The life-story and personal reminiscences of Col. John Sobieski (a lineal descendant of King John III, of Poland)

Dedication

To my comrades in the United States army, who served with me in behalf of national unity; to my comrades who served with me in Mexico in defense of that republic ; and to those noble men and women with whom I have for more than thirty years labored in behalf of the temperance and other reforms, this volume is dedicated.

The Author.

Introduction

The late Dr. Benjamin Jowett of the University of Oxford once said: "We shall come in the future

m

to teach almost entirely by biography. We shall begin with the life that is most familiar to us, the life of Christ, and we shall more and more put before our children the great examples of persons' lives, so that they shall have from the beginning heroes and friends in their thoughts."

All intelligent adults in recalling the things that most influenced their early lives will appreciate the wisdom of Dr. Jowett's prophecy. Multitudes of the wisest and best will testify that their first ambition for a noble life began with reading the life-story of some good man or woman.

What a quickening to faith and what an inspiration to righteous endeavor is that account in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, of the "great cloud of witnesses" (martyrs "of whom the world was not worthy") "who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, * * stopped the mouths of lions, waxed valiant in fight," etc., etc.!

" The glorious company of the Apostles."

"The goodly fellowship of the Prophets."

"The noble army of Martyrs."

It is the life and example of such that move the world.

vi Introduction.

Many millions of people all over Christendom have been thrilled with admiration and moved to thank God and take courage at the story of the Polish patriot and Christian soldier, King John Sobieski, who in a mighty battle at the gates of Vienna ( A. D. 1683 ) rescued Christendom from the terrible Moslem invasion. "That hero's victory, with his little army of Poles against ten times the number of Turks," says an English historian, "caused all Europe to ring with the praise of John Sobieski and echo the words chosen by Pope Innocent for his text when the great news reached Rome: 'There was a man sent from God, whose name was John ' (John 1 : 6). For Sobieski had not merely delivered Austria — he had saved Europe."

And then again, how our youthful hearts have been stirred with righteous wrath against the oppressor, and warm sympathy with the oppressed, as we have read in our school-books of the downfall of the Polish Republic, and the cruel partition of that country by the three great powers, Prussia, Russia, and Austria — this last named being the, same country that Poland's brave little army had delivered from Turkish pillage and slaughter. ** Oh, bloodiest picture in the book of time !

Hope, for a season, bade the world farewell, And Freedom shrieked as Kosciusko fell."

Introduction. ' vii

More than fifty years after that " Battle of Warsaw" (1794) which Campbell celebrates in verse, in another heroic effort for Polish freedom, Count James Sobieski, the lineal descendant of King John III., fell as Kosciusko and others had fallen. That James left an only child, a son six years old, named John, for his grandfathers. This son, with an inborn enthusiasm for liberty, having heard of free America, soon after his father's death found his way to this country. And here he has been for forty-five yeai;s, giving himself entirely to patriotic and humane service: for the first ten years in the regular United States army and through many battles; then for two years helping Mexico to a republic; and since then as an American citizen he has spent his time in the halls of legislation and the field of reform endeavoring to rescue the weak and tempted and protect the home from the drink demon.

In these pages is given for the first time the life-story of this very worthy son of Poland's patriot kings and defenders — a son who, if that people were free to choose, might to-day be ruler of a Polish Republic.

(Perhaps it ought to be said, that while the author of this book has especially requested me to give this introduction, yet he has not been consulted as to what I shall say about him here, and will not viii " Introduction.

read this till he sees it in book form. If there be errors in it, I alone am responsible.)

A most unassuming man, it was only by much importunity that Colonel John Sobieski's friends prevailed upon him to dictate his life-story for publication. In fact, it was a long- time before his most intimate acquaintances learned many of the facts in his life that seem stranger than fiction. The shrewd newspaper reporter did not learn of his royal lineage till within recent years, so that during the past twelve months for the first time the great dailies and some magazines have published sketches of this "royal Polish patriot, famed as a soldier and statesman." Always in love with democracy and free government, and imbued with hatred of the idea of aristocracy and a titled nobility, in his earlier years he held it no credit in itself to be of kingly lineage, and kept the fact to himself. In Europe to-day the renowned family of Sobieski is thought to be extinct ; because, from the time this sole surviving member, when a twelveyear-old boy, secreted himself in the hold of a vessel bound for America, nothing has been heard of him.

