who wondered why the silent and impas- sive soldier had so much to say to a woman. The personal magnetism and charm of the man was unusual. Confederate President Davis, his proud spirit bowed under all the bitter realization of a Lost Cause could grow cheerful enthusiastic as he described the magnificent horsemanship and engaging manners of his comrade of other days. Maj. Dix's duties as Paymaster kept him out of action until the battle of Buena Vista. For gallant and meritor- ious conduct on that field he was breveted Lieut. Colonel. The nature of that service is best described by himself in a confidential letter to his brother. This letter was first made public thirty-six years later and is as follows: Saltillo, Mexico, Feb. 25, '47. My Dear Brother: I have but a few moments to write you but I have such news to communicate as will be gratifying to you and to every American man, woman and child and I therefore give it. We have had another fight with the Mexicans and as usual gained the victory. Santa Anna commanded in person, he had 20,000 troops. We had barely 5,000. Skir- mishing between the two armies commenced on the even- ing of the 22nd (m.ark the day) and continued during the night. About 7 a. m. of the 23rd the battle began in earnest and we fought until 5 p. m. when the enemy retired from the field. The next morning they were in full retreat and in the evening encamped about ten miles from the battle- ground, the last place at which they could get water for a long distance. Our position was a strong one which we did not wish to lose and we were weak in numbers or we would BIOGRAPHICAL. 23 have pursued them. They encamped at Augua Nueva, the battle was fought at Buena Vista ten miles this side. I was in the action from is commencement until its close — with Genl. Taylor part of the time, Genl. Wool part of the time and carrying their orders to different parts of the field. I flatter myself I made myself about as useful as ornamental. I came off thanks to God without a wound. How it was I know not for the musket balls flew thick as hail around me and a cannon shot would occasionally throw up the dust near me. 'Twas an awful fight and 'tis said by all to be much harder than that of Monterey. Ten hours fighting is no trifle. I came to Mexico to see the elephant, I have seen him and am perfectly willing never to see him again. Genl. Wool behaved most nobly and well has he earned the brevet of Maj. General. I can hardly think Santa Anna will try it again. Their loss 'tis said (I do not believe it) was between 3 and 4000. Ours I do not think exceeds 500 in killed and wounded, many valuable lives have been lost. Capt. Lincoln son of Gov. Levi Lincoln of Mass, Adjt. Genl. to Genl. Wool and one of the noblest and most chivalrous and gallant soldiers was killed at the com- mencement of the action while encouraging an Indiana regi- ment to stand its ground. Lieut. Col. Henry Clay Jr. of the Kentucky foot is also numbered among the dead. A more gallant soldier or high minded and honorable man never lived. He and Lincoln were among my best friends. Clay was my class-mate when I entered West Point and we have always been warm friends. Poor fellow! he is gone. Col. Yell of Arkansas and formerly Governor of the state is among the killed and many others whom I have not time to enumerate. I will only mention one thing more and let it be strictly entre nous. I ought not perhaps either to say anything about it but as I have commenced, here goes. Soon after the fight commenced one of the Indiana regiments which was exposed to a tremendous fire from the enemy broke and ran. They were some distance off when 24 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. Genl. Wool met me — I was then with the dragoons and about to charge with them — and ordered me to rally them and bring them into action. I put spurs to my horse and galloped to the rear. They were broken into parties of three and four and were more than half a mile from the fight. I stopped them. I urged begged and entreated them; then cursed and abused them and finally in about half and hour with the aid of Capt. Linnard of the Topo- graphical Engineers I succeeded in collecting about half the regiment, then taking their flag (they were still some- what panic stricken) I called to them that if they were not a set of d d cowards they would follow their flag and I moved toward the field. They gave me three cheers and I led them to the field and reported to Genl. Wool. These men afterwards fought bravely and never left the ground. Their General (Lane) and their Lieut. Col. (Haddon) both tried without success to bring them back and Genl. Lane that evening after the fight and again next morning thanked me and told me if it had not been for me they would never have returned to the fight. I do not know if Genl. Taylor saw it but Genl. Lane mentioned it to