THIS BOOK IS NO.. 
 OF AN EDITION OF 25O COPIES 
 AND IS PRESENTED TO 
 
 BY THE WISTAR INSTITUT OF 
 
 ANATOMY AND BIOLOGY 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. PA. 
 
 University of California Berkeley 
 
THE RECIPIENT OF THIS BOOK IS RE- 
 QUESTED TO REGARD ITS CONTENTS. 
 FOR THE PRESENT. AS CONFIDENTIAL. 
 
 EXCHANGE 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 OF 
 
 ISAAC JONES WISTAR 
 
 
 1827-1905 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 
 VOLUME II 
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 THE WISTAR INSTITUTE OF ANATOMY AND BIOLOGY 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 1814 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1914 
 BT THI WISTAR INSTITUTE or ANATOMY AND BIOLOGY 
 
 EXCHANGE 
 
CONTENTS 
 Volume II. 1858-1892 
 
 Chapter 
 I A Western Trip. Outbreak of the War 
 
 Page 
 1 
 
 II The Disastrous Battle of Ball's Bluff 
 
 21 
 
 Ill Skirmishes and The Battle of Antietam 
 
 38 
 
 IV Experiences of a Brigade Commander 
 
 64 
 
 V At West Point, Va., and Bermuda Hundred 
 
 91 
 
 VI The Return to Civil Life and Business 
 
 . . . . 115 
 
 VII Incidents and Reflections in Conclusion 
 
 ... . 136 
 
 Appendix . . 
 
 . 161 
 
 iii 
 
 313353 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Colonel Isaac J. Wistar, Age 35, 1863 Frontispiece 
 
 The Cemetery at Ball's Bluff where Colonel Baker was killed 37 
 
 General Wistar's Headquarters, West Point, Va. , July 4, 1863 78 
 
 The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology 160 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 A WESTERN TRIP. OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 
 
 As a trip to the new El Dorado seemed easily within the com- 
 pass of a summer's journey, for the exigencies of which I felt at no 
 loss to prepare, I resolved to go, and bearing in mind the early 
 wants in the mining region of the Pacific Coast, I could think of 
 nothing better to take with me than such simple machinery as 
 is the first needed under such circumstances. I therefore repaired 
 to Salem, Ohio, where I contracted for some simple-planned direct 
 action portable steam engines, and a sawmill or two, adapted 
 either for steam or water power. 
 
 When these were completed I shipped them to Chicago, and 
 thence to St. Joseph, Mo., via the Hannibal & St. Joseph R. R., 
 just opened for traffic. At St. Joe and vicinity I purchased wagons 
 and ox teams, and after some delay and difficulty in getting the 
 freight delivered, inventoried and loaded, at last got away and 
 after crossing the river by ferry and doubling teams through the 
 wide and muddy Missouri bottoms, launched forth upon the 
 familiar plains. The prairie roads, though of course better marked 
 and more traveled, were very much as we had found them ten 
 years before, the wagon trail leading over a succession of undula- 
 tions very slippery and difficult when it rained, as it usually did 
 at that season, and nearly always separated by small runlets, 
 degenerated at the crossings into such unspeakable mud-holes as 
 must be seen to be appreciated. This time I had undertaken to 
 haul heavy freight, instead of mere food and traveler's baggage, 
 but on the other hand had known pretty well from former experi- 
 ence how to equip for it. Though 3000 to 4000 pounds was the 
 usual weight in the wagons, we had six to eight yoke of good cattle 
 in each team, well-selected teamsters and a portable forge, and 
 
 i 
 
2 A WESTERN TRIP 
 
 mechanics always at hand to repair damages. There was now no 
 trouble from Indians, and besides the large emigrant trains, hun- 
 dreds of single wagons with 'Pike's Peak or bust,' or some similar 
 legend displayed on the covers, lined pretty much the entire 600 
 miles of road. From some point on the South Platte I rode ahead 
 alone in perfect security, turning in with some emigrant train 
 every night, and made my solitary bivouac on the flats of Cherry 
 Creek not far from where the fine cut stone Union Depot of 
 Denver now stands. 
 
 The more vigorous of the emigrants were scattering out into 
 the mountains with their teams; and the present site of the city, or 
 at least the lower part of it down on the flats, contained a residuum 
 of the unfortunate, the sick, idle and lazy, many of whom were 
 anxious to sell their cattle at any price to get money enough for a 
 return passage by the stage-line, recently established. I soon 
 saw that I had brought machinery to that population about a 
 year too soon. No doubt there would be demand enough in time, 
 but affairs absolutely required my presence in Philadelphia, the 
 coming winter and I concluded to sell for what I could get, no 
 matter at what loss, and use the proceeds as well as some bank 
 drafts which I had brought with me, to purchase emigrant cattle. 
 This happy thought repaid all my losses and ultimately yielded 
 large profit. I bought the cattle for from $10 to $15 a yoke, 
 choosing those least run down, as far as practicable, and retaining 
 one wagon, hired returning adventurers at low wages, and started 
 back driving very slowly and carefully, selecting each camping- 
 ground, frequently several days in advance. On this trip we saw 
 no buffalo, though passing over ground which ten years previously 
 had been darkened as far as the eye could reach, with their far- 
 spreading masses. Now, not even a single one came in sight of the 
 road. The deer and elk hunting in the Platte bluffs, was however 
 about as good as in 1849, and these animals with antelope, and 
 nearer the settlements, turkey and grouse, kept the camp pretty 
 well supplied with meat. On many days the cattle were not 
 moved more than a mile or two, and as much time was afforded 
 for hunting and fishing as though it was merely a sporting trip. 
 
 At the crossing of one of the Blues, we met a drove of brood 
 
A SPIRITED HORSE FIGHT 3 
 
 mares and well-bred cows on their long road to California, and our 
 mutual surprise may be imagined when I recognized in the owner 
 one Graves, a client of mine in California, whose unfinished 
 affairs I had, with his consent, left in the hands of my friends Irving 
 and Pate. Leaving our several droves to go on their respective 
 ways, he and I at once bivouacked, and had a long and interesting 
 discussion respecting his law interests in California as well as on the 
 new state of affairs in which each had found the other. 
 
 Striking the river where the town of Atchison had not long 
 since been started, we turned up the Missouri, which was crossed 
 at St. Joe, and passing leisurely through the northern tier of Mis- 
 souri counties, entered Iowa not far from the middle of its southern 
 boundary-line and laid our course due east to strike the settle- 
 ments which then had their western limit at and near the village 
 of Bloomfield. In crossing one of the branches of Grand River, in 
 Missouri, coming in from a hunting-trip a day or two in rear of the 
 drove, I noticed a singular phenomenon. The stream was about 
 twenty yards wide, flowing through a finely timbered bottom, the 
 water very low and muddy, and large numbers of some predaceous 
 fish probably some kind of pike were darting in every direc- 
 tion, showing their large black dorsal fins above the surface. 
 Unfortunately I had no means with me of catching any, but the 
 question did not fail to occur, if pike existed in such great numbers, 
 how much vaster must be the multitudes on which they fed? I 
 have never been able to get any solution of the mystery. 
 
 In Iowa, some miles before arriving at the settlements, I was 
 witness of a curious and entertaining horse-fight. Among our 
 herding horses was a small but fiery and spirited stallion from the 
 Lipan Indians, much affected for my own riding. He was not 
 over 14 hands, but was fat and saucy and had spirit enough for a 
 herd. Having turned him out late one evening, he failed to find 
 our manada, which was driven in without him in the morning, and 
 I started out to hunt him. I had walked several miles, having 
 got on numerous wrong trails, through a fine undulating country, 
 when I heard some peculiar noises over the top of the next hill. 
 Creeping carefully up, I looked over the summit and saw perhaps 
 fifteen or twenty mares and geldings evidently belonging to the set- 
 
A WESTERN TRIP 
 
 tlements now not very distant, standing in a circle facing outwards. 
 Within the circle, ranged about my Lipan pony in a terrible rage, 
 attacking first at one and then at another point, and occasionally 
 getting in his heels with a resounding thwack that might be 
 heard for a mile. Bites, kicks and squeals flew around at large, 
 but though surrounded by such superior force, the Lipan was too 
 quick for them, and made his heels count every tune, scarcely 
 getting a scratch in return. As my side was not suffering any 
 damage, I watched this unfair combat for a long time, enjoying the 
 little fellow's game and prowess but finally put in an appearance, at 
 which the strangers galloped off, while the pony, though usually 
 wild and hard to catch, came trotting up with triumphant neighs, 
 showing plainly enough notwithstanding his gallant and successful 
 defence, how glad he was to find an admiring and sympathizing 
 friend. 
 
 I spent the remainder of the summer and fall in the vicinity of 
 Bloomfield, east of which place the country was considerably 
 obstructed by settlers and fences. I had there a terrible attack 
 of ague from which I recovered in due time by the aid of such 
 quack medicines as could be obtained, there being no doctor nor 
 quinine to be had. When not enjoying a fever or a shake, I 
 occupied myself in selling fat cattle to the Chicago drovers who 
 heard of me at Burlington, and in scouring the settled districts 
 to purchase small bunches of cattle and single steers from the 
 fanners. This business required the handling of considerable sums 
 of money, which, as there were no banks, I was obliged to carry 
 on my person. I soon became known about the country, as well 
 as this habit of possessing cash, and this notoriety led to what I 
 have always thought a deliberate and well planned but badly 
 executed attempt at robbery. It was already dark one evening 
 when, after a forty-mile ride, I reached a cross-roads rejoicing in 
 the name of Pulaski, in the middle of a boundless prairie. It 
 boasted of only one house, a small log cabin with a loft over and a 
 small kitchen annexed, and a log stable adjacent, with door and 
 padlock. I locked up my horse, offered the key to the landlord, 
 but on his invitation retained it, and carrying with me a valuable 
 silver-mounted Mexican saddle, entered the house, where I found 
 
AN ATTEMPT AT BOBBERY 5 
 
 two foot-travelers of not very prepossessing appearance, who were 
 apparently acquainted with the landlord and pretended to be 
 traveling in search of land, to locate. The cabin consisted of one 
 low room about twelve by eighteen feet, with a ladder in one 
 corner, by which the loft was entered through a small square hole 
 in one corner of the planked ceiling. In the other three corners of 
 the loft, which was about three feet high at the eaves and not 
 over seven at the ridge, were as many beds, made by nailing barrel 
 staves on poles suitably arranged. I placed my saddle and 
 blankets on the one nearest the trap-door, and proceeded to eat 
 supper and smoke a pipe, after which I went up the ladder to bed, 
 the other two corners being already occupied by the strangers, 
 while the landlord and his wife slept down stairs. My money 
 which was in large rolls of wildcat bank-bills of the country, being 
 mostly stored about my coat and trousers, I rolled up those gar- 
 ments and placed them under my head after spreading my blankets 
 and blowing out the light, carefully adjusting my belt with knife 
 and large Colt's revolver, ready at hand. 
 
 As the only opening in the loft besides the trap in the floor was 
 a small hole cut in the gable, not over sixteen inches square, the 
 place was so dark that literally one could not see one's hand or 
 any other object. Knowing there was no other house within many 
 miles, and not liking the looks of the strangers, nor knowing how 
 they were armed, I felt somewhat nervous respecting the unusually 
 large quantity of money which happened to be then in my posses- 
 sion, and slept with one eye open. It was not very long till I was 
 waked from a light doze by hearing one of the strangers rise and 
 fumble surreptitiously about his bed, as though cautiously put- 
 ting on some clothes. Cocking my pistol quietly under the blanket 
 I crowded silently as possible against the wall under the eaves, so 
 as to avoid being disabled by a single blow, and waited. Pres- 
 ently I could hear but not see, my friend walk cautiously over the 
 floor to my vicinity, whence after standing a few minutes, he 
 silently retired again to his own corner, perhaps discouraged by 
 my absolute silence while listening so intently. Wishing to bring 
 the adventure to an end of some sort, I therefore used all my 
 ingenuity to counterfeit heavy breathing, in fact almost a snore, 
 
A WESTERN TRIP 
 
 and this, as I expected, soon encouraged my vis a vis to another 
 effort. After some low whispering, I again heard him approach 
 with great caution, and redoubled my efforts at plausible snoring, 
 for I had so arranged myself that his first blow would fall upon the 
 empty bed, when I intended to rush on him, and the instant I 
 could feel him with one hand, kill him with the other. Either my 
 counterfeit snoring was so bad, or his caution was so great, that 
 he remained for some minutes standing close to me in perfect 
 silence, and as I found it difficult to snore and listen simultane- 
 ously, I resolved to have an end of the affair. Keeping him covered 
 therefore, as nearly as I could judge in the darkness, I said, "I 
 have got you covered and if you budge you are a dead man. What 
 do you want?" "I want to go down stairs." "Well then, go, 
 right off. Don't stop a minute or I'll fire." When he had gone I 
 drove the other one out, piled both their beds over the trap, and 
 listened at the outside opening for any signs of an attack on my 
 horse. As none came, and both fellows had left the house, I 
 placed my bed also over the trap, fixed a tell-tale in the window 
 opening, and being very tired, proceeded to sleep the sleep of the 
 just. 
 
 About daybreak the landlord called me, and complained he had 
 been robbed. Fully supposing he was in league with the others, 
 I gave him a short answer, and told him I was getting ready to 
 settle with him and wanted my breakfast right away. However 
 with the aid of his wife, he soon satisfied me that the two men were 
 entire strangers to him, though they had described and spoken 
 about me before my arrival, and he supposed we belonged together. 
 It seemed that after failing in their attempt, they had stolen the 
 poor woman's watch and a small sum that was on the shelf down 
 stairs, and cleared out. They had as appeared by their tracks 
 examined the stable and concluded not to break it, which was well 
 for them, as it was commanded from my window. A few yards 
 farther they had sat down and put on their boots and then turned 
 into the prairie, where they had very probably concealed their 
 horses, and where as soon as the sun rose high enough to dry the 
 dew, their track was lost among the hundreds of cattle-trails 
 parting the high grass in every direction. As after that it was 
 
BELLING CATTLE IN CHICAGO 7 
 
 impossible to follow their trail, I was obliged to abandon my late 
 landlord to his own devices, promising, however, to make the facts 
 known, as I should reach other settlements in the course of my 
 travels, which I faithfully did, but never heard any more of the 
 affair. 
 
 As soon as the first severe frost of autumn struck and killed the 
 prairie grass, having got the cattle gathered well in hand, they 
 were rushed down about a hundred miles to Burlington, in four 
 parcels, fording the Des Moines River which was low, without 
 difficulty. At Burlington I was obliged to hire pasture on the 
 meadows of cultivated grasses which there abounded, and which 
 are not injured immediately by frost, like the natural grass of the 
 prairie. The cattle had to be railed from Burlington to Chicago 
 in lots, as cattle-cars could be procured and made up into trains, 
 the first lots being consigned to persons in Chicago whom I only 
 knew by name. As I dared not leave Burlington till they were all 
 at or fairly on the road to Chicago, the process of shipping, or 
 rather of getting cars, involved delay and exasperation which had 
 almost reached the limit of endurance, when at last I got away 
 with the last lot about midnight, one rainy and stormy night. 
 At Chicago I found all the cattle safe at the old stock-yards of 
 that period, which I have in more recent years vainly tried to 
 locate, even with the aid of some of the oldest residents. To the 
 best of my belief, they were not far from West Madison Street, 
 but a short distance west of the river, a place which is now the 
 heart of the city, and I today possess both stores and populous 
 flats of my own, at least two miles farther west, these localities 
 being at that tune open prairie. As the lot of cattle was large 
 and important for that day, all the brokers, dealers, packers and 
 loafers of the place had been busying themselves over it, the result 
 of which was, I had immediate offers with healthy competition, 
 and though general prices were low, and the cattle only grass fed, 
 including a number that had resisted all attempts to ameliorate 
 their condition and would require stall feeding, I closed out the 
 last of the lot within three days, at prices which much more than 
 doubled I am not sure but they trebled my investment, with 
 all attendant expenses. Had I driven the cattle to the lower part 
 
8 A WESTERN TRIP 
 
 of Illinois, bought standing corn and fed them through the winter, 
 shipping to New York in the spring, I should have again doubled 
 the profits. The method of doing this at that time, was to pur- 
 chase a few hundred acres of standing corn which few in those 
 parts then thought of husking for market divide it by cross 
 fences into suitable enclosures and admit the cattle to them 
 successively, at the same time purchasing store hogs to fatten on 
 their waste and leavings. 
 
 Western money at that time consisted of the torn, disfigured 
 and greasy notes of an infinite number of 'Wildcat' banks, many 
 of them insolvent, and none negotiable at any distance from the 
 place of issue, which often appeared on no map. I therefore con- 
 sidered it prudent to buy exchange on New York, which to the best 
 of my recollection, cost five per cent. And yet the West contains 
 today a new generation of idiots who wish to abolish the existing 
 National Bank system which has, at no appreciable expense to the 
 public, supplied a perfectly safe currency that has invariably stood 
 at par from one ocean to the other! Of what is not ignorance and 
 folly capable in public affairs, of which according to our political 
 institutions and theories one man is as good a judge as another, or, as 
 the Irish enthusiast for equality remarked, ' a d d sight better.' 
 
 During the journey from Chicago to Philadelphia which then 
 occupied several days, the newspapers were filled with accounts of 
 the attack by the mischievous lunatic, John Brown, on the State 
 of Virginia to free her negroes forcibly from slavery. That fanat- 
 ical enthusiast had formed so adequate a conception of the magni- 
 tude of his enterprise, that he undertook it with a force of about 
 twenty men, of whom a third were negroes; his military stores con- 
 sisting of a lot of Connecticut-made pikes to arm the expected 
 negro recruits, of whom, however, not one came to his aid. This 
 futile attempt to inaugurate, with the instigation and backing of 
 many persons in New England otherwise intelligent, a servile 
 insurrection with its attendant horrors, while it may have served 
 to demonstrate the absurd ideas of southern social affairs enter- 
 tained hi remote northern communities, ended in nothing except 
 the execution of Brown, and as many of his followers as could be 
 caught by due process of Virginia law. Except so far as it tended 
 
COLONEL BAKER ELECTED SENATOR 9 
 
 to impair the fraternal relations of the States, it did not perhaps 
 even hasten the impending civil war, though it has made Brown 
 like Herostratus notorious in biographical dictionaries, a punish- 
 ment by no means undeserved. 
 
 After a long and hotly contested canvass in Oregon, my old 
 friend and partner, Colonel Baker, was elected U. S. Senator from 
 that State, and took his seat in March, 1861. Notwithstanding 
 the divergence of our political views, I had gratified my personal 
 feelings by writing of him extensively in eastern journals, and he 
 came by no means as a stranger to the people of the Atlantic 
 States. He was not long in the Senate before one or two great 
 political orations placed him at the head of the speakers of that 
 body, and established throughout the country his fame as the lead- 
 ing orator of the new party, now successful for the first time in the 
 elections of 1860, and just entering on a long career of power. 
 He had been intimately acquainted in Illinois for many years with 
 Lincoln, the new President, both at the bar and in political life, a 
 circumstance not without its influence in his approach to the high 
 public position he was about to take in the councils of the dominant 
 party. But before he took his seat in the Senate, at his request I 
 spent some days with him in Washington, and mixing but little 
 with politicians myself, was not a little dismayed to learn the very 
 serious views he entertained of the situation. It was an ominous 
 fact that he, coming fresh from a popular canvass, already re- 
 garded civil war as certain, and was ready to advise me to abandon 
 the law and study military tactics and campaigns. 
 
 Long and intimately as I had known him, I now learned, or at 
 least realized, for the first time that this western lawyer who 
 despised municipal law as a mere breadwinner's science, but was 
 familiar with the biography and speeches of all the great orators of 
 his own tongue, and held stored in his memory entire volumes of 
 English classical poetry, was none the less versed in the marches, 
 campaigns and battles of the great historic soldiers of ancient 
 and modern times. I have no intention of entering here upon any 
 history of war, politics, or any other topic of public affairs beyond 
 the mere incidents inseparably interwoven with my own personal 
 recollections. The public events of the times have been narrated 
 
10 A WESTERN TBIP 
 
 and discussed in a thousand volumes written on both sides, 
 and from every point of view. But to make intelligible the diver- 
 gence of our views, some brief explanation of our different stand- 
 points may deserve a place here. Baker believing or thinking 
 he believed in all the American theories of the infinite wisdom of 
 ignorant individuals however mercenary and degraded, provided, 
 only they are collected in noisy masses to vote, was a politician by 
 instinct and temperament, and on the death of the Whig party 
 had naturally drifted to the Republican, its pretended heir and 
 administrator. On the other hand I, while never much interested 
 in political affairs beyond the local squabbles of California, and 
 believing nothing of the mathematical absurdity of a thousand 
 fools when collected in a mob emitting all wisdom, learning 
 and judgment, had been led from the Whig to the Democratic 
 party, principally by the simplicity and attractiveness of a few 
 leading principles, among which may be briefly mentioned the 
 following: 
 
 The original and unimpaired sovereignty of the States in all 
 matters not granted by them to the federal government of their 
 own creation. 
 
 The limitation of federal powers to those enumerated in the 
 Constitution, the only law for its own construction. 
 
 Freedom of the individual in trade as in all things, as far as con- 
 sistent with public order and the necessity for public revenue. 
 
 A sound currency everywhere convertible at par into the one 
 recognized medium of the world. 
 
 These principles comprised most of my political creed then as 
 they do now, and I had given little attention to the noisy excite- 
 ment of the day, taking for granted the row would get itself peace- 
 fully settled in some way, as so many teapot tempests had done 
 before. Baker's acceptance of the certainty of war at or immedi- 
 ately after Lincoln's accession, was therefore not a little startling, 
 especially in view of his familiarity with political topics and his 
 intimacy with the coming Republican leaders. After the new 
 Administration took office on March 4th, being again in Washing- 
 ton about some business in the Supreme Court, I found Baker's 
 views had evidently gained ground, particularly among extremists 
 
THE BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMPTER 11 
 
 on both sides who, wide as the poles asunder on other questions, 
 agreed in the expectation of, if not the avowed wish for, war. 
 Baker, though no extremist himself, had many Republican friends 
 who well deserved the title, and made no concealment of theirwish, 
 while personal friends of my own on the other side, seemed to my 
 provincial apprehension, equally belligerent. Dining with one of 
 these, I met Gov. Lane, the unsuccessful candidate for Vice Presi- 
 dent; L. Q. Washington, afterwards Assistant Secretary of State to 
 the Confederacy; Boyce and Bonham, South Carolina M. Cs. and 
 other southern Senators and Representatives, and though looked on 
 as southern, or at least friendly in sympathy, found myself prac- 
 tically alone in my aversion to war and to the speeches and acts of 
 hot-heads on both sides, which, if not repressed, could lead to no 
 other result. 
 
 In Philadelphia one naturally heard less of the violence of the 
 political ebulition, and immersed in my own increasing affairs, and 
 unable to realize the imminence of the stupendous reality of civil 
 war, I was still fatuously hoping the politicians might get their 
 differences adjusted, when suddenly upon me and other millions 
 of blind and infatuate optimists, burst like a shaking of the solid 
 earth beneath us, the portentous fact of the bombardment of 
 Fort Sumter. Though the event followed logically enough the 
 declarations and preparations openly made by both northern and 
 southern leaders, the general public were so accustomed to polit- 
 ical bluster that they were taken absolutely by surprise, quickly 
 followed by intense indignation, directed naturally enough at the 
 authors of the first overt act. The President, either not himself 
 at once perceiving the magnitude of the impending struggle, or 
 with the keen instincts of a practical politician, willing to let it 
 dawn gradually on popular apprehension, contented himself 
 at first with calling on the States for the insignificant force of 
 75,000 men, of which the quota of Pennsylvania was forthwith 
 ordered out by the Governor from the State Militia. On Major- 
 General George Cadwalader devolved the duty of reorganizing, 
 mustering and preparing for the field the Philadelphia Division, 
 and I at once received from him an invitation to assist in the capac- 
 ity of aide-de-camp on his personal staff. 
 
12 OUTBBEAK OF THE WAR 
 
 Having till now failed adequately to realize the situation, I 
 was unprepared with a definite course for this sudden emergency, 
 and having but a single night to consider a reply which must prob- 
 ably govern my future acts, I passed the whole of it in close men- 
 tal struggle in the effort to reach a right conclusion. Of course 
 there are those who never having had any difficult or complicated 
 decision to make, expect all men to be forever cocked, primed and 
 ready for any mental emergency however sudden; and I have been 
 accused by newspaper patriots, blissfully ignorant of all sides 
 but their own, of being at first in doubt which side to espouse. 
 Whether, if true, that be an opprobrium or only a proof of thought- 
 ful and intelligent rectitude of purpose, I have always chosen and 
 still choose to leave for others to decide. My State was about to 
 take one side, and all my personal friends, or most of them, the 
 other. My oldest and best friends were southern men counting me 
 as one of themselves, and sure to be in service on that side. They 
 had so surely counted on their old associate that they had even pro- 
 vided me a place, and offered me rank in their army. The course 
 long pursued by roguish politicians, who to gratify ignorant fanat- 
 icism and class jealousies, or to win political capital for themselves, 
 had systematically insulted the South, trampled on its constitu- 
 tional rights, excluded its property from the common territory, and 
 nullified the constitutional compact respecting fugitive slaves, was 
 not a character to win one's mind from these considerations. 
 
 On the other hand, crimination and discussion were over and 
 useless; war was commenced, and my native State had called out 
 her strength for defence. I could not, and ought not to evade the 
 struggle. In the prime of youth and vigor, I surely owed a duty 
 somewhere. To whom? Not to the Federal Government whose 
 partisan usurpations and sectional mismanagement had goaded on 
 resistance. Still less to the South, where my only tie was sympa- 
 thy and friendship for individuals, which could not justify taking 
 up arms against my native State, in whose allegiance, like my 
 ancestors, I was born and reared. But this process of exclusion 
 left but one alternative. I must range myself on the side of 
 Pennsylvania against all her enemies, wherever her march should 
 lead. Though no opportunity then existed for comparing my 
 
A EEGIMENT BECRUITED 13 
 
 conclusion with others, and I knew it not at the time, this convic- 
 tion of the primary allegiance due one's native State, was on the 
 identical line of thought that after long and painful hesitation 
 unsheathed the spotless sword of Robert E. Lee, and so many 
 other high-minded and patriotic men, who when through no fault 
 of their own, they found natural allegiance pitted against Federal 
 obligations, found themselves obliged to give preference to the first. 
 Early on the following morning, finding my mind at last clear, I 
 accepted the invitation and went to work with my chief upon his 
 arduous and by no means pleasing task of getting the neglected 
 militia into condition for the field. While engaged in this busi- 
 ness, procuring and inspecting equipment, filling up enlistments, 
 sifting the claims and merits of the ambitious, and performing 
 many other details pertaining more to the duties of the incompe- 
 tent regimental officers than to staff duty, I received a telegram 
 from Col. Baker urging me to come to Washington immediately on 
 important business. Aware of his impulsive methods, I tele- 
 graphed that I was much occupied, and begged to know the nature 
 of the business. To this I received a reply, dated from the train 
 en route to New York, of such pressing character, that I took a 
 night train and met him in that city next morning. The business 
 proved to be an order from the President, dated May 8th, 1861, 
 authorizing him to raise and equip an infantry regiment of sixteen 
 companies, to be called the California Regiment, to be mustered 
 into the U. S. service at New York, and to be organized and com- 
 manded by himself as colonel. ''Well," said I, "if you propose 
 to leave your seat in the Senate to be an infantry colonel, what do 
 you want of me?" "Can you raise this regiment?" "Not in 
 New York, I have no acquaintance there." "Can you raise it in 
 Philadelphia?" "I think I can, but am not sure." "Very well; 
 your private business is sure to be broken up and not worth fol- 
 lowing for a while at least. Abandon it. Go to work and raise 
 this regiment in Philadelphia, bringing the men over here to be 
 mustered. I cannot at this moment accept military rank without 
 jeopardizing my seat in the Senate, but you know my relations 
 with Lincoln, and if you will do that for me, I can assure you that 
 within six months I shall be a major-general, and you shall have a 
 
14 OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 
 
 brigadier-general's commission and a satisfactory command under 
 me." The chance to plunge in medias res without loss of timewas 
 so tempting that my doubts and hesitations were swept aside, and 
 I agreed to undertake the work if my General would let me off. 
 
 As I possessed no staff commission, and General Cadwalader 
 could not immediately procure me one, he very kindly accepted 
 my resignation at once. Early next morning all my legal busi- 
 ness, of which I then had a considerable number of local cases on 
 my docket, was distributed among willing friends, books and papers 
 boxed up and stored, and the office front covered with placards; 
 some hired drums and fifes made life miserable for my unlucky 
 neighbors, and the California Regiment was well under way. In 
 war as in peace, rum seems connected in some mysterious way with 
 the public aff airs of a free people, and everyone knows that saloons 
 and grog-shops are the chosen abodes of patriotic fervor. It is 
 impossible to remember how many of these last I had to visit, or 
 how many drinks of bad whiskey I was obliged to consume and 
 bestow in the service of my country; but on the second night I 
 took 100 men to New York by the midnight emigrant train, at the 
 fare of a dollar a head, which was part of my pecuniary tribute to 
 the cause. It took sufficient measures to keep up the excitement 
 during my absence, and at least as often as two or three times a 
 week I took over a similar contingent, all being safely locked 
 up and kept at elementary drill in a large new building at 4th Street 
 and Broadway, secured for the purpose by Col. Baker. As the 
 commissariat, music and many other items had for a time to be 
 supplied by myself, I soon found my beloved country indebted to 
 me in the amount of several thousand dollars, most of which it con- 
 tinues to owe me to this day, since the special appropriation by 
 Congress of $20,000,000, for raising, arming and equipping volun- 
 teers, made subsequently, when I was far away in Virginia, was 
 absorbed by tardier but more observant patriots who enjoyed 
 a better or more timely opportunity to approach the public trough. 
 
 Space would fail to relate the innumerable funny incidents of 
 this business, in which I constantly had to interview the families 
 and friends of the aspirants, after exhausting my eloquence on 
 themselves. Many repented after signing their names and taking 
 
DRILLING AT FORT SCHUYLER 15 
 
 the extra-legal and ex tempore devised oath administered by myself 
 on a borrowed Bible, or an old volume of state reports that bore 
 sufficient external resemblance to that venerable volume. Others 
 after a brief trial found they preferred some rival recruiting office, 
 or to go with some friend who had got himself entangled under 
 another banner; and, in short, for every hundred men, drunk and 
 sober, actually got by hook and crook safely on board the cars, at 
 least a hundred and fifty had to be enlisted, in consequence of the 
 ever-changing views of themselves and their anxious relatives. 
 Since notwithstanding all the assurance that could be assumed, I 
 really possessed no legal authority over them till they should be 
 actually mustered into service at the designated place, nothing 
 was safe till hustled bodily on the cars, and the most promising- 
 looking individuals hastily selected for non-commissioned officers 
 and assistants; and even after the trains were in motion, many 
 jumped off, with courage worthy of a better cause, and were left 
 scattered promiscuously in a wide swath across the State of New 
 Jersey. 
 
 At last ten companies of one hundred men each, having been 
 made up, carried to New York, and the perpetually recurring gaps 
 filled with new recruits passed by the doctor, the men were legally 
 mustered in by Capt. W. F. Smith, U. S. Engineers, who later 
 became distinguished as one of the most prominent and useful 
 generals of the war, and the regiment in pursuance of an order 
 obtained by Baker was transported to Fort Schuyler for organi- 
 zation and instruction. There for the first time it was possible to 
 introduce some order, discipline and obedience, to inure officers 
 and men to regimental duty and life in the field, and to communi- 
 cate such military instruction by day as could be extracted from 
 text books by night. The advantage gained for this raw but 
 excellent body of men by the short occupancy of the fort, was very 
 great, and after three weeks of guard and picket duty with almost 
 constant drilling, the regiment made a much better figure in 
 battalion marching and maneuvres than recruits of three months' 
 standing, whom I have since inspected at the Stirling Castle 
 Depot of the British Army, and infinitely superior to continental 
 recruits whom I have had opportunity to see after several months' 
 instruction. 
 
16 OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 
 
 It was in the early part, or perhaps towards the middle of June, 
 that the regiment was ordered to Fortress Monroe, marching 
 through the cities of New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore with 
 a steadiness and martial appearance that compared favorably with 
 any of the new volunteers. At Philadelphia it was encamped a 
 few days at Suffolk Park, where, pursuant to special authority, it 
 received six more full companies, and was reorganized in two bat- 
 talions of 800 men each, with myself as Lieut.-Col. Commanding 
 (Baker being usually absent at Washington), and R. A. Parrish 
 and Charles W. Smith as Majors. From Fortress Monroe the 
 command was marched a few miles beyond Hampton, where it 
 took position and picketed an extended front. Here it was visited 
 by Col. Baker, who camped with it for the first time, his duties in 
 the Senate having hitherto engrossed most of his time and atten- 
 tion. Constant drill, with marching, guard and picket duty, and 
 such other instruction of all ranks as is best found in actual field 
 work, occupied the entire time till recalled for the defense of Wash- 
 ington after the rout at Bull Run on the 21st of July. There, 
 the panic having subsided, and the disappointed politicians who 
 had expected to follow McDowell's improvised rabble safely and 
 expeditiously into Richmond, having recovered their breath, the 
 regiment went into camp a short distance from the city on some 
 property belonging to the bankers Corcoran and Riggs, or one of 
 them. 
 
 For purposes of discipline and instruction this camp was regu- 
 lated as though in presence of an enemy, with guards, pickets, 
 escorts and patrols, though hard steady drill was never neglected. 
 The regiment was here temporarily brigaded with some Massa- 
 chusetts regiments, with whom, however, it never camped or 
 drilled. In September it crossed the Potomac at the Chain 
 Bridge and encamped a short distance beyond, where it was 
 employed in constructing the large earthwork known as Fort 
 Ethan Allen, and received another temporary brigade assignment 
 with the 69th and 72nd Pennsylvania regiments, to which the 
 106th was soon after added. It had previously been taken from its 
 anomalous condition under the direct control of the War Depart- 
 ment, and placed upon the roster of the State of Pennsylvania as 
 
THE REGIMENT UNDER FIRE 17 
 
 the 71st of its line. The brigade association was satisfactory and 
 remained unchanged till the expiration of its term of service in 
 1864, but the high number on the State roster, though unavoidable 
 under the circumstances, was submitted to with much regret, 
 since the 71st had been really the first mustered in all the Pennsyl- 
 vania three-year regiments, and but for the absurd errors in the 
 original presidential order authorizing its formation, would have 
 received, as it was entitled to, the first number following the dis- 
 banded three-months' regiments of militia. 
 
 From the camp near Chain Bridge a trifling movement as 
 far as Lewinsville first brought the 71st under artillery fire. 
 Griffin's battery being deployed on a high ridge of ground and 
 smartly engaged, the 71st was assigned as its support, and was 
 massed in column close behind the ridge, where though it suffered 
 no loss, the enemy's shot and shell flying over the ridge and 
 striking ground in rear, furnished plenty of music. It was during 
 this affair that a small New York newsboy not over twelve years 
 of age, was brought in by the pickets with his bundle of northern 
 papers, which as he artlessly explained, he had, during many 
 days past, been alternately peddling through both armies without 
 molestation from either. Clearly the picket duty of some regi- 
 ment needed overhauling. During this artillery action the 
 battery became so crowded with infantry colonels and field officers 
 anxious to get under fire for the first tune, that they had to be 
 requested to move away. It is fair to our intelligence to add 
 that most of us soon became able to restrain such curiosity with 
 great success. 
 
 On the night of the 28th of September an unfortunate col- 
 lision occurred with friendly troops of Gen. Fitz-John Porter's 
 Division which though it cost some lives and much indignation 
 among the public, first brought the 71st under the test of a really 
 destructive fire. The enemy having occupied Munson's Hill, 
 at no great distance, their skirmishes and patrols began to ex- 
 hibit an annoying amount of enterprise, closely searching our 
 picket-line every night, hi one of which affairs Capt. Lingen- 
 felter of the 71st was killed. As our Gen. Wm. F. Smith was not 
 the man to stand that sort of thing long, a combined movement on 
 
18 OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 
 
 Munson's Hill was arranged for the Divisions of Smith and Porter, 
 to take place on the night of the 28th. Our column marched at 
 midnight, the 71st in advance under my command, Col. Baker 
 being in Washington. On reaching a certain point, beyond which 
 I was informed by a staff officer that all troops found would be 
 hostile, in obedience to orders an advance guard was suitably dis- 
 posed, and a flank company deployed as skirmishers at right 
 angles with the column on either hand, the road being narrow and 
 bad, and lined with dense woods. Moving forward in this order, 
 being myself in person with the advance guard, presently the route 
 turned squarely to the right at a cross roads. At this point some 
 confusion was naturally caused among the flankers obliged to 
 wheel on such an extensive circle in thick woods, and the officers 
 enjoined to silence. This would soon have been rectified by the 
 energy and capacity of Markoe, the Captain of the left flanking 
 company, but for the unfortunate circumstance of a collision in 
 the woods with a skirmish line of Porter's division, which if our 
 column as directed by the Division Staff was moving correctly, 
 plainly had no business to be there. 
 
 Our skirmishers drove these men rapidly before them and 
 the fugitives falling back on their reserves, were formed with 
 inconceivable stupidity in line of battle in the woods, in advance 
 of our column and along the road by which it was coming up. It 
 is hard to imagine the muddled condition of the officer's mind who 
 thus ambushed his command against the head of a heavy column 
 coming from the direction of his own rear. Nevertheless, it was 
 so arranged, and the advance guard having passed by, on the 
 arrival of the head of the main column, a long line of fire burst 
 suddenly upon it from the woods on the left, at the distance of a 
 few yards. With the precautions taken, or with almost any 
 precaution whatever, it would have been impossible for the 
 column to be caught thus by an enemy, but it was not proof 
 against the stupidity of its friends. The company officers gen- 
 erally behaved well, seconding with energy the orders at once 
 given to halt, face to the left, and hold their fire. The woods 
 might have been cleared by a detachment, but that would have 
 led to an interminable fight in the dense darkness of the woods, 
 
A BAD ERROR IN TACTICS 19 
 
 where explanation and adjustment would have been difficult 
 till daylight. It was therefore determined to stand fast where 
 we were, and endeavor to stop the firing, satisfied there could be 
 no troops there but ours. I galloped up and down the road be- 
 tween the two lines of excited individuals shouting and firing 
 on each other across a narrow road, in earnest efforts to stop the 
 firing, which was at length accomplished, though not till we had 
 lost four killed and fourteen wounded, and I had a valuable horse 
 shot under me. As a panicky condition prevailed among the 
 troops in rear, who of course supposed the leading battalion to 
 be engaged with an enemy whom they could not get at, both 
 battalions were suitably disposed to command the road in front, 
 while with G company deployed as skirmishers, I personally 
 raked the woods, from which however the assailants had 
 departed. 
 
 Of course the country was excited over this event, the news- 
 papers as usual denouncing everyone from the General-in-Chief 
 down, except only the real culprit who was never discovered. 
 Though the officer in charge of the strange skirmishers was un- 
 doubtedly next to an idiot, the person originally responsible was 
 probably some inexperienced staff officer; but the matter received 
 no public investigation. Melancholy as the affair proved to the 
 71st, I am by no means certain that it did not gain an equivalent 
 in the sharp lesson it afforded of the value of discipline and 
 obedience; since I do not remember any subsequent difficulty in 
 holding its fire reserved in subjection to orders, and it is for 
 this reason I have given so much space to such an insignificant 
 affair. No doubt for a body of men never yet in general action, 
 persistently fired upon in the darkness across the width of a 
 country road by troops of unknown character and force, it was a 
 supreme test of their brief experience of discipline to refrain 
 as well as they did from using the arms in their hands, for cer- 
 tainly not over one shot was fired for ten that they received, and 
 they were the first to yield to their officers' efforts. 
 
 Soon after this inglorious affair the 71st marched to Pooles- 
 ville, Md., on the upper Potomac, where was soon assembled, 
 under command of Gen. Charles P. Stone, the extreme right wing 
 
20 OUTBREAK OF THE WAB 
 
 of the Army of the Potomac, nearly corresponding with the troops 
 soon after organized as Sedgwick's Division of the 2nd A. C. The 
 Philadelphia Brigade, as it became familiarly called, was here 
 definitely organized, consisting of the 69th, 71st, 72nd, and 106th 
 Pennsylvania regiments under Baker, who now regularly assumed 
 command of the brigade; the 71st, falling definitely to me as 
 Lieut.-Col. Commanding. The great armies destined to become 
 inseparably connected with American history, and now preparing 
 to spring upon each other, were at this time separated throughout 
 a distance of over forty miles by the river Potomac, averaging 
 more than a mile in width; and it was here on an extreme wing 
 that in spite of generals and plans, fate had arranged the first 
 serious occasion for testing each other's mettle. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE DISASTROUS BATTLE OP BALL'S BLUFF 
 
 It was after midnight on the morning of the 21st of October 
 that I was awakened to receive and read by such light as was 
 afforded by the lantern of the sergeant of the guard, the fol- 
 lowing order, in its immediate results pregnant with fate to 
 many, but of infinitely more importance as the inauguration of 
 the long and desperate struggle by a useless and bloody prologue. 
 
 Hdqrs. Baker's Brigade, 
 1 A.M. 21st October, 1861. 
 Special Order. 
 
 The right wing Gala. Regt. (less camp guards) under command of Lieut.- 
 Col. Wistar will proceed to Conrad's Ferry, to arrive at sunrise and 
 await orders. The men will take blankets, overcoats and forty rounds in 
 their cartridge boxes, and will be folio wed by one day's rations in wagons. 
 
 By command of Col. Baker, Comdg., 
 FRKD HARVEY, 
 A. A. G. 
 
 The rest may as well be told by the insertion here of my official 
 report made directly to the General of Division in consequence 
 of the death of the Brigade General and all his staff, supple- 
 mented by a statement prepared a few years ago for the Regi- 
 mental Survivors' Association, at their request, and read at one 
 of their annual banquets. 
 
 Headquarters California Regiment: 
 Camp near Poolesville, Md., Nov. 7th, 1861. 
 
 BRIG.-GEN. CHARLES P. STONE, Commanding Division. 
 General:- 
 
 Being partially released by my physicians from their injunctions of 
 solitude and silence, I proceed to report to you the operations of a part of 
 my regiment on the 21st ult. 
 
 21 
 
22 THE DISASTROUS BATTLE OF BALL'S BLUFF 
 
 At half-past two A.M. on that day, I received your order through our 
 late lamented Brigade Commander, to march with my first battalion, 
 so as to arrive below Conrad's Ferry by sunrise. 
 
 At sunrise I was there with the battalion, numbering five hundred and 
 seventy men, in eight companies, including officers. I immediately sent 
 an officer to report to you at Edward's Ferry, between four and five miles 
 below, who returned about half-past eight, with your direction "to wait 
 further orders, unless I should hear heavy firing over the river, in which 
 event to cross at once, and support Colonel Devins." Slight firing had 
 occurred there about an hour before, but after the reception of this order 
 there was no more whatever until afternoon. A short time after this 
 order reached me, General Baker and staff arrived. I communicated it 
 to him, when, after a brief conversation, he continued on down the river 
 in search of you. In an hour, an officer of his staff returned with the 
 order: "General Baker directs you to cross at once." I had scarcely 
 time to commence when General Baker himself returned and directed me 
 to proceed with all haste. 
 
 I had two scows, of the capacity of forty men each, on the Maryland 
 side of Harrison's Island, and one on the Virginia side, of the capacity of 
 fifty men. I had got four companies on the Island and one on the Vir- 
 ginia side (having been delayed at the second crossingiby other troops) 
 when General Baker arrived on the Island and crossed at once to the 
 Virginia side. 
 
 After crossing six companies to the Virginia side, I left the Island and 
 passed over myself, leaving Captain Ritman to hurry on the transpor- 
 tation. 
 
 The Virginia side of the river was a bluff, eighty feet high, nearly per- 
 pendicular, and covered with rocks and a dense thicket. Stretching away 
 directly from the summit was an open field of oblong shape, extending 
 back from the river two hundred yards, by a width of seventy; this was 
 entirely surrounded by woods, except a triangular opening distant 
 about two-thirds of the length of the field from the river, extending into 
 the woods on the left, say one hundred yards. 
 
 When I reached the top of the bluff, General Baker immediately 
 explained his plan of battle, stating his whole force to be twelve hundred 
 men, at the same time reading to me your despatch, announcing the 
 approach of four thousand of the enemy from Leesburg, and expressing 
 his own serious doubts of the result. The detachment of the Fifteenth 
 Massachusetts was drawn up in the edge of the woods on the right, facing 
 up the river. The rest of our forces were arranged across the end of the 
 open field, at right angles with the former, their backs towards the river; 
 my battalion having the left, three companies being in reserve, and one 
 deployed as skirmishers to cover the left flank. 
 
 From the left of our position, at the edge of the woods, the ground fell 
 rapidly to the left, about thirty yards, to a gully, on the other side of 
 which it rose to a hill higher than the ground on which we stood, at short 
 distance. 
 
COLONEL WISTAR'S OFFICIAL REPOBT 23 
 
 The enemy's first fire was scattering, some of it from tree-tops around 
 the field, where they had placed their marksmen our men lying down 
 for shelter, by command. 
 
 After comprehending the general condition, I requested permission to 
 make a change in the disposition of our skirmishers on the left, when 
 General Baker directed me to take command of the left flank, and make 
 any disposition I saw fit. In pursuance of this order I was about to 
 advance the skirmishers to the left when General Baker returned, and 
 after a brief consultation with Colonel Cogswell and myself, directed me 
 to throw out two companies as skirmishers to feel the woods in front for 
 the precise location of the enemy's right, getting as much cover for the 
 movement as possible from the woods on the left, with directions if 
 attacked in force, to contest the ground and fall back, fighting. 1 
 
 In the execution of this order, Captain John Markoe, with his company 
 (A), immediately moved out, company D following in support, under 
 Lieutenant Wade the latter company being short of officers and the 
 bulk of my command needing no immediate attention, I accompanied 
 the movement myself. 
 
 The two companies moved rapidly up under cover of the woods on the 
 left, until reaching the triangular open space before mentioned, when 
 they were met by a galling fire from the enemy's riflemen on their front 
 and left. Company A, left by Markoe and closely followed by D, rush- 
 ing quickly over the open ground entered the woods, when a whole regi- 
 ment of the enemy (8th Virginia) rose up from the ground at thirty paces 
 distance and charged with the bayonet. A severe contest ensued, but 
 our skirmishers somewhat checked the enemy's charge by taking trees 
 and throwing an effective fire into their crowded ranks, at close distance. 
 The right wing of our skirmishers was soon destroyed, but the left con- 
 tinued to hold ground for some time until Markoe was wounded and 
 taken prisoner, when the survivors slowly fell back, bringing with them 
 several prisoners, including an officer of the " Eighth Virginia," whom I 
 had the honor of sending to you the following morning. 
 
 These two companies suffered severely in this gallant effort, company 
 A having lost all three of its officers, and all its sergeants, except two, one 
 of whom is wounded. 
 
 The enemy, in force in front, hearing this sharp fir ing on their right, 
 immediately (half-past two P.M.) opened fire on our main body; and as 
 soon as our skirmishers had fallen back, made repeated and desperate 
 efforts, in constantly increasing force, to turn our left. Five times they 
 charged down the gully, and were as often foiled and driven back by the 
 steady conduct, and heavy fire of our men. Our firing in front was 
 probably not very effective, the enemy being well covered in the woods 
 but on the left it was very destructive, our men bravely enduring a contin- 
 uous fire from the front, and repelling with steadiness the enemy's 
 repeated charges from that direction. The twelve-pounder afforded 
 
 1 See Evening Telegraph, February 1st, 2d, and 4th, 1893, for comments on 
 General Markoe's record as a soldier. 
 
24 THE DISASTBOUS BATTLE OF BALL'S BLUFF 
 
 valuable aid. All its artillerymen .having been killed or dispersed, it 
 was worked by Lieutenant Bramall, and two or three field officers of the 
 California and Tammany Regiments, with great effect. 
 
 At a quarter-past five the enemy succeeded, by dint of numbers, in 
 gaining a footing on our side of the gully, when our men refusing to give 
 ground, they became mixed up, and a desperate hand-to-hand contest 
 ensued. 
 
 Our right and center was at the same time severely pressed and conse- 
 quently unable to afford assistance. At this moment I was 
 finally disabled by a third wound, and a moment afterwards, almost in 
 the same spot, the brave General Baker fell gloriously, at the head of 
 his men. 
 
 His death was instantly avenged and his body recovered by a few brave 
 men, led by Captain Harvey (Brigade Adjutant General), who, I regret 
 to say, was himself killed soon afterward. 
 
 A stern and bloody contest was now taking place ; fresh masses of the 
 enemy swarmed in on all sides, when an unauthorized order was given by 
 someone to the men of another regiment, "Retreat to the ferry." This 
 withdrew a portion of our numbers, and caused some confusion among 
 the men of the California and Tammany Regiments, who stood by each 
 other to the last, retiring, inch by inch, slowly and with considerable order 
 until pressed over the bluff by the closing masses of the enemy. Our 
 men maintained a sharp fire from the river bank, and made two or three 
 spirited charges, led by Colonel Cogswell, which held the enemy in 
 check at the top of the bluff, until those of our men who could swim had 
 divested themselves of arms and clothing and taken to the water. 
 
 Finding further resistance useless for any good purpose and with no 
 means whatever of crossing the river (the only scow on that side the 
 Island having sunk some time previously with all on board, owing to the 
 bottom having fallen out) the remainder surrendered at 1 1 P. M. 
 
 The two howitzers, and most of the small arms, were concealed in the 
 river. The 12-pound gun was thrown over the bluff with the same inten- 
 tion, but lodged among trees and rocks. 
 
 Color Sergeant R. C. Woods was shot through both legs early in the 
 action. The colors were taken by Private George Suttie, company G, 
 who bore them bravely through the remainder of the action, but in 
 attempting to swim the river with them, afterwards was obliged from 
 excessive cold and fatigue, let to them go in the middle of the stream. 
 
 The other Color Sergeant, Vansant, also displayed conspicuous gallan- 
 try, and after dark waded into the river, waistdeep, and buried his 
 colors under a pile of stones. They had been first shot to tatters, and 
 the staff cut in two, by the enemy's bullets. 
 
 Subsequent events were witnessed by yourself in person. 
 
 The bravery and steadiness of the officers and men throughout the 
 whole affair, under circumstances plainly hopeless from the first, was 
 beyond praise. Many of the men supplied themselves with cartridges 
 from the bodies of the dead, after their own had been expended. 
 
 Of the eighteen officers, of all ranks, present in action all are either 
 killed, wounded or missing, except two lieutenants. 
 
LETTER TO THE SURVIVORS' ASSOCIATION 25 
 
 Of the five hundred and seventy officers and men taken into action, 
 the total loss, in killed, wounded and missing (many of the latter being 
 necessarily left dead or wounded on the field, or drowned in the river), 
 amounts to three hundred and five, according to a report heretofore 
 submitted. 
 
