personal bravery he united a moral courage comparable to that of Washington, and a firmness and decision of character that left no room for doubt as to his aims and his views concerning any question upon which he was entitled to express himself. His order on assuming command of the army was a production worthy to stand with Washington's farewell address, and a few sentences therefrom may be appropriately quoted:

"The state of the military establishment is of a nature to excite a deep concern for its interests. The minute divisions which it has suffered, from the necessity of furnishing garrisons for the numerous posts that line our inland and maritime borders, and the abridgment of the sources of competition, inseparable from its dispersed condition, are alike unfavorable to its discipline. The principle of emulation, which, in combined forces, has an irresistible operation by a force inherent in itself, is lost upon bodies which do not feel the influence of contact, and can find a substitute only in the increased devotion of those who are invested with command. Discipline, no longer nourished by a principle of constitutional activity, becomes in a great degree dependent for existence on the application of authority by those in command, and on the principle of obedience in those of subordinate situations. Subordination in authority is the essence of military government, and it must be fostered by that respectful deference which is due from all officers to each other, in their private as well as in their official correspondence.

"The major general feels it his duty forcibly to enjoin on the officers of the army the necessity of maintaining a spirit of harmony among themselves. In addition to the consideration that personal schisms tend directly to the subversion of military order and discipline, it will be obvious to them that their profession imposes obligations which do not exist in the other walks of life. Dissensions and controversies among private gentlemen affect only the characters of the individual parties, while those among military officers impair the reputation of the body of which they are members; and it is but just to expect that every gentleman of honorable sentiments will sacrifice the gratification of his personal enmity to the consideration

that the reputation of his associates will necessarily be involved in the obloquy which he draws upon his own.

"The officer is the depository of the rights of the soldier, and the obligations of his office, as well as the laws of honor and humanity, claim a faithful execution of the trust. When the soldier ceases to regard the officer as his protector, the authority with which the laws invest the latter loses its efficacy in his estimation. The surest remedy for the evil of desertion is contained in a rigid and steady discipline; to be salutary it must possess both these qualities, but no violation of law can be deemed essential to its enforcement. Its effect upon the soldier becomes impaired the moment he feels that the system which governs him is fluctuating in its course, or that it violates the principles upon which it is founded. The certainty of laws constitute their principal efficacy, and however severe restrictions may be they are obeyed so long as they are dispensed by the hand of justice and not of oppression.

"The nation must be convinced that the army is progressing in all useful improvements, and must be made to feel that it is connected with its safety and honor. It is in vain that officers complain of the difficulty of this achievement; it is called for by the highest duties enjoined by patriotism, and it must be effected, as they value their own reputation and the consciousness of having performed their duty.

"The efficacy of example is too generally felt to be asserted, and to officers of rank the major general looks for constant exhibitions of zeal and attention to their profession. If they perform their duty he cannot doubt, confiding as he does in the work and talent of the junior grades, that the army will be distinguished for its devotion to the institutions of the country, and a model of order and excellence in the military profession."

Three months after the death of General Brown, Major General Alexander Macomb succeeded to the command of the army. His was an interesting career. Born at Detroit April 3d, 1782, he was educated in Newark, New Jersey. At the age of sixteen he enlisted in the New York rangers, a select company, which in 1798 volunteered for the threatened war with France. That war failing to materialize, he obtained a commission the following year as cornet in the United States army.

When the corps of engineers was established he became a member of it, with the rank of lieutenant, being made a captain in 1805 and major in 1808. He continued to advance in rank until, in 1812, he had reached the command of the third artillery, with the rank of colonel. He distinguished himself at Niagara and Fort George in 1813, and in January, 1814, was made brigadier general and charged with the defense of the country bordering on Lake Champlain. With a force of about 1,500 regular troops and a few detachments of militia, brought in from the surrounding neighborhood, he took station at Plattsburg and awaited the attack of the British commander at the head of a force of 14,000 veterans of the British army. At the same time, Commodore McDonough, with the squadron under his command, took up a position before that town and awaited the attack of a naval force of the enemy very much superior to his own in number of vessels, men and weight of metal. When the shock of battle came, the enemy's land forces suspended operations in the very act of engaging, appearing to await, in a measure, the outcome of the sanguinary contest that they saw being fought to a finish on the water; and when that contest ended in the total overthrow, almost annihilation, of the British squadron, the British land forces, overwhelming as they were in numbers, beat a hasty retreat. It was one of the most wonderful victories, if not the most wonderful, in our history, and in the public mind Macomb was bound to share the honors of it, in a measure, with the heroic McDonough. The president advanced Macomb to the rank of major general, dating the commission from the day of that great victory, September 11th. At the conclusion of the war General Macomb was stationed at his native town, and given command of the northwest frontier. In 1821 he was called to Washington as chief of the corps of engineers, and after the death of General Brown became commander in chief of the army, which position he retained until his death, on the 25th of June, 1841.

