USA > Washington > History of Washington; the rise and progress of an American state, Vol. IV > Part 9
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* These were Mrs. Gay Hayden, Mrs. M. E. Nicholson, Mrs. Amanda Loomis, Mrs. C. N. Whitney, Mrs. Mary Turnbull, Mrs. Susan Turnbull, Mrs. S. A. Fletcher, Mrs. S. J. Hakes, Mrs. E. S. McConnell, Mrs. E. Durgin, Mrs. Middleton, Mrs. L. Slocum, Mrs. R. Brown, Mrs. E. J. Troup, Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. M. S. Stablet. When their work was completed at the close of the war, these ladies resolved to meet and dine together once a year, so long as any of them should live, and this they did until 1904, when the last meeting was held in Portland. Since then the few surviving members have been too widely scattered and too old and feeble to be able to attend. Mrs. Hayden now (1909) lives in Seattle, Mrs. Troup in the Philippines and Mrs. Freeman in Scappoose, Oregon.
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held fairs, dances at the fort, and collected money by all the means usually devised by charitable organizations.
The work was taken up by ladies in other towns and even in the country neighborhoods, and contributions soon became so numerous and so large that a central organization was formed at Olympia, with General W. W. Miller as treasurer, to receive and forward the money offered for this purpose. One of the earliest contributions received was $700, from Port Madison. In a single issue of the "Overland Press," published at Olympia, the following contributions were acknowledged : Monticello Precinct, $210.50; Boisfort Prai- rie, $101.55; Claquato, $102; Port Angeles, $30; Grand Prairie, $15; Chehalis Point, $14; Clallam, $41.50; Whidby Island, $223.37; Yelm Precinct, $51.67. "The Northwest," published at Port Townsend, reported the total contributed by the mill company at Port Gamble, and its employees, down to October 30, 1862, at $2,204.35.
As a part of the history of the territory in the civil war, it will be interesting to trace the careers of those officers of the regular army who earlier saw service in it, and with whom its people became more or less acquainted before and during the Indian war. Two among these, Grant and Sheridan, attained first places in command, and won undying fame. Grant had spent only one year at Fort Vancouver, and Sheridan had arrived at that fort in October 1855, and remained in Washington and Oregon until the war began in 1861. Meantime he had been in the skirmishes on the Yakima in which the Rains expedition engaged, and in the fighting at the relief of the Cascades.
The careers of these distinguished officers are too well known to need recital here. Of the others General W. G. Harney was relieved from his command in Oregon shortly
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after the San Juan incident, and called to Washington. In April 1861 he was assigned to command in the West, with headquarters in St. Louis. While on his way to his new post he was arrested by the Confederates at Harper's Ferry, and taken to Richmond, where he met a number of his old associates, including Lee and Joseph E. Johnston, who had already joined the secession movement. His loyalty does not, however, appear to have been shaken by the interviews he had with them. He was soon released and permitted to go on his way to his new post of duty. He arrived in St. Louis at a time when the war feeling was at fever heat, and his conservative policy was not at all relished by the Union element, led by Frank Blair and Captain Nathaniel Lyon. His Southern birth* made it natural for the loyal element to distrust him, and his unwillingness to take aggressive measures led to his being relieved from his command. He was soon after reinstated, and published a proclamation declaring that "Missouri must share the destiny of the Union," which for the time being won him the confidence of a large part of the Unionists. But shortly afterwards he entered into an agreement with Governor Jackson and General Price, for the purpose "of restoring peace and good order to the people of the state, in subordination to the laws of the general and state governments," which was deemed so liberal to the insurrectionists, and so compromising to the Federal authority, that he was again relieved from com- mand, and the great opportunity of his life was gone forever.
At the outbreak of the war the officers highest in command of the army were one major-general, who was a lieutenant- general by brevet, and four brigadiers. Of these four, one,
* Harney was born in Tennessee, and appointed to the army from Louisiana.