 I have the honor to be, General, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 ISAAC J. WISTAB, 
 Lieut.-Col. Commanding California Regiment. 
 
 MR. JOHN W. FRAZER, 
 
 Secretary Survivors' Association, 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 In consequence of my inability to be present and respond personally 
 at the proposed banquet of the Survivors' Association of the 71st Regi- 
 ment Pennsylvania Volunteers to the toast " Colonel E. D. Baker our 
 first commander, a soldier, a statesman and sympathizing comrade," I 
 am obliged to avail myself of your alternative invitation in addressing by 
 letter these few remarks. 
 
 It is well for the survivors of the regiment which first introduced most 
 of us to the profession of arms, to hold fast to the memory of that illus- 
 trious man who, under the benign institutions of our country, rose from 
 an obscure place in life to such an important position in political and 
 military history, but who at the zenith of his fame did not forget the 
 interests of the humblest of those under his command. 
 
 I first met him in the hotly contested trial of a cause in San Francisco 
 in the year 1853 in which he and myself were opposing counsel. There 
 was scarcely any equality between us, for while his great reputation as an 
 advocate had already extended throughout the Pacific Coast, I had been 
 just admitted to the bar, and was almost without professional experience. 
 Nevertheless that lively encounter proved the beginning of a friendship 
 that accompanied us into far other and different fields of effort, and 
 ceased only with his life. 
 
 We became associated in the profession of the law, and so continued 
 from 1853 till his removal to Oregon in 1857, when the Legislature of that 
 State chose him to represent it in the Senate of the United States. During 
 the absorbing work of the large practice which fell to our lot during those 
 years of association there was little time wasted on irrelevant matters, 
 and I have always regretted that I did not then use more effort to over- 
 come his uncommunicativeness respecting his early history. So far as 
 my memory of his conversation now serves, he was born in England 
 about the year 1811, of poor but worthy and respectable parents, belong- 
 ing to the Society of Friends, who emigrated to Philadelphia when he 
 was about nine years old. He was placed at work in a factory in this 
 city, which he thought was in the southwestern part of the city, but 
 could not precisely locate. His parents soon removed with their family 
 to Illinois, where at an early age he became connected with the religious 
 sect of "Campbellites," and before he reached the age of twenty-one was 
 
26 THE DISASTROUS BATTLE OF BALL'S BLUFF 
 
 one of their most eloquent and renowned preachers. But that quiet 
 and peaceful profession soon failed to satisfy the restless activity and 
 ambition of his youth. He became a lawyer and politician, was elected 
 to Congress, and in 1847 took command as colonel of the 4th Regiment 
 of Illinois Volunteers in the war with Mexico. He was severely wounded 
 by a shot through the throat while quelling a mutiny in a southern regi- 
 ment on board a transport at Mobile, but recovered and served in the 
 field till the conclusion of the war, winning great renown at Cerro Gordo, 
 where, when General Shields was wounded, Baker took command of his 
 brigade as senior colonel, and led it successfully against the Mexican 
 position. 
 
 He was re-elected to Congress after the war, where he became distin- 
 guished in debate, and after the death of the President, General Taylor, 
 delivered his celebrated eulogy of that great soldier, which immediately 
 took rank as one of the most classic and elegant orations ever delivered 
 in the American capital. In 1850 he went to California, but suffered an 
 attack of fever on the Isthmus, from which he narrowly escaped with his 
 life, and by which he was prematurely aged and his constitution perma- 
 nently impaired. At the California bar, at that time an exceptionally 
 able one, adorned with remarkable men from nearly every state in the 
 Union, he speedily took a leading place, and as a jury advocate, had no 
 superior. While our joint practice was confined to the civil branch, he 
 was sought for and accepted retainers as associate counsel in most of the 
 leading criminal cases of the day, some of which remain landmarks in the 
 jurisprudence of the Pacific Coast. I regret I have not space even to 
 glance at the most famous or remarkable of these, or to dwell upon the 
 close discussion of facts, and the extraordinary bursts of eloquence which 
 rendered his jury arguments so powerful and successful. Your asso- 
 ciation, the members of which knew and loved him during service with 
 him in the great civil war, will naturally prefer to hear more of him in 
 that connection. 
 
 During the winter of 1860-61 he was in the Senate of the United 
 States, and being myself in attendance on the Supreme Court, I saw 
 much of him in Washington, where opinions were naturally excited. 
 Though firm in his views, he was by no means a bitter partisan, many of 
 his warmest personal friends belonging to the defeated party. He gave 
 full credit to the sincerity of southern statesmen, and with his positive 
 and ardent nature scorned the talk of peaceful adjustment. He main- 
 tained from the first that the differences were unadjustable except by 
 war and that a great war was certain, upon the inauguration of the new 
 President, and earnestly advised me to drop the law and study tactics. 
 Though he knew I was not without some militia experience, he insisted 
 I should join a military company to acquire practical details, and study 
 some of the principal historical campaigns for theory. He especially 
 delighted in those of the most famous of the ancient Greek captains, as 
 well as the modern ones of Frederick, Marlborough and Napoleon, all of 
 which he had carefully studied, and with whose historic marches and 
 battles he was critically familiar. 
 
THE SEVENTY-FIBST REGIMENT VOLUNTEERS 27 
 
 When at length the sword was drawn he immediately obtained from 
 the President, with whom he had been for many years on terms of inti- 
 macy, a commission to raise and command a three-years' regiment in 
 the service of the United States. 
 
 That regiment, as you all know, was promptly raised in Philadelphia 
 and served for several months by virtue of that commission before it was 
 taken upon the roster of Pennsylvania, and it was owing to that circum- 
 stance that, although the first of the three-years' regiments to complete 
 its organization and muster, it became the seventy-first (71st) of the 
 Pennsylvania line, having lost numbers of its men in action before 
 many of the prior numbered regiments were in service at all. The 
 reasonable limits of this letter compel me to pass over most of the regi- 
 mental history prior to the action of Ball's Bluff, and proceed to recall 
 your recollections to that disastrous event which nearly destroyed the 
 first battalion of your regiment and closed at once the career and life 
 of Baker. 
 
 At 1 o'clock A.M., October 21st, 1861, a division order reached Baker, 
 then encamped with and commanding the Philadelphia Brigade near 
 Poolesville, Md., to dispatch the first battalion of the 71st, under com- 
 mand of its Lieutenant-Colonel, for Conrad's Ferry on the Potomac so as 
 to arrive there by sunrise. Neither Baker nor myself had any idea 
 then of the reason or object of that order, nor of the crossing at Edward's 
 Ferry effected on the previous day by General Stone, the Division Com- 
 mander, with other troops of his Division. Your first battalion marched 
 at 3 A.M., arriving at Conrad's Ferry punctually at sunrise and reported 
 by a mounted officer (the chaplain) to General Stone, who was at Edward's 
 Ferry, five miles below, in the meantime resting in ranks on the canal 
 towpath. In due time a verbal order arrived from General Stone, who 
 was an able, generous and loyal officer, to "remain where you are till 
 further orders unless heavy firing takes place on the Virginia side, indi- 
 cating heavy pressure on the scouting party of the 15th Massachusetts, 
 which had been across all night, in which event cross a sufficient strength 
 to assist and extricate them, but with great caution." 
 
 Soon after the reception of this order Colonel Baker arrived in person, 
 having ordered the rest of his brigade to follow him, on his own respon- 
 sibility. He asked for and heard the orders, and started at a rapid gait 
 down the towpath for Division Headquarters. When he returned he 
 rode up to the head of the regiment, and ordered me to cross my entire 
 command as rapidly as possible, stating that General Stone had given 
 him discretion to that extent. 
 
 The crossing was commenced at once with the only three large boats 
 obtainable, two of them conveying the troops to Harrison's Island, and 
 the third, aided by a rowboat, from thence across the narrower channel 
 between the Island and the Virginia shore. Down to this time no firing 
 had occurred, except an occasional shot. Baker crossed on one of the 
 first boats, having ordered me to the Island, and another officer on the 
 Maryland side to expedite the passage. As Baker received the small 
 bodies of arriving troops and hurried them into position, the scouting 
 company was driven in and the lines of battle became engaged. Near the 
 
28 THE DISASTROUS BATTLE OF BALL'S BLUFF 
 
 top of a high and timbered bluff, across the end of a large open field 
 surrounded by forest, the line had been formed, including besides your 
 own battalion parts of the 15th and 20th Massachusetts, and part of one 
 company of the 42nd New York, in all about 1400 men. The left rested 
 on a dry gully leading down to the river, but was otherwise exposed. The 
 right extended into the woods, and an unlimbered howitzer of a Rhode 
 Island battery (Bramhall's), without men, horses or caisson, was posted 
 in the center. As the hostile regiments arrived in position the weight 
 and effect of their fire increased, and the action soon became close and 
 severe. The enemy's superior numbers enabled them to detach con- 
 stantly against our exposed left without slackening their overpowering 
 fire in front. 
 
 While much occupied with the difficult situation of our left, Baker 
 came up with a despatch just received from General Stone to the effect 
 that "four regiments have been seen by our scouts crossing an open place 
 and marching towards you." 
 
 As the despatch had travelled five miles and twice crossed the river it 
 was considered that those regiments must already be in our front and we 
 were feeling their maximum effect. With our left enfiladed and in close 
 contact with the enemy and an overpowering front fire, it was dangerous 
 either to manoeuvre or withdraw, even had means existed to recross the 
 river. But the command, though pinned fast, was firm, and it was 
 thought that if the gun could be got into action and the enemy shaken in 
 front, our people might be able to clear away the enemy's flanking force 
 and get forward through the woods to the left. Captain Stewart (Lord 
 Londonderry) of the Division Staff, and Captain Harvey, of Baker's Staff, 
 both English officers of experience, at once voluntered, and with two 
 infantry colonels proceeded to work the gun till the scanty ammunition 
 in the limber was exhausted, by which time the piece was disabled by 
 having the spokes shot out of the wheels. Baker constantly traversed 
 the line, watching for an opportunity of movement. Twice wounded 
 myself, he was about the first at my side on both occasions. He was not 
 touched, himself, though a small bush was cut off between us as we talked. 
 The rest of that disastrous affair you know. The enemy's fire increased 
 as their reinforcements continued to arrive. For us there could be no 
 reinforcements, and it was almost certain death to bring up ammunition. 
 Company A made a gallant charge on the left, pushing back the enemy's 
 flankers upon the main body, but was there enveloped by an entire regi- 
 ment (8th Virginia) and its men mostly killed or captured. When I 
 was at last personally disabled, it was Baker himself who picked me up 
 and had me conveyed to the boats. It was their last trip. Immediately 
 afterwards, Baker, sword in hand and face to the foe, fell dead, and after 
 a successful counter-charge to bring off his body, our troops were forced 
 over the bluff and though for long afterwards a desperate resistance was 
 made as skirmishers, their cohesion as a manageable line was lost. 
 
 Respecting the object and results of that movement I venture neither 
 statement nor opinion, preferring to confine myself to the undisputed 
 facts connected with Baker's untimely death. No superior officer 
 
THE DEATH OF COLONEL BAKER 29 
 
 admitted any responsibility for the crossing in force, nor did Baker ever 
 distinctly assert it. Knowing his ardent zeal and impatience of delay, 
 we can only infer that some fatal misunderstanding occurred on the 
 occasion of that one hasty interview between the Division and Brigade 
 Commanders, of which there is now no survivor. 
 
 But in looking back to those stirring events, whatever we may think 
 of the plan or object of that enterprise, none ever doubted Baker's signal 
 coolness and gallantry on the field of battle. His courage kindled, as he 
 saw the end approach and knew it must be disastrous. Several incidents 
 during the heat of the action showed that he fully understood the situation. 
 One of his remarks was, "The officer who dies with his men will never be 
 harshly judged." 
 
 After it seemed to both of us that ruin was certain, in response to a 
 remark that a quick and easy death was now the best thing left us, he 
 quickly replied : "The bullets are seeking for you, but avoid me." That 
 generous and noble heart, sympathetic with all around him and resolved 
 on duty to the last, had abandoned hope and calmly waited for the stroke 
 which alone should separate him from his men. It was after the hostile 
 fire had enveloped three sides of your position and no manoeuvre was 
 possible. Fresh ammunition could no longer be brought up, and except 
 surrender, of which no one thought, nothing remained but the exaction of 
 all and more than it was worth for the position no longer tenable. But 
 I believe that you who are the survivors of that and many another bloody 
 field will agree that even if Baker had lived till the last man, such was the 
 affection and confidence he had inspired, he would have continued to hold 
 your line firmly while there remained a soldier to mark it and a cartridge 
 to fire. 
 
 How his heart would have swelled and his eye kindled could he in his 
 last moments have forseen the future career of the regiment he loved so 
 well that it was destined to stand the peer of any in the glorious Second 
 Corps; to cover the retreat of Pope's routed columns from Manassas, 
 charge Jackson's veterans rt Antietam; receive on its steady bayonets 
 the shock of Pickett at Gettsyburg, and that, after blazoning on its stand- 
 ard the historic names of th< Peninsula, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, 
 Spottsylvania and innumc ible minor fights, it should, after the ac- 
 knowledged expiration of is term and before reenlistment, volunteer 
 at the call of its corps comrv-mder to assault the works at Cold Harbor, 
 where you lost 100 men actually ordered home for discharge; and finally, 
 that of the 2200 soldiers who from first to last fought under your flag, 1 19 
 was the remnant for the last muster out. That look into the future was 
 denied him. But who shall say that during those after years his memory, 
 precept and example were not mustered under your flag when it led the 
 advance and cheered the last moments of dying comrades who fell out 
 of your ranks forever, in the shock of battle? 
 
 In the sacredness of our common memories, I remain your friend and 
 comrade, 
 
 I. J. WISTAK. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 12th, 1887. 
 
30 THE DISASTROUS BATTLE OF BALL'S BLUFF 
 
 The second battalion, under Parish, being on picket duty 
 at a distance, it was only the first battalion of eight companies 
 and 570 men of all ranks that participated in this affair. Of 
 the 305 returned as killed, wounded and missing being fifty- 
 four per cent of the number engaged it is fair to add there 
 was no 'straggling/ the 'missing' being all killed, drowned 
 or captured, many of the last being wounded. 
 
 The higher military authorities seemed to regard this small 
 but disastrous affair as merely incidental to the first employ- 
 ment on a large scale of raw troops and inexperienced officers, 
 and have observed respecting it, as far as possible, a discreet 
 silence. But the public heart was deeply stirred, and the news- 
 paper press and minor writers have poured forth volumes of 
 criticism, generally rather political or personal, than military. 
 Baker's gallant death having tended as he foresaw on the 
 field of battle to exempt his memory, much industry and 
 ingenuity has been exerted to fasten the responsibility upon 
 Stone, but in my judgment with little success. Much ma- 
 terial has been collected and discussed with feeling by Mr. 
 John D. Baltz, a gallant young soldier of the 71st present at 
 the action, in a volume entitled "Col. E. D. Baker's defense 
 in the battle of Ball's Bluff, with biographical sketches of Baker, 
 Wistar and Stone," published at Lancaster, Pa., 1888. Mr. 
 Baltz, sensible like others of a grave and disastrous error some- 
 where, has displayed much industry in collecting everything 
 to be said on that side. The kind manner in which he has spoken 
 of myself, renders criticism of his earnestly written work so 
 disagreeable to me that I content myself with saying that I 
 cannot agree with his conclusions. 
 
 The absence of all co-operation in other quarters, and of any 
 preparation for a general advance at that time, is conclusive 
 evidence that no such purpose was in the mind of any high or 
 controlling authority. There is no occasion for and can be no 
 success in searching for any concealed or other object than 
 that plainly indicated by all the orders received or issued by 
 Stone. It was simply for the purpose of extricating the small 
 scouting-party sent across the previous evening since no other 
 
SOMEONE HAD BLUNDERED 31 
 
 is conceivable that Stone ordered down a single battalion 
 and a few guns, and the details were naturally left to the Brig- 
 adier commanding on the spot. An obvious way to perform 
 the duty would have been to place a small infantry force on the 
 island, which being two miles long, offered positions from 
 whence a moderate musketry fire could easily keep clear the 
 top of the bluff from which alone the enemy's fire could reach 
 our troops retiring across the river; while a few guns placed 
 in position on the Maryland side would not only aid the opera- 
 tion, but effectually protect the return of the covering force 
 from the island. For such a small and simple operation the 
 available boat capacity was sufficient, and no considerable 
 loss could possibly have occurred. But to cross a force of 
 several hundred men with boat capacity inadequate for ad- 
 vance and absurdly insufficient for retreat, upon a permissive 
 and discretionary order wrung with difficulty from a superior, 
 five miles distant, indicates that Baker thought he saw an op- 
 portunity to strike a blow of sufficient importance to justify 
 the excessive risk incurred. In that, he was terribly mistaken, 
 as was discovered too late when in presence of a largely superior 
 force already in position. From that moment, though a dif- 
 ferent disposition of the troops engaged might have prolonged 
 a useless conflict, nothing under existing circumstances could 
 have extricated them but an advance by Stone with a large 
 force from Edward's Ferry. But such advance by Stone on the 
 right bank separated from assistance or retreat by an impassable 
 river a mile wide, was opposed to every sound principle, wholly 
 beyond the tenor of his orders, and even if it should not in- 
 volve further and more important loss, could at best result only 
 in a series of detached, disorderly and piecemeal fights much 
 more likely to bring disaster than success, and even if successful, 
 must have forced most injuriously the hand of the General-in- 
 Chief, who did not expect, and was unprepared for anything more 
 important than the mere reconnoissance he had authorized. 
 
 Baker himself would have been the last man to excuse 
 by seeking to cast upon another the original error of cross- 
 ing in force without proper means provided and an explicit 
 
32 THE DISASTROUS BATTLK OF BALL'S BLUFF 
 
 understanding with his superior; nor is any necessity laid upon 
 his friends to do so, since the error if his was at least of an 
 heroic character, and as he 'died with his men,' all parties have 
 dealt kindly with his memory. 
 
 General Stone was an educated officer of high standing in 
 the army, from which he had formerly resigned, like Sherman, to 
 operate a bank in San Francisco where I had known him well 
 but returned to the service at the first outbreak of war. A cir- 
 cumstance of a personal nature which had occurred not long before 
 this affair, may serve to shed a ray of light on the otherwise in- 
 explicable mystery of the persecutions which befell him. The 
 Senator (Charles Sumner) of Massachusetts had denounced and 
 even accused him of treason on the floor of the Senate, for refusing 
 in obedience to the laws and orders then prevailing, to encourage 
 the flight into his lines of fugitive slaves, who in fact tended 
 to demoralize the new troops nearly as much as to disorganize the 
 susceptibilities of the Washington politicians. Contrary to the 
 advice of his friends, Stone felt it necessary to resent the out- 
 rage in the only way open to him, by a challenge, and as Sumner 
 was deemed slippery in such matters, having notoriously evaded 
 several, at the expense of a caning or two, the General chose for 
 his second Lord Ernest Vane Tempest, a younger son of the 
 Marquis of Londonderry, and a captain in the British Army, who, 
 having obtained leave of absence for the purpose, entered our serv- 
 ice in the Adjutant-General's Department, and was then serving 
 on Stone's staff under his family name of Stewart. This wild 
 Irishman cared nothing for his American commission and readily 
 undertook to carry the message and get a definite reply. For this 
 purpose he forced his way into Sumner's apartment, not without 
 some violence to the latter's well-trained servant, and delivered 
 the note personally with an intimation of its purport. The Sena- 
 tor, pleading other occupation, tried to put him off with promises 
 to reply by letter at a more convenient time, but Stewart was not 
 to be deceived or cajoled, and insisted on receiving an immediate 
 reply or taking the difficulty on himself. A wordy squabble en- 
 sued in which Stewart obtained a written answer under threats of 
 personal castigation, but the Hon. gentleman thus summarily 
 
QENEKAL STONE UNJUSTLY ACCUSED 33 
 
 brought to book, nursed his wrath, and seized upon the occasion 
 offered by the Ball's Bluff catastrophe to direct political and 
 newspaper obloquy upon Stone, who, fully occupied in front of the 
 enemy, possessed no adequate means of influencing opinion in his 
 own favor. As soon after the fight as public indignation had 
 been sufficiently worked up, he was arrested without charges, and 
 thrown into prison, where for months he was refused any com- 
 munication with counsel, family or friends, and after being released 
 as mysteriously and without explanation as he had been confined, 
 he spent years in vainly endeavoring to obtain the name of his 
 accuser or any definite charge against himself. All explanation or 
 employment was denied him till near the close of the war, when he 
 was at last assigned as bear leader to the military mountebank 
 who for his country's sins conducted its disastrous campaign 
 on Red River. After the war he became chief of staff to the 
 Khedive of Egypt, whom he served with distinction for many 
 years until the English conquest of that country, when he returned 
 to America and soon after died. 
 
 Stewart reached the battlefield with despatches from Stone, 
 in the hottest part of the action and foreseeing the inevitable 
 catastrophe, chose to remain there. He rendered much useful 
 aid, and remained till after dark, when he swam the river and 
 escaped without a scratch. 
 
 Capt. Frederick Harvey, A. A. G. on Baker's staff, was 
 another British officer who had entered our service under leave 
 of absence from his own. He was an accomplished and gallant 
 officer, and with Stewart and Col. Cogswell of the 42d New York, 
 who was present as a volunteer with one company of his regiment, 
 gave valuable aid in serving the twelve-pound gun, whose proper 
 crew had been killed or dispersed, till it was disabled by having 
 the spokes shot from the wheels by the enemy's musketry fire. 
 Notwithstanding the concentrated fire drawn upon this gun, 
 not one of us was touched by bullets, though we were all more 
 or less scratched and hurt by splinters shot from its carriage. 
 Harvey, after leading several small but resolute charges after dark 
 to keep possession of the bluff and landing-place, was killed late 
 at night and his body left in possession of the enemy for want 
 
34 THE DISASTROUS BATTLE OF BALL'S BLUFF 
 
 of means to bring it off. Only a few days before his death, while 
 riding together on a long and weary night-march, he had re- 
 peated with patriotic feeling those fine lines which always 
 recall him to my memory: 
 
 Vain all those ships of iron framed, 
 
 Vain all those shattering guns, 
 Unless proud England keep untamed 
 
 The strong hearts of her sons. 
 
 Two of the most promising officers of the 71st, killed on this 
 occasion, were Capt. Otter and Lieut. Williams, both energetic 
 and capable young men, whose gallantry attracted my attention 
 and who would almost certainly have risen to distinction. 
 
 My personal experience was not fortunate except in so far 
 as I escaped worse. Early in the action I was struck in the 
 jaw by a bullet or a small stone dashed up by one. Though the 
 injury did not eventually amount to much, it caused severe pain 
 and loss of blood which became matted in the beard, and dripping 
 down in front, rendered me a ferocious and unpleasant object 
 to behold, as I have since been assured. Later a bullet passed 
 through my thigh within a short distance of the old arrow wound, 
 suffered years before in the upper Klamath country. This though 
 but a flesh wound, filled my boot with blood so that I was 
 obliged to cut a hole to let it out. Just before dark, while 
 endeavoring to change front with the two left companies to repel 
 a charge on that flank, I was struck hi the right elbow by a 
 ball that shattered all three of the bones meeting at that point, 
 causing a momentary mental confusion and even suspension of 
 sight. Though I could not see my sword, I stooped to recover it 
 from the place where I knew it had fallen, and having gathered it 
 up along with a handful of bloody grass, had just regained the 
 perpendicular, when I was seized by Baker with a hand on each 
 shoulder. "What, Wistar, hit again?" "Yes, I am afraid badly 
 this time." Then sheathing for me the sword at my request, he 
 called a soldier: "Here, my man, catch hold of Col. Wistar and 
 get him to the boat somehow, if you have to carry him." The 
 words were his last. I hastily communicated the importance of 
 what I had been engaged in and he sprang forward to complete the 
 
BURIED BY THE SHORES OF THE FAR PACIFIC 35 
 
 work. About the same time, the enemy's charging column, which 
 I had seen leave their main line for the usual circuit through the 
 woods, appeared over the rising ground on the left, fired a 
 volley and rushed in. Baker fell to that volley, being struck 
 by several bullets, one of which pierced his brain. The charge 
 was repelled for a moment, and a counter-charge led by Harvey 
 recovered the body, but the gallant soldier, the generous friend, 
 the matchless orator, was lost to us and his country forever. 
 
 Though for such a short time in the great national arena 
 at Washington, his celebrated Union oration in New York, 
 in April, followed by two eloquent speeches in the Senate, had 
 fairly introduced him to the country, and his heroic death on a 
 field lost but not dishonored, thrilled the entire North, not 
 yet accustomed to such spectacles. Not long before, the rest of 
 the world had laughed, and our own people were mortified if not 
 disheartened, by the disorderly rout of Bull Run, and held their 
 breath in dread anticipation of the next encounter. But here 
 had been no disorder, no panic, no flight, no Bull Run affair. 
 Our soldiers' fighting qualities, at least, were now assured. A 
 small body gallantly led had been by someone's error surrounded 
 by superior force, in fact ambushed in an untenable position, and 
 though ultimately cut to pieces and destroyed, had long defended 
 itself with perfect order and unflinching courage, inflicting 
 damage little inferior to its own, till it had suffered a loss of 
 fifty-four per cent of its number, including nearly all the officers, 
 and their gallant leader. While, therefore, the friends of the 
 slain received universal sympathy, to the general public the 
 disaster was tempered with a certain proud repose of feeling 
 hitherto unknown since the intense mortification of July. 
 
 The body of the dead hero so gallantly snatched from the 
 enemy by his slain chief of staff, was carried from city to city, 
 lying everywhere in state, and visited by vast crowds at each, 
 as it passed slowly across the continent heralded and accompanied 
 by continuous strains of funeral music to the last resting-place, 
 where it still reposes, by the shores of the far Pacific. 
 
36 THE DISASTROUS BATTLE OP BALL'S BLUFF 
 
 To his friend in peace and right arm in battle 
 this tribute is presented by his brother, 
 
 A. C. BAKEB, M.D. 
 
 Surgeon 71et Regt. Pa. Vols. 
 
 'Twas a calm October morning, 
 Long before the East was gray, 
 
 That our Chief received the order 
 Straight to marshall the array. 
 
 Lightly from his narrow war-couch 
 Gaily up the Hero sprung, 
 
 Cheerful as if called to banquet, 
 Or to join the festive throng. 
 
 Promptly was each order given, 
 And before the morn was light, 
 
 His beloved and own battalion 
 Proudly marched to find the fight. 
 
 As he started, I addressed him, 
 "Brother, brother, mind today 
 
 You but do a General's duty, 
 Do not seek the thickest fray. 
 
 "Think how much the country needs you, 
 
 Think your life is not your own, 
 Do not seek the hottest battle, 
 Do not venture forth alone!" 
 
 "If the day goes lightly with us, 
 If I deem the field our own, 
 I'll but do a General's duty, 
 Wistar leads the column on. 
 
 "But if overborne by numbers, 
 We are like to lose the day, 
 If my own battalion falters 
 In the fury of the fray; 
 
 "Should I lose my valiant right arm, 
 
 If by rebel steel or ball 
 'Mid the smoke and shock of battle 
 
 Gallant Wistar chance to fall; 
 
VEHSES BY A. C. BAKER 
 
 "Then my own, the Senate's honor, 
 
 Western lands and Keystone State 
 Tell to me a General's duty 
 Is to dare a soldier's fate! 
 
 "They are trained to move like veterans 
 
 And like veterans they shall fight, 
 Never while I live to lead them, 
 Shall they turn their backs in flight! 
 
 "With the cold and silent bayonet 
 
 I will lead our freemen on; 
 Others then will tell the story 
 How the day is lost or won." 
 
 Vaulting on his tall bay charger 
 With a smile serene and bright, 
 
 Thus my gifted, gallant brother 
 Rode to that unequal fight. 
 
 My brother, Oh, my brother! 
 
 Brother that I loved so well, 
 Other pens must trace the story 
 
 How you fought and how you fell! 
 
 37 
 
 National Cemetery at Ball's Bluff, Virginia. 
 
 The stake marks the spot where General Baker fell. 
 
 Drawn by Frank H. Taylor. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 SKIRMISHES AND THE BATTLE OP ANTIETAM 
 
 Since these pages claim no higher purpose than a personal 
 narrative, some further particulars of my individual casualties 
 in the late affair may be allowable. My soldier stuck faith- 
 fully to me and with such aid as he could summon, led and 
 carried me down the bluff and did not leave me till he had waded 
 waist-deep into the river and deposited me sore, blood-soaked and 
 fainting on the extreme end of the row-boat, now the only craft 
 plying to Harrison's Island, the scow having already sunk. Here 
 with feet dragging in the water, I was held in place by an Irish- 
 man wounded in the legs, who kept me hugged close in both arms 
 exclaiming, "No fear for ye, Kornel; I'll hold ye fast or we'll 
 both go over together, jist." At the island I was deposited in a 
 farm-yard filled with wounded and dying men, ranged around the 
 enclosure with heads to the fence, where our excellent Surgeon 
 Dwinelle soon made my condition easier by administering stimu- 
 lants and tying up my arm in some skillful way, so as to avoid the 
 unspeakable agony of the grating ends of the fractured bones. 
 While engaged at this work, a rifle bullet flying clear of our men on 
 the bluff and just missing the Surgeon, struck a fence-rail within 
 a foot of my head, filling my eyes with rotten wood. As this was 
 more than the Surgeon had enlisted for, I begged him to leave me 
 and retire to a safer place, to which he gallantly replied, "No, 
 I have always obeyed you, before but you are under my orders 
 now and I am not going to leave you till you are in safe condition 
 to send off to camp." The fact was that this field-hospital had 
 been under similar fire all day, and some of the wounded had 
 actually been killed in the Doctor's hands, but neither Surgeon nor 
 assistant had flinched, remaining hard at work till far into the 
 
 38 
 
RECOVERING FROM THREE WOUNDS 39 
 
 night, sending off their patients as fast as they could be tem- 
 porarily recovered enough for the purpose; and most of the 
 supposed wounded remaining, had already departed for a land 
 where no surgeon is needed. In due tune I was carried across the 
 Maryland branch of the river, placed on a stretcher and carried 
 two miles by men of our second battalion, who declined assistance 
 from the large force now assembled, and deposited me in a small 
 house near the regimental camp. Here I lay nine weeks, during 
 most of which time it was not practicable even to change the 
 sheets. The flesh wounds soon closed, and even the elbow mostly 
 healed over but afterwards had to be laid open by a severe and 
 painful operation for the purpose of extracting pieces of bone 
 and lead inadvertently missed at the first dressings. It was 
 after this operation, as I understood, that the more serious feature 
 of the case appeared. First my life, and later the arm, was 
 claimed by such medical wisdom as could be assembled in judg- 
 ment, but they were ultimately induced to relent and leave me in 
 possession of both. Maggots appeared in the wound, and though 
 occasionally removed in considerable quantity, derived more en- 
 joyment than they afforded me, pasturing and disporting them- 
 selves up and down the feeding ground so providentially supplied 
 them. Finally, as it became evident that I was to suffer anchy- 
 losis of the principal joints, the arm was fixed in the position 
 and at the angle it has ever since retained, and one of my faithful 
 surgeons aided by a small detail, carried me home to Phila- 
 delphia, where I was placed in my father's house just in time for 
 the Christmas festivities. 
 
 I soon learned to write with the left hand and continued 
 to do so until the left arm was injured and partly paralyzed 
 by a wound received later at Antietam, when I perforce returned 
 to the use of the right hand. Though the fingers are perma- 
 nently fixed in a position but slightly bent and cannot be closed, 
 this remains on the whole the most useful hand, and by using 
 a thick-handled pen, and keeping extended all the fingers except 
 the index, answers reasonably well for writing. Though the 
 practical loss of the right arm by anchylosis of all joints below 
 the shoulder, including fingers, is, as I can from long experi- 
 
40 SKIRMISHES AND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM 
 
 ence aver, an irreparable one, often entailing privations at 
 times and places least looked for, yet apart from constant petty 
 inconveniences, one of the most regretful to me has been the 
 deprivation of riding, always before one of my chiefest pleasures. 
 It is hard for one fond of a high-spirited horse to come down 
 to a plain animal adapted to the necessities of an infirm rider, 
 and yet if anyone will try the experiment of putting the right 
 hand in his pocket, and binding the left elbow to the body, he 
 will soon be convinced that the free use of at least one arm is 
 required to ride with pleasure, comfort, or even safety. I have 
 been twice run away with while reviewing strange troops, who no 
 doubt attributed the exhibition to another cause; have repeatedly 
 had to accept the aid of staff officers and orderlies, and suffered 
 so many minor accidents and mortifications, that after the war I 
 was constrained to abandon riding entirely. 
 
 While lying ill near Poolesville, before my physical condi- 
 tion was at the worst, I was reminded of the prisoners sent 
 to the rear by Markoe's company. These were a Lieut. Berry and 
 two or three men of his regiment, the 8th Virginia. A day or 
 two after the action, I therefore sent for the officer, who in 
 the prevailing gloom and disorganization, had been thus far 
 detained in the regimental guard quarters, and about dark he came 
 into my bedroom in a state of just indignation at having had his 
 amis secured by a slight ligature at the elbows. In reply to my 
 indignant looks, the young officer of the guard explained that he 
 could not endure the risk of our only prisoner getting away while 
 in his charge, and as it was necessary to bring him a considerable 
 distance through thick and dark woods with but one assistant, he 
 had ventured to resort to this precaution though the prisoner had 
 been scrupulously well treated in other respects as indeed he 
 admitted. No doubt I should have ordered the bonds removed 
 unconditionally and immediately, but since the indignity was an 
 accomplished fact, I hastily and improperly offered to have the 
 bonds off if he would give his parole not to attempt escape till 
 delivered at Division Headquarters. This was done and I thought 
 no more of the circumstance for some days, when Gen. Stone paid 
 me a visit and remarked that he had received a flag of truce from 
 
SERVING UNDER GENERAL JOHN SEDGWICK 41 
 
 the Confederate Gen. Beauregard, sent partly for the courteous 
 purpose of conveying some papers found in Gen. Baker's over- 
 coat left on the field of battle, and partly to complain of me for the 
 above violation of the rights of a prisoner of war. It seemed 
 that Berry had been sent to Washington and confined in the Old 
 Capital prison, from which he had escaped by letting himself 
 down one stormy night from an upper story by strips of blanket, 
 successfully evaded the sentinels, swam the Potomac, and re- 
 turned to his command. I was of course properly mortified and 
 self-rebuked at the just construction thus placed on the condition 
 I had thoughtlessly imposed, but Stone said he had already ex- 
 plained the circumstances and offered sufficient verbal reparation 
 on my behalf. 
 
 About the end of October, Brig.-Gen. Wm. W. Burns of the 
 regular army, an agreeable gentleman, and one of the most able 
 and judicious brigade commanders of the army, was assigned to the 
 command of our brigade, and from that auspicious event dated the 
 scientific perfection of discipline, drill and esprit which was 
 soon to render it a model of efficiency, and give it distinction 
 even among the veterans of the far-famed Second Corps, which 
 notwithstanding its innumerable fights, victories and defeats, 
 proudly boasted that it had 'never lost a color or a gun' till 
 the bloody, and to it, well-nigh fatal campaign of 1864. In 
 January I rejoined the regiment with a number of Philadelphia 
 recruits, and soon after, the 71st was reorganized into an ordinary 
 ten-company regiment, for which the recent destruction of offi- 
 cers furnished the opportunity. General John Sedgwick suc- 
 ceeded Stone as Division Commander, and General E. V. Sumner 
 took command of the Second Corps; both officers whose well-won 
 reputations now and henceforth belong to the general history of 
 the country. 
 
 On the 28th of February, Sedgwick's Division left its can- 
 tonment near Poolesville and marched in support of Bank's 
 Corps then moving up the Shenandoah Valley against Jackson. 
 The route was by Sandy Hook to Harper's Ferry, where the Poto- 
 mac was crossed on pontoons, and thence by Bolivar Heights and 
 Charleston to Berryville. Jackson having declined battle and 
 
42 SKIRMISHES AND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM 
 
 retired from Winchester before Bank's advance, the Division 
 returned to Harper's Ferry, where it took cars for Washington 
 and marched thence without delay to Alexandria to take trans- 
 ports for the Peninsula. March 28th, Burns' Brigade embarked 
 for Fortress Monroe, the 71st and part of the 69th being crowded 
 into a steamer which also towed behind it some large barges con- 
 veying the men, horses and guns of a battery of artillery. On the 
 second day a heavy gale of wind with thick snow rendered in- 
 visible everything outside the vessel, and as the captain could 
 only feel his way slowly by compass and lead, there was much 
 danger of collision with the barges in tow, or with some of the 
 numerous fleet of transports, which must have occasioned a 
 large loss of life. Under the circumstances, I ordered the steamer 
 and her tow into the nearest harbor accessible, where we lay 
 one night at anchor, the whole voyage thus occupying four days. 
 The 4th and 5th of April were consumed by the march of 
 the army in two columns to Yorktown, where it was confronted by 
 the enemy under Magruder, whose fortified lines extended across 
 the peninsula, reinforced by a number of closed works of strength 
 and importance. During the famous siege that followed, the rain 
 fell daily, almost without exception, the roads were impassable, 
 and while part of the army was employed in developing the 
 enemy's works and batteries by strong reconnoissances, a still 
 larger part was necessarily occupied in constructing corduroy 
 roadways along our line, to render possible the prompt inter- 
 change of guns and troops. The 71st had its share in both kinds 
 of work, and I had the honor to command one of the reconnois- 
 sances, which was the first occasion that I found myself entrusted 
 with two regiments. The movement was to escort an engineer 
 officer, and cover his observations of the hostile works and posi- 
 tions. As it rained all day, the engineer sat on his horse so well- 
 enveloped in a large cloak that little was generally to be seen 
 of him but his spectacles. We blundered twice under the enemy's 
 infantry fire and lost a man or two, which I was not allowed 
 to reciprocate, but on the contrary backed out so quickly under 
 the Major's directions, that in my ignorance I formed a private 
 opinion by no means favorable to his enterprise. The ludicrous 
 
SENT HOME ILL PBOM YORKTOWN 43 
 
 dimensions of that error will be best understood when it is added 
 that the officer was Major A. A. Humphreys, than whom no soldier 
 ever knew better when to accept and when to decline to fight. 
 When he later assumed command of troops, he at once took and 
 maintained the character of one of the most prompt and daring 
 officers of the whole army, without in the least sacrificing the 
 careful and orderly methods which equally distinguished him 
 when conducting a petty reconnoissance at Yorktown, or direct- 
 ing as chief of staff, the general movements of the Army of the 
 Potomac. 
 
 Though difficulties of communications and scarcity of sup- 
 plies were well known to all the armies in the civil war, no 
 other campaign was attended with more privation, sickness and 
 death than prevailed in the muddy trenches at Yorktown. A 
 thousand pounds or less was a good load for a six-mule team, and 
 the necessary ammunition and other military stores could only be 
 distributed at the front by a corresponding neglect of other 
 pressing necessities of the soldier. It was frequently necessary 
 to march a regiment several miles to the landing to carry back a 
 few days' rations on their own backs. The result of hard work, 
 constant exposure by night as well as by day, with inadequate food 
 was wholesale sickness; which kept the actual strength and mobil- 
 ity of the army reduced to a low figure. Bilious and malarial 
 fevers, with diarrhea and typhoid were the prevailing forms of 
 disease, and during the month of April caused a greater loss to the 
 Army of the Potomac than many a famous and hard-fought battle 
 of later date. The 71st lost several promising young officers and 
 many men, and toward the end of the siege I was myself attacked 
 with the usual typhoidal symptoms, and after vainly trying to 
 resist for a few days, on the day before the troops entered the 
 place, was carried in an unconscious condition to a hospital-steamer 
 lying in York River, a few miles below. 
 
 I have never had the least recollection of the journey or arrival, 
 and my first intelligent memory of what transpired on the steamer, 
 is my capture one night by two Sisters of Charity, as, after escaping 
 from my cot, I was wandering aimlessly about the cabin. They 
 conducted me back to bed, and it was owing mainly to their 
 
44 SKIRMISHES AND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM 
 
 unremitting and charitable care that I at last reached a condition 
 of recovery that permitted my conveyance home in a small detail of 
 convalescents, where I was a second time safely deposited in bed 
 at my father's house. Here a relapse occurred, as is not unusual 
 in such cases; all knowledge of military events was forbidden me, 
 and it was only after a long and severe struggle that youth, tem- 
 perate habits and an unsurpassed constitution carried me safely 
 through, though with the loss of one-third my weight. 
 
 As soon as I could get out of the house, I embraced the oppor- 
 tunity of carrying into effect a certain previous engagement, and 
 was married on the 9th of July, 1862, by the Rev. Henry J. Mor- 
 ton, at the old St. James Church at Seventh and St. James 
 Street, to Sarah Toland, second daughter of Robert and Rebecca 
 Toland, both previously deceased; a union which, I may be per- 
 mitted to add, has been crowned with every happiness that can be 
 reasonably expected from that happy relation. 2 
 
 It was not till the army had fought its way through the Seven 
 Days' Battles, and encamped at Harrison's Landing on the James, 
 that I was able to report for duty. During that series of battles 
 the 71st, besides minor affairs, had been twice severely engaged, 
 first at Savage Station, where the brigade by a decisive repulse of 
 the enemy in superior force, had successfully covered the crossing 
 at "White Oak swamp, and next at Nelson's farm, or Glendale, 
 on an occasion of historical importance to the army and the 
 country. The two corps of Longstreet and A. P. Hill, debouching 
 by two roads against the flank of our army at that central point, 
 had already struck and demolished McCalPs Division, capturing 
 its artillery and many prisoners, including that General himself, 
 when it encountered Burns' Brigade hastily put in place and 
 strengthened by the 19th Massachusetts. Burns himself has 
 publicly declared that with this force of five regiments he checked 
 and held the 30,000 men of those victorious columns for nearly an 
 hour, and until troops freshly brought up rendered that vital 
 point secure. Had the Army of the Potomac then in motion 
 to a new base and presenting its flank to the enemy on a line twenty 
 
 1 Mrs. Wistar died, without issue, at Philadelphia, January 11, 1895. 
 
NOTABLE ENGAGEMENTS OF THE SEVENTY-FIRST 45 
 
 miles long, with its rear engaged and held by Jackson at White 
 Oak Swamp been cut in two at Glendale without connection 
 either with its old or new base, the defeat must have been of such a 
 ruinous character as to destroy it for all aggressive purposes at 
 least. 
 
 This was the first of two celebrated occasions when it fell to the 
 lot of this brigade to defend successfully the center of the same 
 army against similar efforts to cut it in two, and defeat it in detail. 
 The other was at Gettysburg where the celebrated charge of 
 Pickett first fell upon, and was repulsed by, two of its regiments 
 the 69th and 71st. The losses of the 71st in the Seven Days' 
 Battles were necessarily heavy, but owing to the loss of its books 
 and baggage on the abandonment of Savage Station, have never 
 been separately reported. After a short rest at Harrison's Land- 
 ing, the Army of the Potomac, contrary to the plans and wish 
 of its commander, was hastily recalled to Alexandria by the 
 Government, in consequence of the disasters threatening Gen. 
 Pope on the Rapidan. On the 29th of August, Sedgwick's Divi- 
 sion marched twenty miles to Chain Bridge, on false information, 
 and, after two hours' halt, was again put in motion toward the 
 heavy firing then in progress near the old field of Bull Run. At 
 noon on the 31st, after a march of forty miles, only interrupted by 
 two hours' sleep, it reached Centreville, and took position to cover 
 the disastrous defeat and flight of Pope, whose disorganized regi- 
 ments and frightened rabble, was passed through its lines. Sep- 
 tember 1st, Burns' Brigade, now commanded by Gen. O. O. 
 Howard, in consequence of Burns' absence from a severe face- 
 wound received at Glendale, made a reconnoissance some miles 
 to the right, where the 71st struck and engaged the flanking regi- 
 ments of Lee's army, then in march for the Potomac. Here 
 occurred a trifling incident not without interest as showing the 
 value of a facetious word at the right moment. The skirmish line 
 being sharply engaged with the enemy partly sheltered behind a 
 row of hay-stacks, the reserve, held ready in line, came under a 
 hot fire which it had to stand and endure without returning; a 
 condition irksome and unsteadying to any troops. Having left 
 my horse in a safe place I had already lost three, and was getting 
 
46 SKIRMISHES AND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM 
 
 economical of horse-flesh I was standing with the reserve, waiting 
 for the proper moment to use it, when a stout young recruit 
 suddenly dropped his musket, and pulled up his foot with both 
 hands as if wounded. A glance showed that a ball had torn open 
 his trousers below the knee without hurting him, and as several 
 men were already laid out, and the reserve was evidently not 
 enjoying its position, it seemed a good time for converting the 
 solemn into the facetious, which was done by a single remark: 
 "Young fellow, a bullet never hits twice in the same place; if you 
 will take off those trousers I will give you ten dollars for them." 
 The row of long and solemn faces relaxed into a giggle, and the 
 reserve recovered its cheerfulness. Its firmness had never been in 
 question. 3 
 
 At night, Sedgwick's Division having been assigned as rear- 
 guard to cover the retreat of the routed column retiring by the 
 left-hand road that next the enemy moved off after dark in 
 the discharge of what, judging by that night's experience, is the 
 most arduous of all military duty. The 71st, with Sully's 1st 
 Minnesota, had the honor to be detached by Sedgwick as extreme 
 Division rearguard, with instructions to Sully and myself to 
 co-operate, and make the best fight we could in case of pressure, 
 without reference to the General, since communication with him 
 was sure to be difficult or impossible. The road was a narrow cart 
 way through a dense and dark pine, or cedar forest, crowded by 
 thousands of disorganized troops and fragments of commands; 
 disorderly wagon trains; guns without officers; caissons without 
 guns; and in short, a hopeless and irredeemable mob. It was 
 necessary for the Division to be held compact, and ready for action 
 to sustain its own rearguard if necessary, while it fell to the latter 
 to keep order by any means however summary; shove on the 
 trains; push forward the mob; drive up the stragglers; and protect 
 
 1 This thorough and timely reconnoissance by two regiments of the Philadelphia 
 Brigade the 71st and 72d disclosed Lee's solid columns in motion by their left 
 to the rear of the Union Army, and led to the all-important check they received at 
 Chantilly, on the same afternoon. Colonel Allan in his excellent work on the 
 Army of Northern Virginia, states that it was ordered by Pope, but erroneously 
 declares on the authority of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart that "it was not made." (Army 
 of Northern Virginia, By Col. William Allan, pp. 314). 
 
PERFORMING REARGUARD DUTY 47 
 
 the whole by showing firm face to the pursuit, defeating it if 
 possible, but, at all hazards, holding it in check till aid should be 
 summoned from the mass of the Division in front. 
 
 These dispositions proved successful against a pursuit both 
 able and aggressive, partly because of the cheerful courage and 
 ability of Sully, and partly because of the unbounded confidence 
 we both had in Sedgwick, whom, as he had predicted, we had no 
 further opportunity of seeing through the night, but who we well 
 knew, would not abandon us. The plan arranged between Sully 
 and myself was simple enough and of no very difficult execution, 
 provided we could keep ahead and clear of us, the rabble, whom we 
 dare not allow to mingle with or hang about our troops. For 
 this essential purpose, a small provost guard, under carefully 
 picked officers, was extemporized, with such imperative and severe 
 orders respecting teamsters and stragglers, as might not have 
 found favor with theoretical patriots at home. In case of attack 
 from the rear, one regiment would take position and deploy for 
 resistance, while the other would gain distance and repeat the 
 process, to cover the retreat of the first through and beyond it. 
 The two Colonels always to remain on or near the road for confer- 
 ence, if required. The two regiments, slowly driving the rout 
 before them, had not advanced far when some light guns opened 
 on them from the rear, the shells passing over us, and bursting 
 among the rabble in front, causing among them a panic, restrained 
 with the greatest difficulty. Since this showed it necessary to 
 keep the enemy at a greater distance, even at the risk of prolong- 
 ing to a dangerous extent our exposed flanks, the 71st was deployed 
 to the rear, on both sides of the road, in two battalions aligned at 
 an obtuse angle with each other, while the column moved on. 
 After remaining here long enough, as was supposed, to give the 
 column a sufficient advance, the enemy's shot striking ground in 
 our rear without much damage, I was about getting the regiment 
 into the road to resume the march, when I caught sound of the 
 tread of horses, who under cover of the thick woods and impene- 
 trable darkness, had approached within a few yards. Not being 
 certain the cavalry was hostile, I challenged in person: "Halt, 
 advance one with the countersign, quick, or you will get the fire of 
 
48 SKIRMISHES AND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM 
 
 a brigade." "Fire and be d d," came through the darkness, as 
 the order rang out, and the cavalry of the enemy's advanced 
 guard gallantly made its charge. I had barely time to gallop to 
 the rear of a battalion and give the order: "Fire by battalion; 
 right battalion ready, aim, fire, load. ' ' ' ' Left battalion ready, aim, 
 fire, load." The two volleys crossing each other at such short 
 distance, quickly disposed of the small cavalry force, leaving the 
 road full of dead and struggling horses, with not a few of the 
 riders; and, after pushing a slight reconnoissance to the rear where 
 the enemy was found in force, a small regimental rearguard was 
 suitably disposed and the march resumed. 
 
 We had not gone far before we met Sully and his Adjutant 
 galloping back to learn the extent of the collision, from whom the 
 satisfactory information was received that the 1st Minnesota was 
 already in line of battle in a fine position half a mile ahead. The 
 71st marched through it, receiving vociferous cheers for its success, 
 and obtained a similar position in its turn, and this system was 
 continued through the night with sundry variations, but entire 
 success; the enemy's guns pressing close behind, occasionally 
 reaching the column with a few shell thrown over the heads of the 
 rearguard, or from some flank position, but on the whole doing 
 little damage. Of course, as a military operation by rearguard, 
 all this would have been simple enough, but for the immense mass 
 of worthless and panic-stricken stragglers crowded between us 
 and the rest of the Division, which made it practically inaccessi- 
 ble, and rendered quick support from it impossible. Many 
 hundred perhaps thousands of Germans from the routed Divi- 
 sion of Siegel, had abandoned their colors, thrown away their 
 arms, and deliberately gone to sleep around fires kindled in the 
 woods, a spectacle most exasperating to our men, since these 
 stragglers could have no other design than to be taken prisoners 
 after the passage of the rearguard. The soldiers in ranks begged 
 to be let loose on these 'coffee-boilers,' promising there should be 
 none left for the enemy; but the integrity of the rearguard was of 
 too much importance to permit risking it, even for that just ven- 
 geance. Nevertheless, such stragglers did not all go unwhipt of 
 justice. Unfortunately, the Adjutant's horse being killed and no 
 
STOBY OF A WEST POINT LIEUTENANT 49 
 
 Major present, the only mounted regimental officers were Lieut.- 
 Col. Jones and myself, who, when otherwise unoccupied, busied 
 ourselves with charging into these sleeping squads of loafers, to 
 the intense delight of the gallant fellows of the hard-worked rear- 
 guard. Lieut.-Col. Jones was a well-qualified young West Pointer, 
 recently appointed to the regiment at my request. He was not 
 long with the regiment before he received the appointment of 
 Colonel of the 34th Ohio, and was killed at its head as it mounted 
 the earthworks at Chickamauga. An amusing adventure occurred 
 to another young West Pointer, on that night. A small and 
 remarkably worthless regiment of volunteer cavalry had been 
 sent early in the night to co-operate with the rearguard, but was 
 so badly commanded that its only tendency was to disorder the 
 infantry by clinging to its flanks, and dashing suddenly in upon it 
 from time to time. Sully and I soon concluded we could do better 
 without it, and in order to get rid of it, ordered it forward to report 
 to Sedgwick, with the request to the General for even a single 
 troop of good cavalry if possible to spare it. In due time a young 
 West Point Lieutenant with about twenty regular cavalry reported 
 from the General, and was promptly set to work. 
 
