Connecticut western news., 1900-06-07

)er6d. HIS early 6UucRblOQ WAS Only | hat which the country school of that period afforded. He attended for a hort time the academy; then in Sharon, md this with the advantages which the common school gave to h1m completed lis early education. The financial cir of his father not permitting nim to give his son classical education which he desired, through the influence of Jabez Huntington, United States Senator from Connecticut, he secured | an appointment to the West Point Mili- tary Academy. So poorly was he pre- pared for the appointment that the ex- amining board told him that it would | be useless for him to remain as he could | never pass the second examination, even | if he did the first. Perseverance how ever gained its reward and in July 1887 he graduated as Second Lieutenant of Artillery.
 His first active service was in the Seminole war and afterward with Gen. eral Scott assisting in the removal of the Cherokee Indians across the Missis- sippi. During the Canadian rebellion he was on the Northern frontier. In 1846 he was sent to Texas under Taylor. He assisted in the capture of Vera Cruz. At Cherubusco he was brevetted a captain and Chapultepec major. He was made full captain in 184S and com manded Duncan's Battery, Light Artil- lery until 1855, when he was appointed Major and ordered to Kansas where he remained during the pro-slavery agita- tion. In 1857 he commanded recon noitering expedition which went up the A aa.- ;1ac across to the South Fork of the Platte. The entire march was over eighteen hundred miles long and was an ardous one. The winter of 1857 58 was spent at Forth Leavonworth. The year of 1S5960 was principally occupied in marching between Fort Riley and Fort Laramie. Early in the summer of 1860 he was given the command of an expe- dltion against the Kiowax Indians ex- tending his march to the neighborhood of Pike's Peak, wintering there.
 At this time, he had become some what disgusted with the service and de- termined in short time to resign his commission; but before he could carry into effect his desires, the struggle for humanity had begun and he was order ed to the East to take part in the sup pression of the Rebellion. Without murmer, he assumed the position that was assigned to him and during the three years of active service up to the day of his death he never faltered nor hesitated in the face of the duty which he felt he owed to his country. Wound ed at Antietam; two horses shot from beneath him at Fredericksburg; his re- markable march to the scene of conflict at Gettysburgh; his rallying cry in the Wilderness all attest to the noble, whole hearted manner in which he served his country's cause. Twice was he offered the chief command of the army of the Potomac but persistently refused to assume the responsibilities which neces- sarily fell to that position.
 The manner of his death, known though it may be to all, will bear re- beating. It was during those terrible days of the Wilderness that he met his death as he always preferred to fall, upon the field of battle, with his face to the enemy. It was on Monday, May 9th, the fourth day of the battle that he went out in advance to superintend the placing of some batteries. He noticed that one of the gunners lodged, as the sharp whistle of bullet sounded near. Amused a t the mans nervousness he remarked pleasantly, Pooh, man you can't hit an elephant at that distance" referring to the nearest enemy in sight. The words had hardly passed his lips when the bullett of 8 sharpshooter en- sconed in one of the neighboring trees his brain. The blood gushed from his ck..1
 his face, be fell into the arms of his assistant Adjutant General. Thus fell Sedgwick, a noble man, great general, one of the country's ablest defenders. The corps to which he belonged as we'll as every individual mourned the irreparable loss. His men loved him {; his superiors respected and acknowl- ledged his abilities of generalship.
 In his army career he was strict dis
 ciplinarian and exacted the most un- questionable obedience from his men.
 He detested hishonorabie act and
 punished with the most severe penalty
 the man that wilfully disobeyed his or
 ders. Yet with this severity of charac-
 ter was combined tenderness and pity
 for the suffering and wounded. He
 would be moved to tears by the tale
 of suffering and in his camp life gladly
 shared the lot of the common soldier.
 The following incident serves to illus
 trate the nobility of his nature, One
 day while on tedious march 8 soldier
 had fallen by the roadside from illness
 and fatigue. Sedgwick happened to
 come along at this very time. Dis
 mounting he took the weary and sick
 soldier and placed him in his saddle at
 the same tune curbing the step of the
 impatient horse to a gentler pace. For
 two miles he travelled in this way till he
 reached an ambulance train and placed the sick man in their charge. Pressed though he was with great anxie- ties, and knowing the value of every
 moment, his unselfish nature responded
 to the suffering and helpless private. His men used to say: We all know
 that great things are to be done, and | we'll done, when we see that earnest figure in it's rough blouse hurrying past
 and never have we been disappointed in him. He works necessarily, is un- ostentatious, and when he appears
 among us all eyes follow him with out spoken blessings"
 His career has left shining page up- on our country's history. Of him could be said: "There was-there is-no
 gentler, stronger, manlier man. In the
 peaceful valley where was passed the
 happiest days of his life, near the home
 that he loved so well rests all that re-
 mains of him that was once mortal. Warrior, rest thy banner OCT thee
 Hangs in many dropping fold
 Many manly cheek before thee
 Stained with tear-drods we behold! Thine was not the hand to falter
 When thy sword should leave its sheath Thine was not a cheek to alter,