SKETCH OF GENERAL LYON.
Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon was born in the State of Connecticut, in the year 1818, and entered the military academy at West Point in 1837, where he graduated four years afterwards with the rank of Second-Lieutenant of the Second Infantry. In February, 1847, he was made First-Lieutenant, and for gallant conduct in the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco, during the following August, was breveted Captain. On the 13th of September he was severely wounded in a most desperate assault, and in June, 1851, was promoted to a captaincy, which rank he held at the time of the troubles in Kansas. As has been stated, he was in command of the Missouri Volunteers at the capture of Camp Jackson, and was for his well-proven bravery and eminent ability, promoted to the rank which he held at the time of his death. In personal appearance he was about five feet and eight inches in height, his frame wiry and muscular. His hair was long and thick, his whiskers sandy and heavy, and his eyes of a blueish gray. His forehead was high and broad, with a firm expression of the lips, and a countenance that indicated an intellect of no ordinary capacity. He was a strict disciplinarian, endeared to his soldiers, and universally regretted by the whole country which followed him to the grave with deep and mournful affection. In his will, made before he started on his last campaign, he left his entire property to the country for which he gave his life.