This Site:
Civil War
Civil War Overview
Civil War 1861
Civil War 1862
Civil War 1863
Civil War 1864
Civil War 1865
Civil War Battles
Confederate Generals
Union Generals
Confederate History
Robert E. Lee
Civil War Medicine
Lincoln Assassination
Slavery
Site Search
Civil War Links
Civil War Art
Revolutionary War
Mexican War
Republic of Texas
Indians
Winslow Homer
Thomas Nast
Mathew Brady
Western Art
Civil War Gifts
Robert E. Lee Portrait
|
BRIG.-GENERAL LYON, U.S.A.
ON page
433 the reader will find
a portrait of BRIGADIER-GENERAL LYON, commanding the United States forces in
Missouri. The following brief sketch of General Lyon's career will show that he stands right upon the
record :
General Nathaniel Lyon is the son
of a substantial farmer of Ashford, Connecticut, and is the descendant,
paternally and maternally, of families who were distinguished for intellect and
integrity of character. His mother was of the Knowlton family, which produced
two of the distinguished officers of the Revolution—one, the famous Colonel
Knowlton, who, as Major, commanded the Connecticut boys at the Old Rail Fence,
on the left wing of the American army, at Bunker's Hill, and was afterward
killed at the battle of Harlem Heights, New York.
General Lyon was educated at the
United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated with
distinction in 1841, and has remained in the army ever since, having risen to
the rank of captain in the Second Infantry ; and by the recent choice of the
Missouri volunteers has become their Brigadier-General. He is now in the prime
of life as a military commander, being forty-two years of age. He has had great
experience in his profession, especially in the rougher duties, which fit him so
especially for his present position. His service has been principally upon the
frontiers—in the Florida, Texas, California, Oregon, Kansas, and other Indian
and border wars. He was with General Scott's division during the Mexican
campaign, and was breveted August 20, 1847, " for gallant and meritorious
conduct in the battles of
Contreras and
Churubusco;" and was wounded at the
Belen Gate of the city of Mexico, September 13, 1847.
General Lyon is the right man in
the right place. He has a strong physical constitution, a high order of
intellect, and an energy which knows no bounds.
THE LATE CAPT. WARD, U.S.N.
WE publish on page 433 a portrait
of the late CAPTAIN WARD, who was unfortunately killed in a reconnoissance at
Mathias Point on 27th. Captain Ward's record is as follows:
He was born in the year 1806, in
the city of Hartford, Connecticut. On the 4th of March, 1823, he first entered
the United States service, sailing as midshipman, under Commodore M'Donough, in
the frigate Constitution. After serving faithfully for four years, under the
above Commodore, he was promoted to the position of a lieutenant, and was for
some time attached to the Mediterranean squadron. Many years of his life were
spent on the coast of Africa. He served also in the Gulf as commander of the
United States steamer Vixen; indeed, nearly all of his naval life was spent on
the ocean: he had served some sixteen years at sea and only nine years on shore.
He held for a time a very responsible professorship in the
Naval School at
Annapolis, and still later was placed in command of the receiving ship North
Carolina, lying at the Navy-yard. This position he held for nearly four years,
and while in it made many friends. At last the troubled state of the country
demanded the service and experience of such officers as Captain Ward, and he
placed himself at the command of the Government. Appreciating his abilities,
they placed him in command of the steam flotilla at that time fitting out. It
was placed in commission on the 16th of May. He had hardly arrived in
Chesapeake
Bay when he made an attack on a rebel battery, silencing it and driving the
soldiers away. Since that time he has proved himself to be one of the most able
and energetic officers that we had, fearing no danger, and placing those under
him in none that he would not gladly lead them through.
He was married in the year 1832
to Miss Whittemore, of this city, daughter of Samuel Whittemore, Esq. From this
union has sprung four children, three of whom, a daughter and two sons, are with
their mother in Germany.
THE BATTLE OF BOONVILLE.
ON page 433 we publish a picture
of the BATTLE, OF BOONVILLE, from a sketch by an attentive artist-correspondent.