Macomb was immediately succeeded in the command of the United States army by General Winfield Scott, whose birthplace was that town in Virginia which, in his old age, became the scene of the grand climateric of the Civil war in which his very dear personal friend and long time chief of staff (Lee)

was forced to yield to a newly risen chieftain (Grant), to whom General Scott sent a message as "from the oldest general in the world, to the greatest."

The hero of Lundy's Lane and of Mexico had had the advantages of an excellent education, had been admitted to the bar in Petersburg, in 1806, and while a member of the bar had been present at the trial of Aaron Burr for treason. Two years after his admission to the bar Scott entered the army, receiving a commission as captain of artillery. He was a born soldier, and soon became thoroughly familiar with the details of the military art through assiduous study. At the breaking out of the war of 1812 he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the second artillery, and ordered to the border on the lakes. At the battle of Queenstown he was made prisoner, after exhibiting marked gallantry and soldierly conduct. Carried as prisoner to Quebec, he was there paroled, and on reaching Washington, January 13th, 1813, he learned that he had already been exchanged, and soon reported again for duty on the northern border, having been promoted to the rank of colonel and adjutant general, serving in the latter capacity on the staff of General Dearborn, at the same time retaining command of his regiment. In the capture of Fort George, May 27th, he commanded the advance and conducted himself with notable skill and bravery, being first within the captured work and personally hauling down the British colors. A magazine explosion followed, in which he was severely wounded, but soon recovered sufficiently to take an equally conspicuous part in the battle of Chippewa, July 5th, in which he led a bayonet charge on the right wing of the army, furnishing one of the very few recorded instances where the bayonet was not only fixed but liberally used. It was, however, at Lundy's Lane that he won his brightest laurels, receiving another wound. For his gallant conduct here, where two horses were shot under him, and at Niagara Heights, he was brevetted a major general, and voted the special thanks of congress with a gold medal. His participation in the pitched battles of the war with England closed when he fell insensible on the Heights of Niagara, but he was given active duty with an important command, headquarters at Baltimore, as soon as he recovered.

Passing over a long period of active and useful service to his country, we find General Scott landing, March 9th, 1847, with an army of invasion near Vera Cruz, Mexico, which city he speedily reduced to submission, along with its powerful castle of San Juan D'Ulloa. How, waiting only for reinforcements and supplies, he pressed forward into the enemy's country on his memorable march, fighting his entire way against superior numbers having every advantage of position, until crowned with the victor's laurels in the ancient halls of the Montezumas, I have not the space here to recount. Nor is it possible to touch upon other than the military features of his character. Enough that he was universally recognized as a military genius of high order, and that in the hour of the nation's supreme peril this great Virginian stood by the starry flag and continued to hold it aloft and defend it against all assailants. Then and there he stood firm as the rock of Gibraltar, when so many of his comrades were in doubt and undecided, and with a serene courage that never shone brighter, made the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln at the national capital not only a possibility but an accomplished and glorious fact. His stern immovability, when duty required firmness, recalled to the lovers of his country the splendor of his former deeds. He protected the national capital, and inspired the manly youth of the country with a renewed and strong spirit of patriotism, which found expression in the mightiest uprising in the defense of liberal government that the world has ever yet beheld. All honor to the grim old warrior, whose life and deeds coupled the peerless Lincoln with Washington, the embodiment of greatness, illustrious over all!

McClellan, who succeeded Scott in command, had long been a favorite of the latter, as well as of the army and the country. He was highly educated and accomplished in the theory of war, and his successes in western Virginia at the outset of the rebellion seemed to mark him out as a great leader. Practically, as well as theoretically, his experience and ability found their fullest scope in the organization of the great army.

McClellan was followed, in July 1862, by General H. W. Halleck, who had made himself an authority on military matters by his contributions to military literature. He did not,