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Show IK v M ST Him rr hp m . m n a b f a m the generals who are left on both I fl II if 1,1 1 I f ' I it IJIi m m mwrBm Mm lILJpl il I 1 1 II sides.-but one lieutenant-general li H mm Jr mil frlll 1 1 11 I w 11 1 W lH JP im I r" 1 1 JP jr ANP a dozen major-generals : IH' 9 m. m mx" m l w H r k copyright, 1909, by john elteeth watkens. H IK What great generals of the Civil W -war hnvo survived to see this Memo-Hi Memo-Hi rial day? Upon the roll of lioutonant-Hj lioutonant-Hj generals but one is left, and he of tho tf gr-y .arm.v Simon .Bolivar Buckuer. WL STow in his eighty-seventh jcar, he is MB passing the winter of his prolonged mf and ccntfnl life in retirement at his R. old home in AEunfordville, Ky. When K this now hoaiy soldier was graduated Iff at tho Military academy, back in -'44, K Arthur MacArthur, the present lieu-Hf lieu-Hf tenant-general of our army, was not nt born, and few. if any. of our Troscnt !y generals on ihe active list had 3fet seen r tho light when young Buckner had raff ra-ff eeivod two brevets for gallantry in i three bloody battles of tho Mexican war. More than throe score years and ien ago. before the birth of 'men now living within I. ho lime allotted by the k Scriptures, this veteran had, with' trus-;. trus-;. ty blade, cut his way through one i bloody struggle, wounded, though bon-. bon-. ored. Bui many more strenuous days f wore yet coming to him days spent in : plotting the Civil war, as leader of Kentucky's Knights of the Golden Circle, Cir-cle, then exciting days of fighting at r the head of a brigade, long days in f prison at Boston in the spring and summer of '02; thon thrilling days as division commander in Bragg 's army, and nest, as major-gen era I at Murfrijs-born Murfrijs-born and ( 'hirkamauga, iinally as lieutenant-general. He fought to the last i ditch, through the last battle of the civil struggle, giving up his sword only at the surrender of Kirby Smith, the final surrender of the - war, at Baton "Rouge. May 2G, ISti.j. And after the struggle he was -one of the first of the Confederate generals to work for a more closely cemented nation, and ho had the graco to act as ono of. .Grant's pallbearers. In 1SS7 he was elected go crn or of Kentucky, and nine years later, when Bryan 'and Hewail were nominated by the silver wing of his parly, he was the choice of the crold wing for vice president on ihe ticket, headed by his old-lime war cncinyr General Palmer. Osterhaus at Eighty-Six. There arc but fourteen Civil war major-generals left, seven of the blue and seven of the gray army. The oldest of the Union side surviving is Peter Joseph Osterhaus, who is in tho oighty-pcenth oighty-pcenth year of Ins age, and is now living liv-ing upon his native soil, back in Germany. Ger-many. Ilewas born in Cohlontz, became be-came nn oliiccr in the Prussian arm v. and nt tho age of 24 came to America with those Prussian exiles who formed a colony in Missouri and helped to keep that state in the Union. "When the war broke, out he was ready with trusty blade, and tho Union forces were glad to take him in as a major. Ho became a brigadier-general of volunteers in ?62, and a major-general in "fi4. He hnd commanded a division at Pea "Ridge, "Vicksburg, Chnttanooga. and Atlanta. After the war ended and before entering enter-ing the regular establishment he served as our consul nt Lyons. Later he was engaged in the manufacturing business at Mannheim. Four years ago congress expressed the nation 's gratitude to the distinguished soldier by placing him on tho retired list of the regular army, Trith the rank of brigadier-general, lie. was still living nt Mannheim when tho war department heard from him, about a mouth ago. Sickles at Eighty-Three. The noxt oldest of the surviving war major-generals of the Union sido is Daniel E. Sickles, now eighty-three, but f still very much alive. He. is one of ' only four corps commanders living, I and few Americans have had careers as varied and exciting as that of this (wonderful man. who has played upon tho stage of life the respective roles of printer '5 devil, lawyer, stato legislator, legis-lator, congressman, soldier and diplo- mat. He