USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > The history of Newark, New Jersey : being a narrative of its rise and progress, from the settlement in May, 1666, by emigrants from Connecticut to the present time, including a sketch of the press of Newark, from 1791 to 1878 > Part 29
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One month later the grand march through the Carolinas was begun, and the coup de grace virtually given to the Confederacy. The Thirty-third was among those regiments which fired the last shots of the war. After the surrender of Lee and Johnston the regiment reached Washington in time to take part in the grand review of the victory-crowned armies of the Republic. Not until August 2d was it ordered to be mustered out. Inside of two years it had traversed twenty-five hundred miles, seventeen hundred of which were accomplished afoot. It had won the right to inscribe eight battles and twice as many skirmishes on its war-torn standard. During most of its service it was in command of Lieutenant-Colonel Enos Fouratt, a soldier who had bravely participated in all the battles of the First New Jersey Brigade, and who always shone in the service as the soul of honor and the incarnation of true chivalry.
There was scarcely a regiment raised in New Jersey outside of those enumerated that was not strengthened in a greater or lesser degree by valorous arms and brave hearts from Newark, and it is fairly estimated that of the 88,305 men furnished by the State during the war, not less than ten thousand were contributed by this city alone, out of a population ranging from 73,000 (in 1861) to 70,000 (in 1864.)
As a fitting close to this portion of our narrative, we propose to pause a while and contemplate two conspicuous hero-figures furnished to the military service and history of the nation by this locality, one representing the higher and the other the humbler walks of life.
PIIILIP KEARNY was born in New York, on June 2, 1815. He was of Irish lineage, one of his paternal ancestors being Edmund Kearny, who " married Elizabeth Fox, of Balligdien, in the County of Limerick, Esquire, in the latter end of the reign of King Henry VII., and had issue, James Kearny, who married Eleanor O'Brien,
279
KEARNY IN MEXICO AND EUROPE.
daughter of Murrough O'Brien, fourth son of Thurlough, Earl of Thomond, by Eleanor, daughter to Thomas Fitzgerald, Knight of the Valley, &c." A number of the Kearnys lost their lives "in the service of Queen Elizabeth, against the Earl of Desmond." The first of the family to come and settle in America was Michael Kearny. He came here in the early part of the seventeenth century, and settled at Shrewsbury, New Jersey. That he was a man of distinction in the colony, is shown by his incumbency of the office of colonial Secretary of State. He had two sons, one named Michael and the other Philip, both born in this country. Michael became a Post-Captain in the British navy, which position he resigned soon after the breaking out of the Revolutionary war. He afterwards settled on a farm in Morris County. His brother Philip lived at Amboy, and was the grandfather of General Philip Kearny, the subject of this sketch. On the General's maternal side there was a strain of Huguenot stock. Even as a boy, Philip developed a decided penchant for military life. After passing through Columbia College, and for a time studying law, he sought and obtained a lieutenant's commission in a regiment of dragoons, in which Jefferson Davis was a captain. In 1839 he was one of three United States officers sent to France to pursue, by permission of the French Government, a course of instruction at the military school of Saumar. Quitting his studies, he went to Africa with the French army, was attached to the Chasseurs d' Afrique, and, in two engagements, distinguished himself. He returned to America in 1841, was attached to General Scott's staff, and, during the Mexican war, made his mark as an officer of great skill and equal courage. At Cherubusco he performed a most daring feat, had his left arm shot away, and was promoted to be major. Subsequently he fought against the Indians in Oregon and California, but soon wearied of that sort of service. Resigning his commission, he visited Europe and traveled extensively, making Paris his trans-Atlantic residence. During the Italian-Austro war of 1859, he served as aide-de-camp on the staff of General Morris, and was present at the battle of Solferino. For signal gallantry, he received from Napoleon III. the Cross of the Legion of Honor. Early in the Spring of 1861 he returned to America, eager to enter the service of his country. He tried in vain to obtain a commission from the Governor of New York. Several Jerseymen of influence then interested themselves