The following account of the fight is from the Herald correspondence:
At just three minutes before
seven A.M., on June 17, the order was given to move. The morning was cloudy,
with occasionally a few drops of rain, but before the battle was over the sun
shone out clear and bright as ever. As the column ascended the bluff the pickets
of the enemy were seen and driven in. After an advance of three-fourths of a
mile one of the advanced guard rode hastily back to the head of the column and
informed General Lyon that the whole body of the State troops was drawn up a few
hundred yards in front. General Lyon at once ordered the regulars under Sergeant
Griffin to the left, and Captain Schultez's riflemen to the right. Captain
Totten's battery was ordered to the front to occupy the road.
The enemy were drawn up about
three hundred yards in advance, on the crest of a hill, or rather a long swell
or ridge, over which the road passed at the highest point. The road was occupied
by Colonel Marmaduke, with a small body of horsemen and a battalion of infantry.
Immediately on his left was a brick house filled with rebel troops, and back of
this, toward the river, was a narrow lane, where his left wing was posted. To
their rear was a wheat field, and this was miscellaneously scattered small
crowds of men, apparently without order or regularity. To his right was another
wheat field, separated from an adjacent corn field by a "worm fence," and behind
this fence his right wing was posted. Soon as our men were in position Captain
Totten unlimbered a twelve-pounder and a six-pounder, and sent a shell from the
former into the midst of the men occupying the road. A puff of smoke rising from
among them showed that the gunner's aim had been true. The next shell was
directed upon the squads of men in the wheat field and caused them to make a
hasty retreat. The fire now became general along the whole line, the regulars on
the right, and the German troops on the left, advancing in good order. Our line
was formed on a ridge similar to that occupied by the enemy and parallel to it,
separated from the latter by a valley with a gentle descent on either side. To
our left was a corn field and on our right a copse or grove of scattered oaks.
The regulars advanced in the corn field, to the crest of the ridge, creeping up
the latter and firing when opportunity occurred, taking for their motto that of
an Irishman at Donnybrook Fair, "Whenever you see a head hit it." The hollow
between the ridges was full of scattered oaks, and these served as a cover to
our men.
Captains Stone, Cole, and
Cavender were sent to support the right of the regulars, and in this way they
all advanced to the fence where the enemy were at first posted. The battalion
from the Second, supported by Captains Maurice's, Burke's, and Yates's
companies, were at the same time doing good work on the right; and in twenty
minutes from the time Captain Totten fired the first shell the rebels were in
full retreat, and our men occupying the line first held by the enemy. The house
on the right had been completely riddled by the last shots front the battery,
and one shell burst in the very centre of the building, at a time when it was
full of soldiers. Several dead bodies of the rebels were found in the wheat
field near the lane, showing that our fire had been effective. In fact, at the
first volley from the right wing several saddles were emptied of their riders,
and two horses galloped over to our lines. The correspondents of the New York
Herald and St. Louis Democrat entered the battle on foot, by the side of the
battery, but were very soon mounted, having succeeded in capturing these runaway
steeds.
The number of killed and wounded
on the part of the rebels has not and probably will not be accurately
ascertained. Out of one company (Captain McCulloch's Cooper County Rifles)
thirteen are known to be killed and several wounded. The number of dead already
brought into Boonville or taken to friends in the country can not fall much
short of fifty, and the wounded now heard of are as
many more. On the side of the
Union troop, there were three killed, ten wounded, and one missing.
We took eighty prisoners,
nineteen of whom have been released, and the remaining sixty-one put on board
the Louisiana.
HARPER'S WEEKLY.
SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1861.
THE LEADERS OF THE NATION.
WE devote an unusual proportion
of our space this week to PORTRAITS OF THE MEN on whom the eyes of the people
are at present fixed.