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Twiggs, had been dismissed for surrendering his department to the Confederates, and another, Joseph E. Johnston, had early resigned and been appointed one of the four officers highest in command in the Confederate army. Wool and Harney were the remaining two, and Wool was 75 years old, while Harney was but 61. The new administration urgently needed a commander for its armies, and although Scott, who fully realized that he was too old for active command, had selected Lee, who was then only a lieutenant-colonel in the Second Cavalry, as his successor, his resignation had left the way open for another, and Harney would naturally have been chosen, had he been as prompt and aggressive in asserting the authority of the government as he had been two years earlier at San Juan Island. How difficult the situation was for those who were required to choose a com- mander, is shown by the fact that, of the three greatest who were finally found, two-Grant and Sherman-were dis- covered among officers who had served on the Pacific Coast, but had resigned from the army before the war began, and one, Sheridan, was an obscure lieutenant at one of the most remote posts on the Oregon frontier. At the moment there was no officer then in service, whose abilities and experience were so well calculated to command confidence, as those of Harney, had there been no cause to suspect his loyalty.
Lieutenant-Colonel Silas Casey, who was for so long a time in command at Fort Steilacoom, was made a brigadier- general in 1861, and assigned to organize the volunteers in Washington, D. C. He afterwards commanded a division in General E. D. Keyes' corps, on the peninsula, and was in the front at the battle of Fair Oaks, before Richmond, and was brevetted a brigadier in the regular army, and major-general of volunteers for distinguished gallantry. He
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subsequently served as president of the board for the exami- nation of officers to command colored troops, and was finally brevetted major-general in the regular army and retired in 1868 with that rank.
Lieutenant Augustus V. Kautz traveled in Europe for a year after the close of the Indian war, and on the breaking out of the rebellion, he was commissioned captain in the 6th cavalry. He was in the Seven Days' battles before Richmond, after which he became colonel of the 2d Ohio cavalry, with which he took part in the battle of South Mountain in 1862. His regiment was then sent to Camp Chase at Columbus, to refit, and he commanded that post until April 1863, when he was assigned to command a brigade of cavalry in the Army of the Ohio. He took part in the capture of Monticello, Ky., and subsequently in the pursuit and capture of John Morgan's raiders. For a time he was chief of cavalry in the 23d corps, and, in May 1864, was made a brigadier-general of volunteers, and assigned to command a division in the Army of the James. He entered Petersburg with a small command in June 1864, and was rewarded with the brevet of lieutenant-colonel in the regular army. He next led the advance in Wilson's raid, which cut the railroads south of Petersburg and Rich- mond, and in March 1865 he was given command of a division of colored troops, with which he entered Richmond April 3d. Later he was breveted brigadier-general in the regular army, for gallant and meritorious service. In 1866 he was made lieutenant-colonel of the 34th infantry, and in 1874 colonel of the 8th infantry. His last promotion was to the full rank of brigadier-general, after which he was assigned to command the department of the Columbia. After his retirement from the service, he spent a large part
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of his time on the Sound, which was his home, and where he acquired a considerable fortune. He died at Seattle, September 4, 1895.
Lieutenant Robert N. Scott, son of Rev. Dr. Scott, was with Haller at Port Townsend. He married a daughter of Gen. Silas Casey. During the civil war he served as an officer of Gen. Halleck's staff.
Colonel George Wright was a native of Vermont. At the beginning of the civil war he was commander of the department of Oregon, and was promoted to the command of the whole coast, with headquarters at San Francisco, in September 1861, with the rank of brigadier-general of volun- teers. He remained in this position during the war, and in 1864 was brevetted brigadier-general in the regular army. In 1865, he was again assigned to the department of the Columbia, and while on the way to Vancouver, accompanied by his wife, was drowned by the sinking of the steamer Brother Jonathan, off Crescent City, Oregon, July 30, 1865.
Captain E. D. Keyes was promoted major, after the Indian war closed, in 1858. He had served in Charleston Harbor during the Nullification excitement in 1832, and afterwards as an aid on General Scott's staff. He was the latter's secretary in 1860, and in May 1861, after so many of the officers from the South had resigned, was appointed colonel of the IIth infantry. Soon after he was advanced to be brigadier-general. In the Peninsular campaign he com- manded the 4th corps, and in 1862 he was made major- general of volunteers. He was engaged in operations along the James River under John A. Dix, during the Gettys- burg campaign, though he accomplished but little. He resigned in May 1864 and removed to California.