280 HOME AGAIN-IN THE PENINSULA-FATAL CHANTILLY.
in behalf of the Major, and, on July 25th, Kearny was commis- sioned by the Governor of New Jersey Brigadier-General of Volunteers, and assigned to the command of the First New Jersey Brigade, just then organized and attached to Franklin's Division. With all the ardor of a young subaltern, ambitious for opportunity to win his spurs, General Kearny, though now a man slightly beyond the meridian of life-he was forty-six-panted for the fray. Like a fiery charger held by the bridle, he was restive under delay. In his lexicon there was no such word as " wait." He saw the foe in front. It mattered not to him how large his number was, how superior his position, or how inferior the attacking party, Kearny was impatient to close and grapple with him. To be inactive, was, with him, to be almost, if not quite, cowardly; to fail to push forward, was feebleness. During the Autumn of 1861 and along into the Spring of 1862, Kearny chafed continuously under what he considered General McClellan's halting, doubting, undecided and vacillating course. In March he was offered the command of a Division vacated by General Sumner's promotion. Because he could not take his Jersey boys with him, he declined-an act of self-denial that planted him forever in the hearts of not only his own soldiers but in those of other commands. Subsequently, however, under a sense of imperative public duty, he assumed command of a Divison in Heintzelman's Corps. The opportunities he thirsted for came at last-the battles of the Peninsula. In all of these he "displayed conspicuous bravery and skill." He was at Williamsburg, arriving there, with other commanders, just in time to save Hooker and his old Jersey troops. At Fair Oaks (or Seven Pines) and White Oak Swamp, he behaved as was his wont. "Wherever the danger was greatest, there he pressed, carrying with him a personal power which was equal to a reinforcement." It was the same at Malvern Hill. Alas! it was the same at Chantilly-fatal, disastrous Chan- tilly-where brave, noble, "Fighting Phil" Kearny paid the penalty of being too brave, too daring, too chivalric.
" Oh, evil the black shroud of night at Chantilly, That hid him from sight of his brave men and tried ! Foul, foul sped the bullet that clipped the white lily, The flower of our knighthood, the whole army's pride."
Upon that fateful September Ist, after he had saved Pope's army from a rout, driven Lee's forces back and frustrated effectually Lee's
J.P.DAVIS- So
GENERAL KEARNY AT "SEVEN PINES, "
KEARNY'S DEATH-A NATION'S TEARS-NEWARK'S GRIEF. 281 designs upon Washington, Kearny rode forward about sunset to reconnoitre the enemy's position. Unexpectedly he came upon the Confederate lines. * A summons to surrender was met with defiance, and as the General turned to fly, spurring his charger and lying forward on its neck, he was shot dead, his body falling into the hands of the enemy. The fatal ball entered at the hip and came out at the breast.
A thrilling sensation swept the heart-strings of the nation when it was announced that Kearny was shot dead, and there was deep lamentation everywhere. In the army, where he was idolized, strong men who had often faced death wept bitter tears of anguish. Even in the Confederate lines brave men grieved-as brave men only can grieve-over the fall of him whom, in the bitterness of frequent defeats, they had called "the One-armed Devil." Once the body of Kearny was recognized, it was treated with the greatest respect, and the highest honors were paid to it. It was promptly returned to the Federal lines with all of Kearny's effects. Here in Newark the event created the profoundest sorrow. Every fireside went into mourning. Upon the arrival of the remains and during their pass- age through the city to the place of interment-Trinity Church graveyard, New York-this city, by resolution of the Common Council and universal concurrence, made every customary manifest- ation of deep sorrow, including a military and civic funeral procession, flags everywhere at half-mast, and a general suspension of ordinary pursuits. Since then, on every recurring Decoration Day, there have never been found wanting some Jerseymen whose affectionate remembrance of Gen. Kearny have found beautiful expression in a profuse decoration of his grave with garlands sweetly emblematic of perennial love and admiration for the noble and the heroic.
Of General Kearny's character as a soldier it has been written : " His talents as an organizer, his fervid enthusiasm for his profession, his close study of the art of war, his intuitive perception of charac- ter, his strategic genius, his generosity and lavish expenditure of his large wealth in order to promote the efficiency of his command- all these qualities from the outset distinguished his career." There was such an abundance of the true chevalier d'honneur about Kearny, there was such a large share of the noblest manhood in his compo- sition, there was so much that was knightly and chivalric in the man, that his character will moult no feather in the estimation of the
282
KEARNY'S TRUE CHARACTER-DRUMMER-BOY MAGEE.
