The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-06
SOLDIERS AFTER THE WAR.
Gen. Averiu Says the Soldiers Capital
is of No Account in Civil Life.
EA.n.. III, Ma NcrI. o.,

Gen. Averill Says the Soldiers Capital
is of No Account in Civil Life.
From, the Neto York Sun.
Gen. Averill was ons Of the conspicuous
cavalry soldiers of the war. Some Of his
exploits were romhntic, ali Of them dashing
and brilliant, so that AyeriTl and his cav
airy furnished themes for dramatic writing
by correspondents. Twenty years after the
war the writer met Gen. Averill in WASH
ingtou, and was surprised to find him in a
somewhat desl ondent mood. He said: THE
! soldiers capital is OF no aocountin civil life
l sometimes think that IL tells against
| him. When l look at the careers of
some of them who fought so nobly
that they were esteemed heroes, l sometimes
think that It might have been we'll for them
had they died as Reynolds, and Mcpherson,
and Sedgwick, and Lyon did. Some Of
them have succeeded fairly well in political
careers, two or three of them have done
we'll in professional and business pursuits
but the majority Of tho generals who re-
| tired from army life with the close of the
war have discovered that their careers were
practically ended when the war was over. \"
Doubtless Gen. Averill had IN mind his
| own comparative failure as business man.
He had invented several articles Of com.
mercial value, only TO find himself
hampered by powerful rivals who gave him
no quarter. His career suggests that Of
Gen. Pleasanton. After the war fortune
seemed to frown upon him. Business en-
terprises into which he went were failures.
He became almost reclnse, aud people
marveled when, a few years ago, a slim
and shriveled man, wearing an odd sort
| of cloak with a soft felt hat pulled down
over his eyes, and walking in furtive
sort of way in Pennsylvania avenue,
was pointed out TO them as the once
dashing and brilliant Pleasanton.
Gen Miller told the ,wEiter of his experi-
ence. He was one OF the bravest of the
western brigade commanders, and he lost
an eye in the service. Full of energy and
confidence, Miller went TO California after
| the war with the expectation of making
fortune. tie had some money. His first
| business venture was a failure, and although
he bestowed the utmost care and caution on
other ventures they, TOO, absorbed his
fortune. and he became a poor man. He
| was glad to receive the appointment OF coll
lector of the port of San Francisco, and he
made up his mind that his career ended
when he was mustered out Of the service.
One day a sailor-looking chap proposed
| to Miller to Virtual and stand the expense of
providing q crew for ship to go to a place
| where great wealth could be procured. Mil
Ter was incredulous, but the man was per-
| sistent, and in a hapheZard sort of a way
Mr.. Miller and few Of his friends agreed
TO go into a blind partnership with the old
salt. Miller said to himself that he had
always failed in every thing that he had
undertaken with caution; perhaps he might
succeed now that he was going
it blind, 80 to speak. After several
months the skipper returned with his vessel
loaded down almost TO the gunwales
with a cargo of sealskins, and out of that
incident grew the Alaska Seal Fur
Company, which, in the course Of a few
years, made Mr.. Miller millionaire. He
said that, curiouslY enough, everything
that he ventured into after that made
| money, although all his enterprises did not
receive one-tenth part of the attention
which he gave to any one of his earlier
enterprises which proved a failure. No one
| could persuade Gen. Miller that the element
OF luck did not figure largely in soldiers
business career. He YVES afterward elected
to the Senate from California.
Besides Miller only two other generals
| who were very conspicuous had successful
business careers-Gen. Slocum, who has
large interests in Brooklyn horse railroads,
ana Gen. Franklin, who has great manu-
featuring interests in Hartford.
Politically, the greater generals seem to
have had more Of success than those who
entered business life. Logan served many
years in tie Senate; Burnside died while a
member of the Senate; Mcclellan became
governor OIL N6W Jersey I1dWlPy. was gov
ernor OF Connecticut and is Senator, and a
score of brigade commanders have served
in the lower house Of Congress. Out of
the army came every President who has
served since the war excepting one. Hayes
was brigade commander; Garfield major
general, who resigned his post TO enter con-
gress; Arthur was, while not in the field, a
most efficient aid to Gov. Morgan, and
Geo. Harrison fought some brilliant battles
in the western campaigns.
In the race for business success the SUBJ
ordinates have gone to the front, and the
names of them are 80 many that it would
require columns to list them all. Alger,
with his millions, was only poor colonel
when he retired; Briee was an inconspicu-
GUS soldier; Eikins, now Secretary of War
and the owner of vast railway and mining
properties, was a subaltern officer; Sickles
who had succeeded in diplomacy, became
sheriff Of New York city, Fitzpatrick, also
diplomat, was not successful as stool!
farmer aud there are scores.and scores of
meu who served as privates who now pos
sess vast wealth and influence in the greater