aking of a great soldier, have nothing to support their opinion
but the impression made upon them by his manly character, his winning
and vigorous personality, and the extraordinary ardor and zest with
which his powerful mind turned towards military affairs in the midst
of circumstances of almost incredible difficulty and privation. He was
one of the dearest of the friends of my youth. I cannot hope to
enable the readers of this paper to see him as I saw him. No words can
express the vivid brilliancy of his look and his speech, the swift and
graceful energy of his bearing. He was not a scholar, yet his words
were like martial music; in stature he was less than the medium size,
yet his strength was extraordinary; he seemed made of tempered steel.
His entire aspect breathed high ambition and daring. His jet-black
curls, his open candid brow, his dark eyes, at once fiery and tender,
his eagle profile, his mouth just shaded by the youthful growth that
hid none of its powerful and delicate lines--the whole face, which
seemed made for nothing less than the command of men, whether as
general or as orator, comes before me as I write, with a look of
indignant appeal to the future for the chance of fame which inexorable
fate denied him. The appeal, of course, is in vain. Only a few men,
now growing old, knew what he was and what he might have been if life
had been spared him for a year or two. I will merely try to show in
these few pages, mainly from his own words, how great a heart was
broken by the slugs of the assassin at the Marshall House.

He was born in the village of Mechanicsville, Saratoga County, New
York, on April 23, 1837. His parents were plain people, without
culture or means; one cannot guess how this eaglet came into so lowly
a nest. He went out into the world at the first opportunity, to seek
his fortune; he turned his hand, like other American boys, to anything
he could find to do. He lived a while in New York, and finally drifted
to Chicago, where we find him, in the spring of 1859, a clerk and
student in the law office of Mr. J.E. Cone. From his earliest boyhood
he had a passionate love of the army. He learned as a child the manual
of arms; he picked up instinctively a knowledge of the pistol and the
rifle; he became, almost without instruction, a scientific fencer.
But he was now of age, and determined to be a lawyer, since, to all
appearance, there was no chance for him in the army. The way in which
he purs