Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1861-08-23
Death Of General Lyon.
From the Chicago Tribune.


| The splendid victory won by General Lyon
Saturday last, has cost the nation the sever
est loss it has yet sustained on the battle
| field-the life of the heroic commander. After
having horse shot under him and mounting
another, he received shot in the small Of
the back while leading the centre of his COL
umn and turning to cheer on his brave men.
No bullet has yet sent deeper pang to the
heart of the nation-General Lyon fell dead
on the field Of his greatest triumph
Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon was
the son of Amasa Lyon, Of Ashford, Wind
ham county, Connecticut. His grandfather
was Colonel of distinction in the revolution
airy army. He was born at Ashford in 1919.
He entered the Military Academy at West
Point in 1887 and graduated with distinction
in 1841 On graduating he received his com.
mission as lieutenant in the army, and was
at once ordered to join the army in Florida,
then operating against the Indians. After I'M
complainingly passing through that most
disagreeable campaign among the everglades
of Florida, ne was stationed for some years
at various posts on our Western frontier
Soon after the commencement Of hcstilities
between the United States and Mexico, he
was ordered to join General Taylor, and after
reaching Monterey accompanied the expedi.
ton against Vera Cruz. In the lombard.
ment and capture of Vera Cruz, and the
severely contested battles Of Contreras, Che
rubusco and others which occurred between
that place and the City of Mexico, his activity
and military skill found full play. He took
an active part in each and all of them, while
fighting in the streets of the City of Mexico,
near the Belen gate, on September 13, 1S47,
received wound from musket ball. After
the conclusion of peace with Mexico, he was
ordered to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, for
a contemplated march overland to California
Bv change of orders from the War Depart
ment his regiment was despatched by ship
via Cane Horn, and reached California soon
after its acquisition by the United States.-|
His stay in California was prolonged beyond
that Of most of his fellow officers, and his
time increasingly employed in operating
among the Indians, subjected to long and
tedious marches, constant alarms and frequent
>kirmishes, living large portion Of the time
in tents, and subject to the fatigues and pri- |
vations incident to campaign in that new
and hitherto unknown country, so far re-
moved from the comforts of civilization.-|
After being relieved from his long service in
California, he was again stationed on our
Western frontier, serving most of the time
in Kansas and Nebraska. During the troubles
Of 1866, the free State of Kansas found a
warm friend and sympathizer in Capt Lyon,
notwithstanding his political sympathies had
before been decidedly on the side Of the Ad-
ministration He was then stationed at Fort
Leavenworth, under Col. Sumner, but was
removed to the St. Louis Arse
mel, where the outbreak Of the present war
found him. His mastery capture of the
rebel camp at St. Louis and his victory over
Claib Jack on at Boonville, are too fresh in
the public mind to need recapitulation. He
received his commission as Brigadier- General,
from Washington, only few days before
his death. He had been acting in that ca
pacity previously, BY the election of the Mis-
souri, volunteers.
In person Gen. Lyon was below the mcdi-
UNI height, and in manner singularly modest
and unassuming. His whole soul was in the |
war for the Union, and it mattered not to |.
him whether his own rank in the army was
high or low. His public letters and dispatches |
have been widely noticed for their brevity,
and elegance of language. His
note demanding the surrender of Camp Jack
son will be long remembered as model of
military diction. In his death the Union has |
lost one of its bravest and most accomplished |
defenders; the soldiers have lost COM
in whom they had the most implicit
confidence and the country feels that one of
her trueSt hearts has ceased to beat