On page 440 will be found an
admirable portrait of LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SCOTT, from a recent photograph by
Brady ; and on the page following an accurate copy of an exceedingly well
executed portrait of the same General Scott, made thirty-four years ago, when he
was forty-one years of age. The present crisis was essential to the full
perfection of General Scott's fame. Had he died a twelvemonth since, history
might have classed him as a mere successful soldier. That he will now go down to
posterity with no name between his and WASHINGTON'S is certain. His early career
was an unexampled success. Though he was bred a lawyer and not a soldier, his
first campaign as a captain of volunteer artillery developed the mettle that was
in him ; he rose, without patronage, without friends, without money, or favor,
from grade to grade, winning each step with his sword on the battle-field, until
he was a Major-General in the United States Army at the age of twenty-eight.
This was forty-seven years ago-when few who read these lines were born. How
honorably and usefully this long stage of forty-seven years has been spent by
him in the service of his country, no history fails to recount. And now his long
career of greatness is being fitly closed by the noblest and most splendid of
his achievements. It must never be forgotten that when the loyal people of the
nation were sleeping, in October last, WINFIELD SCOTT foresaw the present war,
foretold it to the Buchanan Cabinet, and showed how the rebellion might be
crushed in the bud by a few very simple precautions. It was not his fault that
the hoary imbecile who then disgraced the Presidential chair nursed discontent
into rebellion, and sedition into open war. But Providence orders all for the
best, and uses even such vile instruments as Buchanan to ripen Southern treason
for the halter, and to crown the last years of Scott with immortal glory.
Let no man doubt him. His
intellect is as bright as it was forty years ago, his hand as sure, and his
judgment as sound. He has never yet failed as a soldier; let those who carp at
his slowness take patience ; what he proposes to do he will do thoroughly, once
and forever.
We also publish on page 437 a
group of THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. It may not be impertinent here to say
that, while
Mr. LINCOLN was not the choice of the proprietors of this journal
for President, they conceive it to be the duty of every patriotic citizen at the
present juncture to give a cordial support to him and to his Administration.
When civil war is raging at our doors, and it is a hanging matter to raise the
stars and stripes in one half the country, it is surely no time to cavil at
errors of detail which may be committed by the Administration in the discharge
of duties more arduous than have devolved upon any government since this
Confederacy was first formed. For our part we are free to confess that thus far
Mr. LINCOLN seems to us to have been fully equal to the stupendous task which
Fate has set before him. We can not thus far detect a single fatal error in his
administration of the Government. He appears to be fully conscious of the
situation, and to be discharging his duty with a keen perception of his
responsibility to God and to the people. We have yet to hear of the first
particle of evidence implicating him in the villainous schemes which are afloat
for the surrender of the liberties of this nation at the demand of an armed mob.
Under these circumstances, we submit that Mr. LINCOLN is entitled to the cordial
support of every honest man in the country. Nor can we perceive that any thing
can be gained by carping at the real or supposed errors of the members of the
Cabinet. It is probable, as they are men, that they have their faults. But there
is no evidence any where that they have thus far done any wrong to the country,
while, on the contrary, there is abundant evidence that they are working, one
and all, heart and soul, for the preservation of our national existence, for the
suppression of rebellion, and for the maintenance of law, order, and good
government. Is it patriotic, is it decent, under such circumstances, to cavil at
this or that Secretary on the basis of idle scandals, or for the gratification
of private rancor? By-and-by, when the rebellion is put down, and all that we
cherish is secure once more, it will be timely, perhaps, to inquire into the
conduct of each department of the public administration with a close and jealous
eye. But what is wanted now from the people of the United States is faith in the
men they have set over them, a
magnanimous trust in their
patriotism, and a generous forbearance far inevitable shortcomings. Without
these, we can not expect to survive our present dire peril. The public must
never forget that opposition to the Government at the present crisis is aid and
comfort to the enemy. The most signal service that could be rendered to
Jefferson Davis at the present time would be to create a general distrust, in
the North, of Mr. Seward or Mr. Cameron.
Finally, we publish on
page 444,
a portrait of MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN C. FREMONT, in his old trapper costume, with
the gallant KIT CARSON and other prairie chiefs beside him. Public fancy points
to him as one of the most probable heroes of the campaign now begun. He is known
to possess almost unrivaled qualifications for the command he has just obtained.
His campaign in California was one of the most brilliant military operations in
our history. He is believed to be a thorough soldier, theoretical and practical.