discriminating, if it be said, as truth requires it should be said, that he had one great fault in a military commander. He was too impetuous, too impulsive. He was quick to think, quick to spring at conclusions, and oftentimes proved a marvel of prescience ; but, for all that, it must be candidly confessed that he was too much controlled by impetuosity and impulsiveness. Without stopping to learn the real causes, the controlling influences in Washington, as well as the over-estimation of Federal and under-estimation of Confederate strength, General Kearny attacked his General-in-chief, (McClellan) with an intensity of fierceness and fury characteristic of his physical onslaughts against the armed enemy. For the moment he was remorseless in his use of words. It was this wild impetu- osity, this rash impulsiveness, which cost the nation his precious life. There were scores of subalterns, and hundreds of unepauletted soldiers, any one of whom could have gone on that fatal reconnoitre at Chantilly just as well as he. True, he scorned to send an inferior where he would not go himself. It is wisdom, however, not cow- ardice, in a commander to avoid needless exposure of his person. There is such a thing as being too brave. At Chantilly Kearny illustrated this, even as did the gallant hero Custer more than a dozen years later in the Indian country. Suppose Kearny had restrained his rashness,-who can tell whether he might not have be- come the chief of the army? Chantilly's ill-starred incident avoided, "KEARNY," instead of "GRANT," might have been inscribed forever in American history as the great captain of the Civil War. A bronze statue of Kearny placed in the interior of the Capitol build- ing at Trenton, is New Jersey's tribute to Newark's illustrious hero.
From the hero given to us by wealth, education, culture and refinement, we turn to another one, furnished by poverty and illiter- acy. We turn from "Fighting Phil " Kearny to little Willie Magee, the drummer boy of the Thirty-third New Jersey Regiment.
WILLIAM MAGEE was probably born in Newark. His parents were of Irish birth, and of the humblest class. When the war broke out William was about eleven years of age. When, in the Summer of 1863, the Thirty-third New Jersey was organized, he joined the regiment as one of its drum corps. He was then not quite fourteen years of age-a bright, sharp-eyed, intelligent, full- grown and very handsome lad. After leaving Newark, it was not long before Magee gave evidence that he could handle the rifle
283
MURFREESBORO'-A MAGNIFICENT EXPLOIT.
skillfully as well as the drum-sticks. He was the hero of many surprising exploits. "One of these, at least," as another writer remarks, "was equal in splendor of execution and grandeur of result, to any which the history of the war records." In the Fall of 1864, after Sherman had started on his " March to the Sea," the Confederate General, Hood, with an army of forty thousand, laid siege to Nashville, where was intrenched General Thomas. For weeks the latter was penned in, with little prospect of relief. A garrison had been stationed by Thomas at Murfreesboro', thirty miles away. It was under command of General Milroy, and stood in great danger of being captured by the beleaguring enemy, whose force was enormously superior. Gradually the Confederates encircled the garrison, until every avenue of escape was practically closed. At length, on December 2d, it was resolved to strike a desperate blow for deliverance. The enemy had a battery stationed on an eminence hard by. It greatly annoyed the Union troops, and it was determined to make a bold attack upon it. Magee, who, owing to illness, had been left behind in the hospital by the Thirty- third, had by this time become an acting orderly to General Van Cleve. His intrepidity had long before recommended him to the notice of his superior officers, and to him now, mere stripling though he was, was given the order to lead the sortie. Out from the works he sallied, at the head of an Ohio regiment (the 8Ist), leading the men in a gallant charge upon the battery. Nobly was the attack made, but the terrible fire of the enemy drove the Ohioans back. The boy-commander was repulsed but not disheart- ened. His appetite for success was simply whetted. Selecting another regiment (the 174th Ohio), he moved out once more. A second time came the withering fire of the Confederate battery ; but this time, fortunately, the brave youth had with him hearts as gallant as his own. On through the surging smoke dashed the little band,-on! on! on! until success, a most glorious success, crowned the valor of Magee and his brave spirits! The battery, with its entire force, was captured ! The victory was a' brilliant one in itself and the virtual salvation of Milroy's garrison, likewise the first of a series of victories which ended in driving Hood from Tennessee. Two heavy siege guns, and eight hundred of the enemy killed, wounded and captured, were the immediate fruits of Magee's magnificent exploit. The army and the nation rang with
.
284
CONGRESS AND MAGEE-HIS CAREER.
the praises of Newark's boy-hero. He was warmly commended for his signal gallantry by Generals Milroy Rousseau and other officers in command. From the War Department, in due time, was forwarded a medal of honor, inscribed
THE CONGRESS TO DRUMMER WILLIAM MAGEE, COMPANY C, THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENT, NEW JERSEY VOLUNTEERS.