But ''blood will tell." All of Colonel John Sobieski's acquaintances who have read the story of King John III. in the book entitled "The Wizard King" (now out of print), recognize a marked resemblance in many particulars.

Introduction. ix

Though Colonel Sobieski never sat in the schoolroom a day in his life, and never was trained and taught as were his fathers, except by his mother before her early death, yet he betrays a nobly cultured ancestry. This is evident in a splendid physique, in rare gifts of mind, and in most courteous bearing and high moral character. He is well educated in the truest and best sense. True, he lacks much that he might have learned in our common schools, and at Oxford or Harvard; and none more regrets this than he. Nevertheless, he has been an intelligent observer and an extensive reader all his life (though he hardly knows how he learned to read), and as necessity arose learned to talk in several different tongues, though doubtless not always according to the dictionaries and grammars. But, as a wise and scholarly critic has recently remarked in referring to the late Evangelist Moody: "Grammatical and rhetorical niceties are not the final test of intellectual greatness and genuine culture."

The story in the following chapters is printed, with very few and slight changes, just as it was dictated to an amanuensis by the author; and dictated, too, within a month, wholly from memory, and with scarcely any reference to books.

Colonel Sobieski is an ideal orator. He simply "talks right on." He has never written a line of any of his numerous lectures and addresses,

X Introduction.

and makes no written notes in preparing them — a most remarkable fact for one who has been so constantly on the platform. He is ready at a moment's notice to give a speech or talk on any subject with which he is familiar. For instance, a friend asked for a copy of a lecture that Colonel Sobieski had not delivered for ten years. He complied with the request by dictating the address exactly as delivered, though he had come to have different views since that time. He is not a oneideaed man. He is continually surprising his intimate friends by his varied repertoire. He is ready, seemingly, at any time, to preach a sermon, conduct a funeral service, deliver a patriotic address, a Biblical or historical lecture, or make a stump speech, — and do it well, — always stopping when his auditors are saying "Go on." And what a fund of fact, and fresh stories ! But don't ask him to tell "that story." Ten to one he will not. It must tell itself, as it were, when he wishes to illustrate a point.

He stands almost alone in being so very radical and outspoken in his convictions for reform, and yet so popular with people of all classes and parties. The reason of this popularity is that his natural kindness is always kindly expressed, and he habitually stands for fair play to everybody. Generous even to his own hurt, — he can hardly say no to a call for charity, — yet he is always strictly honest, and

Introduction. xi

faithful to promises. Once when an organization of which he was a member got so embarrassed financially that a majority advised repudiation, "Brother John" rose in his might with a thundering *'No ;" (for, though habitually gentle, he speaks with mighty emphasis on occasion). "Give me two years' time," said he, "and I'll raise that money (about $8,000) myself rather than have a good cause disgraced by repudiating a just debt."

And he did it, though he impoverished himself in the doing. It was just like him.

For habitual buoyancy of spirit, and for always seeing the roses rather than the thorns in life's pathway, his friends say they have never known his equal. He is the only man the writer ever heard say that he never had "the blues," though he often suffers excruciating pain from that bulletshot through his body and stomach — a wound that the army surgeons pronounced mortal at the time. And yet, since then he has traveled more miles, and delivered more lectures to more people, than any one now living in America; but he says he never was weary from a day's work, though he has often been very sleepy and hungry.

Although he richly deserves a pension, he has never applied for it. Why not? Because, he says, the government has already too many pensioners, and he prefers to take care of himself as long as he can. Here is a man who might have xii Introduction.

been a millionaire since coming- to America, but he has deliberately chosen to be as poor in this world's goods as the great Master he loves to follow. He was frequently offered promotion in the United States army, for brave and meritorious conduct, but he declined. He was offered choice of any position with commission in the Mexican army, but he preferred to be simply chief of staff of the commanding general, Escobedo. And after he had helped lead the army of that republic to victory, the Mexican government, to show its gratitude for his splendid service, tendered him a tract of several thousand acres of land; but he would accept no compensation whatever, and returned to his adopted country to spend his life in pleading for purer morals and juster laws.

