Jewels of memory. By Col. John A. Joyce ...

Dedication

I dedicate this volume to the American soldier and sailor whose bravery and patriotism on land and sea for more than a century challenges the respect of mankind and will command the admiration of posterity. — J. A. J.

Preface

These Jewels from the casket of personal memory I flash over the ocean of literature, trusting that some sparkling rays may attract human hearts when the soul that divined and the hand that fashioned them has vanished like the dews of the morning. . — J. A. J.

CHAPTER I. Page

Lyon and Jackson n

CHAPTER n.

Fletcher and Blair 19

CHAPTER HI.

Farragut and Porter 26

CHAPTER IV.

Sheridan 31

CHAPTER V.

Sherman 38

CHAPTER VI.

Grant 47

CHAPTER VII.

Roscoe Conkling 5^

CHAPTER VIII.

Spinner in bronze • 66

CHAPTER IX.

Samuel Sullivan Cox 76

CHAPTER X.

George D. Prentice 86

CHAPTER XI.

Parson Brownlow 95

CHAPTER XII.

Father Ryan and Henry Stanton 104

CHAPTER XIII.

Breckinridge 109

Index

CHAPTER XIV.

Page.

General Nathaniel Bedford Forrest ii8

CHAPTER XV. ' ' Corporal ' ' Tanner 123

CHAPTER XVI.

The National Capital 126

CHAPTER XVII.

The Battle of Shiloh — Louisville Experiences 132

CHAPTER XVIII.

Burnside in East Tennessee 143

CHAPTER XIX.

Jim Nelson ; A story of Georgia Loyalty 149

CHAPTER XX.

Iowa Experience 157

ORATIONS.

I. Hector. A Newfoundland dog. Kentucky, 1857 171

II. Decoration Day 173

III. Emancipation Day 179

IV. A Toast to Woman 184 i^'^icki wk te

Genl. Nathaniel Lyon.

JEWELS DF MEMORY.

CHAPTER I.

LYON AND JACKSON.

Nathaniel Lyon, of Connecticut, and Thomas J. Jackson, of Clarksburg, Va., were the Puritanical soldiers of the late civil war. A deep religious conviction of patriotism actuated the hearts of these natural leaders, who never faltered in a plan once adopted, but struck the enemy with lightning force and rapidity, accomplishing by audacity what other generals failed in securing by time and numbers.

Lyon was born in the year 1819, graduated in 1841 at West Point, and was killed at the battle of Wilson's Creek, Mo., on the loth of August, 1861.

" Stonewall " Jackson was born in the year 1824, graduated at West Point in 1846, and received his death wound at the battle of Chancellorville, Va., in May, 1863, dying on Sunday, the loth of that month.

Both of these military chieftains served as lieutenants in the Mexican war with Scott and Taylor, fought in the same battles for the Stars and Stripes, and were promoted for marked gallantry. After the Mexican war Jackson resigned his commission and took a professorship in the Military Institute of Virginia^ at Lexington, where he taught until the shot on Sumter aroused the nation to battle.

At the close of the Mexican war Lyon went to California, served on the Indian frontier with great distinction and afterwards in the Kansas political troubles, commanding at Fort

Riley and taking a leading part in the bloody events that made Kansas a free State.

In May, 1861, Lyon went to St. Louis and took charge of a handful of United States regulars at the arsenal, and, while only a captain, soon rose to the position of brigadier general and took command of the 5,000 or 6,000 volunteers that Blair, Sigel, Fletcher, Cavender, and other patriots had raised to counteract the militia that Governor Claiborne Jackson had assembled in camp at St. Louis with the evident intention of chaining Missouri to the chariot wheels of the Confederacy. Sterling Price and Governor Jackson had a consultation with General Lyon at the Planters' House on the critical situation existing between the State and national authorities. The city officials of St. Louis insisted that Lyon must confine his military movements to the narrow precincts of the arsenal. Lyon replied that the troops of the United States had a right to march anywhere under the flag, and if any man or body of men attempted to interrupt their course destruction and death would be the consequence to the enemy.

