Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-02-22

!
GEN. ALFRED PLEASANTON.
persons save few Of his most intimate
friends. He felt that he had not been
we'll treated by the government after his
distinguished services in the war, and
this, together with ill-health, preyed upon
his mind and made him rather eccentric.
His only attendants were his private
secretary, Mr.. Murphy, and Henrietta
Roane, faithful colored nurse, who
were with him when he passed away.
/ Gen. Pleasanton was born in the Dis
| trlct of Columbia and served throughout
the Mexican war. lie was Dreveted for
distinguished gallantry at Palo Alto and
Reseca de la Palma. He became major
in the regular army i'll 1862, a year later
becoming brigadier- general i'll the vol
unteer service. AS cavalry commander
he was eminently capable and brilliant.
| lie rendered distinguished service at An
tietam and against Price in the cam
paign in Missouri, but his most distin-
guished service, perhaps, was at Gettys-
| burg, where he was the chief of Meade's
cavalry forces.
Saved the Day at Characteristic.
Gen. Pleasanton rendered most vaIu-
able service at Charlottesville, where,
after Towards corps had been routed,
he, by a bold cavalry charge into the
woods, delayed Jackson's advancing
columns long enough to enable the gath
| erlng and throwing into position Of all
| the artillery availa BILE. With these guns
| Gen. Pleasanton met Gen. Jackson and
his forces, as they emerged from the
woods with a storm of grape and can
mister that no troops could pass through.
AS chief of cavalry at Gettysburg, Gen.
Pleasanton also did heroic service.
| Gen. Pleasanton resigned from service
soon after the war. His private means
were not great and he was a chronic in
valid from injuries received in his ac-
tive campaigns. He was appointed
major in the regular army by a spe-
cial act of Congress in 1888 and imme-
diately placed upon the retired list, but
| he felt the rank accorded him to be a
slight. He therefore lived the life of a
recluse, and up to three weeks ago,
would not even have the attendance of a
physician. Dropsy, the effect of wounds
and age, and the grippe, caused the
end.
Respect for Artistic cracy of Self.
Gen. Pleasanton was a member of
distinguished family of Eastern Penn
Sylvania. His elder brother, Gen A. J.
Pleasanton, was brave and dis
/ tinguished officer of the war; who held
many high civil and military positions in
Pennsylvania, and a few years ago made
great stir by his theory of the curative
properties of solar rays when passed
through blue glass.
A slight vein of eccentricity, a tendency
| towards the adoption of daring theories,
| contempt for the sodden ignorance and
| stagnation of the Masses and high re-
spect for the aristocracy of self, which
/ seemed to run through the whole family
became strongly marked in the great cav
airy general, when he retired from active
| life and finally landed him a hypochon-
driac and rccluse.
Adopted the Life of an Idler
Nearly a score of years ago Gen. Pleas
anton adopted the life Of an absolute
idler save that he devoted much time to
books He was an omnivorous reader of
/ critical descriptions of battles and de-
voted student of the career of the great
Napoleon. 1t is probable that no man of
his time had SO readily at his tongues
end every detail of the battle of Water
loo, drawn from every available source
of map and volume. lie never tired of
discussing this one of the most important
battles of history, and from impromptu
| diagrams, exactly correct as to the posi-
tons of the various armies at various
moments of the battle, and with per-
fectly familiar description of the topog-
raphy of the field, he would entertain
his friends and point out the mistakes
of Napoleon and how by Il change of
plans he might have won the Hateful
battle.
Army Influence Arrayed Against Him.
| Gen. Pleasanton's criticisms of most
of the commanding officers of the War
of the Rebellion were unsraring, and
more than once cropped out in magazine
articles, one of the most notable of which
appeared q few years ago among the re-
] markab war articles of the Century
magazine, and which chastised Gen
j Hooker severely for his conduct of the
/ battle of Charlottesville.
Such criticisms arrayed the regular
army influence against him. and PLAYED
q conspicuous part in the opposition to his
retirement by act of Congress, which.
after long years Of delay, was only ac-
! comnlished in 1883. when he was retired
with the rank of a colonel of the regular
I Previous to that time the general lived
&le life of a Bohemian, upon exceedingly
limited rations, his only income being a
meager remittance, at regular intervals,
representing his share of the proceeds
from small family estate at Philadel-
phia.
This was scarcely sufficient to pay
| modest room rent and for scanty meals,
and if he at times INDUCED in the tooth
some menu Of the free lunch counters he
| but did what many wealthy men do to-
day, who prefer a drink at the bar for
| which they pay, and a palatab BILE plate OF
! soup, or baked leans or salad, at the
free lunch stand. 10 seat III cafe
The general was one of the most con-
| vivial, as well as enc of the most con-
genial. of the habitues of the noted
buffets of Rum Row and Thirteenth, be-
tween E and the avenue, in those days.
"Shoemaker's'' was his favorite haunt,
where all convivial statesmen, army
and navy officers. and literati. have most
congregatcd for long years In the
minds of hundreds of frequenters of
this place the figure and voice of the
brilliant but eccentric general are as
fresh today rs when they heard him as
the raconteur of war tales. his tones
growing mellower with each jingle of the