What an inspiring example of unselfish devotion to the highest interests of country and mankind! What a harvest of good seed sown! And what a blessed reward, even in this life ! So that he may well say, as he does, that he would be happy to live his years over again just as he has lived them.

While this Polish-American soldier lay bleeding on the field of Gettysburg, the surgeon said he must die, and kindly advised him to make his peace with God. "I've had no fuss with God," was the ready reply, in the best English the young count knew.

Introduction. xiii

Always at peace with his Creator, ready to serve and suffer for the lowliest, tender to little children, kind to dumb animals, and courteous to every human being —

'' He wears the look of a man unbought,

Yet touched and softened nevertheless With the grace of Christian gentleness ; The face that a child would climb to kiss ; True and tender and brave and just, That man might honor and woman trust."

J. L. D.

Shelbyville, Illinois, February 10 f igoo.

Contents

PAGE.

Chapter I 1

My birth — Descendant of King John Sobieski — My ancestors — Father joins the Revolution — Captured and imprisoned — His death — My mother's summons to Warsaw — Her

' interview with the viceroy — Her refusal of the proposition

I of the viceroy — Our banishment.

Chapter II 7

Banished — Journey to the frontier — Refusal of the Austrian authorities to let us land — Go to Posen — Ordered out by I ■ the Prussian authorities — Go to Brussels, Berne, Milan

j — Expulsion from Milan — The case of Captain Ingraham —

Arrival in England — Louis Kossuth and Hungary — My uncle Joseph Bem — My pledge to my mother on her death-bed — My parents — My mother's death.

1 CHAPTER III 17

I My voyage to America — Arrival in America —Enter the

United States army — Barracks at Carlisle, Pennsylvania — Jeiferson barracks, St. Louis — Sent to Fort Leavenworth to join the Utah expedition under General Albert Sidney Johnston — Our journey across the plains— Fort Bridger — The Mormons — Ordered to New Mexico — War with the

I Apaches — Return to Fort Fillmore, i860.

Chapter IV 38

Second enlistment — Ordered to Fort Leavenworth — News of Lincoln's election — Ordered East with Lieutenant Armistead on recruiting service — Brooklyn, New York — Dr. Van Dyke's great sermon in defense of slavery — Hear Henry Ward Beecher reply — Hear Wendell Phillips on John Brown's death — Ordered to Washington — Closing scenes in American Congress before Lincoln's inauguration — Inauguration of Mr. Lincoln — Beginning of the Civil War.

Chapter V 52

Washington after the surrender of Fort Sumter — Manifestation everywhere of Southern sympathy — Entrance of Northern troops — Change of public sentiment — Gathering of the Union army — -Organizing the army — Marching into Virginia — Battle of Bull Run — Our defeat — Retreat to Washington — Demoralization of the army and people.

xvi Contents.

Chapter VI. .. 59

Arrival of General McClellan at Washington — Bringing order out of chaos — Preparation for the defense of the city — Complete defensive works erected about the city — Lincoln calls for five hundred thousand men — General McClellan made the commander-in-chief of the army — Organization of the Army of the Potomac — Peninsular Campaign — Our arrival at Fortress Monroe — Battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac.

Chapter VII 68

Capture of Norfolk — Destruction of the Merrimac — Siege of Yorktown — Battle of Williamsburg — Our sojourn in the Chickahominy swamps — Battle of Fair Oaks — Seven days' battle in front of Richmond — Our retreat to Harrison's Landing.

Chapter VIII 74

The army at Harrison's Landing — Our corps ordered to reenforce Pope — Defeat — McClellan again in command — March into Maryland — Battle of South Mountain — Battle of Antietam — McClellan removed — Burnside in command — Battle of Fredericksburg.

