Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1864-01-28
Ghoite allistellanp..
ffron the A1anit, Monhlyl
The Man Without a Country.

suppose that very few casual readers of
the New York Herald Of August / 9th OBJ
served, in an obscure corner, among the
deaths, the announcement,
"NoLAN. DIED, on board U. s. Corvette
Lcyant, Lat. % IL S., Long. 1872 W., on
tho llth Of May, PniLIp NOLAN"
/ happened to observe it, because was
stranded at the old Mission-House in Mack
inac, waiting for Lake-Superior steamer
which did not choose to come, and | was
deyouFing, to the very stubble, all the cur
rent literature | could get hold Of even
down to the deaths and marriages in the
..Herald." My memory for names and peo-
pie is good, and the reader will see, as he
goes on, that | had reason enough to re-
member Philip Nolan. There are hundreds
of readers who would have paused at that
announcement, il the officer Of the Levant
who reported it had chosen to make it thus:
--"Died, May llth, THE MAN WITHOUT A
CoUNTRY." For it was as "rhe Man with
out Country" that poor Philip Nolan had
generally been known by the officers who
had him in charge during some fifty years,
as, indeed, by oil the men who sailed under
them. | dare say there is many a man who
has taken wine with him once fortnight
in three years cruise, who never knew
that his name was Nolan" or whether the
poor wretch had any name at all.
There can now be no possible harm in
telling this poor creatures story. Reason
enough there has been till now ever since
Madison 8 Administration went out in 1917,
for very strict secrecy, tho secrecy of honor
itself among the gentlemen of the navy
who have had Nolan in successive charge.
Aud certainly it speaks well for the esprit
de corps Of the profession and the personal
honor Of its members, that to the press this
mans story has boon wholly unknown -
and, l think, to the country at large also
i have reason to think, from some investi-
cations made in the Naval Archives when
was attached to the Bureau of Nonslruc-
tion, that every official report relating to
him was burned when Ross burned the
public buildings at Washington, One OF
the fuckers, or possibly one OF the Watsons,
had Nolan in charge at the enl Of the war;
and when, on returning from his cruise, he
reported at Washington to one of the
Crowninshields, who was in tho Navy De
partment when he came home, he found
that the Department ignored the whole
business. Whether they really knew moth
ing about it, or whether it was q Mon n,
ric0r1o," determined on as piece of policy
| do not kno9. But this | do know, tina
since 1877, and possibly before, no nava
officer has mentioned Nolan in his report o
a cruise.
NJ. but, as say, there is no need for secrecy
any longer. And now the poor creature il
dead, il seems TO mo worth while to tell Q
little Of his story by way of showing young
Americans of today what it is to be
A MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY.
Philip Nolan was as fine n young officer
as there was in tho Legion of the West,
as the Western division of our army was
then called. When Aaron Burr made his
first da5hing expedition down to New Or
leans in 1905, at Fort Massac, or somewhere
above on tho river he met, as tho Dev
would have it, this gay, dushing brigh,
young fellow, at some dinner party, think
Burr marked him, talked to him, walked
with him, took him day or two's voyage
IN his flat boat, and, in short fascinated
Z him. For tho next yOar, barrack' life was
very tame to poor Nolan. He occasionally
awaited Of tho permission tho great man
had given him to write to him. Long, high
worded, stiltca letters the poor boy wrote
and rewrote and copied. But never line
did he have in reply from the gay deceiver
The other boys in tho garrison sneered al
him, because he sacrificed in this unrequit
cd affection for politician tho time which
they devoted TO Monongahela, sledge, and
high-low-jack. Bourbon, euchre, and poker
were still unknown. But one day Nolan had
his revenge. This time Burr came down
the river, not as an attorney seeking place
for his Office, but as disguised conqueror.
He had defeated | know not how many
district-attorneys; he had dined at know
not how many public dinners; he had been
heralded in know not how many Weekly
Arguses; and il was rumored that no hac
an army behind him and an empire belor,
him. 1t was great day his arriyal--tC
poor Nolan. Burr had not. been at the for
an hour before he sent for. him. That even
ing he asked Nolan to take him out in hi
skiff. 10 show him canebrake or cotton
wood tree, as he said,--really to seduce him
and by the timo the sail was over, Noa
was enlisted body and soul. From that time
though he did notsyet know it, ho lived q
MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY.
What Burr meant 10 do | know no NOR
than you, dear .reader. Ii is none Of ou
business just now. Only, when !the gran
catastrophe caIae, and Jefferson and til
House oil Virginia Of that day undertoo
TO break on the wheel all tho possible Clal
ences OF the then IouseI Of York, by III
great treason-trial at Richmond, some of th
lessor fry in that distant Mississippi Vale!
which was farther from us than Puget
Sound is to-day, introduced tho like noyell
on their provincial stage, and, to while ava
the monotony oftho summer at Fort Adams
got up, for spectacles, al string Of cour
martials on the officers there. One and al
othor.of the colonies andlmsjors were trie,
aud, TO fill out the list. little Nolan, again
whom, Heaven knows, there was eviden
enough, h,-that he was sick Of the sorvic
had been willing 10 be false to it, and wou
have obeyed any order to march any-whit
~ or with any one who would follow him, hi
the order only been signed, "By commai
OF His Exc. A. Burr. The courts dragg
on. The big flies escaped, rightly for
know. Nolan was proved guilty enoug
as say; yet you and | would never ha
heard Of him, reader, but that, when I
pcosident Of the court ssksd him at I
close, whether he, wished TO say anything
show that he had always been faithful
the United States, he cried out, in fit
frensy,-