him next morning. I felt I had done my duty. That was enough for me. Genl. Wool and Col. Churchill both shook hands with me next morning and congratulated me (I suppose on the result of the battle.) Santa Anna sent in a flag of truce before the fight requesting Genl. Taylor to surrender wiui his army saying that he had over 20000 men etc. and promising to treat us kindly. Genl. Taylor wrote him back 'twas all the same if he had 50,000 and if he wanted us he must come and take us, thanking him at the same time for his kind- ness. The next morning he told his troops that ours were all volunteers and he would whip us in ten minutes — a slight mistake. At one time I feared as did many others that the battle would go against us — 'twas when my Indianans ran. They haa turned our left flank and were pouring in their forces but our artillery poured such a discharge of grape into BIOGRAPHICAL. 25 them that they soon fell back. I rode over the field the next day and the sight sickened me; 'twas horrible — the wounded and the dead. Many of the poor Mexicans are now in our Hospital and well cared for, officers as well as men. I think Santa Anna has got enough and will now retire to San Luis. God grant it for I am tired of such scenes as this. This will be handed you perhaps by additional Pay- master Coffee (son of old Genl. coffee) he takes the dis- patches of Genl. Taylor to New Orleans and probably to Washington. He has been with me for some weeks. He was in the battle and is a noble fellow. Treat him kindly. Love to Catharine and all your family. Ever your affectionate Brother, R. S. DIX. Hon. Jno. A. Dix, U. S. Senator. This letter gives close insight to Col. Dix's character as a soldier. Just in his estimate of his superiors, thought- fully kind in the treatment of his subordinates, cool, calculating, daring. Years afterwards .Jefferson Davjs recalled his remarkable skill as a horseman and spoke in terms of admiration of his "bold, mad manner of riding." Small wonder that this with his personal appearance should prove an inspiration, as with flashing eye, his tall form erect he galloped hither and thither, his long fair hair floating in the wind, his shrewd judgment of human nature teaching him just what words were needed to arouse a courage only cowed by sudden panic. Davis declared years afterwards that Col. Dix had also aided in holding steady the wavering Mississippi riflemen and that State owed him a lasting debt of gratitude. 26 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. The true soldier's spirit shines forth in this letter of Col. Dix. We read between the lines that he hopes for the promotion he knows he has earned. If it comes, well and good. If not he is content with the realization of duty well done. A month later he writes to his brother again. The letter throws a strong side light on the critical position of Genl. Taylor's little army at Buena Vista. Saltillo, Mexico, Mch. 25, '47. My Dear Brother: Ere this reaches you you will doubtless have seen an account of our late victory at Buena Vista. I wrote you on the 25th giving a brief account of it. Santa Anna has retreated out of the province and will undoubtedly push on to the city of Mexico to prevent \[ think) another revolu- tion. His fate is sealed, the loss of this battle with such disparity of forces is enough to damn him with the Mexican people and Congress. He has written to the Governor here that he has not been defeated, that he has captured three pieces of our cannon (this is true and their loss saved us) and that he is going to Matahuala about 125 miles from here to recruit his army. This is all stuff and nonsense. That place cant supply his army with provisions for one day. He is gone for good and we shall in my opinion see no more of him on this line. I understand there are five regiments en route for this place. Had they been here before the battle Santa Anna would have been routed, for on his retreat we should have been strong enough to have pushed him. 'Tis well however as it is we have gained a glorious victory. Had they attacked us on the following day I believe sincerely we should have been defeated. The best of the volunteer officers or quite a number of them had been killed and the men had had enough of fighting BIOGRAPHICAL. 27 and no persuasion entreaties or cursings could have got them to do any more at least they refused to move that evening. Genl. Wool and myself rode on to one of the heights where parts of two regiments were (and they those who had fought best) and endeavored to get them forward to the next height and all that we could say was of no avail. Genl. Wool struck one or two of the officers with his sword but it would not do. 