Chapter IX 91

March again — Stuck in the mud — General Burnside superseded by General Hooker — Reorganization of the army — Advance again on the foe — Battle of Chancellorsville — Charge of the Eighth Pennsylvania — Our defeat — Discouragement.

Chapter X 96

The death of Stonewall Jackson, and its effect on the Confederate army — Lee's march into the North — We follow him — Arrival on the field of Gettysburg— The battle — Thrilling description of Pickett's charge — Wounded — A faithful comrade — Taken to the hospital for the mortally wounded, near Hagerstown — Taken to the hospital at Washington — Rapid recovery — Rejoin my company — Ordered before Casey's examining board — Commissioned colonel of a colored regiment — My declination — Rejoin my company — Crossing the Rapidan — Retreat — Winter quarters.

Chapter XI 110

Reorganization of the Army of the Potomac — Preparation for the campaign of 1864 — Grant visits us — Opening of the campaign — Battle of the Wilderness — Terrible slaughter — Changing of our base to Petersburg — Siege of Petersburg begun.

Contents. xvii

Chapter XII. . 115

Interest in the struggle for liberty in Mexico — Interview with the Mexican minister, Romero — Commission to raise men to go to Mexico — Take a vacation for a couple of months — Go to New Orleans — Informed by the United States authorities that we will be arrested if we proceed to Mexico — Arrested — Discharged on parole of honor — Determined to goat every hazard — Finally enter Mexico by way of Sonora.

Chapter XIII 124

Arrival in camp of patriots — Their little army — Different nationalities — The character of the Mexican greaser — I trust them and find them reliable — What we had to eat — The way the contest was carried on — A thrilling adventure.

Chapter XIV 130

The meeting with General Escobedo — Become a member of his staff — The French rapidly leaving the country — News ■•arrives that the last detachment of French has left, and that Maximilian has left the city of Mexico and gone out to Queretaro, where he proposes to make his last stand— His capture, trial, death — My impressions of the Mexican leaders and their corps.

J CHAPTER XV 133

j The summoning of a military commission to try Maximilian

— Universal demand for his death — Found guilty and sentenced to death, which was to take place within five days of his sentence — The trial of Generals Miramon and

\ Mejia — Efforts made by the different European nations and

the United States government to save Maximilian — The

i refusal — His death — Reflections.

Chapter XVII 150

My return to the United States — Visit different points in the United States — Finally settle down in Minnesota — Become a reformer in politics — Elected to the legislature — Introduce three reform measures.

CHAPTER Xyill 167

Elected to the Right Worthy Grand Lodge of Good Templars — The persons whom I met there — Go to England , — Lecture in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales — Returfi

to Ihe United States and begin my career as a lecturer for the Good Templars.

xviii Contents.

Campaign of 1883 in Wisconsin — Presidential campaign of 1884 — Prohibition camp-meetings in New York — Governor St. John — Result of the election, etc. ^

Chapter XXIII 231

My work in Dakota — Mr. Folsom — Right Worthy Grand Lodge at Toronto — My trip to Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Newfoundland — In the camps of New York — Candidate for Congress — Lecturing again in South Dakota — Death of Mr. Finch — Convention at Indianapolis — Nomination of Fisk and Brooks.

Chapter XXIV 240

Clinton B. Fisk— John A. Brooks — My trip to California — The assembly at Long Beach — Enter the campaign in California for Plsk and Brooks — Los Angeles — Sacramento — San Francisco — Return East — Campaigning in Missouri and Pennsylvania, etc.

Chapter XXV 257

Taking a rest — Speaking in Michigan, Illinois, and the Dakotas — Back to Pennsylvania again.

Chapter XXVI 261

My mother-in-law's funeral — Return Home— A few days' rest — Return to Illinois — Nominated for governor — Letter of acceptance — Canvass for governor — A few days' rest after the election — Lecturing in Illinois and Ohio — Attend the World's Fair — Enter into partnership with Dr. Tracy.

CHAPTER XXVIl 273

My work in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, New York, Canada, Rhode Island — Lithia Springs — Rev. Jasper L. Douthit — His history — My work in Illinois, Missouri, etc.

