The National tribune., 1893-04-13
GEN. HIRAM BERDAN.

GEN. HIRAM BERDAS.
The sudden death of Gen. Hiram Berdan
removes neof the finest volunteer soldiers Of
the war. He was an American Of the highest
type. Sprung from sturdy yeoman ancestry
he had in high degree all the virtues Of
that class-the class which has made the
United States great in every department. OF
human effort. Before the war he was sue
cessful inventor and business man, and like
all true Americans, took an active interest
in politics. His first affiliations were with
the Democratic party, but he left it with
many Others when the Anti-Slavery strug-
gle became intense, and men had to choose
whether they would assist or resist the
further extension of the odious institution
of human bondage When the war came
he threw himself into the struggle with all
the energy of his nature. American-like,
he promptly recognized that war-making
was progressive science, and that new
methods must rule. He appreciated
fully, at that early day, what the
soldiers of the world only slowly
learned after the Prussian war, and
that is, that the day of the old smooth-bore
musket had passed away and new era
opened of breech-loading, notwithstanding
rifles. He Iabored hard to break up the
military od-fogyism of that time and bring
about an appreciation of this great fact
Could he have succeeded in getting the War
Department and high officers of the Army
to do in 1861 what they did 20 years later
the war would have been shortened i'm
mensely, and the Union armies would have
entered the conflict with an advantage
which would have neutralized that
which the rebels had of defensive position.
But the military mind is essentially con-
sentative, and rarely learns anything until
it is shot into it. So the best that Mr..
Berdan was able to accomplish was to get
authority to raise regiment of his own kind
of men, and arm them with the kind of rifles
he wanted His brilliant successes with his
regiment ofsharpshooters,a armed with breech-
loading rifles, went far to awaken the coun-
try to the value of the new tactics and arms.
and there were tens of thousands Of breech-
leaders in the hands of our troops when
the war closed AS soldier, Gen. Berdan
was gallant, jealous and enterprising. He
was always ready for anything that looked
to the success of our arms and the suppress
sion of the rebellion. Among the most
brilliant things of the war were his DONNA
ton of the rebel siege-guns at Yorktown,
the encounter between his regiment and
rebel regiment of equal strength at Chancel-
lorsville, which he quickly whipped and
captured in fair, stand-up fight, and his
reconnaissance on the second day at Gettys
burg, where he discovered the massing
of the rebel troops on our left, which
was being done with so much secresy,
and promptly attacked the overwhelming
force with his Sharpshooters, throwing the
formation into such confusion that over an
hour of delay, of priceless value to us, was
gained, and much of the frightful danger
from the assault was averted.
The best that can be said of Gen. Berdan
was that in every respect he was fully
developt american man, in all that the word
implies. This is the highest praise that can
be given any one.