Evening star., 1934-08-05

I'm N ORGANS RAID" north Of
- AH the Ohio. In July Of 1853.
WI is usually given a brief
a paragraph In general
/ history OF the United
States, g little more in history OF
the Civil War. But there were many
Morgan raids Of considerably more
Importance than mere marauding ex-
petitions, as part Of the Confederate
plan Of campaign. Mr. Sw1Ggett mas
assembled evidence to show that the
Indiana-Ohio raid was not designed
as a purely military exploit. but was
part of a plan of the Richmond gov
ernment TO rouse and rally the dis
affected elements OF the Northwest
against the Lincoln government.
This biography Of the man known
In the North as the rebel raider Is
fun and fair, the first complete por-
trait of one of the most imagination
stirring figures Of the Civil War. Be
cause Of its adventurous subject and
because also Of Mr. Swiggett's sympa-
thetic treatment and literary style. 1t
| a a valuable addition to both the lit
erature Of biography and of romance.
John Morgan's life, we are told,
eentered not on adventures, dangers
and escapes. but on his mothers
home Of Hopemont, In Lexington, KY,
the Latrobe house with the wonder
fully swirling staircase. There ne re-
turned at intervals In his unquiet life
and to Lexington, for burial in the
Morgan lot, his body was brought
after the war, from Hollywood, Rich
mond. where 1t had been inferred
after he was killed in action in 1864.
Restlessness was his characteristic
from childhood and when he was only
81 he enlisted with the 1st Kentucky
Cavalry and went to Mexico to light
in l846. He was never thereafter to
know peace, for, even when events
permitted 1t, his temperament did not.
His Civil War career Is described In
detail by Mr.. Swiggett, beginning as
modest leader OF scouts and foragers,
followed by the launching at Muir
freesboro Of his system of raid and
light battle, then his numerous incur
sions in Kentucky and Tennessee, the
elimination in the Copperhead plot
and the raid into Ohio and Indiana.
with the capture Of Indianapolis and
Columbus as objectives and the flying
of the Confederate flag over the two
States
Mr.. Swiggett's estimate Of Morgars
character from youth to its early de-
cline is apparently unbiased by any
partisan feeling or by either TOO great
sympathy or disapproval.
HE lived in a way to enlist Wild
1 o0iTnncffiae Qh0llG
him. It is universal testimony OF
these early years that he was open.
handed to all, white and black.
Failure or tragedy attended all his
relations with women, and they were
many. He was twice married ana the
lover of many women" Women,
however, seem to have exerted little
influence over him except temporarily,
through their charms. Rumor credit
ed a woman, a Mrs. williams, with
having betrayed him to his death at
GreeneyiIle, Tenn. Mr.. Swiggetts
discussion of this story and all the
circumstances of Morgan's death oc-
| cupies a long chapter-an interesting
one. In noting the personality de-
cline at the end, Mr.. Swiggett says
$50 it appears that during the months
from April to July, 1853, there began
In Morgan a subtle decay of will. He
had to compromise with himself. All
through the raid, and even after the
surrender, there are authentic glimpses
of him in q mood OF disturbing ]o-
| viality, different thing from the bold
front q brave man is expected to keep
| in adversely, and one that contrasts
unpleasantly with the gloom that so
engulfed him at Columbus. He seems
| to lack all balance Of mind. He is
one time too gay, another too de-
pressed. 1t is clear that he Is a very
| different person from the high
hearted but essentially modest rider
| of '61 and early 80 He had the
stature and the possibilities OF
leader and a hero among men. The
tragedy of his hfe%is not the sudden
| mortality that overlook 1t, but the
fact that rebellion and disunity with
in himself so filled his soul that all
his powers were nullified. His whole
career followed the tragic pattern OF
those lives which never effectively
emerge from the irrational and mag
inative ideas of child"
\ -
THE LIFE AND MISADVENTURES
OF MIGUEL DE CERVANTES.
BY Mariana Tomas. Translated
from the Spanish by Ware B.
Wells. Illustrated. Boston: Hough-
ton Mifflin Co.
lnoN QUIxoTE" is both romance
- of picturesque adventure and q
social and literary satire, both the
last of the romances of chivalry and a
keen satire on such romances. Ger
vantes was himself something Of a
Don Quixote. He was a soldier as
well as poet, playwright and novelist.
He served under Don John, Bastard
of Austria, in the War Of Venice
against the Turks, was captured by
Barbary pirates and sold as a slave.
On this release and return to Spain
his fortunes fell vey low and his play
writing brought in a mere pittance,
SO that he was obliged to find all sorts
of makeshift jobs to support himself
and the wife he had improvidently
acquired He collected stores for the
Invincible Armada and became a rent
collector for the Order of st. John
| IIle VI 1d
the irate debtors unwittingly did him
a good turn when they seized him ana
threw him into prison, for to pass the
time of his confinement he began to
write Don Quixote" In spite Of the
fact that before his death Don
Quixote" had been translated into
many languages and was to become
one of the most famous Of classics,
Cervantes died poor.
Senor Tomas has not written a
biography buttreSSed with genealogi-
cal tables, tax collectors accounts, old
town records and other material dis
playing erudition; nor has he written
one in which much fanciful fiction is
, draped about a skeleton of fact. His
work is based on the generally known
history of the period and on the writ
ings of Cervantes himself. 1t is not,
however, a mere rosary of quotations,
the easiest type of biography. The
material is fabricated into q unified
whole In vhich the sad advant1fr0ilS