OCR Text |
Show Old Masters GENERAL NATHANIEL LYON Do C. C. G. " NE of the heroes of the great Civil war has -J not received his full meed of praise. When the rebellion burst upon the country General Lyon was sent to Missouri. Ho found Missouri filled with men who were ardent sympathizers with the cause of the South and determined to carry the state out of the Union. He at once proceeded to put that turbulent house in order. He arranged his forces and on a day when it had been determined to take possession of St. Louis for the cause of the South, ho met and dispersed the movers of the plan, and took full possession himself. Then the struggle moved west and south, General Lyon being everywhere present and with consummate skill baffling every plan of the enemy. His work in Missouri was an exact duplicate of General Grant's work in Kentucky. He had a little force of federal soldiers sol-diers and some regiments of volunteers When the call for soldiers came Iowa filled her quota at once and other thousands who were denied enlistment crossed the line and made up the Missouri contingent. These were the men under General Lyon, and while brave and patriotic, pa-triotic, they knew nothing of the elementary lessons les-sons of war and were just such material as would be liable to become confused in battle. Finally the opposing forces met at Wilson Creek. A confederate soldier told the writer of the events of that day. The substance of what he said was this: "We outnumbered Lyon's army by several thousand men. We counted on an easy victory. We would have won it early in the day, except for Lyon. I would not have been in his place for a thousand dollars a minute for eight hours. He charged upon our center with his raw Iowa volunteers and we beat him back. Ho reformed his men and led them in person to a second assault. He was riding a big gray horse and was in plain sight of our lines, and we know that If we could kill him the day would be ours in five minutes. We beat liim back a second sec-ond time, but he a third time reorganized his force, and at their very head, by the magnetism of the man and by the magnificent valor he displayed dis-played on a double quick he smote us. 1 believe he would that time have shivered our line, for his men came on shouting and confident, but at the very crisis of the attack he was killed." No soldier ever did a grander day's work or died a more heroic death. Had he lived through that battle the chances are that after Shiloh, he would have been given command of all the Union armies in the west. As it was, he left a perfect record as a soldier and commander. From the first moment of the war he reckoned that it was to bo a fight for life, and that the life or death of the republic was the real issue, so from the very first his thought was to strike the enemy wherever ho found him, realizing that only force could ever compel peace. His fame culminated in a glorious death at the head of his command. But his countrymen never knew the full measure meas-ure of his patriotism until his will was published. That in substance was that his country had educated him, that all he was was due to the generosity of his country and hence after his services were over and he was summoned hence, he decreed that all the property he possessed should revert back to the country that had made him what he was. lie gave his life for native land, but had fixed M it that what he possessed should bo held as a loan H from that country, and should revert back to it. M Tho United States has had many glorified sol- M diers in its brief hiBtory, but no grander charac- M ter among them all has been displayed by any M of them from Washington down than that pob- M sessed by tho hero of Wilson Creek. M A S the winter comes on we suspect the in- M " terest in the great war will, at least in part, M bo transferred to southeastern Europe. The M news is that the sultan of Turkey has declared a M holy war against all who oppose his religion. M But the fiercest "holy war" will be among those M who hate the Turk in southeastern Europe. M Their fanaticism is so absorbing that tho people M possessed with it look upon the murder of thoso M opposed to them as a virtue. M EDISON'S storage batteries for use in subma- M rino craft, designed to eliminate danger of !JH suffocation from poisonous gases generated by gfl batteries now used, aro being tested at the Now M York navy yard. The tests will bo completed in M a few days and if they prove to be what is hoped M for them, all new submarine craft will bo fitted M with them and many of the older ones. Up to M date, the tests have been especially satisfactory. M ONE good result has already come from the M present war. iSo grandly have tho Russian M Jews responded to their country's call, that the M cold heart of aristocratic Russia has been touched M and tho sentiment has already crystalized in the M great empire that from this time on the discrimi- M nations against, and the persecutions of the Jews M must cease. M IT would seem by the news from Mexico that M the period of ' watchful waiting" is still neces- M sary, though the winter is coming on and -the M stolen horses have been turned out to fatten for M the spring campaign. M They aro a pestiferous crowd down there sure M enough. M |