Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 30

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1354

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On May 22, 1878, he wrote:

I hasten to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated May 5th, and to assure you that I received some time ago the Inaugural address mentioned in that letter. I read that address with great profit and pleasure. * * What you say about Crawford is very striking. It is doubtless that his forward move was made late in the evening. * *

* Whenever there is something which seems doubtful to me, I shall take the liberty of asking your advice.

On June 24, 1878, he says:

I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letters dated 27th of May and June Ord. as well as the pamphlets mentioned in these letters. * * * The limits which you give me concerning the real causes of the failure of Meade's " campaign of mancevres," are very interesting. and that failure cannot be understood otherwise than by a great jealousy between his subordinates.

Under date of August 18, 1878, he writes :

Various occupations have prevented me from ac- knowledging sooner the receipt of your interesting letters, dated June 20th and July 4th and 8th. * * -* I quite agree in your judgment upon Rosecrans. He was not a brilliant, perhaps, but certainly a very able leader. He had the qualities most important in an army of volunteers, firmness of purpose and that obstinacy which springs from an indomutable will. Very few generals who have stood as he did at Murfreesboro, very few, indeed, (that) would not have given up the game and thrown victory into their opponent's arms. He snatched victory by his stubbornness. * *

* Any new information concerning Chickamauga would at present be very useful to me. *

* * I received and read with interest the papers you did send me concerning the American War of Independ- ence. Receive my best thanks for that communication. Your views on the present situation and the prospects of the socialists in America are very striking and valuable.

On September 21, 1878, the Count wrote :

I have to thank you for your letters, dated August 2Ist and 31st, as well as for the number of the Atlantic Monthly, containing an article by General Lippitt on Pope's campaign in Virginia. * * My subject now is Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. I have not a great deal of information on that subject.

October 13, 1878, he writes :

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your three letters, dated September 15th and 24th, containing the manuscript paper on the campaign of Chickamauga, and the newspaper articles on the yellow fever and the Peters- burg crater. I beg you to receive my best thanks as well for the pamphlets mentioned in the first letter, and duly received shortly afterwards. I have found a special interest in the particulars which you give me of your talk with Gen. Humphreys about the operation of Grant in May, 1864, and his supposed plan of turning the left of Lee.

Again he says, October 20, 1878 :

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of September 28th and of October 20, 6th and ?th. I thank you very much for the trouble you take in supplying me with whatever kind of information you think may be useful to me, and still mare in giving me your men rivers on the military questions which that information may raise. The papers of Col. Crane, which I duly received, will no doubt be of great value to me. Ialready advised you of the receipt of the Legend of the Army of the Cumberland. The two other papers, viz., Col. Coburn's report of the fight at Thompson's Station, and the extracts of the Life of For- rest concerning the same fight, reached me at the same time. I have only rapidly perused the documents, but I have seen enough to appreciate their importance. The promised statement of Col. Crane of his treatment as a prisoner will be very interesting. * *

* Thank you for the information you give me concerning Col. Goddard.

On November 9, 1878, he writes:

I punctually received your two letters, dated Oc- tober 9th and 23rd, as well as the book manuscript you mention, viz., the Legend of the Army of the Cumberland, and the papers relating to the fight at Thompson's Sta- tion, including the statement of Col. Baxter Crane's life after his capture with Coburn's command. These doen- ments are very useful for the study I am now engaged in. I thank you once more for the valuable assistance which you give me in my urduans task, and I fully appreciate the pains which you take to furnish me with the unpublished documents. As for reading bad handwriting I can man-

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age to do it, but I hate to work on manuscripts hard to deciper, and therefore am very grateful to your copyist for his clear hand. × -X-

* 1 thank you for the notice concerning Rosecrans.

Again |December 3, 1878):

Col. Crane's statement of the battle of Thompson's Hill is so plain, so natural, and describes so well what one feels and sees in his first fight, that it carries conviction into the reader's mind. It has been of great use to me, as well as Colburn's reports. The narrative of his prison life is of the same character. I keep it for the future, as I in- tend to discuss the whole question of the treatment of the prisoners on both sides quite to the end of my work. I received the pamphlet on that subject mentioned in your letter of the 4th. In that of the 6th you mention the bal- ance of the Legend of the Army of the Cumberland, and the copy of the official notice of the commencement and termination of the Slaveholders' Rebellion as being dis- patched at the same time; these papers have reached me safely. I shall look for Gen. T. Oliver's letter on the sup- ercedure of Rosecrans by Gen, Thomas in the first pack- age sent by you through Humphreys. At the time I re- ceived it I picked out only what was for my immediate use, and the remainder was put aside for future ex- amination. Van Horne's book is very use-

ful to me. * In answer to your letter of the 11th 1 shall first thank you for having found out the maps which you had mentioned to me, and could best procure, but I am really sorry and ashamed to see what amount of trouble it gave you.

His acknowledgment December 21, 1878, is as follows :

Receive my best thanks for your three letters, dated November 19th and 23d, and December 5th, which have reached me, as well as the papers mentioned in these letters. I thank you especially for the copy of Gen. Paine's memorandum or private diary. * * I thank you for the very remarkable articles which you did send me concerning the battle of Monmouth in It's, and which I read with the greatest pleasure and interest. The report of Gen. Carr, a manuscript, reached me at the same time as your last letter. I have no doubt that will prove very useful to me. As you say, sometimes an inci- dental remark made without premeditation by an eye- witness may give the long-sought-for solution of some of the most difficult problems of history. 1 quite agree with you about Warren in regard to his action at Mine Run.

Again (January 1, 1879):

I received your slips concerning the death of Reno. * * * I thank you for sending me the part of the Legend of the Army of the Cumberland, which explains the strange blank in Van Horne's returns.

On January 17, 1879, he writes :

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letters, dated December 21st, 27th and 31st, the two last named ones adorned with the most picturesque engravings. * * * What you say in your letter of the 21st concerning the place where the Federal line was broken at Gettys- burg, viz., near the Peach Orchard, about Birney's right, is in accordance with all the best accounts of the battle. * * I received the installment of Paine's diary men- tioned in your letter of the 27th. It will be very useful to me, especially on account of its accuracy about the dates. * * * I thank you very much for having at last fur- nished me with the half page which Dr. Van Horne's printer had left in blank.

Again (February 10, 1879 :

I received a few days ago a letter from Gen. Hum- phreys informing me that according to your wish he had

sent me a set of maps completed by Gen. Warren, of the country of the Rapidan and Centreville. * * * 1 thank you very much for mentioning the pamphlet of Col. Brooke Rawle on the operations of the United States cavalry on the right Hank at Gettysburg. * say, the maps are very valuable. * * As you * I received to-day the copy of the narrative of the part taken by the 11th N. J. in the Mine Run campaign, by Col. McAllister, and I shall certainly make use of it when I review my account already written of that campaign.

On March 30, 1879, he wrote:

I avail myself of the said leisure I can find between two visits to the sick room, to answer your letters as well as I can. * * * Nevertheless, I can assure you that l am most grateful for all the information given in your letters, as well as for the documents which you take the trouble to furnish me with. All the papers mentioned in your letters as having been sent to me separately have reached me safely. I have in hand the regimental re- port of the Ilth New Jersey, and the narrative of events from November 26th to December 3, 1863, which will be very useful for the correction of my narrative of the Mine Run campaign, as well as the " preacher," as you call it, and 1 quite agree with you in your judgment on Gen. McAllis- ter. Your conversation with Gen. Palmer, as reported in your letter, is interesting. * * * Your picture of the relations between Meade and Webb is very striking, and I shall keep it in mind. I knew personally very little of Meade, while Webb was a friend, and still is, and I had the greatest respect for his military character. I received also all the papers mentioned in your letter of the 5th of February, viz., the manuscript copied in two different inks, which is very good concerning the fall of 1863 in Virginia, and your account of Gen. John Hartranft. I thank you for both, as well as for the picture you make of Hartranft in that letter. The balance of Gen. McAllister's diary which, as you say, will merely be useful to me by its great accuracy, reached me at the same time as your letter, begun on the Sth and closed on the 14th of Febru- ary. It gives very carefully the state of the weather, which is an important element of military operations very often overlooked in the best narratives. *

* The particulars given in your letters of February 24th and 26th about Thomas at the battle of Chickamauga are very in- teresting. I received the manuscript of Van Horne's chapter on Chattanooga from his Life of Thomas. It will no doubt prove very valuable, but I cannot use it before I have begun myself the account of that campaign, which implies that I should have ended with Chickamauga. Please therefore tell me whether you wish it to be re- turned, or whether I may keep it for some time. * *

* I thank you very much for remarks on Van Horne's Chat- tanooga, which will be very useful as soon as I reach that period of the campaign. * You are quite right when you say that good and clear maps are sadly wanted for the easy intelligence of Van Horne's Army of the Cumberland. His small map of the battle of Chickamau- ga is perfectly wretched, and unfortunately I know of no better one.

It would require a volume to record the notable literary and critical achievements, the remarkable forecasts of political and military events, the practical suggestions which have been adopted and found to be of great public utility, and the solution of difficult problems in medical and general science through intui- tion, close reasoning and the application of extensive reading, of which General de Peyster has been the author. A few examples, which

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readily occur to mind, will be noted miscel- laneously, with no attempt to classify them.

Through his wide reading, giving him a knowledge of a similar phenomenon following ancient eruptions of volcanoes, he was one of the first to give an account of the pink sunsets which occurred for several years after the fa- mous eruption of the Javanese Krakatoa, in August, 1883. In the "Bulletin of the Amer- ican Geographical Society" [Vol. XXI, No. 1, March 31, 1889, p. 117, note] he is given credit for calling the attention of geographers to a notable case of the kind. "Gen. J. Watts de Peyster," says the writer, "has found Berthelot's account of the strange skies seen after the eruption of Skaptar Jökull in 1783."

General de Peyster is the author of a re- markable discussion of the question, " Did Our Blessed Saviour Speak Greek ?" This paper enjoyed the distinction of being read before the Society of Literature, Arts and Science of London, England.

For a number of years he was vice-presi- dent of the Saratoga Battlefield Monument, in connection with which he did effective work. He resigned when he found his efforts were unavailing to restrain what he considered waste and innocent misapplication of the funds. He donated an historical cannon to the monument.

In addition to his many other services, and proffer of services during the Civil war, it should be noted that the General offered his extensive new buildings near the corner of Broadway and Thirty-sixth street, free of charge, to the city of New York, to the Fed- eral Government, as quarters for recruits in 1861.

Again, General de Peyster was one of the first to recognize the infectious or contagious nature of consumption. His notable gifts of hospitals for the care of consumptives has been already mentioned.

The General defended John Brown, in his assaults on slavery, on the principle that, un- justifiable as he might be in his method of war- fare upon slavery, he was surpassed in this respect by the slave-holders in their attacks upon freedom in the North. The General was the first to suggest the employment of negroes as soldiers in the Civil war, and was reviled by his Democratic neighbors on account of his advocacy of views so radical. At the close of the war, however, he protested against the indiscriminate conferring of the electoral franchise upon the negroes of the South. It

was not alone the general condition of illit- eracy which influenced his judgment, but a clear foresight of the condition of things (which he prophesied) which resulted; that the pro- posed measure must inevitably defeat the political end for which it was intended, and only give the South increased representation while leaving the power in the hands of the whites as securely as ever, and strengthening their influence materially in national politics.

General de Peyster had a number of unique experiences during his travels in Europe as military agent of the State of New York. He saved the Italian soldier, Siro Pesci, a fol- lower of Mazzini, from condemnation to the salt mines at Sardinia, from which few ever re- turn alive, after long terms of service. He secured passports for the Italian as his servant, and carried him into France (and subse- quently into Switzerland), to the chagrin of the Gendarmes, who had an inkling of what was being done, but could not go behind the passports.

When we consider General de Peyster's many works of military criticism on nearly all the famous wars of Europe, together with his contemporaneous interpretation of the Euro- pean wars in progress during his own lifetime, it is remarkable that he wrote so little on the Crimean war of 1854-5. But this explained by the fact that at the time he was immersed in his historical studies of the Thirty Years' War, resulting in his various works on this theme, and notably his remarkable " Life of Torstenson." But very few men, historians or military critics, have mastered the facts as to this prolonged and general European war, as General de Peyster mastered them. His astonishing grasp of the topography of Europe, and of the military situation of the European States, was demonstrated in connec- tion with the wars of this century in Europe, subsequent to that of the Crimea, he being able to foretell the course of events and the issues of campaigns with an accuracy which astounded the best military critics. With the outbreak of the Franco-Austrian war these remarkable prophecies began, in his contemporaneous contributions to the New York Express, in which he followed and anticipated the military movements with analysis and forecast. It chanced that in 1834 he had witnessed just such a flood in Lombardy as that of 1859, which hindered and thwarted the combatants, and particularly the Austrians. Again, in the case

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of the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, he was completely at home, being well-nigh as famil- iar with the scene of the operations as with his own farm. He foretold the results of this struggle, and put his finger upon the decisive locality. The same thing was true of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 1. He prophe- sied the Prussian movement upon Sedan, and its results, in such detail, it was almost an exact prophecy of the genesis and exodus or result. The contribution of his critical pen toward the success of the Federal cause in our own Civil war is little understood. One can only say that it would be almost impossible to overestimate his services.

It would, indeed, be a " work of superero- gation " to add anything to such estimates of General de Peyster's remarkable abilities and phenomenal labors as those which have been quoted, and it certainly will not be attempted here. One might say in passing, however, that if it be true that "a prophet is not with- out honor save in his own country, " in this case, honor and recognition abroad, at least, there assuredly is. Perhaps the best idea of the honors which have been won by the General can be conveyed by subjoining a (partial) list of his many degrees, and memberships. He would be entitled to write after his name sev- eral formidable titles.

The reader will find subjoined a partial list of the published works of General de Peyster. It is by no means a complete list, for time and circumstances prevented a perfect presentation, since many of his most interesting articles on subjects of the greatest moment and widest range are scattered in magazines and news- papers. Were these collected and republished (which their merit and interest assuredly justi- fies), they would make many additional vol- umes. But, although incomplete, the following list will suffice to give some idea of the aston- ishing versatility of the General's authorship. The immense range of reading, of which these works show themselves to be the fruit, is also evidenced on every page of the thou- sands of books to be found in the General's large library, as well as in connection with the libraries given away. There probably has never been a private library of such size brought together, nor 10,000 to 15,000 volumes given away, which through marks and marginal notes in the available space on nearly every page afford such evidence of close, thorough and critical reading. These notes are so charac-

teristic of the General's entire library that they enhance the value of these volumes for a stu- dent to a large degree which none but the student, capable of availing himself of their help, could understand or appreciate. If books are a blessing there is also peril connected with their use; but in the marginal notes of these volumes (the rich fruit of the General's enor- mous research, astonishing memory and critical judgment) the student finds that commentary, or citation of either corroborative or adverse evidence elsewhere, which only the painstak- ing investigation of innumerable authorities could supply - and some of them so rare that the chances are against the ordinary student's having the knowledge of their existence, much less suspecting that they contain anything bear- ing upon the subject.

PARTIAL. LIST OF PUBLICATIONS.

REPORTS-Ist. On the Organizations of the National Guards and the Municipal Military Institutions of Europe, and the Artillery and Arms best adapted to the State Service, 1852. (Reprinted by order of the N. Y. State Legislature, Senate Documents, No. 74, March 26, 1853.) 2d. Organizations of the English and the Swiss Militia, the French, Swiss, and Prussian Fire Departments. Sug- gestions for the Organization of the N. Y. Militia, &c. 1853. Life of (the Swedish Field Marshal) Leonard Tors! tenson (rewarded with three splendid Silver Medals, &c., by 11. R. M. Oscar 1., King of Sweden). 1855 .- Thirty Years War, and Military Services of Field-Marshal Gen- eralissimo Leonard Torstenson (Series), N. Y. Weekly Mail, 1873; A Hero of the XVH Century (Torstenson) .-- The Volunteer, Weekly Mag., Vol. 1., No. 1., 1869 .- The Career of the celebrated Condottiere Fra Moreale, Weekly Mail, 1873 .- Frederic the Great. (Series.) Weekly Mail, 1873 .- Eulogy of Torstenson, 4to., 1872.

The Dutch at the North Pole, and the Dutch in Maine. 1857 .*

Appendix to the Dutch at the North Pole, &c. 1858 .*

Ho, for the North Pole! 1860 .- " Little's Living Age." The Dutch Battle of the Baltic, 1858.

The Invincible Armada. (Series.) 1860 .- Examples of Intrepidlity, as illustrated by the Explons and Deaths of the Dutch Admirals. (Series.) 1860-1. Military Gazelle.

Gems from Dutch History. (Series.) 1855 .- A Tale of Leipsic, Peabody's Parlor Mag., 1832.

Carausius, the Dutch Augustus, and Emperor of Britain and the Menapi. 18.

The Ancient, Mediaval and Modern Netherlanders. 1858.

Address to the officers of the New York State Troops. 1859. Life of Lieut .- Gen. (famous " Dutch Vauban "-styled the "Prince of Engineers ") Menno, Baron Cohorn. (Series.) 1860 .- Military Lessons. (Series.) 1861-3 .- Winter Campaigns. 1862.

Practical Strategy, as illustrated by the Life and Achievements of a Master of the Art, the Austrian Field- Marshal, Traun. 1863 .- Personal and Military History of Major-General Philip Kearny, 512 pp., Svo. 1869 .- Secession in Switzerland and the United States compared ; being the Annual Address, delivered 20th October, 1863, before the Vermont State Historical Society, in the Hall of Representatives, Capitol, Montpelier. 1864 .*

"Noticed as well as others in Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1995.

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Incidents connected with the War in Italy. (Series.) 1859

Mortality among Generals. (Series.) 1861.The Battle of King's Mountain. (Series.) 1861 2, 1880. Oris- kany, 1878-Monmouth, 1878 Rhode Island, 1878.

Facts or Ideas Indispensible to the Comprehension of War; Notions on Strategy and Tactics. (Series.) 1861-2. Eclaireur, Military Journal. (Edited.) 1854 8. In Me- moriam. (Edited.) Ist, 1857 ; 2d, 1862. The Bible in Prison. 1853. A Discourse on the Tendency of High Church Doctrines. 1855.

A Night with Charles XIl. of Sweden. A Nice Young Man. Parlor Dramas. 1860-1.

Aculco, Oriskany, and Miscellaneous Poems. 1860. Genealogical References of Old Colonial Families, &c. 1851.

Biographical Notices of the de Peyster Family, in connection with the Colonial History of New York. 1861 .- Biographies of the Watts, de Peyster, Reade and Leake Families, in connection with Trinity Churchyard. 1862 .- Military (1776-1779) Transactions of Major, after- wards Colonel Sth or King's Foot, B. A., Arent Schuyler de Peyster and Narrative of the Maritime Discoveries of his namesake and nephew, Capt. Arent Schuyler de Peyster, N. Y., 1870. Local Memorials relating to the de Peyster and Watts and affiliated families. 1881. In Memoriam, Frederic de Peyster, Esq., LL. D., Prest. N. Y. Historical Society, St. Nicholas Society, St. Nicholas Club, &c., &c. 1882.

ARTICLES published in United Servier Magazine (equal in matter to 12mo. volumes); Torstenson and the Battle of Janikau, July, 1879; Joshua and the Battle of Beth-horon-Did the sun and moon stand still? Febru- ary, 1880; Hannibal, July, 1880; Gustavus Adolphus, Sept., 1880; Cavalry, 1., Sept., 1880; Cavalry, 11., Nov., 1880; Cavalry, 111., Dec., 1880; Army Catastrophes-Destruc- tion of Pharaoh and his host; how accomplished, &c., &c. February, 1881,-Hannibal's Army of Italy, Mar., 1881; Hannibal's Last Campaign, May, 1881; Infantry, I., June, 1881; Infantry, Il., Aug., 1881; Battle of Eutaw Springs, 1781, Sept., 1881; Siege of Vorktown, 1781, Nov., 1881; Infantry, 111., April, 1882; Waterloo, July, 1882; Vindica- tion of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, Sept., 1882, Oct., 1882; From the Rapidan to Appomattox Court House, July, 1883 .- Burgoyne's Campaign, July-Oct., 1777, and Appendix, Oct., 1883 .- Life and Achievements of Field-Marshal Generalissimo Suworrow, November- December, 1883 .-- Biographical Sketch of Maj-Gen. Andrew Atkinson Humphreys, U. S. A., March, 1884 .- Address, Maj .- Gen. A. A. Humphreys, before the Third Army Corps Union, 5th May, 1884. Character and Serv- ices of Maj .- Gen. A. A. Humphreys, U. S. A., Manhattan, N. Y., Monthly Magazine, August, 1884.

Suggestions which laid the basis for the present ad- mirable Paid Fire Department in the City of New York, in which, as well as in the Organization of the present Municipal Police of New York City, Gen. de Peyster was a co-laborer with the Hon. Jas. W. Gerard and G. W. Matsell, for which latter Department he caused to be prepared and presented a Fire Escape, a model of sim- plicity and inestimable utility. Republished in the New York Historical Magazine. Supplement, Vol. 1X, 1865. John P. Shea, Editor and Proprietor.

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Commemorative biographical record of Dutchess County, New York, Part 30

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1354