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Captain James A. Hardie, of the 9th infantry, who took part with Wright in the final campaign in eastern Washing- ton, served on McClellan's staff during the Peninsular cam- paign, and on that of Burnside in the battles around Fred- ericksburg. He was made a brigadier in 1862, and after 1863 was assistant secretary of war under Stanton, when he was appointed inspector-general, and brevetted a major- general.
Lieutenant David McM. Gregg, of the Ist dragoons, who was also in Wright's campaign, was made a captain in 1861, and soon after became colonel of the 8th Pennsylvania cavalry. He was in the Seven Days' battles before Rich- mond, and won the rank of brigadier. He commanded a cavalry division, under Stoneman and Pleasanton, and took part in the battles at Beverly Ford, Aldie, Gettysburg, Rapi- dan Station and New Hope Church. He commanded the 2d cavalry division, under Sheridan, in 1864, and was one of his principal lieutenants in the great raid in the rear of Lee's army, toward Richmond, while the fighting in the Wilderness was in progress. He finally commanded all the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, from August 1, 1864, until Febru- ary 1865, when he resigned.
Major W. N. Grier, of the Ist dragoons, was made inspec- tor-general of the Army of the Potomac, in 1861, and com- manded the Ist regiment of cavalry in the Peninsular cam- paign. He was at the siege of Yorktown, the battle at Williamsburg, and at Gaines' Mill, and took part in the Seven Days' battles. He was afterwards on court martial and recruiting duty, and was finally brevetted a brigadier- general in the regular army.
Captain F. L. Dent, of the 9th infantry, was promoted to the rank of major in 1863, and commanded a regiment of
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infantry in the Army of the Potomac. He was sent with his regiment to suppress the riots in New York, in that year, and for a time served on a military commission to try state prisoners, after which he became a member of the staff of Lieutenant-General Grant. He was retired at his own request in 1883, after forty years of service.
Captain R. W. Kirkham, who was Wright's quartermaster and commissary, served with him in the same capacity, in the department of the Pacific, and that of California. In 1870-71 he visited the Far East, in company with William H. Seward.
Captain E. O. C. Ord of the 3d artillery, who was with Rains in one of the first campaigns of the Indian war, and with Wright at the battles of Four Lakes and Spokane Plains, subsequently became one of the most distinguished officers in the Union army. He was at the Presidio in California when the war began, but was called East, and almost imme- diately made a brigadier-general in the Army of the Potomac. He was in the combats at Dranesville and Ball's Bluff, and later was sent to the Western army, where he partici- pated in the battles before Corinth, and was severely wounded. He afterwards commanded the 13th corps, and the right wing of Sherman's army in the movement against Jackson. His corps was for a time in the department of the Gulf, but in July 1864, he was transferred to Baltimore, and given command of the 8th corps. Later he commanded the 18th corps, and took part in many of the battles about Petersburg. Sherman says that "his skilful, hard march the night before was one of the chief causes of Lee's surrender."
Lieutenant M. R. Morgan of the 3d artillery, who was with Wright in his final campaign, subsequently became a distinguished officer in the commissary department of
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the army operating against Richmond. After the war he was commissary-general in several departments, and was finally retired in 1894 with the rank of brigadier-general.
Lieutenant R. O. Tyler of the 3d artillery was sent to relieve Fort Sumpter in 1861, and witnessed its bombard- ment. He also helped to reopen communication with Balti- more, after the attack on the 6th Massachusetts regiment in
that city. He took part in the Peninsular campaign, where he won the rank of brigadier-general, and at Fredericksburg he had charge of the artillery of the Central Grand Division. He won distinction both at Chancellorsville and at Gettys- burg, and was subsequently a division commander in the 22d corps. He took part in the battles of Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor in 1864, and at the latter was so severely wounded that he was forever after unfitted for active service.
Captain Rufus Ingalls, of the quartermaster's department, who was on General Harney's staff at the the time of the San Juan affair, subsequently became one of the most dis- tinguished officers in the quartermaster's service in the Union armies. He was chief quartermaster in the Army of the Potomac, under all its commanders, from McClellan to Grant, and was present at the battles of South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and nearly all the great battles from the time Grant took com- mand until Lee surrendered. He achieved the rank of major-general, and finally became quartermaster-general of the army.
