The climax. [volume] (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1887-1897, 1896-08-26
YOUNG WAR LEADERS.
Generals In Their Twenties
Won Fame and Victory.
HEROES WHO WERE BUT BOYS.

HEROES WHO WERE BUT BOYS.
The Youngest Grand Army Veteran OF Ex-
allied Rank-stories Of Miles and Will
son, Custer and Fitzpatrick, Upton. Mer-
Navy-"wiliis" Pegram. the 10y Colo
mel Of the Confederacy.
copyright, 1891
The youngest comrade In the Grand
Army of the Republic today, who came
out of the war with exceptionally high
rank and fame won on the field Of battle,
Is Nelson A. Miles. General Miles is a
member of Lafayette post, 140, depart
ment Of New York A brilliant career on
the plains as On Indian fighter kept Gen
eral Miles before the eye of the public nfter
the events of the civil war had ceased to
be talked about, especially with reference
to the Importance OF work done by individ-
ual leaders All shared the glory of the
great victory. But q glance backward to
the might have beens" had the war Pro-
longed suggests that Miles would have be-
come great figure on any field suited to
his energies He wns q very young man to
hive won, starting as a raw soldier, the
rank of major general and the command
of division In the splendid Second corps
of the Army Of the Potomac. Young men
were coming to the front IN 1865, and
doubtless one more shifting of corps COM
manders would have brought Miles to the
head of his corps, successor to Sumner and
Hancock. What leap in four years for q
young civilian whom Governor Andrew
thought too young, at %, TO be intrusted
with the responsibilities of captain. The
governor declined to commission him high
er than lieutenant. After he had distin-
guished himself as staff officer with that
rank, the governor of New York appointed
him lieutenant colonel, which shortly
placed him at the head Of q regiment, the
unit In on army, where he had q chance to
show the warrior stuff that was In him.
Hancock said of Miles while he was o
regimental officer and not yet "a years Of
age, ~ expect to he under command of
that young man some day" Miles con-
temporaries Of equivalent standing and
opportunities in 1866 were young men.
Custer had entered tho war in 1861 at %,
the same age as Miles. General J. II.
Wilson, who, In the event of continuance
of tho war, with 1855 as q starting point
for new period, would have been a close
rival to Sheridan as q cavalry leader and
winncr, was "a in 1861, or six years youn-
ger than SheT!dan. himself the youngest Of
the great leaders on either side, except
Stuart. Fitzpatrick and Merritt, both prom
ising generals in 1865 were 25 when the
war broke out. Contrast the ages IT these
young men, whose mothers surely looked
upon them as boys when they marched away
to war, with those of the more noted leaders
of both armies. When tho conflict began,
Grant was 80; Burnside, 81; Mcclellan,
35; Sherman, 40; Meade, 46; Hooker, 40;
Thomas, As; Rosecrans, 40; Buell., 43;
Sheridan, 80. OF the foremost southern
ers, Lee was 81; A. Sidney Johnston, 5S;
Joseph Z, Johnston, 81; StOnewall jack
son, 81; Beauregard, Al; Bragg, 4G;
Hood, 81, A. p. Hill, SO; J. E. b. Stuart
%; Forrest, 40
Miles was at disadvantage in other re-
spects as well as in age. Tho army had
more than u supply of brilliant young cap
tains and lieutenants, trained at West
Point. Custer, Merritt, Fitzpatrick and
Wilson were all West Point men, though
they earned their spurs before they put
them on, and after all it was test of abil-
ity for the men of training us well as the
civilian. But when they received start
the West Pointers nrose at a bound Miles
served with his regiment more than year
before he got command of q brigade, and
that was in the third year of his service
Custer leaped at once from u staff posi-
ton, not exalted at that, to the head of q
cavalry brigade In the Army Of the Poto-
mac Merritt and Fitzpatrick got brigades
about the same time, having previously
served in the cavalry, yet without estraor-
binary distinction. Cavalry leaders were
much In demand ut the time, but it is sig
nificant that these three soldiers, one at "a
and the others at 81, were appointed to
command cavalry brigadcs, when Sheri-
DIM, at 81, was considered by some of tho
officers of his first regiment too youthful
for q colonel of cavalry.
General Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick made good start for fame
He was In the graduating class ut West
Point in the spring of 1861, and when
Lincoln called for volunteers in April he
and companion cadet petitioned the war
department. TO skip the usual exercises and
send the whole class to the front. His
commencement. day was passed on the bat
tlefield at Big Bethel, Va, juno 10, and
he was wounded there while leading tho
advance of Duryea's zouayes- The wound
received at Big Bethel changed Fitzpatrick s
war career. He was at home recovering
when the boom in cavalry recruiting
reached its height Bull Run had been
fought, and the fame of the Black Horse
cavalry stirred the Yankee boys to emulate
the deeds of southern chivalry and tread
tho path to glory on horseback. He re-
cruited squadron for regiment which
took the field In the fall Of 1861 as the Sec
ond New York (Harris Light Guard). In
the spring of 1862 Fitzpatrick became colo
mel of the regiment and led the advance
of the army from Washington to the Rap
pahannock. Captain, colonel and general
by turns, now in skrmish, cow in charge,
again In fierce battle and daring raid, Kill
patrick always proved the dashing and
ready but level headed fighter that soldiers
pin their faith to and the crowd goes mad
over His troopers idoliZed him, and to
this day, from Maine to Michigan, the
Grand Army comrades take Tor the hero OF
their campfire tales this young Jerseyman
of the Sussex hills.
Wilson'S leap was the most remarkable
of all He had served during the first three
years of the war as IN engineer and a bu-
reau officer and in 1864 was given COM
mand of u cavalry division in Sheridan
corps. and that a. tho opening of the most
important cavalry campaign of the war
So brilliant his achievements with thai
command that Sherman asked for him be
fore the summers campaign ended to or
ganize the cavalry corps OF the west and
antagonize the wizard of the saddle" In
that department., the veteran Forrest
1t Is doubtful whether there was in the
Federal army another leader whose work
was ono of persisting activity and warfare
testing personal qualities OF energy and
| endurance, who accomplished as much to
ward winning the grand result as Wilson
during the ID months Of his cavalry serv
ice, May, 1894. to May. 1906. He led hi
division In all the battles Of Sheridan II
the campaign from the Rapidan to th
jaime ), and inter the siegp Of PETERSBURG
beg.n he exeslted one OF the most dar.Is
and successful raids OF the war in the east
With less thala &, 00o troopers he passed tn