'Tis true the men were nearly exhausted but had Santa Anna then pushed forward two or three fresh regiments of infantry the result of the baLLie would have been different. Thanks to God he had got enough and so had his troops. The shrewd judgment and foresight in military affairs shown in these letters needs no comment. Subsequent events justified the predictions made and their literal ful- fillment is history. The merited promotion came and from the date of Buena Vista until his death Col. Dix ranks as Bvt. Lieut. - Col. U. S. A. His duties as Paymaster claimed his atten- tion until the close of the war. He came to Washington in the summer of 1848 and during a short leave of absence visited his brother's family at East Hampton, L. I. He was ordered back to duty at New Orleans again in the early fall. His work there finished, about the middle of December in company with Maj. Nathaniel Anderson and his clerk, Mr. I. B. Goddard, he took passage for Louisville where he transferred to the Telegraph and landed at Wheeling January 6, 1849. Thence he has already been followed to his last resting place. The tidings of his death quickly reached New York 28 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. for the wires of the recently organized Western Telegraph Company already stretched west of Wheeling, following the "old pike" route from Baltimore, and on January 9th the following dispatch appeared in the New York Herald: Wheeling, Va., Jan. 8, by telegraph. — Yesterday morn- ing Col. Dix of the Army died with the Cholera in a stage on the National Road about 40 miles east of this place. The correspondent's informant was doubtless a stage driver who told him Col. Dix had died in a "stage house," for such was the local designation of taverns which were stopping places for stages. Confused and contradictory reports followed in the New York papers of the 10th and 11th. The Tribune of the 8th had published a dispatch dated New Orleans, Jan. 4. in which it was stated that 190 deaths were reported for January 2 and 3, 140 being from cholera. The same paper announced the arrival at Louisville, December 30, of the Steamer Peytona with 400 passengers, and 52 cholera cases. It is not improbable that Col. Dix and his friends had reached Louisville on the steamboat Peytona, as the adver- tisements in the Pittsburg papers of the time show that she was the regular New Orleans connection of the Tele- graph No. 2. A low river and the heavy ice would account for the apparent discrepancy in time. The Telegraph, appears to have been the first infected boat to reach Wheeling, an apparently reliable authority reporting sev- eral cases of Cholera and one death en route. BIOGRAPHICAL. 29 No reliable and circumstantial account of Col. Dix's death appeared until January 12, in the Washington, D. C, Union, and January 18, in the Washington, Pa., Weekly Examiner. The obituary notice from the Union is as follows: Lieut, Col. Dix of the U. S. Army. It will give great pain to his numerous friends to learn the death of this gallant officer and high minded gentleman. CoL Dix was a native of New Hampshire, a brother of the Senator in Congress from New York and a son of Col, Timothy Dix of the Army who lost his life in the illfated expedition of Genl. Wilkinson in 1S13. He was educated at West Point and at the moment of completing his course of study in 1832 instead of accepting the leave of absence for a few months, usually granted to graduates he volunteered his Services and accompanied Genl. Scott on the Black Hawk expedition. After serving several years in the Quarter- master's dept. as one of its most efficient officers he was appointed by Mr. Polk near the commencement of his administration a Paymaster in the Army. He accompanied Genl. Taylor with whom he had previously served several years at Pt. Jessup to Corpus Christi before the war with Mexico. He was with the General during the two days of Buena Vista officiating part of the time as his Aid de camp and part of the time in the same capacity to Genl. Wool the gallant second in command. For his distinguish- ed gallantry on that bloody field Maj. Dix was breveted a Lieut. Col. at the last session of Congress. Few officers of his department have rendered more constant or efl^cient service since the commencement of the war. He was either in Mexico paying troops or in the U. S. expediting volunteers to the field. Since the termination of hostilities he has been engaged in paying troops as they returned from the theatre of war; and he was on his way to this city to render his account of his last service when 30 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. he was stricken by the hand of death. On Friday he arrived at Wheeling and was perfectly well. Tho next morning he set out with five other gentlemen in ?ai extra stage for Cumberland. On arriving at Hillsborough at half past five in the evening he felt unwell and his com- panions at once determined to stop with him for the night. In a few minutes he was violently attacked with the