On the 14th of May, 1 861, while State and national authorities were haggling about policy and precedent, Lyon made a rapid march with his troops to Camp Jackson, located in the western part of the city, surrounded the State militia commanded by General Frost, and demanded an immediate surrender. There was nothing left to Frost but to fight or lay down his arms, and, as the guns of the loyal troops were ready to belch forth a deadly volley. Frost wisely chose the part of discretion and surrendered his 700 men and their munitions of war.

The citizens of St. Louis were terribly excited over the unlooked-for dash of Lyon, and while the prisoners were being marched back to the arsenal some one in the surrounding mob threw stones at a German regiment, which quickly replied with a murderous fire, killing and wounding a number of people.

For forty-eight hours the city was in a wild state of revolution,

LYON AND JACKSON. 13

" Home Guards " and *' Minute Men " watching each other from street corners, dark alleys, basements, cellars, and attic windows. This daring act of Lyon in capturing the State militia saved Missouri to the Union and drew at once the lines between loyal and disloyal citizens. Thus, one brave spirit is the iron hand to sphce the timbers of a crumbling State or solidify the breaking arches of a nation.

While Governor Jackson, of Missouri, was doing his best to drag the State into the whirlpool of secession Governor Letcher, of Virginia, was not slow in organizing troops to sustain the Southern Confederacy and enlist the Old Dominion in the war against the Union.

Thomas J. Jackson was the commander of the State militia under Governor Wise when that rugged fanatic of freedom, John Brown, was wounded, captured, and hung at Harper's Ferry, and Robert E. Lee was the commander of the regular troops on that occasion. The firing on the flag at Sumter was but the echo of the scaffold thud at Harper's Ferry and the knell of human slavery in this Republic. Jackson offered his heart and hand to his native State, was commissioned a colonel, and was soon after made a brigadier general of the Confederacy under the command of Beauregard and Johnston. The brigade of Jackson was felt at the first battle of Bull Run, and while Mc- Dowell, Sherman, and Burnside attempted to break the gray lines at the celebrated " Stone Bridge " the Confederate troops immediately under Jackson stood like a stone wall.

General Bee, a companion commander of Jackson, in cheering his men into the fight, called their attention to the front and exclaimed, " Look at Jackson and his men, he stands like a stone wall," and from that historic day to the present time the hero of a hundred battles has been known as " Stonewall " Jackson.

During Jackson's life he was the mainstay of General Lee. In 1862 and 1863 he had an independent command and swept up and down the Shenandoah Valley like an eagle, pouncing upon his prey when least expected. At Winchester he dashed against old General James Shields, of Irish and Mexican memory, and for the first time in Jackson's career he was beaten back like an ocean breaker on a rock-bound shore. He, however, foiled and whipped in detail parts of the commands of McClellan, Fremont, Burnside, Banks, and Miles, capturing more than 11,000 men from the latter at Harper's Ferry.

The celerity of Jackson's movements over the passes of the Blue Ridge, through the luxuriant fields of the Shenandoah Valley, over the swollen streams and rolling hills of Maryland bring to mind the active genius of the Great Napoleon, whether leading his soldiers on foot over the bridge of Lodi or hurling his serried battalions against the foe on the plains of Marengo or at^the rising sun of Austerlitz.

It was a common belief with the soldiers of "Stonewall" Jackson that his constant prayer and solemn sincerity assured victory on every field, and the Almighty inspired and led their beloved commander. They never doubted a full supply of rations and clothing while any political generals were found in the Valley, and it was a source of amusement that certain Union officers acted as commisariats for the half starved and ragged Confederates. At Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and down to the fatal night at Chancellorville, in May, 1863, when he received his death wound from an accidental shot, Jackson never faltered in his duty nor doubted the issue while he had a soldier to command. The same inflexible fortitude that signalized his conduct at Cherubusco and Chapultepec in fighting for his country actuated his soul in battling against it. Peter the Hermit and Marshal Ney were never inspired with more lofty courage or religious devotion to duty than Jackson evinced on the blood-stained battlefields of the late war. When dying at Guinea's Station his wife told him the end of life was near. He replied as his last words, "Very good; very good; all right," and thus as a child of destiny he passed into the realms of the vast unknown.