Upon the close of the war Magee returned to Newark and resumed his old vocation, that of an eating-house waiter. But there were those who deemed him deserving of a better position. Means were furnished him wherewith to obtain the rudiments of a liberal education. Within a year's time, through the efforts mainly of Governors Marcus L. Ward, of New Jersey, and Geary, of Pennsylvania, Magee was commissioned by President Johnson a Second Lieutenant of Infantry in the regular army. He was unable, however, to pass the examination. Again powerful friends came to his aid and secured an extension of the time for final examination. Governor Ward especially interested himself in the case, and by the time the next ordeal came Magee passed it successfully, and he was assigned to a regiment stationed at Tallahassee, Florida. Most deeply is it to be deplored that the after-career of the Newark drummer-boy is sadly out of tune with the romantic opening just outlined. The sapling of most graceful and beautiful form grew, alas ! into a decayed, decrepit and unsightly tree. While at Tallahassee, Lieutenant Magee had a personal difficulty with Surgeon Bainbridge, of the same command. Bain- bridge charged Magee with the larceny of a watch. It was a base slander, subsequently so proven, but Bainbridge refused to so acknowledge it. Stung to the quick by the slander, Magee finally entered Bainbridge's quarters one day and demanded that he should retract. He refused, and then Magee drew a whip from his person and proceeded to flagellate his slanderer. The doctor-as Magee stated-ran as if to get a pistol. Then Magee drew one and shot Bainbridge so that he died. Magee was tried by the civil author- ities and acquitted. Afterwards, upon being tried by court-martial, he was found guilty of having shot to death his superior officer.
A TERRIBLE FALL-MORE OF NEWARK'S PATRIOTISM. 285
He was sentenced to serve four years in the State Prison, and, of course, to be cashiered-a mild sentence, viewed from a military standpoint. Through the efforts of Governor Ward-who still stood by the unfortunate youth-Magee was pardoned, after serving a year or so. It is charity to draw a veil over his after- life. The iron of shame and disgrace entered into his spirit, and the proud hero of Murfreesboro' became a moral wreck. It is said by old comrades of his that he was meanly treated by some of his brother officers, graduates of West Point, because of his humble extraction. This, it is further said, goaded him to recklessness, which resulted in the blasting of a career full of the most brilliant promise.
Interwoven with the patriotic record of Newark during the Civil War is the noble work done in the general service by the "Public Aid Committee of the City of Newark," reference to which has already been made, together with its origin. This committee per- formed services to the Union cause of a character most varied, and which were as valuable to the nation as were the services of the Committees of Safety to the Revolutionary cause eighty odd years before. To the energy, activity and liberality of the chairman of the Aid Committee is also due the fact that Newark was among the very first cities to have established in its midst that greatest of blessings in time of war-a large and well-appointed military hospital. The "Ward U. S. General Hospital "-so named by the Government at Washington in compliment to its virtual founder, Governor Marcus L. Ward-was opened on May 13th, 1862, with bed accommodations for 1,400 patients. It proved of incalculable value to the Republic, and a boon indescribable to its battle-beaten defenders. Nor should mention be omitted here of another monument of Newark and New Jersey patriotism-the New Jersey Home for Disabled Soldiers. The initiative was taken in 1864, when, upon April 12th, Commissioners were appointed by the State as follows: Marcus L. Ward, David Haines, William A. Newell, Charles S. Olden, Edwin A. Stevens, Theodore S. Paul. Paul having declined to serve, R. H. Veghte was chosen in his stead. The State appropriated $50,000 for the purchase of a site in Newark and the erection of buildings, &c. This was on March 23d, 1865. On April 4th, 1866, the Home was opened. It was the first State institution of the kind; and now, when every other State has
286
PEACE AGAIN-THE GLORIOUS DAY, THE GLOOMY NIGHT.
abandoned such institutions, New Jersey still maintains hers-a substantial proof of her enduring patriotism.
Again peace was proclaimed throughout the land, not yet in formal words, but in acts which thrilled the nation, filling every lover of the Union, the Constitution and the laws with sincere and grateful emotions towards the God of battles and of nations. The fall of Richmond was followed quickly-on Sunday, April 9th, 1865-by Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House. The attrition of forces, the greater against the lesser, finally witnessed the inevitable collapse of the Southern Confederacy, and from millions of patriot lips went up in unison a Te deum laudamus the grand effect of which may possibly be imagined but cannot be described. A song of praise filled every heart. In Newark every citizen was possessed with "a joy unspeakable." The press of the city echoed the glad sentiment of the community. "The intelli- gence which we publish to-day," said a Newark journal, speaking of Lee's surrender, "is most cheering and auspicious. Not only does it betoken a cessation of civil strife and a return on the part of our belligerent country to the sweet and blessed influences of peace and Christian civilization, but it clearly points out and smooths the way to a restoration of the Constitutional Union, the re-establishment of popular liberties, and a truly republican form of Government." Hosannas sounded everywhere.
