The National tribune., 1883-03-15
POOR PHILIP NOLAN,
And low He Came TO Be "The
Man Without a Country"
From TIC 4santtc Monthly, December, 1851

\
an obscure corner, among the " Deaths" the
announcement:
"Nof,x Died on board T. = Corvette I.cvant,
Lat = ll,s Long. I3io W. on the lith of May,
PRmP NoIAN.'
I happeacd to observe it. because | was
stranded atlhc old Nissiun-Hou~e IN MacHlnac,
waiting TO- n Lake Superior steamer Whlch dld
not choase 60 Gene and was deNourlhg' 10
the very stuhhlc all the current literature 1
could .set huI of even Gown to the deaths ana
marriages IN The Herald My memory Tor names
and repnla is co3d. and the reader VIII see as
he go oa. Tat had reason enough to remem-
bcr philip Nolan. There are hundreds OF read
ers who would have paused at thaJ announce
ment il tA2 o-icar Of the LeVanJ Who reported
ii had claS,. 10 make il thus - Died, May
l1th TH. IAN WITHOUT \ COUNTRY" FOR
1t WIS rs "The Nan without Country that
poor Phi';p Nolan had generally been known
blythe offers who had him IN charge during
some tifjy years. is, III .oei. ny All Jhe men VINO
sailed under them. dare sly there Is many
a man who has taken wine with HIM once
fortniuht Ia a three years cruise, who never
knew that his name was Nolan, or whether
the poor WE. ch had any name at all.
There can NOW be no possible harm III tell
inc this iopT creatures story. ReiSon enough
there has been till now, ever since Madison
Administration went ont in ISL, for very strict
secrecy. ,iie secrecy Of honor itself among the
gentlemen uG t4e navy VINO have had Nolan IN
successive charge. And cer.alnly II speaks
well for the esprit de corps of the profession ana
the personal honor Of is members, that TO me
press this mans story has been wholly un-
known-and think. to the country at large
also. have reason to think, from some InNeS-
tigatioaS made in the Naval Archives when L
was attachcj TO the Bureau of Construction,
that every Official report relating to hlm was
burned whca Ross burned the PuhlIc buildings
at Washiroton One of the fuckers, or posi-
l,aI e. a
the end Of the war; and when, on returning
from his cruise he reported at Washington to
one Of the CrowniGshields-who was III the
Navy Department when he came home-he
found that Ihe Department ignored the whole
business. Whether they really knew nothing
about it. or whether it was Non ma Tlc0rdO,'
determined en- as a piece Of policy, do not
know. But this [ do know that since 1Sl1,
and possibly before. 10 naval officer has men
toned Nolan IN his report of cruise.
But, as ! say, there is 30 need for secrecy
any longer. And now the poor creature IS
dead. 1t seems to me worth while TO tell little
of his ory, by way Of showing young Ameri-
cans of today what it is TO be a MAN WITHOUT
A COUNTRY.
Philip Nolan was as fine young officer rs
there was In the Legion of the WeSt," As the
Western division of our army was then called.
When Aaron Burr made his first d3Shing eNpe-
dition down to New Orleans in 1906 at Fort
Massac, or somewhere above on the river. he
met as the Devil would have it, this gay, dash
ing. bright Young fellow, at some dinner-party,
/ think Burr marked him. talked to him,
walked with him, took him day or twos voy
age ia his iat-bo2t, and, in short, fascinated
him For tie next year. barracll-life was very
tame to poor Nolan. He occasionally availed
of the permission the great man had given HIM
to write TO him. Long, high-worded, stited
letters the poor boy wrote and rewr0te and
copied. But never a line did he have in reply
from the gay deceiver. The other boys in the
garrison saccred at him. because he sacrificed
in this unrcquited affection for a politician
the time which they devoted to Monongahela,
sledge, and high-low- jack. Bourbon, euchTe
and poker wers still unknown. But one day
Nolan had his revenge. This time Burr came
down the river, not as an attorney seeking
place FOR his Office, bat as disguised con
Gueror. lie had defeated / know not how
many district attorneys; he had dined at /
know not how many public dinners; he had
been heraidcd in | know rot how many Weekly
Arguses: and 1t was rumOred that he had an
army behind him and an empire before him.
1t was great day-his arriyal-tO poor Nolan.
Burr had not been at the fort an hour before he
sent for him. That evening he asked Nolan to
take him out in MS skif, 10 show him cane
brake or a clu.3n-wOOd tree, as he said-really to
seduca hin: and by the time the sail was over,
Nolan was enlisted body and soul. From that
time though he did not yet know it, he lived
: \
What Burr meant to do | know no more than
vou dear reader. ii is none of our business
iust now. Only, when the grand catastrophe
came and Jefferson and the House of Virginia
OF that day undertook to break on the wheel all
the possible flaremces fthe then House Of York,
By the great tIe9som-trial at Richmond. some Of
the lesser Try il that distant Mississippi Valley,
which was farther from us than Puget's Sound
is to-day. introduced the Ike novelty on their
provincial stage, and, TO while away the mono
tony of the summer at Fort Adams. got up for
sDeciac'es a string Of cOurt-martialS on the Off
cers there One and another Of the colouels
and majors were tried and. to fiji out the list
little Nolan, against whom Heaven knows,
there was evidence enOUgh-that he was sick
Of the service had been willing to be false to
. 1t, and would have Obcyed any order to march
8ny-whitheT with any one VINO would follow
him. had tlc order only been signed. d" By com
mand OF lis Ezc. 4. Burr" The courts drag
ped on. The big flies escaped-rightly for all
] know. Noicn was proven guilty enough. as
say: YET v0u and ! would never have heard
Of him, reader. but that. when the president Of
the court asked him at the close whether he
wished 10 say anything 10 snow that he had al
WAYS been ia. thIul To the United States. he
cried out, in a ii Of frenzy
Oh tha United Syatesl ! wish may
never hear oi the United States againi"
] suppose he did not know how the words
shocked Old Colonel Morgan. VINO vas holding
the court Han the officers VINO sat in il had
served thr5u.l the Revolution. and their lives
not to sav tlcir ucr}ls, had been rissed for the
very idea which he SO cayaiiarly cursed in
his madness. lie. On his part had grown up
in the West ot those DAYS. in the midst Of
"SpGish pi9t,' " Orleans plot and all The
Fest. lie hai been cdurasgd on plantation
whera the Finest company WAS q Spanish officer
or French merchant from Orleans His cdu-
cation such as il was, has been perfected in
commercial expeditions 80 Vera Cruz and |
think he tod me his father once hired an
JHgli-hmaH TO be q private tutor for 4 winter
tn the plantation. He had sp=nt half his
youth with an older brother hunting horses
IN Texas; and ~ word, 10 him United
States " was raev a reality. Yet he had
been fed .y " lHifeu States Tor all the years
s.uce ha had 5..n IN the aruv He had sworn
c. his faith Christian o. be true to United
State IL was luited States" which gave
him TIE uniform hc wore, and the sword by
his side. My. my Door Nolan, it was only
bsa-usa United S.a5es' lad picked you
ont first as one Of her own confidential
Iren ot nouoT. that " A. BUrr" cared for Won a
STRAW ..gre tEaa for The Hat-boat men who
sailed bis sr- 4.r him. ] do not excuse Nolan
] only o-.iain 80 tAe reader why he damned
his caau--v. and wished be night never hear
her name -a-.1.
Hc never aia hear hnr name but once again.
Form thtl :.n.a.It. ~eg,erl Der p 1907 till the
Gay ae died, I.v ID. i-55 hs never heard her
nan. a.a.I. FOR tfat lalI century and more