The integrity and valor that characterized the life of Jackson

LYON AND JACKSON. I5

belong to American heroism, and, although he fought for the disruption of the Union, his bravery and genius must be recognized in every land and clime where man batties with man and dies for what each deems the right.

When Jackson's wound was reported, Lee replied, " He is better off than I am. He lost his left arm, but I have lost my right." " Stonewall " Jackson bore the same relation to Lee that Ney held to Napoleon, and, were it not for the accidental stations of the chiefs, I am convinced that the lieutenants would have outshone the luster of their superiors. It is thus unfortunate for a great genius to be born under the shadow of one in a great office, for, while the subordinate exercises wonderful powers, his greatest deeds are obscured by the commanding general, and the glory that should shine out like the mid-day sun beams dimly, like the evening star through the mists the great luminary has diffused !

After the fall of Camp Jackson, in Missouri, General Lyon took immediate command of all the troops in St. Louis, replacing General Harney, whose age and inaction ill suited him for controlling the desperate daily events occurring through the State.

Governor Jackson and General Price had begun hostilities in the center of Missouri, and as no time could be lost Lyon issued his proclamation against the treasonable movements of the Confederates, and marched at once on Jefferson City, the capital of the State. He also sent a force to Southeast Missouri, where a handful of men under Colonel Thomas C. Fletcher turned aside the soldiers of Price at Potosi and prevented the capture of St. Louis.

On the approach of Lyon to Jefferson City the combined Confederates under Sterling Price retreated to Boonville, where a battle was fought on the 17th of June, 1861, resulting in a complete triumph for the Union troops. Lyon followed up his success, pushing the enemy towards Springfield in Southwest Missouri, after defeating them at Dug Springs. The foe finally assembled at Wilson's Creek, about 9 miles from Springfield, where General Ben McCulloch made a junction with Price, massing a force of 24,000 men as against 6,000 under Lyon. The Confederates had a cavalry force alone of 6,000, while Lyon had only 500. Yet, with this great difference ifi numbers, the worn-out condition of his volunteers, and the heartless and jealous conduct of superiors in failing to reinforce him. General Lyon called a council of war and determined not to retreat and give up all the blood-bought territory that had been recently gained, but to make a night march, attack the enemy at daybreak and risk all that fight and fate might present. The determination of Lyon to attack a force four times his number was worthy the bravery of Alexander or Napoleon, and, were it not for his untimely death in leading the First Iowa to a desperate charge, it is conceded on all sides that the Confederates would have been defeated and driven from the State. The fight continued for nine hours with alternate success. Lyon divided his little army into two divisions, retaining about 4,000 men himself, while Sigel with the remainder and a battery of guns made a detour from the main line of attack in order to strike the enemy on the flank and rear and then rejoin Lyon at a given point, but before Sigel was aware of his location and danger the enemy drew him into ambush, where he lost five of his six guns and a number of his men were taken prisoners, and thus the German general was broken up and crippled during the balance of the battle.

Lyon, however, kept up the fight on the Confederate lines with the most desperate resolve, receiving two wounds, while his horse was killed under him, yet he mounted another and led his last charge, in the midst of which he was pierced through the breast with a rifle ball.

Major Sam Sturgis, of the regulars (late general commanding at the Soldiers' Home in Washington), by common consent took charge of the troops after the death of Lyon and continued the fight into the afternoon, driving the enemy from their

LYON AND JACKSON. 1 7

camps and off the field. Knowing the superior numbers of the Confederates, Sturgis withdrew to his base of supplies, at Springfield, and turned over his command to General Sigel, who made a masterly retreat to Rolla with all his stores and a quarter of a million of Government money.

The death of Lyon threw a cloud of sorrow over the Union cause, and while his corpse was en route to his native Connecticut the people of great cities paid homage to his memory and the Congress of the United States passed resolutions of respect and regret, while eloquent eulogiums were delivered in honor of the fallen hero. When the will of Lyon was opened by his executors it was found that he left his money, more than $30,000, to be devoted to the preservation of the Union ; thus giving all, both life and fortune, for the salvation of his flag and country.

