Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-07-13
ADDRESS BY MAJOR G. A. HENRY
BEFORE THE GAINESVILLE
BAR, ON THE FOURTH OF
JULY, 1878,
commemorative of the Life and
Character of Robert w. Hum
phreys, Late n Member OF
the CIarksvilIe bar.


Robert w. Humphreys was born
in Montgomery county, Tenn, on
the 14th of April, 1924, and died on
the 25th OF May, 1878, at Bailey's
Springs, near Florence, Ala, in the
54th year of his age, whittier he had
gone in very poor health, under the
hope that their healing waters would
restore his health again. He was a
son of Judge Parry w. Humphreys,
who was Judge of this Judicial Dis
trict from 1921 to 1886, beloved and
honored by the whole people. His
son, Robert w. Humphreys, was a
graduate of the University of Ten
nessee, Nashville, in 1913, which was
at the time under the control of the
Rev. Philip Lindsey as President,
an institution where a great many
of the distinguished men of Tennes-
see were educated. He soon after
commenced the study of the law in
the Office of his brOther-in-law, AL
fred w. Powell, in Holly Springs,
Miss. In the fall of 1914 he entered
the law department of Harvard
College, at Cambridge, Mass, and
graduated in the spring of 1916. He
had scarcely received his diploma
when his ear caught the sound of
the bugle, rallying the chivalry of
the country to the American stand
ard in the war with Mexico. His
law books were laid aside, the tOga
of the citizen was changed in a mo-
ment for the arm0r of the soldier.
He offered himself to President
Polk and was at once commissioned
as First Lieutenant in the regular
army and assigned to duty in the
Fourteenth Regiment of Tennessee
Volunteers, under the command of
Col. TrOusdale, subsequently Gov
ernOr Of Tennessee. His Captain
was taken sick, and the command
of the company virtually devoIved
upon Robert w. Humphreys. He
remained with the army from the
beginning to the end of the war ; on
the march, in camp, in bivOuac and
in the storm of battle, he was always
with his command, and no Drawer
soldier ever swung his sword upon
his thigh than Robert w. Hum
phreys. A tall youth OF %, Of per-
feet symmetry of form and manly
beauty, he stood at the head of his
company, only emulOus to equal
them in VaIor (fOr they were as true
as the metal of their tried blades),
With hands to strike and soul to dare
As quick and far as they.
1t is historically true that while he
was First Lieutenant under TrOus-
dale in the infantry service, Stone
wall Jackson was First Lieutenant
under Capt. John Bankhead Ma
gruder in the artillery service. On
the 7th of August, 1917, Gen. Win |
field Scott, the COmmander-in-Chief
of the American Army, after cap
turing Vera Cruz and storming
CerrO GOrda, set out from La Peub- !
la with a force of only II, 600 to cap |
ture the City of Mexico. Santa Anna
had a strong army, with abundant
munitions of war, and had fortified !
every mountain defile between Vera |
Cruz and the City of Mexico. Such |
a campaign, with so small an army, |
in the heart of the enemy's country, |
strongly fortified and defended by |
an army greatly superior in point of
numbers, crowned with such signal !
victory, such triumphat success, has
never been recorded in the pages of |
his tory. HernandoCOrtez's chiyal |
ric march over the same ground in |
1920 was not equal to it. He burnt |
his ships to cut off the possibility of
retreat, but he met an unOrganized |
mass of uncivilized and unarmed |
men, while Gen. Scott, with hand |
full of gallant soldiers, swept from |
the field an army far more numer-
Gus and as well appointed as his |
own and commanded by one of the |
most renowned chieftainS of modern !
times. Not to speak of the reduc-
tiOn Of Contreras, Churubusco and
MelIino del Rey, which must be
studied in the professional histories
of the war, our army next ap- |
preached the castle Chepultepec. |
This was more formidable than |
those already carried and more deS-
perately defended. Itwas regarded |
as the OutwOrk of the city and com |
IlldIIOCO
preached 1t and the city. Lieut..
Humphreys, now in command OF
his company, had participated in |
the preliminary actions already |
spoken of, and had distinguished |
himself in all, and now was to lead |
his company in the dreadful assault |
upon the Castle of Chepultepec, the
last bloody conflict before the sur
render of Mexico. Our army was |
cut off from its ships and was feeling
the need of supplies, which were
abundant in the city. 1t was de-
termined therefore to lay no regular |
siege, but to carty Chepuitepec by |
storm. twas dangerous to attempt |
it, and failure disastrous, but neceS-
sity that knows no law demanded |
it, and the chivalric valOr of our |
army was equal to the occasion. |
On the morning of September 18th |
the grand movement was made /
upon the Castle, which was strongly |
fortified upon the summit of the |
mountain and around its base with |
heavy artillery. Now was presented |
a grand spectacle; the fate of en- |
pires hung upon the issue of that |
days work, the conquest of Mexico
or the defeat, | may say the destruc-
ton, of the American army. There |
our gallant little army stood all |
eager and ready, awaiting but one /
word, forward ;"
All bright as the beams
OF the sun, when he looks down in June on |
the streams,
And fierce as young eagles when, STOPPING /
half way
Down from heaven, they rush with scream !
on their prey.
There they stood, leaning forward |
like trained hounds, eager to be |
slipped from their leaShes and pant
ing for the word. BY all the pow
ers, 'twere worth ten years of
peaceful life, one glance at their /
array. Mai0r-General Gideon j.
Pillow, to whom Magruders' battery
was assigned, was directed to attack |
its west side, while Worth, the most /
skilled Of ScOtt's Lieutenants, was to |
march by a circuit beyond Pillow
and assail the north. Magruder
was ordered by his General (Pillow) |
to divide his battery and send one
section forward under Jackson, |
afterwards known as StOnewall, to-
wards the northwest angle while he
aSSailed another part. Two regi-
ments of infantry under Col. Trous-
dale (our own Col. Trousdale, whose
gallantry that day won him the
Cee ,o e n o,-or,,o,. IF Tam oCSoaA 90