 The Lieutenant, whom I now only remember as 'Johnny,' 
 was a brave and capable young fellow, crossing swords with the 
 enemy's scouting parties on our flanks whenever they gave him 
 the opportunity, and retreating upon the infantry in perfect order, 
 when pressed. But having been with his troops in the saddle for 
 several days, both men and horses were fairly exhausted, and to- 
 ward morning suddenly disappeared entirely. Nothing was heard 
 of him for some days, when he suddenly rejoined the army on a 
 'private exchange' (of prisoners) with the following mournful 
 story. Finding himself, near daybreak, on an elevated piece of 
 cleared ground, with the pursuit slackening, and no enemy at hand 
 he thought it a good opportunity to give men and horses a few 
 minutes' rest. The horses were therefore unbitted, and the men 
 lay down without sentinels, Johnny intending to keep awake, or 
 get awake within ten mintues and go on with his business like a 
 giant refreshed. He knew, or thought he knew the position of the 
 column in the road by the irregular and intermittent pounding of 
 
50 SKIRMISHES AND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM 
 
 the pursuing guns, and thought that for such a very few minutes 
 he might avoid sacrificing the rest of even one sentinel. But the 
 Confederate Cavalry of General Fitz-Hugh Lee, just then carefully 
 exploring our flank to find where he could best strike, came sud- 
 denly upon and surrounded the whole squad, capturing it entire. 
 In fact the men were so dead-beat they had to be stirred up with 
 difficulty, one by one, to receive the polite invitation to surrender. 
 Johnny having given his personal parole for the purpose of keeping 
 out of the Confederate Provost Marshal's hands as long as possible, 
 was sent to the rear and invited to make himself at home in Lee's 
 tent. There he devoted himself for a day or two to solid sleep, 
 when his host returned and informed him that this parole must 
 expire next day, when he would be under the disagreeable neces- 
 sity of ' turning him in.' Nevertheless, he should first meet a lot 
 of his old West Point acquaintances at dinner, for which purpose a 
 number of Confederate West Pointers were assembled and John- 
 ny's misfortune freely discussed over whiskey and roast potatoes, 
 the captive's heart being made sore by the sound, but now super- 
 fluous advice, never to do it again without affording himself ' at 
 least one sentinel.' But Johnny continued so low-spirited over 
 this ignominious check to his budding career, that a private 
 exchange was at last procured for him general ones not being 
 then permitted and he returned to us with resolutions concerning 
 sentinels as firm and uncompromising as were ever formed in a 
 soldier's breast. 
 
 About daylight, the pursuit having ceased, Sedgwick's hard- 
 worked Division halted and went into camp at Langley, near the 
 Potomac, and after a day's rest the whole Second Corps marched 
 to Tenallytown, Md. As it was supposed some time would be 
 devoted here to restoring and refitting the army of the Potomac, I 
 took the opportunity to telegraph for my wife, who immediately 
 came down in charge of her brother, who returned by the next 
 train. He had not been gone an hour when intelligence was 
 received of the reappointment of McClellan to the command of the 
 Army, together with his orders for an immediate march against 
 Lee, who had crossed the Potomac into Maryland. There was no 
 means of getting an escort to Washington for Mrs. Wistar, and 
 the best I could do was to place her and Mrs. Rizer, wife of the 
 
INFANTRY CHARGE CAVALRY SUCCESSFULLY 51 
 
 Surgeon of the 72nd, in an ambulance belonging to a hospital 
 train under command of a lieutenant of our brigade. 
 
 The Second and Twelfth Corps, both under command of 
 Sumner, marched at noon, September 4th, by way of Rockville 
 and Clarksburg to Hyattstown. Burns being still disabled by his 
 wound, Howard continued in command of our brigade. The 
 quiet Maryland village of Hyattstown lay at the bottom of a wide 
 and deep gorge of the Monocacy, where the main road of our 
 advance was intersected by a cross-road following the line of the 
 river. When the head of the column arrived at the brink of the 
 ravine whence it looked down on the town and cross-roads, it was 
 halted by Sumner, who by way of a delicate compliment to the 
 71st for its recent service, sent it forward to explore and clear the 
 ravine of the enemy's rearguard before involving the mass of the 
 column. After descending the hill and fording the river, half the 
 regiment was left at the cross-roads with orders to send out a 
 company to right and left to clear and hold the two roads, while the 
 remaining five companies were deployed, covered well with a 
 skirmish-line and pushed on up the hill driving the enemy's few 
 skirmishers before them. Not a citizen was to be seen in the town, 
 the houses being closed and the inhabitants in the cellars, as our 
 batteries had commenced throwing shell over it and us, at the 
 enemy near the top of the hill, not yet visible to us. The enemy's 
 retiring skirmishers of dismounted cavalrymen being reinforced, 
 were able to retard our progress somewhat, and, as we approached 
 the hill-top our batteries ceased firing over us, indicating that the 
 enemy not yet visible to us, had either retired beyond their range, 
 or that we were getting close to their position. Sending back an 
 order for the reserve to advance half its force in support,the leading 
 companies pushed on through a field of tall corn, emerging directly 
 upon a cavalry column just arrived and commencing a hasty and 
 disorderly deployment. There were two things that might be 
 done, and not much time to choose between them; viz., to form 
 square and wait then 1 attack, or taking advantage of their condi- 
 tion, go right for them. As all the field-glasses in the Second Corps 
 Staff were no doubt levelled at us from the high ground across the 
 river, the last was adopted, and a headlong charge of infantry on 
 cavalry was executed without wasting a minute. 
 
52 SKIRMISHES AND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM 
 
 I do not know of any other such charge against mounted 
 cavalry, and am aware it is nowhere recommended in the text- 
 books, but under the circumstances this one proved eminently 
 successful, the enemy falling at once into a disorder which he 
 found impossible to remedy under pressure, and was forced to 
 make a rapid retreat to restore his line. The reserve companies 
 coming up, a long thin line was formed with wide intervals and 
 refused wings. The wounded prisoners reporting Baker's brigade 
 of Confederate cavalry in front of us, with infantry at no great 
 distance, the information was sent back to Sumner, and as it was 
 now dark, we proceeded to bivouac on the ground gained, feeling 
 extensively in front and on both flanks with patrols. Late in the 
 evening Col. Sully arrived with his regiment and two light guns 
 without caissons, with orders to hold the ground, but make no 
 such aggressive movement as might bring on an engagement too 
 big for us to manage. Now as we knew of a whole cavalry brigade 
 in front, and were aware that the rear of Longstreet's Corps could 
 not be far off, and we were at least three miles from any possible 
 reinforcements, with two roads intersecting our only practicable 
 connection with them, a remarkably fine chance was presented for 
 an enterprising enemy to surround and capture our two isolated 
 regiments. As I did not crave for the honor either of defeat or 
 surrender, I proposed to Sully to take command, on his rank as an 
 officer of the regular army. He however insisted that I possessed 
 the oldest commission, which I could not deny, and after some 
 friendly sparring we agreed to share the command between us, 
 and he undertook to post guards and pickets in the woods on the 
 left, while I attended to the open country on the right. After 
 that was done it came on to rain, and S. and I passed a miserable 
 night sitting on the ground under a dripping tree, holding our 
 wretched horses and kept constantly on the alert by the numerous 
 collisions of pickets. The men had a day's rations in haversacks, 
 but the officers had nothing, and S. and I, with our respective 
 Adjutants, were reduced to sup on a bottle of whiskey which he 
 fortunately had in his holsters. 
 
 Just before daylight a negro body-servant of the Confederate 
 Col. Baker, who had got entangled inside our lines in looking for a 
 
CONTROVERSY WITH GENERAL HOWARD 53 
 
 lost horse, was captured in an effort to get away. Feeling his way 
 along our picket-line he dropped into the road beyond the guard 
 but was picked up by a single sentinel concealed a hundred yards 
 beyond, and brought in. The darkey refused to tell anything, but 
 his captors being hungry and wet, and not in a mood to trifle, he 
 was placed on a horse with a noose round his neck, the other end 
 of which was run over a low limb and fastened. When all was 
 ready, and a single blow from the flat of a sabre would have started 
 the horse and launched the darkey into space, he weakened and 
 promised to tell all he knew. The cheeks and throat of the negro 
 at this critical moment entirely changed color, strange as it may 
 seem, presenting a dirty greenish-white appearance. This sur- 
 prising physical phenomenon which was noticed by all, is my only 
 reason for noting such a trifling circumstance. 
 
 At daybreak we could see the head of Sumner's column in 
 motion winding down the hill beyond the river, and knew that we 
 were no longer in danger of a Confederate prison. Two days later 
 when approaching the town of Frederick Lee evacuating the 
 country before us General Howard, the new brigade comman- 
 der, had the impudence to place me in arrest for refusing to obey 
 his order to consolidate my battered drum crops, with the spick and 
 span new corps of another regiment that had never seen an enemy 
 till after the 71st had lost nearly 400 men in action. 
 
 On my refusal, twice repeated to his A. D. C., possibly with 
 more emphasis than was absolutely necessary, General Howard 
 ordered me into arrest but declined to receive my sword; I retired 
 as in duty bound to the rear of the regiment, surrendering com- 
 mand to the senior captain, no field officer being present. Howard 
 preferred charges for Disobedience of Orders, of which he sent me 
 a copy, when the following correspondence occurred. I copy from 
 the old papers now lying before me, nearly illegible from being 
 soaked in my blood in the following battle of Antietam. 
 
 Hdqrs. Burns Brigade, Frederick, Sept. 13, 1862. 
 COLONEL: Gen. Howard directs me to say that the above charges 
 and specifications will not be forwarded until ample time has been given 
 for written explanations. Very Respectfully Your Obed. Servant, 
 To COL. I. J. WISTAR. E. WHITTLESEY, A. A. G. 
 
54 SKIRMISHES AND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM 
 
 CAPTAIN : I have no explanation to offer, either written or verbal. If 
 I or my regiment deserved censure which has never been the opinion of 
 more experienced Brigade Commanders a better mode of administering 
 it might have been selected than the insidious insult of breaking it up into 
 detachments to swell the pageant of another. I have the honor to be, 
 Sir,, with respect 
 
 ISAAC J. WISTAB, 
 Sept. 13th, 1862. Col. Gala. Regiment, (in arrest). 
 
 P. S. I have no stationery but this old envelope. 
 
 On receipt of the last, General Howard sent for me, and I went 
 late at night to the tent-fly under which he was sitting, surrounded 
 by his staff, assembled I presume to be taught a lesson in the nice- 
 ties of personal and official dignity. As I entered, H. rose and 
 ordered some of them to get me a cracker-box as a seat, to which 
 I replied that I preferred standing. Then, with swelling dignity: 
 "Sir, I consider your communication insulting, and manifestly 
 intended to be so." No answer. "When you receive an official 
 order, it should be at once obeyed and explanations asked after- 
 wards." No answer. "Will you obey the order now?" "No 
 sir, never." "What is your objection?" "I decline to converse 
 about it. You have preferred charges. I will defend myself 
 only before the Court or your superiors." "Well, I must inform 
 you that Gen. Sedgwick discourages the charges, thinking you must 
 be under some misapprehension." "No misapprehension what- 
 ever, sir." "Well, but the order was Gen. Sedgwick's and merely 
 transmitted through me." "Then, sir, why did you not so specify 
 as usual with a transmitted order, and it would have been in- 
 stantly obeyed." "Do you mean to say that you regard Gen. 
 S.'s orders as more obligatory than mine?" "No sir, not his 
 military orders. But this is not a military order; it refers simply 
 to regimental pageantry. Gen. Sedgwick knows me and my 
 regiment well, and we know him, and would obey without ques- 
 tion any order whatever from him, knowing he had some good 
 
 reason." 
 
 This, though it could hardly have soothed the General's ruffled 
 dignity, ended the discussion and he released me from arrest and 
 abandoned the charges. On inquiring about it later from General 
 Sedgwick, he informed me the order was neither his nor Howard's 
 
A PART OF GENERAL HOWARD'S HISTORY 55 
 
 but came from Sumner, the Corps Commander, and was general in 
 terms, being simply intended to consolidate the drum corps of each 
 two regiments for better effect on the doubtful loyalty of the large 
 town of Frederick; Howard having through inadvertence or other- 
 wise, chosen to give it a definite application by effacing the music 
 of his oldest regiment in favor of the youngest, instead of the con- 
 verse, as decency required. Being ostentatiously and aggressively 
 pious, his dislike of me was I suppose purely theological, since I 
 had stiffly declined to encourage or take part in the public wrest- 
 lings in prayer with which he bedeviled his staff, and edified the 
 admiring young newspaper reporters. By outliving his contem- 
 poraries, and cultivating an obsequious loyalty to the ruling party 
 and its demagogues, he has, without winning a single professional 
 success in his whole career, attained high parchment rank since the 
 war. The shameful surprise and flight of his Corps at Chancellors- 
 ville, which came near wrecking the army; his disastrous failure at 
 Gettysburg followed by his humiliating excuse to Gen. Meade, 
 and his futile and ludicrous chase across the continent after Joseph, 
 the civilized Nez Perces chief who though a peaceful husbandman, 
 untrained to war, and burdened with a numerous body of starved 
 and half-naked non-combatants, eluded for months the professed 
 soldier backed by twenty tunes his force are prominent and illus- 
 trative facts of his military career; while his record in civil life 
 must always remain tarnished by the unexplained evaporation of 
 the "Freedmen's" earnings by the ruin of their bank at Washing- 
 ton, of which he was President. 4 
 
 4 Editorial from The Philadelphia Inquirer, Friday, March 27, 1896. 
 
 THE OLD SOLDIERS SHOULD PROTEST 
 
 The Boston Herald says that Senator Hale and Congressman Dingley, both 
 of the State of Maine, have in charge a bill to confer upon General Howard, also 
 of the State of Maine, who is on the retired list of the regular army, the rank of 
 lieutenant-general. Should General Miles be made lieutenant-general, New 
 England, whose soldiers and military historians regret that she did not produce a 
 capable army commander during the Civil war, will have two lieutenant-generals 
 thirty-one years after the war is over. 
 
 Accompanying the Howard bill now before Congress is a statement dated Wash- 
 ington and signed by E. Moody Boynton formulating General Howard's claims 
 to the distinction proposed to be conferred upon that officer. This statement 
 
56 SKIRMISHES AND THE BATTLE OP ANTIETAM 
 
 On the 14th, the Second Corps made a forced march to the sound 
 of the guns at South Mountain, arriving after the pass at Turner's 
 Gap had been forced by our troops, and camped on the field of 
 battle. The troops engaged having made sufficient details for 
 bringing in the wounded and burying the dead, Sumner passed 
 
 is remarkable for its ignorance of history, for its malicious, audacious and 
 false attacks upon much greater soldiers than General Howard, and it is further 
 remarkable for its silence as to what that officer actually did, its avoidance of all 
 reference to what he failed to do upon the field of battle and the unblushing effront- 
 ery with which it attributes to General Howard acts of valor and military skill 
 performed by Generals Buford, Reynolds, Warren, Hancock and Meade at the 
 battle of Gettysburg. Here are some of the false assertions and false claims 
 made in the statement in General Howard's behalf: 
 
 "He saved his army and his country and secured the unwilling adoption of 
 his position and line by Major-General Meade with the entire army of the Potomac. 
 The plan of Meade was to have retreated to Pipe Clay Creek. . . . The 
 battle (of the first day) was over by 4.30 o'clock, when Hancock arrived. He 
 repeatedly on the second day sent messages to General Meade asking the occu- 
 pation of Little Round Top." 
 
 We are also told that Howard urged Meade to attack after the defeat of Pick- 
 ett's charge, and again at Williamsport and are assured that either attack would 
 have resulted in the annihilation of Lee's army. The claim is made that it was 
 Howard's artillery that swept Pickett's division from the face of the earth and 
 enabled the Nineteenth Massachusetts to capture what was left of it. 
 
 Such a statement would be unworthy of serious attention if it were not pro- 
 posed to spread it upon the records of Congress and to issue it in the form of a 
 public document. The representatives in Congress from other States than 
 Maine, especially the Senators and Representatives from Pennsylvania, the 
 soldiers upon the Military Committees of the Senate and House should see to it 
 that the government is not made ridiculous by indorsing assertions so ignorant, 
 false and unjust to great military heroes who, being dead, cannot defend them- 
 selves, but some of whom in their life time fully exposed Howard's military pre- 
 tensions. At one time he struggled to take from General Hancock the credit 
 of restoring order after the rout of Howard's corps on the first day. Now he 
 claims that the danger was over when Hancock arrived and that the responsibility 
 was trivial. 
 
 The monuments erected on the line of Howard's corps at Gettysburg are endur- 
 ing memorials of Howard's incapacity as a general. They show him to posterity 
 in the act of advancing to a range of hills beyond the roads upon which the enemy 
 were coming towards Gettysburg. Had he gained the hills the Confederates 
 would have come in behind him. His incompetency at Gettysburg was but a 
 repetition of his conduct at Chancellors ville. At Pittsburg he was lately warned 
 by veterans of the Army of the Potomac not to repeat some of the insinuations 
 which are expressed in the statement of the man Boynton. The surviving soldiers 
 of that army should send their protests to Congress against making General 
 Howard a paper lieutenant-general upon grounds that have no existence. 
 
A SHELL IN CAMP 57 
 
 through the Gap on the 15th, and marching through Boonsboro, 
 took position before dark, near Keedysville, on the centre of the 
 line now forming on Antietam Creek. 
 
 During the march to this place the advance had constantly 
 pressed Lee's rearguard, under Longstreet, and as an engagement 
 of any dimensions might occur from hour to hour, it had been pos- 
 sible for me to leave my command long enough to go to the rear to 
 see my wife only on two occasions. As the ambulance division fol- 
 lowed the troops at no great distance, I was naturally filled with 
 solicitude in moving through the bloody scenes of the battlefield of 
 South Mountain, at the reflection of the unwonted spectacles that 
 must there meet the ladies' eyes. But even these were exceeded 
 when, after passing though the contested Gap, we came upon the 
 Confederate field-hospitals in rear of their lost position. The 
 worst of these was a blacksmith-shop directly on the road, in 
 which an operating table had been rudely constructed, and the 
 amputated limbs thrown through the window, where they still lay 
 in a blue festering heap that would have filled two or three army 
 wagons. Piles of bloody and mutilated bodies of those who had 
 arrived too late, or had died under the surgeon's hands, encum- 
 bered the ground and roadside in front. All I could do was to 
 send a man to the rear with a note to the ambulance lieutenant, 
 begging him to arrange in some way that the ladies might escape 
 this sight; but I afterwards learned that he had not found that 
 practicable, and their sensibilities had been spared nothing. 
 
 The 16th was passed by McClellan in completing his concen- 
 tration, forming his line, and feeling by single batteries for the 
 enemy's artillery positions. One of our batteries had thought- 
 lessly opened from a slight ridge, behind which was bivouacked 
 Sedgwick's entire Division closed in mass, forming a compact rect- 
 angular body crowded as close as the men could lie behind their 
 stacks. I was sitting with Gen. Sedgwick on a wagon-tongue 
 opposite, and not far from the flank of this mass, when the enemy 
 opened with one of their batteries in reply. The first shots as 
 usual flew high, but as they approximated the range, their shells 
 began to strike in our battery, or missing it and the ridge, to fly 
 low over the infantry division in rear. Someone remarked on the 
 
58 SKIBMISHES AND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM 
 
 stupidity of uselessly drawing an artillery fire on a crowded mass 
 of infantry, and Sedgwick sent an aide to the battery to inquire for 
 what reason, or by whose orders they were posted at that partic- 
 ular spot. The officer had scarcely galloped off with the mes- 
 sage, when a shell skimming lightly over the ridge, whizzed low 
 over the men, causing thousands of heads to duck, and struck 
 fairly in the middle of my own regiment. From the stacked 
 muskets the men had stretched shelter tents for shade, and were 
 lying in all attitudes of rest, apparently covering every inch of 
 ground. Muskets, blankets, knapsacks and shelter- tents flew into 
 the air, and any spectator must have been shocked at what seemed 
 terrible havoc of a single shot. But on running over to ascertain 
 the damage, it turned out that with the exception of one man 
 struck square in the neck, not another one was even hurt; the 
 shell entering the ground without bursting. By comparing this 
 singular immunity with the effect of another shell which on a 
 subsequent occasion I saw strike and explode a limber chest, killing 
 or wounding thirteen men on the spot, one may form an idea of the 
 uncertain and chance results of this, the most striking and impos- 
 ing of all ordinary arms of offense. 
 
 The night of the 16th was showery, and Howard and I slept 
 under a few rails propped up, and partially covered with corn- 
 stalks. It being then known at headquarters that Hooker had 
 been severely checked in getting into position on the right, an 
 order came at 2 A.M. to inspect cartridge boxes; followed an hour 
 later by another to distribute forty additional rounds for the 
 trousers pockets. At four, the men were roused for coffee, and 
 soon after dawned with a brilliant but short-lived and delusive 
 sunshine, what all now knew was to be the day of battle. Knap- 
 sacks were piled, and every preparation made for instant move- 
 ment. Heavy firing of all arms advanced and retired on the right 
 (Hooker and Mansfield) but it was not till eight o'clock that an 
 aide came galloping down to Division Quarters waving in his hand 
 the order that we waited for. Though it would be superfluous to 
 give in this place any more ambitious description of the much- 
 discussed battle of Antietam, than such few items as concern the 
 
JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE 59 
 
 personal fortunes of the narrator, yet to render even those inteli- 
 gible, some brief explanation is required. 
 
 After the restoration of McClellan to command, the Confed- 
 erate General, finding himself closely pressed by a hand stronger 
 than Pope's, gave up his plan of invasion and commenced a hasty 
 concentration of his scattered columns preparatory to a with- 
 drawal to his own side of the Potomac. His several detachments 
 had therefore been called in upon Sharpsburg, in front of which a 
 defensive line had been formed, intended, but not quite strong 
 enough, to extend from river to river across a deep westward bend 
 of the upper Potomac, there ordinarily fordable. But, notwith- 
 standing the defence of the South Mountain passes on the 14th 
 to gain time, on the 16th Jackson, delayed by the siege and sur- 
 render of Harper's Ferry, was not yet up ; and Longstreet and D. H. 
 Hill, having been roughly handled on the 14th, had barely pre- 
 ceded the Federal Army to the position assigned them. It is 
 therefore probable that but for the attack by our right on the 
 evening of the 16th certain to be vigorously prosecuted with the 
 return of daylight, Lee would have crossed the river early on the 
 17th and retired upon Jackson, some of whose divisions were in 
 march to his support during the entire night of the 16th. But 
 that attack made it necessary for Lee to stand at bay, and at any 
 cost inflict sufficient check on his enemy to get time for crossing 
 the river with his guns and baggage. 
 
 McClellan, having thus by rapid marching and severe fighting, 
 forced his antagonist to accept battle, proposed to attack him 
 simultaneously on both flanks, and, having driven either or both 
 back upon their line of retreat, to push forward a powerful center 
 to complete the victory. But the execution of this plan was 
 defeated by the extraordinary supineness of Burnside, who with 
 express orders to attack on the left at daylight, and with 20,000 
 men already in position for the purpose, delayed his movement till 
 one o'clock, and then required nearly or quite two hours more to 
 get his whole force engaged. But at half-past three A. P. Hill 
 having delayed to receive the surrender at Harper's Ferry, and then 
 marched twenty miles after the hour at which Burnside was or- 
 
60 SKIRMISHES AND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM 
 
 dered to attack, arrived on the field and at once attacked and drove 
 Burnside back across the creek, ending that General's tardy activ- 
 ity for the day. It was this disobedience and failure of Burnside 
 that enabled Lee to strengthen his left by detaching continually 
 from his right, till much the larger part of his army was available 
 to meet the attacks on his left made successively by the Corps of 
 Hooker, Mansfield and Sumner. 
 
 Hooker, resuming his attack at daybreak, was badly defeated, 
 himself wounded, and his Corps dispersed. Mansfield, in support 
 of Hooker, took up the fighting against troops constantly rein- 
 forced by Lee from his unemployed right, and shared the same fate, 
 being himself killed. It was now eight o'clock, and though the 
 roar of battle resounded on the right, all remained silent on our 
 left, where no guns of Burnside announced his expected attack 
 on Lee's weakened right wing. Officer after officer of the staff 
 had been sent off in the vain effort to hurry the tardy commander 
 of the Ninth Corps, and it now became necessary to follow 
 up the defeated attacks of Hooker and Mansfield by troops de- 
 tached from the center where they had been reserved for quite 
 another purpose. This was the emergency that had brought us 
 the order to move off to the right, and take up the attack in that 
 quarter already twice defeated. The rest of the story may as well 
 be told by the insertion here of a statement prepared by me in 
 1882, at the request of the Brigade Survivors' Association, to 
 repel certain insinuations of Col. Palfrey, a New England officer, 
 who, with a certain selfish shrewdness not absolutely unknown 
 among his compatriots, attempted to cover up the defeat of his 
 own regiment by falsely attributing the cause to others. This 
 statement was carefully made over my signature and generally 
 reprinted by the Pennsylvania press, and has never been contro- 
 verted nor attacked; even Palfrey himself preserving a discreet 
 silence since its publication. 
 
 A recent Massachusetts writter, belonging to a regiment whose distin- 
 guished gallantry required no superfluous misrepresentation of others, has 
 stated that on the failure of the attack by the Second (Sedgwick's) 
 Division of the Second (Sumner's) Corps at Antietam, the Philadelphia 
 Brigade was ' the first to go.' That Brigade or what is left of it is of a 
 
AN ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE 61 
 
 different opinion, and there must still live some of its survivors who 
 will recognize the substantial accuracy of the following statement of the 
 facts. 
 
 During the night of the 16th and 17th of September, 1862, Sedgwick's 
 Division was bivouacked with its Corps in close column, near Keedysville, 
 in the center of the general position of the army. Hooker's Corps, fol- 
 lowed by Mansfield's in support had crossed the Antietam Creek on the 
 evening of the 16th to take position for attack on our extreme right. 
 During the night the divisions of the Second Corps were twice aroused 
 for distribution of additional cartridges, and again, before daylight, for 
 coffee. Hooker's second attack, made at or before daylight on the 17th 
 failed. His Corps, after some sharp fighting, was defeated and himself 
 wounded. Mansfield's small corps, following quickly in support, had a 
 severe tussle and shared the same fate, its commander being killed. Then 
 soon after daylight came the orders to Sumner, in obedience to which 
 Sedgwick's Division of that General's corps, with whose movements only 
 we are now concerned, moved out by the right flank by brigades, forded 
 the Antietam, which took the men above the middle and faced to the 
 left. This brought the division into an attacking column of three bri- 
 gades, following each other, each deployed in line and facing west. Gor- 
 man's brigade led; Dana's followed; and Burns' composed the third line. 
 In consequence of General Burn's absence, by reason of wounds suffered 
 in the Peninsula, his brigade was on that day commanded by General 
 Howard. It consisted of the following Pennsylvania regiments, raised 
 in Philadelphia: viz, The Sixty-ninth, Colonel Owens; the Seventy-first, 
 Colonel Wistar; the Seventy-second, Colonel Baxter, and the One-hun- 
 dred-and-sixth, Colonel Moorhead; the Seventy-first being that day on 
 the right. 
 
 The dripping soldiers shook off the water, the lines were dressed. 
 Sumner, who in person accompanied his favorite division, waved his 
 sword, and the division, under its beloved Sedgwick, moved to the front 
 from which hardly more than half of it was ever to return. Not a voice, 
 and scarcely a shot at first disturbed the silent advance of this veteran 
 body of about five thousand men. The men were veterans and knew 
 their business. The three lines, in perfect order and alignment moved for- 
 ward at the quick step, with arms at right shoulder shift. Soon a single 
 shell flew over all three lines and exploded harmlessly in the rear. Then 
 another, better elevated, fell with effect in the middle of the column, and 
 the range being found, the enemy's batteries, a mile in front, opened thick 
 and fast, and a sharp and sustained fire from about a dozen guns of Stuart 
 and S. D. Lee, mostly taking effect in the rear line, warmed up the column 
 for the work before it. Soon the dead and wounded of the two defeated 
 corps were encountered, and as the column held its steady way forward 
 through the historic cornfield, death and mutilation in shocking forms 
 covered the ground on every side. The dead were awaiting for a soldier's 
 grave, and the fast glazing eyes of the wounded turned silently to the 
 charging column marching over them with steady and determined tread. 
 
62 SKIRMISHES AND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM 
 
 The piece of woods and the Hagerstown pike were reached and passed. 
 The leading line (no skirmishers) had entered, passed and were emerging 
 from the second woods just as the third line had reached to about its 
 center. The second and third lines were still parallel, but the first had 
 made a slight change of direction to the left, so that at the moment 
 when it passed the fence at the far side of the woods, its alignment formed 
 a slight angle with that of the following line, the apex of which was on 
 the left flank. The enemy, relieved on his right by the prolonged and 
 unaccountable inactivity of Burnside, had been able to detach heavy 
 reinforcements to his menaced flank, and these hastily coming into posi- 
 tion with left refused, now offered a line of battle more nearly conforming 
 to Sedgwick's line of march than to the alignment of his front. This 
 condition though of transcendent importance, was unknown to both 
 sides. The woods concealed each from the other, and both were in effect 
 moving forward on the sides of an acute angle toward the point of the 
 angle , which the Confederates reached first. Thus, under cover of rocks 
 and woods, the hostile Divisions of McLaws and Walker had come- 
 certainly more by accident than design to occupy a position which at 
 the moment of collision not only gave them both front and flanking fire 
 against the Union column, but was more capable of rapid change to meet 
 the attack, as suddenly developed. Hence it was the left forward corner 
 of the attacking column that first struck the enemy's line, from which it 
 was instantly saluted by a destructive fire, delivered at short range in 
 its flank and front. 
 
 The first line became instantly and roughly engaged under tremendous 
 disadvantage. The second halted in line and attempted to change front, 
 and the attention of the present writer becoming absorbed by his own 
 concern with the rear line, these observations will hereafter be confined to 
 it, or rather to a part of it, for the thin woods in which the actual collision 
 occurred was obstructed by protruding strata of limestone rock standing 
 on end nearly vertical, and the right regiment (Seventy-first) had, by 
 these and other inequalities, become separated from the other three of its 
 brigade. At the moment of the shock the colonel of this regiment had 
 ordered it down on its face to avoid unnecessary casualties till its service 
 in action might be required. But by the ardor of the Commanding 
 General the three lines of battle had been hurried up to intervals not 
 exceeding thirty paces, and the engaged and reserve lines were simul- 
 taneously and equally under fire. In a very few minutes Gorman's 
 Brigade, in the effort to change front under this enfilading and destroying 
 fire, lost its cohesion, and, in fact, broke. The second line being partly 
 faced by the rear rank for the same purpose, was not in shape to with- 
 stand the rush of fugitives, and was almost instantly run over by the 
 first, when both came back with a tumultuous rush upon the rear brigade. 
 The latter at the order, delivered by the sword, for no word was audible, 
 came at once to its feet with bayonets at the charge. Upon the integ- 
 rity of this last line, which the writer aforesaid complains was ' the first 
 to go,' now depended the entire right of the army, and a stern resistance 
 was maintained by it, both to the fugitives and the enemy. 
 
THE RECORD OF THE SEVENTY-FIRST 63 
 
 In such an action covering several miles of front, few officers of regi- 
 mental rank can take personal cognizance of a long line of battle, but it 
 can be positively asserted of at least the right regiment, that it held its 
 position and forced the route around its flanks till its fire was unmasked, 
 when the enemy's advance was sharply checked. But the general Union 
 line had become defective on the left, where Richardson was killed, and 
 his division roughly handled, and the superior force which the Confeder- 
 ates were now able, although from inferior resources, to bring upon this 
 vital point soon enveloped the left and threatened the rear of the right 
 regiment, the enemy's fire on it being now effective on its rear, left, and 
 front. 
 
 At the same time a few of Stuart's guns had got an advanced position 
 on the right, and though some Union guns were coming into battery on 
 the right rear to attend to them, it was nevertheless evident that for this 
 isolated regiment, capture or retreat had become a question of minutes. 
 It had indeed been important to cover the retreat of the Division to the 
 last possible moment, but that had already been reasonably well done, 
 and could not be promoted by an entire sacrifice of the regiment, so the 
 Seventy-first was reluctantly ordered to retire. Its retreat was not 
 effected without sharp fighting and severe loss. Every field and staff offi- 
 cer, including the Colonel was left upon the ground. But one Captain 
 and three Lieutenants remained for duty, and the loss in men as nearly 
 as can now be recollected with no official papers at hand reached some- 
 thing over fifty per cent of its force engaged. Under its surviving Cap- 
 tain (Lewis) , what was left of it marched to the rear, served fresh car- 
 tridges, called its roll and reported to General Meade ready for any duty, 
 and was put into action by that gallant General within half an hour. 
 
 The writer viewing these events from the limited standpoint of a regi- 
 mental officer, is unable to speak from personal observation of the other 
 regiments of the Philadelphia Brigade after separation from them by the 
 roughness of the ground. But they were substantially of the same qual- 
 ity, and their conduct was reported and is believed to have been equally 
 soldierly. Then and always they received the warm appreciation of 
 corps and division commanders, and it is believed that no unfavorable 
 criticism of them, or any of them, has ever before been publicly made. 
 Neither is there any occasion or desire to underrate the quality or serv- 
 ices of the gallant regiments of Gorman's or Dana's Brigades. On the 
 contrary they were good troops, ably officered and required no one's 
 indorsement, for their gallant conduct on numerous fields before and after 
 the misfortune in question abundantly attests their quality. It is to be 
 regretted that they should have possessed a single officer willing to give 
 currency to unfounded statements to the prejudice of other troops of 
 equal merit, who on the same fields and in the same corps and division, 
 loyally and cheerfully shed their blood in the same cause. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 EXPERIENCES OF A BRIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 Returning from great historical events to the small personal 
 adventures which are the humble subject of this narrative, it may 
 be said that while my own individual fortunes at Antietam were 
 better than those of the thousands who there fell to rise no more, 
 they were by no means so good as those of the other thousands who 
 escaped unhurt. First of all I lost a valuable and favorite horse, 
 struck in the knee by a piece of shell, near the crossing of the 
 Hagerstown pike, after which casualty I was on foot. ' Empire' 
 was a high-spirited, three-quarter-bred horse who had learned to 
 fear none of war's alarms and was only cheerfully stimulated by the 
 heaviest firing and most unexpected events happening around him. 
 He was the pet of the regiment, the men having a way of inducing 
 him to lie down at night in a good place where, on occasion, they 
 piled in around him for warmth, a familiarity with which he was 
 not the party least contented. He would accept any reasonable 
 kind of food and rarely went hungry, for many of his friends were 
 always ready to risk their lives in creeping though the artillery 
 sentinels to steal oats and forage for him when those luxuries were 
 not to be had elsewhere on any terms. When he was first struck, 
 his faithful groom, Dougherty, came running from the ranks and 
 received him from me, but upon seeing D. resume his place shortly 
 afterwards, I learned from him the sad news that he had scarcely 
 got the horse a hundred yards to the rear when he was killed on 
 the spot by another shot through the neck. 
 
 When Sedgwick's charging column struck the enemy and re- 
 ceived a stunning fire on flank and front, the 71st had become sepa- 
 rated from the other regiments of its line by certain vertical strata 
 of limestone projecting in some cases as much as twelve or fifteen 
 
 64 
 
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AT ANTIETAM 65 
 
 feet above the surface. The regiment being crowded close up to 
 the two front lines, and therefore fully exposed to the fire without 
 the opportunity to return a shot, was ordered down on its face to 
 minimize casualties as much as possible till it should be needed. 
 When the front line broke and ran over the second, and both came 
 back on the third with an irrestrainable rush of fugitives, the 71st 
 having with all the rest of the rear line been thus crowded up too 
 close by the impetuosity of Sumner, must certainly have been 
 demolished had its discipline wavered. But at the order it rose 
 in place like one man with muskets at the charge and firmly 
 repelled the tumultuous crowd, till it had passed round its flanks 
 when its fire was delivered with immense effect on the pursuing 
 enemy, themselves disordered by their rapid advance and noisy 
 exultation. But their reserves coming up, the enemy rapidly 
 recovered themselves, and were exchanging with us a steady and 
 destructive fire at short distance, when observing an increasing fire 
 coming from the left rear, I climbed a reef of rock for a more 
 extended view, and at once became conscious of an appalling state 
 of facts. On our left as far away as the eye could reach all our 
 troops had given way, and the enemy's pursuing lines were already 
 many hundred yards in rear of us with nothing in sight to stop 
 them! 
 
 Almost at the same time Stuart's guns, their first position hav- 
 ing become masked by the advance of their own infantry, had 
 obtained a position on our right front, and now opened at short 
 range with canister, which partly enfiladed our fast-diminishing 
 line. There were no signs elsewhere of a rally or reinforcements, 
 and though the isolated regiment was yet firm, it must soon be 
 destroyed by sheer weight of fire in front and on both flanks, and 
 in any case must be surrounded in a few minutes. It had already 
 given a few priceless minutes of cover to the retreat of the eight 
 regiments of first and second lines, and the time had now come 
 to save its gallant remnant. It was therefore got quickly into 
 column of companies with the intention of forcing a way to the 
 rear till some other solid troops could be found to rally upon. As 
 the head of column was wheeling to the left about myself as pivot, 
 its killed and wounded falling at every step, I was myself knocked 
 
66 EXPERIENCES OF A BRIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 over by a bullet through the left shoulder. Rogers, the left 
 flank sergeant of G Company was instantly at my side, and as 
 the blood was spouting from under the sleeve at the wrist, hastily 
 clapped on a tourniquet constructed of my pocket handkerchief 
 and his bayonet. He offered to remain with me, and was inclined 
 to insist, till I appealed to him to save my sword. Recognizing 
 that obligation, he quickly took it from me, and rushed after the 
 retiring column, and was scarcely gone till the enemy's line 
 marched over me. 
 
 But about this time General Meade, whose own division had 
 been used up in the two attacks of Hooker, had got together a 
 small force composed of the remnants of various regiments coming 
 out in good order, and was leading it forward when he met and 
 seized on the 71st, compact and in perfect order, though reduced to 
 three officers and scarcely 250 rank and file. This force continuing 
 to increase soon met and drove back the disordered Confederates 
 who again retired over me leaving me lying between two fires. 
 Twice again the enemy advanced over me, and were as often re- 
 pulsed and driven back, finally making a firm stand at or near their 
 original position. The last of these movements was by a heavy 
 line of battle composed of the fresh troops of 'Stonewall' Jackson 
 that is, if troops can be called fresh who had marched all night 
 and were now put into action without any rest or intermission. As 
 this splendid line moved over me, a young lieutenant seized the 
 occasion to leave his place to demand my sword. When he learned 
 that it was beyond his reach, he wanted my parole, which I refused 
 to give. The little dispute was suddenly terminated by the arrival 
 of several General Officers whom I took to be McLaws, Walker and 
 Stuart. These with their staffs were following and closely watch- 
 ing their line now heavily engaged with our troops, whose balls 
 were striking all around us. Having lost much blood notwith- 
 standing the tourniquet, suffering intense pain and barely able to 
 whisper, I nevertheless managed to attract the attention of one of 
 their couriers, who dismounted, ascertained and reported the 
 subject of discussion to Stuart, who inquired of the lieutenant his 
 name and regiment. "Hill, of the 12th Georgia." "Join it 
 immediately sir." The courier then rearranged the tourniquet, 
 
BETWEEN THE LINES SEVERELY WOUNDED 67 
 
 which though hitherto but partially effective, had become exces- 
 sively painful, handed me a drink from one of the Tlst's wounded 
 near-by, who kindly offered his canteen, and leaving me in a much 
 more comfortable condition, rode away after his General. 
 
 It was not till several years after the war that a mutual friend 5 
 accidentally hearing the celebrated Confederate guerilla, John 
 S. Mosby, relate the same circumstance in connection with my 
 name, which he still remembered brought us together, when I 
 learned for the first time that the friendly courier had been no 
 other than the renowned Mosby, at that time not even a commis- 
 sioned officer. During the afternoon the infantry-fighting in our 
 vicinity was mostly suspended, but the thin woods where we lay 
 was severely shelled by the artillery of both sides, tearing to pieces 
 the trees, splintering the rocks and producing terrible results on 
 the helpless wounded of both armies, few of whom in my vicinity 
 survived it. After dark all regular firing ceased, and some gentle 
 showers gratefully refreshed such as were still alive and able to 
 appreciate them. Two soldiers of the 71st less badly hurt than 
 myself, insisted they could get me off, if I was able to stand, which 
 with their aid I managed to do, but as the ground in our rear was 
 obstructed not only by the multitude of dead and wounded of 
 both armies who here lay thick, but by branches of trees and other 
 results of the heavy artillery-fire so long concentrated on the place, 
 the only available route for three cripples must at first be nearly 
 parallel with the enemy's new infantry line, not fifty yards distant, 
 and with no pickets out. In response to our explanation and 
 request not to fire, they called to us to "go ahead," which precau- 
 tionary process had to be repeated several times as we passed in 
 front of fresh parts of their line. At last we came to a small farm 
 lane absolutely piled with Confederate dead who had been there 
 mowed down in heaps in repeated but vain efforts to take a Fed- 
 eral battery which had been posted at the head of the lane. It 
 was difficult in our condition to crawl over and through the two 
 fences and these tangled corpses lying between them in every atti- 
 tude of death, but at last it was by mutual aid accomplished, and 
 
 6 Bingham, of Lockhaven, Pa. 
 
68 EXPERIENCES OF A BRIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 we came into a comparatively open field whence the hospital men, 
 fully exposed to the enemy if they chose to fire, were cautiously 
 removing the wounded. These men got us upon stretchers, and 
 by an odd coincidence, struck first upon our own regimental field- 
 hospital, set up in a small two-roomed negro cabin. Amputations 
 and operations were proceeding inside and outside, and the floor 
 was slippery with blood, but place was made for me on the only 
 bed, already occupied by three wounded officers of the 71st, where 
 temporary relief was administered. Before long an ambulance 
 was brought up and the surgeons decided to send Lieut. Wilson 
 and myself in to the general hospitals at Keedysville. The vehicle 
 jolted horribly over the rough fields, and poor Wilson soon became 
 delirious and died in the ambulance, but I was deposited at a 
 house where Mrs. Wistar had taken up her quarters, to her great 
 relief, as I had been reported dead, since early morning. 
 
 The churches of this unhappy village had first been appro- 
 priated for the wounded, then successively the houses, shops, 
 yards, and at last the streets, leaving a single track in the middle 
 for the ever-arriving ambulances. On both sides, over 25,000 men 
 had fallen, equal to about twenty per cent of the whole forces 
 engaged. The loss of the Second Corps was twenty-seven 
 per cent of its force engaged; Sedgwick's Division alone, which 
 numbered about 5000 men, losing 2210 or 44| per cent. The 
 "present for duty" of the Second Corps was reduced from 16,013 
 on July 31, to 9594 on September 30th, of which loss much the 
 largest proportion had fallen upon our Division. I cannot now 
 lay my hands on the official figures of the 71st, but my recollec- 
 tion is that it lost in this single battle between fifty and sixty 
 per cent of its force engaged, including all its commissioned 
 officers but three. 
 
 Early on the day of battle, the Keedysville shopkeeper in whose 
 house I found asylum, had crossed the road and entered the 
 opposite field, where he was killed by a stray cannon-shot in the 
 presence of my wife and his own, while trying to see something of 
 the distant battle whose swelling roar already filled the air for 
 many miles around. The house was filled with wounded officers 
 of the 71st, even to the cellar, where lay the adjutant and a 
 
RECEIVED RANK OF BRIGADIER-GENERAL 69 
 
 captain. After lying here three weeks, my injured artery was 
 pronounced safe for travel, and I was carried in an ambulance to 
 Hagerstown, from whence in a box-car filled with similar convales- 
 cents, Mrs. Wistar and I made our slow way via Harrisburg to 
 Philadelphia. Notwithstanding the degrading consciousness of 
 the large space in our lives and memories appropriated by mere 
 physical pleasures, I can never forget the gratification afforded me 
 while lying in the ambulance at Hagerstown, by Lieutenant Kirby, 
 1st U. S. Art., who had the patient kindness to hold a cigar for me 
 to smoke, being my first returning dissipation of the kind, as I 
 was still unable to raise either hand to my face. Poor fellow, 
 I never saw him afterwards as he was not long after killed at 
 Chancellorsville, his excellent battery subsequently becoming 
 famous at Gettysburg under his successor, Gushing. 
 
 After lying ill a long time in Philadelphia, suffering much dis- 
 couragement from my crippled condition, the right arm being 
 already useless and the left now paralyzed, with a very uncertain 
 sound respecting its future coming from the doctors, I began to 
 despair of my capacity for future active service, and forwarded my 
 resignation, which was in due course accepted by General Sumner, 
 in General Headquarter Orders of the Second Corps. This order 
 was legally final under ordinary circumstances, but was sequestered 
 or annulled by Mr. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, who wrote 
 me to that effect as soon as it came to his notice, advising me to 
 devote my whole attention to recovery and do nothing till I should 
 hear further from him. As this unusual course had given me fair 
 reason to expect, I received notice in due time that my appoint- 
 ment had been sent by the President to the Senate for confirma- 
 tion as Brigadier-General, to rank from November 29th, 1862, for 
 services prior to and at Antietam. But objection to confirmation 
 having been made by Senator Sumner of Massachusetts, an ex- 
 treme partisan, who held sound political opinions i.e., his own 
 to be the most important military or any other qualification, the 
 case went over to the extra session called for the 4th of March, 
 where by some adroit management of my faithful friend, Senator 
 McDougal of California, I was at length confirmed, but with eight 
 dissenting votes in a Senate that contained but nine Democrats. 
 
70 EXPERIENCES OP A BRIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 The nervous power and sensation, both of which had at first 
 been destroyed in the arm last wounded, by extensive nerve 
 injury, gradually returned up to a certain point, where the improve- 
 ment stopped and its condition has ever since remained nearly 
 stationary. Though able to use it for many purposes, it remains 
 much impaired, particularly in the fingers, which are still so devoid 
 of sensation as to prevent or limit their use except as guided by the 
 sight. As soon as I could manage to feed myself, and long before 
 I could fasten my dress or trust myself on a horse, I reported for 
 duty by letter and at the request of General John J. Peck, was 
 assigned to command a brigade in his division, then engaged in 
 defending Suffolk, Va., against the siege of Longstreet. In pass- 
 ing through Washington on the way to my new duties, I met 
 General Sedgwick, just recovering like myself from his Antietam 
 wound, who said he had been promised command of the Sixth 
 Corps, and had written me at Philadelphia desiring me to take one 
 of his brigades. Unfortunately it was too late, and I never saw 
 that gallant soldier again. He was killed during an interval of 
 that great battle, by the chance shot of a sharp-shooter, at Spott- 
 sylvania in 1864. 
 
 My new command had been recently organized as the 'Reserve 
 Brigade,' and was composed of the 9th Vermont, 19th Wisconsin, 
 99th and 118th New York regiments, all good and veteran ones, 
 though somewhat neglected in drill and unaccustomed to brigade 
 organization. I found it holding an exposed position a long way in 
 front of, and on a lower elevation than its camps, where it was par- 
 tially protected by some slight earthworks, too much exposed 
 to admit of more work being done on them at present. The 
 pickets were sheltered in a line of shallow excavations still lower 
 down the hill where they could only be relieved at night. The 
 ground in rear of our line of battle being higher on the hillside, 
 was so swept by the fire of the enemy's pickets, concealed in 
 rifle-pits on the other side of the ravine, that it was a lively place 
 for the officers who had frequently to traverse it. The position 
 which was infinitely the most exposed part of the entire line of 
 defense, could not be rectified at this point without giving up the 
 ravine and so much ground as to expose important points, and we 
 
A HUMOROUS FLAG OF TRUCE INCIDENT 71 
 
 had therefore to make the best of it. The abominable condition 
 was at length relieved by our assault and capture of Hill's Point, a 
 vital part of Longstreet's line, which reduced the enemy to the 
 alternative of retaking it, which was only possible with a greatly 
 increased force and heavy loss, or raising the siege. They pre- 
 ferred the last and retreated, closely followed by us, to a defensive 
 position on the line of the Blackwater, where we soon again con- 
 fronted them. While in occupation of our new line an amusing 
 incident occurred, unworthy of history but not perhaps out of 
 place in this narrative. 
 
 A. E. S., a Virginian with whom I had formerly been on quite 
 intimate terms in San Francisco, while on his way home prior to 
 actual hostilities, had been arrested on the Isthmus by some over- 
 zealous naval officer and sent prisoner to Washington on suspicion 
 of being about to join the Confederate army. S. plead that he 
 was unlawfully seized on his peaceful way from the loyal State of 
 California, via the equally loyal State of New York to his lawful 
 home in Virginia on private business, had committed no act of 
 hostility to the U. S., and in the absence of proof to the contrary, 
 was presumably a loyal citizen. As not a shadow of proof was 
 forthcoming against these facts and presumptions, the legal posi- 
 tion was unassailable, and after some months' detention he was 
 released and sent through the various military channels and at 
 length came to me, with orders to deliver him across the lines under 
 flag of truce. Capt. F., a gallant young A. D. C. of mine, to whom 
 was assigned this duty, with instructions not to make use of my 
 name unnecessarily, placed the prisoner in a closed carriage and 
 with an escort of a few troopers started on his errand. 
 