Cholera which resisted all remedies, at one o'clock in the night he was dead and the next day his companions followed him to the grave. The military spirit which animated him lived with him to the last. A short time before he died he whispered to a friend by whose assiduous and devoted attention his last struggles were watched and as far as human kindness could avail alleviated : "Would to God I could have died on the battle field in Mexico." and he instantly added, "but it is for Him to dispose of us in life as well as in death.'" He has left a little family to deplore his loss, relatives to cherish the remembrance of his manly virtues, friends to recall his frank and noble hearted bearing in private intercourse and a country to hold in grateful and admiring recollection his most gallant service in the field of battle. On account of the infectious nature of the disease of which he died Col. Dix's remains were never removed. Some time after his death the Government proposed to remove him to Washington and give him a Military funeral. Against this project the citizens of Hillsborough protested so strongly that it was abandoned. It is only justice to his relatives to say that they felt the people of Hillsborough were right. Moreover they had little cause to sympathize with the Government's desire to honor itself at the expense of one of its dead heroes. The next year a BIOGRAPHICAL. 31 plain marble slab was placed over him by order of his younger brother, Timothy Brown Dix, Esq., of Boston, and the belief long current at Hillsborough, that Genl. John A. Dix came and superintended the work in person has no foundation in fact. Col. Dix married July 7, 1835, Mrs. Mary Beam Johnson, an Army officer's widow, who shared with him the hard- ships and anxieties of Army life. Mrs. Dix was a Maryland lady, connected by descent and marriage with the Calverts, Carrolls, Bowies and Magruders. Dr. Beanes the planter whose release Francis Scott Key had gone to negotiate when he was detained on the British man of war, and wrote the Star Spangled Banner during the bombardment of Ft. McHenry in 1814, was Mrs. Dix's uncle. She survived her husband three full decades and died at White Plains, N. Y., in the winter of 1879. Four children, all daughters, were born to Col. and Mrs. Dix. One died in infancy and before her father. The other three at this date still survive. It was intended when this sketch was begun to give an estimate of Col. Dix's character as a man, a soldier and a patriot. It would be superfluous to do so. The record given speaks more emphatically of his worth than any words the writer could frame. He can not, however, refrain from expressing his deep regret that Providence did not see fit to spare Col. Dix for the next and greatest call to arms our country has ever known. Surely he would have written his name with those of Hancock and Sheridan, of 82 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. Johnson and Jackson, perhaps higher, on the scroll of fame, Col. Dix in his last hours regretted that the summons had not come to him on the field of battle, yet when his hour struck it was among a kindly people and he found a fitting resting place* He rendered his country his greatest service in a war of conquest. He sleeps in soil won by the sword. Above his head the first violets of Spring bloom and the last roses of Summer linger. The green turf over him resists longest the withering blight of the early frost. The distant mountains keep everlasting watch and ward over his grave. A fit spot for a soldier to await the last great roll-call. Nor does he lack companionship in death. In sight is the grave of Thos. Crooks a noted Revolutionary Colonel and Frontiersman. In the little cemetery rest veterans of the great Civil War. The country about is dotted thickly with the old family burying grounds in which sleep the old Frontier Rangers of the Revolution. A few miles away at the County town, Commander Philo McGiffen, the first white man to command a modern war ship in action sleeps his last sleep. Near him rests Col. Alexander Hawkins, who led the only Eastern volunteer regiment to see service in the Philippines, who though stricken with a mortal illness refused to leave his post and died at sea, homeward bound with his regiment. In the long ages to come the stone memorials above these graves may crumble and cease to be, but the heroic dust beneath is mingled with the soil of Pennsylvania forever! RETROSPECTIVE. 