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G. S. Hillard, Life and Campaigns of George B. McClellan, Major-General , U. S. Army, Appendix. Oration at West Point. (search)
The study of the history of the Revolution, and a perusal of the despatches of Washington, will convince the most skeptical of the value of the permanent army in achieving our independence and establishing the civil edifice which we are now fighting to preserve. The War of 1812 found the army on a footing far from adequate to the emergency; but it was rapidly increased, and of the new generation of soldiers many proved equal to the requirements of the occasion. Lundy's Lane, Chippewa, Queenstown, Plattsburgh, New Orleans,--all bear witness to the gallantry of the regulars. Then came an interval of more than thirty years of external peace, marked by many changes in the organization and strength of the regular army, and broken at times by tedious and bloody Indian wars. Of these the most remarkable were the Black Hawk War, in which our troops met unflinchingly a foe as relentless and far more destructive than the Indians,--that terrible scourge, the cholera; and the tedious Flor
James Barnes, author of David G. Farragut, Naval Actions of 1812, Yank ee Ships and Yankee Sailors, Commodore Bainbridge , The Blockaders, and other naval and historical works, The Photographic History of The Civil War: in ten volumes, Thousands of Scenes Photographed 1861-65, with Text by many Special Authorities, Volume 6: The Navy. (ed. Francis Trevelyan Miller), The birth of the ironclads (search)
nothing of being able to cross the ocean. In the spring of 1866, therefore, the Navy Department determined to despatch the Miantonomoh across the Atlantic; and, to show his faith in the iron coffins he had advocated, Assistant Secretary Fox embarked on her at St. John, N. B., on June 5th. Meanwhile the Monadnock had been despatched around the Horn to San Francisco; her progress was watched with far greater enthusiasm than that of the Oregon during the Spanish War. The Miantonomoh reached Queenstown in safety, after a passage of ten days and eighteen hours, and about the same time the Monadnock arrived at her destination, thus proving beyond cavil both the speed and seaworthiness of the American monitor. An epoch in naval warfare Under the date of July 4, 1861, the Secretary of the Navy of the United States, the Honorable Gideon Welles, in his report, explained very clearly the exact position of the iron-clad vessel of war during its period of inception. Caution, and doubt
chin,— Clerks that the Home-Guard mustered in,— Glanced, as they passed, at the hat he wore, Then at the rifle his right hand bore; John Burns: the subject of Bret Harte's poem. These photographs present at his home the man of whom Harte wrote the half-humorous poem. According to common report, Burns was seventy years old when the battle was fought. In the war of 1812, though still a youth, he had been among the first to volunteer; and he took part in the battles of Plattsburg, Queenstown, and Lundy's Lane. In 1846 he again volunteered for service in the American armies, and served through the Mexican War. At the beginning of the Civil War he tried to enlist once more, but the officer told him that a man of sixty-seven was not acceptable for active service. He did, however, secure employment for a time as a teamster but was finally sent home to Gettysburg. To keep him contented his townsmen elected him constable of the then obscure village. He took his duties very serio
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Beaver Dams, affair at the. (search)
this post and its stores, and for that purpose he detached 570 infantry, some cavalry under Major Chapin, a few artillerymen, and two field-pieces, all under the command of Lieut.-Col. Charles G. Boerstler. They marched up the Niagara River to Queenstown (June 23, 1813), and the next morning pushed off westward. Their march appears to have been discovered by the British, for while Chapin's mounted men were in the advance and marching among the hills, Boerstler's rear was attacked by John Brantlmost surrounded by them. After keeping up this contest, for about three hours, Boerstler determined to abandon the expedition, when he found himself confronted by an unexpected force. Mrs. Laura Secord, a slight and delicate woman, living at Queenstown, became acquainted with Dearborn's plans, and at the time when Boerstler and his forces left Fort George--a hot summer evening — she made a circuitous journey of 19 miles on foot to the quarters of Lieutenant-Colonel Fitzgibbon (who was in comm
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Martin, Luther 1748-1826 (search)
Martin, Luther 1748-1826 Jurist; born in New Brunswick, N. J., Feb. 9, 1748; graduated at Princeton in 1766; taught school at Queenstown, Md.; was admitted to the bar in 1771; and soon obtained a lucrative practice in Maryland. He was a decided patriot, but was not found in public office until 1778, when he was attorney-general. He had been a member of a committee to oppose the claims of Great Britain in 1774, and wrote essays and made addresses on the topics of the day. In 1784-85 he was in Congress, and was a member of the convention which framed the national Constitution, the adoption of which he opposed, because it did not sufficiently recognize the equality of the States. He was a defender of Judge Chase when he was impeached, and in 1807 he was one of the successful defendants of Aaron Burr, his personal friend, in his trial for treason, at Richmond. In 1813 Mr. Martin was made chief-justice of the court of oyer and terminer in Baltimore, and in 1818 he again became att
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Samuels, Samuel 1823- (search)
Samuels, Samuel 1823- Seaman; born in Philadelphia, Pa., March 14, 1823; went to sea when eleven years old as cabin-boy, and advanced to merchant captain when twenty-one years old; commanded the Dreadnaught for several years; captain of the United States steamship John Rice in 1863-64; general superintendent of the quartermaster's department in New York City in 1864; commanded the McClellan at the taking of Fort Fisher in 1865; captain of the Fulton in 1866; the Henrietta yacht in her race from New York to Southampton; the Dauntless in her race with the Cambria from Queenstown to New York in 1870, and with the Comet in 1877. He organized the Samana Bay Company of Santo Domingo in 1872; and later was at the head of several large business enterprises. Captain Samuels published a nar- The Golden Gate, San Francisco. rative of his early life under the title of From forecastle to cabin.