Contents. xix

Chapter XXVIII 282

Pittsburg convention — A division in the party — Lithia Springs — My work during the campaign — Result of the election — A few weeks' rest — Speaking again in Illinois and Missouri — The Toronto session of the Supreme Lodge.

Chapter XXIX 296

The debate and decision on the Scandinavian question — Lithia Springs — Grand Lodge of Good Templars of Illinois, etc. — Conclusion — The wolf in sheep's clothing unmasked — A great crime.

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE POLISH REPUBLIC 3l8

KING JOHN SOBIESKI, 1683 381

COLONEL JOHN SOBIESKI, 1892 383

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

King John Sobieski Frontispiece

Colonel John Sobieski 1

Colonel Sobieski's Family 64

Uriah Copp, Jr 188

Miss Mary Sobieski 212

Lou J. Beauchamp 236

, Jasper L. Douthit 276

Lithia Springs Chautuaqua Grounds 288

Chapter I

My birth — Descendant of King John Sobieski — My ancestors — Father joins the Revolution — Captured and imprisoned — His death — My mother's summons to Warsaw — Her interview with the viceroy — Her refusal of the proposition of the viceroy — Our banishment.

I was born in Warsaw, Poland, September 10th, 1842. My father was Count John Sobieski, the son of James Sobieski who lost his life in the Revolution in Poland of 1830 and 1831, and a lineal descendant of King John Sobieski who is known in history as John III., being myself sixth in the direct line through the oldest sons of oldest sons of that great warrior monarch. My mother's maiden name was Isabella Bem, of the celebrated Bem family, so noted for their patriotism. Her oldest half-brother served under the great Napoleon, and was in most all of the struggles for liberty in Europe, from 1815 until his death in 1853.

My father was educated in the schools of Poland, France and Germany, graduating from the university at Heidelberg in 1840, when he was about twenty years of age. Immediately upon his graduation he returned to his native country, entering the service with the rank of colonel in the Polish contingent of the Russian army. Here he was serving at the outbreak of the insurrection in 1846, which insurrection he entered into at once with all the enthusiasm of one of the Sobieski race. He participated in several battles of that contest, was wounded, captured, and imprisoned, and was finally executed by the Russian government March 10th, 1848.

The estate of my father was situated about one hundred and twenty miles from Warsaw, and as soon as the insurrection broke out, my mother with her boy — myself — at once repaired to the estate, which was one of the largest in Poland, comprising two hundred thousand acres of land. My mother learned that my father had been wounded and captured by the Russian army, and supposed that they had put him to death, as she did not hear of him again for more than a year.

But all this time my father was suffering the horrors of a Russian prison. For some thirteen months he was struggling for existence in that prison, without a bath or a change of clothing, in a cell infested with vermin of every description. One day he was visited by a Russian officer, who informed him that it had been decreed by the Russian government that he must suffer death. The officer told my father that, if he had any reasonable request to make, it would be granted. His only request was that he might be privileged to see his wife and boy.

One day my mother was surprised by receiving a visit from a detachment of Cossack soldiers, who, in the name of the Czar, ordered her to get ready and follow them.

Not knowing whither we were bound, in our own carriage, driven by our own servant, we proceeded with the soldiers. I remember the journey well. It was in the latter part of February or the first of March. In that north country winter had not abated any of its rigor, so I remember the severe cold and the gay trappings of the soldiers. We could not have been more than two days making the trip, stopping now and then for a few minutes rest, and for refreshments. We arrived in Warsaw at night.

