Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1866-02-15

. and compelled either to return t.
Washington or take passage il
some ship and work his way. HI
did the latter, and six months at
ter wrote from San Francisco
then from the Sandwich Islands
next from China, then from Aus
tralia, where he worked in the
gold mines for a few weeks with
success.
/ The next we hear of him he had
been wrecked on the coast, forty
miles fran Bombay" After this
he was six months in Calcutta,
learning the Hindostanee language
and regretting he did not under
stand the Arabic, that he might
take Command of a small vessel
trading to Judia, on the Red Sea. y
Next he was on a British man.
of-war as sailor. Then for a few
months, weary enough to be sure,
with his head shaved at the hospit-
al at Naples, and next, Temporal
n,utantasr, leading the life of qui-
ct gentleman in London. And f.
nally, after more than four years
of wandering, he appears like an
apparition to his friends at Wash
ington, bronzed, and bearded like
pard. Remaining few months
at the capital, he removes to De-
troit, Michigan; accepts a posi-
ton as clerk in the post-office, and
edits the Vindicator. a Democrat
ie paper in that city. And here
it may be as we'll to state that in
matters of literature Burgevine
possessed a most excellent taste.
Had he adopted that as a pursuit
his success would have been Ger
tain. He wrote much, and pub
lished enough in prose and verse
to exhibit his talent in that line.
But he preferred life of action,
and was frequently heard to say
he would rather snake history
than write it.
Burgevine's manner of life at
Detroit was too tame for him. He
groaned under the, common-places
Of every day life, and longed to be
yet again chasing the phantoms
of ambition, which had already
led him SO far out of the beaten
paths of life. AS yet he had ac-
complished nothing. He must be
up and doing if a name were to
be achieved for himself.
InlS59, Henry Burgevine again
left the shores of America, alas!
never to return. This time his
schemes were more tangible. His
tory could give him notable exam
pies of men who had risen above
their kind as if by magic in the
great political convulsions of the
world. China should be the field
Of his glory, for here gigantic
war had ragged for years, and here,
if any where, was the place to
win distinction, power, empise!-
To China he went, and the rest of
his story is the history of China
for the last five years. Whether |
Burgevine went with Ward from
this country, or met him first
IN China, the writer cannot say
At all events, they were friends |
Ward being first in command
and Burgevine second. In a great |
and successful battle Ward was
killed, and Henry Burgevine be-
came commander-in-chief of an
army of $4,000 disciplined men,
mostly Europeans and Americans.
In the eyes Of our hero it was the
irst step to a throne, After set
ing forth these facts in a letter
addressed to Thomas Young, Esq,
# this city, he says: "Atter years
If patient labor, watching, watt
ng and suffering, my day has at
asst come. In tsoo gears IshaH
.ule China"
The dream was never realized, /
he life which was all action, all
lope, and all ambition, has gone
'ut in wretchedness almost un-
The mother, to whom
n his palmiest days Burgevine
transmitted a sufficient sum to
make comfortable in her last
lours, was spared the misery of
utliEing him, and of knowing he
led. She expired peacefully in
his city about one year since, and
les in Greenwood Cemetery
- { Z