Lyon and Jackson were deeply mourned by their friends, and in all human probability had these natural soldiers lived until the last shot at Appomattox they would have been in supreme command of their respective armies. Jackson was mathematical, solemn, and a strict believer in predestination. Lyon might have been the right arm of Oliver Cromwell, and while gifted with the military genius of Jackson he combined statecraft with his war-like talent, and was thoroughly conversant with the political philosophy of the Republic. These warriors had many elements in common. The Puritan of Connecticut had the solemnity of the cavalier from Virginia. Lyon was direct and positive in his work. So was Jackson. The Yankee was spare and angular, with piercing bluish gray eyes. The Southern soldier looked about the same. Lyon was studious. Jackson was contemplative. Lyon never doubted. Jackson was self-reliant. Lyon left West Point as Jackson entered. Each fought for the old flag in Mexico, but when the rebellion began they separated, on the ideal of duty, and fought as earnestly as when bleeding for the same banner. The genius and death of Lyon gave genuine promise of his greatness, while the death of Jackson, nearly two years after, found him the rigl.t arm of the Confederacy and in the zenith of his glory. Lyon with a regiment would fight a division. Jackson with a division would fight a corps, and each could command an army.

While Lee and Longstreet, Grant and Sherman, learned wisdom from the rugged road of experience, Lyon and Jackson divined at once the motives of men, planned the attack, struck the blow, and as a natural sequence triumphed where defeat perched on the banners of those who doubt.

The brain of the natural soldier is his map of battlefield. As the pawns, knights, and bishops are moved on a chess board, he organizes brigades, divisions, and armies to checkmate his foe at some central point, and wins the victory while his adversary hesitates on the field of slaughter.

The name and fame of Lyon and Jackson shall emblazon the military pages of this great Republic as long as honesty and valor are respected, and side by side through the coming ages these imperturbable, ideal soldiers shall march in the van of the military heroes who have gone down to universal silence in the crash of battle.

Peace to Stonewall Jackson, God bless brave Lyon, too; Sighs and tears we'll mingle For the Gray and for the Blue; And coming ages yet shall weave Fondly, fair and true — Garlands bright above the mounds Where sleep the Gray and Blue!

Chapter II. Fletcher And Blair

Governor Thomas C. Fletcher, of Missouri, was born in Jefferson County of that State on the 22d of January, 1829. His parents were from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and were slaveholders.

A few months' schooling in the fall and winter during boyhood under the ferule of a country pedagogue in an old log school house was the extent of his early education. At the age of twenty-one he was elected clerk of his county and recorder of deeds, and held these positions until 1856, when he was admitted to the bar and resigned the county offices.

Although reared and educated in the atmosphere of slavery he was instinctively opposed to the institution, and when the Republican party was formed in 1856 he was a delegate to the national convention, the first from any slave State. He was a member of the Chicago convention that nominated Mr. Lincoln in i860, and canvassed his State for the great Liberator.

In personal appearance Fletcher is a fine-looking man. He stands six feet one ; stalwart and straight in form. His head is large, round, and high, of Shaksperian proportions. His eyes are dark brown, nose prominent, lips and chin emphatic, yet a contour of countenance expressing benevolence and deep thought.

When he makes up his mind on any private or public subject he stands as firm as the rocks, and no cajolery or threats can intimidate him. He has been a pioneer of thought and leads instead of following, simply because nature built him that way. When others hesitate to go to the front, he is the first to step right up to the danger line and toe the mark, even unto death. He is very politic to a certain point and will do as much for peace, order, and compromise as any man, but when it comes to the word " fire," his pistol goes off first.

I met Governor Fletcher in St. Louis twenty-five years ago, and from that time to this, as a mystic brother, a soldier comrade, a confidential lawyer, and unfaltering friend, we have been on the most intimate terms. Often have I sat in social conclave with himself and friends in St. Louis and Washington and heard his reminiscences of the late war and the great actors in the rebellion.

The winter of sixty and sixty-one, up to the shot on Fort Sumter, was a stirring and fearful period for the loyal men and women of Missouri.

Seated one day, in the fall of 1870, at the Planters' House, in old John King's restaurant, with Fletcher, Francis P. Blair, Gratz Brown, William McKee, Henry T. Blow, and James B. Eads, I heard more early war stories from these noted men than I ever expect to hear again. They have all passed into the vast unknown, save Fletcher, who still lingers as one of the few war governors. On that occasion he was the principal spokesman, although General Frank P. Blair put in his oar every now and then with a deep splash that stirred up the waters of memory.