 The Blackwater is a deep sluggish stream flowing between a 
 low closely-timbered bottom on the enemy's side, and a compara- 
 tively high bank on our side, clear of woods to the top of the hill 
 a mile distant, where our pickets were disposed. When the small 
 procession emerged into this open ground not long before dark on 
 its way to the river, the enemy's pickets not immediately recog- 
 nizing the white flag, opened fire, which increased in weight as 
 their scattered pickets assembled. Desiring to avoid unnecessary 
 waste of life, F. proposed to the prisoner, that since he, S., must in 
 
72 EXPERIENCES OF A BKIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 any case risk the enemy's fire for a short time, he should take the 
 carriage forward alone, giving his parole to return it. The charac- 
 ter of these two men both generous and brave was inclined to 
 punctilious exactness. S. moreover possessed a hot, aggressive 
 temper not just then in its sweetest condition, while F., valuable 
 and gallant as he was, had on occasions, certain ceremonious tend- 
 encies facetiously designated by his staff associates as 'the 
 heavy military.' These were sure to crop out stiffly at formal 
 military functions, such as parades, reviews, courts-martial, exe- 
 cutions and the like. On receiving the above proposition which 
 was sensible enough, since it would relieve the innocent escort of 
 useless danger, while it involved not a particle of additional risk to 
 the prisoner, S. rather airily replied "Are not your orders to deliver 
 me within the Confederate lines." "Yes, sir, certainly." "Well, 
 sir, if you will say you are afraid to do that, I will accept your prop- 
 osition." "Not at all sir; if you put it on that ground, I will see 
 you delivered into the enemy's lines with every particle of cere- 
 mony you are entitled to." The firing soon ceased, after killing a 
 trooper's horse and splintering the carriage once or twice, and on 
 reaching the river, a scow was sent over by the Confederates for the 
 carriage. But before embarking F. dismounted a couple of troopers 
 and placed them inside the vehicle with these orders given in pres- 
 ence and hearing of the prisoner. "Draw and cock your pistols. 
 Your instructions are to prevent the prisoner from leaving the 
 carriage or communicating with anyone outside it on any pretext 
 whatever, till further orders from me. Should he attempt either, 
 you will immediately kill him without any discussion, and report. 
 Do you understand the order?" "Yes, sir." "Repeat it." 
 "Correct." 
 
 The flag was received by a Captain of pickets, who was all agog 
 to learn the significance of a proceeding attended with such 
 ceremony and precaution, but F. demanded audience of the 
 Commanding Brigadier General, maintaining that he carried a 
 B. G.'s flag, and would transact his business with no officer of less 
 rank. In vain a sleepy Colonel was hunted up, who explained 
 that his commanding officer, General Jenkins, was many miles 
 distant, beyond a muddy cypress swamp almost impassable for 
 
PRESENTED WITH A SWORD BY PHILADELPHIA^ 73 
 
 wheels. F. was on his mettle, and was not to be budged by all the 
 Colonels in the Confederacy. "Sir, you must either accept or 
 decline my flag. If the latter, I will retire as I came. If the 
 former, I will only communicate with the Commanding General 
 in person." As the position, however wire-drawn, was correct 
 enough to be defensible, the Colonel was by no means ready to 
 refuse a message which bore such marks of importance, and a 
 small cavalry escort was at last paraded, under whose charge F.'s 
 carriage and party spent most of the night in ploughing through a 
 fearful cypress swamp hitherto deemed impracticable for wheels, 
 and toward morning were passed by the quarter-guard and 
 reached Jenkins' quarters. That astonished officer hastily came 
 out in his drawers to receive a dispatch duly heralded by wire, 
 and surrounded with such precaution that it might be a proposi- 
 tion for peace, or any other fundamental subject. Who could tell? 
 On delivering his message, F. of course removed the embargo on 
 the captive, who bounced out in breathless rage, furiously de- 
 nouncing his unheard-of treatment. Then F., with erect dig- 
 nity and solemn gravity, proceeded to tell his side of the story, 
 which, as Jenkins happened to be blessed with a fine sense of 
 humor, nearly threw that officer into fits, leaving him scarcely 
 breath enough to tell S. that as far as he could see, he only got the 
 rigors of war he had himself required. But notwithstanding S.'s 
 difficult temper and exacting disposition, he was a noble and 
 gallant man, and at once entered the Confederate service, but was 
 killed within a month in almost his first encounter. 
 
 Before I had been very long on duty at Suffolk I received from 
 a number of distinguished citizens of Philadelphia a valuable 
 token of their esteem and regard, which, coming from persons 
 generally entertaining political opinions differing from my own and 
 possessing their full share of the partisan excitement that raged 
 much more fiercely at home than in the army, was not only grace- 
 ful and liberal on their part, but was peculiarly grateful to one who 
 had been so recently assailed on exclusively political and party 
 grounds in the partisan press, and even in the Senate of the United 
 States. This was a handsome and valuable General Officer's 
 sword, flatteringly inscribed, and was accompanied by the follow- 
 ing letter, to which appropriate reply was made. 
 
74 EXPERIENCES OF A BBIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 Philadelphia, May 14, 1863. 
 DEAR GENERAL: 
 
 As the organs of your loyal fellow-citizens, who acknowledge, to use 
 their own language, "the just claims to their gratitude of the brave men 
 who hazard their lives to sustain the cause of the Union against the 
 unholy rebellion by which it is assailed," and who recognize in you one 
 of its most gallant defenders, we discharge with pride the duty assigned 
 to us, of presenting to you on their behalf, the sword' ; which accompanies 
 this letter "as a token of their respect and admiration." 
 
 Knowing as we do, that in assuming your place in the army of the 
 Republic, you did so, meaning in the true spirit of a patriot soldier, to 
 perform with alacrity whatever duties were required of you by the 
 orders of those who alone are constitutionally invested with authority 
 to direct our military operations for the preservation of the unity of our 
 country, we have observed with much satisfaction that your courage 
 and good conduct, rendering you so eminently worthy of promotion, 
 have not been unrequited. 
 
 In this connection, it would be unjust to pass over without especial 
 commendation, the California Regiment (71st Pennsylvania) with 
 which your name has been from the first identified : whose brave men were 
 always ready to follow in the path of danger where you led, and who, in 
 enabling their commander to attain his present enviable distinction, 
 have gained for themselves enduring renown. 
 
 Elevated as you have been to a higher command, we feel sure that 
 however freely your blood has been shed on the memorable fields of Ball's 
 Bluff and Antietam, there is still enough left in your veins to enable you 
 to wield usefully in the righteous cause the weapon which, with earnest 
 prayers for your honor and safety, we now place in your hands. 
 
 With the highest consideration and regard, 
 
 We remain 
 
 Your friends and fellow-citizens, 
 
 WM. D. LEWIS 
 A. E. BORIE 
 C. MACALESTER 
 SAMUEL L. SHOBER 
 O. W. D-vvis 
 C. P. BAYARD 
 
 Committee. 
 To GENERAL ISAAC J. WISTAR, 
 
 Commanding the Reserve Brigade, 
 Camp Suffolk, Va. 
 
 6 This sword, with appurtenances, is deposited with The Wistar Institute of 
 Anatomy. 
 
IN COMMAND OF A BRIGADE AT YORKTOWN 75 
 
 Upon the evacuation of Suffolk some time during the summer, 
 my Brigade acting as rear guard, I took up the rails from many 
 miles of railroad track and shipped them to the Quartermaster at 
 Norfolk, pursuant to written orders. But having mislaid the 
 order, it is doubtful with what success I could even now defend 
 against a personal suit for that spoliation, since the statute of 
 limitations does not run in favor of one outside the jurisdiction, 
 and I was therefore for many years cautious of getting within the 
 territorial power of Virginia Courts, but presume the facts have 
 long since been forgotten or forgiven by the present generation. 
 
 Major-General Dix having during the same season assumed 
 command of the Department of Eastern Virginia and North 
 Carolina, soon after ordered my Brigade to Yorktown, the Head- 
 quarters of the military District of Eastern Virginia. It was 
 quite time that some reforming and energetic hand should be laid 
 upon that District, than which none could certainly be in much 
 worse condition. I transported my Brigade of four regiments 
 and a battery, on four steamers, and on calling to report arrival 
 to the Brigadier-General in command, lately a western newspaper 
 editor, I found him lying incapacitated in his quarters under the 
 pious care of a pretty hard-looking staff, who called the affliction 
 'malaria, ' a disease which seems to have much to answer for in 
 morals, politics and war. The general condition of affairs was 
 the most disgusting I have ever seen in a military post. The fort- 
 ifications enclosed perhaps a couple of hundred acres, inside of 
 which, besides the dirty, idle and neglected troops, were gathered 
 over 12,000 refugee negroes supported in idleness on Government 
 rations, and lying about without order under any ragged shelter 
 they could get, in every stage of filth, poverty, disease and death. 
 The roadways, parade ground, gun platforms, and even the 
 ditches and epaulements were encumbered by these poor wretches; 
 the soldiery was ragged, filthy and idle, and unless all military 
 signs were at fault, a raid by a handful of resolute and well-led 
 men could have captured the place, with all its stores and its 
 3000 so-called troops, in a few minutes. The corruption under- 
 neath proved as bad as the more patent features of the all-pervad- 
 ing neglect and demoralization. The place was crowded with 
 
76 EXPERIENCES OF A BRIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 petty dealers calling themselves sutlers, whose trade across the 
 lines received no pretense of supervision. Permits to take 
 oysters from the private beds within our jurisdiction were sold to 
 negroes for cash, of which there was no public or known account- 
 ing whatever. The thrifty Yankee serving as Post Quarter- 
 master maintained 400 negroes on his pay roll, for whom he 
 drew wages at the rate of eight dollars per month each, to handle 
 supplies for a force not hitherto exceeding 3000 men besides the 
 idle contrabands. With strength enough to raid to the gates of 
 Richmond and compel heavy detachments from the enemy's 
 active armies to defend its back door, our troops were shut up in 
 the two closed works of Fort Magruder and Yorktown, watched 
 by a petty force, under a Captain, that they should have eaten 
 up in a week. 
 
 Though nominally and legally placed under command of the 
 creature who was responsible for all this, I sternly insisted on 
 keeping my hard-worked Brigade clear of the mess; and taking 
 post some miles in front of the place, allowed no interference, 
 and permitted no person within its camp without my own pass, 
 keeping my troops hard at work, picketing, patrolling and drill- 
 ing. Finally, I made formal request through regular channels, 
 for transfer with my Brigade to the Army of the Potomac, in 
 place of which I was promptly ordered to assume command of 
 the Military District, my predecessor being ordered to Washing- 
 ton, where he was soon lost sight of amid the crowd of politico- 
 military patriots who sought to rearrange their disheveled plumage 
 in that seat of Republican patriotism and purity. It was hard 
 to know where to commence upon the Augean stables of the Dis- 
 trict of Eastern Virginia. As the whole mischief was not revealed 
 at once, the first step was to clear out the fortified places and 
 making them tenable by a minimum force, obtain the use of a 
 small movable column for aggressive purposes. For this purpose 
 a large area of abandoned fields, a few miles in the rear, was 
 surveyed and laid out in two- and four-acre lots, with street and 
 building lines; and all the able-bodied negroes set to work build- 
 ing log cabins of prescribed form and dimensions. To the gov- 
 ernment of this place, dubbed by the soldiers 'Slabtown, ' was 
 
BRINGING ORDER OUT OF CONFUSION 77 
 
 assigned a sergeant with a small force, under the supervision of 
 an A. D. C. Oystering permits were sold by the Provost Mar- 
 shal to these people; seeds and implements were obtained with 
 the fund thus raised, and 'Slabtown' was soon in condition to con- 
 tain all the refugees in the District. 
 
 The local troops, who had originally belonged to the 4th Corps, 
 were reorganized and employed, with a portion of the contra- 
 bands, in policing and clearing up the fort and town, and when 
 not thus usefully employed, were kept constantly at drill. De- 
 tails of infantry were instructed in the working of the heavy guns, 
 and troops so disposed and instructed that in a few minutes after 
 an alarm from Headquarters every man was in his place on the 
 ramparts or in the reserve. The Post Quartermaster's roll of 
 400 laborers was cut down to ten men, who, with details of troops 
 on emergencies, were found amply sufficient for all purposes, 
 notwithstanding the addition of my Brigade to the force supplied. 
 Outlying posts were established, and an efficient system of infantry 
 and cavalry patrols organized and constantly pushed farther 
 towards the enemy's post at Bottom's Bridge, covering Rich- 
 mond. Tho rogups whn, unHw t.hp nn.rne of BlltlflWj wo** driving 
 
 a profitable trade across the lines in all sorts of articles contra- 
 band of war, were mostly sent out of the District, and an efficient 
 Provost Guard was organized under Captain Brooks, a competent 
 officer of zeal, force and integrity. 
 
 Though these and many other reformatory and military 
 measures were necessarily carried on together, with some appar- 
 ent, but no real confusion, in a very short time our lines at Wil- 
 liamsburg were not only defensible against a much superior force, 
 but the enemy's raiders were captured or driven out of the Dis- 
 trict, and either by occupation, patrols or expeditions in force, 
 we held or substantially controlled the line of the Chickahominy 
 from its mouth to Bottom's Bridge, within eight miles of Rich- 
 mond, and were able to take an active offensive on both banks 
 of York River. 
 
 Prior to, and in preparation for, General Dix's march on Rich- 
 mond to relieve the pressure at Gettysburg, I was ordered to 
 capture and hold the fortified post at West Point, the junction of 
 
78 EXPERIENCES OF A BRIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 the Pamunkey and Matapony, where these rivers unite to form 
 the York. A sufficient number of steamers having been col- 
 lected, the embarkation was so timed as to reach the place at one 
 A.M. The wharves having been burned by the enemy, a picked 
 force was landed in boats which drove back the enemy and 
 deployed, to cover the landing. Houses were torn down for 
 material and in a few hours a new wharf had arisen on the ruins 
 of the old one, over which cavalry and artillery were successfully 
 landed. A defensive line having been taken up across the point, 
 a mile or two in front of the town, troops and impressed contra- 
 bands were set at work and within two days I was able to report 
 it defensible by a small part of my force, leaving the remainder 
 available for more active purposes. I therefore received orders 
 to leave a sufficient force of infantry and guns to hold the place 
 securely, and march to reinforce Dix, whose retreat on the south 
 bank of the York to Yorktown was covered by this force, after 
 which the garrison was withdrawn from West Point, and affairs 
 resumed for awhile their former status. 
 
 Of course so much resolute clearing away of rubbish could not 
 
 go OU lOIlg wilHoiit revising onomloo and. rooietancc, wluull tliough 
 
 more or less annoying, I was quite prepared for. All the scamps 
 collected in this snug harbor, both military and civil, with a wise 
 discretion and enlightened regard for their own skins, confined 
 their charges and imputations to the troublesome theme of my 
 'loyalty,' it being an axiom with the plundering scoundrels of 
 that day that any coolness or deficiency in partisan Republican 
 profession in itself constituted the most formidable kind of 'dis- 
 loyalty.' To their minds the most 'truly loyal' man was he 
 who asked fewest embarrassing questions, and their ideal patriot 
 would be something like the late lamented Col. Yell of Arkansas, 
 President of the Yellville bank of Yellville, of whom his sorrowing 
 eulogist declared that, "our deceased friend though unable to 
 account satisfactorily for the funds of that institution, yet showed 
 by his remarks upon the 'busting' of the same, that his heart beat 
 warmly for his native land." 
 
 I seldom took public notice of the weak expedients of the 
 thieves and incapables who abused me after getting safely out 
 
* ! a 
 
 
METHODS OP CURING INCOMPETENCE 79 
 
 of my District, beyond grilling one occasionally, but it must be 
 confessed that while in actual contact with the enemy in front, I 
 had little patience with revenue-hunting rogues in the rear, and 
 sometimes did hold myself justified in the use of extra-legal methods 
 in extraordinary cases both military and civil. One of the former 
 kind, which came near bringing me in collision with the legis- 
 lative patriots at Washington, resulted from an effort to reform 
 and improve the military service by applying to one of the incor- 
 rigibles, certain drastic remedies not specially provided for in the 
 Articles of War. The rogue was turned in by his Colonel, who 
 charged him with evading every duty, breaking all rules, being 
 useless to the Government and a perpetual obstacle to discipline 
 and good order, all of which was soon ascertained to be abundantly 
 true. Now the Provost Guard was carefully organized of picked 
 officers and men who had learned to know 'coffee boilers' and 
 'beats' at a glance, and possessed certain remedies which in 
 the last resort sometimes cured, even after colonels and courts 
 martial had abandoned the patient as worthless and incurable. 
 To it therefore the delinquent was sent, with an intimation of 
 his character, the ineffectual efforts which had hitherto failed to 
 make him useful to his country, and the hint that some improve- 
 ment might be effected by a good private talking to from a couple 
 of reliable corporals of the guard. I noticed from the Provost 
 Guard returns next morning that the delinquent was 'in hos- 
 pital; cause, a sore back,' and as hospital cases of all sorts were 
 plenty, supposed the disease would receive due attention and 
 thought no more of the matter. 
 
 But the patient was forwarded in due course to the general 
 hospitals, first at Fortress Monroe, and afterward to Washington, 
 where some surgeon, who had probably not served enough in the 
 field to know the valuable hygienic and moral effects sometimes 
 following a 'sore back,' discharged him from the service. Not 
 long after I received a cypher message from the Department Com- 
 mander that the man, together with his father, his M. C. and a 
 couple of busybodies of the Sanitary Commission, had reached 
 Fortress Monroe with passes from the Secretary of War and 
 orders for me to arrest and forward such soldiers as they should 
 
80 EXPERIENCES OF A BRIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 identify in connection with a certain gross personal outrage com- 
 mitted on their suffering client. Of course a reply was telegraphed 
 requesting they should be sent up at once in order that every 
 practicable facility should be extended them. The Provost 
 Marshal was at the same time directed to select two experienced 
 soldiers of his guard for the special service of hunting down and 
 arresting a certain troublesome guerilla operating in the vicinity 
 of our external lines, the men to start at once by night and if not 
 successful by the expiration of ten days, to report then in cypher 
 through the Colonel Commanding at Williamsburg, and there 
 await further orders. 
 
 The Washington gentlemen duly arrived, and were of course 
 assisted by an A. D. C. to search for the delinquents among all 
 accessible troops, but unaccountably failed to identify the male- 
 factors. They were then advised of the existence of sundry 
 posts, guards and patrols in the vicinity of, and outside the 
 military lines, for whose investigation authority would be 
 furnished, on receiving a written acknowledgment that such 
 dangerous quest was prosecuted by their own urgent desire 
 against the opinions, warning and advice of the Commander of 
 the District. But at this point the avengers with great intelli- 
 gence weakened, and concluded to confine their researches to 
 the safer territory inside the lines, which though it led to nothing, 
 at least showed a commendable prudence, since though there was 
 no means of knowing what might have been the course pursued 
 by the two delinquents if arrested by civilians on the enemy's 
 territory, there was reason to apprehend much from their energy, 
 courage and manner of employment. 
 
 The District of Eastern Virginia had of course been nearly 
 denuded of white males of suitable age for the Confederate army, 
 nevertheless there remained a considerable population, including 
 several hundred lunatics in the State Asylum at Williamsburg, 
 among whom it was necessary to maintain order, and during the 
 suspension of their ordinary resources, to preserve from absolute 
 want. Such duties involved questions of municipal government 
 and general policy, as well as the expenditure of government prop- 
 erty for purposes authorized only by implication or not at all, 
 
UNWELCOME NEWSPAPER NOTORIETY 81 
 
 where it was not difficult to fall into legal and other errors. 
 Whether such an error was committed by me, or by the President 
 of the United States in the following case, each reader may decide 
 for himself. 
 
 A lady whose husband and sons were absent in the Confederacy 
 and her pecuniary resources cut off, applied to the Commanding 
 Officer at Williamsburg for leave to cross the lines into the Con- 
 federacy, taking her family and household effects "and a negro 
 child six years old." The application came down endorsed, 
 "Approved except as respects the negro child." Not wishing to 
 decide the negro question myself, I forwarded it to Department 
 Headquarters with the additional endorsement, "Approved, in- 
 cluding the negro, since such a child, if left behind and separated 
 from its natural protectors, would require dry nursing, for which 
 I possess no soldiers properly fitted." The application was dis- 
 approved at Department Headquarters, and there the official 
 part of the matter ended, but the negro question being at that 
 time attended with much political excitement, some reporter at 
 Fortress Monroe got hold of the correspondence, and I was soon in 
 receipt from friends at home, of copies of a certain hyper-loyal 
 eastern newspaper which, after printing the endorsements with 
 a liberal addition of capitals, italics and exclamation points, de- 
 voted a column or two to violent abuse of myself as a traitor, a 
 slave-hunter, kidnapper, and inhuman tyrant, who abused the 
 power entrusted to him to hunt down, catch, and return, loyal 
 and patriotic negroes to then: cruel, bloodthirsty and disloyal 
 owners. Of course I threw the papers in the fire, but when soon 
 after, the notorious Gen. B. F. Butler arrived at Fortress Monroe 
 to succeed Foster in command of the Department, he also for- 
 warded me a copy with an unofficial letter stating his pain at 
 seeing the publication and that if I had a reply to offer, he would 
 see it should receive proper publicity. 
 
 This proposition from a superior officer came much nearer to 
 upsetting my temper than the libel itself, and I wrote an indig- 
 nant reply, to the effect that while holding myself at all times 
 ready to meet charges or explanations required by official 
 superiors, I owed no duty to lying and irresponsible penny-a- 
 
82 EXPERIENCES OF A BRIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 liners, forced by their trade to invent such lies as might bring 
 them the most pennies, and scorned to notice or reply to them, 
 except by cutting off the rascal's ears if I could get hold of him. 
 Butler who knew me very well, explained that I had misunderstood 
 him; that he, Butler, wanted no explanation, but was only anxious 
 on my account to give opportunity for public denial or explana- 
 tion. Knowing his love of applause and notoriety I believed as 
 much as I chose of this explanation, but nevertheless accepted 
 the apology, and after giving some reasons which will readily 
 occur to a humane person, added the following strictly legal one: 
 viz, the President had by proclamation announced the abolition 
 of slavery throughout the State of Virginia, expressly excepting 
 the territory held therein by our military forces. Hence to send 
 the negro from within the military lines where slavery had been 
 recognized by the highest civil and military authority, to a point 
 outside these lines where having been abolished, it no longer had 
 a legal existence; was, in effect, sending the slave from slave 
 territory to free territory, i.e., from slavery to freedom, unless 
 indeed in the opinion of those disloyal persons who scoffed at the 
 President's proclamation as equivalent to the pope's fulmination 
 against the comet. -This ended the discussion, though Butler 
 afterwards told me in conversation that should my argument be- 
 come public, he feared that prejudiced persons might regard my 
 law as stronger than my 'loyalty.' 
 
 The district of country under my command having been set in 
 order and being well-administered by active young subalterns 
 detailed for the purpose, our troops were soon in position to beat 
 up the enemy on his own ground, and some or all available troops 
 were kept engaged in this work by expeditions of all arms, some of 
 small consequence, and others taxing all the resources at my dis- 
 posal. In October (1863) such an expedition was made in force, 
 for the purpose of breaking up a body known as the Confederate 
 Coast Guard, to destroy the extensive illicit trade and blockade- 
 running of some of the maritime counties, and generally to annoy 
 the enemy, and draw away detachments from his main armies. 
 With these objects, a force of infantry and artillery was marched 
 from Gloucester northward, to and across the Piankatank near 
 
CLEARING UP THE DISTRICT ABOUT WEST POINT 83 
 
 its head, advancing its patrols to the Rappahannock. At the 
 same time two regiments of cavalry, under Col. Spear, raked the 
 Mathews County peninsula in its rear, while three gunboats 
 assigned me by Admiral Lee prevented escape by water. Pretty 
 much the whole of the Coast Guard besides a small regiment of 
 cavalry and other prisoners were captured, many small vessels 
 brought off or destroyed, and a considerable number of arms, 
 cattle and horses taken and brought in. The success was so com- 
 plete that it received honorable mention in the Annual Report of 
 the General-in-Chief of the Army, and was transmitted to Con- 
 gress by the Secretary of War. 7 
 
 A small incident occurred on this expedition possessing some 
 bearing on the value of negro testimony. At some small town 
 an old fellow who kept a country store was brought up by some 
 cavalry soldiers, on the charge of having in his shop a barrel of 
 whiskey poisoned for the benefit of our soldiers. All the negroes 
 in the place, male and female, crowded in to swear to the charge, 
 but on cross-examination, seemed to have had the information 
 only from each other. The man himself indignantly denied the 
 charge, declared there was no poison in the town or neighborhood 
 and the story was a baseless yarn got up by the negroes to make 
 themselves agreeable and important to us, and finally offered to 
 drink a tumbler-full himself, provided a guard should be assigned 
 to protect him till he should recover his sobriety. This reason- 
 able condition was soon arranged, and the whiskey consumed by 
 the delinquent in the presence of his smiling family, after which 
 the convinced cavalrymen did not require more than about ten 
 minutes to empty the barrel. 
 
 During the winter of 1863-64 my force consisted of eight regi- 
 ments of infantry, two of cavalry, and four batteries of artillery, 
 which, though widely scattered, could generally be quickly con- 
 centrated for any movement which should serve at the same time 
 to cover the positions at Williamsburg and Yorktown. The force 
 had been hardly worked and a wide extent of country hitherto 
 
 7 Message of the President of the United States and accompanying documents, 
 to the two Houses of Congress at the commencement of the first session of the 38th 
 Congress. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1863, pp. 22-3. 
 
84 EXPERIENCES OF A BRIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 contributing men, horses and supplies to the Confederacy was 
 more or less controlled by combined movements of cavalry and 
 infantry so arranged that the latter, while moving over less 
 actual distances than the cavalry, was always ready to afford it 
 prompt and secure support. By way of extending these methods, 
 it seemed to me that if a quick and secret concentration could be 
 effected on the Williamsburg peninsula, a surprise of Richmond 
 itself, by a sudden cavalry attack, might be possible. That city 
 lay about sixty miles beyond our military line, from the most 
 salient point of which a single road, midway between the York 
 and the James, led to New Kent Court House, where it branched 
 into several forks of which one led N.W. twenty-five miles, to 
 Hanover C. H., and another fifteen miles to Bottom's Bridge on 
 the Chickahominy, from which Richmond was less than ten miles 
 distant. 
 
 That city, though capable of quick reinforcements and usually 
 full of detached soldiers and convalescents, was held by a small 
 regular force. It was protected by redoubts, strong but slen- 
 derly-manned; the citizens and government employees, organized 
 into infantry battalions, being principally relied on for ordinary 
 defense. A small force, rarely exceeding 1500 men, held Bottom's 
 Bridge, to which they were pretty closely confined by our patrols, 
 but a strong Confederate Division of the Army of Northern 
 Virginia then lay in the vicinity of Hanover C. H. Thus in case 
 of disaster or delay to an attacking force at Bottom's Bridge, or 
 between that point and Richmond, the enemy had upon the 
 flank of such force, and could readily place on its only practicable 
 line of retreat at New Kent, a larger force moved from Hanover, 
 over a line much better, and but little longer than that from 
 Bottom's Bridge to the same point. In view of these facts, the 
 plan submitted to Department Headquarters was as follows: 
 While obscuring the movement by a display of vigor on the 
 Gloucester peninsula, to effect a rapid concentration of a small 
 column of all arms in rear of the Williamsburg line. The infantry 
 (two brigades), preceded by a small cavalry advance for surpris- 
 ing and capturing pickets, to march at 10 P.M., February 5th, 
 followed at daylight on the 6th by the entire force of cavalry 
 
THK PLAN FOR A DASH ON RICHMOND 85 
 
 reinforced to six regiments, or about 1500 men. One infantry 
 brigade with most of the guns, to take position at New Kent, 
 throwing out strong posts on all northern roads; the other brigade 
 marching directly on Bottom's Bridge The cavalry, after pass- 
 ing the infantry on the 6th and parking its reserve supplies in 
 their charge at New Kent, to arrive at Bottom's Bridge, fifty 
 miles distant from Williamsburg, at or before daybreak on the 
 7th, seize and repair the bridge, and leaving a small force to hold 
 it till the infantry could come up, make a dash on Richmond, 
 surprise its defences and enter the town. A minute schedule of 
 detachments and duty for the two hours of possible occupation 
 was carefully prepared, and numerous minor plans arranged for 
 destroying public property and communications, cutting wires, 
 etc. Each detachment after performing its allotted task would 
 take care if itself the best it could, retreating by any route upon 
 the infantry by that time arrived at Bottom's Bridge, and covered 
 by it to New Kent, which would be firmly held long enough to 
 cover an orderly retirement of the whole force on Williamsburg. 
 
 This plan with other minor features too numerous to relate 
 here, was approved by General Butler and adopted by the War 
 Department by whom it was also agreed that the Army of the 
 Potomac under Meade, on the Rapidan, should make a simul- 
 taneous demonstration in its front. The concentration in rear of 
 Williamsburg was pushed forward under cover of strong and enter- 
 prising patrols on both sides the York, but as the cavalry rein- 
 forcements and supplies necessarily arrived by water, it was 
 impossible to conceal entirely the preparations going on within 
 the lines, where some event of corresponding importance began 
 to be eagerly looked for and discussed. 
 
 John Boyle, a soldier of a New York cavalry regiment, was at 
 that time confined near Williamsburg under sentence of death 
 for murder and was to be executed on February 7. Some of the 
 numerous camp rumors doubtless reached him, and on the night 
 of the 2nd he escaped by the fault or connivance of a sentinel, 
 who was promptly tried, convicted and shot; but Boyle remained 
 at large and unaccounted for. 
 
86 EXPERIENCES OF A BRIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 The movement took place as arranged, on the night of the 5th, 
 the advance guard being sufficiently extended to surround the 
 several outposts of the enemy posted between Williamsburg and 
 New Kent, most of whose men were killed, captured or driven 
 off on foot into the woods, all their horses being killed or secured. 
 But the prisoners captured at different points and separately 
 examined, all concurred in stating that Boyle, nearly exhausted 
 by a close pursuit, had surrendered to them on the night of the 
 third, and had made such important statements that he had been 
 expressed to Richmond by relays of horses. Had this important 
 intelligence been sooner received it would have deferred the 
 movement, since the mere knowledge by the enemy of an unusual 
 concentration of troops at Williamsburg would naturally prompt 
 them to hold with sufficient force either New Kent or Bottom's 
 Bridge, and must have defeated the enterprise, whose single 
 chance of success lay in surprising the only practicable crossing 
 of the Chickahominy. In view however of the complicated ar- 
 rangements made to cut wires, and especially of the auxiliary 
 movement on the Rapidan to take place on the 6th, with which 
 there was no possibility of immediate communication, it was 
 decided to proceed. 
 
 At four A.M. on February 7th, the cavalry, composed of the 1st 
 New York Mounted Rifles, the 5th and llth Pennsylvania, the 
 1st District Cavalry and two other small regiments especially 
 loaned me for the enterprise, after a march of fifty miles over 
 winter roads, bivouacked near Bottom's Bridge to wait for day- 
 light. Its pickets immediately encountered those of the enemy, 
 prisoners from whom reported that the earthworks and redoubts 
 on the Richmond side had been occupied by a large force the day 
 before; that the bridge planks had been removed, trees felled into 
 the stream and wired together, covering the whole front of the 
 position. The only crossing was by a long causeway of approach 
 constructed through a swamp, then impracticable, with a bridge 
 over the stream at the center; the whole commanded by infantry 
 and artillery in entrenched works on the further side; the Confed- 
 erate General Hunton in command. These facts were verified 
 by a reconnoissance at dawn, a simultaneous demonstration 
 
AN INFORMER PKKVENTS SUCCESS 87 
 
 against the bridge serving to develop the enemy's artillery and 
 reveal a large body of infantry in position. A passage could 
 doubtless have been forced at some point above and the position 
 turned, but instead of a ten-mile gallop to Richmond, the crossing 
 and fighting, however successful, must have consumed most of 
 the day, long before the expiration of which the Richmond re- 
 doubts would have been fully manned, the town safe from a coup 
 de main and the Hanover division moving on our rear. 
 
 There remained no object to be gained commensurate with the 
 loss and jeopardy to be incurred by delay, and my orders were 
 explicit that if the surprise failed, the command was not to be 
 risked for any new object. About 10 A.M., therefore, the neces- 
 sary dispositions were made for a retreat on the infantry reserve 
 at New Kent. 
 
 The enemy promptly crossed the river in pursuit, pressing the 
 rear and flanks so closely that at Baltimore Cross Roads, a favor- 
 able position offering, it was determined to administer a check. 
 The 118th New York, 9th Vermont and llth Connecticut regi- 
 ments of infantry, with two guns, after moving across the large 
 open prairie at that place, were therefore halted and deployed to 
 the rear in the woods. The rearguard a detachment of the 
 llth Pennsylvania Cavalry was here ably handled by Colonel 
 Spear, securing ample tune for these dispositions and then skill- 
 fully withdrawn. The enemy was effectively checked, pushed 
 back with vigor, and cut off from his flanking detachments on 
 both flanks. These, which had got well around to the Union 
 rear, with whose flankers they were hotly engaged, were then 
 attacked with superior force, broken, pursued and dispersed with 
 loss. The command, suffering no further considerable moles- 
 tation, was concentrated at New Kent the same evening, which 
 place was held till all the wounded and prisoners had ben for- 
 warded and the cavalry despatched to Williamsburg, the neigh- 
 boring country, mostly forest, affording no subsistence for man or 
 beast. On the 8th the outposts were drawn in, and the infantry 
 retired by easy marches to Williamsburg. 
 
 The demonstration of the Army of the Potomac was made by 
 part of the Second Army Corps in which my old regiment was 
 
88 EXPERIENCES OF A BRIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 included on the 6th. It was embarrassed by difficult streams 
 and bottomless mud, but contributed to retard the detachments 
 of Confederate troops to New Kent, which might have made our 
 retreat difficult and even disastrous. 
 
 Boyle escaped the hemp he so richly deserved and disappeared 
 for many years, but was at last recognized and identified in the 
 dead body of one of the victims of a great mine explosion in Colo- 
 rado, January 24, 1884. 
 
 Thus failed an enterprise prepared with care in all its details, 
 which had engaged the liveliest interest and expectations of those 
 to whom it was confided, and which but for a minute accident 
 which none could have forseen, might have accomplished memor- 
 able results. Undoubtedly it was chargeable with a violation of 
 standard principles, never to be lightly incurred, since it is but 
 prudent to assume that an adversary will ordinarily meet one's 
 unwarrantable risks and errors with the most appropriate meas- 
 ures. The Confederate division at Hanover Court House, either 
 in consequence of our destruction of their telegraph line, or of the 
 demonstrative movement of the Army of the Potomac, was not 
 used in time to accomplish anything; but leaving that body 
 entirely out of view, it is evident that had the Confederates thrown 
 directly upon New Kent Court House by any of the upper roads 
 the same Richmond force with which they reinforced Bottom's 
 Bridge contenting themselves with a small defensive force in 
 the earthworks at the latter place they had a good opportunity 
 to cripple or crush the single brigade left in reserve at New Kent, 
 and after thus occupying our only line of retreat at a vital point, 
 might have driven our exhausted Bottom's Bridge detachment 
 back on that place and destroyed or captured it. But though 
 the defects of the plan which rendered such a catastrophe possible, 
 were understood and foreseen, they were nevertheless accepted as 
 a necessary feature, in view of certain considerations among which 
 the following were prominent. First: The wires between Meadow 
 Station and Richmond were cut by our spies on the night of the 
 6th. Second: Our reserve was only required to hold New Kent 
 for twelve hours, that is, till night of the 7th. Third: The Con- 
 federates were nearly certain to neglect all speculative chances, 
 
OFFICIAL REPORT OF A RAID ENDORSED 89 
 
 in favor of a direct defence with their whole force, of a place on 
 the shortest road to, and so dangerously near their Capital as 
 Bottom's Bridge. Finally: The occupation of the Confederate 
 Capital for even two hours, profitably and systematically used, 
 would have been a fair equivalent for the loss of our entire expe- 
 ditionary force. 
 
 The Department Commander did me the honor to indorse my 
 official report as follows: (The report itself was printed by the 
 Government in the Rebellion Record, series I, vol. xxxiii, pp. 
 146-8.) 
 
 Hdqrs. Dept. Va. and N. Carolina. 
 
 Fort Monroe, February 12, 1864. 
 
 Report approved. The operation was skillfully and brilliantly done. 
 It gives the commanding general renewed confidence in General Wistar 
 as commander of a division. 
 
 BENJN. F. BUTLER, 
 Major-General Commanding. 
 
 On the same date he wrote the following letter transmitting my 
 report to the General-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States. 
 
 Hdqurs. 18th Army Corps, 
 Fort Monroe, February 12, 1864. 
 GENERAL : 
 
 I have the honor to forward to you, with commendation, the report 
 (dated February 9th) of Brigadier-General Wistar of his brilliantly and 
 ably-executed movement upon Richmond, which failed only from one 
 of those fortuitous circumstances against which no foresight can provide 
 and no execution can overcome. 
 
 By the corruption and faithlessness of a sentinel, who is now being 
 tried for the offense, a man condemned to death, but reprieved by the 
 President, was allowed to escape within the enemy's lines, and there gave 
 them such information as enabled them to meet our advance. This 
 fact is acknowledged in two of the Richmond papers, the Examiner and 
 the Sentinel, published the day after the attack, and is fully confirmed by 
 the testimony before the Court-Martial, before which is being tried the 
 man who permitted the escape. I beg leave to call your attention to the 
 suggestion of General Wistar in his report, that the effect of the raid will 
 be to hereafter keep at least as many Confederate troops around 
 Richmond for its defense from any future movement of the Army of the 
 Potomac as we have in this neighborhood. 
 
 I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 
 
 BENJ. F. BUTLER, 
 Major-General Commanding. 
 MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK, 
 Commanding the Army. 
 
90 EXPERIENCES OF A BRIGADE COMMANDER 
 
 The suggestion in my report alluded to by General Butler was 
 as follows: 
 
 The whole result of the expedition, in addition to the prisoners captured 
 and a few refugees, escaped Union prisoners, and negroes picked up and 
 brought in, is the obvious demonstration that a small force in this vicin- 
 ity, actively handled, can and should hold a much superior force of the 
 enemy in the immediate vicinity of Richmond inactive, except for its 
 defense. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 AT WEST POINT, VA., AND BERMUDA HUNDRED 
 
 Many less ambitious attempts made during the same winter, 
 directed upon almost every point worth striking within a radius 
 of a hundred miles or more, met with better results, among which 
 not the least difficult and successful was an expedition directed 
 upon Charles City C. H., for the purpose of capturing or dispers- 
 ing a Confederate cavalry regiment posted at that place. This 
 regiment was constantly raiding upon our pickets and patrols, 
 generally advancing by way of Bottom's Bridge, and quickly 
 retiring behind the Chickahominy when overmatched. The Court 
 House was eight miles beyond, and nearly south of the crossing 
 known as Jones', or the Forge Bridge. The bridge had been de- 
 stroyed, but, in chasing their detachments over the river, our 
 cavalry found near-by a ford often used by them and practicable 
 for cavalry at ordinary stages of water. About 1200 cavalry 
 moved out of our lines after dark, and marching by Slatersville, 
 reached the Forge crossing at daylight and made a dash on the 
 Court House, a small infantry column being placed at Slaters- 
 ville by a rapid march, to cover and support. The cavalry 
 having surprised and captured or dispersed the pickets at the 
 Forge, crossed the river and after a rapid gallop reached and 
 surrounded the Court House before seven A.M., securing every 
 man in the enemy's camp who had not been killed, except three 
 privates a measure of success not often attained either on a 
 large or small scale. 
 
 During this winter a military commission having been organ- 
 ized to sit at Norfolk to try a Fortress Monroe port captain for 
 cheating the Government, the disagreeable duty of presiding over 
 it fell to my lot, by direct assignment of the Secretary of War. 
 
 91 
 
92 AT WEST POINT, VA., AND BERMUDA HUNDRED 
 
 Fortunately I had first had time to get my District so well-or- 
 ganized, and to get together such a capable and reliable staff, that 
 it did not suffer much during my necessary absence. The Com- 
 mission sat over two weeks, without regard to hours, using every 
 effort of its own and allowing every reasonable latitude to the 
 Judge Advocate, in the hope of finding just occasion for making 
 an example that might check this all-pervading vice. Sitting all 
 day and much of the night on this business, a volume of testi- 
 mony was accumulated quite sufficient to hang many of the noisiest 
 loyalists in several of the great cities, but none of any great con- 
 sequence against the particular rogue on trial. The only mal- 
 feasance positively fastened on him was a probable partnership 
 with a sutler in North Carolina and the forwarding to him of mer- 
 chandise on Government supply vessels, free of charge. Not- 
 withstanding this failure of testimony, as there was little doubt of 
 his general venality and corruption, we took advantage of the 
 single act proved, to impose a fine of $5000, and a year's impris- 
 onment. But in framing our report, which was unanimously 
 signed, I took occasion to refer specifically to certain pages of the 
 testimony transmitted, with a recommendation that several per- 
 sons there implicated should be arrested and sent to us for trial. 
 One of these, I remember, was a prominent and ultra-loyal mem- 
 ber of the Union League Club of Philadelphia (over seven-eighths 
 of whose members were said at one time to be contractors with 
 the Government), who had chartered to the Government at the 
 rate of $100 per day, an old, worn-out and leaky canal-boat for a 
 'rebel prison.' 
 
 The testimony showed that she would not have brought over 
 $75 at a sale absolute; that she could not hold over twenty pris- 
 oners, with the necessary guards and attendants; that on the first 
 night of her arrival in Hampton Roads she sank at her moorings; 
 and that the owner drew $100 per day for a period of eight 
 months, during the whole of which she lay at the bottom of the 
 bay. We earnestly recommended that a chance should be given 
 us at that particular patriot, and also at the Quartermaster who 
 made the bargain and approved the payments, but their political 
 opinions and bawling 'loyalty' were probably too correct and 
 
TWO INTERVIEWS WITH PRESIDENT LINCOLN 93 
 
 sound to permit the risking of their necks to the summary 
 methods of military justice, as we never heard anything more of 
 our report and its suggestions. 
 
 It is probable there was never a great war conducted by any 
 civilized nation at once so extravagantly, inefficiently and cor- 
 ruptly, as ours. In each of those respects the volunteer system 
 itself, as put to use by us, is the worst and most wasteful that 
 any ordinary ingenuity could devise. After extensive oppor- 
 tunities of observation, I believe it is speaking within bounds 
 to say that a large proportion of the officers thus obtained 
 are morally or physically worthless and must be sloughed off at 
 the cost of great delay and expense to give ordinary efficiency to 
 the remainder. The system of commissioning the promoters 
 of enlistments in proportion to the numbers they obtain, or 
 in accordance with the votes of those under their command, 
 was not only fatal to all discipline, even with individuals other- 
 wise fairly qualified, but brought into responsible positions a 
 lot of rascals whose worthlessness paralyzed the army till 
 means could be devised for weeding them out and filling 
 their places with others more in accord with the views 
 and necessities of the general officers responsible for their 
 conduct. 
 
 Not long after Baker's death, President Lincoln, having heard 
 of some acts or observations of mine on the weakness of our 
 volunteer troops in regimental officers, invited me to a private 
 audience, and on two occasions gave a considerable portion of 
 his time and capacity to a discussion of the best means of remedy- 
 ing a difficulty which he had before heard of and which lay deep, 
 because inherent in the original methods of organization. Great 
 generals of course are nascitur non fit, but line officers, important 
 as they are, can to a certain extent be improvised at will, and 
 their excellence and value will much depend on the methods 
 employed for selecting them from the mass of population about 
 to essay its fighting qualities. Many of our regiments were 
 doomed to inferiority before they left their native States, by the 
 mode of enlisting men and electing officers, and when they 
 approached the theatre of war and would have been of priceless 
 
94 AT WEST POINT, VA., AND BERMUDA HUNDRED 
 
 value for instant use, their responsible places being already filled 
 with incapables, precious time had to be wasted while some quick 
 and ready method could be contrived for undoing what had been 
 so badly done. When the State-raised regiments came suddenly 
 under control of the General Government and were found to a 
 great extent unfit for immediate use, there existed only two legal 
 methods for correcting these inherent mischiefs of organization, 
 both of which presented insuperable difficulties. Courts-martial 
 could be assembled to try officers on specific charges, but besides 
 the impolicy of discouraging volunteering by subjecting a large 
 number of officers to trial on such indefinite charges as mere 
 unfitness or incapacity, this plan, by taking useful officers away 
 from their daily duties to constitute such tribunals, would for a 
 time at least, aggravate the difficulty. 
 
 To use the President's power of arbitrary removal in such a 
 vast number of cases, where judgment could only be based on the 
 reports of others transmitted through many hands, themselves un- 
 known, would be to invite intrigue, combinations and injustice, 
 to discourage and discredit the volunteer system, to which, 
 whether good or bad, the country was for the time committed, 
 and to subject conscientious and self-respecting officers to such 
 intolerable uncertainty of tenure and reputation as to drive out 
 the good who were indispensable, rather than the bad whom it was 
 desired to reach. Ultimately, and not a day too soon, the plan was 
 devised by General McClellan and enacted into law, of appointing 
 special commissions, before whom officers might be sent by their 
 superiors for examination. Thus, while ostensibly examining on 
 technical points, scope was given for the final decision to include 
 those points of fitness and capacity for exercising authority, 
 which though by no means the least essential qualities, are 
 among the most difficult to deal with on formal charges and 
 specifications. 
 
 Until this timely remedy was contrived and adopted, regimental 
 commanders were put to all sorts of shifts to get rid of a certain 
 kind of official rascals whose mere presence with their men was 
 injurious and intolerable. I have myself had to drive such fel- 
 lows away without a shadow of legal warrant, by simply putting 
 
OBSERVATIONS ON INEFFICIENT METHODS 95 
 
 them out of the camp, threatening personal vengeance if they 
 returned, and dropping them quietly (but illegally) from the 
 rolls. 
 
 Of course nothing, not even waste of time or infirmity of pur- 
 pose, can be more dangerous or more expensive to a non-military 
 people required suddenly to exert its strength in war, than any 
 kind of artificial or preventable inferiority of its troops; but next 
 to such defects in the fighting ranks themselves, must be classed 
 the injudicious methods and political appointments resorted to 
 without any real necessity, for suddenly increasing to the enor- 
 mous dimensions required, the general staff departments for arm- 
 ing, feeding, clothing and transporting the troops. I think no 
 intelligent person who has had full opportunity of inside observa- 
 tion can avoid the conclusion of course much more obvious 
 after, than before that a large part of the inefficiency, extrava- 
 gance, waste, and even corruption in those Departments, which 
 nearly ruined the North, and quite destroyed the South, might 
 have been avoided; the mobility and power of the army doubled, 
 and perhaps quite half the enormous and wholly unique cost of 
 the war escaped, had there been an orderly, legal method, leisurely 
 prepared in time of peace, for expanding these several business 
 Departments on a sudden emergency, by a system of competitive 
 test of persons, always ready for instant application. Of course 
 in war, as in politics, the world is full of noisy humbugs who, if 
 they can get themselves trusted with the public sledge-hammer, 
 are capable of using it without immediately and visibly breaking 
 their own heads, but something more than that ought to be ex- 
 pected and required from responsible statesmen, legislators, and 
 executives, whose self-assumed business it is to organize the 
 country's strength, administer its resources, and launch both 
 against its enemies under trustworthy and competent super- 
 intendence. 
 
 During the last weeks of the winter of 1863-4, the enemy had 
 been hunted up and pushed so often and so far, that there was 
 little of suitable dimensions now left to strike at, within reason- 
 able distance. It was generally understood that large movements 
 and plenty of work would be undertaken when the weather and 
 
96 AT WEST POINT, VA., AND BERMUDA HUNDRED 
 
 roads should become settled, and in the meantime without 
 remitting the constant drilling and instruction of the troops, I 
 applied myself to complete the various arrangements heretofore 
 put in train for the orderly civil government of the District. 
 Slabtown if not exactly metropolitan had become large and 
 populous, and was clean, quiet, and to a considerable extent, 
 self-supporting. It was well-policed by a small force of selected 
 negroes, chosen by the Provost Marshal, and the most capable 
 residents were from time to time placed on abandoned and un- 
 occupied farming-lands outside the town. These were supplied 
 with implements and seeds procured by aid of the 'Provost 
 fund,' and also with such captured and inferior animals as were 
 no longer capable of road work or useful for military purposes, 
 under written agreements to deliver one-half their crops to the 
 Government or its agents at the nearest place of shipment. 
 
 The Provost fund, consisting of the proceeds of licenses and 
 taxation, collected by the Provost Marshal and accounted for 
 monthly to Department Headquarters, now yielded several 
 thousand dollars a month, largely derived from the sale of licenses 
 for fishing, oystering, trading and so forth. The orderly condition 
 of the place and the prosperity of much of its large negro popu- 
 lation had attracted from the enterprising people of New England, 
 numerous cranks or self-styled missionaries of both sexes, who 
 infested Slabtown in ever-increasing numbers, and as a rule, were 
 by no means averse to extracting a pecuniary profit from their pious 
 labors. Though some of these were unmitigated scamps, others 
 no doubt really believed in the equality or superiority of the negro 
 race, and that all that was necessary for the demonstration of 
 that new-found fact, was to teach the darkey to sing hymns and 
 read the newspapers, while supported at public expense, i.e., by 
 the white laborer and taxpayer. As the delusion at first seemed 
 harmless, and at all events, was none of my business, the mis- 
 sionaries were received and sent as fast as they arrived, to live 
 among their chosen clients at Slabtown, and little attention was 
 given them, till one day an investigating A. D. C. reported that a 
 certain missionary named C. had got nineteen negroes of both 
 
CORRUPT MISSIONARIES IN A NEGRO SETTLEMENT 97 
 
 sexes and all ages tied up to trees, for refusing to let him re-marry 
 them for a fee of twenty-five cents a pair. 
 
 Though the price did not seem unreasonable for a good article 
 of connubial felicity, backed by a solid New England guarantee, 
 it was but fair to the negroes to ascertain what sort of title they 
 were getting; and when the reverend rogue was brought to book, 
 it appeared he had convinced the poor darkeys that the principal 
 thing required to make them equal to whites, was to be re-married 
 by him for a cash consideration. Commencing with a five-dollar 
 fee, he had for a tune done a brisk and thriving business, but the 
 price had gradually fallen with the increasing reluctance of the 
 old black grandfathers and grandmothers to shell out their hard- 
 earned cash, till even at the present modest rate, the demand had 
 so declined that some forcible stimulation had become necessary. 
 This thrifty moralist was of course expelled from the District and 
 the negroes a second time emancipated, but his prayers must have 
 exerted more influence with the Washington statesmen than in the 
 quarter where they were more properly due, since he came back in 
 a short time with an appointment as "Superintendent of Negro 
 Affairs," and authority to disport himself among the negroes and 
 their savings, at his will. As active military preparations for 
 large operations had already commenced, there was then little 
 time to devote to such predaceous insects and in the pressure of 
 other business he was allowed to resume his residence at Slabtown 
 on the promise not to meddle with black men's pockets as long 
 as I remained responsible as commander of the Military Dis- 
 trict. It was not till long after the vicinity had been evacuated 
 by the advancing troops, that I learned through my successor, 
 General Ord, that this reverend gentlemen's pecuniary enter- 
 prises, thus deprived of salutary supervision, at last reached a 
 stage which after exhausting the humble resources of the negroes, 
 successfully attacked the coffers of the Government itself, by 
 appropriating its share of the crops of its negro wards, or a large 
 part of them. 
 
