Evening star., 1953-08-27
Two Generals Who Fell at ChontiIIv
By Leonard L. LerwiIl

~
~ niverSary of the battle Of Chan
tilly, the final phase Of the struggle be-
tween the Union and Confederate
armies at the battle of Second Manas-
saS. On Sunday, August 80, at pm.
group interested in that battle will
meet at the seldom visited markers in
the woods near OK Hill, on Route so.
in Fairfax County, Virginia, where Maj.
Gems. Philip Kearny and Isaac I. Ste
vens fell in the twilight of that stormy
September evening. A message from
Miss Mary Kearny Of Richmond, a
granddaughter of the general, will be
read
The Chantilly action rates as little
more than a skirmish but 1t involved
48 regiments of the Union and Con-
federate armies and resulted in 692
casualties. Kearny and Stevens were
the first major generals killed in the
Civil War. Senator Edward D. Baker
Of Oregon, killed at Balls Bluff, Octo-
ber 81, 1861, had not accepted a prof
fered commission as major general
at the time Of his death.
It is appropriate that granite monu-
ments to the two generals should stand
side by side where they fell. A COM
parison of their careers reveals in
teresting similarities as well as marked
contrasts.
Philip Kearny was born June 2, 1915,
while his New Jersey mother was visit
ing in New York. The family was
distinguished for wealth and generosity.
His father was one of the founders of
the New York Stock Exchange.
Isaac ingalls, Stevens was born
March 25, 1918, in a farmhouse near
Andover, Mass. His family was in
humble circumstances.
Both were backward as children.
Young Stevens, at three, had not
walked. His grandmother. fearing he
might never take q step. gave him
special training and soon he was rum
ming and playing aS other children.
Stevens father, seeking to harden the
child, each morning would snatch him
from bed and dunk him in a hogs
head of cold water. The treatment
seemed effective. Young Isaac sur
vived.
AS q youth, Kearny avoided ath-
letics, was aloof from other children.
He had a delicate appearance which
never entirely left him. His health was
best when he was in the open and
active An Indifferent student, he
thwarted his grandfather's ambition
by refusing to study for the ministry.
but graduated from Columbia College
in 1888 and compromised with his
grandfather by half-heartedly studying
law. Stevens also studied law but
never practiced the profession. Mill
tary tactics and horses were the first
subjects in which Kearny showed
sustained interest. When Grandfather
John Watts died in 1886, Phil Kearny
inherited around a million dollars.
In 1885 Isaac Stevens was appointed
to the Military Academy and graduated
No. man in the class of 1889, be-
coming a second lieutenant Of engi-
neerS.
Cavalry almost disappeared from the
Army in the reorganization after the
War of 1912 and did not return until
1888, when Col. Henry Dodge and
Lieut.. Col. Stephen Watts Kearny uncle
of Phil Kearny, organized the 1St
Dragons at Jefferson Barracks, Mo.
Phil Kearny was commissioned second
lieutenant and joined the 1st Dragons
in 1887.
General Winfield Scott had Kearny
for an aide, while Lieut.. Stevens was
engaged in the building of Fort Adams
at Newport.
At the outbreak of the Mexican War,
Kearny went to Illinois to recruit his
1st Dragons and to buy, partly with
his own money, the 80 iron-gray
horses for the unit that became Gen.
Scott's personal bodyguard. Kearny
was assisted in buying the horses by
country lawyer named Abraham Lin
coin who said the Dragon officer was
a smart horse trader, no mean COM
plirnent In the frontier country. Both
Kearny and Stevens were wounded in
Mexico. Kearny lost his left arm lead
ing in a charge to the gates of Churu-
busco. Stevens was wounded in the
foot at Mexico City.
After the Mexican War, Stevens be-
came assistant to Professor A. D. Bache,
chief of the Coast Survey. Kearny,
brilliant man at social functions, had
little interest in politics. in contrast to
Stevens who displayed considerable
skill in political maneuvering. Secre-
tary Of War Charles M. Conrad rebuked
Stevens for writing letters to the news
papers and making speeches in support
of Franklin Pierce, the Democratic can
didate in the 1852 political campaign,
saying Army officers should keep out of
politics.
Pierce's election brought to Stevens
the appointment as Governor of the
newly created Washington Territory, a
position he resigned from the Army to
accept. Stevens served as Governor un-
til August IL, 1857, when he resigned
following his election as delegate to
Congress. During the 1860 campaign,
Stevens was chairman of the National
Executive Committee of the National
Democratic Party, supporting John c.
Breckenridge of Kentucky for President.
After the outbreak of war between the
States, Kearny attained command, the
1st New Jersey Brigade, as brigadier
general. Stevens, appointed colonel,