The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-04-25
The sToRMING OF cHAPULTEPEc, FIFTY YEARS AGO

there was a brilliant company of men
whose names adorn the pages of his
tory as gallant fighters for the north or
south. among them odd Bill Sumner,
who was never known TO cry Hold.
enough" but once. and that was on the
bloody field of Antietam; Silas Casey,
the brave but unfortunate commander
of the federal outposts at Fair Oaks;
John W. Geary of Gettysburg and
Lookout mountain fame: Stevens, the
brilliant leader Of the Carolina coast,
who was killed with Kearney at Chan
lilly: Reno. who fell at the head of his
corps on The crest of South mountain;
Magruder. the captor of Galveston and
the prince of good fellows and fight
ers; James Shields, the eccentric but
gallant Irishman: Gabriel r. Paul. who
was struck blind while CALAMITY lead
ing his brigade at Gettysburg; Lyon,
the hero martyr of Wilson creek; Rob-
ert Anderson of Sumter fame; Steele,
federal commander beyond the Missis-
sippi: Richardson and Thomas Will
Jams, both killed while leading their di-
visions on a charge; the Confederate,
Bernard Bee. who fell at Bull Run after
giving ''Stonewalr' Jackson his imper-
fshable sobriquet: w. Il. T Walker. the
Confederate cavalryman; GustavuS w
Smith, Benjamin Huger. Edward john
son. G. NJ. Wilcox, R. ;. EWell, W. w.
Loring, G. B. Crittenden, southern
representative in the civil war Of the
great Kentucky family; John G..
Walker. d. II. Hill, one of the fighting
leaders in LOngstreet's corps; Mansfield
Lowell. Confederate commander at New
Orleans: Earl Van Dorm, whose bril-
liant career was cut short in 1865 by an
assassin's bullet: Roswell Ripley. Penn
berton of Vicksburg fame General
Archer, whose brigade of Tennesseeans
opened the bali at Gettysburg, and
scores of others Of subordinate rank in
the armies Of the south.
To this long list must be added Han
cock, the superb, who Won two brew
cts in the ChapulIepec campaign; Cor
don Granger, called by Thomas,
s.Granger. great in battle;" J. Nj. Bren-
nan. another of Thomas stalwart fight
ers at Chicamauga; J. P. Hatch, the
cavalry soldier: Hunt. who was chief
of artillery under Meade at Gettys-
burg; J. J. Peck, noted for his defense
of southeastern Virginia; Uncle John
Sedgwick of the Sixth corps, killed at
SpOttsylvania: FitZ-John Porter, J. e.
Foster, who fought with Burnside i'll
the CarOlinas and Tennessee; the brave
but unfortunate Charles P. Stone
(Stone Pasha). victim of the Balls
Bluff disaster. and William Hays. the
skilful general of artillery in the army
of the Potomac.
And these were not gratultOuS nom
ors. Scott was a leader of the Napol-
comic school, who knew the power of
enthusiasm and also how sweet TO a
soldier are the rewards of praise and
gratitude He remembered how he
himself. Frustrated with wounds at
Iundy's lane, in the war of 1872, was
borne in a litter upon the shoulders Of
his admiring countrymen from the
Canada border half way across New
York. He remembered likewise how
the little American army, while sur
nrised and overmatched on British
soil. had been inspired that day by the
heroic words of Colonel Miller, who,
when told to capture with his regiment
n battery that was doing more damage
m the American cause than all the
rest of the British army together. an
swered IN try. sir, waved his sword
and led on to victory, victory which
saved the day. ScOtts report of Cha
nultepec was. largely taken up with
mention of the heroes. and it would
REQUIRE a volume to tell in detail the
stories of their deeds while storming
that famous stronghold.
Chapultepec IS well named. for in the
Aztec tongue the word means the Hill
of the Grasshoppers." 1t is an eleva-
tion 1865 feet above the level. crowned
nv a castle. with wings, bastions. para
nets. redoubts and batteries of heavy
etonework. over 1000 feet in length
Surrounding this seemingly impregna-
HE fortress at the time of the battle
were two stone walls. strongly built.
and from, . TO II feet in height The
hill is an isolated rock with steep. pre-
cinitous sides on the north and east
and part of the south. 1t was fianked