had served as secretary of ? our legation in London and had been in congress two 3ears when ho shot Philip Barton Key, in o0, being ac- quitted on an "unwritten law" plea. He had just finished his second term J in congress when the Civil war broke j out, ahd, ontcring as the colonel of a ; New York regiment, he was a briga-. briga-. dier-general the next year, and wilh-' wilh-' in Jess than another year he was major-S major-S goneral. It was he who gained the first success at Chancellorsville, and he left a leg on tho field after a bloody fight against overwhelming numbers at ' Gettysburg. Then, at the closo of the war, he went on a diplomatic mission ; to South America, entering tho regular ' army as a colonel upon his return. It : was forty years ago when he was rc-l rc-l tired as a major-general of regulars. I Sinco then ho has be,:; minister to : r Spain, a member of rrigress, sheriff i ( and civil service commissionor of New York. Ho is living at his old residence in New York city. Howard Still Hale., The last surviving "army" commander com-mander nnd one of tho four surviving corps commanders of the Civil war is Maj.-Gcn. 0. 0. Howard, the seventy-ninth seventy-ninth year of whose strenuous career 'Is being spent, at his old home at Burlington, Burling-ton, in his native state of Vermont, where he has lived since his retirement. He certainly -did not look any the worse. for wear when he rode up Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania avenue ns marshal of one of the divisions of the Taft inaugural parade. pa-rade. Ho sat his horse like a centaur cen-taur and kept it in perfect control, despite the. farf, that his right sleeve has hung empty at his sido since tho bloody battle of Fair Oaks, in June, (32. But three months after that unfortunate event he was on tho field again, fighting hard at Antictam, and, in two months more he was a major-general. major-general. Next he commanded a corps through Gettysburg, Lookout, vallov. Missionary Ridge and Pickctts Mill, where he was again wounded. Then he commanded the right wing of Sherman Sher-man s army during the march to tho cen. Entering the regular army next as brigadier-general, he commanded the Army of (he Tennessee, and engaged en-gaged in all of its important battles until tho close of the war. He rc-neived rc-neived tho thanks of congress for his gallantry at Gettysburg and a medal of honor for distinguished bravery at Fair Oaks. Since ihe Civil war he has fcon some troublesome Indian fighting in campaigns against the Xcz Pen? os, Baunochs and Piutes. During all of this time ho had worked also for the cause of temperance and of the colored brother, and was instrumental ! in establishing Howard university, the (colored institution of Washington that ! bears his name. k Wilson, the Cavalry General. The. third surviving corps commander. command-er. Maj.-Geiu James Harrison Wilson, is now enjoying the seven! v-firsl, summer sum-mer of his life at his home in Wilmington. Wil-mington. DoJ. He was just out of West Poiut when tho Civil war commenced, com-menced, and entered the strugglo as lieutenant-colonel of volunteers, becoming be-coming brigadier-general in October, '03, and major-general in 'April, 'Go. He was distinguished as an engineer officer during the early part of tho war. Then he was called to the war department depart-ment to become chief of the cavalry .bureau, after which he returned to the fiold in command of the third division of Sheridan's cavalry. It was in October, Oc-tober, '!. that lie became, a corps commander, being given the great cavalry cav-alry corps of the western armies, including in-cluding all of the cavalry in the military mili-tary division of the Mississippi. Jt was this corps of his that started out from Nashville and took Sebna. Ala., and Macon, Ga. He also commanded the pursuit and capture of Jefferson Davis. At tho close of the war he was made lieutenant-colonel of regulars, regu-lars, and "for gallant and meritorious services-' was brevet ted major-general, I'nited Stales army. After being honorably hon-orably discharged at his own request, in 1S70 he engaged in large engineering and railroad operations here and abroad until tho outbreak of