Evening journal., 1910-07-11


In the history of the Civil War Gen
erai Alfred II. ferry is known as the
hero OF Fort Fisher. since he was the man
who in January OF 1865, led the successful
assault upon the last remaining important
stronghold Of the Confederacy upon the
Atlanric seaboard. Eleven years later
as brigadier general In the regular army
he again came prominently before the
country as the commander of the main
column which drove Sitting Bull and his
followers into Canada after the Custer
massacre on the Little Big Horn.
one Of the leading New Haven Conn,
men Of other days who never tired OF
talking OF General Terry was the late
Judge f. X. Foster. who was for many
years prosecuting attorney OF New Ha-
ven county. and who presided over the
New Haven mass meeting which Lin
coin addressed a few days after he had
delivered his Cooper Union speech
81 knew 'Alf' Terry as a boy here in
New Haven and as a student at Yale, 70
said the Judge 10 me when l called upon
him in the summer Of 1872, land ! was
one OF the men who helped to get him
appointed clerk of the Superior Court OF
the State back in 1854 while he was stili
two or three years under 30. You see he
had graduated from the Yale law school
some years before, but somehow he
didn't seem 20 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 vas the year the Crimean war
broke out. and & hadn't been going on
long before those OF us Woo knew him
we'll discovered that Ill Terry was TAX
ing a sudden and intense interest In the
progress Of the campaign being con-
Quoted against Russia by the allies. why
he became so deeply immersed In the sub
iect that he actually neglected his duties
as clerk Of the court a 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 10 a news
paper office and sitting there by the hour
In the evenings awaiting such news as
might come in about the Siege or sebas-
topol and other events. He became especi-
ally excited about the war on the days
that he knew a European mail was due
we had no cable then-and not infreauent-
~ on mail days he remained at the news
paper office awaiting war news until the
paper went 10 press
He carried his war enthusiasm stin
further. He got together as good a 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 even
ing bending over his maps and tracing
with pencil certain lines which indicated
TO him the movement Of the troops. That
same evening he detailed 10 me what he
believed would be the inevitable strategy
OF the campaign. AS he did so his face
became flushed with excitement, hls>eyes
took on the CLEAN OF the enthusiast, and
7 could not help saying to myselU What
Is Ar Terry doing in the clerks Office
OF courtg
'The Crimean war ended I daresay thai
Ar Terry had better knowledge of
THE strategy employed by both sides thar
any other man in the state. or in severa
States for that matter. He wrote an(
talked necessarily about it. yet for IN,
diplomacy connected with the war o.
the politics that caused It. he knew
practically nothing and cared less. AM
when the brief campaign OF the Frencl
against the Austrians was on in 1859. n
spent all his spare time studying the re
ports reaching this country OF the battle
OF solferino and Magenta
Two years later. President Lincoln is
sued his first call for Volunteers. and AN
Terry. who I'm the meantime had gain
ed the rank Of colonel in the State militi
through cevotion to his hobby went q
Bull Run at the head Of the Seventh Con
necticut Infantry. and his was one Of IN
few regiments that retired from that hel
IN Eood order and helped n check tn