Fletcher remarked to Blair, *' Don't you remember when you took a crowd of us ' roosters ' down to the arsenal and introduced us to General Lyon that cold February morning just after his arrival from Fort Riley, in Kansas ? "

'* Well, I should say so," answered Blair ; " when I forget myself Pll forget Nathaniel Lyon, in my opinion the greatest soldier of our war. Yes, boys it will be a cold day when I forget that red-headed Puritan. What a stern, manly-looking officer he was, with his close-fitting captain's uniform, his erect and athletic form, piercing deep blue eyes, Roman nose, thin lips, firm jaw, expressive of indomitable will, and a voice as clear and distinct as the tones of a midnight fire bell."

" Tom," said Blair, " do you know that if it had not been foi

FLETCHER AND BLAIR. 21

that hero, Lyon, Missouri would have been chained to the wheels of the Confederacy, for General Harney was either too partial to the Southern leaders or too inert to know or see what ' Claib.' Jackson and his gang were doing."

" No, Frank, I think if it had not been for your influence with Secretary Cameron and President Lincoln in superseding Harney with Lyon, Missouri might have been for awhile cut away from the moorings of the Union ; but, by the Eternal, we'd bring her back or burst the Republic in trying ! And, then, you were behind Lyon in urging him on to the capture of Frost and his militia at Camp Jackson ! "

"Frank," said Fletcher, "tell us all about that celebrated Planters' House meeting between Lyon and Claib. Jackson."

" Well," said Blair, "there isn't much to tell. It was short, sharp, and decisive. There were only six of us present. ' Claib.' Jackson, the governor; Sterling Price, and Tom Snead represented the Confederate cause, while Lyon, Major Conant, and myself stood out for the Union. Lyon opened the ball by saying that I would do the talking for the Government, as the authorities at Washington had confidence in my loyalty. Governor Jackson first said, ' I do not want the Government to enlist troops in Missouri or march its soldiers across the State.' I could see that the only reason Jackson asked for the conference at all was to gain time and make sure Missouri should enter rebellion. We talked pro and con for about three hours, and the more we talked the further apart we found ourselves.

" I could see by the flash of Lyon's eyes and his compressed lips that he was getting madder and madder as the discussion progressed, and, while he suggested that I should do the talking, he soon took the lead himself and threw out his national ideas like hot shell out of a cannon.

" I saw at once that the fiery captain was about to break up the conference, when, finally, in reply to Governor Jackson, he said : ' Rather than concede to the State of Missouri the right to demand that the National Government shall not enlist troops within iier borders or bring soldiers into the State whenever it pleased and move them at its own will into, out of, or through the State ; rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one single moment the right to dictate to my Government in any matter, however trivial, I would see (pointing to each of us) you and you, and you and you and you ; and every man, woman, and child in the State dead and buried ! '

" Then, pointing directly at Governor Jackson, he said : ' This means war ! In an hour one of my officers will call and give you safe conduct through my lines.' And then, turning on his heel, without a look or word he rushed out of the room with rattling spurs and clanking saber, the personification of Napoleonic defiance and action.

" We looked at each other in blank amazement for a few moments, made a few personal remarks, when Conant and myself bid good-bye to our Jefferson City friends, and from that moment to the close of the civil war we were open enemies."

The group of men that sat around that festive table I shall never forget. They were leaders, and each in his day played an important part.

William McKee was born in the Empire State and came West when a boy, and soon after engaged in newspaper business. He became proprietor of the old Union and was the exponent of Benton, after which he became the proprietor of the Democrat, with George Fishback, and afterward the Globe- Democrat, with Dan Houser. Under the present editorial management of Joseph B. McCullough(" Little Mack") it has become a power in the land, and its miscellaneous articles and editorials are copied all over the world.