Colonel Steinberger, of the Ist Washington, was em- ployed as agent for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and the Adams Express Company in Portland, before his appointment as colonel, with authority to raise the regiment in Washington and California. After the war he was given
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a commission in the pay department of the regular army, in which he rose to the rank of major. He was killed by being thrown from his horse at Helena, Montana, October 13, 1870, and was buried at Fort Shaw.
Charles P. Eagan, who was appointed first lieutenant in the Ist Washington regiment, July 21, 1862, became second lieutenant of the 9th infantry in 1866, and rose through the successive grades to be brigadier-general, and served as commissary general of the army from May 3, 1898 to his retirement in 1900.
General John M. Wilson of the regular army was ap- pointed a cadet at West Point from Washington Territory in 1855. He graduated in 1860, and served as a lieutenant in the artillery at Washington and Fortress Monroe until 1861. He was at the first battle of Bull Run, and in the Peninsular campaign, winning a brevet as captain at Gaines' Mill. He was transferred to the engineer corps in 1862, with which he served till the close of the war. He was then employed in various engineering duties until 1889, when he became superintendent of West Point. Afterwards he became colonel, and finally brigadier-general and chief of engineers.
Lieutenant W. D. Pender, of the Ist dragoons, was a North Carolinian, and was educated at West Point. He resigned from Wright's command in March 1861, and returning East became colonel of the 6th North Carolina regiment. He was made a brigadier in 1862, and a major- general in May 1863. He commanded a brigade at Chancel- lorsville, and a division in the Gettysburg campaign, where he was mortally wounded in the second day's fighting. In reporting his death General Lee said of him: "This lament- ed officer has borne a distinguished part in every engagement
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of this army, and was wounded on several occasions, while leading his command with conspicuous gallantry and ability."
Major Robert Selden Garnett, who commanded at Fort Simcoe while Wright was making the more active part of his first campaign against the Indians, in eastern Washington, was in Europe when the war broke out, but returned almost immediately, resigned his commission, and tendered his services to Virginia, his native State. He was appointed adjutant-general of State troops, with the rank of colonel, and in June 1861 was made brigadier-general in the Con- federate services. He was killed in an engagement in the mountains of West Virginia, during McClellan's campaign in that region in June 1861.
Captain Charles S. Winder was a native of Maryland. He resigned at the beginning of the war, and became a major of artillery in the Confederate army. Later he was made colonel of the 6th South Carolina infantry, and sub- sequently a brigadier-general. He was killed at the battle of Cedar Mountain.
Of the naval officers, Lieutenant Thomas Stowell Phelps, who was attached to the Decatur, and did good service during the attack on Seattle, was with the relief expedition sent to Fort Sumpter in 1861, and was afterwards engaged in the secret service on the coast of North Carolina. He was in the battle with the gunboat Curlew in Hatteras Inlet, and subsequently in the attack on the batteries at Yorktown and Gloucester Point. At the battle of West Point he did good service in preventing the junction of a large force of Confederates with their main army. He was made lieu- tenant-commander in 1862, and commanded the Juniata in the attack on Fort Fisher. He was commissioned
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commander in 1865, captain in 1871, commodore in 1879, and rear-admiral in 1885.
Captain Guert Gansevoort, who commanded the Decatur in the battle at Seattle, had been executive officer on board the brig Somers in 1842, which was at the time manned chiefly by naval apprentices, and on board which a mutiny occurred, while on the return trip from the coast of Africa. One of the leaders of the mutiny was a son of the secretary of war, but in spite of this fact Captain Mackenzie ordered the leaders arrested. They were tried on board ship, found guilty, and young Spencer, the secretary's son and some of the others were executed at sea. For some time after the beginning of the civil war, Gansevoort was chief of ordnance at the Brooklyn navy yard, and later commanded the iron- clad Roanoke. He was forty years in the service and retired with the rank of commodore.
Lieutenant George Upham Morris greatly distinguished himself by his defense of the Cumberland in Hampton Roads, when she was attacked by the Merrimac, the day before the battle with the Monitor. When called upon to surrender, after his ship had been struck and was a hopeless wreck, he replied that he would sink first. Inspired by his heroic conduct, his crew stood to their guns until the last moment and fired a parting broadside at their assailant when the muzzles of their guns were almost touching the water. This broadside has been referred to as "the final salute of the wooden navy."