the Spanish war, in which ho became major-general of Volunteers, commanding tho'first and sixth army corps in Georgia and also the departments of Matanxas and San-la San-la Clara, Cuba. He was also in the Porto ftican campnign. He remained in tho army at the close of tho Spanish war, and when the embassies in Peking were besieged b the Boxers he commanded com-manded the co-operating force of American and British troops which I captured Ihe eight temples. He finally commanded the American forces left in Peking, and later represented our army at. the .coronation of King Edward. Ed-ward. He is the author of seven books on travel and biography, including a lifo of General Grant, which he wrote in collaboration with ChnrJes A. Bona. Dodge and Mcrritt. Grenville M. Dodge, the fourth of tho Union corps commanders still alive, is quite as famous for having built tho Pacific railwaj as for having boon ono of tho great generals of the Union army. He was but o0 when he coni-mau'ded coni-mau'ded a brigade at Pea Ridge, where he had fhree. horses shot under him, and where, although severely wounded in tho side, he kopt the field until Ihe final rout of the enemy. Grant had him at the top of his list for promotion when he was made ma jor-geueral in 1SG4, at the age of 011I3- 33. Since tho war ho built tho Union Pacific, rail way, has sat in congress and managed mauy great engineering enterprises. President McKinley offered him the commission, of major-general in tho Spanish war, but ho declined. IIo is now 7S. The only other surviving Civil war major-general is Wesley Mcrrjtt. He was out of West Point but one year when the civil struggle commenced, and was but 27 when mu'do a brigadier-general in 1SG3. Ho became a major-general when only 29. He is now 72. Miles in His Seventieth. Lieutenant -General Miles having been in command of tho regular army throughout the Spanish war and for five years thereafter, the public is apt to class him with our generals of only the I GEN. P. J. OSTERHAUS. IIP u GEIT. DANIEL H. RUCKER. past decade, and to forgot that ho, too. was one of the major-generals and great J soldiers of Civil war times. No surviving surviv-ing general of that bloody epoch mado a moro meteoric rise than that of Miles. Ho was not a West Pointer. When 1 ihe war broke out he was in Boston, starting in mercantile pursuits. Enlisting En-listing as lieutenant of a Massachusetts volunteer company in I8(5J, he rose, grarle by grade, to tho rank of major-general major-general of volunteers, and commanded a whole army corps at the age of only 25, He exercised a major-general's command com-mand long before receiving a major-general major-general 's full commission. What mado him ono of the great generals of the Civil war was his part in the operations opera-tions in White Oak road, whore he broke Lee's back and then thrust his division toward Sutherland station by a military master stroke. He entered the regular army as a colonel in 1S6H, and distinguished dis-tinguished himself as an Indian fighter in the west from lS7o to 1S7S, capturing Chief Joseph tho latter year. Although he will bo 70 in August," he has the fig-uro fig-uro and elasticity of a man twenty years younger. Of the Confederate major-generals, Samuel G. French is the oldest surviv- t GEN. DANIEL E. SICKLES. GEN. GRENVILLE M. DODGE. GEN. O. O. HOWARD. ing. He is living on his Florida plantation, planta-tion, in his ninety-first yenr. He was a Jersey man who entered the regular army by way of West Point and went through tho Mexican war. Then he settled down in Mississippi as a cotton planter, and when tho Civil war broke : out he went to tho front ns a colonel, becoming a brigadier-general in 18(31 and a major-general in 1802. It was ho who sholleVl McCIcllan-'s army from midnight till dawn at Harrison's landing, land-ing, on tho James river. George Washing Wash-ing Custis Lee, who now at tho age of 76 is president emeritus of Washington Washing-ton and Leo university, was another Confcderato major-geucral who got his military education at West Point, and tho same high rank was attained by Lunsford L. Lomax, who is living now nt Charlottesville, at tho ago of 73. He, too, was a West Pointer. Martin at