Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1871-12-15
NO. IA.
Tribute TO Gen. John b. Magruder.

| grass WIS SIOWlAlS StoOuG IL III VIC early
summer, and there were some flowers
there, withered and faded, scattered by
woman's hand votary at the
shrine of nature and finished diplomat
at the court of Venus, it was fitting that
there should be laryeSses of green-grow-
ing grasses and love flowers. If roses
are the tear-drops of angels, as the
beautiful Arab belief puts forth poetry,
then is this lowly mounds a hallowed
spot, and needs not the sculptured
stone, the fretted column, the ivy and
the obelisk.
Magruer was wonderful man. He
stood about six feet four inches in hight,
and had form men envied and women
adored. His nerves were all iron,
Foreign travel and comprehensive cul-
ture had given to his wit zest that was
always crisp and sparkling. He never
lacefated To the sting of repartee he
added the honey of the clover. He
could fight all day and dance all night.
In the morning glass of brandy and a
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 magnificent
uniforms, magnificent horses, magnifi'
cent riders, and magnificent women.
Gifted and graceful in conversation,
he was pet in the bOudoir and q logician
in the barracks. He had studied
French in Paris, Italian in Rome, and
Spanish in the Halls of the Montezu-
mas. The sabre exercise he learned
from Turk. 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 rhythm of burial bugles. .t
q 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 per-
fumed glove he had found in his palace
when the city was won, and with note
which read, -" 1t is pretty enough to
have belonged to queen would she
have pardoned me if had appropriated
it?" AS, the, Archbishop sent him next
day basket Of delicious wine, il is sup
posed 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. Gar
nett ioined them, and Magruder drew
o. little back for his superiors to confer
together. A white puff of smoke curled
out from an open window,a quick report
followed speedily, and Garnett 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 gallop-
ped to the side of his chief and covered
his body with his own. The old mans
eyes never dropped, nor his voice
changed an intonation. How long
will it take you to batter down that
house p he spoke curJly to Lieut.. Ma
gruder, pointing with a sweep of his
finger to the one nearest, and from
which the bullet came. An hour by
the watch, General" "Then open fire
at point-blank range, and leave not one
stone upon another"
y 1t was done, and we'll done, and those
who saw Magruder' soonest afterward
noticed that he had another bar on his
epaulettes-he had been made a cap
tain.c War was his element, the bi-
vouac his delight, and the battle his
perfect happiness. Besides, prodigal,
fashionable, foolishly brave sometimes,
a spendthrift, generous, true friend
and staunch comrade, the surrender at
Appomattox made him an aged man in
his prime, and wrinkled his features,
which had before resisted all the attacks
Of time. l ..'. .. rm
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-felds of the Mexican
war. u The light came back to his eyes
and the fire to his face when telling of
Contreras, and Cherdbusco, and Peroto,
and .Molino del Rey, and the Belen
Gate, and Chapultepec, and the City of
Mexico. His talk was never ended Of
Scott and Twiggs, Wool and Worth,
Smith and Pillow, Taylor and Quitman,
and all the young subordinates who af-
terward played such bloody parts in
the greatest of American dramas. OF
Mcclellan he told this incident among
a 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 regi-
ment Of lancers were forming for
chal ge. 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 peb-
bIes and shooting them out from his
hand. The lancers came nearer; l
called to the young officer whom had
noticed, and he sprang up saluting.
& Your name?" "Lieut. Geo. B. Nc
Clellan.p "Very we'll, Lieutenant.
Take command Of one of tnese guns
and disperse these lancers." The gun
ners rushed to 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 the
next l saw of Mcclellan he was
smoking cigarette in the place of
Santa Anna, his face as black as a
powder keg, and an ugly wound in his
arm. ja1 -to"}
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 takes in the
spectral columns, closed up and silent
waiting the resurrec tion day. Yet g ID
deals gently with the soldier. When
he is brave and noble and courteous
and merciful, he has those attributes
which assimilate heaven, and therefore
he is foreordained, to happiness after
death. 1t may be late in coming the
bivouacs are right cold and dreary, we
know, for some, but after the night the
morning. and after the indpn emf dau