33 Retrospective, I S COL. DIX was the first to fall a victim to the Cholera in Western Pennsylvania during ^< r^ iy the epidemic of 1848-49 it seems not inap- ^4b\AA/iir propriate to recall that plague in connection ^ with his death. It was one of three similar visitations, the first in '32-38, the last in '54. Terribly fatal as they were, all sections of the country did not suffer alike during each one. A contemporary account of the Cholera in Philadelphia in 1832 reads like a chapter from D'Foe's Journal of the Plague in London and parallels in horror of detail the Black Death in Florence as described by Boccacio in his introduction to the Decameron. An old diary in the possession of Mr. Thos. L. Rogers, of Pittsburg, records 800 Cholera deaths in that city within the space of about two weeks in the latter part of September, 1854, in a population estimated liberally at 44,000. Pennsylvania escaped comparatively easy in 1849. Gov- ernor Johnson in his Thanksgiving Proclamation was L. OF C. 34 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. moved to say: "While in other parts of our country and in distant lands pestilence has made fearful ravages, leaAing in its track the w^retchedness of desolation a healthful climate in the disposal of a righteous Providence has preserved the citizens of the State comparatively free from the miseries of the destroyer." Yet Pittsburg suffered severely. A writer in the Post late in August declares there had been 227 deaths in Birmingham (now the South Side of Pittsburg) and vicinity alone. Near the middle of December, 1848, Cholera broke out at New Orleans and when it had subsided a few months later it was estimated that it had claimed one-tenth of the entire population of the city. Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis suffered terribly. A dispatch in the Washington Examiner dated at St. Louis July 14 and announcing 83 Cholera interments for the preceding day is headed, "Good news from St. Louis." May 28, under the heading "Terrible Epidemic Ap- proaches" the Examiner publishes an appalling list of deaths at Western points. June IG "Not a case of Cholera yet, will report them promptly if any occur." Late in December and early in January a few cases appeared at the New York Quarantine Station, but energetic measures prevented the spread of the malady and on January 8 the Tribune was able to announce, "Cholera at an End, no new cases reported at Quarantine." June 7 it broke out again and in the two succeeding months there were 3,400 deaths. The week ending July 21 showing the RETROSPECTIVE. 35 greatest mortality ever known in an American city. 1,400 deaths were reported for that week, over 700 being ac- knowledged to be from Cholera. Roughly stated this was one-sixth the normal death rate for a whole year. There was no outbreak in Washington in 1848-49 but frequent notices of deaths of citizens of the town and county at infected points West are recorded. One suspicious case was reported, that of a Lancaster County drover who died at the Franklin House, August 9, after a few hours illness. His death was attributed to Dysentery. There seemed to be an antipathy against giving the disease its true name. A large number of deaths were reported near Uniontown, Pa., in the early summer and attributed to the Fatal Malady. From the description given it appears to have been Cholera. By September 1 the epidemic had spent its force and the local papers dis- continued telegraphic reports from the infected cities. The local paper's report of Col. Dix's death appeared in its issue of January 13, as follows; Death from Cholera. On Sunday morning last at 2 o'clock Col. Dix of the U. S. Army died at Hillsborough twelve miles east of our borough from Asiatic-Cholera. He had travelled up the Ohio river to Wheeling on a steamboat on which there were several cases of Cholera and one death. On Saturday afternoon when at the stage office of Mr. Lane in this place he complained of indispo- sition not intimating however that he was apprehensive of an attack of Cholera. When the coach in which had been travelling reached Hillsborough he concluded to stop at that village and undergo medical treatment. A short 36 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. time after he stopped Physicians were called in, but the disease disclosed itself in so aggravated a form that he died in 7 or 8 hours. Col. Dix is said to be a brother of Senator Dix of New York as well as to the distinguished female philanthropist of that name. (*) We learn that his illness was assuaged by every attention that could be bestowed by Mr. Youman the landlord of the house at wiiich he died, and his family. The deceased was interred in the village grave-yard at Hillsborough on Sabbath morn- ing at 7 o'clock. *It is perhaps unnecessary to note that the latter statement is an error. Photo by Craft] The Grave of Col. Di: APPENDIX. 