USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The heroes of Albany. A memorial of the patriot-martyrs of the city and county of Albany, who sacrificed their lives during the late war in defense of our nation 1861-1865 > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68
55
MAJ. GEN. O. M. MITCHIEL.
In 1829, cadet MITCHEL graduated with honor, and so high was the estimate placed upon his talents and character, that he was very soon appointed assistant professor of mathematics in the academy. This position he held two years, and was then stationed with the army at St. Augustine, in Florida. There life was too monotonous for his active and ambitious spirit; and having no prospect of usefulness or distinction before him, he resigned on 30th of September, 1832.
While connected with the army he married Mrs. TRASK, for- merly Miss LOUISA CLARK, of Cornwall, on the Hudson river; a lady of superior intelligence, rare attainments and devoted piety. He moved with his wife to Cincinnati, where he opened an office as counselor at law, and practiced until the year 1834. Here he connected himself with the church, under the care of the Rev. Dr. LYMAN BEECHER, and was identified with the religious inter- ests of the city.
The Cincinnati college having become established in 1834, Mr. MITCHEL was elected professor of mathematics, philosophy and astronomy. Here he had a field suited to his taste and genius. His ardor, in the noble study of the science of the heavenly bodies, was greatly quiekened. He infused his enthusiasm into the minds of his pupils, by whom he was greatly loved and admired.
In addition to the duties of his professorship, he filled the office of chief engineer of the Little Miami railroad, from 1836 to 1837. Thus in time of peace he was learning lessons that, years afterwards, would enable him, amid the stern realities of war, to render the most valuable services to his country.
In the prosecution of his astronomical studies, Professor MITCHEL felt the need of an observatory, and in 1832 he bent his energies towards obtaining the means for the erection of a great astronomical observatory in Cincinnati. He prepared and delivered a series of lectures upon astronomy, that were received with the greatest enthusiasm. As his clear intellect moved with the planets, and searched for the secret laws of nature among the mysteries of the stars; as his pure soul reflected, as a bur- nished mirror, the beanties and sublimities of God's wonderful
56
MAJ. GEN. O. M. MITCHEL.
works; as he labored to weave out of language, garments with which to clothe his own grand ideas of the distances in space, and of the magnitude and mission of the far-off worlds; as he poured forth, in burning eloquence, his almost inspired thoughts of the attributes and perfections of the Infinite Author of all material systems, and intelligent beings,-thousands listened in breathless attention, and with emotions of the highest delight. Not only did he gain the means for carrying forward his favorite project, but he gave an impetus, in the popular mind, to the science of astronomy, that is felt to this day.
In speaking of Professor MITCHEL as a man of science, an able writer says that he " was an ardent investigator, and an eminently practical inventor. Fully imbued with the poetry of science, delighting in the lofty picturesques of astronomie thought; abounding in the rarest imagery in his public teachings; his truest sphere was in the mechanism of the means for scientific observation and labor. To prepare himself as the director of the observatory, he had studied and mastered the higher astro- nomical mathematics, and was thoroughly conversant with the history of the science. To qualify himself as a public teacher, he had resolved the most difficult problems into such forms, and such lucid language, as to make them clear to many who had regarded it impossible to comprehend them. To give himself facility in observing, he had studied under Professor AIREY, the astronomer royal of England, at Greenwich; and to understand the scientific relations of astronomy as they appear in the cos- mogony of the universe, he had investigated those sister sciences which, while they are distinct elements of the great subject, came forward, in harmonious concourse, to cast their tribute at the feet of Him, who dictated the record of Moses."
Without describing the various steps in the enterprise, which resulted in the erection of the Cincinnati observatory, now justly called the Mitchel Observatory, it is sufficient to state, that the corner stone of the pier that was to sustain the great telescope, was laid by the Hon. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, on the ninth of No- vember, 1843. The telescope reached safely the city of Cincin- nati in February, 1845, and in the following March the building
57
MAJ. GEN. O. M. MITCHEL.