 In April, 1864, numerous regiments and batteries gathered 
 from all parts of the Department, were sent me to be organized and 
 
98 AT WEST POINT, VA., AND BERMUDA HUNDRED 
 
 Brigaded into the 18th Army Corps, which it was understood 
 was to be commanded by the able and well-known General Wil- 
 liam F. Smith, then wearing his freshly-won Chattanooga laurels, 
 at which place by rescuing the communications of the Western 
 Army he had saved the army itself and thus rendered possible 
 its subsequent success. Many of the regiments were old ones 
 recently filled up with drafted or kidnapped men by certain in- 
 iquitous practices first made known to me by the following 
 circumstance which, in the interests of humanity, one may hope 
 could scarcely happen outside of a free (?) Republic. A New 
 Hampshire regiment one night reported its arrival and was 
 posted by one of the staff a couple of miles from the fort, to be 
 inspected and provisionally brigaded next day. But early in 
 the morning the Colonel personally reported that eighty of his 
 men had deserted during the night! In reply to some sharp 
 strictures on the quality and discipline of a regiment in which 
 such things could happen, he explained that his command was 
 an old and good one of long service, but having been reduced by 
 various casualties to barely 150 men, had just been filled up with 
 600 drafted men. These were foreigners, mostly speaking foreign 
 languages, who had been drugged and kidnapped in New York, 
 there purchased by the ' quota agents' of his State, their muster 
 papers regularly made out, then heavily ironed, confined in box 
 cars, and shipped like cattle, to his regiment. 
 
 All this proved on inquiry to be true. One could not but sym- 
 pathize with the poor wretches thus maltreated on their arrival in 
 a land whither many of them had probably fled to escape a much 
 milder military service at home; nevertheless their chains had been 
 forged by experienced hands and were without a flaw. They 
 came to me with all regular forms complete, as duly enlisted, sworn 
 and mustered soldiers of their regiment, and I was bound by every 
 consideration of oath and duty to treat them as such until dis- 
 charged, regardless of their individual misfortunes. The deserters 
 were of course trying to get to the enemy, but must all be retaken 
 sooner or later by our pickets or patrols. Should their escapade 
 be allowed to pass without special attention, as might have been 
 possible under almost any other circumstances, the offense would 
 
THREE DESERTERS SHOT AT SUNRISE 99 
 
 be repeated indefinitely by them, as well as by the hundreds of 
 similar unfortunates drafted like them into other regiments, and 
 must at last be stopped at any cost, even by wholesale executions, 
 if required. 
 
 It was therefore not merely in the interest of the Government, 
 but of humanity as well, that I felt that such an example must be 
 made of a few of those first caught as might serve to cut short the 
 contagious and dangerous defection. The opportunity was not 
 long delayed. Three poor devils were brought in that evening, 
 immediately tried by special court martial, found guilty, con- 
 demned to death, and sentenced to be shot at sunrise next morn- 
 ing, in presence of their regiment. I approved the conviction and 
 sentence, as plainly authorized to do by the Sixty-fifth Article of 
 War; but to avoid all question of authority, telegraphed the facts 
 and my intention to execute the sentence to the Department- 
 Commander at Fortress Monroe. General Butler wished the 
 execution deferred till he could receive and examine the record, 
 but feeling very clear both as respected my authority and duty, I 
 declined to so do on the ground that the efficacy of the punishment 
 as a deterring influence, lay mainly in its immediate infliction, and 
 plainly stated that if restrained in this exercise of judgment, I 
 should decline further responsibility for the troops in this condi- 
 tion, and would ask the favor of an immediate assignment to the 
 Army of the Potomac. Butler then contented himself with requir- 
 ing the record of conviction to be telegraphed him, which process 
 went on through the remainder of the night and was still being 
 conducted long after the culprits had ceased to exist. 
 
 One reason for such unamiable firmness in the matter, was the 
 prevailing feeling that among so many newly-drafted reinforce- 
 ments, the prisoners could not be publicly executed without in- 
 subordination and perhaps mutiny. Even so good an officer as 
 the colonel of their regiment, while concurring in other respects, 
 begged that the execution might be private, or at least not in 
 presence of his regiment, which he feared might not be controllable. 
 But his reason for privacy was mine for publicity, since the very 
 existence of such doubts rendered it all the more imperative that 
 the entire command should know by exhaustive public test, 
 
100 AT WEST POINT, VA., AND BERMUDA HUNDRED 
 
 whether the Government with its officers, order and authority, 
 was or was not stronger than the mutinous conscripts and 
 drafted men, of whom the army was likely to become more and 
 more composed. 
 
 The place of execution was selected near the center of a level 
 plain south of the fortifications, extending from the high banks of 
 the York estuary to a woods half a mile distant. Prior to the 
 appointed hour, all troops having been first paraded in their respec- 
 tive camps, and the streets commanded by reliable artillery, the 
 deserters' regiment was drawn up in line a few paces from the spot 
 occupied by the prisoners, and a firing-party from their own regi- 
 ment, closely watched by a picked detail of the provost guard. 
 Opposite the flank of this regiment and at right angles with it, 
 were posted two reliable regiments of my old brigade, one deployed 
 in line of battle with a section of artillery in its center, the other in 
 two columns each doubled on the center, in rear of the respective 
 wings. A few squadrons of cavalry were drawn up at the edge of 
 the woods, a quarter of a mile distant, a field battery, harnessed 
 and mounted, was placed in position in the nearest bastion of the 
 fort, and another was harnessed and standing ready on the road 
 inside the nearest gate. It did not require a very experienced 
 military eye to perceive that in case of any mutinous demonstra- 
 tion by the offending regiment, it could be mowed down by the 
 enfilading fire of the regiment and guns on its flank, and if it 
 broke, could be annihilated by the charge of the two infantry 
 columns, and every straggler cut down or captured -by the cavalry 
 in rear. The disposition being effectually, and therefore mer- 
 cifully made, the ceremony was conducted deliberately and 
 with perfect regularity. The men fell dead at the first dis- 
 charge, and were buried where they fell, not another sound 
 being audible from first to last, but the necessary officers' orders, 
 till quick time beaten by the drum corps announced the cere- 
 mony completed. 
 
 The results justified the painful harshness of this measure. All 
 the other deserters were captured and brought in within a few days 
 and received less severe punishment, and not another desertion 
 occurred except on a single occasion some weeks afterwards, when 
 
A PERSONAL LETTER TO GENERAL DIX PUBLISHED 101 
 
 thirty-four of the same class of men deserted from a Connecticut 
 regiment while in action at Drury's Bluff, but were mostly killed 
 by our fire while running for the enemy's line. To say nothing of 
 the necessities of the service and the interest of the Government 
 and country, I believe that many lives were saved by this 
 timely severity, and have always felt fully justified in it, even 
 regarded as a measure of humanity alone. But it was none the 
 less an infamous outrage not only on the poor ignorant victims, but 
 on commanding officers constrained to such painful measures, 
 that these should be rendered necessary by the base acts of those 
 quota-hunting villains in northern cities, who, if justice could have 
 been done, would have first felt the halter. Smarting under this 
 feeling I wrote an indignant but unofficial letter to Major-General 
 Dix, then commanding at New York, setting forth the violence 
 and fraud by which emigrants and other friendless persons 
 were dragged against their will into the service, by outrages 
 committed in New York, worse than any acts of the old British 
 naval press-gangs, and the responsibilities thus imposed on 
 commanding officers charged with the duty of receiving such 
 so-called recruits. 
 
 This letter was published by the press of New York presumably 
 with the consent of General Dix, and found its way into the 
 English and Continental papers. Worse still, the Earl of Peter- 
 borough read it from his place in the House of Lords, as a state- 
 ment by an "American officer somewhat less cruel and brutal 
 than his fellows," of the modes by which the Americans forced 
 innocent foreigners into their internecine quarrels, with a cruelty 
 and disregard of human life and rights more infamous than any 
 European despot had dared to practise during modern times, &c., 
 &c. As all this came back in due course to the American papers, 
 I expected to get a wooling from the War Department, but as I 
 never heard from it on the subject, presume their attentions 
 were bestowed on General Dix, through whose indiscretion or 
 humanity my letter could alone have reached the printer. 
 
 Though the mixture of civil and military duties on the Virginia 
 Peninsula had separated me for eight months from my comrades 
 and friends in the Army of the Potomac, they were not otherwise 
 
v ;*"*** 
 
 * *- ** t / , \* i- v 1 * ' *- * 
 
 X-:,^"-;= t - '^ 
 
 102 AT WEST POINT, VA., AND BERMUDA HUNDRED 
 
 disagreeable, except for the effect of that malarial region on my 
 health. During this period I had suffered pretty much every 
 variety of fever and diarrhea and pulled through them all with 
 more or less residuum of damage. During a few months, chiefly 
 in the previous autumn, three acres had been filled with the graves 
 of soldiers of my command which had scarcely at any time 
 exceeded 6000 men notwithstanding most of the regiments had 
 been frequently interchanged with those from the more salubrious 
 regions of the North Carolina Coast. Quinine was daily served at 
 reveille, at first in whiskey and afterwards more surely and bene- 
 ficially in coffee. Troops and quarters were constantly inspected 
 and absolute cleanliness of camp, clothing and person rigidly 
 enforced. The frosty weather of winter much improved the 
 general health, but with the return of spring the old symptoms 
 reappeared, and the organization of the 18th Army Corps was 
 hailed by all ranks as evidence of approaching movement and 
 change of scene. 
 
 I was myself relieved from command of the District by General 
 Order of April 19th, 1864, and on the 21st was reassigned to the 
 command of the Second Division 18th A. C. composed of my old 
 brigade, now consisting of the 2nd and 12th New Hampshire, 
 llth Conn, and 148th New York regiments under Col. Stedman 
 as Brigade Commander, and General Heckman's Brigade of the 
 9th New Jersey, 23rd, 25th and 27th Mass. On May 4th, the 
 Division with the remainder of the Corps under command of 
 Gen. W. F. Smith, sailed in transport steamers for the James 
 River, where they were joined by the 10th Corps under General 
 Gilmore, the whole constituting the newly organized Army of the 
 James, commanded by Gen. B. F. Butler. During the night of 
 the 5th, a landing was effected at Bermuda Hundred and the 
 position at once entrenched. On the 6th, I was ordered by 
 General Butler to make a reconnoissance with two regiments and 
 if possible destroy the railroad between Petersburg and Rich- 
 mond. This movement failed with loss, notwithstanding my 
 best efforts, in consequence of the smallness of the force, which 
 might just as well have been a Division, since the other troops 
 were at the time unemployed, except in entrenching. Next day 
 
A SUDDEN AND IMPRESSIVE DEATH 103 
 
 I was ordered to repeat the effort with a brigade, and after some 
 sharp fighting about two miles of road was destroyed by throwing 
 that much of the track, ties, rails and all, over an embankment; 
 but being hard pressed by the enemy in nearly or quite equal 
 force, no opportunity was afforded for burning ties and bending 
 rails effectually without suffering greater loss than the occasion 
 justified. 
 
 It was in this fight that I happened to notice personally the par- 
 ticulars of a remarkably sudden and impressive death. I was 
 myself riding with the skirmish line some distance in advance of 
 the line of battle, endeavoring to get some knowledge of the topog- 
 raphy in front. The line of skirmishers had just emerged from a 
 thick wood into a small road running parallel with it. The other 
 side of the road was bounded by a high Virginia rail-fence, beyond 
 which were some open fields with the railroad embankment on the 
 far side. The embankment was at the moment rather weakly held 
 by the enemy's infantry, but a battery at some distance to the right 
 front, immediately opened a partially enfilading and rather destruc- 
 tive fire with shell, down the road. I called a soldier to throw off 
 some rails that I might cross the fence, which stood on a high bank 
 and was impracticable for a horse to jump from the road. The 
 soldier had scarcely seized a rail for this purpose, when there was 
 a sudden crash and blaze of fire, and I found myself covered with a 
 shower of splinters and half-rotten wood. Right at my horse's 
 feet lay the soldier, still enveloped in his blue overcoat and appa- 
 rently uninjured, but a second glance showed that his head had 
 vanished altogether, and in its place projected the long white 
 bone of the neck hot and smoking! A shell had struck and 
 knocked to pieces the fence, and either the missile or some part of 
 the fence had entirely carried away the soldier's head, the shell 
 itself bursting on the opposite side of the road among the 
 skirmishers, but without doing further mischief. No death 
 could be more sudden or impressive to the bystander. The 
 ominous and warning shriek or whistle of the shell was lost in 
 the volume of infantry-fire about the place, and the victim 
 could not have suffered a thrill of pain, or even a single instant 
 of apprehension. 
 
104 AT WEST POINT, VA., AND BERMUDA HUNDRED 
 
 The same evening of this little success in breaking the railroad, 
 General Butler found it expedient to divulge to me a small scheme 
 of his own affecting myself and others, which had no doubt long 
 been a favorite with him, since it must have required at least a 
 month of secret preparation. It eventually appeared that his 
 main object was to get back under his command General Weitzel, 
 a former and favorite instrument of his at New Orleans; and part 
 of the original plan consisted in inducing me to give up my Divi- 
 sion to that officer and accept command of the Third Division. 
 This latter, however, though much stronger in numbers, was com- 
 posed of negroes, dressed up like soldiers and euphemistically 
 styled 'Colored Troops.' In numbers it was the strongest in the 
 corps, never having suffered any considerable casualties; but 
 having formerly had the assistance of one of its brigades in action, 
 where it suddenly ran away before the charge of two small Con- 
 federate regiments, nearly causing my personal capture, I shared 
 the opinion of most of the white soldiers, that while good at 
 marching, and just then an interesting popular and Government 
 pet and plaything, the ' Colored Troops' were not good to tie to 
 in battle. After the above practical demonstration of their value, 
 and sometime before the movement across the James, I had per- 
 emptorily declined Butler's proposal to take command of this 
 colored Division, and when somewhat pressed, had by way of 
 emphasis, declared my preference for a white brigade rather than 
 a negro division, if necessary. 
 
 It had been I suppose, at the instance of the Corps Commander 
 General Smith, that I had been reassigned to command the 
 Second Division after its reinforcement and reorganization, and 
 my rank as fixed by date of commission, seemed to justify my 
 regarding it as permanent, since a command at least equal, must 
 have fallen to me in either of the larger armies. But Butler's 
 little scheme, though rebuffed at the start, had been readjusted to 
 meet all obstacles, and after a long period of secret nursing, had 
 now reached a stage when it must necessarily be communicated 
 both to General Smith and myself. After my refusal of the Col- 
 ored Division, it had been given to one Hinks, and Weitzel had 
 been ordered to the 18th Corps from New Orleans, where he 
 
DEPRIVED OF A DIVISION COMMAND 1U5 
 
 had been hitherto distinguished for political and civil, rather than 
 military achievements. Butler now imparted this information, 
 with the fact that Weitzel had reached Washington and was on 
 his way thence and daily expected to arrive, when the only com- 
 mand suitable for his superior rank would be my Division, and 
 the only thing left for me would be my old Brigade. 
 
 It was clearly too late for remonstrance here, but on the other 
 hand, all the armies were now freshly reorganized and in active 
 motion. It would require considerable time to get myself assigned 
 to the Potomac, or any other army, and should I venture to leave 
 the Army of the James now in actual contact with the enemy, I 
 might have to sulk in Washington for a month or two during the 
 most active part of the campaign, before the casualties of war 
 should make room for my reassignment. Such a contingency was 
 not to be entertained a moment, as the astute Butler had doubtless 
 foreseen, and I therefore submitted with as good grace as I could 
 assume, for the present. 
 
 General Weit/el arrived not long afterwards, and the change 
 was effected while the army was actually engaged in front of 
 Petersburg, as will presently appear. I retired from the Division 
 which either directly or as District Commander I had com- 
 manded for several months, and had handled not discreditably on 
 marches and in action, to the humbler responsibilities of my old 
 Brigade. It is useless to deny that this injustice, skillfully and 
 secretly committed by a wily politician, then at odds with almost 
 every military man of repute in the army, and soon to make his 
 military antics a laughing-stock to the country, galled consid- 
 erably at the time. I think I may fairly remark that Butler, at 
 least, could not and did not make any pretext of deficiency on 
 my part; for on that point he is fully committed by his official 
 reports, over and over again, both before and after this event, some 
 of which have been already quoted. Nevertheless, through these 
 secret machinations, one of the best Divisions in the service, upon 
 which I had labored assiduously for many months in anticipation 
 of the campaign now opening, thus fell unearned to a follower of 
 Butler's fortunes, of my own rank but antedating me slightly, 
 whose best-known recommendation was his obedient usefulness 
 
106 AT WEST POINT, VA., AND BERMUDA HUNDRED 
 
 to him in his persecution and, as many have charged plunder, 
 of the non-combatant citizens and property-owners of New 
 Orleans. The same considerations that forbade my withdrawal 
 from the Army of the James at that juncture, rendered it equally 
 or even more inexpedient to retire altogether from the service; and 
 yet it was due more to the friendly sympathy and advice of my 
 friends especially General Smith, and Colonel Stedman than 
 to the strength of my own philosophy, that I was able to refrain 
 from that ill-advised step. Stedman, in fact, suffered as much as 
 myself, pro tanto, since my falling back to the Brigade, sent him 
 back to his old regiment, at the head of which he soon after glori- 
 ously fell, sword in hand, in the act of leading it over the enemy's 
 earthworks at Cold Harbor. He lived not to see that particular 
 wrong righted, or even the final triumph of his cause, but long 
 enough to be well-known and properly valued as an accomplished 
 gentleman, a faithful friend, and one of the most gallant officers in 
 the service of his country. 
 
 On the 8th of May, Butler having learned of the successful 
 crossing of the James by the cavalry division under Kautz, left 
 his colored division, about 5000 strong, in the Bermuda Hundred 
 entrenchments, and marched on Petersburg with all the rest of the 
 two Corps, then numbering in the ranks present for duty, about 
 22,000 men. No enemy was at first encountered, and the six miles 
 railroad was effectually destroyed, but the entire army was brought 
 to a stand at the defensive line of Swift Creek, two miles in front 
 of Petersburg, by the obstinate and skillful defense there made by 
 a few Confederate regiments under Beauregard. At this place 
 occurred an incident too obscure in magnitude and barren of 
 results, to find any place in history, which, nevertheless cost the 
 lives of some hundreds of brave men who marched gallantly to 
 death in obedience to orders, the reason or object of which they 
 could scarcely have understood themselves, certainly we did not. 
 My Division, already deployed and standing in line, was suddenly 
 assailed by a small column of five companies of South Carolina 
 infantry, which suddenly charged from the woods but was, of 
 course, almost to a man, destroyed. Not immediately perceiving 
 any plan or object in such a desperate and hopeless movement, I 
 
GENERAL BUTLER'S ERROR AND THE RESULT 107 
 
 rode out to the place, where these men fell, which, as our fire had 
 been reserved for close quarters, was scarcely fifty yards from our 
 line, but could find no officer unwounded or in condition to talk. 
 The Lieutenant-Colonel in command having been killed coming up, 
 the ranking officer present was Capt. Le Roy Hammond, who had 
 himself received four bullets and was in a dying condition; all the 
 other officers not killed on the spot, being in similar or worse 
 condition. Officers and men alike, the former mostly sons of 
 wealthy and historic South Carolina families, carried in their haver- 
 sacks as their only rations, a scanty supply of raw corn just as 
 shelled from the cob ! 
 
 In the absence of more plausible explanation, it was inferred 
 that the destruction of this small column had been risked in the 
 desperate hope of striking my Division in the act of deployment, 
 thus creating a confusion which might have justified Beauregard 
 in sallying from the Swift Creek entrenchments with the whole of 
 his small force. But the division having advanced in line, was 
 already deployed, and whether or not the apparently desperate 
 circumstances of the Confederates justified the attempt, it proved 
 a failure that resulted in the entire destruction of the small 
 assaulting column whose superb gallantry, though obscured and 
 forgotten in the fame of larger and more prominent operations, 
 well deserved a better fate. 
 
 Instead of throwing his vastly superior force instantly on the 
 trifling opposition which the Confederate general was here able to 
 offer, Butler at this critical moment permitted himself to be 
 detained by a desultory combat, mostly confined to skirmish lines, 
 which on my front was varied by a sharp fight in and around the 
 Salem Church, the whole continuing till 4 A.M. on the 10th, when 
 Weitzel arrived and replaced me in command of the Second Divi- 
 sion. I was soon after directed to withdraw my Brigade from 
 the line of battle by regiments, as relieved by Ames' Division of the 
 10th Corps, serve cartridges, form in marching order on the turn- 
 pike and await orders. These soon came, being to march up the 
 road toward Richmond and reinforceTerry's Division of Gilmore's 
 Corps, then covering our rear above Bermuda Hundred against an 
 attack from Richmond, and said to be hard pressed by troops from 
 
108 AT WEST POINT, VA., AND BERMUDA HUNDRED 
 
 that place. By this tune the sun had become hot, the turnpike 
 was white and glowing, the men had been in ranks, with more or 
 less fighting, for twenty-four hours, and as I was enjoined to 
 spare no time, it became a problem how to get the command 
 moved over the eight miles that separated us from Terry, in the 
 shortest time. I could think of no better plan than a modification 
 of that adopted for crossing the Humboldt Desert in 1849, viz., to 
 march half an hour and halt ten minutes till the ground could be 
 covered. Scores of exhausted men dropped out from weakness or 
 sunstroke, but as I was continually urged on by galloping staff 
 officers from Terry, the march was remorselessly pushed, only to 
 find that Terry was having no fight at all not even as much as 
 the skirmishing we had left but was 'expecting' one. 
 
 It did not come to any great extent. One of his batteries was 
 overrun and momentarily captured by the charge of a single Con- 
 federate regiment, but was immediately retaken by the voluntary 
 charge of one of our regiments, I think the 13th Indiana. The 
 same night Butler's troops all again camped within the Bermuda 
 Hundred lines. On the 12th the same force again moved out, 
 taking this time the contrary direction toward Richmond. By the 
 evening of the 14th an advance of six or seven miles, mostly through 
 dense woods, had been effected, every inch of ground having been 
 hotly disputed by the enemy's skirmishers, sometimes only dis- 
 lodged by vigorous attacks from our line of battle. The Army of 
 the James here brought up in front, and within a few hundred yards, 
 of a formidable line of earthworks, extending from Drury's Bluff on 
 James River a distance of several miles into the country, covering 
 the several roads and railroads leading to Richmond, and now 
 defended by an adequate force under Beauregard, constantly 
 augmented by arrivals from Petersburg and more southern points, 
 which our colored garrison at Bermuda Hundred directly on the 
 flank and within two miles of their line of march from Petersburg, 
 made no effort to prevent. 
 
 The Corps commanders advised an immediate assault, which 
 was not approved by Butler, who had not yet arrived and at no 
 time did arrive at the front. The troops having been placed in 
 position on the general line of a small swampy rivulet at the edge 
 
HECKMAN'S BRIGADE SURROUNDED AND CAPTURED 109 
 
 of the slashed timber covering the glacis, to which it formed a 
 strong abattis, protected themselves with a small breastwork of 
 logs and earth, and during the night, by General Smith's orders, 
 stretched telegraph wire from stump to stump through the tangled 
 slashing in front of the position. For the easier handling of artil- 
 lery, a corduroy road was constructed to firm ground in the rear, 
 and with the exception of perpetual picket skirmishing and some 
 artillery fire from the fort, the troops lay idle till early on the 
 morning of the 16th, when the enemy made a sortie with his entire 
 infantry force of three Divisions. 
 
 The extreme right of our line of battle was held by Heckman's 
 brigade of Wistar's now Weitzel's Division, having my brigade 
 next on its left, and on its right, some negro cavalry intended to 
 cover its exposed flank by prolonging the general line across the 
 meadows to James River, a distance of about two miles. During 
 this night Heckman's pickets had lost touch with mine, and what 
 proved of still more importance, with those of the two regiments of 
 negro cavalry on his right. I was occupied with all my staff and 
 orderlies the entire night, in trying to get the first gap rectified, 
 but without success. In the first place, it was the duty of the 
 Division General and not mine, to see to the continuity of his line, 
 but though the defect was constantly reported to him through the 
 night, it received no other attention from him, so far as I ever 
 heard. In the next place, the business of rectifying this interval 
 was difficult and exceedingly dangerous. The ground was densely 
 covered with a 'slashing' of heavy white-oak timber, i.e., trees 
 cut down two years before and left lying as they fell. This, 
 though nearly impassable to marching troops, was filled with 
 the enemy's sharpshooters, who concealed themselves readily 
 among it, in rear as well as in front of our pickets, and made 
 it hot, especially for the officers exploring for the purpose of 
 rectifying the line. 
 
 About an hour before daylight on the 16th, the low swampy 
 woods being filled with a dense fog, Ransom's Confederate Divi- 
 sion advanced quickly and silently from the fort to turn Heck- 
 man's right, quickly dispersed the negro cavalry which offered little 
 or no resistance, and struck and enveloped his uncovered flank. 
 
110 AT WEST POINT, VA., AND BERMUDA HUNDRED 
 
 The brigade was a good one and made a desperate though disor- 
 derly resistance, but under the unfavorable condition of the circum- 
 stances, receiving neither warning nor support from the cavalry 
 on its right, soon yielded to a well-prepared attack that reached 
 its flank and rear almost simultaneously, and was entirely 
 destroyed as a cohesive body, its general with all his staff and the 
 greater part of the brigade being quickly surrounded and captured, 
 after a heavy loss in killed and wounded. The swampy thicket 
 being impracticable for horses, my staff officers, like myself, were 
 on foot, and before I could get any accurate knowledge of the fight 
 on my right, a long and heavy line of battle came charging down 
 against my front. Owing to the darkness and fog, the distance be- 
 tween the fighting lines was reduced to a few yards and the firing 
 was very destructive on both sides, but with the effective aid of the 
 wire obstructions in our front, the attack was at length success- 
 fully repulsed. In consequence of the defeat of Heckman, it now 
 became necessary as a condition of holding any part of our main 
 line, to crochet to the right rear, first one, and then two, of my 
 regiments, leaving but two on the original line. 
 
 The disposition had scarcely been made, both refused regiments 
 being already heavily engaged on their new front, when a second 
 front attack was vigorously made, but again repulsed with heavy 
 loss and the capture by us of several hundred prisoners, who find- 
 ing it impossible to get away, came in and surrendered and were 
 sent to the rear. The firing on the right had now passed entirely 
 around our extemporized right flank, and soon after, the recapture 
 by the enemy in our rear of nearly all our hard-won prisoners, was 
 reported to me at the same tune that Lieut. Fairgrieve, A. D. C., 
 came up to report his own personal capture and escape from the 
 enemy, whose scattered and disordered masses already filled the 
 woods in rear. Being apparently cut off from Headquarters, I had 
 again stripped myself of staff officers to obtain information of the 
 real condition of affairs on the right and rear, when a third dashing 
 charge came upon our front, the enemy, under cover of smoke and 
 fog, charging in close upon our retiring skirmishers, and getting up 
 within a few feet of our line of battle. After hard fighting and 
 severe loss on both sides, this attempt, like the others, was deci- 
 
RETIRING UNDER GREAT DIFFICULTIES 111 
 
 sively repulsed, and was not repeated; their line retiring to cover 
 of the slashed timber, from whence though a heavy fire was 
 maintained, no further effort was made to close, nor any attempt 
 to carry off their wounded from their distressing position between 
 two fires. 
 
 It was about this tune that an Aide of General Smith got through 
 with an order for me to retire to a new position in rear and to the 
 right of the wood, where a new line was being formed by him in 
 open ground. But with every available man engaged, my right 
 uncovered and crumbling away, and the enemy between myself 
 and the designated point of retreat, this was not an easy thing to 
 accomplish with success. The only way was to retire regiment 
 by regiment, replacing each by a skirmish line, and trusting to 
 events to get finally off the line without sacrificing the last. This 
 was the method adopted, and as in such a dense, swampy thicket, 
 it was impossible to retain control of anything when once out of 
 sight, each Colonel was instructed to move off promptly .as the 
 order reached him, get quickly into column in condition to face to 
 any front and fight his independent way to the rear, reporting 
 directly to the Corps commander with whom only I was in any 
 communication at all; having seen or heard nothing of Weitzel 
 since the action commenced. Two of my four regiments had 
 thus moved off, their places being so inadequately occupied by 
 a skirmish line as to invite another attack in front, when a second 
 order got through, directing me to disregard the first, and hold 
 on, as Brooks of the 10th Corps, was about making an effort to 
 reoccupy the place on my left, from which his Division had been 
 driven. 
 
 But in addition to former difficulties, the enemy about this time 
 had turned on us a heavy battery of twenty-pound Parrotts, 
 captured from Brooks on the turnpike on our left, which mathemati- 
 cally enfiladed my line of battle, and would have been ruinously 
 destructive if the guns had been better served. Whatever Brooks 
 might ultimately accomplish, it was nevertheless plain that these 
 two regiments of mine were at present the only ones remaining on 
 any part of the line, with the enemy strong in front, both flanks 
 entirely exposed, and even the woods in rear occupied more or less 
 
112 AT WEST POINT VA., AND BERMUDA HUNDRED 
 
 by a hostile force of unknown strength and position. I could not 
 get back my two despatched regiments and it was no longer possi- 
 ble to recover the position vacated under the first order, and the 
 second was therefore now impossible to execute. It was conse- 
 quently determined to continue the evacuation first ordered, and 
 the aide was sent back to announce the fact. The third regiment 
 having been extricated and on its way to the rear, it was deter- 
 mined to charge and retake the captured battery, not so much 
 to recover the guns, which probably could not be carried off, 
 as to check the enemy and gain time and confidence for getting 
 away with the last regiment. This was spendidly executed by 
 Stedmen with the llth Connecticut, while the skirmish line was 
 being drawn in from the right. The guns were retaken, and several 
 of them spiked with horseshoe nails found in the limber-boxes, after 
 which, as there was no means of moving them, they were aban- 
 doned. General Smith was found about a mile to the right rear, 
 with the new line skillfully formed in open ground and a strong 
 position. 
 
 Thus ended for the time, one of the hardest fought combats of the 
 war, in which two of Beauregard's three Divisions were thrown suc- 
 cessively on Weitzel's single Division with the design of crushing 
 our right, nearly all the fighting occurring after the destruction of 
 Heckman's Brigade had reduced the Division to one Brigade. 
 That brigade had been fought from first to last without any com- 
 munication whatever with Weitzel, whose personal position and 
 occupation during the action remain unknown to me even at the 
 present day, and yet the principal writers on the war, ser- 
 vilely following Humphreys who was not present have scarcely 
 troubled themselves by even mentioning my name; probably 
 because I was not a West Point officer! I have always flattered 
 myself, and still believe, that if Weitzel had arrived to take my 
 Division a month later than he did, Heckman's Brigade which I 
 knew well would not have been surprised. It would have been 
 effectually covered by a continuous picket line and by the time 
 that line yielded, would have been quite ready to stand to its 
 work. Long before the attack reached the left brigade there 
 would have been ample time for any prompt and capable Division 
 
AN ADVANCE TO RECOVER THE WOUNDED 113 
 
 General to detach from it to Heckman's flank and rear, and check 
 or beat Ransom, only a small portion of whose troops at first 
 enveloped Heckman's right and reached his rear. Had the right 
 brigade maintained its line for even twenty minutes, which under 
 such different circumstances should have presented no difficulty, 
 the few Confederate regiments which had passed round its 
 flank could have been easily checked by an alert Division Com- 
 mander with another unengaged brigade to draw from; when 
 an advance by Heckman en echelon from his right would have 
 been perfectly safe, and must have cut Ransom's disordered 
 Division in two and driven it back on its entrenchments with 
 heavy loss of prisoners. 
 
 Though this view is my own, it has been concurred in by much 
 more experienced judges, and be it as it may, the incontestable 
 fact remains that the brigade scarcely mentioned by Humphreys 
 and those who have slavishly followed him, was the last of both 
 Corps to cling to the line of battle, from which it had repulsed 
 three attacks, and whence it at last retired at leisure, in order, and 
 under obedience to instructions. 
 
 General Smith had formed the new line with his accustomed 
 skill, in a strong position with woods in rear and open ground in 
 front, and artillery massed on higher ground in rear of his right. 
 The losses of both sides having been heavy, no further hostile 
 movement by either occurred till afternoon, when orders came 
 from Butler, who remained at the Half-Way House, three miles in 
 the rear, to send the best-conditioned brigade straight to the front 
 to see what could be done toward bringing off the wounded, but 
 with strict injunctions against bringing on another general action. 
 This demonstration fell to my lot, and the brigade at once moved 
 forward in order of battle, Smith's guns shelling the opposite woods 
 over our heads. As our strong skirmish line entered the woods, it 
 soon came into collision with the enemy, pushing him steadily 
 back for near a mile, when his skirmishers, being strengthened, 
 made a firm stand. Ours being in turn reinforced, drove them 
 again, till the two lines both alternately and repeatedly reinforced, 
 began to assume the dimensions and appearance of lines of battle. 
 At length a considerable bunch of houses, barns, out-houses, and 
 
114 AT WEST POINT, VA., AND BERMUDA HUNDRED 
 
 negro cabins, constituting an old-fashioned Virginia farm and 
 affording a good point of defense, was occupied and obstinately 
 held by the enemy, who even brought up guns to cover it. I also 
 sent back for a couple of guns to open the way for assault, and the 
 affair was in a fair way to swell to the dimensions of battle, when I 
 was recalled and found that under cover of the forward movement, 
 a general retreat had already commenced, to which my battle- 
 worn brigade was assigned as rear-guard. There was no pursuit of 
 any consequence, the enemy's loss in killed and wounded being 
 quite equal to ours, and soon after dark the whole Army of the 
 James was again assembled within the entrenchments of Bermuda 
 Hundred, where as General Grant contemptuously stigmatized 
 it, Butler proceeded to get himself and the remainder of his 30,000 
 men securely and permanently 'bottled up.' 8 
 
 8 General Wm. F. Smith, in his book entitled "From Chatanooga to Petersburg 
 under Grant and Butler," 1893, has printed in Appendix No. 8, a letter from me 
 dated January 23rd, 1893, which gives a more specific statement of some features 
 of the action of Drury's Bluff 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE RETURN TO CIVIL LIFE AND BUSINESS 
 
 After the considerable success at first attained by the Confed- 
 erates in the severe and bloody action at Drury's Bluff, their 
 failure to follow it up with real vigor during the several hours of 
 almost entire suspension of arms that intervened between our 
 retirement from the original line and the advance of my brigade in 
 the afternoon, seemed not sufficiently accounted for by their 
 mere losses in action, heavy as those undoubtedly were. It was 
 known to us, both from prisoners and the Richmond papers, that 
 President Davis was personally present at the affair, a fact scarcely 
 tending to abate the well-known ardor and energy of the Confed- 
 erate general, and the circumstances long remained unexplained. 
 But soon after the termination of the war, my old California 
 friend, Major William Addison, of the Confederate Army, fur- 
 nished an intelligible and rather startling elucidation, since mainly 
 confirmed by Confederate official reports. 
 
 Though belonging to the staff of Gen. A. P. Hill, he was that 
 day, by special detail, serving on the staff of Confederate General 
 Whiting. His statement was that early in the morning, im- 
 mediately after their first success, fully half of Beauregard's 
 troops were despatched under General W. to occupy a position in 
 the woods on our left and rear, from which at the proper time, to 
 cut off our retreat to Bermuda Hundred. When the attack was 
 made by my brigade in the afternoon, the fighting was for a time 
 severe, and the Confederate general probably taking the motive 
 as more serious than intended, no doubt deemed his opportunity 
 arrived, and sent orders to W. to launch his entire force upon our 
 line of retreat and attack in rear while he should press us in front. 
 But when this momentous order reached its destination, W., 
 though brave, capable and effective under ordinary circumstances, 
 
 115 
 
116 THE RETURN TO CIVIL LIFE AND BUSINESS 
 
 was not in physical condition to execute any movement; and his 
 staff, after vainly trying to effect even a temporary restoration, 
 were unwilling themselves to assume the direction of such an 
 important operation. Thus at this critical juncture a long delay 
 ensued, during which Butler, blissfully ignorant of the well-set 
 trap yawning for his reception, retired unopposed to his entrench- 
 ments. Even Beauregard's own pressure on our front now 
 become the rear was pushed with inexplicable moderation, the 
 reason for which, thus explained, is now simple enough. He was 
 momentarily expecting to hear the sounds of W.'s attack from the 
 direction of Bermuda Hundred, which should give him the long- 
 desired signal to rush in for all he was worth and reap the results 
 of his skillfully devised plans. 
 
 General W. was, when in condition for work, a brave experi- 
 enced and able officer of the old army, and severe as was the trial 
 to Beauregard's philosophy, it is probable it would have been over- 
 looked, but W. soon after fell in action at his unsuccessful defense 
 of Fort Fisher, and the circumstance has received little public 
 comment. 
 
 Personally, I had entered on this campaign against the remon- 
 strances of my friends and the medical officers, and was in about 
 as bad a state of health as was consistent with active work at all. 
 Furthermore, as luck would have it, I had been subjected from the 
 very first to almost constant exposure at all hours, with little 
 opportunity for the indispensable necessities of food and rest, 
 and had only been kept in the saddle by stimulating drugs of 
 whose ultimate consequences, my brigade surgeon, Dr. Otis, had 
 not left me ignorant. During the movement against Petersburg, 
 I had my clothes off one night only, and in that against Drury's 
 Bluff, not at all. The penalty justly to be expected, now appeared. 
 The excitement of active field work was no sooner suspended, 
 than the same alarming symptoms of fever and diarrhea which had 
 kept our regimental and post hospitals overflowing on the Penin- 
 sula, seized upon me with overwhelming and ominous severity. 
 In field hospital, notwithstanding such kind attentions as my staff 
 and other friends were able to render, the condition grew steadily 
 worse and I was informed that, whatever the issue, I must not 
 
RECUPERATING IN CLAYMONT, DELAWARE 117 
 
 think of going into the field again for at least some months. All 
 the doctors either instigated or backed Butler, who desired me to 
 accept a long leave of absence, and even offered to, and did, pur- 
 chase some of my horses. Thus at last, almost without knowl- 
 edge or volition of my own, I found myself, in company with a 
 steamer-load of wounded and sick of all ranks, on the way to 
 General Hospital at Fortress Monroe, from which place I was in 
 turn forwarded by the Medical Director to one of the great Gen- 
 eral Hospitals in Philadelphia. 
 
 But arrived in that city, whence at that season all my family 
 and many of my intimate friends were absent, I was saved from 
 the military hospitals, then in an overflowing condition, by the 
 kindness of Thomas Kimber,an old Haverford College mate, whom 
 I had scarcely seen since leaving there. Kimber was at this time 
 president of several railroads, in the full tide of commercial suc- 
 cess and might have reached almost any eminence in that line; 
 but some years later deliberately abandoned all selfish personal 
 interests in obedience to religious conviction, and became an able 
 and distinguished preacher and writer in the Society of Friends. 
 He was at this time residing on a fine estate that he had acquired in 
 Delaware, and had recently added to his possessions a small prop- 
 erty in the same vicinity, situated on the river of the same name, 
 and containing the small but ancient manor-house of the alienated, 
 much-divided, and long forgotten manor of Stockdale, reserved 
 from sale for their own use by Penn and Carpenter, at the earliest 
 settlement of the country. Into this house I was carried on a 
 stretcher, and on the premises first known under such discouraging 
 circumstances, I am now writing, having since lived there, more 
 or less, during every summer season when not absent from the 
 country. At a later period when I had learned from Kimber the 
 history of the house, whose original builder, Carpenter, was a 
 lineal ancestor of my mother, and saw the curious old Indian 
 grants, signed with their 'totems,' or tribal or family symbols, 
 I purchased the property, and have since from time to time 
 enlarged and improved it, scrupulously preserving the integrity of 
 the old manor-house, now surrounded by and embedded among 
 modern additions. 
 
118 THE BETUBN TO CIVIL LIFE AND BUSINESS 
 
 At this place, not far from the station known as Claymont, 19 
 miles from the city, I lay ill several months, during which I also 
 suffered a return of pain and trouble from the elbow wound 
 received nearly three years previously, at Ball's Bluff. This was 
 for several years the occasion of such excessive and almost con- 
 tinuous pain, that I should certainly have dispensed with the 
 remains of the arm, but for the opinion of my father and his pro- 
 fessional friends, Doctors J. Rhea Barton and George W. Norris, 
 who agreed with him that the pain would in time be alleviated by 
 natural process, as the lacerated nerves readjusted themselves; 
 and that even in case of amputation, the stump would remain 
 nearly or quite as sensitive. These views have proved to a certain 
 extent just since after several years of almost constant suffering, 
 only rendered tolerable by the frequent use of hypodermic injec- 
 tions, the pain gradually became more and more intermittent, and 
 for many years past has been comparatively moderate, with long 
 intervals of immunity. 
 
 But in 1864, the prospect of health and prolonged life seemed 
 remote, and, at all events, further exposure in the field was for the 
 present out of the question, and near the close of that year I 
 resigned my commission, and cast about for the means of livelihood 
 at home. Since my last essay in civil life, my domestic responsi- 
 bilities had of course been increased, while my means had been 
 materially reduced by the legislative experiments of the Govern- 
 ment itself. When I first embraced the military service I had 
 invested what assets could be most quickly realized, in city mort- 
 gages, which, if moderate in returns, required little personal atten- 
 tion and seemed reasonably free from many of the ordinary vicissi- 
 tudes of property. But under the inflation that followed the 
 celebrated 'Legal Tender Act,' metallic and convertible currency 
 was driven entirely from circulation, and the Government's 
 paper money fell to a point marked by a gold premium at one 
 time reaching nearly 300 per cent. A large majority of solvent 
 debtors of course hastened to pay off their liabilities in the dis- 
 credited medium, and my mortgages had thus, during my absence, 
 become converted into paper currency worth about a third of the 
 value originally invested hi them. It was the Government itself, 
 
ELECTED PRESIDENT OP A CANAL COMPANY 119 
 
 that I had worked and suffered for, that by ignorant and incom- 
 petent statesmanship rather than with any predatory intention, 
 had done this wrong to me and others. 
 
 In 1865, strange as it may appear to some who may read this, 
 canals still prominently contested with railroads the function of 
 supplying public transportation, and looking about for occupation, 
 and rejecting my old profession of the law as hardly worth recom- 
 mencing for a third tune, I observed that the old Union Canal 
 Company which had claimed so much attention in its day, and in 
 which most fortunes of old date even then continued to be inter- 
 ested, seemed even more discredited than was fairly consistent 
 with its real capacity and resources. Its declining business, and 
 the low price of its securities, seemed to my superficial view rather 
 due to reparable causes, than to the slow but resistless progress in 
 methods which we can now see had even then commenced in favor 
 of railroads. The line of the work, connecting the fine basins of 
 the Susquehanna and the Schuylkill, was unquestionably good, and 
 its territory and connections, valuable, but it had never been able 
 to surmount certain radical errors of design and construction. 
 
 Its summit level which supplied water to the others in both direc- 
 tions, had been placed at so high an elevation that it commanded 
 little natural drainage, and that little had been entirely neglected, 
 its original designers preferring to pump the required water to a 
 vertical height of ninety-five feet, from the Swatara River. Even 
 the water thus expensively obtained was badly utilized, since the 
 level, passing through a cavernous limestone country, was very 
 leaky, and wasted as much water as it conveyed for useful 
 purposes. 
 
 After looking carefully over the ground, I felt satisfied these 
 faults were still remediable, and in order to acquire control and 
 opportunity, I at length effected an arrangement with four other 
 persons, to purchase together a large amount of the Canal Com- 
 pany's securities, calculating with that interest as a basis, to 
 be able to influence a practical majority. The plan succeeded, 
 and in due time I was elected President of the Company with 
 a Board of Directors of my own selection, and went to work as 
 earnestly as my crippled condition and unpaired health permitted. 
 
120 THE RETURN TO CIVIL LIFE AND BUSINESS 
 
 Two distinct problems were presented; first, to utilize all water- 
 supply that could be got by gravity from higher territory; and 
 second, by stopping the leakage, to make the entire quantity 
 available. Lying north of Lebanon is a limited district of country 
 locally known as the 'Gravel Ridge,' of uneven contour, but 
 mostly of greater altitude than the limestone district on which the 
 town is situated. After a minute preliminary examination of 
 this tract in which I received the able and gratuitous assistance 
 of Thomas T. Wierman and James F. Smith, chief engineers, 
 respectively, of the Canal Department of the Pennsylvania R. R. 
 Company, and of the old Schuylkill Navigation Company lines 
 and levels were run upon it, and three reservoirs located to receive, 
 store and distribute the natural precipitation, about three miles 
 of conduit being required to connect them with each other and the 
 summit level. But the estimates of cost exceeded two hundred 
 thousand dollars, in addition to which, funds were urgently required 
 to repair and restore the general canal-line, eighty-two miles long, 
 and embracing, if I recollect right, seventy-two lift-locks, besides 
 other expensive structures. 
 
 The Company had long been in pecuniary default; was without 
 money, credit or security, and unable to borrow a dollar, without 
 individual endorsement. But it still possessed the right of way 
 formerly occupied by a branch canal twenty-two miles long, extend- 
 ing through the upper Swatara Valley from the western end of the 
 summit level to Pinegrove, from which the canal works had been 
 obliterated by the great freshet of 1862. The Reading R.R. Com- 
 pany had long entertained the idea of connecting their Lebanon 
 Valley Road with the Schuylkill County part of their system by a 
 short road passing through the same gap in the Blue Ridge, and 
 had repeatedly introduced into the Legislature, bills for that pur- 
 pose which had thus far been foiled or defeated by amendments 
 prohibiting the proposed road from approaching the canal branch 
 within some small specified distance. That apparently reasonable 
 and innocent proviso, and the effect of moving back the line of the 
 proposed road to the top of the Blue Ridge, at the narrow passage 
 known as the Swatara Gap, and therefore rendered it impracti- 
 cable. In the earnest search for ways and means, it now occurred 
 
INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT OF PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 121 
 
 to me that a sale of this old canal branch as a right of way, might 
 be effected either to the Pennsylvania Company, which might 
 thus connect its main line through a back door, as it were, with the 
 anthracite district of Schuylkill County, or to the Reading Com- 
 pany, for making the connection they had formerly desired and 
 closing a door of competition to its rivals. 
 
 With this view, I introduced myself to Mr. J. Edgar Thomson, 
 President of the Pennsylvania, and submitted a proposal, but 
 without success he stating that while it seemed to offer them an 
 appreciable advantage, he would prefer not to violate a certain 
 tacit understanding existing between the two great roads, that 
 neither should wantonly invade the other's proper territory. 
 But with Mr. Charles E. Smith, President of the Reading, I had 
 better success, and after tedious negotiation, effected with him a 
 verbal sale to his Company for $250,000, one-fifth in cash, the 
 remainder in four equal semi-annual payments with interest, and 
 the stipulation that a traffic connection between rail and canal at 
 Jonestown should be made by their construction of the necessary 
 schutes and appurtenances, and the perpetual maintenance of 
 ' through' rates on all coal transferred at that point. But when 
 this had been reduced to writing, I was obliged to omit, first the 
 stipulation for interest on deferred payments, and then the agree- 
 ment for interchange of traffic at Jonestown. When constrained 
 by my increasing necessities to yield those points, Mr. St. George 
 T. Campbell, counsel for the Reading Company, was still fertile in 
 objections to the form of the paper, and conceiving myself treated 
 by him on one occasion with personal insolence, I abruptly left his 
 office and declined further interviews with him. At length 
 through the interposition of Mr. Smith's assistant, John Tucker 
 whom I had formerly known as Assistant Secretary of War, Mr. 
 F. B. Gowen, the Reading Company's counsel at Pottsville, was 
 sent for, and with him I had no difficulty in reaching a prompt 
 agreement respecting the form of the contract. Never- 
 theless, weeks still passed by without Mr. Smith being able to 
 bring himself to the point of signing the paper, which he him- 
 self had agreed to, his Directors authorized, and his own counsel 
 approved. 
 
122 THE RETURN TO CIVIL LIFE AND BUSINESS 
 
 Meanwhile, on faith of the expected funds, the constructions on 
 the canal had been commenced and were in full progress, and my 
 own personal means and credit were by this time strained to the 
 utmost to provide the monthly payments required. As if the 
 pressure was not already enough, two of the five co-purchasers of 
 the canal securities became so alarmed, that to prevent their hold- 
 ings from going in a body on the market, I was obliged to take or 
 become responsible for them. I must have broken down entirely 
 under these unexpected loads, but for an unusually easy money 
 market, and a partial revival of confidence in Union Canal securi- 
 ties which enabled them to be borrowed upon, and even slowly and 
 cautiously marketed. At length, when financial matters with me 
 and the Company were approaching a crisis, occurred a certain 
 famous falling-out between the two great corporations, respecting 
 the movement upon the Pennsylvania lines of the Reading's 
 Catawissa cars, several miles of which were refused transportation, 
 and accumulated near Milton. Feeling by this time convinced 
 that Smith was rather amusing himself with me to keep away other 
 purchasers, than from any earnest desire to complete the transac- 
 tion, I felt quite justified in devising some means of expediting his 
 movements, and as the measure adopted not only relieved an em- 
 barrassment that was becoming intolerable, but indirectly brought 
 about other results of considerable personal importance, they may 
 be worth relating. 
 
 As soon as the railroad feud became pronounced and public, I 
 called again on Mr. Thomson, and referring to that subject, 
 inquired if, under the changed conditions, he now felt inclined to 
 purchase. On receiving a negative reply, I informed him fully of 
 the halting condition of my negotiation with Smith, and asked if 
 for the purpose of aiding me, he would be willing to address me a 
 note of two lines which should in no manner commit himself. 
 "What is the note?" "Sir: If you are not yet positively com- 
 mitted respecting the sale of the Union Canal branch line, I would 
 like to see you at your earliest convenience." With a faint and 
 almost imperceptible smile, he at once acceded and handed me the 
 note without another word, the commodity of speech being one 
 which he never wasted. The same day I took pains to obtain a 
 
SELLING THE CANAL PROPERTY 123 
 
 casual street meeting with one of the Reading directors who was 
 personally intimate with Smith, and after some preliminary con- 
 versation, showed him the note in confidence, and asked if, under 
 the circumstances, he considered me so far bound to Smith as to 
 be under obligation to decline other overtures? I pointed out 
 that such a note could not be absolutely neglected, and considering 
 Smith's delay and indifference about signing, I was unable to say 
 that I was positively committed with him, and would by no means 
 be justified in declining to entertain other negotiations, &c., &c. 
 But he was inclined to differ with me, and finally exacted a promise 
 that I would at least see Mr. Smith and give him an opportunity 
 to close, before responding to Thomson's note a promise given 
 with a sufficient amount of coyness, but considerable real alacrity. 
 After allowing a few hours for this confidential interview to find 
 its way to Mr. Smith, I called to see him and immediately per- 
 ceived a surprising change of tone and manner. In place of treat- 
 ing me like a scheming adventurer with a nostrum to sell, he even 
 inquired tenderly after my precious health, and went to the length 
 of asking me to take a seat. 
 