B. Gratz Brown was a brilliant journalist, lawyer, and politician, and in the early contests with slavery he took sides with freedom, and while editing the old Democrat he warmly espoused the ambitions of Frank Blair. Brown was a native of Kentucky, became governor of Missouri in the so-called " Liberal" movement that upset the uncharitable and tyrannical " Drake " con-

FLETCHER AND BLAIR. 23

stitution. He ran as Vice-President on the ticket with Horace Greeley, and both were swamped in a tidal wave of popular indignation, poor Greeley dying soon after as a victim of vaulting ambition.

Henry T. Blow, a wealthy miner and white lead manufacturer, was a citizen of great influence and commanded the respect of personal and political powers. He had been a Congressman, and also represented the United States at the court of Dom Pedro, in Brazil, negotiating commercial treaties with that Empire very advantageous to the country. He was a man of inborn politeness, shrewd, diplomatic, and generous, and was held in the highest esteem by General Grant, who often consulted him about political matters in the West.

Captain James B. Eads was a man of remarkable perseverance and possessed an extraordinary genius as an engineer. His perceptive faculties were largely developed, and his head might serve as a companion-piece to Bismarck or Humboldt.

Sir Christopher Wren and John A. Robling were never inspired by a larger scope of ambition in the profession of engineering and architectural skill than Eads. He was equal to any emergency. When the United States wanted ironclads to ply up and down the waters of the Mississippi during the war. Captain Eads jumped into the arena and filled the bill.

When St. Louis stood halting for many years for bridge connection with the East, with small ferries and a river of ice at its front, it was Eads that came forward and threw across the Mississippi the finest steel bridge in the world, resting on piers and abutments, based on the rock of ages.

When the mouth of the Father of Waters became filled and choked with the sands of centuries, brought down from the golden and silver ribs of the rocky mountains, it was Eads who planned and executed the herculean task of a national dentist, and tore away the snaggled teeth and lumpy roots, giving to the Nation, by his jetties, a free river to the bounding billows of the gulf.

General Francis Preston Blair first saw the light of day at Lexington, Ky., on the 19th day of February, 1821. He sprang from Virginia stock, his grandfather, James Blair, removing to Kentucky in the year 1 800, and was afterward attorney general of his adopted State, while his son Francis, the father of our subject, became a noted political character during the life of Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, and Martin Van Buren, being for many years the editor of the Congressional Globe.

The same year that ushered General Blair into the world, Missouri, the theater of his earlier and later triumphs, was admitted into the Union after a hard contest between the Democratic and Free Soil parties, when the celebrated Missouri Compromise forbidding the further extension of slavery was enacted.

Blair graduated at Princeton when only twenty years of age, and settled in St. Louis to practice law. His restless spirit tested the wilds of the Rocky Mountains in 1845 and 1846 until the Mexican war found him with Kearney and Doniphan battling for the old flag.

In 1848 he supported the Free Soil party under the leadership of Van Buren, and in 1854 was elected to the legislature after a very hot canvass on the slavery question. In 1856 he was elected to Congress and made a noted speech favoring the colonization of the black man in Africa, endeavoring to pluck the thorn of slavery from the side of the Republic.

He was a passionate orator and a slashing editorial writer, fearless and manly in all his movements.

When Fort Sumter was fired upon and the flag of the Nation desecrated he was the first man in Missouri to step to the front and offer his services to the Government. For four years he battled on the Mississippi, Cumberland, and Tennessee for the salvation of the Union. He left the Army in September, 1864, after the capture of Atlanta, a major general, who commanded the fighting Seventeenth Corps through all its historic marches and battles.

General Logan and himself took part in the Presidential cam-

FLETCHER AND BLAIR. 2$

paign and rendered invaluable service to Mr. Lincoln and the Republican party.

Logan was a loyal Democrat, and wherever the banner of " Black Jack" moved on the field of slaughter there was found intensity and victory. He inspired his command with the spirit of his own unconquerable soul, and rushing into battle, with long, flowing raven locks, he was the equal of Murat at Marengo, Skobeleff at Plevna, and Sheridan at Winchester. So long as the Grand Army of the Republic, Loyal Legion, and Sons of Veterans exist and Decoration Day, the 30th of May, is celebrated as a national holiday, just so long, in bronze, song, and story, will the memory of our illustrious comrade shine down the crowding ages.