was in readiness for its reception. In the prosecution of this great undertaking, Professor MITCHEL had exhausted all his pri- vate means. He had overcome obstacles and difficulties that would have utterly discouraged ordinary men. He had labored on, month after month, and year after year, sustained only by the sleepless energy of his own soul, and by the hope of success that inspires every truly great mind. But the desire of his heart was accomplished. He was permitted to gaze upon the triumph of his genius and enthusiasm, as expressed in the beautiful temple crowning the lofty hill-top, and consecrated to science, to the universe, and to God. He had been instrumental in opening upon this continent, a new pathway to the skies, along which thought and aspiration might travel to distant worlds and sys- tems. The hour was one of joy and exultation. But as the pro- fessor had learned that the brightest sun might be eclipsed, so he was soon to learn that the bright sun of prosperity might grow dim, and our most cherished plans be thwarted by an unseen hand. He had agreed to superintend the observatory for ten years, without remuneration, and to depend for his sup- port upon his salary as professor in the college. But in a sad hour the college was destroyed by fire, and he was left penniless! The temple enshrining the clear telescopic eye, stood serene upon the lofty eminence, but the high priest of science could not enter. His intellect, with its keen vision, was left to him. His energies had not been consumed in the conflagration. His know- ledge of the stars had not been turned into ashes. His trust in God was not gone. But his means of support were cut off; and what can he do? Hear him, in his own language: "It was impossible," he said, " to abandon the observatory. The college could not be rebuilt, at least for several years, and in this emer- gency I found it necessary to seek some means of support least inconsistent with my duties in the observatory. My public lec- tures at home had been comparatively well received, and after much hesitation, it was resolved to make an experiment else- where. For five years I had been pleading the cause of science among those little acquainted with its technical language. I had become habituated to the use of such terms as were easily under-
58
MAJ. GEN. O. M. MITCHEL.
stood; and probably to this circumstance more than to any other one thing, am I indebted for any success which may have attended my public lectures. To the citizens of Boston, Brooklyn, New York and New Orleans, for the kindness with which they were pleased to receive my imperfect efforts, I am deeply indebted."
After a most brilliant career through these and other cities, Professor MITCHEL accepted an appointment from the Ohio and Mississippi railroad company, as confidential agent to attend to their business in Europe. In 1844 he surveyed this road, and in 1853 he went to Europe, and again in 1854, to transact busi- ness for the company. On his return he had charge of the eastern division of the railroad, and managed its affairs with great success.
In the summer of 1860, he was chosen director of the Dudley Observatory, that adorns our own city. The land for this noble edifice was generously given by Gen. STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, and towards the building Mrs. BLANDINA DUDLEY gave $13,000, while other individuals increased the amount to $25,000. But while the professor was maturing his plans, for giving the greatest possible success to this observatory, the trumpet of war stirred his patriotic heart, and a sense of duty prompted him to tender to the Government his military knowledge, and his per- sonal services, for the defence of the country. It was, indeed, hard for him to relinquish his scientific pursuits, for which nature had so eminently endowed his intellect; it was hard for him to tear himself away from his cherished wife, and the delights of a fond home; it was hard for him to give up the brilliant future that was opening before him in the regions of astronomical inves- tigation and discovery; but in the hour of his country's peril, he was ready to sacrifice all for her interests. And although the military career of Gen. MITCHEL was short, yet it was long enough to prove that he was a whole-hearted patriot; a superior disci- plinarian; a brave soldier, and a noble and successful commander.
For the details of his military life, we are indebted to WILLIAM P. PRENTICE, Esq. of New York city, who has furnished such facts as came within his own personal knowledge. These we give mainly in his own language.
59
MAJ. GEN. O. M. MITCHEL.
On the ninth of August, 1861, Prof. MITCHEL was appointed brigadier general of volunteers, and was ordered to report to General FRANKLIN, on the Potomac. He was, however, almost immediately relieved, at the request of western men, and sent to Cincinnati, as commander of the department of the Ohio.
Here everything was in confusion, and destruction seemed coming down from Kentucky to sweep away the city and its State. There were no soldiers and no supplies. Quartermasters and commissaries were deeply in debt, having been plundered by miserable contractors, and in every quarter there was need of such a man as now began to lead.
Night and day he was at work, using others' powers as well as his own, organizing and directing whatever was to be done. He seemed almost to create artillery. As by magic, there came up regiments of foot, and marched to the front in Kentucky, seizing the railroads and mountain passes. Cincinnati, at once, had the fortifications which have twice since proved her safety. Mr. CAMERON, the Secretary, moved by the change wrought by this " live man," as he called him, and urged by the General and those who clearly saw the course of the rebellion, ordered an expedition to Cumberland Gap, which, it was afterwards proved, must certainly have been a great success, by dividing the Con- federacy, saving Eastern Tennessee, and cutting off the rebel supplies from the west.
But the delays, opposing counsel, and final countermand which this and other movements met, led the General to urge the con- solidation of the departments in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, in which he offered to take a subordinate place.
The new department, called that of the Ohio, was created, and Gen. BUEL made its commander. Gen. MITCHEL was second in rank.
On the thirteenth of December, 1861, Gen. MITCHEL took command of the third division, army of the Ohio, and led it through Elizabethtown to Bacon creek, where he lay for six weeks, drilling and exercising his men, until he had certainly the finest division in the western army.
He planned and urged the attack on Bowling Green, and leav-
60
MAJ. GEN. O. M. MITCHEL.
ing Bacon creek February 11th, 1862, though held back at Green river, he captured it on the fourteenth, while Best's main army was on the march to Donelson. This fell, and Nashville surren- dered to Gen. MITCHEL February 23d.
To him also belongs the credit of the march upon and surprise of Huntsville, one of the most important movements of the war. For very soon Decatur and Bridgeport, with their bridges across the Tennessee; Tuscumbia, through which water communication with our army at Pittsburg Landing was opened. and a flank attack on the rebel line of retreat offered: Rogersville on the Elk river, and Winchester in the mountains, were ours.
Had these been held by the united western forces as they should have been, and as Gen. MITenEL desired, the consequences would have been far different from what they were to our cause in Tennessee.
The defence and government of the General's district of Middle Tennessee and Northern Alabama, continued from April 11th to July 6th, when he was ordered to Washington, with a view to his employment in Virginia.
The plan of an inroad upon Georgia, and a campaign in that State and Eastern Tennessee, in 1862, met with the approval of the Government, and was filed in the Secretary of War's office. It will be found to have been of similar and equal promise to that of Gen. SHERMAN.
But the conflicting counsels at Washington were in the way of all work in the summer of 1862. In August, the Mississippi river expedition was ordered for Gen. MITCHEL, and he was about to embark with some thirty thousand troops for a campaign which would have been short, and decisive of great results, if we can trust the evidence now before us; but Gen. HALLECK was called to the chief command, and every new project was for the time abandoned.
It was a strange thing to see such a man as Gen. MITCHEL idle, and, as a forlorn hope it seemed, he was in September sent to the department of the south. Matters there were in a bad state. Military misrule had produced a general discontent. The sol- diers were a prey to the climate; and the listlessness of camp
61
MAJ. GEN. O. M. MITCHEL.
life, while the freedmen corrupted by their idleness, gave little promise of improvement or work.
The General landed at Port Royal September 16th. He began at once the reorganization of the tenth army corps, and very soon began to make for it a history, with new energy and hope.
Four expeditions met with such success that the campaign against Charleston and Savannah was about to open. With rein- forcements of twenty thousand men, sustained in its inception with great confidence by the government, and entered upon with enthusiasm by our troops, the first stroke, that against Pocotaligo, succeeded well. Three expeditions, organized jointly by the army and navy, were at once to follow, led by the Commodore and the General, for the purpose of cutting off Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah and Mobile from mutual support. Charles- ton and Savannah would then have been attacked from the land side, positions on the coast gradually occupied, and expeditions sent into the interior. But while in the midst of these plans and others that contemplated the protection and elevation of the colored people, our hero was prostrated by sickness. On Sun- day, the twenty-sixth of October, 1862, he was attacked by the yellow fever in Beaufort, S. C., and on the thirtieth of the same month he expired.
His death, so sudden and unexpected, produced the greatest consternation and sorrow among all classes, white and black. Just as difficulties that had embarrassed efficient action in the past had been settled, and the brightest prospects were opened before our forces, the beloved leader was snatched away.
Gen. MITCHEL's civil policy was not inferior to that of his military government. His schemes and efforts for the benefit of the negroes were eminently practical and successful; and as a leader, he was looked up to by them with great enthusiasm and hope. They gave him their best assistance, and soberly entered upon their great task. They built for him his first model village, and took part in that social system of which he made the family and the church the centres. Soon peaceful industry would have overcome the ruin shown on every side, against which, up to this time, almost nothing had been done. The grandeur and prac-
62
MAJ. GEN. O. M. MITCHEL.
tical wisdom of his plans will be recognized in his correspondence, invited by the President, the Secretary of the Treasury and some of his New York friends, which will hereafter, it is hoped, be published.
It is to be observed in reviewing his course, that while he used gloriously every opportunity, he was always found capable of greater things, The rays of his genius were seen struggling through every cloud, and breaking out into the light of noon- day. His powers of organization, and energetic, successful gov- ernment, displayed in the departments of the Ohio and of the south, mark him as of high administrative ability. The plan of the Cumberland Gap expedition; the captures of Bowling Green, Nashville and Huntsville; the plan of the campaign on the line of the Memphis and Charleston railroad, were all his; and also the plan of the Chattanooga and Georgia campaign, which would have saved the country untold misery. To him also belongs the credit of initiating such a campaign against Charleston as afterwards proved a success. These alone distinguish him as a great commander.
As a leader he was unsurpassed; he seemed of electrical pre- sence; he always led; he marched like the thundercloud, and struck like the lightning. It was his lot never to have had to retreat, although not neglectful of its possibility. Observing every precaution and watching the details of every movement, few could be so sure as he. If the burning of Decatur and Bridgeport bridges should be called an exception, this unneces- sary action, it is to be remembered, was by command of Generals BUEL and HALLECK, and against Gen. MITCHEL's own counsel.
He was just and merciful in the use of power, although he sought strenuously to maintain perfect discipline. The devotion of his soldiers to him is well known; and Union feeling fol- lowed him in the southwest, as was seen before and after the outbreak at Athens, in which the eighth brigade, then detached, was implicated. His cotton bridges, his improvised steamboats and gunboats, his plan of defence for railroads, his system of scouts among the negroes, his feats in railroad building, his extra- ordinary marches, show his invincibility by obstacles. His
63
MAJ. GEN. O. M. MITCHEL.
passages of the rivers at Mumfordsville and Bowling Green were indeed grand. and show his masterly power. Think of twelve hundred feet of heavy bridging being created in ten days; three hundred feet in twenty-four hours; a flatboat made a steam gun- boat, for the shoals of the Tennessee river, in three or four days; pontoons put on the Elk river in eight days; a river steamer made a gunboat at Charleston, and almost impregnable by the use of chains, as afterwards the Kearsage, in thirty-six hours ! Such things seem dreams rather than realities.
It is proper to add that the Georgia railway expedition, so- called, owed neither its inception nor organization to Gen. MITCHEL, he having been simply furnished with men from the third division by the special orders of Gen. BUEL.
Fortunately, all the records of his military history have been carefully preserved. Among them the original dispatches and orders by him received are to be seen; and the copies of his orders and correspondenec. For every doubtful act he sought and had the concurrence of the government, and he was cordially sustained by the friends of the Nation and of truth.
Gen. MITCHEL was an earnest Christian soldier, and was ever ready to engage in every good work. In the southwest, daily prayers were offered up with each regiment, except when circum- stances rendered it impossible. Public services were also estab- lished on the Sabbath, and at his meals the divine blessing was invoked.
He had a soul that could hear the cries of humanity, and respond by toil and sacrifices for the helpless and unfortunate. For the education and happiness of the freedmen committed to his charge, he did what he could; and at the last great day many of the recipients of his benevolence will be ready to rise up and pronounce him blessed. At the moment the breath left his body science lost a rare ornament; the army mourned for a skillful and brave soldier; humanity wept for an earnest defender and advocate, and the church lost a true Christian and humble follower of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The writings which he has left we would earnestly recommend to the lovers of science, and to all who would enlarge their
64
MAJ. GEN. O. M. MITCHEL.
views of the grandeurs and splendors of the universe. Among them are his " Planetary and Stellar Worlds; " his " Treatise on Algebra; " his " Popular Astronomy," and "The Astronomy of the Bible," which has been published since his death. In read- ing the latter beautiful and eloquent work, we cannot but think of the spirit of our departed Christian hero as now moving amid those splendid regions, gathering fresh stores of knowledge from the vast fields that are open, and rejoicing in the love of that God, whom he delighted to serve with his genius and his heart while he was a resident of this earth.
65
BRIG. GEN. JAMES C. RICE.
II. BRIG. GEN. JAMES C. RICE.
PASSING along, we come to another countenance radiant with christian hope and beaming with victory. The eyes reveal the inward intelligence; the lips whisper the peace of the soul. Upon the brow is stamped " heroism." In the hand is a com- mission addressed to " Brig. Gen. JAMES C. RICE," a name which history will embalm and posterity applaud.
Six years ago this hero enlisted under the captain of our salva- tion, and professed his faith before angels and men, in the Madi- son Square Presbyterian Church, in the city of New York. Less than two years ago he took to his heart one who is now a widow. She looked and prayed for the brightness of serene skies, and received the thunderbolt that has shattered her spirit.
Although this christian soldier did not first enter the service of his country from Albany, yet his numerous family connections here, together with his being early and prominently identified with the Fourty-fourth N. Y., better known as the Ellsworth regiment, which was organized and sent to the field from this city, gives Albany the right to claim him, and to place his name upon the list with her own noble sons.
Gen. RICE was a native of the State of Massachusetts. He was born in the town of Worthington, Hampshire county, in the year 1828. The records of his ancestors trace them to Hertfordshire county, England. They were among the early settlers of New England, having immigrated to this country about the year 1636.
The paternal and maternal grandfathers of Gen. RICE were active participants in the Revolutionary war, and both served at several different times during that long conflict, and endured many and great hardships. The father of Gen. RICE was a com-
5
66
BRIG. GEN. JAMES C. RICE.
missioned officer, and served several months during the last war with Great Britain. He is said to have been a man of true mar- tial spirit, and a thorough and a brave officer. The mother, who is now living at the advanced age of eighty-four years, has been a woman of great energy of character. Her long life of devoted purity and strong Christian faith, has deeply impressed itself upon all who have been subject to her influence; and it was from this source that the son drew his religious inspiration.
Gen. RICE graduated at Yale College, in the class of 1853, with distinction. Upon leaving college, he took charge of a seminary at Natchez, Miss., giving such spare moments as he had at command to the study of the law, having already decided to make this his profession. He returned to the north the following year and entered the office of THEODORE SEDGWICK, Esq., in New York city. Not long after he was admitted to practice in the courts of this State. He was here devoting himself to his pro- fession, which was already becoming lucrative, when the first call was made for volunteers to defend the flag of the Union. Immediately upon the firing upon Fort Sumter, his ardent and patriotic nature was fully aroused to the magnitude of the offence against the government, as also to the urgent necessity of great determination and promptness on the part of the people to sus- tain and preserve their institutions. He believed that this could best be done by a general uprising of the north, hoping thereby to convince the insurgents, before blood should be spilled, of the futility of the attempt to subvert the government. He immedi- ately offered himself as a private in one of the New York city regi- ments, but so rapidly were the ranks then filling up, that the regiment was already found to have a surplus of men, and he was transferred to the Thirty-ninth N. Y. S. V., known as the Garibaldi Guards. He received a commission as first lieutenant, and was appointed adjutant of this, then, splendid regiment, upon which large sums of money had been lavishly bestowed by the citizens of the metropolis. The regiment was early in the field, but from lack of discipline, did not meet the expectations of its friends. Insubordination soon began to manifest itself among the men, and on one occasion Lient. RICE took such a determined and
67
BRIG. GEN. JAMES C. RICE.
courageous stand, as to successfully quell a formidable mutiny. For his gallant conduct on this occasion he was immediately pro- moted to a captaincy. With this regiment Captain RICE was engaged in the first battle of Bull's Run. Soon after the return of his regiment to the defences about Washington, he became convinced that he could not, in this organization, be as useful to the cause, as he desired to be. He therefore made application to Gov. MORGAN for a position in some of the new regiments then being raised, High testimony from his superior officers to his fidelity and bravery, secured for him the appointment of lieuten- ant colonel of the gallant Fourty-fourth, whose already full ranks were waiting to be officered. On receiving this appointment, Lieut. Col. RICE was the recipient of a beautiful sword, belt, &c., from the ladies and gentlemen of Albany. The following account of the presentation is taken from the Albany Evening Journal of October 19th, 1861:,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.