Lieutenant E. P. Alexander, of the engineer corps, was stationed at Fort Steilacoom when the war broke out in 1861, although he had been there only a few months. He was a native of Georgia and, as soon as he learned that his State had seceded, resolved to go with it. He sailed from Port
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Townsend on April 9th for San Francisco, and "just four years later to an hour," he says in his Military Memoirs of a Confederate, "I saw General Lee ride back to his lines from Appomattox Court House, where he had just surren- dered his army." Meantime Alexander had become a dis- tinguished officer in the Confederate service; had participated in the Seven Days' battles in 1862, was at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and had commanded the artillery of Longstreet's corps at Gettysburg. In the latter battle he had been in charge of the Confederate guns during the great artillery duel of the third day, the purpose of which was to demoralize the Federal lines on Cemetery Hill, and so prepare the way for Pickett's charge. Longstreet had directed him to give the word to Pickett, when he should think a favorable moment had arrived to begin the charge, but he had shrunk from that responsibility, and notified Longstreet that he would expect him to decide that important matter himself. In his book he has given the best account of this, as well as several other great battles of the war in which he took part, that has so far been written by any who saw them from the Confederate side.
Major Gabriel J. Rains was promoted to be a lieu- tenant-colonel, just before he resigned from the army in July 1861. He was soon after made a brigadier- general in the Confederate army. He led a division at Wilson's Creek, and was at Shiloh and Perryville. He was then transferred to the Eastern army, where he was wounded, and was then placed in charge of the conscrip- tion and torpedo bureaus in Richmond, and afterwards at Charleston, and superintended the placing of torpedoes for the defense of Richmond, Charleston, Savannah and Mobile.
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But of all the officers who had seen service in Washington' and left it to join the army of the Confederacy, George E. Pickett won the most brilliant reputation. Even if he had not been chosen to lead that famous charge up Cemetery Ridge, he would be remembered as one of the best fighters in that army. "We tried very hard," says General Lee, in reporting one of the battles with Grant's army in front of Petersburg, "to stop Pickett's men from capturing the breast- works of the enemy, but could not do it." His famous bri- gade, composed wholly of Virginia regiments, was known as "the Gamecock Brigade," and it was as firm and heroic everywhere as in the charge at Gettysburg. Its efficiency was due largely, if not entirely, to the soldierly conduct and ability of its commander. The American soldier is every- where and always the same; but he requires a leader, for masses of men cannot move themselves. They require to be placed in position, and assured that their energies will be well directed, and they do all that is required of them, and have done so from Lexington to San Juan Hill. If they have failed, it has been the fault of their commanders. It was the soul of Napoleon that inspired the old guard; the soul of Washington that inspired the ragged and ill-fed soldiers of the revolution; the souls of Grant, and Sherman, and Sheridan, and Lee, and "Stonewall" Jackson, that inspired those of the civil war, to do the heroic deeds they did on many fields. It was the soul of Pickett that inspired Pickett's brigade, and it was the same soul that first found itself at San Juan Island.
Pickett resigned June 25, 1861, and went to Portland to take the steamer to San Francisco. Edward Huggins, who knew him well, saw him as he passed Fort Nisqually, and says "he rode straight forward, looking neither to the right
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or left, and I did not speak to him." He was given a colonel's commission when he reached Virginia, his native State, and in 1862 was made a brigadier, and a few months later, after the close of the first Maryland campaign, a major- general. He was in most of the great battles fought by the Army of Northern Virginia, except Chancellorsville. General Grant took a special interest in him after the war closed, and early relieved him from the limitation of his parole requiring him to remain at his home, by a special letter written with his own hand.
Captain C. C. Augur, of the 4th infantry, whose company with that of Haller's charged the Indians at the battle of Two Buttes, in the futile Rains' campaign, won distinction in the Army of the Potomac, and in Louisiana. He was severely wounded at Cedar Mountain, and was a member of the commission that investigated the surrender of Harper's Ferry. He was made major-general of volunteers in 1862 and commanded the right wing of the army at the siege of Port Hudson. From October 1863 to 1866 he was in com- mand in the city of Washington.
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