Sword and Pen / Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier

by John Algernon Owens

Scranton Republican.

"Sword and Pen" by John Algernon Owens, a story of endurance, patient toil, danger and daring, very entertaining, as well as instructive. In Mr. Owens Captain Glazier has found a biographer who has done him justice, and who has made a book that will be widely read.

Oswego Times and Express.

We have before us a new book, entitled "Sword and Pen; or, Ventures and Adventures in War and Literature." It is a biography of the soldier-author, Willard Glazier, a type of the adventurous American of which we may justly be proud. It takes up the boyish life of Willard Glazier, takes him from the school-room as a pupil to the school-room as a teacher, until the war of the Rebellion called him to the army. It details his adventures as a member of the Ira Harris Cavalry until his capture by the rebels, and the life he led in the prisons of the South; and is detailed in a graphic manner. When the war was over the same spirit of adventure which sent him to the front in the army drove him into other adventures. The horseback ride from ocean to ocean is described in an interesting style, followed by the search for the true source of the Mississippi River and its successful termination, together with an account of his canoe voyage to the Gulf of Mexico. The book is full of action, and is interesting as giving a correct history of the life of this remarkable man. It is profusely illustrated, and is accompanied by a map of the section covered by the source of the Mississippi.

Boston Transcript.

The biography of Willard Glazier, under the title of "Sword and Pen," has achieved a large sale in the Eastern, Western and Middle States. The subject of the biography, who is still living, was a bright, wide-awake lad, whose childhood was not more eventful than that of hundreds of other boys of like condition. He was ambitious, energetic, and wholly free from any bad habit which would operate as a drawback upon his advancement in life. His parents were not able to do more for him in the way of an education than to send him to a common district school, but he thirsted for an education, and his mind was continually busy devising ways and means to secure it. The much-needed money to pay his expenses at the Albany Normal School was at last gained by trapping minks, whose skins were worth from two to four dollars. From the Normal he went to teach school, and was engaged in this profession when the civil war broke out. He was then nineteen years old. The first shot fired at Sumter changed his whole life plans, and the summer of 1861 found him in the field as sergeant in the Second New York Cavalry. He participated in a good many exciting contests, and was finally wounded and captured at Brandy Station, in October, 1863. The story of his life in prison is vividly told. He made his escape after fourteen months' imprisonment, and made his way through the enemy's lines into Sherman's army. After the war he wrote a volume made up of his war experiences, entitled "Capture, Prison Pen, and Escape," over 400,000 copies of which have been sold. In 1876, Captain Glazier started from the Revere House, in this city, to cross the Continent on horseback, a feat which he successfully performed, reaching San Francisco in two hundred days from the time of starting—a distance of 4,133 miles. In 1881, he made a canoe voyage down the Mississippi of 3,000 miles. Captain Glazier is the author of several books, and has won considerable reputation as a lecturer. The book before us will be read with deep interest, not only for what it is worth historically, but as showing what can be accomplished by pluck and brains without the backing of money.

Buffalo News.

The readers of Captain Willard Glazier's works will be pleased with the biography of this remarkable man, published by P. W. Ziegler & Co., of Philadelphia. Captain Glazier's life is full of exciting interest, and the well-written biography holds the reader's attention to the last. The account of the discovery of the true source of the Mississippi is especially interesting from the fact that it gives the best account of that memorable event that has ever been published.

Albany Sunday Press.

"Sword and Pen." This work is the biography of a man already well-known by the American public as a soldier and an author. The subject is an especially interesting one to the people of this section, as Captain Glazier was born in St. Lawrence county of this State, and spent some years of his life in this city. His works have been read with interest by thousands, and now those who have enjoyed them will have the opportunity to learn something of the author who has for so long delighted them. This biography gives a very full and interesting account of the principal events in Captain Glazier's life, among which we notice especially his remarkable journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean on horseback, his discovery of the true source of the Mississippi River, and his canoe voyage thence to the Gulf of Mexico. All these episodes are profusely and elegantly illustrated.