Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-15
Private Soldier, Who Became
Adjutant General of Army.
TWENTY YEARS RETIRED
Spent Declining Years on Farm in
Washington's Outskirts.
TRIED TO BE GOOD NEIGHB0R"
Eighty-Four Years of Usefulness to
Self and Society Closed-Quiet-
ly. Passes Away.

Gen. Richard Coulter Drum, adjutant
general of the United States Army from
June Is. 1880. until his retirement. May
%. 1880, died at o'clock this morning
at his country home. Langdrum, in Mont
gomery county. Nd. five miles from
Washington on the Rockville electric line
Gen. Drum was stricken with his last
illness Sunday, October 3, and for several
days his condition was critical He rallied,
however, several times during the sue
ceeding ten days. He was able to leave his
bed early this morning for an easy chair,
where he sat for some time. He started
to leave the chair and cross the ROOM
when he fell back unconscious and the end
came quickly. Death was due to hard
ening Of the arteries. He Is survived by
his wife, two daughters, Mrs. Susan Tarr
and Mrs. Oliphant; five grandchildren. r..
c. Drum-Hunt, Henry ]. Hunt, Sd. Nor
gan Oliphant. Miss Margaret Oliphant
and Campbell Oliphant, and two great
grandsons, r. c. Drum-Hunt, jr., and
Henry J. Hunt, 4th.
The funeral of Gen. Drum will be held
next Monday, but the time and place or
interment have not been decided upon.
The life of Gen. Drum was a remark
able one in its accomplishments and sim
gularly beautiful in its close. 1t ran the
gamut from a private soldier in the
one of. the highest military positions
within the gift Of the United States.
During military career representing
more than forty-three years of active
service it was filled with usefulness and
marked with many instances of rare
bravery and devotion to country. Its
twenty years of retirement disclosed that
the traits which had made Gen. Drum a
,o1,, Ill
less adapted to make him a useful. in
teresting and lovable citizen in time of
peace.
He had been in the midst of the
carnage of battle and earned the honors
that grateful country bestows upon its
valiant warriors In deeds of war. and yet
In the sunset of life when the shadows
were lengthening and the light was sink
ing downward toward the horizon he
learned the beauties and blessings of
peace and loved 1t far better than all
else beside.
His Peaceful Closing Years.
The closing years of his life, after his
retirement May %, 1889. were spent IN
rural simplicity, watching the grass.
the trees and the flowers that beauti-
fled his country home; spending hours
with his grandchildren in the woods
and the fields, studying even the
insect life with which they abounded.
observing the patient humility and do
cility of the domestic animals, and, to
use his own words, learning how to
be good neighbor"
And he was good neighbor. All who
lived within the environment of his home
admired and many loved the simplicity of
his great character.
Gen. Drum was born in Pennsylvania.
May 2s. 1925. His parents were Simon
Drum and Agnes Lang. The name Of his
country home combines their names
''Langdrum.''
His schooling was finished at Jefferson
College, Philadelphia. At the dawn of
manhood. he enlisted private in
Company K, 1st Pennsylvania Infantry.
December 16, 1886 He was commission
ed second lieutenant, February IS. 1S47.
Tranferred to the 4th Artillery, March 8,
1S4S, he was commissioned first lieuten-
ant. to which rank he had been previous
ly brevetted for bravery at the siege of
Vera Cruz. and in the battle of Chapul-
tepec, in the campaign which resulted in
the capture of the City of Mexico. He
also participated in several other battles
in Mexico
toned first at Fort Monroe. Va then at
Fort Pickens, Fla, and then at Baton
Rouge. There. September 25, 1850, he
married Miss Lavinia Morgan daughter
of Thomas Gibbs Morgan Of that place
Fought In Indian War.
After service at various points he was
placed in command of a section of ar
tillery in the Topeka expedition, and
was in fierce battle with the Sioux In
dians on the western border of Nebraska
known as the battle of Bluewater. or
Ash Hollow" The recollection of the
terrible experience he had in that fight
fingered with him to his closing hours.
General Drum was commissioned adiu-
tant general Of the United States Army
with the brevet rank of captain March
| IS. 1851, promoted successively to be
major. lieutenant colonel and colonel and
| ultimately brigadier general and adjutant