37 "^ Appendix. "^ i m I ,^^^ ^Ai,, N February 15, 1849, a bill to pension the widow of Col. R. S. Dix was brought up by Senator Johnson of Louisana, who stated that the Commissioner had refused her a pension on the ground that there was no law covering the case as he, the Commissioner, did not believe Col. Dix had contracted the disease of which he died in the line of duty. Opponents of the bill spoke in glowing terms of Col. Dix's bravery on the field of battle but contended that the bill should not pass as it would set a dangerous precedent and there would be no telling where the matter of pensions would end. Mr. Benton, of Missouri, referred to the glaring inconsistency of pensioning the widows and orphans of the navy regardless of the cause of saliors' deaths and making no provisions for land officers' representatives, and made a strong appeal for justice. Jefferson Davis justly argued that in paying returned soldiers Col. Dix was as much in the line of his duty as when he was paying troops in 38 LIBUT.-COL. DIX. Mexico. Mr. Walker regretted his inability to give his vote for the bill yet expressed the hope that it might pass. General Sam Houston made an impassioned speech favor- ing the bill and Daniel Webster voted for it as did Daniel Sturgeon of Pennsylvania. Simon Cameron sneeringly ob- served that Col. Dix had been in Washington since the close of the war and had only gone to Tennessee or some other Southern state to pay off some volunteers. How- unjust this imputation was is shown by Col. Dix's last report, on file at the War Department, which shows that out of over $95,000 disbursed by him after he went South in the fall of 1848 only a trifle over a third of the sum total had been paid to volunteers. The Paymaster General's accounts confirm the statement made by Jefferson Davis on the floor of the Senate that Col. Dix's post had been the most arduous of any paymaster in the service. For this duty he had received $60 a month as pay, his additional allowances for rations, quarters, forge, and servants being apparently based on the actual outlay incurred. The bill to pension Col. Dix's widow failed. A few days later Mr. Hale of New Hampshire expressing his con- viction that his former vote had been wrong moved to take it up again for consideration. The motion was lost. This is how the Government of 1849 rewarded its soldiers who had won for it a new Empire in the Southwest. It would be perhaps hard to find a better instance of how strict con- structionists strained at gnats after having swallowed camels. APPENDIX. 39 It is right to note that Mrs. Dix was eventually pen- sioned, with pay from the date of her husband's death. This pension, however, was not granted in recognition of Col. Dix's distinguished services, but under a general law, i. e., a joint resolution of Congress, approved September 23, 1850, defining and enlarging the provisions of the act of July 21, 1848. This act had been constued so narrowly and contained provisions with reference to proof of cause of death so unreasonable as in many cases to be impossible to be complied with. A statement made on the floor of the Senate when the resolution was under consideration to the effect that v/idows and orphans were actually starving owing to their inability to produce impossible evidence, passed without contradiction. The act of 1848 was passed in response to a petition headed by Genl. Scott and drawn up at Puebla, Mexico, when the Army was about to make its final advance on the Capital, In it the officers of the Army prayed for relief for the widows and orphans of the regular troops, merely asking that they be put upon the same basis as the repre- sentatives of deceased volunteers and sailors. Senator Dix was the sponsor of the bill when it came before the Senate on final passage, July 18, 1848, The Senator observed with feeling that many of these brave men had taken pen in hand for the last time when they signed this appeal to their Government to protect their helpless families. It was perhaps the last of his thoughts 40 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. that his own sister-in-law would be among the first to claim the benefit of this act as the treaty of peace had been signed and his brother was then in the flush of robust health. The writer has thought fit to preserve here a number of newspaper notices and other information gathered as they throw some additional light upon the excitement created by the spread of the Cholera and explain more fully certain allusions to matters of purely local interest. New York Tribune, Jan. 8, 1849: "Binghampton, N, Y. — First through train on the Erie Kail Road left this city to-day for New York. $70,000 fire in Pittsburg." Jan. 10 : "Col. Dix reported by telegraph as a victim of Cholera is a brother of Hon. Jno. A. Dix U. S. Sentator from this state who distinguished himself greatly in the Mexican War. We trust it is a false report. (The gramatical con- struction is the Tribune's.) Jan. 12 : "Washington corre- spondent of the Baltimore Sun says, Mr. Dix was absent from the Senate to-day in consequence of the lamented death of his brother Col. Dix Paymaster in the Army, the intelligence of which was received to-day. Col. Dix died