Eighty-Sir. And down at Natchcr. still lives the Confcderato major-gencTnl, William Thompson Martin, wlio is now in his eighty-sovonth year, and just, a few GEN. JAMES H. WILSON. GEN. SIMON B. BUCKNER. days older than General Buckner. whilo yet a few weeks younger than General Osterhaus. This soldier is a Ivcntucki-an Ivcntucki-an by birth, and was a whig in polities when tho war broko out. He had moved to Mississippi at an enrly ago and had made a good start there in the law, being district attorney when only 22. Entering tho Confederate army as a captain, he rose to be a brigadier-general brigadier-general in 1SG2 and a major-general in 1S6H. He was in the siege of York-town, York-town, was wounded at Williamsburg, but fought afterward at Seven Pines, and in the seven days near Richmond; at Antictam, Spring Hill, Shelbyville, Chiekamaugn. Clinch River, Maryvillo, Jvnbxvillo. Fair Garden and Mossy Creek. Then ho was with Johnson and Hood to tho fall of Atlanta, and finally surrendered with Dick Taylor in May, J8G5. Three years after 'the war his neighbors sent him to congress, but. ho was denied his scat. Then they sent; him to tho state senate, where ho served twelve years. Ho, too, has Kincc been engaged in the railroad business. Count Oaniillc Jules Polignac, who at the outbreak of the Civil war came I 1 . to this country and offered his services to the Confederates, receiving in 1862 a. hrigadior-general 'a commission for his pains, and then a major-general's in ;I3-I. is still alive somewhere in Europe at the age of 77. Ifc is a descendant of the Duchess of Polignac, a favorite of Marie Antoinette, and after our Civil war he fought with his French kinsmen against the Prussians. Later he led some engineering expeditions into Algiers, and the last j'cars of his life have beendevoted to engineering and journalism in France. Thomas L. Rosser, tho fiery Confcderato Confcd-erato major-general of cavalry who refused re-fused to surrender with Leo" and who made a sensational escape after charging charg-ing through Ihe Union lines at Appomattox, Appomat-tox, is now 72, and lives at Charlottcs- villn. Sini-p I hf v:ir u li;m hron rlilef engineer of the Canadian Pacific rnil-vvay rnil-vvay and has been connected with other railroads and some mining enterprises. Another surviving Confederate major-general major-general who became a railway official after the. war is Robert, Frederick Hoke, now Jiving in Raleigh, X. C. at the age of 72. 11c entered the civil strug- glo as a ma.jor in 1801, became a briga- dicr-gcneral in and received a major-general's commission in 186-t He commanded a division at tho battle of Cold Harbor and surrendered with Johnson John-son at Durham station. After the war ho became president of tho Seaboard Air Line. The list of the surviving brigadicr- 1 MM generals of tho Civil war is still so long IH that a page of this newspaper would bo filled by tho briefest information as to mm how they are spending their last days. Tho oldest surviving Civil war gen- oral of either sido is of this categorr of brigadiers. Ho is General Sherman father-in-law, General Daniel Henry Rucker, still living in Washington, H where, April 28 just passed, ho celc- IH brated his ninety-seventh birthday. Thia IH remarkable old gentleman was born in lH Now Jersey the .year of the outbreak of the second war with Great Britain. He went to Michigan in his youth, settlingl at Grosse Jslc, and entered the regular army as second lieutenant of the First Dragoons tho Kith of October, 1S37. In Army Seventy-Two Ycare. H So he has been seventy-two 3'ears in I the army, lie fought 'Indians, then I went through the Mexican war. where for gallantry nt Buona Vista he was g brcvettcd major February 23. 1 S 17 5 sixty-two years ago. At. the outbreak of the Civil war he, was offered the I commission of a major of cavalry, but l preferred a staff appointment, becom- 1 ing colonel and aide-de-camp. Then ho 1 was made brigadier-general of volun- J teers in JSGH. He was retired from the 3 regulars, by reason of nge, iu 1882, j twenty-seven years, more than a gener- jtion.' ago. If. he live? three, years j longer he will be tho first American ; general to reach' the 100-year mark. |