His energy, rapidity of combination, and daring, are notorious. He has potent
incentives to develop whatever may be in him; for he must vindicate the judgment
of the million and more citizens who desired to make him President in 1856. If,
as rumor states, he has been appointed to the command of the army which is to
advance from Alexandria and
Arlington Heights, he will have an opportunity of'
satisfying or disappointing public expectation. We are inclined to believe that
he will be found the right man in the right place : that he will neither make reconnoissances in railway cars, nor march troops up to masked batteries and
then back again, nor yet lie encamped week after week in sight of the enemy
while his pickets are shot or captured every dark night. He has been bred in a
school in which performances of this character were not popular.
WE have received a letter from
W.
H. RUSSELL, Esq., LL.D., Correspondent of the London Times, which will appear in
our next.
THE LOUNGER
A SHORT FOURTH OF JULY ORATION.
EIGHTY-FIVE years ago to-day,
after the most prolonged and solemn debate, continued in many ways for twenty
years—after the most patient and respectful appeals to the Government—after the
most stringent and conclusive argument against injustice—after the plain and
final declaration that the crown of England would govern its colonies simply and
only at its pleasure, and without advice or voice from those colonies—after
long, and strenuous, and vain protest against a taxation to control which they
had no representation, and upon the clearest conviction of the human and
political rights of every man in society, the thirteen colonies slowly and
sorrowfully took up arms, recited before the world the wrongs they had suffered,
and appealed to God and mankind for the justice of their cause.
The tale is familiar and sacred.
Today let it be read again. Today let every descendant of the men who fought
read the manifest of their war. And then let him contrast with it the manifest
of the people in this country who profess to justify themselves by that
declaration.
The patriots of '76 declared it
to be a self-evident truth that all men are endowed by God with certain
inalienable rights.
The rebels of '61 declare that
they are not.
The patriots of '76 asserted that
to secure those rights governments are instituted among men. The rebels of '61
declare that they are not.
The patriots of '76 proclaimed
the right of the people to alter or abolish any government which did not secure
those rights.
The rebels of '61 declare that
any discontented faction may forcibly overthrow the government which the people
have thus established.
The patriots of '76 declared that
governments long established should not be changed for light and transient
causes.
The rebels of '61 declare that a
government may be overthrown by any number of people who suppose that at some
time and in some way it may pursue a policy they do not like.
The patriots of '76 said that
when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same object,
evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, the people may throw
off the guilty government and provide a new; and they proceeded to cite the long
array of long continued outrages upon their rights by the King of Great Britain
which justified their action.
The rebels of '61, by the mouth
of their
Vice-President Stephens, declared on the 14th of November last, that
the Government against which they have now taken up arms, although not perfect,
" comes nearer the objects of all good government than any other on the face of
the earth."
The success of the patriots of
'76 was the earnest of peaceful, progressive, popular government which should
secure to every man the permanent security of his inalienable rights.
The success of the rebels of '61
would be the destruction of all constitutional government and the subjection of
individual rights to a military despotism.
The leader of the patriots of '76
was the type of their movement. His word was as sacred as truth.
The official word of the leader
of the rebels of '61 is a scorn and hissing among the nations. It is a synonym
of repudiation.
The patriots of '76 built their
house upon the rock of Justice, and the winds and rains have not and shall not
prevail against it.
The rebels of '61 build their
house upon the sands of injustice; and the rain is descending, the floods are
coining, the winds are blowing and heating; upon that house, and great will be
the fall of it.
PETITIONS FOR PEACE.
WHY do not the people who wish
that the United States Government would surrender to the armed rebellion of
Jefferson Davis say so openly? Why do they circulate petitions in the dark, and
cajole boys to sign them, without telling them what they are signing? The right
of petition is secured to every citizen by the fundamental law. It is competent
for any body who chooses, to petition Congress to establish a monarchy and
legalize polygamy.
So when a faction of armed
citizens have seized the property which belongs to all the people, and stand
with hands stained with the blood of loyal men defending their Government, it is
competent for any body to petition Congress to make peace with the rebels upon
their own terms. But if any man honestly wishes to do it he will do it openly.
People who sneak about with petitions they are afraid to show, carry petitions
they are ashamed of.
And they are ashamed, because
they know that they have no fair reason to urge for what they are doing. Their
conduct betrays a conscious meanness, not manliness. They say whiningly that
they want peace. Very well: who does not? Who has broken the peace? Those who
yield quietly to the constitutional operation of the Government, or those who
resist it with arms? When the Astor Place riot occurred, every good citizen
wanted peace. There was but one way to get it. That way was taken, and peace was
secured. What would have been thought of a man who went about at midnight during
the riot beseeching signatures to a petition that the city government would make
terms with the rioters, because dear peace was so desirable?
Then
civil war is so unnatural,
they add. Of course it is; and therefore the people who undertake it should be
dealt with such manner that neither they nor their posterity will care to try it
again.
Every pretense of argument
applied to this case is applicable to every other case in which the operation of
the law is forcibly resisted. There is no more reason for compounding with armed
traitors engaged in war upon the Government than with any other criminals. In
both cases the Government can only conquer or be conquered. To compound is to
confess defeat.
Happily the case is so clear,
that this poor effort to maintain the political ascendency of unprincipled men
at the expense of the whole American political system is already lost in
ridicule and contempt. The right of every man to petition is unquestioned and
unquestionable. But when your petition is one you are afraid to show openly in
your office, and frankly to solicit signatures, it is a petition which every
honest patriot immediately sees is meant to help treason under the plausible
pretense of peace.
KENTUCKY AND HER LOYAL MEN.
A FRIEND in Kentucky, who does
not spare the Lounger in his remarks upon a late article, writes as follows. The
friend will pardon the Lounger's natural reluctance to print the abuse of
himself :
"You are surely aware that we
have a traitor Governor, a milk-and-water Legislature, and a strong secession
party in the State. We can not therefore put the State, as a State, in her true,
loyal, position; for that can only be done through the Governor, and he is a
traitor. We can not impeach him, for the Legislature would be strongly disunion
were they not afraid of the people.
"The Legislature was elected some
two years ago, and the Representatives grossly misrepresent their constituents.
As an instance of this, Adair County will give but three disunion votes, two of
which are her late Senator and Representative.
"We can not volunteer and go to
the assistance of the Government as individuals, for we leave a strong party
behind us, who will use every means, be they foul or fair, to drag the State out
of the Union. Every Union man taken from Kentucky now increases the chances of
her going out.
" Don't you see, Sir, that our
position of neutrality is one of necessity, and not of choice ?
"Please set Kentucky right in
your next issue. Fiat justitia, ruat coelum. UNION."
FACT VERSUS PRINCIPLE.
THE second thought of England is
what we thought it would be. But when it is said that corporations have no
souls, the remark may be extended to nations, and then it has great
significance. A soulless body, or a brute (if it be possible that the little dog
Tib, asleep beside me, has no soul), obeys simply the instincts of immediate
self-preservation, and stakes no sacrifice for principle, nor sees that present
suffering may he future triumph. Corporations and States act in the same way.
They do not move from moral principle, but from policy in the sense of selfish
interest.
An intelligent clergymen in
England, American-born, writes to the Lounger: "Motley has been doing the North
service by setting before the British public, in the Times, the constitutional
merits of its case. He has done it very ably. But revolutions do not follow
constitutional prescriptions very closely: and even if his essays be much read,
England will decide more by what is actually accomplished in the Cabinet and the
field, North and South, than by any thing else."
The tradition of England is
constitutional liberty. If a ministry should offer to recognize this rebellion
before it has struck a blow, as a successful revolution establishing a new
Power, such a ministry would be howled out of office by popular clamor. But if
the rebellion maintains itself for a long time, how then ?
The right and wrong will remain
quite the same. But England and all other Powers will ask, " How about the fact?
Grant that it is a wanton and wicked rebellion, and that it maintains itself.
how long do you expect us to wait? How long did you wait in the case of Mexico
and Texas ? We (Next Page)
|