 Neither Thomson's letter or even his name was once men- 
 tioned, and finding my interlocutor now ready and anxious to close, 
 I ventured on receding in exact proportion as he advanced, and did 
 not quit him till both the interest payments and the traffic contract 
 were restored to their original place in the transaction, which was 
 re-drawn and signed the same day, and in due time fully executed. 
 I hope and believe that few persons despise duplicity in general 
 more than myself. It is usually the resource of a rogue or a 
 coward, and those who habitually resort to it expose themselves 
 to the suspicion of being ready to avail themselves of lying to pro- 
 mote it. In this case there was no lying, but it can not be denied 
 there was a certain silent deception, only justifiable as a counter 
 against the same weapon, which I was not the first to use, and 
 which was likely to result in serious disaster to many others beside 
 myself. I have always felt somewhat inclined to be ashamed of it, 
 and have only related it to introduce and explain my subsequent 
 intimate relations with Mr. Thomson. 
 
124 THE RETURN TO CIVIL LIFE AND BUSINESS 
 
 The Union Canal storage reservoirs and conduits were com- 
 pleted and paid for, and proved as far as they went, an effectual and 
 indispensable source of supply. The leaks in the summit level 
 were discovered by strewing bran over the surface of the water 
 admitted to quarter depth, and then effectually stopped with clay 
 puddled by enclosing mules upon it and keeping them in lively 
 motion. By means of regular and reliable movement, with low 
 rates, a much larger traffic was obtained on the canal than it had 
 ever before possessed, and the Lebanon Valley branch of the 
 Reading R. R. felt the new competition so keenly that when I gave 
 up the management of the property not long afterwards, a nego- 
 tiation was already pending with them for its purchase, which was 
 soon after completed and the canal abandoned as a line of trans- 
 portation. Its securities had in the meantime considerably risen 
 in value, and as I had purchased for control rather than profit, I 
 succeeded in unloading those which I had voluntarily bought as 
 well as those forced upon me; the entire transaction, large and 
 onerous as it had been, netting a slight profit over the principal 
 and interest involved, on a final settlement. 
 
 It was either just before or after I entered on that undertaking 
 that I received a letter from Gen. Butler, then, I think, a member 
 of Congress from Massachusetts, unfolding the scheme designed 
 for the establishment of Soldiers' Homes, stating that he was or 
 would be President of the Board of Governors; that the first Home 
 would be immediately established somewhere in Ohio, as a central 
 point, and inviting me to accept the position of Governor. Polit- 
 ical positions and candidacies of various kinds had already been 
 proposed to me from different quarters, and declined. Whatever 
 attraction might exist in a noisy competition for the favor of an 
 ignorant populace, must be much impaired by a sense of the incom- 
 petence, disorder, corruption and waste which seems everywhere to 
 degrade the administration of public affairs under such a system. 
 The intervention of an appointing power, itself selected and sup- 
 ported in the same manner, cannot much improve the result; and, 
 moreover, one holding such heterodox views on the subject at 
 present dear above all others to the rabble, could scarcely conceal 
 his thoughts and receive their support with honesty. Besides, 
 
OFFERED A POSITION BY BEN BUTLER 125 
 
 I preferred independence of opinion and action, and such occupa- 
 tion as tended to associations with educated and intelligent per- 
 sons, rather than such miscellaneous scramble for the favor of the 
 masses as is inseparable from a vulgar contest for votes. 
 
 I had, therefore, resolved to decline all temptations to a public 
 life, and refused Butler's invitation on the simple plea that my 
 attention had been directed to other and different objects. To 
 this, Butler replied that I could have little idea of what I was 
 refusing. That I would practically have charge of the selection of 
 the grounds, and the construction of extensive buildings, and 
 would be but little interfered with in the inauguration of system- 
 atic government and discipline. Since Butler and I had scarcely 
 ever got along together a single week without friction, I have never 
 been able to understand why he sought to shower his favor on me 
 on this occasion. Was it a scheme to get me under his control and 
 shut my mouth on his financial adventures among the bankers, 
 insurance companies, gas-works and other fiscal institutions of 
 Norfolk? Or a conscientious effort to atone for his treatment at 
 Petersburg, now that his own military exploits had become a 
 laughing-stock? Or an honest appreciation of my fitness for the 
 special purpose in view? I do not know, and probably shall 
 never know, but with a certain amount of good nature, which 
 others might call vanity, am willing to allow him credit for the last. 
 
 At the present time and for some years past, one of the least 
 agreeable social features of our country is the want of regular train- 
 ing in some definite trade or industry which is the hard lot of a 
 large proportion of native-born youth. No doubt so many causes 
 conduce to this, that it would be mere empiricism to select one or 
 two to bear the entire burden, though certainly a few seem to 
 stand out pre-eminently. Semicollegiate education at the public 
 expense, which tends to degrade manual labor, while substituting 
 nothing better than scheming adventure; trades-unionism, which 
 forbids or limits apprenticeship and competition; an ostentatious 
 style of living, by the uncultivated prosperous; the influx of a 
 bestial class of emigrants, with whom close association is distaste- 
 ful to our own youth all these contribute to the difficulty, but in 
 addition to them, during the period succeeding the war, a large 
 
126 THE KETURN TO CIVIL LIFE AND BUSINESS 
 
 number of young men owed their want of industrial training to 
 their absence from civil life and its instructions during the critical 
 years of adolescence. In the volunteer army they had not only 
 been unaccustomed to regular industry, but had been prematurely 
 entrusted with minor titles, responsibilities and authority, and so 
 indiscriminately bepraised by orators, press and politicians, that 
 it was naturally hard for them to subside into insignificant drudg- 
 ery on the collapse of the war. The successful politicians who, 
 though rarely commanding much confidence in private life, are 
 collectively and euphemistically termed 'the Government/ with 
 their usual sagacity, increased and prolonged the difficulty by 
 conferring so-called 'brevet' titles on all their political friends who 
 took the trouble to ask for them, and fairly plastered the country 
 with high-sounding and ridiculous titles, indicative of nothing real 
 in the past, and therefore in themselves deceptive and demoraliz- 
 ing. The land has accordingly been ever since infested with 
 'Generals' who never commanded so much as a wagon train; 
 'Colonels' who had fought and bled only in the newspapers! 
 and acres of Majors, Captains and so forth, who had been only 
 useful in the telegraph or transportation service, or officious about 
 'Sanitary Commissions,' or in utilizing the 'soldier vote.' 
 
 It was not unnatural that men inexperienced in affairs and misled 
 into false ideas of their own importance, should shrink from a 
 return to common labor. Socialists and magazinists may rave of 
 the beauty and dignity of labor, but they all take care to keep 
 away from it themselves, and all men whatever it suits them to 
 profess testify by their acts, a ready willingness to abandon its 
 attractiveness to others, when they can. It remains a well-nigh 
 universal fact that the successful men are not those who labor, but 
 those who by intelligent combination and organization, control the 
 labor of the masses. A cobbler who cobbles, is still a cobbler, 
 whatever title he may hang up in his shop, and a hungry tailor gets 
 no more for his coats, for being dubbed 'Colonel.' The hard 
 truths underlying these considerations though of course vigor- 
 ously denied by all true patriots did nevertheless at that period 
 turn many disappointed persons to the possibilities of that easy, 
 overpaid and specious pursuit, known in America as 'politics.' 
 
THE VALUE OF MILITARY TITLES 127 
 
 In a free country, anyone out of jail is good enough to serve the 
 public. Neither training, talents nor character are essential for 
 collecting the fees of office; and with the multitude, he who natters 
 and bawls the loudest is usually the fittest for their choice. In 
 this trade, a pseudo-military title was at once a convenient dis- 
 tinction, and a badge of 'loyalty,' and hence for many years, and 
 indeed to this day, the mob might select from an imposing array 
 of rum-selling 'Generals' and pilfering 'Colonels' its favorite 
 for any public function, from cleaning the gutters, to spouting 
 patriotism in the Senate. 
 
 To avoid too much curiosity respecting such titles, and the 
 peaceful and not too creditable exploits by which they were often 
 won, quasi-military societies were formed for mutual assurance, 
 admiration and support, such as Grand Armies, Loyal Legions, 
 Sons of Veterans, and so forth, and at least the forms of grandilo- 
 quence kept alive by 'Camp fires,' Lodges, Grand Commanderies, 
 and similar playthings. So far from real inquiry into titles and 
 records, it has been a point of civility to give a true patriot a peg 
 higher rank than he claimed, and the donkey whose incompetence, 
 or worse, had injured the service and degraded his office, or the 
 cheat who never was in real military service at all, readily got his 
 own record endorsed by lying generously about those of his com- 
 rades. I have personally known the President of Councils in a 
 neighboring city, who was dismissed from the service for stealing a 
 horse; a high official of the G. A. R., who required much tough 
 swearing to get the mark of 'Deserted' expunged from his official 
 record; and a gay pensioner, whose only wound was a sabre-cut 
 laid on by myself for mutiny before his first and final month in the 
 service had expired. 
 
 In view of such circumstances, which cannot be justly called 
 exaggerated, though with our easy-going American optimism we 
 generally do not speak so plainly in public, the game of politics 
 offered little attraction to anyone of sound information and inde- 
 pendent thought. Whether as a vehicle of ambition or a means 
 of support, it was mean and uncertain, beset with concealments 
 and duplicity, surrounded with associations revolting to a person 
 of taste, and entirely irreconcilable with any independence of 
 
128 THE RETURN TO CIVIL LIFE AND BUSINESS 
 
 thought or action. Any promptings of that sort of ambition that 
 I may have ever entertained, readily gave way to such convictions, 
 and though many well-meant efforts were from time to time 
 applied to make use of any attractions I might offer to the public as 
 a candidate, they were put aside, like General Butler's proposition, 
 without difficulty, and I have never felt an hour of regret. 
 
 For a considerable time after the war, the disposition of the 
 successful politicians being severe and sanguinary toward the van- 
 quished, it was supposed the regular army must be kept up to a 
 much larger force than previously probably to fifty regiments at 
 least and an appointment was proposed to me that I was for a 
 time tempted to accept, notwithstanding my objections to the 
 public service and the different course on which I had already 
 embarked. But though arms as a profession would at that time 
 have been familiar and congenial, the cold judgment which is not 
 the least valuable heritage of our Anglo-Saxon race, whispered 
 two serious objections. First, that no branch of regular Govern- 
 ment service could long be compatible with personal independence, 
 and second, that my crippled physical condition must painfully 
 impair the activity required for the infantry or cavalry command, 
 which alone I had a right to expect, in the absence of technical 
 military education. Had access to employment in civil life been 
 at this time absolutely barred, I am by no means sure how far 
 these sober views would have controlled my course, especially 
 when first smarting under the serious pecuniary losses entailed by 
 the 'Legal Tender Act.' But fortunately such was not the case, 
 and I escaped the rock of public life upon which so many fair 
 careers have been wrecked. 
 
 After the most pressing fiscal and physical difficulties of the 
 Union Canal Company had been got into a fair way of adjustment, 
 and the business so carefully organized that it was capable of super- 
 vision and general direction at the expense of a small portion of 
 my time, I accepted the presidency of a Zinc Mining and Manufac- 
 turing Company, and after devoting some time to its effective 
 organization, still found myself with surplus time and energies 
 available for other purposes. About this time I was offered by my 
 friend, Theodore F. Randolph, then president of the Morris and 
 
CARRYING ON STOCK OPERATIONS 129 
 
 Essex Railroad Company, the general superintendency of that 
 road, with a salary larger than both those I was already drawing. 
 But as its acceptance would have required a residence either at New 
 York, or at some point on the line, and necessarily broken up my 
 connection with Philadelphia, domestic considerations constrained 
 me to decline it. Randolph afterwards became Governor of New 
 Jersey, and later a United States Senator from the same State. 
 He was a well-educated and accomplished gentleman, an able man 
 of affairs, and one of the most delightful companions I have ever 
 known. At various times I travelled extensively with him in 
 various parts of the United States, and our friendship and intimacy 
 was maintained by frequent mutual visits till his death at his home 
 in Morristown, N. J., in 1883. Mrs. Randolph was a granddaugh- 
 ter of Chief Justice Marshall, and quite as interesting in her own 
 way as her excellent and distinguished husband. 
 
 As my connection with Randolph and his railroad carried me 
 frequently to New York, I made the acquaintance there of a 
 number of the large stock operators of that city, and at one time 
 yielded much more than was wise to the fascination of their 
 exciting but dangerous game. After some considerable experi- 
 ence in it, I record my deliberate opinion that nothing that is at 
 all tolerated by the business world, is more demoralizing and 
 dangerous, or more certain to lead ultimately to grief. It is 
 demoralizing because it absorbs one's attention from all forms of 
 steady industry; dangerous, because the amounts at risk are sure 
 to exceed one's real capital and proper credit, and that, if persisted 
 in long, it is a certain road to ruin, is matter of common observa- 
 tion. I am glad to say my eyes did not remain long closed to its 
 specious deceptions, and I therefore escaped disaster, but on the 
 contrary, after being several times involved far beyond my means 
 of payment, at last seized a moment when I was far ahead of the 
 game to withdraw from it forever, and I have never since been 
 tempted beyond actual means of payment. At the present time 
 most of the large stock gambling is carried on at New York or 
 Chicago. But at the tune spoken of there were still some large 
 and bold operators in Philadelphia, among whom was engineered, 
 about the year 1867, one of the completest 'corners' that ever 
 
130 THE RETURN TO CIVIL LIFE AND BUSINESS 
 
 mystified and alarmed the 'street,' but which was nevertheless 
 entirely frittered away and lost by want of bold measures at the 
 critical moment. 
 
 I was at the time myself operating for a rise in the stock of the 
 Philadelphia and Erie Railroad Company, and held a consider- 
 able quantity in possession or subject to call, when I was waited 
 on by a large operator whom I will call K., who after displaying 
 much curiosity respecting the amount of my holding, at last 
 stated that he was one of a party who held 'calls' for more stock 
 than there was in existence and available. After deducting the 
 non-saleable stock then belonging to the Pennsylvania Railroad 
 Company and to the cities of Philadelphia and Erie, it was shown 
 that short sales had been made to the combination in excess of 
 the entire available remainder, for which contracts or 'calls' 
 were held upon responsible persons and firms. Nevertheless, as 
 I had purchased on my own judgment and without knowledge of 
 those facts, I declined to place my holdings in the pool, subject 
 to their management, as desired, merely agreeing upon a general 
 co-operation as long as the 'corner' should be managed to meet 
 my views. But the event showed that those parties had fallen 
 by accident on a larger and better thing than they were capable 
 of managing. 
 
 The facts becoming partially known and the stock scarce and 
 panicky, I urged them to stop talking, go to New York and bor- 
 row sufficient funds to make a simultaneous and general call of 
 every share they were entitled to, which being impossible to 
 supply, must have brought the matter to a crisis and produced 
 an immediate settlement on the buyers' terms. This they re- 
 peatedly promised, but as constantly neglected, contenting them- 
 selves with local borrowings on the stock itself, and a series of 
 small calls which were met by the 'shorts' borrowing from the 
 lenders and each other. Becoming disgusted at this peddling 
 method, by which they were in danger of frittering away the real 
 advantages they possessed, I remonstrated in vain, but could not 
 bring them to the decisive point. At last I called on the assem- 
 bled party for precise information of their real plans, but was 
 refused such information, on the ground that as I declined to 
 
THE FAILURE OP A CORNER IN STOCKS 131 
 
 deposit my stock in the pool I was not entitled to further knowl- 
 edge of their position and designs. So far from being forced into 
 the pool by this reticence, as intended, no course of theirs could 
 have suited me better, since whatever implied obligation might 
 have been previously claimed against me, was now incontestably 
 dissolved by such concealment. I therefore retired before they 
 had time to change their minds, went directly to my brokers, 
 and ordered every share of my stock sold the same day to what- 
 ever depths the price might fall. The market of course yielded 
 rapidly under such bona fide sales and actual deliveries, but I 
 closed out every share, at a profit of many thousand dollars, be- 
 fore night, and so advised everyone, including the pool. Next 
 day one of the party sold out heavily on his companions, the 
 stock became plenty, and in a day or two the price had fallen 
 from near par to about one-third of that amount, or perhaps less. 
 The 'corner' which they had at one time really possessed, and 
 needed only a fair degree of boldness to manage, was frittered 
 away and lost, and the entire party, instead of reaping a fortune 
 at one time actually within their reach, were ruined. 
 
 The New York and Erie stock was at that time a famous foot- 
 ball in New York Daniel Drew, first, and afterwards Fisk and 
 Gould being in perpetual contention over it with the elder Vander- 
 bilt and each other, and the numerous minor operators of Wall 
 Street. Though considerably involved in it from time to time 
 with little or no real knowledge, and sometimes placed in situa- 
 tions where, if compelled to realize, I must have lost everything, 
 I ultimately gained great success in this stock, the identity and 
 value of which, as in the case of many of the favorites of that day, 
 has long since been swept away by financial reorganizations. 
 While emerging from one of these struggles, on the summit of 
 the wave I called seriously to mind the sharp lesson endured in 
 Panama in 1850, and then and there resolved to quit forever this 
 specious form of gambling. While such operations may be con- 
 ducted without any moral wrong, since they assuredly possess 
 certain broad distinctions from mere vulgar card gambling, yet 
 they are over-exciting to the mind, tending to divert it from the 
 regular pursuits of reputable industry, and brilliant as they seem, 
 
132 THE RETURN TO CIVIL LIFE AND BUSINESS 
 
 invariably end, sooner or later, in disaster and generally in per- 
 sonal discredit. Prudential reasons, alone, are therefore quite 
 sufficient to warrant anyone in letting them severely alone, when 
 once convinced that permanent, assured and respectable success 
 in life can not be successfully based on any form of gambling. 
 
 In June, 1867, I was desired by Mr. John Edgar Thomson to 
 meet a number of persons at his office. On this occasion there 
 were present, among others, Thomas A. Scott, Simon Cameron, 
 Ex-Gov. William F. Packer, Allison White, A. K. Gumming, 
 John A. Gamble and others. Mr. Thomson desired to know what 
 information I possessed respecting the West Branch and Susque- 
 hanna Canal, extending from Clark's Ferry on the Susquehanna, 
 to Farrandsville on the West Branch, a distance of about 120 
 miles. I replied that I was well acquainted with its traffic con- 
 nections and tonnage resources, but knew little of its physical 
 condition. It was then asked how much time would be required 
 to make a confidential examination of the facts and a reasonably 
 full report on its physical and financial condition, commercial 
 resources and value. To this, after some reflection, it was an- 
 swered that such a report could be submitted within five days, 
 provided the Pennsylvania R. R. Company's telegraph line, and 
 its ticket agent at Middletown should be placed at my disposal. 
 
 This was done, and I telegraphed to Mr. H., my chief engineer 
 at Lebanon, to take the first train to Middletown, prepared for a 
 week's absence, and enquire of the ticket agent for specific tele- 
 graphic instructions. By this method all publicity was avoided, 
 and it was only among entire strangers, both to him and to me, at 
 Middletown, that the actual mission could be disclosed, if dis- 
 closed at all. He was directed to go by train to Clark's Ferry 
 thence walk in one day, by the tow-path, to Northumberland, 
 and from that place mail his report of the first day's examination. 
 The following day to repeat the examination and report from 
 Williamsport, and on the third evening from Farrandsville or 
 Lock Haven. Although, in view of the distances, such examina- 
 tion could be but superficial, it nevertheless supplied H. with 
 three pretty good days' work, notwithstanding he was an expert 
 canal engineer, already possessed much knowledge respecting the 
 
MERGING OF CANAL COMPANIES 133 
 
 line, and knew how most quickly to acquire more. As these 
 daily reports came in, they were collated and connected, com- 
 plete commercial, financial and tonnage statements were added, 
 and at the time promised, Mr. Thomson received the most com- 
 prehensive report the time admitted of, and possessed the ele- 
 ments of a better knowledge of the property than had probably 
 ever been in the hands of its own managers. 
 
 Two or three weeks passed without anything more on the sub- 
 ject, and I myself was so ignorant of Mr. Thomson's real object, 
 that I was simply speculating on the probable dimensions of the 
 check he would send me for the service, when I was again sent 
 for and informed by Mr. Thomson that his Company had pur- 
 chased a majority of the Canal Company's stock, to be paid for 
 in bonds of the Pennsylvania Canal Company, the latter being a 
 new corporation recently chartered to purchase from the Penn- 
 sylvania Railroad Company the main line of canal, extending 
 from Columbia to Hollidaysburg, formerly acquired by the Rail- 
 road by purchase from the State, and connecting with the line 
 now acquired at Clark's Ferry. 
 
 Both companies were to be reorganized with a combined mile- 
 age of over 300 miles, and I was invited to assume the Presidency. 
 Of all conjectures on the subject, this owing to various circum- 
 stances too numerous to relate here had been the last to occur to 
 me, and I was somewhat taken by surprise. My reply was that 
 if the line thus constituted was to be used merely as a pack-horse 
 for the Railroad, there could be little use for anything more than 
 a simple engineer organization to restore and preserve its physical 
 condition, but if the management was to enjoy real commercial 
 independence with reference only to its own capacity for business 
 and profit, I thought there was in it a fair career for anyone, and 
 I would be glad to undertake it. 
 
 The matter was thus arranged and in the course of a year or 
 two, the two Canals, pursuant to appropriate legislation and 
 financial adjustment, were merged into a single corporation. 
 Subsequently, in order to consolidate and acquire a firm hold of 
 the anthracite coal trade from the Wyoming and Lykens dis- 
 tricts, the Wyoming Valley Canal Co., and the Wiconisco Canal 
 
134 THE RETURN TO CIVIL LIFE AND BUSINESS 
 
 Co., were merged in the same corporation under the common 
 corporate name of the Pennsylvania Canal Company, of which 
 I have ever since continued to be President, though not with- 
 out earnest efforts during later years, to be relieved, without 
 injuring the interests or the partial prejudices of my friends. 
 Prior to the year 1869, 1 had urged upon Mr. Thomson the policy 
 of procuring legislation prohibiting or limiting the ownership of 
 coal-producing lands by transporting corporations, but by that 
 time the acquisition of such property by the several railroads 
 leading to New York, threatened to absorb and permanently 
 control all the production of the Wyoming District, and the 
 proposed restrictive legislation having been neglected, it became 
 plain to me that unless we should also acquire control of such 
 lands, the entire coal tonnage of the canal line would be irre- 
 trievably lost and the value of the line destroyed. 
 
 I therefore felt constrained, under these new circumstances, to 
 reverse my former counsel and recommend similar purchases on 
 behalf of our own transportation interests. With the approval 
 of Mr. Thomson, to whom only the project was confided, refusals 
 of numerous parcels of land in the lower part of the Wyoming 
 coal field contiguous to the canal, amounting in the aggregate to 
 over 6000 acres were obtained; the parcels being in such strategic 
 locations with relation to each other as to dominate the inter- 
 mediate tracts and deter other large corporate purchasers. These 
 lands were purchased with more or less opposition from other 
 directors, suppressed under the skillful advice of Thomson and 
 the enterprise organized into a corporation since known as the 
 Susquehanna Coal Company. Possessing but trifling cash capital, 
 such use was made of its stock, bonds and credit, together with 
 those of the Canal Company and some guarantees of the Penn- 
 sylvania Railroad Company, that the lands were obtained and 
 held, more than two millions of dollars invested in the construc- 
 tion of productive improvements, and an annual productive 
 capacity of two million tons gradually acquired. For some 
 years, I frequently stood, personally, upon the Company's paper 
 for much larger amounts than I was worth, and was obliged to 
 use the entire capital and credit of its sales agents at New York, 
 
A VERY SUCCESSFUL OUTCOME 135 
 
 Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, and minor points, and 
 it would be difficult to convey to others an adequate idea of 
 the financial struggles incident to this heavy burden, between 
 the years of 1869 and 1875. Mr. Thomson was my only real 
 confidant, others being for a long period so timid and doubtful 
 that a part only of the difficulties could be imparted to them, but 
 from him of course there were no reticences, and to this day I look 
 back with ever-increasing admiration at the imperturbable 
 courage and equability of his character never betraying the 
 slightest excitement himself, and always skillful to moderate the 
 ill-advised elation of others when things went well, and to hold 
 up one's sinking spirits when all seemed lost. 
 
 The ultimate success of this Company has been wonderful, if 
 not unique. It may be said to have started on credit and really 
 earned its own capital, or most of it; gradually paid off from 
 earnings, the whole of its floating and much of its funded debt; 
 acquired a large amount of other valuable property, and now 
 possesses in its treasury, cash, or investments immediately con- 
 vertible, equal to its entire capital stock, after yielding for many 
 years annual dividends, mostly of ten per cent. I have in late 
 years purchased for its sinking fund, at 120 per cent, large 
 amounts of its bonds originally placed, with difficulty, at 65, and 
 would gladly buy them all in if they could be had, but unfortu- 
 nately at the time of their issue in 1871, the prevailing object 
 was to defer their maturity as long as possible, and they do not 
 mature till A. D. 1911. In addition to the above pecuniary suc- 
 cess of this Company itself, and what is of far greater importance, 
 it has for many years past supplied to the Pennsylvania Rail- 
 road and Canal Lines an annual tonnage ranging from one and a 
 half to two million tons for transportation to nearly all parts of 
 the United States, and for exportation. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 v 
 
 INCIDENTS AND REFLECTIONS IN CONCLUSION 
 
 John Edgar Thomson, without whose tranquil courage, calm 
 resolution and transcendent skill in administration such results 
 as those briefly and inadequately sketched in the last chapter 
 could never have been attained, was one of the most remarkable 
 and useful men that this country, so fertile in practical talent, 
 has ever produced. It is easy enough for those in whom judgment 
 has not been warped by prejudice or fear to see and appreciate 
 successful results, but only to a minute fraction can ever be known 
 the laborious and painful character of the long and weary 
 processes by which alone they can be designed, prepared and 
 finally achieved. There is a certain cheap reputation for pru- 
 dence and conservatism always easy to obtain by criticising the 
 active spirits of the day, and shaking one's head at projects too 
 large for immediate general comprehension. An impulsive 
 temperament, impatient of artificial and unnecessary obstacles, 
 is often prone to resent them by arguments and measures which, 
 though just, may be ill-timed or inexpedient. Thomson's expe- 
 rience and knowledge of men, no less than his calm mental 
 processes and changeless imperturbability of temperament, not 
 only kept him free from such errors, but could not fail to moderate 
 the faults of his associates less endowed by nature with those 
 priceless qualities. 
 
 The life and work of this great man would be a complete 
 history of modern transportation in America. The period of 
 his life February 10, 1808, to May 27, 1874 covered the transi- 
 tion from pack-horses and Conestoga wagons, through the 
 intermediate expedients of turnpikes and canals, to the complete 
 and perfect work of railway lines thousands of miles long, and 
 
 136 
 
THE GROWTH OF TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES 137 
 
 utilizing such vast aggregations of labor, capital and credit as 
 were previously unknown in the private affairs of men. Shallow 
 politicians and village demagogues may fret their brief hour on 
 the stage, in railing at those great fruits of corporate association, 
 but every well-informed and thoughtful person knows that by 
 diffusing population and bringing new comforts to every hearth, 
 they have beneficially influenced private and family life far be- 
 yond the most optimistic conceptions of our predecessors of even 
 one or two generations. They have absolutely created modern 
 travel and transportation, the two greatest factors in existing 
 life, and have thus immeasurably improved domestic resources 
 and comfort. They have scattered over an entire continent the 
 scanty population previously confined to its shores and navigable 
 water-ways, and revolutionized the values of all commodities, 
 including the fixed surface of the earth itself. By augmenting 
 the capacity of the country to sustain population, they have 
 practically made two blades of grass grow where one grew before. 
 Politically, they have without impairing the content which the 
 world's experience proves can only reside in local government 
 welded together a mass of isolated states of no great separate 
 importance, into the mightiest confederacy the world has ever 
 known, and seem to suggest possibilities of terminating the 
 strife of nations by combining in friendly federal relations, all the 
 warring peoples of the earth. 
 
 Mr. Thomson was descended from an ancient Quaker family 
 well known in Delaware County since the first settlement of the 
 country. Bred to the profession of surveying and engineering, 
 whose precise drafts and unyielding figures tend rather to narrow 
 and restrict the mental horizon, his generous talents readily 
 soared above such limitations, and while retaining the professional 
 judgment and exact methods to which he had been trained, his 
 mind quickly embraced all the defects and possibilities of the 
 great and complex subject of transportation. 
 
 What the development of this science so eminently important 
 to our wide American domain has accomplished during a single 
 lifetime, for the diffusion, comfort and multiplication of man- 
 kind, can best be realized by such as reflect, that it now costs less 
 
138 INCIDENTS AND REFLECTIONS IN CONCLUSION 
 
 time and money to move a given quantity of merchandise from 
 ocean to ocean, than it cost sixty years ago to carry it from 
 Harrisburg to Philadelphia; and that thousands of persons are 
 now constantly traversing, in a few days and at trifling expense, 
 the same vast distance, where at a still more recent period, 
 months and even years were required for the purpose, where 
 failure and death lurked at every step, and where none even 
 ventured but the young, the vigorous and the brave. 
 
 Thomson lost his parents at an early age, and his first profes- 
 sional successes were achieved without patronage or assistance. 
 He was, successively, engineer on the State Railroad, the Cam- 
 den and Amboy, the Georgia Central and was finally elected, in 
 1847, chief engineer of the Pennsylvania, and in 1852, its pres- 
 ident, which position he retained till his death. As its engineer 
 he solved the hitherto impracticable problem of carrying it 
 across the Alleghenies, and as president he was the author and 
 steady promoter of the construction and acquisition of the 
 thousands of miles of ultra-montane connections which have 
 made it the greatest line in the world, given wealth to its propri- 
 etors and patrons, and built up to imperial dimensions the great 
 Commonwealth in which it possesses its seat and capital. Since 
 his day, no doubt Paul may have planted and Apollos watered 
 with skill and success, but it was his eye of faith that first dis- 
 cerned the measureless potencies lying hid in the misty future, 
 and his courage, energy, foresight and unceasing labors that 
 secured them for his state and city. 
 
 Strong, resolute and fixed in purpose, he was peculiarly simple, 
 unostentatious, and reserved in manner. His judgments were 
 deliberate and his words few, but he was an attentive and able 
 listener and neglected no argument worthy of notice on either 
 side. So slowly were his conclusions formed as sometimes to try 
 the patience of more ardent spirits; but once fixed, they remained 
 unchangeable and were but consolidated and strengthened under 
 opposition and hostility. He was slow to give his confidence to 
 individuals, but once given, he was a rock of refuge to his friends, 
 abounding with trust, confidence and support that never wavered, 
 and impregnable to the influence of open or secret animosities. 
 
AN APPRECIATION OF JOHN EDGAR THOMSON 139 
 
 He rarely made mistakes himself, but was full of charity for 
 others, and never reproached his friends for errors of judgment. 
 Unlike many others with somewhat similar opportunities, he was 
 careless of his private fortune, which was left very much to the 
 care of his secretary and personal assistants. All his time, labor 
 and thought were given to his great work, his sole amusement 
 or relaxation being found in his domestic relations. Exerting 
 during many years a potential voice in public affairs, it was never 
 used for his personal advantage. While making others Senators 
 and Governors, he persistently refused official preferment for 
 himself, and usually gave similar advice to his personal friends. 
 Personally, I owe to him more than any other, my steadiness 
 of purpose in avoiding public or political life, which of course 
 abounded with temptations and opportunities for such as had 
 attained any prominence in the war. 
 
 Though numerous short biographical sketches of this great 
 man have been published, and no history of the public works 
 and material prosperity of Pennsylvania, or even of the United 
 States, can ever be complete or intelligible without a record of 
 his influence, his complete life should be written by some com- 
 petent biographer, for Pennsylvania has given birth to few men 
 whose career has exerted such beneficial and enduring results 
 upon her fortunes, or whose private character would better 
 repay assiduous study and preservation. Neither can we forget 
 that his priceless services were rendered to his country at the 
 nick of time, for the more we regard them the more fixed must be 
 our conclusion that had he come upon the stage of action before 
 the railroad system was invented, or after its main channels were 
 established, the loss to this Commonwealth and its inhabitants 
 would have been far greater than if a large percentage of all her 
 modern politicians and legislators had perished at their birth. 
 
 These remarks have been purposely confined to Thomson's 
 work and public career, because if one who so loved and revered 
 him should trust himself to attempt a description of his personal 
 qualities, he would be in danger of falling into what others might 
 regard as indiscriminate eulogy. No words could convey to those 
 who knew him not, an adequate idea of the respect and affection 
 
140 INCIDENTS AND REFLECTIONS IN CONCLUSION 
 
 which he inspired in those who possessed his confidence and 
 friendship. To them his death, at the untimely age of sixty-six, 
 was a memorable loss, leaving a void reparable by no lapse of 
 time or subsequent event. 
 
 The Pennsylvania Railroad Company had at various times 
 and in several localities acquired other anthracite property for 
 the protection of its tonnage, held in nearly every variety of 
 tenure by direct ownership in fee or for years, by control of cap- 
 ital stock, by pecuniary advances and through the medium of 
 allied corporations. The great competitive struggle for concen- 
 tration and cheapness which has been everywhere such a dis- 
 tinctive feature of the last half of the present century, has been 
 nowhere more conspicuous than with the railroads and the 
 numerous subsidiary interests which naturally become grouped 
 about them. It is the same tendency which displaying itself in 
 every productive process of modern times, has in a single genera- 
 tion multiplied many times the dimensions of factories, the appli- 
 cation of artificial power, and the capacity of transporting 
 agencies; and in the older communities, at least, has directed 
 almost the entire increase of population into cities and towns. 
 
 By such natural process the various coal-carrying canals and 
 coal-mining interests of the Pennsylvania Company, variously 
 acquired, and hitherto heterogeneously organized and managed, 
 were by or before the year 1879, brought together under a single 
 management, thus rendering it practicable, while greatly reduc- 
 ing the aggregate expenditure, to command the best technical 
 and expert capacity for the increase of production and corre- 
 sponding cheapening of cost. Though the unyielding character 
 of laws and charters still required separate corporate structures, 
 rights, and powers, yet by assimilating all that was not merely 
 formal, and extending to many corporate entities the same 
 personnel of officials and directors, the main economic purpose 
 was effected; and notwithstanding the unavoidable sacrifice of 
 small private interests and the jealous suspicions of the ignorant 
 portion of the populace, there can be no doubt that the general 
 public interests have in that manner been efficiently promoted. 
 These particular coal enterprises, though in many corporate 
 
VISITING MEXICO AND CUBA 141 
 
 forms, with property distributed through numerous counties, 
 and inseparably connected with subordinate bridge, land, water, 
 timber and other companies, thus came to fall under my direc- 
 tion, requiring of course careful and systematic organization to 
 avoid an intolerable overtaxing of individual time and capacity. 
 But both before and since that consummation, I have found 
 time to do something toward maintaining and increasing ac- 
 quaintance with my own and adjacent countries by occasional 
 travel. It was I think in the winter season of 1869-70, that my 
 wife and I sailed from New York to Havana, and after some 
 interesting travel in that Island took passage thence via Yucatan 
 for Vera Cruz, on the British S. S. Corsica which ill-fated vessel 
 on her return voyage to Southampton via Havana and St. 
 Thomas, foundered at sea, losing her captain and most of her 
 crew. From Vera Cruz we proceeded by the newly-completed 
 English railway then the only one in Mexico to the capital 
 where a brief study of the still-prevailing feudal manners and 
 institutions of the country proved extremely interesting. These 
 had then been little changed by the influx of foreign ideas and 
 persons so common since the construction of the American rail- 
 way connections. As my wife and myself could together manage 
 the French and German, besides some Spanish, it was not a mat- 
 ter of much moment to us that English was then little known or 
 used, though some other strange social features were of no mean 
 importance to strangers. The brigand system for instance- 
 was then in its most flourishing condition. Two car-loads of 
 infantry were attached to each railway train from Vera Cruz, and 
 a squadron of cavalry was in line at each station on the arrival of 
 the train. There was difficulty in getting police permission to 
 take a carriage even as far from the capital as Chapultepec and 
 Tacubaya without an expensive military guard. The usual 
 escort of a gentleman taking an afternoon ride in the vicinity of 
 the city, was a half-dozen or more armed retainers, and the only 
 American we saw in the city was a young man just arrived from 
 Acapulco, who in that moderate distance had been robbed four 
 times and arrived coatless and bootless, though the brigands had 
 refrained from stealing the animals which were the property of 
 
142 INCIDENTS AND REFLECTIONS IN CONCLUSION 
 
 the arriero; their policy being to stand well with the native peas- 
 antry. We returned by the same route via Pueblo and Vera 
 Cruz, to New Orleans. 
 
 Later in the same year, in company with T. F. Randolph, then 
 Governor of New Jersey, and two other gentlemen, I made an 
 extensive tour through our own Southern States to acquire per- 
 sonal knowledge of their political condition, and the progress of 
 the so-called 'reconstruction.' Carpet-bagging and negro dom- 
 ination were then in full career, and presented phenomena 
 which will scarcely be credited in a more sober future age. In 
 South Carolina both houses of the legislature were almost entirely 
 negro, manipulated and led by a few rascally New England 
 whites for purposes exclusively of plunder. Pending the pas- 
 sage of a bill, these rogues with rolls of money openly dis- 
 played, circulated among the black 'statesmen,' driving their 
 bargains with little attempt at concealment, after the completion 
 of which process, the Speaker considerately rang his little bell, 
 the house came to order and the vote thus openly purchased was 
 taken and recorded! The system would have been ludicrous, 
 if it had been less destructive. Under it nearly all property 
 was destroyed or stolen, and State debts incurred for ridiculous 
 purposes, and to absurd amounts; the State of North Carolina, 
 under pretense of supporting a negro militia, adding thirteen 
 millions to its debt in one year, an amount probably much 
 exceeding the value of all taxable property in the State, at the 
 time. 
 
 The Supreme Court of South Carolina, which did us the honor 
 of adjourning to receive a visit from us, was composed of a Jew, 
 a negro, and a Yankee the last of whom has since served a term 
 in the Massachusetts penitentiary for introducing his methods 
 too rashly among the property holders of that Commonwealth, 
 which by no means accepts for itself the good things it had pro- 
 vided for South Carolina. Before that learned and august tri- 
 bunal, we heard Mr. Memminger, Judge Campbell and other 
 great lawyers of national reputation, arguing a case involving 
 the law of contingent remainder, affecting the estates of a family 
 celebrated in the history of the country. The negro who im- 
 
RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD IN THE SOUTH 143 
 
 pressed one as the most honest of the lot admitted in conversa- 
 tion that he knew no law and understood nothing of the cases he 
 was called on to decide, and would like to resign, if permitted by 
 his party managers. In Atlanta, our visit to my old comrade, 
 General Terry, Commander of the Military District, was rudely 
 interrupted by the carpet-bag Governor, one Bullock, who, with 
 a half dozen negro 'Senators' at his heels, made no scruple of 
 riding rough-shod over the General, whose official position obliged 
 him to receive, and to a certain extent obey these creatures, with 
 the respect due the titles they had assumed, and which they could 
 not have maintained an hour but for the Federal troops corruptly 
 used to keep up the farce. This ludicrous but vicious system was 
 maintained by the corrupt Grant administration during the eight 
 years of his term, by the end of which, little stealable property 
 remained available. The State debts fastened upon the people 
 by unlimited issues of bonds, often sold at auction by the carpet- 
 bag State officials for any price they would bring, could be in- 
 creased no farther; and on the disappearance of Grant from public 
 life, the system perished, mainly for want of any more plunder to 
 sustain it. 
 
 General history false and misleading as it notoriously is 
 will no doubt ultimately shed some real light on the character of 
 Grant's administration, but a single incident of it, which per- 
 sonally concerned myself, may be related here. Prior to the 
 public exposure and retirement of Belknap, the pilfering Secre- 
 tary of War and his fellows, a certain subservient and unscrupu- 
 lous politician occupied the position of Secretary of the Treasury, 
 and had ordered the imposition of lighthouse, hospital, and other 
 marine taxes on canal boats. I was at the time managing both 
 the Pennsylvania and the Delaware and Raritan Canals, whose 
 boats were seized in large numbers, in pursuance of this new legal 
 construction. In vain we bonded the boats and contested the 
 question in the courts of the despoiling power itself, where we 
 invariably recovered judgments in our favor, every one of which 
 remained and still remain in force, unappealed. The persecu- 
 tion continued until some three hundred of our boats, besides 
 those of other navigation companies, were under bond at one 
 
144 INCIDENTS AND REFLECTIONS IN CONCLUSION 
 
 time, our boatmen alarmed and demoralized, and the business 
 likely to be ruined. When I showed the Secretary that our con- 
 tention was supported not only by the uniform decisions of the 
 U. S. Admiralty Courts, but by an unbroken series of legal con- 
 structions by the Treasury Department of every former Federal 
 administration, he had the impudence to reply that his Depart- 
 ment had rules of its own and paid little attention to the Courts. 
 As nothing could be expected from an official who ranked himself 
 above the laws and judiciary of the government that employed 
 him, I therefore determined to appeal to the President himself, as 
 the sworn defender and executor of Federal laws. 
 
 General Grant was at this time residing at Long Branch, in a 
 cottage not long before presented to him by certain Philadelphia 
 satellites and office-seekers, and owned another one close by 
 which had been given him by other emulous New York persons 
 of the same class. Arrived at Long Branch, I met with Senator 
 Frelinghuysen of N. J., who though a Republican and a friend of 
 Grant, was a gentleman and an eminent lawyer, and who at my 
 request agreed to accompany me and assist if required at the 
 discussion. Grant, who had not forgotten me, received us in the 
 drawing-room, politely introduced us to the members of his family 
 who were present, and soon handed us cigars and invited us to 
 adjourn to the piazza outside. Here a full statement was made, 
 and having amply explained the subject and asked for an appro- 
 priate executive order upon the Secretary, I awaited the decision. 
 A short silence ensued, which was at length broken by Grant, 
 substantially in these words: "General Wistar, have you any 
 friends in Philadelphia who would buy that cottage across the 
 road? I have no use for it myself, and am very anxious to dis- 
 pose of it." Of course I was extremely shocked at the construc- 
 tion naturally inferable from this frank proposition, and did not 
 fail to take leave at once and express my feelings to my com- 
 panion. But the Senator insisted that the remark was due to 
 nothing worse than artless simplicity; that not understanding or 
 feeling interested in the legal question presented, the great man's 
 mind had wandered to the subject most interesting to himself at 
 the moment, and had betrayed his thoughts in a manner as artless 
 
JOURNEYING THROUGH COLORADO 145 
 
 as it was natural. It may have been so; I do not presume to 
 make any comments, but surely do no one any wrong in simply 
 giving the facts exactly as they occurred. Nothing more was 
 ever heard from Grant on the boat subject, and I was ultimately 
 obliged, with the aid of the several interests affected, to get an Act 
 of Congress passed, declaratory of the century of uniform interpre- 
 tation of law on the subject, in order to protect the canal boats, 
 and the boatmen their persecuted lessees, in the legal rights 
 solemnly pronounced in their favor by every known authority 
 during three generations. 
 
 In the year 1875, the city of Denver having become an impor- 
 tant place, I felt desirous of seeing it once more and comparing its 
 condition with the untrodden wilderness I had known in 1849, 
 and the wagon camp of 1859. With two young friends I there- 
 fore visited it, by way of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, in Sep- 
 tember, and spent a month in travelling to the various points of 
 interest in what had now become the State of Colorado. Denver 
 had already grown to be a large city, with every sign of perma- 
 nence and prosperity. We visited Pueblo, Colorado Springs, 
 where the Fontaine qui bouille bursts forth from the mountains, 
 and many other prominent places in southern Colorado; and 
 afterwards the Parks, Georgetown, and other points in the north. 
 At Georgetown I met by accident in the street, a captain (Craw- 
 ford) of my old regiment, now a prosperous civil and mechanical 
 engineer, who kindly devoted himself to our amusement, and 
 accompanied us to various points of interest. From the summit 
 of the range back of Idaho Springs, some considerable distance 
 above the timber-line, I took a small pine seedling from an eleva- 
 tion said to be 12,000 feet above the sea, planted it carefully in a 
 cigar box, and carried it home to my summer residence at Clay- 
 mont on the banks of the Delaware, a few feet above tide level. 
 This seedling lived but failed to grow for a period of about ten 
 years, when, recovering from the shock of such a violent removal, 
 it commenced a fairly vigorous growth, and is now ten feet high 
 and in healthy condition. It has been identified by my distin- 
 guished botanical friend, Josiah Hoopes, as Pinus Ponderosa 
 Scopularia, and I strongly suspect is the only tree in America 
 
146 INCIDENTS AND REFLECTIONS IN CONCLUSION 
 
 that has successfully changed its altitude in the neighborhood of 
 12,000 feet, i.e., from an arctic to a temperate climate. 9 
 
 In the year 1877, occurred the disastrous labor riots, which 
 threatened property in many localities but especially in Penn- 
 sylvania, where the ignorant prejudices of the rabble became 
 especially excited against the railroads, whose property was 
 destroyed to the extent of several million dollars, particularly at 
 Pittsburg where the mob defeated the militia, and for some days 
 virtually held possession of the city. Governor Hartranft came 
 to Philadelphia and called on me to inquire if I would raise an 
 effective force in the cause of order. I expressed a confident 
 opinion that it would be quite practicable within a day or two to 
 raise all the force required, officer it with experienced officers, and 
 suppress the riot in twenty-four hours after arrival at Pitts- 
 burg, and proposed to undertake the responsibility myself, if he 
 would first perform his own part of the duty. "My duty? 
 What do you mean? I am ready to do anything in reason." 
 "Well, Governor, I have worked hard all my life, and have ac- 
 cumulated a little property, not much, but of some importance 
 to myself. If I go to Pittsburg, I don't propose to put down 
 the riot by coaxing, but by force; and as matters now stand, the 
 relations of every loafer who gets himself killed would be bringing 
 suits against me for the rest of my natural life. Do your own 
 share. Declare martial law, so as to protect your military 
 agents, and I will take a sufficient force to Pittsburg, prohibit all 
 street assemblages, require the surrender of all fire-arms, fire on 
 every unlawfully assembled squad, and after a reasonable time, 
 hang on the spot, every man taken with prohibited arms in his 
 possession. Give me lawful authority and a safe legal status, 
 and I will guarantee you such order in Pittsburg that, in twenty- 
 four hours after my arrival, no prayer-meeting could be more 
 orderly and law-abiding. But you must accept the fact that at 
 the stage where things have arrived, order will cost blood, and 
 blood must be shed." 
 
 9 This tree died without visible cause, in 1896, having attained a height of 
 twelve feet and produced seed. 
 
A THIP TO ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT 147 
 
 The Governor had been a soldier himself and knew the truth 
 and sense of all this, as well as anyone, but he had since fallen 
 into the ways of politicians, and preferred a politician's method. 
 He shrank from and declined the responsibility of declaring 
 martial law, which of course would suspend the civil laws and 
 vest plenary power in the military commander, and I declined to 
 undertake the job with my hands tied. I obtained a company 
 of U. S. regulars under a smart young captain and had it located 
 at the mining properties in my charge, where there had been signs 
 of disorder, but where all now remained serene, and concluded I 
 could stand the riot as long as the State authorities could. Ulti- 
 mately the thing wore itself out after considerable desultory and 
 useless loss of life and the destruction of a vast amount of property, 
 a large part of which was due to the feebleness, and political 
 cowardice of the persons selected by popular vote to maintain 
 public order and protect private rights. 
 
 In 1878, accompanied only by my wife and a courier, I travelled 
 extensively in Europe, and not then knowing whether another 
 opportunity would present, moved rapidly on a carefully prepared 
 schedule so as to get at least a superficial view of most of the 
 principal countries and capitals. We traversed Great Britain 
 from Cornwall to Inverness, gave some time to Ireland, and 
 visited France, Holland, Prussia, Baden, Saxony, Bavaria, 
 Austria, Switzerland and northern Italy, devoting five months 
 to travelling, and getting a fine confusion of ideas. Neverthe- 
 less, I believe it is not on the whole a bad plan for a busy person 
 to run hastily over a great deal of ground the first time, and then 
 return on later occasions for a more detailed examination. Of 
 course, however, such rapid visits would be useless for any prac- 
 tical purpose, unless preceded as in our case by carefully 
 arranged prior studies of the places visited, and their distin- 
 guishing features. 
 
 It was, I think, about 1879-80, that I was tempted for the 
 first, and I hope the last time, to attempt some practical benefit 
 by political means for the community in which I lived. As 
 already intimated, I had hitherto constantly declined not merely 
 the several offices and candidacies proposed to me, but all active 
 
148 INCIDENTS AND REFLECTIONS IN CONCLUSION 
 
 participation in controversial politics, beyond some occasional 
 writing for the better portion of the periodical press; and, enter- 
 taining certain unfavorable prepossessions respecting the favorite 
 American panacea of universal or 'manhood' suffrage, could 
 scarcely have asked with honesty for any 'gift of the people' or 
 other personal advantage based on the stupid foundation of mis- 
 cellaneous voting. I have perhaps already sufficiently expressed 
 my contempt for the fallacies of general suffrage in municipal 
 affairs, i.e., the judgment of the ignorant and non-taxpaying 
 classes respecting the proper expenditure of other people's money, 
 and concerning the qualifications of the publicists, judges, engi- 
 neers, and other professional experts required for the proper 
 transaction of the public business. But at the tune referred to, 
 both public and private interests seemed so seriously menaced 
 by the character of the municipal nominations on both sides, that 
 I was induced to join in the call for, and attendance at a public 
 Democratic meeting, outside of and hostile to the regular party 
 organization. Of course the Republicans, who possessed a large 
 and reliable majority in the city, might abuse their control of the 
 machine by demanding the party vote for anyone agreeable or 
 serviceable to the wire pullers, without regard to character or 
 qualifications. But it was intolerable that the opposition 
 should desert its function of tempting thoughtful voters from the 
 majority by well-chosen nominations, and for corrupt consid- 
 erations, put up persons so obnoxious as to compel even the most 
 liberal of the majority to adhere to their own bad ticket. 
 
 At this assembly of the disaffected, I had some indignant re- 
 marks to make, which were well received and supported, and the 
 meeting directed the formation of a standing executive committee 
 of one member from each ward, which soon became locally famous 
 as the 'Committee of Thirty-One,' of which I became permanent 
 Chairman. Samuel G. King, a man of no great force or capacity, 
 but personally honest, and the best Democrat that seemed avail- 
 able at the moment, was nominated by us as Democratic and 
 People's candidate for Mayor, and after a hot canvass was 
 actually elected by a large majority, a considerable proportion of 
 the entire Republican vote of the city having either voted for 
 
VIEWS ON AND FACTS OF POLITICS 149 
 
 him, or, in his interest, refrained from voting. Most of the 
 money contributed for this canvass, and much of the laborious 
 part of the work, came from persons like myself, of no very rigid 
 party connections, and free from personal or political designs of 
 their own. A large amount was raised and deposited in a Trust 
 Company, all disbursements were made by check, a minute 
 statement of account was rendered, being the first in the history 
 of Pennsylvania politics so far as I know, and a considerable un- 
 used balance was ultimately paid over to the Republican 'Com- 
 mittee of One Hundred,' organized on their side, for a somewhat 
 similar purpose. 
 