of Cholera." "Pittsburg, Jan. 11, by telegraph. — Navigation in the Ohio entirely suspended above Wheeling in conse- quence of ice The Cholera at Wheeling. Death of Col. Dix. The Wheeling Times of the 9th says: On Saturday last among the passengers landed from the Telegraph No. 2 were Col. Dix of New York a brother we believe of Senator Dix of that state and Major J. G. Miller of the same state and both oflfiicers in the U. S. Army. They were from New Orleans and arrived here apparently in perfect health. * * * qq\ Dix stopped off at Hillsborough and in a short time expired." (The same paper announced that "Major" Miller died of Cholera shortly after reaching Brownsville.) "The same paper of the 10th records another fatal case of Cholera in the same APPENDIX. 41 vicinity. A gentleman name not learned who came up the river Saturday from New Orleans and took stage at Wheel- ing for Brownsville was attacked by Cholera beyond Wash- ington, Pa., was compelled to leave the stage and in a few hours died." Here is one death exaggerated into three by public apprehension. The item is interesting as giving the name of a third of Col. Dix's travelling com- panions the reporter wrongly identifying Major Anderson as J. G. Miller whose name doubtless appeared on the same way bill. Jan. 15 : Baltimore (by telegraph) — A case of Cholera the first yet reported in this vicinity was reported at the Relay House Saturday last." Jan. 8 : "Telegraph from New Orleans, Jan. 4. — The Cholera in our city is raging as fearfully as ever 195 deaths in the last two days, 140 from Cholera. Weather rainy.' Washington Examiner, July 1 : "We are well con- vinced Cholera prevails to a considerable extent in Pitts- burg. It is certain the papers have not reported half the cases. We do not know whether it is the fault of the Physicians or the printers. The public ought to know the state of the case." July 21 : "New York, July 18.— 199 cases, 88 deaths." Aug. 4 : "New York, Aug. 1. — 170 cases, 61 deaths." Washington, Pa., frequently referred to in the foregoing pages, was the most important town on the Western Fron- tier of Pennsylvania in Revolutionary times. The town and county of the same name enjoy the distinction of being the first in the United States to bear the name of Washington. Here also is located Washington and Jefferson College, the oldest institution of its class west of the Alleghanies. 42 LIEUT.-COL. DIX. The Telegraph No. 2 was unquestionably the fastest boat in the Ohio river trade in 1849. Mark Twain is "Life on the Mississippi" credits her with a record run of one day, 17 hours, Cincinnati to Pittsburg in 1850. That this was no means her fastest run is shown by the Pittsburg Gazette of December 15, 1848, in which she is reported as arriving from Louisville, time 44 hours 47 minutes, beating the Brilliant with which she was racing by several hours. The distance from Pittsburg to Cincinnati is 490 miles, Pitttsburg to Louisville 631 miles. The Telegraph No. 2's speed per hour was therefore less than a quarter of a mile slower than the Eclipse's on what is stated on the authority of "Life on the Mississippi" to be "conspicuously the fastest time ever made." Pittsburg Gazette Feb. 20, 1849. "Wheeling, Feb. 20.— Telegraph No. 2 with Genl. Taylor on board is lying at foot of Captina Island 18 miles below Wheeling. He will come up by land and arrive at 1 o'clock to-day. Mononga- hela aground at head of Captina. Fort Pitt in the gorge a mile above. Pilot No. 2 is below Grave Creek in the ice." The marine columns of the same paper contain the names of boats made familiar by "Life on the Mississippi," the J. M. White (built at Elizabeth, Pa.,) Bostona, Eclipse, A. L. Shotwell, Alec Scott, Ben Franklin and others. The same paper of the 22nd announces that Genl. Taylor arrived in Washington (Pa.) yesterday in the coach "The Union as it is." After a public reception at the Court APPENDIX. 43 House he dined at the public table at his hotel (the Mansion.) He left Washington at 1 p. m. in an open carriage carriage. At the reception one citizen observed to another that Genl. Taylor's overcoat was not worth five dollars. The War Department records show that in 1849 the Government paid for telegraphic messages 5 cents per word Washington to New York; 15 cents to St. Louis and 20 to New Orleans. Also paid Adams & Co. (Adams Express) $5.13 for carrying three boxes for the topographical engin- eers from Wheeling to Baltimore. Rates to private indi- vidual were doubtless much higher. Wheeling, Nov. 10, '49 — Telegraph to Examiner: "Messenger No. 2 is stopped here by the bridge, and will have to cut off three rings from her chimneys; 21 feet of water. Telegraph No. 1 also stopped." 'Telegraph fs'o. 2," from an old newspaper ad. ^46 i /"-^. -J^" . ^/"-^ ^^0« «. .-^■' -'^me^^\ ^^^^ WtRT BOOKBINDING Crantv.ll«, Pa Jsn Feb 1989 ^^'\ illiili