Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-11-28
:GEN. JOHN B. MAGRUDER.

A Lover of the Observation-Disclosures OF
SfeeI-A LogteIan I'm the Barracks
AMurat I'm the FieId-A Votary al
the Shrine of Naturs--The EnVied OF
| Men-The AdOred OF women.
This old warrior sleeps the sleep of a sol
der in rude Texas grave, over which there
is no monument. The grass was grow
ing about it in the early summer,
and there were some flowers there,
withered and faded, scattered
by woman's hand. A votary at the shrine
of nature, and finished diplomat at the
Court Of Venus, it was fitting that there
should be lGrgesse Of green.growing grasses
and love-fowers. If roses are the tear
drops of angels, as the beautiful Arab be-
lief puts forth in poetry, then is this lowly
mound hallowed spot, and needs not the
sculptured stone, the fretted column, the
ivy and the obeliSk.
Magruder was a wonderful man. He
stood six feet four inches in height, and had
form men envied and women admired
His nerves were all iron. Foreign travel
and comprehensive culture had given to his
wit a zest that was always crisp and spark
ling. He never lacerated. To the sting of
repartee he added the honey of
the clover. He could fight all day and
dance all night. In the morning a glass Of
brandy and strong cigar renewed his
strength and caused the cup of his youth
to run over with the precious wine of
health and high spirits. He loved magnifi-
cent uniforms, magnificent horses, magnif-
cent riders, and magnificent women.
Gifted and gTaced in conversation, he was
NIa L.. l.
barracks. He had studied French in Paris,
Italian in Rome, and Spanish inthe Halls of
the Montezumas. His horsemanship was
of the English kind, that is to say, not
graceful, but impossible to be surpassed for
firm riding and endurance. He wrote little
love songs that were set to music; one Of
them, "ImOgene," had in it the plaintive
melody of lover and the sad rythm of bu-
rial bugles.
In the Crimea he astonished the French
officers by sleeping at the front with the
chasseurs under fire. In Mexico he sent
back to the Archbishop lady's perfumed
glove he had found in his palace when the
city was won and with note which read:
at is pretty enough to have belonged to
queen. Would she have pardoned me if
had appropriated il ," As the Archbishop
sent him the next day basket of delicious
wine, it is supposed that the fair owner Of
the glove must have looked leniently
upon the handsome American soldier.
Later, and he was riding with Gen. Scott
down the long street of Iturbide. Gen.
Garrett joined them, and Magruder drew
a little back for his superiors to consult to-
gether. A white puff of smoke curIed out
from an open window, sudden report fol-
lowed speedily, and Garnet and horse fell
hard and bloody. An ounce ball, intended
for Scott, had broken Garnett's thigh and
killed his charger. Fearing another fire,
Magruder galloped to the side of
his chief and covered his body with his own.
The old mans eyes never dropped nor his
voice changed an information. "How long
will it take you to batter down that house?''
he spoke CURLY to Lieut.. Magruder, point
ing with sweep of his finger to the one
nearest, and from which the bullet came
Gan hour by the watch, General "Then
open fire at point-blanck range, and leave
not one stone upon another"
1t was done, and well done, and those
who saw Magruder soonest afterwards no.
ticed that he had another bar Cd his epau-
lettes; he had been made captain. War
was his element, the bivouac his delight,
and the battle his perfect happiness. Be
sides, prodigal, fashionable, foQlishly brave
sometimes, a spendthrift, generous, a true
friend and staunch comrade, the surrender
of Appomattox made him an aged man in
his prime, and wrinkled his features, which
had before resisted all the attacks of time.
One who wandered far and long with
him in other lands, in sweet sunshiny
weather, relates how, from Vera Cruz to
Chapultepec, he went with Magruder all
over the battle-fields of the Mexican war.
The light came to his eyes and the fire to
his face when telling of Contreras, and
Cherubusco, and Perote, and Moline del
Rev, and the Belen Gate, and
Chapultepec, and the city of Next
co. His talk was never ended of Scott
and Twiggs, Wool and Worth, Smith and
Pillow, Taylor aid Quitman, and all the
young subordinates who afterward played
such bloody parts in the greatest of Ameri-
can dramas. Of Mcclellan he told this in
cident among thousand: 'The fire from
the hill of Chapultepec was terrible. Fifty
pieces of heavy artillery were massed against
my four-gun battery at point blank range,
and In the valley below a regiment of
lancers were forming for a charge. Our
fire had been slackened, and the men
were lying down. A young man
sat beside one of the guns, amusing himself
with picking up pebbles and shooting them
out from his hand. The Iancers came near
er; called to the young officer whom had (
noticed, and he sprang up saluting. Your |
Nance Lieutenant George b. Mcclellan Z
very well, Lieutenant, take command Of |
one of these guns, and dispense |
10 g
their pieces. All the great cannons about |
ChapultepeC went to roaring. The battle |
began anew. Worth was sweeping up the /
ACTIVITY. The lancerS were routed, and I
the next saw of Mcclellan he was smok- /
ing cigarette in the palace of Santa Anna,
his face as black as powder key, and an /
ugly wound in his arm"
What book his life would make in the I
hands Of some men, He once intended to
write an autobiography. Whethers it was
begun or not We do not knOw-most GER
tainly it was never finished.
The brave, fond heart is pulseless now.
The form of the stalwart soldier is dust in
its far away grave. The laurels that he
gathered and wore so well are faded and
gone. Back from the unknown land no
voice will come TO tell Of what rank he
.akes in the spectral columns, closed up
and silent, waiting the resurrection day.
God deals gently with a soldier. When
he is brave, and noble, and courteous, and
merciful, he has those attributes which as
simulate Heaven, and therefore he is foreor-
lained to happiness after death. 1t may be
ate in coming; the bivouacs are right cold
md dreary, we know, for some, but after
he night the morning, and after the iudg-
nent day the New Jerusalem.
CUTTING GLASS AND STONE BY SAND