New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-12-03

AVeseraa,s Stories q ~ Rase.
| A St. Louis correspon lent of the Ne,
York Granhie furnishes IN interestin
sketch Of Colonel B. L. e. Bonneville, nex
to the senior officer of the United State
army:
1t is not difficult to strike an historica
lead in st. Louis. A city which has been
part of the possessions of three great na
tions ought to be prolific Of interesting
"reminiscences. st. Louis has been loyal Il
the Spanish, the French and the American
hage, each in succession; the brave Igor
| prevented her Obeisance to the Confederate
bars. Before Chicago was mapped out St
Louis traders cold goods on the Yellowstone
and St. Louis pack trains travelled ovel
every ridge and valley Of the Black HIS
| country nearly . generation before gold
was discovered In California.
When Q pioneer is not killed it takes long
years to exhaust his vitality, hence one
may find in St. Louis to day men who navi.
gated the Big Horn and hunted on the
banks of the Rosebud long before Custer
was born, and men who marveled over the
mystery of Great Salt Lake when Brigham
Young was unknown. At the Plsnter's
House, the other day, encountered q man
who has been an officer of the United States
was q c3mpagn0n de p0ya2e of Lafayette, q
protege OF the fret AsiOr, q surveyor in the
Rocky Mountains ten years before Fremont
saw them, q veteran when jackson was
President, and whose GROWING good for
tune it was to have had Washington Irving
for his historian. He was GA his way home
from The centennial.
There is but one man now living whose
name appeared on the army register when,
in NaAn
the West Point Military Academy and was
appointed brevet second lieutenant. Bon
neville's sole senior is Colonel Charles s.
Merchant, who commanded BedlOe's island,
Now York harbor, during the war, and
whose family are we'll known in business
and social circles in the metropolis. "Mer-
chant Was great, hearty lad, said Bonnie
vile to me, $50 they let him out of the
academy in 1914, but they kept me another
year because l was little fellow" The
old man can hope for but one further dis.
tinction in this life; should he survive Mer.
chant his name will be carried on the army
register as the Oldest officer in the service
1t is the rivalry of OctOgenarians.
Bonneville comes from sensational stock.
In the French revolution Of 1898 his father
and Lafayette served together on the Com.
mittee of Safety. Later the elder Bonnie.
vile was exiied and came to America,
bringing his son, who was then three years
of age. Irving describes the old emigrant
IS "a man Of happy temperament. tertil:
ity of imagination, and q simplicity of heart
that made him proof against the rubs and
trials Of the world. He was an excellent
scholar" says Irving; Ibis book was his
ely s;um. Often would he be seen in sum-
mer weather, seated under one of the trees
on the Battery or the portico of Sc. Paul's
Church ON Broadway, his bald head uncov-
cred, his hat lying by his side, his eyes riv-
eted to the page OF his book, and his soul 90
engaged as to lose all Consciousness of the
passing throng or the passing hour"
The old exle's Imagination lost less than
his love Of books in passing to the son. The
young officer was sent to the frontier in |
Arkansas and the Indian Territory, where,
as early as 1921, he constructed in imagina-
ton through rOnte to the Pacific on the
thirty.fifth parallel, and some years later
purchased several hundred acres of land at |
the point where he had located the eastern |
Bonneville's imagination was |
wiser in 1921 than were the laws of Con- |
gress forty years later. The Union Pacific
has been blockaded every winter since its
Datural route To California. az ev cry body
low knows. Go north Of it," exclaimed
he old veteran as he presented his vim
located hobby the other day, land you will
ind snow; 60 south of it, and you got too
lear Mexico. The great route to the Pacific
will yet be where located it fifty years
lgO." This faitn has never been shaken,
md the old gentleman still holds that land.
Promotion was slow in the American
'rmy in those early days. Bonneville was
till . lieutenant when, in 1926, his fathers
o this country. He was serving at Fort
iibsoD, when he was astonished at receiv-
ng Q furlOugh for year, with permission
0 accompany Lafayette on his return to
france. There is u hint for Congressman
VhitehOrne in q circumstance connected
With this voyage. Talk about our rotten
men of-war In the navy to-day" exclaimed
Bonneville. "Why. cir, they sent Lafayet
ome in the finest ship in the navy, yet we
vere scarcely out OF Norfolk harbor when
he began to fill with water. and it was only
y constant pumping and caulking that she
1as kept afloat during the Tip"
The year 1882 was an eventful one for
Bonneville. During his long term of SER
ice ON the frontier his desile had been
rowing constantly stronger to follow the
'ath of his imagination into the unknown
egion of the Far West. After great Diff
ulsy he succeeded in obtaining permits
ion from General McComb, commander-in.
hief, to be absent from the army for two
ears for the purpose of exploring the
locky mountains and the country beyond.
lis adventures on this expedition form
he subject of Washington 1rving's work.
lie was absent from the settlements
early four years, during which time
otbing was heard of him. On bis return
Q found that his name had been dropped
rom the army rolls, his place had been
lied and he had been disposed of as one
nOwn to be dead. He at once proceeded
0 Washington, but the War Department
Ould do nothing for him. Finally he sue
eeded in getting an interview with Presi-
ent jackson, to whom he displayed the
laps he had made of the unknown coun-
~, accompanying the exhibition with
tirripg account of his adventures. "Old
Hickory" declared emphatically that the
rmy could not afford to lose such material,
nd through his interpOsition an act was
assed restoring Captain Bonneville to his
ark and station.
While in New York, about this time, he
'as invited to dine ut the house of John |
acob Aston, near He'll Gate. On this occa-
ON he was introduced to Irving, to whom
Q afterward deliv0d his volumlnous
'urnal of his expedition.
Ia my conversation With the old soldier l
-ked il he found any gold during his trip.
Why, sir" said he, 'in 1892 | was at the |
lack Hills. During the march one day l
licked up some earth Here, boys cried,
lere is the gold if there is any in these
fountains. This is the talcOse clay in |
hich gold is found in South Caroline l
as satisfied then that there was gold