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), United States of America. (search)
.March 3, 1887 Tenure of office act repealed......March 3, 1887 Act for return and recoinage at par of trade dollars......March 3, 1887 Forty-ninth Congress adjourns......March 3, 1887 Henry Ward Beecher, stricken with apoplexy, March 2, dies in Brooklyn......March 8, 1887 James B. Eads, engineer, born 1820, dies at Nassau, N. P.......March 8, 1887 Inter-State commerce commission appointed by the President......March 22, 1887 Transatlantic yacht race from Sandy Hook to Queenstown, between the Coronet and Dauntless, won by the former in 14 days, 19 hours, 3 minutes, 14 seconds, sailing 2,934 miles......March 27, 1887 John G. Saxe, poet, born 1816, dies in Albany, N. Y.......March 31, 1887 Body of Abraham Lincoln, carefully guarded since an effort to steal it from the sarcophagus of the Lincoln monument, Springfield, Ill., made in 1876, is buried in a grave dug in the crypt and covered with six feet of cement, the sarcophagus being replaced......April 14, 1887
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Wrecks. (search)
lives lost......Oct. 22, 1872 White Star steamer Atlantic strikes on Marr's Rock, off Nova Scotia; 547 lives lost out of 976......April 1, 1873 French steamer Ville du Havre, from New York to Havre, sunk in sixteen minutes in mid-ocean by collision with ship Loch Earn; 230 lives lost out of 313......Nov. 23, 1873 American steamer City of Waco burned off Galveston bar; fifty-three lives lost......Nov. 9, 1875 American ship Harvest Queen wrecked by collision about 45 miles from Queenstown; twenty-seven lives lost......Dec. 31, 1875 Loss of twelve American whaling ships in Arctic ice, reported by whaling bark Florence; about 100 lives lost......Oct. 12, 1876 British ship Circassian stranded on Bridgehampton Beach, L. I.; twenty-eight lives lost......Dec. 29, 1876 American steamer George Cromwell stranded off Cape St. Mary's, Newfoundland; thirty lives lost......Jan. 5, 1877 American steamer George Washington stranded off Mistaken Point, Newfoundland; twenty-five
which we gave chase in turn. This last ship was to be our first prize in East-Indian waters. A gun brought the welcome stars and stripes to her peak, and upon being boarded, she proved to be the bark Amanda, of Boston, from Manilla bound to Queenstown for orders. The Amanda was a fine, rakish-looking ship, and had a cargo of hemp, and sugar. She was under charter-party to proceed first to Queenstown, and thence to the United States, for a market, if it should be deemed advisable. On the fQueenstown, and thence to the United States, for a market, if it should be deemed advisable. On the face of each of the three bills of lading found among her papers, was the following certificate from the British Consul at Manilla:—I hereby certify that Messrs. Ker & Co., the shippers of the merchandise specified in this bill of lading, are British subjects established in Manilla, and that according to invoices produced, the said merchandise is shipped by order, and for account of Messrs. Holliday, Fox & Co., British subjects, of London, in Great Britain. As nobody swore to anything, before th
Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 4, Chapter 57: attempts to reconcile the President and the senator.—ineligibility of the President for a second term.—the Civil-rights Bill.—sale of arms to France.—the liberal Republican party: Horace Greeley its candidate adopted by the Democrats.—Sumner's reserve.—his relations with Republican friends and his colleague.—speech against the President.—support of Greeley.—last journey to Europe.—a meeting with Motley.—a night with John Bright.—the President's re-election.—1871-1872. (search)
e left us for Liverpool; the day was not a pleasant one,—weather unsettled and rough. I was not well enough to go with him to Liverpool, which I much regretted. I was anxious about his voyage (luring the winter season. I give you these few particulars of his visit; it was a visit most pleasant to me and to my family. Sumner left Liverpool by the Baltic, of the White Star line, November 14, and arrived in New York the 26th, refusing the offer from the company of a free passage. From Queenstown he wrote to Mr. Bright: I leave England with regret, wishing I could see more and mingle more with English people, who are for me most agreeable and interesting. Especially do I regret Inverary, which I should have visited, my last day with you was very pleasant, but too brief. Good-by. The vessel encountered a violent gale for two days, and afterwards boats manned from her rescued the crew of a disabled ship. Sumner was chairman of a meeting of the passengers, at which a contribution