The career disclosed by this brief recital, although but the skeleton of his gallant service in behalf of his country, is one of which his friends may well be proud, but to stop with it would not satisfy those who followed his leadership with confidence and recall his memory with affectionate regard.
Having been much in personal contact with him in camp, on the march, and in action, the writer may take a partial view of his character—but to-day, after the lapse of many years, recollecting his strong and weak points, and he had them both, I deem it only a just tribute to the "old Colonel," as the boys used to call him, to say that he was a brave soldier, an able and skillful officer, a faithful and generous friend.
He was unfortunate in a nervous organization, which sometimes affected his temper, compelling him to do and say things which he had occasion to regret and which unfitted him for camp life. In its monotony he grew restive and irritable, sometimes by too violent manifestations of his feelings, giving offense to brother officers without just cause—but mounted and at the head of the 9th, and fronting the enemy or leading the charge, he was always the alert, gallant and splendid leader.
The education he was possessed of, was of a solid character and was derived more from contact with men than from books. He did not affect learning, though he was intelligent and well informed on current affairs. Had he begun his career in the army with higher rank than a Lieutenancy, or with influential friends to have secured the prompter recognition of his merits, or earlier obtained opportunities for the display of his soldierly qualities, he would have won distinction in a war so fruitful of able Generals. As it is, his friends must be content with the knowledge that in the various posts assigned him he was faithful, capable and brave, and that those esteemed him most who knew him best.
WRECK OF THE SULTANA.
No single event during the war so startled and shocked the North as that which has since been known as the "Sultana Disaster."
On the 23d day of April, 1865, the steamer Sultana left Vicksburg with a total of passengers and crew of 2,141 persons. Of this number thirty-five were Federal officers and 1,996 Federal soldiers, recently having been released from Catawba, Enterprise and Andersonville prisons. The remaining 110 were made up of the crew and passengers taken on board at points between New Orleans and Vicksburg.
The physical condition of these officers and soldiers is well known to those familiar with the treatment received by Federals in Southern prisons,—long confinement in stockades, without protection from heat or cold, or rain, without adequate food or clothing, deprived in sickness of medical aid and the commonest comforts. All were weak and many were absolutely helpless in the presence of danger.
The estimated capacity of the boat was 376 persons, besides the crew. The overloading of the boat made it necessary to make any disposition of the men practicable. They occupied all available room. They were stowed away wherever space was found to place them. The trip up the river to the place of the tragedy was made without the occurrence of any unusual incident. The last stop was at Memphis, at which place the boat took on coal. At about 3 o'clock on the morning of the 27th of April, 1865, when opposite Fogleman's Landing, some eight miles above Memphis, the steamer's boiler exploded. The vessel took fire immediately and was soon burned to the water's edge.
It were idle to attempt a description of the scene that followed that explosion. It was 3 o'clock in the morning. The water was very cold. Many passed from the sleep of life to the sleep of death without awakening. Others without warning found themselves rudely awakened by contact with the icy water of the Mississippi. They saw the fierce river lit up by the burning steamer; saw their comrades struggling with the waves, heard their appeals for help, without the power to respond. They fought bravely with the darkness and cold and flood for life, sometimes even to death for the possession of a log, or boat, or other float, that could bear but one, often cruelly, but naturally asserting Nature's first law, when its assertion meant death to a weaker brother. Yet such sad pictures were relieved by others of devotion and gallantry and sacrifice not surpassed in earthly trials. Some who were able to swim, notwithstanding the shock and chill of the waters, kept afloat for a time, and were successful in getting hold of floating planks and rails, and thus maintaining themselves until rescued. Many floated thus as far as Memphis before they were picked up, and though rescued from the water, died soon after from the scalding and burns received on the vessel, and from long exposure to the cold and from exhaustion. An instance is related of a mother, who clasping her babe in her arms, floated from the wreck to Memphis, where she was taken from the water. She lived, but the little one was dead.