 Some optimist who still retains a modicum of confidence in 
 popular methods might perhaps ask, "Since a few public-spirited 
 persons accomplished a substantial benefit for the community on 
 this occasion, why cannot such always be done, by proper asso- 
 ciation of the young, active and patriotic?" Alas! the answer 
 must be, that success on this occasion was only rendered possible 
 by the most barefaced and unusual impudence of the party in 
 power, the almost universal remonstrance of the press, and the 
 consequent fostering of a public excitement which, though 
 ephemeral, as such spurts always are, was for the moment strong 
 enough to overcome that form of political stupidity known as 
 party 'consistency' or 'fidelity!' Such revolts, being con- 
 ducted by persons whose time and capacity are otherwise occu- 
 pied, are necessarily spasmodic and therefore unreliable and but 
 partially effective, and even then can only accomplish beneficial 
 results when a worse than ordinary blunder has been committed 
 by the vulgar rogues who habitually get control of the machine, 
 and under republican forms and nomenclature, wield a despotic, 
 corrupt and selfish power for themselves. 
 
 In a mere business career pursued for private advantage, there 
 can be little worthy of commemoration, and perhaps even less to 
 interest others. In our country all are obliged to watch and 
 labor for the protection of what they possess, or the support and 
 comfort of themselves and families, and presumably all do their 
 best under the common pressure of individual interests and family 
 affection. I may therefore be excused from going further into 
 
150 INCIDENTS AND REFLECTIONS IN CONCLUSION 
 
 such matters, or referring to the numerous affairs of others, 
 which, much against my own wishes, have from time to time 
 fallen under my management, but as railroad construction and 
 financial readjustment have influenced many private fortunes 
 and concerned the public interest in many localities, I am in- 
 duced to give a brief account of one of these, in which circum- 
 stances compelled me to take a principal part. 
 
 The Texas and Pacific Railroad Company, composed of sev- 
 eral short lines formerly consolidated by Thomas A. Scott, and 
 of extensions and connections constructed by him, was in 1884, 
 controlled by the celebrated New York millionaire, Jay Gould, 
 who not long prior to Scott's death had purchased his interest, 
 including a controlling majority of the stock. It embraced 1500 
 miles of road, extending from New Orleans, through Shreeves- 
 port, Marshall, Dallas and Fort Worth to El Paso, on the Rio 
 Grande, together with intermediate lines and branches covering 
 the largest and best parts of central and eastern Texas. It was 
 separately mortgaged in three divisions of nearly similar mileage, 
 but very unequal value, which may be called for brevity the 
 Eastern, Middle and Western. Of these, the Western failed 
 to earn current expenses, the Eastern barely earned them, and 
 the Middle earned its expenses and a small surplus in excess of 
 the annual charges on its own mortgages. In the year named 
 the road defaulted on all its mortgages, and offered proposals to 
 its creditors which were very distasteful to those best secured. 
 These were, of course, the holders of bonds secured on the Middle 
 Division, mostly residents of Philadelphia, who were invited to 
 submit to nearly the same sacrifices as the holders of securities 
 of the non-earning divisions. Of the approximate total of about 
 thirty-four million dollars of mortgage bonds, about fourteen 
 millions were secured on the Middle Division, and mostly held in 
 Philadelphia. By many of these holders, I was solicited to call 
 a meeting of the Philadelphia bond creditors to adopt measures 
 for a defensive organization to protect their interests. This was 
 done, and after an explanatory speech, a Managing Committee 
 was chosen, of which I was elected Chairman. Amended pro- 
 posals for reorganization were made by us, and resisted by the 
 
MANIPULATIONS OF RAILWAY SECURITIES 151 
 
 New York holders, also represented by their respective Com- 
 mittee. Negotiation proving unsuccessful, our Committee called 
 for the deposit with it of all the securities of its constituents and 
 supporters, and soon controlled by actual possession nearly all 
 the bonds secured on the Middle Division. The several oppo- 
 sition committees representing the bond-holders of the land 
 grant, and of the two less valuable divisions respectively, in addi- 
 tion to a fifth committee of stock-holders, finding their several 
 schemes of readjustment at the expense of the Middle Division 
 creditors, thus effectively blocked, then proceeded to organize a 
 strong bankers' syndicate, to buy out the latter, or a majority of 
 them, and thus remove or overcome their opposition. Though 
 our Committee which throughout the contest became generally 
 known as the 'Wistar Committee' held possession of these 
 bonds, as before stated, it had, for the purpose of facilitating 
 transfers of ownership, issued negotiable certificates to the sev- 
 eral depositors; and its opponents, once possessed of these, might 
 with reason urge upon the Court, that though the Wistar Com- 
 mittee held the bonds, they as purchasers of the beneficial in- 
 terest represented by the certificates, possessed the real rights of 
 the depositors, including the very important right to name the 
 Judicial Receiver, and thus control future proceedings, both 
 legal and financial. In order to protect the large body of our 
 certificate holders who had not sold and did not wish to sell, it 
 therefore became necessary for us either to contest the possession 
 of the certificates by rival purchases of our own, or to be crowded 
 out altogether and submit to having our Middle Division al- 
 most the only real security administered and perhaps plundered 
 for the benefit of the other claimants. 
 
 A large money-lending firm of Philadelphia and New York, 
 operating in both cities and professing to influence through their 
 customers a large number of the Middle Division bonds, had 
 been minutely consulted and kept informed by us from the be- 
 ginning, with the clear understanding of receiving their assistance 
 and support. But as they had demanded the enormous fee of 
 $100,000 to act as our depositary, we had obtained competitive 
 bids and contracted the same service for $12,000, to the Farmers' 
 
152 INCIDENTS AND REFLECTIONS IN CONCLUSION 
 
 Loan and Trust Company of New York, the lowest bidder. 
 This disappointment, though so plainly in the interest of our 
 depositors alienated the firm referred to, of which the first inti- 
 mation that reached us, was their earnest and ill-concealed effort 
 to purchase against us, on behalf of the hostile New York Com- 
 mittees. Had they candidly announced to us their resentment 
 and proposed defection, it is quite possible that in view of the 
 value of their adherence, our Committee might have felt con- 
 strained to yield much, perhaps even to the extent of admitting 
 them to the coveted agency on some terms limiting their charges 
 and protecting the depositors from any excessive voracity. But 
 this selfish and secret desertion to the enemy left to us only the 
 alternative of open war, with the weapons chosen by themselves, 
 or ignominious surrender of the interests confided to us. Gen- 
 eral John Markoe (the same whose charge with A and D Com- 
 panies of the 71st, broke and captured prisoners from the 8th 
 Virginia at Ball's Bluff), William D. Winsor, and John N. 
 Hutchinson, constituting with myself a majority of our Com- 
 mittee, promptly chose the first; and with this view, I immediately 
 repaired to New York where I first sought the aid of Mr. Gould, a 
 large holder of bonds as well as stock, who had already assented 
 to our plan of readjustment. But, unfortunately, that able and 
 experienced financier was absent on his yacht, beyond reach of 
 telegraph. Arrangements were therefore quickly made with 
 several prominent New York Trust Companies to borrow large 
 amounts of money, on the deposit of the bonds as fast as they 
 might be purchased, reinforced with what private collateral 
 security I could muster. Half a million were purchased the first 
 day, over a million on the second, and nearly two millions, on 
 the third day, the market rates rapidly advancing, when our 
 treacherous opponents deserted their new allies and resold their 
 own purchases to our brokers, having thus accomplished the 
 nimble feat of betraying both their old and new associates twice, 
 in the compass of a single week! Among the predatory private 
 'bankers' that infest our large money markets I am told that 
 sort of thing is considered a smart stroke of business, though even 
 the famous Dalgetty would probably have found a more appro- 
 priate name for it. 
 
A PERSONAL TRIBUTE TO JAY GOULD 153 
 
 Mr. Gould, at length learning of the conflict through the news- 
 papers, hurried home about this time and gave us his powerful 
 and unwavering support; and in view of the denunciation often 
 lavished upon him, it is but fair to add that through the weary 
 years of contest and litigation that ensued, he proved invariably 
 staunch and true, requiring from first to last nothing from us but 
 a fair adherence to the obligations we had publicly assumed. In 
 the secure possession of substantially all the bonds secured on 
 the profitable portion of the property, our Committee was not 
 long in obtaining the general adherence of all parties to its plan 
 of readjustment, after which we were enabled to resell all our 
 purchases at a moderate loss which, by terms of the agreement, 
 was assessed upon, and paid by those whose eccentricities had 
 occasioned it. A long though formal litigation and receivership 
 ensued, the mortgages were all foreclosed, and the property sold 
 to our Committee. But as all parties ultimately came to our 
 terms and surrendered their securities to us, we never obtained a 
 confirmation of the sale, being in due time able to cancel all liens 
 by means of new mortgages; raise a cash amount of several mil- 
 lion dollars, chiefly by contributions from the stockholders; 
 restore the road and equipment to a better condition than it had 
 ever before known, and hand over the property sound and solvent 
 to its stockholders, who, notwithstanding their vigorous, if not 
 bitter original opposition, have ever since done me the honor 
 much against my preferences of retaining me in the Board of 
 Direction. 
 
 As by these rather irregular efforts of memory, I recall so many 
 circumstances from the obscure and half-forgotten past, I must 
 not omit some things not yet entirely passed, and especially the 
 pleasure and improvement I have for many years derived from my 
 dearly-prized connection with the Biological Club. This was 
 and I am glad to say, still is a social organization of limited num- 
 ber, meeting at a fortnightly dinner for purely social intercourse 
 and conversation, under the widest conditions of mutual confi- 
 dence and freedom. Entire unanimity has always been required 
 for every affirmative act, and a deliberate and judicious care 
 been invariably exerted to maintain the membership, without 
 
154 INCIDENTS AND REFLECTIONS IN CONCLUSION 
 
 regard to wealth or display, from persons unanimously judged 
 eminent in some intellectual pursuit, mainly those connected 
 with Natural History or Physical Science. Professor Joseph 
 Leidy, universally beloved for his personal qualities, and famous 
 among the learned of all lands for the unsurpassed value of his 
 researches, was the President for over thirty years, till his death 
 in 1891. The other members have comprised men distinguished 
 in nearly every branch of knowledge, and few scientific ques- 
 tions could be propounded in the Club without finding at least 
 one expert of authority, capable of giving the best elucidation as 
 yet reached by modern learning. It was not long after the war 
 that I was admitted to this Association, and I have never ceased 
 to derive from it a solid enjoyment surpassed by no other connec- 
 tion of the kind. A list of the members, past and present, 
 would include many of those most eminent in their day in all the 
 learned institutions of the city, and some whose distinction has 
 extended far beyond the boundaries of their native land. 
 
 I passed a part of the winter of 1883-84 in the Bermuda 
 Islands, which was not unprofitably occupied in observing the 
 physical and geological, and even the political peculiarities of 
 that interesting group, respecting each of which topics I had 
 afterwards something to remark in the periodical press. I had 
 even commenced the preparation of a geological section and 
 physical history of the Islands to read before the Academy, but 
 finding the thoughts and studies of Professor Heilprin bent on 
 the same interesting subjects, yielded the matter to him, on his 
 undertaking to visit, investigate, and write, himself. That prom- 
 ise he has handsomely fulfilled by his excellent work entitled "The 
 Bermuda Islands: A Contribution to the Physical History and 
 Zoology of the Somer's Archipelago, with an Examination of the 
 Structure of Coral Reefs." Philadelphia, 1889. That excellent 
 performance nevertheless still leaves for a future student the 
 interesting subject of the political organization, public revenue, and 
 municipal administration of the colony under a suffrage, limited 
 only by a moderate property qualification. The peculiar interest 
 of this lies in the fact that although sixty per cent of the total 
 population of 14,650 are colored, the number of legal voters is 
 
TRIPS TO EUROPE AND ALASKA 155 
 
 reduced by a sixty-pound freehold qualification, to 864, or less 
 than six per cent of the whole, thus ensuring in fact, as might have 
 been antecedently inferred, honest, intelligent and cheap adminis- 
 tration, coupled with the entire content of the governed. How to 
 extend to larger populations some such system, combining the 
 assured liberty of the individual and his unchecked freedom to 
 accumulate and rise if he can, with the intelligence and integrity 
 thus far only to be found in a small portion of the mass, is the 
 great future problem for Anglo-Saxon statesmen on both sides the 
 ocean. 
 
 In company with my wife and some younger members of the 
 family, I spent part of the year 1888 in European travelling, which 
 afforded an opportunity of obtaining information on several 
 interesting subjects. Among these was the most approved form 
 and arrangement of modern Zoological Gardens and Museums of 
 Natural History, in both of which I had become particularly 
 interested as a Director in the Philadelphia Zoological Society, 
 and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Building Fund of 
 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, of which Insti- 
 tution I have at this writing just been elected President. Another 
 subject of examination was the organization and appliances for 
 municipal engineering and administration; and a third was the 
 organization, discipline, instruction, mobilization and supply of 
 great modern armies, especially those of England, Germany and 
 France. A large part of the time not thus occupied, was devoted 
 to travel in the Alpine regions of Austria, Switzerland and Italy, 
 for which purpose a four-horse vehicle was obtained and suitably 
 provided, in which we crossed most of the great passes that I had 
 not previously visited, including the Stelvio, Maloja, Julier, Furka, 
 Spliigen and St. Gothard. These, with those visited in 1878, give 
 one a fairly extensive knowledge of the scenery, character and his- 
 tory of the principal Alpine passes. 
 
 During the summer of 1890 we visited, in a large party, with all 
 the comfortable appliances of modern travel, the famous glaciers 
 of Alaska, touching at several points ground traversed by me 
 forty years before, in what had then been far in the heart of an 
 unknown and primeval wilderness. Our journey was by the 
 
156 INCIDENTS AND REFLECTIONS IN CONCLUSION 
 
 Canadian Pacific to Vancouver, thence by steamer to Victoria and 
 the various posts in Alaska, back to Seattle and Tacoma, thence 
 to Portland and home through the Yellowstone Park, by the 
 Northern Pacific Railway. The contrast between then and now, 
 between the exhilarating and noble freedom of the primitive wil- 
 derness, and the rather vulgar triumphs of recent civilization, were 
 intensely interesting to me; but it is hopeless to attempt to convey 
 the feeling to another. One's recollections of the persons and 
 conditions of the strange and distant past, tinged with a melan- 
 choly realism by the inevitable reflection, that the first are gone 
 forever and the last changed beyond recognition, can hardly be 
 realized or even understood by another mind, however sympa- 
 thetic. As our noisy train rushed headlong through the echoing 
 chasms of the mountains, the rocky pinnacles and snow-clad sum- 
 mits still stood piercing the sky, the same as for ages past and per- 
 haps for cycles yet to come, but far away behind them and beyond 
 ken of the holiday tourist, how faithfully I remembered the steep 
 and narrow canons with their foaming torrents and roaring cas- 
 cades, up which the lonely trapper once led his pack-horses, sur- 
 rounded by privation and danger and separated by a year's travel 
 or more, from the then distant invasion of the settler. Rolling 
 over and down the wild pass of the Wapta once the home of the 
 bloody Surcees and Blackfeet following down the one almost con- 
 tinuous cataract of that rushing stream, passing by the sunny 
 Shuswaps, and down the fertile and now well-settled bottoms of 
 the Thompson, I strove in vain to identify the once lonely spot, 
 where in the shadows of the great range, and in mortal fear of its 
 inhabitants, we had swum that noble river, pushing before us the 
 frail and hastily-made raft which, carrying all our worldly effects 
 and dragging us with it far down the swirling current, was at last 
 safely landed several miles below the starting-point. 
 
 The long and awful canon of the lower Frazer, then for the 
 most part only accessible to the solitary eagle, now carried clinging 
 to its mountain walls, a wagon-road on one side and a railroad on 
 the other. The primitive H. B. stockade of Victoria, with the 
 Indian canoes hauled up on its rocky beach, now had become a 
 great city, full of splendid buildings, crowded by fashionable 
 
REVISITING THE WESTERN RANGES 157 
 
 residents, infested with millionaires, and girt with long lines of tall 
 ships and stately steamers. The half-dozen trading cabins strung 
 along between the falls of the Willamette and the H. B. farm and 
 stockade at Multnomah Island, had grown to a town of 40,000 
 people, with electric lights and railways, cable roads and miles of 
 tall and solid wharves and buildings. On Puget Sound, the lonely 
 fishing village, where the kindly old Seattle strove to shelter 
 his tribe from the fierce Hydahs and Queen Charlotte Islanders, 
 and win the friendship of the white man, had totally disappeared; 
 and on its metamorphosed site, extending far back upon the hills, 
 had risen a city as modern-looking as New York, its long wharves 
 lined with ships and steamers, and its steep streets crowded with 
 gaunt and sharp-eyed Yankees, perpetually haggling even in the 
 sight and presence of the glorious summit of Rainier over the 
 mean insignificance of their corner lots. 
 
 Strange as it all was, the mighty transformation was anything 
 but exhilarating to the spirits. Not one inhabitant could I find 
 that had even seen the place, till twenty years or more after I had 
 left it. In vain I inquired for some stray survivor of the friendly 
 natives with whom I might have mustered enough of their once 
 well-known language, to have learned the fate of the individuals 
 I remembered. All, all were gone, mostly exterminated by the 
 white man's contact, and the wretched remnant herded up on 
 some distant inland reservation, to be robbed and starved at 
 leisure by the statesmen and politicians of our great and glorious 
 (?) Republic. Fort Vancouver had become a great United States 
 military post, where my old army friend, General Gibbon was in 
 command. Fort Steilacome had long been abandoned by its 
 former owners; the great Multnomah grain farm was inhabited 
 by miscellaneous American settlers, and even at the British town 
 of Victoria, when I inquired for the H. B. representatives, in 
 hopes of finding some well-remembered old mountain chief, I was 
 introduced to a lot of sleek and dapper young London clerks, sell- 
 ing their haberdashery over counters like any other shopkeepers! 
 Far, far toward the Arctic, must one now go who seeks yet to find 
 the H. B. in its glory, and its bold chiefs and hardy servants 
 engaged as in the days of yore. As for finding those grim relics of 
 
158 INCIDENTS AND REFLECTIONS IN CONCLUSION 
 
 mountain chivalry in our sleek and prosperous modern towns as 
 well look for an old man-of-war's man in a canal boat; a dashing 
 cavalry leader in the village police; a Highland chieftain in the 
 slums of Glasgow. 
 
 But though one may at times be tempted to indulge in sober 
 reflections, in coming thus upon unforeseen transformations and 
 suddenly realizing the complete disappearance of old customs and 
 old friends, it is but folly for any of us deliberately to regret the 
 past. Man still advances, still multiplies, still increases his knowl- 
 edge and extends his dominion over Nature. Spite of all his 
 follies, ignorance and prejudices obstinately perpetuated through 
 the ages by the most venerable and powerful institutions he has 
 at any period been able to construct the race does constantly, 
 notwithstanding perpetual jolts and interruptions, move forward 
 to a broader knowledge and a wiser life. It is not by the memories 
 of any individual, or the misleading comparison of year with year, 
 but by that of generation with generation or century with century, 
 that we are to comprehend this positive and as yet unchanging 
 fact. 
 
 When if ever such progress shall be visibly and permanently 
 checked; when all lands shall be filled with a hungry and hopeless 
 population; when the fuel and minerals and fertility accumulated 
 for us through innumerable ages shall be at last exhausted; when 
 the sun's fructifying heat shall wane, and the conditions of Nature 
 on which we now implicitly rely, shall have been modified or 
 impaired, then, and not till then, may our remote successors begin 
 to fear a stationary or retrograde condition, and may with reason 
 look back with regret to the better days that will have passed for 
 them. 
 
 But surely such regret would be folly for us who daily behold 
 our ever-widening control over the riches of Nature, bringing 
 results which tend to increase the happiness of our lot and to aug- 
 ment the multitudes destined to enjoy it. No! there is nothing 
 even in our declining years and waning powers that should tempt us 
 to prefer the past. Our remote future as individuals may not yet 
 have been satisfactorily revealed to us, but the earthly destiny of 
 our race as a whole, is most assuredly marked out by its constant 
 
A LONG LOOK AHEAD 159 
 
 and marvelous progress in the past. As I now lay down the pen, 
 probably not to be resumed, I feel more than ever confident, that 
 while much still remains to be gained in respect of the social and 
 political welfare of our kind, it is sure to come as other knowledge 
 and improvement have come; and our distant posterity will one 
 day enjoy conditions as superior to ours, as these surpass the lot 
 of our savage progenitors of the remote geologic eras of the past. 
 
The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology 
 
 Woodland Avenue and 36th Street, Philadelphia 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 THE WISTAR INSTITUTE OF ANATOMY AND BIOLOGY 1 
 MILTON J. GREENMAN 
 
 The name of Isaac J. Wistar will ever be associated with the progress 
 of American science, not only by reason of his princely gift to anatomy, 
 but also on account of his personal interest in the various scientific 
 organizations with which, during the later years of his life, he was 
 connected. His autobiography touches some of the details of his varied 
 activities and inadvertently develops some of the personal qualities 
 which were so admirable. The autobiography, however, does not deal 
 with his interest in the institution to which he gave so liberally of his 
 time and fortune. 
 
 Those who enjoyed the privilege of knowing General Wistar inti- 
 mately loved him for his force, his independence, his deep human 
 sympathies and the qualities which are combined in the true friend. 
 
 Isaac Jones Wistar was born at 726 Arch Street, Philadelphia, No- 
 vember 14, 1827. 
 
 In 1839 he was sent to the Friends' Boarding School at Westtown, 
 in 1841 he was at the Friends' Select School in Philadelphia and in 
 1842 at Haverford School, now Haverford College. 
 
 In 1844 he was employed in a dry goods store and in 1845-1846 worked 
 on a farm in Montgomery County and on a canal in Pennsylvania. 
 
 In 1847 he worked for his father on a farm and in 1848 for a map 
 publisher in Philadelphia. 
 
 In 1849 he started for California and after a varied career in the far 
 West as hunter, miner and sailor began the study of law in San Francisco 
 in 1853. 
 
 In 1854 he began the practice of law in San Francisco. 
 
 He left for the East in 1857. 
 
 In 1858 he opened a law office in Philadelphia and was admitted to 
 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania the same year. 
 
 In 1860 he was admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 1 This sketch of the Wistar Institute was prepared as an Appendix to the 
 Autobiography of General Wistar at the request of the Publication Committee. 
 
 161 
 
162 APPENDIX 
 
 He joined the Union army and at the request of Colonel Baker 
 raised the 71st (California) regiment in 1861. 
 
 He married Sarah Toland in 1862. 
 
 He resigned from the army in 1864 and was elected President of the 
 Union Canal Company in 1865 and later President of the Pennsylvania 
 Canal Company in 1867. He resigned as President of this Company 
 in 1903. 
 
 He was a director of the Philadelphia Zoological Society from 1891 
 to 1894. President of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 
 1891 to 1895. President of the American Philosophical Society 1901 
 to 1903. 
 
 He died at Claymont, Del, September 3, 1905. 
 
 During the last twelve years of his life he was interested in and more 
 or less actively engaged in placing upon a firm financial basis the insti- 
 tution bearing his family name: The Wistar Institute of Anatomy 
 and Biology. 
 
 This Institute owes its origin in 1808 to Dr. Caspar Wistar (1761- 
 1818), great uncle of Gen. Isaac J. Wistar who, eighty-five years later, 
 gave to anatomical science this most generous endowment to perpetuate 
 the memory of one of America's first and most distinguished anatomists. 
 
 Dr. Caspar Wistar, a Philadelphian by birth, was a graduate of the 
 University of Pennsylvania and took his degree of Doctor of Medicine 
 in Edinburgh in 1786, where he had been closely associated with Doctor 
 Cullen and Dr. Charles Stewart. While in Edinburgh, he was honored 
 by election to the Presidency of the Royal Medical Society of Edin- 
 burgh for two successive years, and in consequence of his broad inter- 
 est in comparative anatomy he was elected to the Presidency of the 
 Edinburgh "Society for the Further Investigation of Natural History." 
 
 During Doctor Wistar's four years' study abroad, he came under 
 the influence of the celebrated teachers of anatomy in both Edinburgh 
 and London. Here he became familiar with those methods of impart- 
 ing anatomical knowledge which were employed by the Hunters and 
 Monroes, and on his return began his teaching in 1792 as Adjunct 
 Professor of Anatomy with Dr. William Shippen at the University 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Doctor Wistar was actively engaged in the practice of medicine; 
 his attractive personality together with his skill brought him a large 
 practice. His hospitality, his sympathy, the modest firmness with 
 which he held to his own conclusions and the scrupulous integrity 
 with which he performed his duty won for him many friends. We 
 
APPENDIX 163 
 
 have left to us still in Philadelphia the "Wistar Party," an organiza- 
 tion for the diffusion of "true and elegant, yet simple and unambitious 
 hospitality," a derivation of Doctor Wistar's Sunday evening parties. 
 
 In 1808, following the death of Doctor Shippen, Wistar was elected 
 to the Professorship of Anatomy in the medical school of the Uni- 
 versity of Pennsylvania. His work as a student in the Edinburgh and 
 London schools and his desire to perfect his anatomical demonstrations 
 while Adjunct Professor, had led him to a keen appreciation of John 
 Hunter's methods and gradually, during the years which followed, he 
 accumulated an extensive series of dissections and preparations useful 
 in the teaching of Anatomy. 
 
 Doctor Wistar's benevolence and charity and his active interest in 
 the promotion of his science brought him into numerous positions of 
 importance. 
 
 In 1787 he was appointed physician to the Philadelphia Dispensary. 
 In 1789 he was elected Professor of Chemistry in the College of Phila- 
 delphia, a rival institution of the University of Pennsylvania. He 
 accepted this position largely to bring about the union of the two 
 institutions, an act which was finally consummated. In 1793 he was 
 elected physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital, a position which he 
 resigned in 1810 much to the regret of the managers of the hospital. 
 In 1794 he was appointed censor of the College of Physicians, a posi- 
 tion which he held until his death. He was President of the American 
 Philosophical Society at the time of his death in 1818. 
 
 Doctor Wistar was a man of classical learning and well versed in 
 the science of botany, of mineralogy and of chemistry, but his active 
 interests were in anatomy. His work as a teacher and as an investi- 
 gator did much to bring the science of anatomy to the high standard 
 which it enjoyed in the early days of Pennsylvania's Medical School. 
 He wrote the first American system of Human Anatomy, an excellent 
 work which passed through several editions. His name is inseparably 
 connected with the spheno-turbinal bones, the development of which 
 was more completely described by him (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. 1818). 
 The original drawings of these bones, made for publication, are now 
 preserved at the Wistar Institute, as are many of his dissections and 
 other objects relating to his work. 
 
 Doctor Wistar's stimulating influence in his chosen field of science 
 brought large classes to his lectures and demonstrations. 
 
 The anatomical preparations which Doctor Wistar accumulated dur- 
 ing his active career in the University of Pennsylvania as Adjunct 
 
164 APPENDIX 
 
 Professor of Anatomy from 1792 till 1808 and as Professor of Anatomy 
 from 1808 till 1818, were used by him in his lectures and demonstrations. 
 
 Following his death, in 1818, this collection was presented by his 
 widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Mifflin Wistar, to the University of Pennsylvania 
 where through the activities and generosity of succeeding incumbents 
 of the Chair of Anatomy, Physick, Horner and Leidy, the collection 
 was increased in extent and value. In 1892 the so-called Wistar or 
 Wistar and Horner Museum was incorporated under a new name as 
 The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology. A new building and 
 endowment for maintenance were provided by General Isaac J. Wistar. 
 
 The immediate stimulus for such a step came from the fact that the 
 Wistar Museum, then used chiefly by Prof. Joseph Leidy in his lec- 
 tures on anatomy, was without that continuous financial support which 
 was needed to increase the collection and to replace and maintain the 
 specimens it contained. 
 
 Dr. James Tyson, Dean of the Medical School of the University of 
 Pennsylvania at the time, interested a number of men in the support 
 of this Museum, among them was General Wistar, who took more than 
 ordinary interest in the Museum with the result that a trust fund of 
 about $20,000 was created on July 20, 1891, by General Wistar for the 
 support of the Museum. 
 
 General Wistar had always been interested in natural history. This 
 inclination had led him to take active part in the affairs of the Acad- 
 emy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia of which he was at this time 
 President. 
 
 Having vested $20,000 in a trust fund for the care of the Wistar 
 Museum, his interest in this museum, through the influence of Dr. 
 William Pepper, no doubt, and from the fact that Caspar Wistar was 
 his great uncle, became more intense and he decided to do something 
 further. Accordingly, in less than a year from the date of the founda- 
 tion of the original trust, The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology 
 was incorporated, April, 1892. 
 
 The Board of Managers for the first year was composed of the fol- 
 lowing members: 
 
 WILLIAM PEPPER HENRY C. McCooK 
 
 ISAAC J. WISTAR WILLIAM SELLERS 
 
 S. WEIR MITCHELL ARTHUR V. MEIGS 
 
 SAMUEL DICKSON JOHN MARKOE 
 
 CHARLES C. HARRISON 
 
APPENDIX 165 
 
 The University of Pennsylvania presented a plot of ground on 36th 
 Street between Woodland Avenue and Spruce Street and General Wistar 
 erected thereon a fireproof museum building at a cost of $125,000. 
 The University of Pennsylvania then presented the original Wistar 
 Museum and on May 21, 1894, the new Institute was formally opened. 
 
 While inseparably connected with the University of Pennsylvania, 
 the Institute was organized as an independent institution under a 
 charter from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Its organization 
 requires that the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania shall 
 annually elect its board of nine managers, that one of these managers 
 shall be the eldest and nearest male lineal heir of Caspar Wistar (1801- 
 1867), father of the donor, Gen. Isaac J. Wistar, and that two of the 
 said board shall be representatives from the Academy of Natural 
 Sciences of Philadelphia. 
 
 The purposes of the Institute are stated in the Trust Deed of October 
 1, 1898 as follows: 
 
 The main and principal object of the Institute shall be the safe 
 preservation, intelligent arrangement, and free exhibition of the Ana- 
 tomical Museum originally commenced by Prof. Caspar Wistar and 
 now in possession of the said Wistar Institute, and its increase and 
 extension to a complete collection of all objects and preparations use- 
 ful in the higher and advanced study of Biology, of Human, Compara- 
 tive and Pathological Anatomy, and of the historical development of 
 the present organs and structure of Man, and it shall not be used to 
 replace, modify or interfere with such elementary instruction on those 
 or any other subjects as is or may be given at the University of Penn- 
 sylvania or other schools and colleges, but in order further to promote 
 such advanced researches and studies, the Board of Managers may, 
 when consistent with the financial resources of the Institute, establish 
 systems of lectures on the above-named subjects for the instruction 
 of postgraduate and advanced students only, especially as illustrated 
 by Museum preparations, to be delivered on its premises by its Direc- 
 tor, Fellows and others, and may also, when deemed by them expedient, 
 institute and conduct a publication, periodical or otherwise, of its 
 lectures, catalogues, scientific proceedings and contributions, and may 
 originate any other work for the research in, or increase of original 
 scientific knowledge of the said several subjects and those kindred to 
 them, at the same time devising and enforcing a competent and strict 
 censorship of the material of such publications, and the scope and 
 scientific value of such work. But since owing to the ample facilities 
 already supplied from various sources for the publication by scientific 
 men of their observations and discoveries, such publications are apt 
 to be considerably in advance of proved facts and well established 
 knowledge, therefore all work and expenditure of the Institute for 
 
166 APPENDIX 
 
 publishing purposes shall always be secondary and entirely subordinate 
 to the principal object which is and shall always continue to be to 
 accumulate the most complete and perfectly displayed Anatomical 
 Museum that can be devised, keeping the same always fully up to the 
 latest and best methods of preparation and exhibition. While the 
 Museum shall, under suitable regulations, be free for the inspection of 
 the public, and especially of all teachers and students, the object of 
 the laboratories and workrooms and of any lectures or instructions 
 to be given at the Institute shall be for the improvement and research 
 of postgraduate or advanced students and of searchers after new and 
 original knowledge, and neither the Institute, its premises or property 
 shall be used to replace or supersede such elementary instruction of 
 undergraduate students as now does, or hereafter may fairly pertain 
 to the ordinary or necessary curriculum of the University. 
 
 The rapid increase in the number of medical schools in this country 
 from the time of Dr. Caspar Wistar to that of Dr. Joseph Leidy, estab- 
 lished as many were for pecuniary profits, tended to a lowering of the 
 standards of admission. Anatomy during this period remained sub- 
 servient to surgery, being frequently utilized as the stepping stone to 
 the Chair of Surgery. Its preservation and advancement as a science 
 was accomplished chiefly by men active in comparative anatomy rather 
 than by the professors of anatomy in medical schools. 
 
 At the time of the opening of the Wistar Institute, men like Harri- 
 son Allen, Cope, Leidy, Marsh and Ryder were actively working in 
 the broader field of comparative anatomy and were rapidly regaining 
 for anatomy a position as an independent discipline. 
 
 The influence of these men, all personal friends of General Wistar, 
 is strongly reflected in the statement of the purposes of the Institute. 
 
 General Wistar appreciated the value of comparative morphology 
 in the development of anatomy, the necessity of abundance of material, 
 ample laboratory facilities and above all, the stimulus for capable 
 young men to enter upon this field of science. 
 
 Dr. Harrison Allen, for many years had advocated the introduction 
 of comparative anatomy and comparative pathology into the medical 
 curriculum. He was Professor of Medical Zoology and Comparative 
 Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania from 1865 to 1879 and 
 did much to advance the knowledge of the subject. It was largely 
 through his influence that General Wistar fixed the purposes of the 
 Wistar Institute upon that broad scientific basis and limited its activ- 
 ities to advanced work in anatomy and allied subjects. 
 
 The formal opening of the Wistar Institute occurred on May 21, 
 1894. The principal addresses were made by Dr. William Pepper, 
 
APPENDIX 167 
 
 Provost of the University of Pennsylvania; Dr. William Osier, Professor 
 of Medicine in the Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Harrison Allen, 
 the first Director of the Institute. 
 
 It is worthy of note that the Wistar Museum was the first anatomical 
 musum and the Wistar Institute is the first anatomical research insti- 
 tution to be established in this country. 
 
 Provost Pepper, with characteristic enthusiasm in his opening address 
 predicted a great work for this unique Institute and called attention 
 to the advantage of concentration and liberal cooperation of scientific 
 institutes even when financial and organic integrity are scrupulously 
 maintained. Undoubtedly Pepper, with his generous breadth of view 
 had scented the development which was about to take place in American 
 anatomy and felt that an institute, whose resources were to aid in this 
 development, would very soon settle into its proper field of usefulness, 
 do credit to its founders and form one of the units in his ideal university 
 which should be an aggregation of institutes and agencies more or less 
 independently governed, for the promotion of research and the acquisi- 
 tion and diffusion of knowledge. 
 
 Dr. Harrison Allen, the first Director of the Institute was in active 
 medical practice, but notwithstanding this fact, Doctor Allen for many 
 years had been an enthusiastic investigator in comparative anatomy, 
 the cultivation of which science he considered inseparably connected 
 with that of medicine. He was of the opinion that the study of anatomy 
 in relation to its ancient mistress medicine, should be identical with 
 its study in relation to a scheme of evolution of organic forms. 
 
 Doctor Allen had for years maintained most advanced views as to 
 the importance of scientific anatomy as compared with so-called prac- 
 tical anatomy and although he resigned as Director of the Wistar 
 Institute on July 2, of the same year (1894), he nevertheless left his 
 impression upon the future development of the institute which today 
 is following his suggestions almost as closely as if he were still its 
 Director. 
 
 Nor could an ideal institute be developed without a very substantial 
 and considerable material foundation. 
 
 After General Wistar had erected a fireproof museum and laboratory 
 building at a cost of $125,000 on ground presented by the University of 
 Pennsylvania, on September 1, 1893, he created a trust fund of about 
 $130,000 for the support of the Institute. This fund was increased 
 from time to time by General Wistar and at the last inventory, Decem- 
 ber, 1913, was valued at $236,708. 
 
168 APPENDIX 
 
 On October 1, 1898, General Wistar established a second trust fund 
 with securities amounting to $340,000 which in the December,1913, 
 inventory was valued at $405,903.21. 
 
 A third fund, known as the Contingent Fund, was established by 
 General Wistar on January 2, 1902, the Income from the second trust 
 being used for a time to build up this fund. By the conditions of the 
 trust deed, pertaining to the Contingent Fund, the entire amount of 
 the fund or any portion of it may be used at one time for any purpose 
 of the Institute, but the fund must be at once accumulated to its pre- 
 scribed limit of $200,000 whenever it has been depleted. In the Decem- 
 ber, 1913, inventory, this fund was valued at $226,998.80. 
 
 Profiting by the experiences of other endowed institutions, General 
 Wistar inserted as one of the conditions of his trust deed the require- 
 ment that at least 10 per cent and more, if needed, of the net income 
 from each trust fund should be added to the principal in order that the 
 principal should not only be maintained, but also be increased. 
 
 In addition to these funds, General Wistar presented to the Institute 
 improved real estate in Chicago valued at $300,000. 
 
 On December 6, 1901, the Wistar Institute purchased from the city 
 of Philadelphia, the remaining portion of the triangular lot bounded 
 by Woodland Avenue, Spruce and 36th Streets. General Wistar fur- 
 nished the money for this purchase. 
 
 In his Will, General Wistar made the Wistar Institute residuary 
 legatee to his estate, so that after certain small annuities are extin- 
 guished the Wistar Institute will receive for its support the income on 
 an additional estate of considerable value. 
 
 In 1897, General Wistar added a new wing to the museum building 
 at a cost of $45,000 affording additional museum and laboratory space 
 and a complete heating and lighting equipment. 
 
 Through the liberality of General Wistar, the Institute now has 
 ground for expansion and an increasing endowment which permits it 
 to maintain, a museum and research staff of sufficient proportions to 
 accomplish much in its special field. 
 
 During the early days following the incorporation of the Institute, 
 General Wistar took a most active interest in every detail. It was 
 his custom to make weekly visits to the Institute, usually on Sunday 
 mornings, when he reviewed the work of the week or discussed with 
 the Assistant Director, the needs of the Institute. It was on these 
 Sunday morning visits that the future of the Institute was most fre- 
 quently discussed and gradually General Wistar became aware of the 
 
APPENDIX 169 
 
 necessity of greater income so that with a larger staff the Institute 
 might make an impression upon the progress of American anatomy. 
 
 Dr. Horace Jayne succeeded Dr. Harrison Allen as Director of the 
 Wistar Institute in 1894. 
 
 Doctor Jayne's work in biology had brought him into prominence 
 as an investigator. His activities in organizing the first biological 
 department of the University of Pennsylvania and his generosity in 
 providing a building for this department indicates the type of work 
 which he enjoyed and in which he was so successful. As Director of 
 the Wistar Institute, he took active interest in the building up of the 
 museum and through his generosity and influence with others con- 
 tinued to add to the collection much valuable material for the study of 
 comparative anatomy. 
 
 The library needed attention and with characteristic generosity 
 Doctor Jayne presented his complete anatomical library to the Insti- 
 tute. This made a most attractive beginning especially in sets of 
 zoological periodicals. 
 
 During the ten years of Doctor Jayne's administration, the museum 
 received the chief attention. The casing of materials, their orderly 
 and accessible arrangement were serious problems. Only foreign mu- 
 seums had thus far enjoyed the advantages of modern museum equip- 
 ment. The disadvantages of the wooden case were overcome by adopt- 
 ing the steel and glass cases for all forms of exhibition. This type of 
 museum case was not to be purchased in the American markets. There- 
 fore, new cases were devised, various forms of storage, exhibition jars 
 and laboratory equipment were invented. A machine shop was in- 
 stalled for the production of such cases and other museum and labo- 
 ratory devices as could not be purchased, and thus the Wistar Insti- 
 tute was the first museum in America to produce a satisfactory metal- 
 glass museum case. 
 
 During this period of museum growth, while the amount of material 
 had quadrupled, the laboratories had received some attention and a 
 number of investigators had found it advantageous to pursue their 
 researches at the Wistar Institute. 
 
 In December, 1904, Dr. Horace Jayne resigned as Director of the 
 Institute and in January, 1905, Dr. Milton J. Greenman, who had 
 acted as Assistant Director from the time of the opening of the Insti- 
 tute, was elected Director. 
 
 During the early period of the Institute's existence marked changes 
 had taken place in the methods of biological research. Experimental 
 
170 APPENDIX 
 
 work with living forms came to be an interesting and fruitful field of 
 research; cytology developed as an important and extensive special 
 field in zoology; heredity received greater attention, the chemistry of 
 organic substances came into much greater importance in the inter- 
 pretation of vital phenomena; biological investigation was advancing 
 from the qualitative to the quantitative type. 
 
 About this time the necessity for greater cooperation in anatomical 
 work was recognized by Professor His in Germany in his suggestion 
 of a central anatomical institute for embryology and by Professor 
 Flechsig in his outline of a central anatomical institute for neurology. 
 Through the efforts of the International Association of Academies, 
 the Brain Commission was organized, its object being to stimulate 
 cooperative work on the structure and function of the brain. In 
 America, through the influence of the American Association of Anato- 
 mists, the Society of American Zoologists and various other organi- 
 zations, new life had been instilled into biological science and American 
 anatomy had not only regained its place of a century previous, but 
 was also making rapid advances. 
 
 It seemed now that the Institute should take a more active part 
 in the productive scientific work of the country. With its physical 
 equipment, its modest yet increasing income, its organization, suffi- 
 ciently independent to do national cooperative work, yet with an 
 advantageous University connection, and a keen progressive Board 
 of Managers headed by Mr. Charles C. Harrison who had succeeded 
 Dr. William Pepper as President in 1898, it seemed well worth while 
 to call together a number of representative anatomists and zoologists 
 to discuss the scientific policy of the Institute and determine what 
 type of work and along what lines the Institute could most advanta- 
 geously expend its energies. 
 
 In a letter addressed to the Director, General Wistar said: "I fully 
 agree, viz.: (1) that the Wistar Institute Museum should be designed 
 for the use of investigators, rather than a mere gaping public. In 
 doing so, you would incidentally and necessarily supply all that is 
 necessary for undergraduate students, outside of the regular Chair of 
 Anatomy. (2) I think that after the preparation you have already 
 made, by conferring with leading anatomists, an expenditure of a few 
 hundred dollars to assemble and entertain a meeting of such men in 
 April, would be of advantage to the Institute; its objects and public 
 value. (3) I think the President has authority to order such expendi- 
 
APPENDIX 171 
 
 tures and to invite, or authorize you to invite the anatomists you have 
 named, and I will strongly recommend him to do so." 
 
 Consequently, on April 11 to 13, 1905, a Conference of American 
 Anatomists was held at the Institute and as a result a permanent 
 Advisory Board was organized and arrangements made for holding 
 yearly meetings in Philadelphia. This board was at that time and 
 still is composed of the following men: 
 
 PROF. L. F. BARKER DR. G. CARL HUBER 
 
 DR. E. G. CONKLIN Dr. F. P. MALL 
 
 DR. H. H. DONALDSON DR. C. S. MiNOT 2 
 
 PROF. S. H. GAGE DR. G. A. PIERSOL 
 
 DR. G. S. HTJNTINGTON DR. J. P. McMuRRicH 
 
 Dr. M. J. Greenman was elected to this board in 1911. 
 
 Committees were appointed to establish relations with other scien- 
 tific bodies with the object of promoting cooperative work and estab- 
 lishing the Wistar Institute as a central anatomical institute. 
 
 A definite scientific policy was outlined and neurology, comparative 
 anatomy and embryology were designated as the research fields in 
 which the Institute should take active part. 
 
 While such a procedure was at that time without precedent, its 
 results rendered it one of the most important events in the history of 
 the Institute. The impetus which it has given to the scientific work 
 of the Institute cannot well be estimated. 
 
 Owing to the modest sum available at that time for current expenses, 
 the Institute's energies were at first expended in developing the work 
 in Neurology by appointing Dr. Henry H. Donaldson as Professor 
 of Neurology and a small staff of trained assistants. 
 
 In 1906, the Wistar Institute was designated by the Brain Commis- 
 sion, a Commission appointed by the International Association of 
 Academies, as the American Central Institute for Brain Investigation, 
 the object of this Commission being to encourage and direct cooper- 
 ative work in the study of the brain. 
 
 Since 1906, some 250 human brains have been collected for this work; 
 of these fifteen or more are from distinguished individuals who have 
 left their brains to science. 
 
 The next step in the development of the Institute was to establish 
 a publication. It was apparent that the usefulness and strength of 
 a central anatomical Institute lay in its connections and cooperation 
 
 * Dr. Minot died November 19, 1914. 
 
172 APPENDIX 
 
 with other institutions. It was proposed, therefore, to continue the 
 publication of the Journal of Morphology as a periodical of the Wistar 
 Institute. 
 
 This Journal, founded in 1887 by Prof. Charles 0. Whitman, had 
 established for itself an enviable reputation for the excellence of its 
 contributions, but had suspended publication in 1902 for lack of funds. 
 After a conference with Professor Whitman and others interested in 
 this journal and the Institute, this Journal was assigned to the Wistar 
 Institute and the publication was re-established in February, 1908, 
 when Vol. 19, No. 1, appeared under the Wistar Institute imprint. 
 
 The re-establishment of the Journal of Morphology led to the con- 
 sideration of the advisability of publishing The Journal of Comparative 
 Neurology, The American Journal of Anatomy and The Anatomical 
 Record, the latter two journals being closely allied with the American 
 Association of Anatomists, and finally The Journal of Experimental 
 Zoology, all well established independent journals financed and edited 
 by scientific men. 
 
 The guarantee of permanency which the Institute's imprint would 
 give to these journals, the financial advantages of management in one 
 central office, instead of five, and the relief of busy scientific men from 
 many routine editorial duties were arguments in favor of combining 
 the five journals under the Wistar Institute's control. 
 
 The five journals were acquired by the Institute on a somewhat 
 tentative plan lest the experiment should prove a failure and it might 
 be desirable to inaugurate some other form of control and management. 
 
 The editorial board of each journal was accepted as it had formerly 
 been constituted, only a few changes being made by the editors them- 
 selves. These journals had in each case a paid subscription list, but 
 not one was entirely self-supporting. 
 
 At that time the Institute was permitted to expend only a little more 
 than one-half of its income, the remaining half being required to build 
 up the Contingent Fund. It was, therefore, necessary to secure finan- 
 cial aid to carry on the journal enterprise. To meet this exigency, 
 Dr. Horace Jayne, formerly Director of the Institute, generously assisted 
 in the editorial manaegment and paid the deficit incurred for two 
 successive years. 
 
 In 1909 with greater available income, the Institute assumed the 
 entire financial responsibility of the journals. 
 
 The results of this combination of publications under one manage- 
 ment were first, to increase the distribution of the publications to 
 
APPENDIX 173 
 
 libraries and institutions, incidentally increasing the financial support 
 of the journals and second, to reduce the cost of manufacture, the 
 reduction accomplished in manufacturing costs, by the scheme of cen- 
 tral management, being more than sufficient to pay the entire cost 
 of the staff required to conduct the publications. In addition, there 
 has been improvement in typography, in paper, in the promptness of 
 issue and an increase in the amount of material published. 
 
 For the Institute, these publications furnish an outlet for the work 
 of its laboratories and bring it into relations with a large group of 
 investigators scattered throughout the country, while the scientific 
 work of the Institute is carried into practically every research ana- 
 tomical laboratory of the world. Furthermore, the Institute is pro- 
 moting anatomical science in a most substantial manner. 
 
 From 1905 to the present time, the Institute has maintained an active 
 staff of investigators composed of Professors, Instructors and Fellows. 
 The Professors and Instructors are persons of similar qualifications to 
 those of men in corresponding university positions. Fellows vary in 
 grade so that the title does not indicate any fixed degree of achieve- 
 ment. The Fellowships of the Institute are provided for in the Deeds 
 of Trust, while the Professorships and the Instructorships have been 
 created by action of the Board of Managers. Fellows are usually men 
 who come to the Institute for limited periods, devoting their time to 
 research and to the work of the museum and eventually receiving 
 teaching or research appointments elsewhere. 
 
 The chief energies and resources of the Institute since 1905, have 
 been expended in establishing the research work while the museum 
 has become the depository of materials having scientific interest. 
 This has necessitated a considerable equipment in the laboratories, 
 including microscopes, microtomes, ovens, refrigerator and many special 
 devices. The Institute is now well equipped for its work. 
 
 That the research has been successfully established is best shown 
 by the papers, too technical to mention here, which have emanated 
 from the Institute's laboratories. 
 
 It has been asserted that institute work differs from the work of a 
 university laboratory in one essential respect, namely, that a research 
 institute staff is more or less permanent from year to year while the 
 majority of a university staff composed of the Professor and a group 
 of graduate students is changing every year. The Institute, there- 
 fore, is able to undertake an investigation requiring several years to 
 complete without the disadvantage of having to train a new group of 
 
174 APPENDIX 
 
 assistants at frequent periods. Then, too, a research institute may 
 direct all its force for a time into one or two fields of research requiring 
 intensive work and extensive funds, while rarely can a university labo- 
 ratory divert any great amount of energy and funds to one problem. 
 It is here that not only the Wistar Institute, but every research insti- 
 tute may hope to prove its usefulness. 
 
 It has been stated further, that the existence of the research insti- 
 tute in America today is due chiefly to the inability of universities to 
 promote research in their laboratories as a training and culture as well 
 as for its practical good. The research institute is in a sense on trial 
 as an independent organization. The present tendency seems to be 
 for the establishment of institutes for limited fields of work. 
 
 There is a group of men who regard the position of a teaching pro- 
 fessor as the most desirable for the production of good scientific work. 
 They tell us that contact with students is a stimulus to better work 
 and that the investigator in a research institute becomes self-centered, 
 extravagant of tune and funds and loses much which comes of contact 
 with the untrained student. It seems to the writer that there is much 
 force in all these statements, but that the real question is a question 
 of individuality. Many men do excellent research in a teaching posi- 
 tion, while another group is better fitted for the research institute and 
 need no student stimulus to produce good work. 
 
 At the Wistar Institute it is quite certain that the work of Pro- 
 fessor Donaldson on the growth of the nervous system is unique in 
 its conception and in its results. Probably no American anatomist 
 has so deliberately planned and so persistently followed a single sub- 
 ject, with its closely allied branches, as Professor Donaldson has fol- 
 lowed the problem of growth of the nervous system. Continuous, 
 connected and correlated work of this type means progress in antomy. 
 
 His results have added much luster to the reputation of the Wistar 
 Institute and his example of scientific exactness has influenced the entire 
 staff. Closely associated with Professor Donaldson has been Dr. S. 
 Hatai whose assistance in the neurological work has been invaluable. 
 
