Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-11-11
Hobby Cost Nation a Hero

in New Haven and as a student at
Yale" said the Judge to me when I
called upon him in the summer of 1872,
and | was one of the men who helped
TO get him appointed clerk of the su.
perlor court of the state back in 1854,
while he was still two or three years
under thirty. You see, he had gradu.
ated from the Yale law school some
years before. but, somehow, he didn't
seem to be able to make the law go.
and so we got him the clerkship,
where we knew his legal training
would come in handy.
That was the year the Crimean
war broke out, and It hadn't been GO
Ing on long before those of us who
knew him well discovered that All
Terry was taking a sudden and In.
tense interest In the progress of the
campaign being conducted against
Russia by the allies. Why, he became
so deeply immersed In the subject
that he actually neglected his duties
as clerk OF the court bit, and not
being content to get the latest news
OF the war at the breakfast table, like
the rest of US. he got into the habit
OF going to newspaper office and sit.
ting there by the hour in the evenings.
awaiting such news as might come in
about the siege of Sebastopol and
other events. He became especially
excited about the war on the days
that he knew a European mail was
due-we had no cables then-and not
infrequently on mail days he remained
at the newspaper office awaiting war
news until the paper went to press.
He carried his war enthusiasm stiT
further. He got together as good col.
lection of maps OF the war zone as he
could possibly lay his hands on. AS
news from the front drifted across
the Atlantic he traced upon his maps,
so far as he was able. the movements
OF the troops. | remember seeing him
one evening bending over his maps
and tracing with a pencil certain lines
which indicated to him the movement
OF the troops. That same evening he
detailed to me what he believed would
be the Inevitable strategy of the cam.
paign. AS he did SO his face became
flushed with excitement. his eyes
took on the CLEAN OF the enthusiast,
and | could not help saying to my.
self: What is "Alf'' Terry doing in
the clerks Office OF a court?'
THE Crimean war ended. daresay
that 'Alf' Terry had a better knowl-
edge Of the strategy employed by both
sides than any other man In the state,
or in several states. for that matter.
He wrote and talked necessarily about
1t, yet for the diplomacy connected
with the war. or the politics that
caused It, he knew practically nothing
and cared less. And when the brief
campaign of the French against the
Austrians was on a. 1859, he spent ali
his spare time studying the reports
reaching this couutry Of the battles of
Solferino and Magenta
1.-TWO years Later, President Lincoln
issued his first call for volunteers, and
AR Terry, who In the meantime had
gained the rank OF colonel In the state
militia through devotion to his hobby.
went to Bull Run at the head OF the
Seventh Connecticut infantry, and his
was one Of the few regiments that re-
tired from that field I'm good order and
helped to check the stampede.
THE rest of his career the world
knows concluded Judge Foster. But
/ sometimes think that, If Air Terry
had not suddenly been seized with the
Idea to study the Crimean war seven
years before our great war broke, he
probably would have remained I'M
known to fame and would have rusted
out behind the desk OF the clerk OF
our superior court"
(Copyright, 1910. by r. J. Edwardsl