General Kilpatrick Biography

MARCH 19, 1864.]

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

187

story is extracted from "Draper's Intellectual Development of Europe :"

"Among the cultivators of Platonic philosophy whom the times had left, there was a beautiful young women, Hypatia, the daughter of Theon, the mathematician, who not only distinguished herself by her expositions of the Neo-Platonic and Peripatetic doctrines, but was also honored by the ability with which she commented on the writing, of Apollonius and other geometers. Every day before her door stood a long train of chariots; the lecture-room was crowded with the wealth and fashion of Alexandria. Her aristocratic audiences were more than a rival to those attending upon the preaching of the archbishop, and perhaps contemptuous comparisons were instituted between the philosophical lectures of Hypatia and the incomprehensible sermons of Cyril. It was not to be borne that a heathen sorceress should thus divide such a metropolis with a prelate ; it was not to be borne that the rich and noble and young should be carried off by the black arts of a diabolical enchantress. Alexandria was too fair a prize to he lightly surrendered   

"Cyril at length determined to remove this great reproach, and overturn what now appeared to be the only obstacle in his way to uncontrolled authority in the city. As Hypatia comes forth to her academy she is assaulted by Cyril's mob—an Alexandrian mob of many monks. Amidst the fearful yelling of these bare-legged and blackcowled fiends she is dragged from her chariot, end, in the public street, stripped naked. In her mortal terror she is haled into an adjacent church, and in that sacred edifice is killed by the club of Peter the Reader. With the blow given by Peter the aim of Cyril was reached, but his merciless adherents had not glutted their vengeance. They dismembered the corpse, and, incredible to be said, finished their infernal crime by scraping the flesh from the bones with oyster-shells, and casting the remnants into the fire: Though in his privacy Cyril and his friends might laugh at the end of his antagonist, his memory must bear the weight of the righteous indignation of posterity."

DIAGRAM FOR FINDING THE MOUNTAINS ON THE MOON.

a sight-seeing traveler, guide-book in hand, examines the decaying tombs in Pere la Chaise, when he does Paris, so we too will take a turn through this celestial church-yard, and examine some of the grave-stones, although hundreds must pass unnoticed. Our starting-point shall be Tycho (2), to great cavity, 55 miles across and 17,000 feet deep, with a high cone in the centre. This is dedicated to Tycho Brahe, the Dane, the builder of Uraniberg, one of the oldest observatories in Europe, which cost $200,000; one half of it he paid out of his own purse. He was not always so peaceful as he has been for the last 250 years, since it is related of him that he fought a duel with a nobleman, who cut. off his nose. He, however, replaced it so skillfully with one made of colored wax that the loss was not perceived. He kept in his family a madman, whom every day at dinner he made a footstool of, in the belief that the remarks made in that position were prophetic. From the edge of Tycho there is a deep groove extending many hundred miles to the northeast.

Let us look to the south before we move. (1) away at the pole is named after Newton, and affords another instance of the unfairness we have alluded to. He, the Prince of Astronomers, deserves the most conspicuous place, although modern disparagers would have us believe that he became insane before he wrote on the prophecies, imputing it to his sitting up many days and nights in succession, trying to turn other metals into gold by the aid of a furnace.

To the southwest (3) is called Bacon. There are two claimants for this monument—Roger Bacon, the discoverer of spectacles, gunpowder, gases, whose writings were centuries in advance of his time, and who was imprisoned ten years for the sake of science, and endured it without complaint. The other, Francis Lord Bacon, who never made a discovery in his life, who inveighed against mathematics and the use of instruments, and who abused his power as a judge to torture men. He is now being found out. Which has the best right we leave to the reader to determine. If the latter is to have a place, let it he on the other side of the moon, out of the sight of scientific men, or in Milton's Limbo.

In the same vicinity is (4) Cuvier, whose discovery of fossil bones in the ground has taught us what animals roamed on the earth in long ages past, and how the tiger, elephant, and rhinoceros lived in England, under the shade of palm-trees growing in that (then torrid) climate. Close by (5) is Maurolycus, which exhibits a high central cone casting a long shadow to the right. Other more recent craters have broken here and there through its walls.

Toward the east (6) belongs to Fernel, who measured the earth by his carriage wheel revolutions; and (7) to Nonius, whose true name was Peter Nunez, and who invented a scale for measuring minute

parts. North of Nonius is a group of four, one of which (8) commemorates Werner, who thought that the face of the earth was made irregular entirely by the action of water. If, he has since looked about him on the moon, and observed how pockmarked the surface is, and yet how devoid of water, he must have changed his opinion. A little to the northwest (9) is Geber. Dr. Johnson says that gibberish is derived from his name, because he talked so obscurely. Westward (10) is Tacitus, the great historian, distinguished for the very opposite quality, the pithiness of his sentences. Speaking of Roman conquests, he said, " They make a solitude, and call it peace." Between the two is interred the great caliph Almaimon (11), who did so much for Arabic literature, and in the seventh century measured the size of the earth on the shore of the Red Sea, and ascertained its true dimensions within a few miles. Astronomers have not been as much disposed to deny the Arabians their rights as historians have; for within a little distance Abulfeda (12) and Albategnius (13) lie. The latter more than nine hundred years ago determined the length of the year within two minutes. To the east are also Arzachael (14) and Alpetragius (15), distinguished Moorish astronomers; and close by the latter (16) Alphonso, the celebrated astronomical king of Castile, who said that if the heavens were indeed arranged as awkwardly as his contemporaries affirmed, he thought he could have fixed them better himself.

On the shores of the Sea of Nectar (F) are the volcanoes for Descartes (17), the rival of Newton, and (18) for Kant, the metaphysician. To the northeast are the monuments to Hipparchus (20), the father of astronomy, who first numbered the stars, and Ptolemy (21), whose book on the heavens was the great authority for fifteen hundred years. A crater (22), insignificant in size, commemorates Herschel, but., considering the great achievements of father and son, a double one should have been selected for them.

On the brink of the Sea of Vapors (Z) are Julius Caesar (23) and Sosigenes (24), who rearranged the calendar just previous to the birth of Christ. Caesar, who was a good astronomer, found that autumn fell where winter used to, and winter where spring. He brought Sosigenes from Athens to Rome, to assist him in rectifying this confusion. They gave fourteen months to the next succeeding year, and invented leap year, to avoid the difficulty in the future. On the opposite shore of that sea is Marco Polo (25), the Venetian traveler, whose statement that he saw black stones (that is, coal) used for fuel in China was so disbelieved in Europe in the thirteenth century. North of him are the Apennines (26), and on their eastern verge (27) Eratosthenes, called the universe measurer. Still farther to the east is (28) Copernicus, who is fitly placed, for he is the restorer of the ancient doctrine that the earth revolves around the sun, for which he was put in jail at Rome, and forced to recant on pain of death. Kepler (29) too, still farther to the east, deserves his conspicuous place, for he discovered the three great astronomical laws.

From the top of Kepler, and on the far edge of the moon, is (30) Grimaldi, who proved that light added to light may produce darkness. Aristarchus (31), to the north, occupies the brightest spot on the moon. He is properly located above Copernicus, for he originated the doctrine that the latter developed. The Apennine range, where it turns to the northwest, merges into the Alps, on the western side of which are Eudoxus (32) and Aristotle (33). Few men have exerted a greater intellectual influence than this latter, who, after spending his patrimony in scientific pursuits, kept a druggist's shop in Athens. Subsequently, however, Alexander the Great gave him a million of dollars, and the services of several thousand men to make experiments and write a history of animals. In the midst of the Sea of Showers (D), and surrounded by the cenotaphs of Timocharis (34), who first determined the motions of the planet Venus, of Cassini (35), the first Director of the French Royal Observatory, of Autolycus (36) and Aristillus (37), old Greek astronomers, stands (38) the volcano of Archimedes, the great geometer and mechanician of Syracuse. In the present age of big ships his doings are of the highest interest. Athenxus, in his Deipnosophists, relates how "Hiero, king of the Syracusans, was very earnest in ship building, having built many vessels to carry corn, the construction of one of' which is described. For the wood he caused to be cut down such a number of trees as would have been sufficient for sixety ordinary triremes. She was half finished in six months, and plated with lead held on by brass nails, three hundred master workmen besides very many journeymen being employed. Archimedes, the famous mathematician, was the engineer-in-chief; having undertaken the superintendence when the other architect had failed in the launch. He invented the screw, and so drew her into the water. It took six months more to complete the outside. The vessel was propelled by rowers and sails, and had 20 banks of' oars. The length was more than 420 feet, and the height out of the water more than 60 feet. Inside there were the most luxurious fittings—gardens and fish ponds, temples with beautiful mosaic floors, tents, and stables for 20 horses. On the deck were 8 turrets, and an engine that threw bolts 18 feet long a distance of 200 yards. The three masts were hollow, and served to convey darts and stories to the men and engines at the mast heads and on the yards. The prow was furnished with more than one ram. When the ship was done Hiero found that no harbor in Sicily could contain it safely, and therefore sent it as a present to the king of Egypt."

We may boast in this age of progress of' the things we are doing, but find that more than 2000 years ago there was an Ericsson alive who also could build formidable turreted metal - clad ships, and could launch them when they stuck fast.

On the northern shore of the Sea of Showers (D) is Plato (39). Every one knows how greatly his works were prized by antiquity, but every one does not know that when put up at auction and sold for a slave he only brought 420 dollars. Not far from

Plato rests poor Captain Scoresby (40), whom many of us have seen in the flesh--a good whale-fisherman, a writer on magnetism, and Arctic navigator. He appropriately reposes near the north pole of the moon.

We might extend our journey back again toward Tycho, and examine hundreds more of these souvenirs; but as we have already come 3000 miles the reader must be fatigued, and will be ready to rest when he understands that Beer and Madler, who were the undertakers of this funereal work, spent twenty years in accomplishing it.

GENERALS KILPATRICK AND
CUSTER.

WE give on page 180 a Portrait of BRIGADIER GENERAL JUDSON KILPATRICK, whose late raid in the rear of Lee's army is the most successful of the war. He was born near Deckertown, Sussex County, New Jersey, on January 14, 1836, and is therefore only 28 years of age. He was admitted to West Point, where he graduated in 1861, and entered the United States army as Second Lieutenant of Artillery on May 6, just after the war broke out. A week after he received a First Lieutenancy. He entered the war as Captain of a company in Duryea's regiment (Fifth New York), and was severely wounded in the battle at Big Bethel, June 10, 1861. As soon as he recovered he was made Lieutenant-Colonel, and afterward Colonel, of the Harris Light Cavalry. In Pope's Virginia campaign his regiment formed part of the late General Buford's brigade. He took part in the Maryland campaign under General Pleasanton, and in Burnside's campaign he particularly distinguished himself at Falmouth. He participated in Stoneman's raid, commanding a brigade, and traversing 200 miles in less than five days, capturing over 300 prisoners. For this success he was made Brigadier-General of Volunteers, his commission dating from June 13, 1863. At Aldie, Middleburg, and Hanover, Kilpatrick distinguished himself in the movements preceding the battle of Gettysburg: he also commanded a division in that battle, and was engaged in the pursuit of the rebels to the Potomac. Afterward he came to New York city, where he commanded the cavalry forces during the riots of last summer. General Kilpatrick has lately lost both his wife and child, and is also without father, mother, brother, or sister.

We give also on the first page a Portrait of BRIGADIER-GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER, who was born in Ohio, and was graduated at West Point, 1861, with the grade of a Second Lieutenancy of Cavalry. He was attached to the Army of the Potomac, and distinguished himself at Williamsburg in the Peninsular Campaign, for which success he was made a First Lieutenant. On June 29, 1863, he was appointed a Brigadier-General of Volunteers. He participated in the Cavalry fights upon the Rapidan last fall, and was at one time wounded in the leg, though not seriously. He was married about a month since. In the late expedition, a full account of which will be found in another column, he commanded the Cavalry division lately under the command of General Buford.

THE REBELLION IN 1861 AND
IN 1864.

WE give on page 181 a dissolving view of the Rebellion, representing. the proportions to which it has been diminished since October 1, 1861. The light tint on the map shows the territory which since that time has been conquered by our forces, amounting to at least one half of the original Confederacy. And the half which has been left has, as the reader will perceive, been entirely cut into two separate sections by our possession of the Mississippi and our victories in East Tennessee.

HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA.

THIS town, which is now the head-quarters of General Logan, and a sketch of which we give on page 188, is the only one in the South that I have visited, says our correspondent, that in itself suggests inhabitants of cultivated taste and refinement. The streets are regularly laid out, and well shaded by fine trees. The houses, too, have architectural design—a something that few homes of "ye Tchivalrie" can boast—and have about them gardens well laid out, and very neatly kept. The inhabitants are disposed to be " Union," but are fearful of the consequence of' an avowal in its favor, in event of the reoccupation of the town by the rebel troops. Still there are among the citizens very many stanch Union men, who do not hesitate to say their thought. I have seen but one female endeavor to show her dislike for the " wretched Yank." This one, after much effort, got up such a visage that I produced sketch-book and pencil to reproduce the novelty; but she would not stay en pose, and for consequence has not the distinguished honor of an appearance in Harper. The Court-house Square is each evening the scene of a dress-parade of the Thirteenth Regulars — General Sherman's bodyguard, and a splendid regiment—Vicksburg heroes too. The command of General John E. Smith is in and near the town, in camps that are said to be the very neatest that have ever been seen.

THE TWENTIETH REGIMENT.

WE give on page 189 a sketch representing the TWENTIETH REGIMENT, UNITED STATES (COLORED) TROOPS, receiving their colors, in front of the Union League Club-House, Union Square. The regiment, composed of a thousand stalwart men under the command of Colonel Bertram, left its camp on Riker's Island at 9 A.M. on Saturday, March 5, end were conveyed by the steamer John Romer to the foot of Twenty-sixth Street, East River, when they disembarked and formed in regimental line. The very streets through which they

passed were those which, during the riots of' last July, bad witnessed a far different scene. The hunted then were the feted now; the crouching suppliants for life then were now the upright and triumphant defenders of the Government that momentarily found itself unable to defend them against their persecutors. Over a hundred thousand spectators were assembled on Union Square to witness this noble act of revenge. We quote the following from Colonel Bartram's speech made on that occasion :

It has been the habit of those among us who sympathize with the traitors now in arms against us to sneer at what they are pleased to term the cowardice of the negro. I hope that Port Hudson, Fort Wagner, and Olustee have forever settled this question. In this regard I must be permitted to refer briefly to the conduct of the Eighth United States colored troops, in the last-mentioned action. My reason for doing this is, that for some three or four months I was on duty with this regiment, as its Lieutenant-Colonel, and during this period I had ample opportunity to become thoroughly acquainted with its officers and the material composing its rank and file. No regiment ever went to the field better officered than the Eighth, and no regiment ever contained a braver or more resolute set of men. How well they fought is shown by their list of casualties; and, although a subordinate officer in a battery thought to be misfortune to be supported by a colored regiment, yet when we bear in mind that two veteran regiments had already found the position too hot and had retired, I think we can afford to forgive this slander, and say that the misfortune, if misfortune there was, was not in having a colored regiment for a support, but in having an officer in the service of the United States so biased, so ingenerous, so cowardly, as to slander the brave men who fell around his guns.

LOGAN CROSSING LOOKOUT
CREEK.

ON page 189 we give a sketch of GENERAL LOGAN'S TROOPS MOVING ACROSS LOOKOUT CREEK enroute FOR EAST TENNESSEE—this neoVentent having connection with the late operations of Grant's army. The command crossing the bridge is that of General Matthias. The view given in the sketch of Lookout Mountain is said to be the very best.

HUMORS OF THE DAY.

MUCH MORE LIKELY.—An "incorrigible young thief " is more likely to attain "age before honesty!"

A paper called Le Cratis has appeared in Paris. It costs forty francs a year. Every thing's dear in France, it seems. You can't get even gratis for nothing.

An Irish gentleman visiting some friends, was received with so much hospitality, and drank so very hard, that he departed in it shorter time than was expected; and when asked the reason, very gravely said, "that he liked them so very much, and he ate and drank so incessantly, t hat he was sure if he had lived there a month longer, he would die in a fortnight."

M. About, in a recent publication, says of en avaricious man, that "it had been proved that, after having kindled his fire, he stuck a cork in the end of the bellows to save the little wind that was left in them."

Mr. Jones called upon the gentleman who advertise to restore oil-paintings, and requested him to restore a valuable landscape which was stolen from him two years ago.

The following contains the alphabet: "John P. Brady gave me a black walnut-box of quite a small size."

A REFLECTION BY A SCHOOL-BOY —The man who plants a birch-tree near a school-house little knows what he is conferring on posterity.

A gentleman who was determined to out do the horticulturist who raised chickens from egg-plants has succeeded in producing a colt from a horse-chestnut and a calf from a coward.

The death of a miser was lately announced thus: " On Friday last died, Josiah Braintree, of Bennington, at the age of ninety-eight. He retained his money to the last."

A Dutchman being advised to rub his limbs well with brandy for the rheumatism, said he had heard of the remedy, but added, "I dush better as dat—I drinks de brandy, and den I rubs mine leg mit de pottle."

"Why don't you fire at those partridges?" exclaimed a gentleman to a Cockney sportsman; "don't yon see you have the whole covey before your?" "I know I have," said Tomkins; "but when I have a good aim at one, two or three others will fly up right betwixt me and the one I aim at."

A poet has commenced a new epic, which begins well. It opens with an invocation to the Nine Muses, bursting forth with these words, " Ye femi-nines!"

"Buy!" called out Brown trot the waiter at Sams's. "Don' t call me buy, Sir ; I'm no boy, Sir," said the latter. "'Then do as you'd be done by," put in Brown, "and don't call this mutton lamb any more."

A man noted for his calmness and a scolding wife was one night stopped in the woods by a pretended ghost. " I can't stop, my friend," said he. "If you are a man, I must request you to get out of the way, and let me pass If you are the devil, come along and take supper, for I married your sister!"

The question has been asked, why it is considered impolite for gentlemen to go in the presence of ladies in their shirt sleeves, while it is in every way correct for the ladies themselves to appear before gentlemen without any sleeves at all ?

Where should a captain of a packet-ship keep his poultry?—In the hatchway.

When do 2 and 2 not make 4?—When they are 22. New DANISH OATH.—" Dash my Schles-wig!"

Why is blindman's-buff' like sympathy?—Because it is feeling for others.

Some men not only forget, their own names when they are drunk, but forget themselves when they are sober.

An Irishman, while fishing in is stream, was suddenly caught in a shower of rain, which obliged Lim to take refuge tinder a bridge near by. On being asked if he expected to catch any fish there, he replied, "An' shure, won't they be after cumin' in here for the shelter?"

At a christening, while a minister was making the certificate, he forgot the date, and happened to say, " Let me see, this is the thirtieth?"   " The thirtieth"

exclaimed the indignant mother; "indeed, but it's    only the
eleventh."

Mrs. Partington, when Ike was about to proceed to the Black Sea, among other parting admonitions, gave him strict injunctions not to bathe in it, for she did not want to see him come back a niXXer.