 The experimental study of living animals has been actively pursued 
 in much of the work done by the Institute's staff. For this purpose 
 a large colony of albino rats is now maintained at the Institute to supply 
 research materials. As a result of the intensive character of investi- 
 gations by the Institute staff there now exists more data bearing upon 
 the life history of this mammal than upon that of any other form, 
 man not excepted. This fact together with certain characteristics of 
 
APPENDIX 175 
 
 the species render the albino rat a most useful laboratory animal. It 
 is easy to handle, readily kept and is omnivorous. It is almost unique 
 in that it represents a domesticated variety, the wild ancestor of which 
 may be easily obtained the world over. Its span of life is about three 
 years. It breeds at three months and during all seasons; has a gesta- 
 tion period of 21-22 days and casts seven young in a litter which 
 are very immature a most useful character. 
 
 Reared under uniform conditions, the albino rat becomes a standard 
 form suitable for the most accurate experimental purposes. Age, body 
 length, weight of body, of brain and other organs, number of fibers in 
 peripheral nerves all bear a certain relation, so that any modification 
 of food, environment or any treatment the animal receives may show 
 a deviation from normal in one or more of these factors. For accurate 
 experiments on living animals, it is sometimes necessary and always 
 advisable to use a portion of one litter for experiment and the other 
 half of the litter as controls for the experimented half. In this manner 
 the slightest deviation from normal may be detected. 
 
 The Institute now maintains probably one of the largest and un- 
 doubtedly one of the most successful animal colonies in the country. 
 It requires a great deal of care and constant vigilance to maintain a 
 healthy breeding colony of small mammals. To Dr. J. M. Stotsenburg, 
 whose methods and skill have produced this unique colony, the Insti- 
 tute is indebted for its best research material. 
 
 The animal colony now occupies a building about thirty feet by 
 ninety feet, three stories in height, well equipped with sanitary cages 
 and the requisite devices for the production of healthy animals under 
 uniform conditions of food and environment. 
 
 In addition to its own laboratories, the Institute furnishes a large 
 number of animals to cooperating laboratories throughout the country 
 with the object of encouraging research upon a single form so that 
 results from the various laboratories may be correlated with greater 
 accuracy. 
 
 During the past ten years, from 1905 to 1914, inclusive, the work- 
 ing force of the Institute has doubled. The laboratories are now pro- 
 ducing on an average, one scientific publication per month throughout 
 the year. A number of advanced workers hi anatomy have found 
 it advantageous to conduct their researches in the laboratories, which 
 are always open to men who are prepared to utilize the facilities, and 
 several graduate students from other institutions are usually found in the 
 Institute's laboratories each doing research work for his doctor's degree. 
 
176 APPENDIX 
 
 During the decade just passed, the working library of the Institute 
 has grown with the work in the laboratories and under the careful 
 management of Miss Clara N. Ferine now contains 2466 bound vol- 
 umes and 3015 pamphlets carefully catalogued according to the latest 
 scientific methods, and an author-subject index to the literature on 
 microscopy, anatomy and physiology of 140,000 cards. 
 
 In addition to this purely anatomical library, the Institute received 
 by General Wistar's Will his private library which contains about 4000 
 bound volumes also catalogued, and in addition many letters and docu- 
 ments relating to the early history of this country. 
 
 The museum during the same period has accumulated considerable 
 material for future study and at the close of 1914 the work here has 
 been resumed with the purpose of continuing in an active manner 
 the development of a synthetic museum of comparative anatomy. The 
 number of preparations has increased from 3000 at the opening of the 
 Institute to 15,300 at the end of 1914. 
 
 A large number of the finest preparations in the original museum 
 were never transferred to the Institute, but were loaned to the Medical 
 School of the University of Pennsylvania for teaching purposes. Many 
 of the older dissections have passed their usefulness and are gradually 
 being replaced by better and more permanent preparations. Some of 
 these are interesting historically, having been prepared by Dr. Caspar 
 Wistar himself while another class of material, pathological in character, 
 is interesting because it indicates the advent of modern surgery in over- 
 coming the conditions which these specimens exhibit. 
 
 During the existence of the present Institute, many interesting human 
 skulls and skeletons, representing race types, have been collected and 
 a large series of skeletons of other mammals have been accumulated. 
 Several hundred human brains, many of the highest type have been 
 secured. The museum also possesses a large series of birds, reptiles 
 and mammlals from Borneo and its neighboring islands. 
 
 The future development of the museum will depend upon the research 
 conducted in the laboratories. 
 
 Materials having research interest and value will be added and the 
 museum will present nature's original record of the investigator's pub- 
 lished work. 
 
 In human anatomy an elaborate series of educational exhibits has 
 been prepared on the structure of the skull. This series is in use almost 
 continuously by medical and dental students who visit the museum. 
 The teratological collection is the most extensive in the country. The 
 
APPENDIX 177 
 
 embryological collection of sectioned and mounted embryos ready for 
 study is growing rapidly. This collection will form one stage in the 
 synthetic museum of comparative anatomy. 
 
 The close of 1914 will see the Annex completed and facilities added 
 for photography, plaster casting and model making. There will be 
 additional laboratory space, just now very much needed. The Annex 
 will also provide a seminar room, committee rooms, storage rooms and 
 a number of minor facilities for the work of the Institute. 
 
 The Wistar Institute, the first of its kind to be established in this 
 country, takes its rank with institutions of similar character like the 
 Senckenbergische Institut in Frankfurt A/M, the Naples Zoological 
 Station, the Institute Solvay in Brussels and with the later institutions 
 like the Pasteur Institute, the Rockefeller Institute and the Carnegie 
 Institution of Washington. 
 
 November 20, 1914. 
 
INDEX 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
 Corporations 
 
 Adams Express Company, 310. 
 
 Baker & Wistar, 313. 
 
 Crockett & Page, 299, 302. 
 
 H. Hentz & Co., 323. 
 
 Hudson Bay Company, 47, 83, 84, 93, 99, 
 
 206, 208, 211, 221, 229, 230, 235, 236, 241, 258, 
 
 273,284. 
 
 Lucas, Turner & Co., 323. 
 Page, Bacon & Co., 310. 
 Peyton & Foote, 332. 
 Pioche Bayerque & Co., 323. 
 Provident Life and Trust Co., 135. 
 Wright & Co., 323. 
 Zachrisson Nelson Company, 157. 
 
 Game 
 
 Grouse, 96, 97. 
 
 Marten, (see Sable). 
 
 Mink, 212. 
 
 Moose, 206, 211, 222, 272. 
 
 Mountain lion, (see panther). 
 
 Prairie-dog, 76. 
 
 Panther (mountain lion), 63, 103, 109, 183, 211. 
 
 Sable (marten), 206, 208, 209, 212, 213, 217, 272. 
 
 Salmon, 263, 280. 
 
 Shark, 279. 
 
 Swan, 88. 
 
 Teal, 271. 
 
 Turkey, 40, 50, 66. 
 
 Trout, 34, 91, 92, 101, 125. 
 
 Wolf, 34, 73, 77, 108, 109, 136, 183, 211, 231, 
 
 263, 291. 
 Wolverine (carcajou), 209, 210, 211. 
 
 Antelope, 64, 73, 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 85, 88, 89, Indians 
 
 91, 92. 
 
 Bear, 78, 115, 125, 127, 129, 136, 183, 184, 186, American River, 126. 
 
 187, 211, 262, 263, 271, 272. Arapahoe, 81, 83. 
 
 Beaver, 263. Assinaboine, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221. 
 
 Bighorn, 90, 92, 109, 113, 222, 272. Blackfeet, 72, 206, 217, 218, 219, 220. 
 
 Black bass, 40. Bloods, 218. 
 
 Buffalo, 66, 78, 79, 81, 82, 87, 88, 207, 211, 221, Cheyenne, 81, 83. 
 
 222, 272. Coquilles, 241. 
 
 Caribou, 207, 211, 215, 272. Delaware, 72. 
 
 Catfish, 57. Digger, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 110. 
 
 Coyote, 133, 136. Huron, 197. 
 
 Deer, 34, 35, 40, 50, 77, 78, 109, 113, 114, 122, Hydahs, 274. 
 
 125, 133, 136, 197, 211, 215, 222, 263, 271, 285. Indian village, 80. 
 
 Dogfish, 279. Klamath, 199. 
 
 Duck, 101, 134, 271, 292. Modoc, 245, 265. 
 
 Eel, lamprey, 264. Pawnees, 50, 63, 65, 67, 72, 74, 81. 
 
 Elk, 78, 133, 191, 192, 193, 196, 197, 222, 272. Pintes, 105. 
 
 Flounder, 292. Pitt River, 174. 
 
 Fox, 136, 211, 263. Pottawatomies, 50, 57, 58, 60. 
 
 Geese, 113, 114, 202, 271. Rogue River, 241, 243. 
 
 Goat, 222. Shoshonee, 98, 102. 
 
 179 
 
180 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Indians Continued 
 
 Sioux, 80, 81. 
 
 Snake (Shoshonee), 97, 98, 101. 
 
 Surcees, 218, 219. 
 
 Umpquas, 241. 
 
 Institutions 
 
 American Philosophical Society, 24. 
 
 College of Philadelphia, 23. 
 
 College of Physicians, 23. 
 
 Committee of Safety 1793, 22. 
 
 Friends Boarding School, Westown, 25. 
 
 Friends' Select School, 26. 
 
 Haverford School, now Haverford College, 26. 
 
 National Academy of Sciences, 42, 76. 
 
 Pennsylvania Hospital, 23. 
 
 Philadelphia Dispensary, 23. 
 
 Royal Medical Society, Edinburgh, 23. 
 
 San Quintin Penitentiary, 319, 330. 
 
 University of Pennsylvania, 24. 
 
 Vigilance Committee, 314, 320, 325, 329, 330, 
 
 332. 
 
 Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, 24. 
 Wistar Parties, 24. 
 
 Persons 
 
 Alsop, Samuel, 26. 
 
 Ashe, Dr., 172, 174. 
 
 Baker, Col. Edward D., 302, 303, 305, 306, 
 
 308, 312, 319, 323, 332, 335, 336, 337. 
 Bauer family, 7. 
 Benham, Calhoun, 328. 
 Bisell, Francois, 187, 197, 198, 206, 214, 215, 
 
 216, 232, 234, 235, 241, 243. 
 Blair, Montgomery P., 300. 
 Boone, Captain, 75, 76. 
 Brown, Mary Wistar, 16. 
 'Captain Jack' (Indian chief), 243, 344, 245. 
 Clinton, Sir Henry, 18. 
 Cooper, Isaac, 6. 
 Cope, Sarah N., 38. 
 Count of Habsburg, 9. 
 Coxe, Brinton, 13. 
 Crocker, E. B., 302. 
 Crockett, Joseph B., 299, 301. 
 'Cuteye Foster,' 145. 
 Donner party, 110, 111. 
 Elliot, Jr., John, 135. 
 
 Essling, Nicholas, 169. 
 
 Foote, Gov. Henry S., 330. 
 
 Gambel, Dr. William, 42, 48, 58, 60, 75, 76. 
 
 Garrison, Cornelius K., 300, 301. 
 
 Gookin, Warren D., 41. 
 
 Governor Gordon, 7. 
 
 Greenlief, Catherine W., 18. 
 
 Hagler, Mrs., 166. 
 
 Haines, Margaret W., 18. 
 
 Heenan, John C., 330. 
 
 Heister family, 7. 
 
 Irving, Henry P., 332, 333. 
 
 James, Jesse, 44. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, 24. 
 
 Johnson, Katherine, 17. 
 
 Johnson, William Neely, 328. 
 
 Jones, Hannah Firth, 6. 
 
 Jones, Samuel T., 338. 
 
 Keppele family, 7. 
 
 McKean, Gov. Thomas, 22. 
 
 McCall, Prof., 340. 
 
 Marshall, Isabella, 23. 
 
 Meiggs, Henry, 321, 322. 
 
 Mifflin, Elizabeth, 24. 
 
 Mifflin, General Thomas, 24. 
 
 Miller, Prof., 340. 
 
 Morris, Dr. Caspar Wistar, 22. 
 
 Morris, Rebecca W., 18. 
 
 Norton, Judge, 335, 336. 
 
 'Oregon Jim,' 257. 
 
 Page, Hon. Gwyn, 299, 306. 
 
 Pate, B. T., 333. 
 
 Ralston, Colonel, 44, 49. 
 
 Riley, General, 137, 138. 
 
 Rudolphs, Habsburg princes, 9. 
 
 Sayers, Tom, 330. 
 
 Sharswood, Prof., 340. 
 
 Sherman, William T., 323, 324, 325, 329, 330, 
 
 332. 
 
 Shipley, Samuel R., 135. 
 Shipley, Thomas, 135. 
 Smith, Daniel B., 26. 
 Smith, 'Peg-leg', 46. 
 Terry, David E., 172, 174. 
 Terry, William, 172, 174. 
 Thompson, Judge R. A., 332. 
 Turner, Vicissimus, 300, 301. 
 Wain, Mary, 21. 
 
INDEX 
 
 181 
 
 Persons Continued 
 
 Ward, Samuel, 338. 
 
 Whitcomb, A. C., 333. 
 
 Wisster, 11. 
 
 Wistar, Caspar, anatomist, 23. 
 
 Wistar, Dr. Caspar, 6. 
 
 Wistar, Caspar, 24, 266, 267, 268, 269. 
 
 Wistars in Canada, 14. 
 
 Wistar, Lydia Jones, 6. 
 
 Wistar, Dr. Mifflin, 39. 
 
 Wistar, Richard, 18. 
 
 Wistar, Sarah, 18. 
 
 Wistar, Thomas, 21. 
 
 W'ister, Ann Barbara, 7. 
 
 Wister, Catharine, 7. 
 
 Wister, Caspar, ancestor of all American 
 
 Wistars, 7. 
 
 Wisters in Austria, 12. 
 Wister in Scottish records, 13. 
 Wisters in Silesia, 11. 
 Wister is Teutonic Silesian, 13. 
 Wister, Johannes Caspar, 7. 
 Wister, John, ancestor of all the American 
 
 Wisters, 7. 
 
 Wister of Austrian origin, 10. 
 Wister-Wistar, 7. 
 Wool, Gen., 329, 330. 
 Wyath, Sarah, 18. 
 
 Places 
 
 Bald Hills, 180, 188, 190, 191, 193, 196. 
 
 Belief onte, Pa., 31. 
 
 Big Horn Mountains, 119, 216. 
 
 Bear River Mountains, 96. 
 
 Blackburn's post, 189, 190, 191, 193. 
 
 Black Hills, 83, 85, 86, 87. 
 
 Boiling Springs, 106, 107. 
 
 Butte of Shasta, 265. 
 
 Calapooya range, 288. 
 
 Calapooya pass, 288. 
 
 Caledonia, Pa., 34. 
 
 Callao, 147, 149, 268, 269. 
 
 Cape Flattery, 273, 276, 277. 
 
 Cape Mendocino, 80. 
 
 Cascades, see Coast Range. 
 
 'Castle Bluff' (on Platte), 82. 
 
 Cero Gordo, 304. 
 
 Chagres, 161. 
 
 Charleston, S. C., 39, 40. 
 
 Charlotte's Island, 274. 
 
 'Chimney Rock' (on Platte), 82, 83. 
 
 Chinchas, 147. 
 
 Cincinnati, 43. 
 
 Coast Range (Cascade), 141, 175, 181, 223, 
 
 229. 
 
 Continental divide, 93. 
 Contra Costa, 270, 296. 
 Corintos, 163. 
 Coudersport, 35. 
 'Devil's Gate,' 90. 
 Duwamish Bay, 273, 276. 
 Easton, 37. 
 
 Elk Camp, 180, 182, 188, 199. 
 Enterprise, Fla., 40, 41. 
 Erie, Pa., 34. 
 Farallones, 277. 
 Fort Assinaboine, 218. 
 Fort Hall, 85, 93, 98, 99. 
 Fort Laramie, 83. 
 Fort Liard, 229. 
 Fort O'Kanagan, 230. 
 Fort St. Vrain, 216. 
 Fort Saskatchewan, 218. 
 Fort Steilacoom, 273. 
 Fort Vancouver, 285. 
 Fort Victoria, 273. 
 Fort Umpqua, 285. 
 Foster's Bar, 143, 145. 
 Foxchase, 37. 
 Galipagos, 155. 
 
 Goodyear's Bar, 143, 144, 145. 
 Great Desert, 106. 
 Great Salt Lake, 97, 98. 
 Golden Gate, 276, 279. 
 Grand Island, River Platte, 74. 
 Grass Valley, 139. 
 Gulf of California, 166. 
 Havana, 338. 
 Hopkinsville, Ky., 299. 
 Hudson's Hope, 229. 
 Humbolt Bay, 186, 199. 
 Humbolt County, 301. 
 Humbolt Mountains, 100. 
 Humbolt River Desert, 76, 96. 
 'Independence Rock,' 90. 
 Independence, Mo., 42, 43, 44, 45, 46. 
 
182 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Places Continued 
 
 Indian Territory, 50. 
 
 Jersey Shore, 34. 
 
 Klamath Lake, 203. 
 
 Laramie Range, 85. 
 
 Laramie's Peak, 83, 84, 86. 
 
 Lehighton, 37. 
 
 Marietta, Pa., 31. 
 
 Marquesas Islands, 266, 268. 
 
 Marysville, Cal., 142. 
 
 Melbourne, 268. 
 
 Mississippi Valley, 87, 99, 119. 
 
 Mokelumne Mines, 167. 
 
 Monte Diablo, 270. 
 
 Monterey, 137, 170, 173. 
 
 Mount Rainier, 274. 
 
 Nanticoke dam, 36. 
 
 National Park, 119. 
 
 Navigator Islands, 268, 269. 
 
 Nevada City, 139. 
 
 North Point, 146. 
 
 Nye's Ranch, 142. 
 
 Oakland, 270, 297. 
 
 Olimpia, 273. 
 
 Oregon Valley, 206. 
 
 Orleans Bar, 188. 
 
 Palatka, Fla., 40. 
 
 Panama, 151, 155, 157, 160, 163, 165, 300, 337. 
 
 Para, 41, 42. 
 
 Pike's Peak, 341. 
 
 Point Reyes, 278, 280. 
 
 Portland, 244. 
 
 Providence, 338. 
 
 Puget Sound, 272, 276. 
 
 Pyramid Lake, 108. 
 
 Queen Island, 274. 
 
 Realejo, 163. 
 
 Redding's Springs (see Shasta City). 
 
 Redwood, 180. 
 
 Rincon Point, 173. 
 
 Rocky Mountains, 91, 115, 185, 206, 223, 272, 
 
 285. 
 Sacramento, 119, 130, 132, 134, 139, 142, 143, 
 
 265, 266, 297. 
 
 Sacramento Valley, 112, 126, 128, 130. 
 St. Augustine, Fla., 40, 41. 
 St. John, 229. 
 St. Louis, 43. 
 Salem, 288. 
 
 Salmon River Mountains, 246. 
 
 San Diego, 187. 
 
 San Francisco, 124, 146, 148, 152, 155, 161, 164, 
 167, 174, 245, 266, 269, 271, 280, 295, 297, 300, 
 307, 309, 321, 323, 325, 329, 333, 339, 340. 
 
 San Jose", 163, 297. 
 
 San Juan de Fuca, 273. 
 
 San Luis Obispo, 173. 
 
 Sandwich Islands, 146. 
 
 Savannah, 40, 41. 
 
 Scottsburg, 284, 288, 289. 
 
 Scott's Valley, 245, 246, 250, 255, 262, 265. 
 
 Seattle, 274, 275. 
 
 Selin's Grove, Pa., 32. 
 
 Shasta City (Redding's Springs), 187, 246, 
 
 250, 265. 
 
 Shasta-Scott Divide, 263. 
 Shasta Valley, 262, 263. 
 Shuswap Lakes, 206. 
 Sidney, 269. 
 
 Sierra Nevada Mountains, 105, 107, 119, 223. 
 Sink of the Humbolt, 105, 106. 
 Siskiyon County, 253. 
 Skookum Chuck Cascade, 273. 
 Society Islands, 268. 
 Soda Springs, 99. 
 'South Pass', 91. 
 Steamboat Springs, 99. 
 Stockton, 167. 
 
 Suiter's Fort, 117, 119, 124, 126, 130, 138. 
 Taboga, 162. 
 Tete, Jaune Pass, 185. 
 Terry's Point, 276. 
 Towanda, 36. 
 Trinidad, 172, 175, 176, 186, 190, 196, 197, 201, 
 
 206,281. 
 
 Trinidad Head, 168, 174. 
 Trinity Mountains, 246. 
 'Truckee Pass,' 112. 
 Upoln Island, 268, 269. 
 Virginia Springs, 341. 
 Wahsatch Mountains, 97, 119. 
 Wald Hilsbach, Duchy of Baden, 8. 
 Wheeling, W. Va., 43. 
 Whitehaven, 37. 
 Wilkesbarre, 36. 
 Willamette Valley, 288. 
 Wind River Range, 91, 92, 97. 
 Yellowstone National Park, 216. 
 
INDEX 
 
 183 
 
 Rivers 
 
 Amazon, 42. 
 
 American, 128, 130, 132, 133. 
 
 Arkansas, 216. 
 
 Athabasca, 185, 206, 217, 219, 223. 
 
 Bear, 97, 118, 125, 131, 133, 134. 
 
 Big Blue, 51, 52, 66. 
 
 Big Sandys, 93, 94. 
 
 Big Smoky, 223. 
 
 Big Vermillion, 62. 
 
 Calapooyas, 206, 241. 
 
 Chehallis, 236. 
 
 Colorado, 93, 94, 95. 
 
 Columbia, 99, 187, 206, 223, 229, 230, 236, 280, 
 
 281. 
 
 Coquille, 241. 
 Cowlitz, 236. 
 Deer Creek, 125, 126. 
 Duwamish, 273, 274. 
 Eel, 186. 
 
 Feather, 76, 118, 133, 139, 142, 143, 175. 
 Frazer, 205, 223, 230, 235, 236. 
 Green, 93, 94, 95. 
 'Greenhorn', 117, 118, 130. 
 Gold Run Creek, 126. 
 Goose Creek, 100. 
 Humboldt, 100, 106. 
 Humbug, 250. 
 Kan. or Kansas, 56. 
 Klamath, 168, 180, 188, 189, 191, 193, 203, 
 
 243, 245, 246, 265. 
 Laramie's Fork, 83, 84, 85. 
 Lewis Fork, 99. 
 Liard, 223, 229, 235, 285. 
 Little Blue, 63, 64, 65, 70, 72, 75. 
 Little Sandys, 93, 94. 
 Little Smoky, 223. 
 Little Vermillion, 60. 
 Lehigh, 37. 
 Missouri, 223. 
 
 Okanagan, 206, 230, 231, 235. 
 Pacific Spring, 93. 
 
 Peace, 206, 213, 219, 223, 229, ?35, 285. 
 Platte, 72, 73, 74, 78, 79, 81, 85, 87, 88, 89. 
 Puyallup, 273. 
 Redwood, 199. 
 Republican, 78. 
 
 Rogue, 206. 
 
 Russian, 184. 
 
 Sacramento, 113, 117, 118, 119, 130, 133, 139, 
 
 187, 246, 265. 
 Salmon, 168, 178, 188, 189, 203, 246, 256, 263, 
 
 265. 
 
 Salmon Trout, 105, 109, 110. 
 Saskatchewan, 206, 217, 223. 
 Shasta (Scott's) 168, 205, 247, 250, 265. 
 Sinnemahoning, 35. 
 Smoky Fork, 206. 
 Snake, 85, 93, 100. 
 Susquehanna, 36. 
 Sweetwater, 89, 90, 93. 
 Thompson, 206, 223, 230, 235, 236. 
 Trinity, 168, 189. 
 Truckee, 105. 
 Umpqua, 206, 289. 
 Wakarusa, 55, 56. 
 Willamette, 241, 257. 
 Wind, 119. 
 Yuba, 114, 118, 143, 144. 
 
 Ships 
 
 California, 337. 
 
 Cambridge, 266. 
 
 Central America, 334, 338. 
 
 Change, 147, 150, 152, 154, 159. 
 
 Charleston, 147. 
 
 Columbus, 164, 266. 
 
 Cyane, 173. 
 
 Eudora, 168, 174. 
 
 Flying Cloud, 311. 
 
 General Wool, 269. 
 
 Josephine, 176, 177. 
 
 Julius Pringle, 152. 
 
 Kate Heath, 281. 
 
 La Favorita, 163. 
 
 Mary Helen, 268. 
 
 Monumental City, 269. 
 
 New World, 272. 
 
 Norma, 311. 
 
 Northerner, 39. 
 
 Palmer, 311. 
 
 Sea Queen, 155. 
 
 Wakulla, 176, 177. 
 
 White Squall, 311. 
 
184 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Unclassified 
 
 Alcaldes, Mexican, 138. 
 Armorial bearings, 11. 
 California bank panic, 311. 
 California trail, 245, 281, 285. 
 Cholera, 43, 52, 56, 64, 73. 
 Democracy, 19. 
 'Duffleling,' 217. 
 
 Glass Works, First in America, 15. 
 Kamas root, 184, 241. 
 Mountain fever, 146. 
 Mormons, 96, 98. 
 Oregon trail, 54, 245, 281, 285. 
 Pennsylvania Canal, 33. 
 Philadelphia evacuated, 18. 
 
 Rattlesnake, 77, 264. 
 
 Santa F6 trail, 45, 54. 
 
 Smallpox, 49, 52. 
 
 State Canals, 32. 
 
 Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, 137. 
 
 Washing for gold, 123. 
 
 Wister crest, 11. 
 
 Yellow fever in 1793, 22. 
 
 Wars 
 
 Civil, 300, 320. 
 Blenheim (Battle of), 10. 
 Mexican, 302, 204, 238. 
 Modoc, 245. 
 
INDEX 
 
 VOLUME II 
 
 Battles 
 
 Antietam, 58, 64, 69, 70, 74. 
 Ball's Bluff, 30, 33, 74, 118, 150. 
 Bull Run, 16, 35. 
 Chancellorsville, 29. 
 Drury's Bluff, 101, 114, 115. 
 Frederickaburg, 29. 
 Peninsula, 29. 
 Spottsylvania, 29. 
 
 Corporations and Firms 
 
 Camden and Amboy R. R., 138. 
 
 Corcoran & Riggs, bankers, 16. 
 
 Delaware and Raritan Canal, 143. 
 
 Farmers Loan and Trust Co. N. Y., 152. 
 
 Freedman's Bank, 55. 
 
 Hanibal & St. Joseph R. R., 1. 
 
 Hudson Bay Company, 157. 
 
 Irving & Pate, 3. 
 
 Kansas Pacific R. R., 145. 
 
 Lebanon Valley Road, 120. 
 
 Morris and Essex R. R. Co., 129. 
 
 New York and Erie R. R., 131. 
 
 New York Trust Co., 150. 
 
 Pennsylvania Coal Co., 133, 134, 135, 143. 
 
 Pennsylvania R. R. Co., Canal Dept., 120. 
 
 Pennsylvania R. R. Co., 121, 122, 130, 132, 
 
 133, 135, 140. 
 
 Philadelphia and Erie R. R. Co., 130. 
 Reading R. R. Company, 120, 121, 122, 123, 
 
 124. 
 
 Schuylkill Navigation Co., 120. 
 Texas and Pacific R. R. Co., 150. 
 Union Canal Company, 119, 122, 124, 128. 
 West Branch and Susquehanna Canal, 132, 
 
 133. 
 
 Wiconisco Canal Co., 133, 134. 
 Wyoming Valley Canal Co., 133. 
 Zinc Mining and Manufacturing Co., 128. 
 
 Institutions 
 
 Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 
 
 155. 
 
 Biological Club, 153. 
 Brigade Survivors' Asso., 58. 
 Campbellites, 25. 
 Campfires, 127. 
 
 Committee of One Hundred, 149. 
 Grand Commanderies, 127. 
 Grand Armies, 127. 
 Haverford College, 117. 
 Lodges, 127. 
 Loyal Legions, 127. 
 Museums of Natural History, 155. 
 Regimental Survivors' Asso., 21, 25. 
 Sanitary Commission, 79, 126. 
 Society of Friends, 25, 117. 
 Soldiers' Homes, 124. 
 Sons of Veterans, 127. 
 Union League Club (Philadelphia), 92. 
 Wistar Institute of Anatomy, 74. 
 Zoological Gardens, 155. 
 
 Military Matters 
 
 Article of War, 65, 79, 99. 
 
 Brevet titles, 126. 
 
 "Coffee-boilers," 48, 79. 
 
 Colored Troops, 104, 106. 
 
 Conscripts, 100. 
 
 Court Martial, 89, 94, 99. 
 
 Disobedience of orders, 53. 
 
 Drafted men, 98, 100. 
 
 Field hospitals, Confederate, 57. 
 
 Infantry charge on cavalry, 52. 
 
 Judge Advocate, 92. 
 
 Martial law, 147. 
 
 Mexican War, 26. 
 
 Military Commission, 91, 92. 
 
 Military Committees, Senate and House, 56. 
 
 185 
 
186 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Military Matters Continued 
 
 Military District, 97. 
 Provost fund, 96. 
 Provost Marshal, 60, 80, 96. 
 Quota agenls, State, 98. 
 Recruiting, 15. 
 Regiments, State raised, 94. 
 Secretary of War, 91. 
 Volunteer System, 93. 
 Volunteer troops, 93. 
 
 Military Organizations 
 
 Army, Confederate, 71. 
 
 Army, Federal, 59. 
 
 Army of Northern Virginia, 46. 
 
 Army of the James, 102, 105, 106, 108, 114. 
 
 Army of the Potomac, 20, 43, 44, 45, 56, 85, 
 
 87, 88, 89, 99, 101, 105. 
 Army, Western, 98. 
 Artillery, First U. S., 69. 
 Battalion, Parish's, 30. 
 Battery, Bramhall's Rhode Island, 28. 
 Battery, Griffith's, 7. 
 Brigade, Baker's, 21. 
 Brigade, Burns', 42, 45, 53, 61. 
 Brigade, Dana's, 61, 63. 
 Brigade, Gorman's, 61, 63. 
 Brigade, Heckman's, 102, 109, 112, 113. 
 Brigade, "Reserve," 70, 74. 
 Brigade, The Philadelphia, 20, 27. 
 Brigade, Wistar's, 70. 
 British Army, 15. 
 Cavalry, First District, 86. 
 Cavalry, Gen. Fitz-Hugh Lee's, 50. 
 Cavalry, llth Pennsylvania, 87. 
 Coast Guard, Confederate, 82. 
 Corps, Bank's, 41. 
 Corps, 10th, Gilmore's, 102, 107. 
 Corps, Gen. H. P. Hill's, 44. 
 Corps, Longstreet's, 44, 52. 
 Corps, 2nd, 29, 41, 50, 51, 56, 57. 
 Corps, 10th, 111. 
 Corps, 12th, 51. 
 Corps, 18th Army, 98, 102. 
 Corps, 18th Army, second division, 102. 
 Division, McCall's, 44. 
 Division, McLaw's, 62. 
 Division, Philadelphia, 11. 
 
 Division, Porter's, 18. 
 
 Division, Ransom's Confederate, 109. 
 
 Division, Richardson's, 63. 
 
 Division, Sedgwick's, 20, 41, 45, 46, 50, 57, 
 
 61, 62, 68. 
 
 Division, Siegel's, 48. 
 Division, Smith's, 18. 
 Division, Terry's, 107. 
 Division, Third, 104. 
 Division, Walkers, 62. 
 Division, Weitzel's 109. 
 Germans in Siegel's Division, 48. 
 Lee's Army, 45. 
 Mounted Rifles, 1st N. Y., 86. 
 Mounted Rifles, 5th Penna., 86. 
 Mounted Rifles, llth Penna., 86. 
 Provost Guard, 77, 79. 
 
 Regiment, California (see 71st Pennsylvania). 
 Regiment, llth Connecticut, 87, 102. 
 Regiment, 4th Illinois Volunteers, 26. 
 Regiment, 13th Indiana, 108. 
 Regiment, 15th Massachusetts, 21. 
 Regiment, 19th Massachusetts, 46, 56. 
 Regiment, 23rd Massachusetts, 102. 
 Regiment, 25th Massachusetts, 102. 
 Regiment, 27th Massachusetts, 102. 
 Regiment, 1st Minnesota, 46, 48. 
 Regiment, 2nd New Hampshire, 102. 
 Regiment, New Hampshire, 12th, 102. 
 Regiment, 9th New Jersey, 102. 
 Regiment, 42nd New York, 33. 
 Regiment, 99th New York, 70. 
 Regiment, 118th New York, 70, 89. 
 Regiment, 148th New York, 102. 
 Regiment, 34th Ohio, 49. 
 Regiment, 69th Pennsylvania, 16, 20. 
 Regiment (California). 
 
 71st Pennsylvania, 13, 15, 17, 20, 21, 24, 25, 
 
 27, 34, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 53, 54, 61, 
 
 65, 66, 67, 68, 74, 150. 
 Regiment, 72nd Pennsylvania, 16, 20, 51. 
 Regiment, 106th Pennsylvania, 20, 61. 
 Regiment, Tammany, 24. 
 Regiment, 9th Vermont, 70, 87. 
 Regiment, 8th Virginia, 28, 40, 150. 
 Regiment, 19th Wisconsin, 70. 
 State Militia, 11. 
 War Department, 85. 
 West Point Academy, 49, 50, 112. 
 
INDEX 
 
 187 
 
 Newspapers 
 
 Boston Herald, 55. 
 Evening Telegraph, 23. 
 Philadelphia Inquirer, 55. 
 Richmond Examiner, 89. 
 Rebellion Record, 89. 
 Richmond Sentinel, 89. 
 
 Persons 
 
 Addison, Maj. William, 115. 
 
 Allen, Col. William, 46. 
 
 Baker, A. C., M.D., 36. 
 
 Baker, Confederate Col., 53. 
 
 Baker, Gen., 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 
 
 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 41. 
 Bank, Gen., 42. 
 Barton, Dr. J. Rhea, 118. 
 Baxter, Col., 6. 
 Bayard, C. P., 74. 
 
 Beauregard, Gen., 41, 106, 107, 108, 111, 115. 
 Belknap, Secretary of War, 143. 
 Berry, Lieut., 40, 41. 
 Bonham, Congressman, 11. 
 Boyce, Congressman, 11. 
 Boyle, John, 85, 86, 88. 
 Boynton, E. Moody, 55, 56. 
 Borie, A. E., 74. 
 Bramall, Lieut., 24. 
 Brooks, Capt., 77. 
 Brooks, Gen., 111. 
 Brown, John, 8. 
 Buford, Gen., 56. 
 Burns, Gen. Wm. W., 41, 51. 
 Burnside, Gen., 59, 62. 
 Butler, Gen., 99, 102, 104, 105, 108, 113, 117, 
 
 124, 125, 128. 
 
 Butler, Gen. B. F., 81, 82, 85, 89, 90. 
 Cadwalader, Gen. Geo., 11, 14. 
 Cameron, Simon, 132. 
 Campbell, St. George, 121. 
 Campbell, Judge, 142. 
 Cogswell, Col., 23, 24, 33. 
 Crawford, Captain, 145. 
 Cumming, A. K., 132. 
 Gushing, Lieut., 69. 
 Davis, O. W., 74. 
 Davis, President, 115. 
 
 Devins, Col., 21. 
 
 Dingley, Congressman, 55. 
 
 Dix, Gen., 75, 77, 101. 
 
 Drew, Daniel, 131. 
 
 Dwindle, Surgeon, 38. 
 
 Earl of Peterborough, 101. 
 
 Fairgrieve, Lieut., 110. 
 
 Frazer, John W., 25. 
 
 Fisk, James, 131. 
 
 Frelinghuyser, Senator, 144. 
 
 Gamble, John A., 132. 
 
 Gibbon, Gen., 157. 
 
 Gould, Jay, 131, 150, 152, 153. 
 
 Grant, President, 144, 145. 
 
 Graves, Mr., 3. 
 
 Hale, Senator, 55. 
 
 Halleck, Gen., 89. 
 
 Hammond, Capt. LeRoy, 107. 
 
 Hancock, Gen., 56. 
 
 Hartranft, Gov., 146. 
 
 Harvey, Brig, Agj. Gen., 24. 
 
 Harvey, Capt. Frederick, 28, 33, 35. 
 
 Heckman, Gen., 102, 109, 11. 
 
 Heilprin, Professor, 154. 
 
 Hill, Gen. A. P., 59, 115. 
 
 Hill, Gen. D. H., 59. 
 
 Hooker, Gen., 58, 60, 61, 66. 
 
 Hoopes, Josiah, 145. 
 
 Howard, Gen. O. O., 45, 51, 53, 54, 55,56,58,61. 
 
 Humphreys, 113. 
 
 Humphreys, Maj. A. A., 43. 
 
 Hunton, Gen., 86. 
 
 Hutchinson, John N., 150. 
 
 Jackson, Gen. 'Stonewall,' 29, 41, 45, 59, 66. 
 
 Jenkins, Gen., 72, 73. 
 
 Jones, Lieut. Col., 49. 
 
 Joseph, Nez Perces chief, 55. 
 
 Kautz, Gen., 106. 
 
 Kimber, Thomas, 117. 
 
 Kirby, Lieut., 69. 
 
 Lane, Governor, 11. 
 
 Lee, Admiral, 83. 
 
 Lee, Gen. Fitz-Hugh, 50. 
 
 Lee, Gen. Robert E., 13, 45, 60, 65. 
 
 Lee, Gen. S. D., 61. 
 
 Leidy, Prof. Joseph, 154. 
 
 Lewis, Captain, 63. 
 
 Lewis, Wm. D., 74. 
 
188 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Persons Continued 
 
 Lincoln, President, 9, 10, 13, 93, 94. 
 
 Lingenfelter, Capt., 17. 
 
 Longstreet, Gen., 52, 57, 59, 71. 
 
 Lord, Ernest Vane Tempest, 32 (Stewart), 33. 
 
 McClellan, Gen., 50, 57, 59, 94. 
 
 McDougal, Senator, 69. 
 
 McDowell, Gen., 16. 
 
 MeLaws, Gen., 66. 
 
 Macalester, C., 74. 
 
 Magruder, Gen., 42. 
 
 Mansfield, Gen., 58, 60, 61. 
 
 Markoe, Capt. John, 18, 23, 40, 152. 
 
 Meade, Gen., 55, 56, 63, 66, 85. 
 
 Memminger, Mr., 142. 
 
 Miles, Gen., 55. 
 
 Morehead, Col., 61. 
 
 Morton, Rev. Henry J., 441. 
 
 Mosby, John S. Gen., 67. 
 
 Norris, Dr. Geo. W., 118. 
 
 Ord, Gen., 97. 
 
 Otis, Dr., 116. 
 
 Otter, Col., 34. 
 
 Owens, Colonel, 61. 
 
 Packer, William F., 132. 
 
 Palfrey, Col., 60. 
 
 Parrish, R. A., Maj., 16. 
 Peck, Gen., John J., 70. 
 
 Penn, William, 117. 
 
 Pickett, 29, 45. 
 
 Pope, Gen., 29, 45, 46, 59. 
 
 Porter, Gen. Fitz-John, 17, 18. 
 
 Randolph, Mrs., 129. 
 
 Randolph, T. F., 142. 
 
 Randolph, Theodore F., 128, 129. 
 
 Ransom, Gen., 113. 
 
 Reynolds, Gen., 56. 
 
 Richardson, Gen., 63. 
 
 Ritman, Capt., 22. 
 
 Rizer, Mrs., 51. 
 
 Scott, Thomas A., 132, 150. 
 
 Sedgwick, Gen. John, 41, 56, 57, 70. 
 
 Sherman, Gen., 32. 
 
 Shields, Gen., 26. 
 
 Shober, Samuel L., 74. 
 
 Siegel, Gen., 48. 
 
 Smith, Capt. W. F., 15. 
 
 Smith, Charles E., 121, 123. 
 
 Smith, Charles W., Maj., 16. 
 
 Smith, Gen., 18. 
 
 Smith, Gen. Wm. F., 98, 102, 104, 106, 109, 111, 
 113, 114. 
 
 Smith, James F., 120. 
 
 Spear, Col., 83, 87. 
 
 Stanton, Sec. of War, E. M., 69. 
 
 Stedman, Col., 102, 106, 112. 
 
 Stewart, Capt. (Lord Londonderry), 28. 
 
 Stone, Gen. Chas. P., 18, 21, 27, 30, 31, 32, 40, 
 41. 
 
 Stuart, Gen. J. E. B., 46, 61, 65, 66. 
 
 Sully, Col., 46, 47, 48, 52. 
 
 Sumuer, Gen. E. V., 41, 51, 52, 53, 56, 60, 61, 
 65,69. 
 
 Sumner, Senator Charles, 32, 69. 
 
 Suttie, George, 24. 
 
 Taylor, President, 26. 
 
 Terry, Gen., 107, 108, 143. 
 
 Thompson, J. Edgar, 121, 122, 123, 132, 133, 
 
 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139. 
 Toland, Rebecca, 44. 
 Toland, Robert, 44. 
 Toland, Sarah (Mrs. Wistar), 44. 
 Tucker, John, 121. 
 Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 131. 
 Vansant, Color Serg., 24. 
 Wade, Lieut., 23. 
 Walker, Gen., 66. 
 Warren, Gen., 56. 
 Washington, L. Q., Vice-Pres., 11. 
 Weitzel, Gen., 104, 105, 109. 
 White, Allison, 132. 
 Whiting, Gen., 115. 
 Whittlesey, E., 53. 
 Wierman, Thomas, T., 120. 
 Williams, Lieut., 34. 
 Wilson, Lieut., 68. 
 Winsor, Wm. D., 150. 
 Wistar, Mrs. I. J., 44, 50, 51, 68, 69. 
 Woods, Color Serg., R. C., 24. 
 
 Places 
 
 Acapulco, 141. 
 Alaska, 155, 156. 
 Alexandria, 42, 45. 
 Antietam, 29. 
 Atchison, 3. 
 
INDEX 
 
 189 
 
 Places Continued 
 
 Atlanta, 143. 
 
 Austria, 147, 156. 
 
 Baden, 147. 
 
 Baltimore, 16. 
 
 Baltimore Cross Roads, 87. 
 
 Bavaria, 147. 
 
 Bermuda Hundred, 102, 106, 107, 108, 114, 115, 
 
 116. 
 
 Bermuda Islands, 154. 
 Berry ville, 41. 
 Bloomfield, 3, 4. 
 Blue Ridge, 120. 
 Bolivar Heights, 41. 
 Boonsboro, 57. 
 
 Bottom's Bridge, 77, 85, 86, 88, 89, 91. 
 Bull Run, 45. 
 Burlington, 4, 7. 
 Centreville, 45. 
 Cerro Gordo, 24. 
 Main Bridge, 16, 17, 45. 
 Chancellorsville, 55, 56, 69. 
 Chantilly, 46. 
 Chapultepec, 141. 
 Charles City Court House, 91. 
 Charleston, 41. 
 Chattanooga, 98, 114. 
 Chicago, 4, 7, 8. 
 Chickamauga, 49. 
 Clarksburg, 51. 
 Clark's Ferry, 132, 133. 
 Claymont, 118, 145. 
 Cold Harbor, 29, 106. 
 Colorado Springs, 145. 
 Columbia, 133. 
 Conrad's Ferry, 21, 22, 27. 
 Cornwall, 147. 
 Dallas, 150. 
 Denver, 2, 145. 
 Edward's Ferry, 22, 27, 31. 
 El Paso, 150. 
 England, 155. 
 Erie, 130. 
 Farrandsville, 132. 
 Forge Bridge, 91. 
 Fort Ethan Allen, 16. 
 Fort Fisher, 116. 
 Fort Magruder, 76. 
 
 Fortress Monroe, 16, 42, 79, 81, 89, 99, 117. 
 
 Fort Schuyler, 15. 
 
 Fort Steilacome, 157. 
 
 Fort Sumpter, 11. 
 
 Fort Vancouver, 157. 
 
 Fort Worth, 150. 
 
 France, 147, 155. 
 
 Frederick, 53. 
 
 Furka, 155. 
 
 Georgetown, 145. 
 
 Germany, 155. 
 
 Gettysburg, 29, 45, 55, 56, 69, 77. 
 
 Glasgow, 158. 
 
 Glendale, 44, 45. 
 
 Gloucester, 82. 
 
 Gowen, F. B., 121. 
 
 Great Britain, 147. 
 
 Hagerstown, 62, 64, 69. 
 
 Half-way House, 113. 
 
 Hampton, 16. 
 
 Hampton Roads, 92. 
 
 Hanover Court House, 84, 88. 
 
 Harper's Ferry, 41, 42, 59. 
 
 Harrison's Island, 21, 27. 
 
 Harrison's Landing, 44, 45. 
 
 Havana, 141. 
 
 Hill's Point, 71. 
 
 Holland, 147. 
 
 Hollidaysburg, 133. 
 
 Hyattatown, 51. 
 
 Idaho Springs, 145. 
 
 Inverness, 147. 
 
 Ireland, 147. 
 
 Italy, 147, 155. 
 
 Jonestown, 121. 
 
 Julier, 155. 
 
 Keedysville, 57, 61, 69. 
 
 Langley, 50. 
 
 Lebanon, 132. 
 
 Leesburg, 22. 
 
 Lewinsville, 17. 
 
 Little Round Top, 56. 
 
 Lock Haven, 132. 
 
 Hockhaven, Pa., 67. 
 
 Long Branch, 144. 
 
 Maloja, 155. 
 
 Manassas, 29. 
 
 Marshall, 150. 
 
190 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Places Continued 
 
 Meadow Station, 88. 
 
 Mexico, 141. 
 
 Middletown, 132. 
 
 Milton, 122. 
 
 Mobile, 26. 
 
 Monocacy, 51. 
 
 Morristown, N. J., 129. 
 
 Mount Rainier, 157. 
 
 Multnomah Island, 157. 
 
 Munson's Hill, 17, 18. 
 
 New Kent Court House, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88. 
 
 New Orleans, 104, 142, 151. 
 
 New York, 16, 141. 
 
 Norfolk, 75, 91. 
 
 Northumberland, 132. 
 
 Old Capital Prison, 41. 
 
 Peninsula, 42, 116. 
 
 Petersburg, 102, 105, 106, 108, 114, 116. 
 
 Pike's Peak, 2. 
 
 Pinegrove, 120. 
 
 Pipe Clay Creek, 56. 
 
 Pittsburgh, 56, 146. 
 
 Poolesville, Md., 19, 27, 40, 41. 
 
 Portland, Ore., 156. 
 
 Potts ville, 121. 
 
 Prussia, 147. 
 
 Pueblo, 142, 145. 
 
 Puget Sound, 157. 
 
 Pulaski, 4. 
 
 Richmond, 16, 84, 185, 86, 87, 88. 89, 90, 103, 
 
 107, 108, 115. 
 Rockville, 51. 
 St. Gothard, 155. 
 St. Joseph, Mo., 1, 3. 
 St. Thomas, 141. 
 Salem, 107. 
 Salem, O., 1. 
 Sandy Hook, 41. 
 San Francisco, 25, 32, 71. 
 Savage Station, 44, 45. 
 Saxony, 147. 
 Seattle, 156. 
 Sharpsburg, 59. 
 Shenandoah Valley, 41. 
 Shreevesport, 150. 
 Slabtown, 77, 96, 97. 
 Slaterville, 91. 
 
 Southampton, 141. 
 
 South Mountain, 56, 57, 59. 
 
 Spliigen, 155. 
 
 Spottsylvania, 70. 
 
 Stelvio, 155. 
 
 Stirling Castle Depot, 15. 
 
 Stockdale, 117. 
 
 Suffolk, Va., 70, 73, 74, 75. 
 
 Suffolk Park, 16. 
 
 Switzerland, 147, 155. 
 
 Tacoma, 156. 
 
 Tacubaya, 141. 
 
 Tenallytown, Md., 50. 
 
 Turner's Gap, 56, 57. 
 
 Vancouver, 156. 
 
 Vera Cruz, 141, 142. 
 
 Victoria, 156, 157. 
 
 Wall Street, 131. 
 
 Wapta, 156. 
 
 Washington, 9, 11, 13, 16, 26, 41, 42, 50, 55, 70, 
 
 71, 79, 97, 105. 
 West Point, Va., 77, 78. 
 White Oak Swamp, 44, 45. 
 Williamsburg, 77, 81, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87. 
 Williamsport, 132. 
 Winchester, 42. 
 Yellowstone Park, 156. 
 Yorktown, 42, 43, 75, 76, 78, 83. 
 Yucatan, 141. 
 
 Rivers 
 
 Antietam Creek, 51. 
 
 Blackwater, 71. 
 
 Blue, 2. 
 
 Cherry Creek, 2. 
 
 Chickahominy, 77, 85, 87, 91. 
 
 Delaware, 145. 
 
 Des Moines, 7. 
 
 Frazer, 156. 
 
 Grand, 3. 
 
 James, 44, 85, 102, 104, 106, 109. 
 
 Matapony, 78. 
 
 Missouri, 3. 
 
 Pamunkey, 78. 
 
 Piankatank, 82. 
 
 Platte, 2. 
 
 Potomac, 16, 19, 20, 27, 41, 45, 50, 59. 
 
 Rapidan, 45, 85, 87. 
 
INDEX 
 
 191 
 
 Rivers Continued 
 
 Red, 33. 
 
 Rio Grande, 150. 
 Schuylkill, 119. 
 South Platte, 2. 
 Susquehanna, 119, 132. 
 Swatara, 119, 120. 
 Swift Creek, 106, 107. 
 Thompson, 156. 
 Willamette, 157. 
 York, 43, 77, 78, 85. 
 
 Unclassified 
 
 Anchylosis, arm joints, 39. 
 Anthacite coal trade, 133. 
 Bilious fever, 43. 
 'Calls,' 130. 
 
 Carpet-bag domination, 142, 143. 
 'Corners,' 129, 130, 131. 
 Corruption, inefficiency, 75, 195. 
 Ships, Corsica, Steam Ship, 141. 
 Democratic Party, 10. 
 Fear, effect on negro, 53. 
 Federal Government, 12. 
 Fever, every variety, 102, 106. 
 Grant Administration, 143. 
 
 Horse fight, 3. 
 
 House of Lords, England, 101. 
 
 Indian grants, 117. 
 
 Inefficiency, corruption, 95. 
 
 Legal Tender Act, 118, 128. 
 
 Lipau Indians, 3. 
 
 Malarial fever, 43, 102. 
 
 National Bank System, 8. 
 
 Peace, A possible World's, 137. 
 
 Personal independence, 128. 
 
 Republican Party, 10. 
 
 Riots, Labor, 146. 
 
 Senate, 9, 26, 35. 
 
 Sisters of Charity, 43. 
 
 Soldiers' vote, 126. 
 
 Stock gambling, 129. 
 
 Stock operators, 129. 
 
 'Street,' 130. 
 
 Suffrage, 148. 
 
 Superintendent of Negro Affairs, 97. 
 
 Sword, General officer's, 73. 
 
 Typhoid fever, 43. 
 
 Wedding of Gen. Wistar, 44. 
 
 Whig Party, 10. 
 
 'Wildcat' Banks, 8. 
 
 Wistar Committee, 151. 
 
CAIT^ORNM ' ' Y 
 
 <SA 
 
 *.4 
 
CASE 
 1 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARf