USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 > Part 50
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tain death, 'General, I will do it.' He started in with his whole regiment, and made one of the most gallant charges of the war. Ile was killed at the head of his regiment; but he alarmed the rebels so much that I gained about ten minutes on the enemy. Major Keenan had only from four to five hundred men." By this bold manœuvre the rebels were, for a moment, startled-no doubt expecting that this cavalry charge would be followed up by infantry -- and time was given General Pleasanton to get twenty-two guns into position bearing upon the edge of the wood, whence they would emerge; and when, finally, in dark masses they came rolling out, screeching and yelling, those guns, double-shotted with canister, swept them back with deadly effect. For nearly an hour, without infantry supports, did Pleasanton maintain the fight with artillery alone, repulsing the enemy in three separate charges, and finally held the ground-night shut- ting in, and closing the conflict. Thus, by the daring of Keenan and his few trusty followers were Stonewall Jackson's victorious legions checked, though at the sacrifice of his own life and of nearly his entire command ; and by the resolute fighting of Pleas- anton was disaster to the army stayed. The daring valor of Keenan on this field is scarcely matched in the history of warfare. "The moment," says Colonel Wilson, "the head of the column reached the plank road, the order was given, 'Draw sabre !' and the next moment came the word, 'Charge !' Keenan fell, and at his side Captain Arrowsmith and Adjutant Haddock." Three officers, fifty-six men, and ninety horses were sacrificed in the few moments of that mortal strife. Just before Major Keenan was seen to fall, he was flourishing his sabre with unequalled rapidity, and many a traitor who came within his reach was made to bite the dust. He was a powerful man, and, nerved at that supreme moment by superhuman power, his trenchant blade was more effective than that of a Black Prince in his most desperate hour. In his general order to the brigade, General Pleasanton charac- terizes him as " the generous, the chivalric Keenan." " In the loss of Major Keenan," writes a correspondent of the Williams- port Gazette, " this regiment has parted from a valuable officer, and our country with a brave leader. In battle, where warmest waged the combat there was he always to be found, and, by
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his cool, undaunted bravery, would ever encourage the men to stand boldly forth and teach rebellious hirelings how loyal men can fight." Dr. Webster, in command of an infantry de- tail, searched for missing officers within the enemy's lines, that night; and when the men came upon the body of Keenan they instantly recognized it, though every vestige of clothing that could disclose his rank had been torn from it. It was brought in, and, says Colonel. Wilson, "General Pleasanton gave me a leave of absence for five days, to take charge of his remains and accompany them to his former home, in Allegheny county. I was met at the depot by his father and Major Church, who received the body of the hero, and, on the fol- lowing day, it was committed to the grave by the hand of parental affection."
" As boy's at school," says De Peyster, "we have read of the one-eyed Horatius and the equestrian Curtius. As students of history, we recall the intrepid Piedmontese Sergeant, who, hearing the tramp of the assaulting column of the French above the mine, with whose supervision he was charged, totally ob- livious of himself, thrust his burning candle into the powder, and, at the sacrifice of his own life, saved the Washington of his country. Many have heard in speeches of the self-immolation of Arnold of Winkelreid, which gave the victory of Senepach, along with their independence, to his countrymen. Those who have visited Amsterdam have doubtless seen that magnificent picture in the State House, portraying the act of patriotism by which a Dutch Lieutenant saved the honor of his flag, when, with his cigar thrust into the magazine, he blew up his vessel, rather than surrender to an accident that had delivered him into the power of the rebel Belgians, his deck being jammed with their boarders. But neither Roman, nor Piedmontese, nor Swiss, nor Hollander, performed a nobler achievement than that done by an American on this second day of Chancellorsville. It was an act far more worthy of commemoration by a magnificent picture, placed in the Capitol of Pennsylvania, than the decisive moment of Get- tysburg, whose glory belongs equally to all the loyal States; and as long as the Keystone Commonwealth shall continue to exist, she will do a grievous wrong, if at her hands no enduring
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monument arise in commemoration of Peter Keenan, Major of the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry.
"Eighteen years ago, the writer visited the Succursale, or branch establishment of the National Hospital for Invalids, in the famous old city of Avignon. There he was struck with the wonderful sagacity displayed by the rulers of the warlike nation of France, for the purpose of keeping alive the military ardor of their people, by honoring and commemorating every exhibition of their patriotic valor. On every side the garden wherein the veterans took their daily walks, or lingered to chat of other days around a cross of honor emblazoned with fragrant pansies and evergreens, marble tablets, set in the encompassing walls, dis- played illustrious acts in appropriate pithy records. One of these bore only a few sentences, but those simple lines were sufficient to tell an ennobling story :
"'Go be killed there !' said Kleber to Schowardin, at Torfu.
""'Yes, my General.'
" And Schowardin and his command-a couple of hundred braves --- threw themselves against the pursuing royalist (Vendean) masses, perishing, but saving the republican army. This was grand. But, Northerners, what one of our own brethren did was grander; and we need not go to France, nor any other country, nor to any other age, for the highest types of patriotic devotion. Our own annals teem with them; and nothing in all time will shine with greater brilliancy than the unquestioned-not fabu- lous-self-sacrificing, and saving self-sacrifice, of Major Peter Keenan."
CHAPTER V.
DIED IN THE SERVICE.
AVID BELL BIRNEY, Colonel of the Twenty- third regiment, and Major-General of volunteers, was born at Huntsville, Alabama, on the 29th of May, 1825. His father, James G. Birney, was singularly devoted to the sentiment of freedom, though bred in the Slave State of Kentucky. In 1835 he manumitted his own slaves, and at the death of his father chose the slaves as his share of the patrimony, that he might extend to them likewise the boon of freedom. He was educated at Princeton, studied law at Philadelphia with Alexander J. Dallas, and, returning to Kentucky, married Agatha McDowell, a cousin of General Irwin McDowell. Not long afterwards he removed to Huntsville, where he formed a law partnership with Arthur G. Hopkins, afterwards Governor of the State. During his residence there Mr. Birney was appointed Attorney-General, and in 1834 was commissioned to secure a faculty for the new State University. In his tour through the North in this latter capacity he met prominent philanthropists, with whom he exchanged sentiments and formed lasting friendships. Moved by his sincere love of freedom, he soon after went to reside in Cincinnati, where he established the Philanthropist, a weekly newspaper. Its columns ably advocated the cause of the oppressed and down-trodden the world over; but its keenest weapons were directed upon Ameri- can Slavery. Its utterances became distasteful to the slave power, and his office was repeatedly mobbed, and his types con- signed to the river. In 1844 he was nominated by the Free Soil party as their candidate for President of the United States, receiving 64,653 votes. Henry Clay, who was the candidate of the
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DAVID B. BIRNEY.
Whig party, was defeated, and his failure was largely attributed to the party led by Birney. Soon afterwards Mr. Birney retired from politics. He died in 1858. Mr. Birney married for his second wife Elizabeth Fitzhugh, a daughter of the New York branch of an old Maryland family.
The son, David B., was put to school at Andover, Massachu- setts, where he early took a prominent place, and where he acquired exact and thorough training. After leaving Andover he went to Cincinnati, and entered a large business house, where he soon became junior partner, and married Miss Anna Case, of Covington, Kentucky. The firm with which he was connected met with disaster, and, upon the termination of its business, he went to Upper Saginaw, Michigan, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar; but desiring a wider field for the prac- tice of his profession, removed to Philadelphia. For a time he was employed in a commercial agency, but soon returned to the practice of the law, in which he was associated with O. W. Davis, the firm attaining to great success and eminence, so much so that it became necessary to open a branch office in New York. His first wife having died, he married Miss Maria Antoinette Jennison, daughter of William Jennison.
As the clouds of civil war began to lower, Birney turned to the military profession, for which he had a natural taste, enlisting in the First City Troop, an organization which has been pre- served unbroken from the days of the Revolution. In 1860 he was elected Lieutenant-Colonel of the First regiment, Third brigade of the First division, Pennsylvania Militia. When the call was made for troops in April, 1861, this regiment was promptly tendered, and its ranks speedily recruited, being known in the line as the Twenty-third. It was at first stationed on the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore railroad, but subse- quently joined the corps of General Patterson at Chambersburg, and with him advanced as far as Bunker Hill, taking part with credit in the affair at Falling Waters, where Birney commanded, the Colonel being kept from the field by sickness.
At the expiration of the three months for which the regiment had been mustered, Lieutenant-Colonel Birney determined to recruit the old regiment for three years' service, and obtained
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MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
permission from the State authorities to retain the number by which it had been previously known, men and officers feeling a just pride in its soldierly bearing. Birney was commissioned Colonel, on the 2d of August, 1861, and with ranks swollen to 1500 men, this regiment became a part of the brigade of General L. P. Graham, stationed at Queen's Farm, four miles north of Washington, in which it was associated with the First New York Chasseurs, commanded by John Cochrane. Birney was a man earnest in doing whatever he undertook in the best possible manner, and under his moulding hand his command soon became distinguished for good discipline, ease and accuracy in evolutions, and all the qualities which go to make up an effec- tive force. This excellence did not fail to attract the attention of his superior, and of President Lincoln himself, who invited the Colonel to parade with his.regiment in front of the White House, and when, in the presence of his Excellency and a large concourse of citizens, embracing officers high both in the civil and military service, it manœuvred with the precision and spirit of veterans, it was greeted with frequent outbursts of applause. The skill and energy displayed by its commander was not without its reward. On the 17th of February, 1862, he was commissioned a Brigadier-General, and assigned to the command of the brigado left vacant by the promotion of General Sedgwick, composed of the Third and Fourth Maine and the Thirty-eighth and Fortiethi New York regiments, having a place in the Third corps.
Among the first to reach the Peninsula, in MeClellan's cam- paign against Richmond, Birney's brigade was carly brought face to face with the enemy, but was restrained from attacking by the power which then exercised supreme control, and was put to felling trees and constructing works which were the wonder of the army, and from before which the enemy finally fled. At Williamsburg, the old capital of Virginia, the enemy made a stand, and Hooker, who attacked with his division, found him- self outnumbered and liable to be crushed. Kearny, who had a little before succeeded to the command of the division which embraced the brigade of Birney, came gallantly to the support of Hooker. Kearny's leading brigade was commanded by Berry ; but with this Hooker could barely hold his ground. At this
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