The next morning we were ordered to appear before the viceroy of Poland, who was a brother of the emperor. He was a man noted for his savage and unfeeling nature. But, to my mother's astonishment, he received her with every token of respect and regard, and seemed, indeed, almost friendly. He told my mother that he had an unpleasant duty to perform, and would do it just as gently and as kindly as possible. He informed my mother that my father was still living, but that he would be executed the next morning ; and that her father and her two younger brothers were in the same prison with my father, and would be executed at the same time with him. He said that he now had a proposition to make to her, and he hoped that she would consider it carefully ;

that she would not let any sense of wrong she thought she had suffered prevent her from making a wise decision, as the future welfare of herself and child was in her own hands, and depended upon her answer. He said that the emperor had authorized him to make her this proposition: That if she would consent to have her boy taken from her that day, conveyed to an institution under the direction of the Greek Church, where he would be carefully guarded, instructed and educated under the supervision of the teachers of the Greek Church, (the pbject of the Russian government being to nationalize me, that is, to make me an adherent of the Russian government ), assuring her that everything should be done for his welfare and culture, and that she should have the privilege of occasionally visiting him ; — if she would consent to this and take the oath of fidelity to the emperor, she might return to the estate unrestrained and enjoy it until her son arrived at his majority, when he would come into possession of it himself: but, on the other hand, if she refused this proposition, then on the morrow a decree would be issued in the name of the emperor, expelling her and her son forever from Poland upon the penalty of death, should she or her son ever return, or enter any territory controlled by the Czar ; and that our estates and all of our belongings would be forever confiscated to the Czar.

The viceroy very kindly offered my mother proper time to consider the proposition, and begged her to take the time. But my mother without any hesitation told him such a proposition would not require time for thought or consideration. Her mind was already made up. She said : " Sire, you can tell the emperor for me, that he can take from us our estate, he can take from us all we possess in the world, banish me and my child from our native land, home and kindred, to dwell in foreign lands among strangers. I may be compelled to beg bread for myself and boy, but I will go, and I'll teach my boy that he is a Pole, and to love liberty and to despise tyranny, and to revere and cherish the cause which his father cherished and died for, and to hate with undying hatred that nation and sovereign who murdered his father and kin and despoiled his country, and sent us into exile. "

When my mother had thus spoken, we were dismissed from the presence of the viceroy, and were then taken to see my father in that terrible prison dungeon. Though fifty-one years have elapsed since then, and I have passed through many scenes, yet that terrible picture has never been effaced from my memory. In a small room without a single ray of sunlight, and with but a few straggling rays of daylight, we found my father. The dirt and filth were appalling — indescribable. How he had existed for more than thirteen months, it was beyond our comprehension to conceive. Nothing but his splendid constitution had sustained him. For six hours we were permitted to be with him. Those six hours were spent in loving caresses and counsel. Promptly at the expiration of the time we were summoned forth. The parting was such as you might have expected of a brave man and a brave woman knowing that they should never meet again till they should meet in the land of spirits. My mother at once made the request that she might be permitted to visit her father and brothers, as they were confined in the same prison. This was refused, and we were then taken back to our hotel. The next morning my father and grandfather were executed. My father was not quite twenty-eight years of age at the time of his death.

Before we left Warsaw my mother learned that her younger sister, whose age was twenty, and who had been arrested and imprisoned some months before, had been sentenced to Siberia for twenty years at hard labor. Later, we met with a bishop of the Greek Church, who was present at the departure of my aunt for Siberia, who described her departure, chained to a gang of convicts, whose company she was to march in for twenty-eight hundred miles, all of which must be made on foot. She was never heard of afterward. She probably died or was murdered by the Cossack soldiers en route.

Life of Colonel John Sobieski.

Chapter II

Banished — Journey to the frontier— Refusal of the Austrian authorities to let us land — Go to Posen — Ordered out by the Prussian authorities — Go to Brussels, Berne, Milan — Expulsion from Milan — The case of Captain Ingraham — Arrival in England — Louis Kossuth and Hungary — My uncle Joseph Bern — My pledge to my mother on her death-bed — My parents — My mother's death.

Two or three days after my father's execution, my mother and I were placed in a sleigh, and under escort of Cossacks were started toward the frontier. We were driven out without any preparation at all, for my mother never dreamed when she left our ancestral home, that she was never to return. She took but a limited amount of money, and left all of her diamonds, valued at more than half a million of dollars. She often said that if she had taken these along- with her, they would have secured her support, or furnished her all the revenue she might have needed.