McKinley made a good soldier and saw plenty of fighting. Six weeks after leaving Columbus, his regiment was in the battle of Carnifex Ferry, Western Virginia, where the only victories of the early days of the war were won. It was the hardest kind of work, hurrying back and forth through the mountains, drenched by rains, and on short rations most of the time. The boy did his work well and was soon ordered to Washington, where he became one of the units in the splendid Army of the Potomac under General McClellan.
At Antietam, the bloodiest battle of the war, McKinley's gallantry was so conspicuous that he was promoted to a lieutenancy. He was sent to West Virginia again, where he was fighting continually. As an evidence of the kind of work he did, it may be said that one morning his regiment breakfasted in Pennsylvania, ate dinner in Maryland, and took supper in Virginia.
Winning promotion by his fine conduct, he became captain, July 25, 1864, and was brevetted major, on the recommendation of General Sheridan, for conspicuous bravery at Cedar Creek and Fisher's Hill. The title, "Major McKinley," therefore, is the military one by which the President is remembered.
With the coming of peace, the young man found himself a veteran of the war at the age of twenty-two, and compelled to decide upon the means of earning his living. He took up the study of law, and was graduated from the Albany, N.Y., law school, and admitted to the bar in 1867. He began practice in Canton, Ohio, and, by his ability and conscientious devotion, soon achieved success. He early showed an interest in politics, and was often called upon to make public addresses. He identified himself with the Republican party, and was elected district attorney in Stark County, which almost invariably went Democratic. In 1876, he was elected to Congress, against a normal Democratic majority, for five successive terms, being defeated when he ran the sixth time through the gerrymandering of his district by his political opponents.
GREATER NEW YORK.
On January 1, 1898, Greater New York was created by the union of New York, Brooklyn, Long Island City, and Staten Island, into one municipality. The city now covers nearly 318 square miles, contains over three and one-half millions inhabitants, and, next to London, is the largest city in the world.
During his seven terms in Congress, Mr. McKinley was noted for his clear grasp of national questions and his interest in tariff legislation. It was in 1890 that he brought about the passage of the tariff measure which is always associated with his name. In the same year he was defeated, but, being nominated for governor, he was elected by 80,000 majority. As in the case of Mr. Cleveland, this triumph attracted national attention, and his administration was so satisfactory that he could have received the nomination for the presidency twice before he accepted it.
The presidential administration of McKinley has proven one of the most eventful in our history, for, as set forth in the following chapters, it marked our entrance among the leading nations of the world, in the field of territorial expansion beyond the limits of our own continent and hemisphere. Before entering upon the history of this phase of our national existence, attention must be given to important happenings of a different nature. One of these was the organization of what is popularly known as "Greater New York."