But, after the day, the night! The day of dazzling glory quickly gave place to the night of deepest gloom. While yet the nation pressed to its enraptured lips the golden goblet filled with the nectar of peace, a rude, crime-dipped hand was suddenly lifted to dash the vessel to the earth. . On the night of Good Friday, April 14th, whilst attending the drama at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth. "We have no heart to contemplate the event-no tongue to give utterance to our feelings of sorrow," said the Newark Journal, a newspaper which theretofore had expressed little sympathy for Mr. Lincoln or his policy of restoring the Union, though it had some time before this begun to see wisdom, patriotism and a Christian spirit where formerly it could only perceive qualities most opposite. With its every column clothed in mourning, it continued : "For whatever objections we may have editorially expressed in times past in refer- ence to the President's policy, recent important events had led us,
287
NEWARK AND LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION.
in common with the entire Democratic press, to a higher appreciation of the man than we had ever before held." In another article the same paper described the feeling in Newark, together with its own sorrow over the calamitous taking-off of Mr. Lincoln, as follows : " The grief of the people at the death of President Lincoln is deep and intense. The evidences of public mourning are all around us ; in the streets; in the churches ; at places of private business and on the apparel of our citizens. His death just at this time, when the great work of pacification had commenced and seemed to be thriving under his hands, is naturally regarded as a national calamity. Possessing the confidence of his party in a greater degree than any other man, he was in a position to rebuke extremists and men of mere radical ideas, and with independence to pursue the course which seemed to him to be wise and salutary. In the efforts which he was making for the return of peace he had the good will and hearty 'God-speed ' of all good citizens."
The Common Council declared the assassination to be "not only a great national bereavement, but an atrocious and wicked act, and an outrage upon the feelings, the dignity and the majesty of the people." It was the same with the pulpit. "All spirit of party, all animosities must be hushed before it "-said the then head of the Catholic Church in Newark, Right Rev. Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley. He continued : "It is an outrage which concerns every one of us as citizens of the country wishing to live in peace and security, and particularly as Christians taught from childhood to subdue and eradicate from our hearts anger and revenge and all bad passions. For the hand of the assassin in this case has struck, not merely at the life of an individual, but of the nation; and the stigma is upon us all unless we wash it out by our tears and regrets and repudiation of any sympathy with it, even in the most secret corner of our hearts." Upon the day of the imposing obsequies, Newark, through her authorities and her people, paid befitting respect to the memory of the illustrious dead. Business was entirely suspended. The whole city went into mourning. "Go where you would, in any part of the city, the sable tokens of sorrow met your eye." The grief of Newark furthermore took form in a monster funeral procession, and a mourners' meeting in Military Park, at which suitable resolutions were passed and an eloquent oration delivered by Hon. F. T. Frelinghuysen.
ยท
288
PENNINGTON-FRELINGHUYSEN-DARCY.
Recurrence to the death of Mr. Lincoln leads to the remembrance that during the early part of the period embraced in this chapter, at times when the country needed them most, three eminent Newarkers were called to their final account. In the spring of 1862, within a month of each other, died William Pennington and Theodore Fre- linghuysen. A year and a half later, General John S. Darcy followed them to the grave.
WILLIAM PENNINGTON, Governor and Chancellor of New Jersey from 1837 to 1843, and Speaker of the national House of Repre- sentatives in the Congress immediately preceding the war, was born in Newark in 1790. He was the son of the gallant Revolutionary Pennington, and a great-grandson of Ephraim Pennington, one of the sturdy founders of the town. After preparatory education in his native city, he entered Princeton College and graduated in 1813. He studied law in the office of Theodore Frelinghuysen, and in 1817 he was licensed as an attorney. In 1820 he was made a coun- sellor, and in 1834 a sergeant-at-law. A few years before this he was elected to the State Legislature, and in 1837 was chosen Governor by the Joint Meeting of the Legislature-the old Consti- tution placing that duty upon the latter. In politics he was a Whig. During the early part of his incumbency of the governor- ship a circumstance occurred which exposed him to great obloquy on the part of his political opponents. The congressional election of 1838 was hotly contested and extremely close as to results. This was especially so in New Jersey, then entitled to six congressmen. Under the then existing law, the Governor and Council were con- stituted the returning board, but without any power to examine or inquire into the validity of returns made.' Their duties were, as it was distinctly claimed at the time, purely clerical. One Whig and five Democrats had undoubtedly been elected at the polls, but through some mistake of the election clerks the returns that reached Governor Pennington and the Council gave the highest number of votes cast to all six of the Whigs. Under " the broad seal " of the State the Governor certified them to Congress as elected. When Congress met parties were so evenly divided that these five votes could have controlled the organization. The clerk, a Democrat, paused after calling the name of Joseph F. Randolph, the concededly elected Whig, and proposed, if it were the pleasure of the House, to pass over the names of the remaining five, the circumstances
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