The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Life of Isaac Ingalls Stevens, Volume I (of 2), by Hazard Stevens

Note:

Images of the original pages are available through Google Books Library Project. See [ http://books.google.com/books?id=oRdNv3xaMmMC]
Project Gutenberg has the other volume of this work.
[Volume II]: see http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43590/43590-h/43590-h.htm

THE LIFE OF
ISAAC INGALLS STEVENS

BY HIS SON

HAZARD STEVENS

WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL. I

BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
1900

THIS RECORD
OF
A NOBLE AND PATRIOTIC LIFE
IS DEDICATED
TO
THE YOUNG MEN OF AMERICA

PREFACE

For many years I have felt impelled to write this Life, not only in justice to General Stevens’s memory, but also as an act of duty to the young men of the country, that the example of his noble and patriotic career might not be lost to posterity. An only son, closely associated from boyhood with him, his chief of staff in the Civil War, and always the recipient of his counsel and confidence, the opportunities thus given me to know his sentiments and characteristics, and to witness so many of his actions, plainly augment the duty of making his record more widely known. In these pages, setting aside, as far as possible, the bias of filial respect and affection, I seek to simply narrate the actual facts of his life.

Since beginning this work in 1877, I have been greatly assisted by data furnished by many of General Stevens’s contemporaries, former brother officers, and associates in the public service, many of whom have now passed on. I render my grateful thanks to them for such aid, and for their words of appreciation of General Stevens and encouragement to his biographer, and especially to Generals Zealous B. Tower, Henry J. Hunt, Benjamin Alvord, Edward D. Townsend, Rufus Ingalls, A.A. Humphreys, E.O. C. Ord, Thomas W. Sherman, Joseph E. Johnston, G.T. Beauregard, William H. French, Truman Seymour, Orlando M. Poe, Silas Casey, John G. Barnard, M.C. Meiggs, Joseph Hooker, George W. Cullum, David Morrison, George E. Randolph; Colonels Samuel N. Benjamin, Granville O. Haller, Henry C. Hodges, John Hamilton, H.G. Heffron, Elijah Walker, Moses B. Lakeman; Major Theodore J. Eckerson, Major George T. Clark; Captains William T. Lusk, Robert Armour, C.H. Armstrong; Professors W.H.C. Bartlett, A.E. Church, H.S. Kendrick, H.E. Hilgard, Spencer F. Baird; General Joseph Lane, Senator James W. Nesmith; General Joel Palmer, Nathan W. Hazen, Esq., Alexander S. Abernethy, C.P. Higgins; Judge James G. Swan, Arthur A. Denny; Hon. Elwood Evans, General James Tilton.

My thanks are also due, for facilities for examining and copying records in their departments, to the Hon. J.Q. Smith, former Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Hon. A.C. Towner, Acting Commissioner; to General H. C. Corbin, Adjutant-General; General John M. Wilson, Chief of Engineers; Hon. John Hay, Secretary of State; Professor Henry L. Pritchett, Superintendent of the Coast Survey; Lieutenant Paul Brodie, formerly adjutant 79th Highlanders, for copying hundreds of pages of documents in the Indian Office; Mr. R.F. Thompson, of the same office, for assistance rendered; Professor F.G. Young, of Eugene, Oregon, for a copy of Colonel Lawrence Kip’s account of the Walla Walla Council, republished by him.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Savage’s New England Genealogies.

Abiel Abbott’s History of Andover.

Miss Sarah Loring Bailey’s Historical Sketches of Andover.

Church and town records of Andover.

Massachusetts Colonial Records.

Family records and correspondence.

History of the Mexican War, by General C.M. Wilcox.

Campaigns of the Rio Grande and of Mexico, by Major Isaac I. Stevens.

General Stevens’s diary and letters (unpublished).

His reports in the Engineer Bureau of the Army (unpublished).

Reports of the Coast Survey, Professor A.D. Bache, for 1850 to 1853.

Boston Post newspaper, files for 1852.

Pacific Railroad Routes Explorations, vols. i. and xii., two parts.

General Stevens’s reports to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with journals of Indian councils and proceedings in 1854–55 (unpublished).

Reports of December 22, 1855, and January 29, 1856, in House Document 48, 1st session, 34th Congress.

Reports of August 28, December 5, 1856, council at Fox Island; October 22, 1856, second council at Walla Walla; April 30, 1857, with map and census of Indian tribes (unpublished).

Reports to Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War, August 15, December 21, 1854; February 19, March 9 and 21, May 23 (two letters), June 8, July 7 and 24, August 14, October 22, November 21 (three letters), 1856. See documents of 34th and 35th Congresses.

Reports and correspondence of General Wool, Colonel George Wright, and Lieutenant-Colonel Silas Casey, in said documents.

Governor Stevens’s messages to legislature of Washington Territory, February 28, December 5, 1854; January 20, December, 1856, the latter accompanied by reports to the Secretary of War and correspondence with military officers during the Indian war. See, also, above documents and messages for proceedings relative to martial law.

Governor Stevens’s speeches in 35th and 36th Congresses, in Congressional Globe.

General Joseph Lane’s speech in 35th Congress, May 13, 1858, on the Indian war.

Three Years’ Residence in Washington Territory, by James G. Swan.

The Walla Walla Council, by Colonel Lawrence Kip.

Account of Colonel Wright’s campaign against the Spokanes, by Colonel Lawrence Kip.

Report of J. Ross Browne, Special Agent, etc., on the Indian war, House Document 58, 1st session, 35th Congress.

History of the Pacific States, by H.H. Bancroft, vols. xxiv.-xxvi.

Archives State Department.

Records War Department.

Circular Letter to Emigrants, The Northwest, Letter to the Vancouver Railroad Convention, by Governor Stevens, published in pamphlet.

The War between the States, by A.H. Stephens.

War Records, vol. v., for Army of the Potomac in 1861; vol. vi., for Port Royal Expedition; vol. xiv., for James Island campaign; vol. xii., in three parts, for Pope’s campaign.

Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, vol. ii, entitled The Virginia Campaign of 1862 under General Pope.

History of the 79th Highlanders, by William Todd.

History of the 21st Massachusetts, by General Charles F. Walcott.

Biographical Register of West Point Graduates, by General George W. Cullum.

Defence of Charleston Harbor, by Major John Johnson.

Southern Historical Society Papers, vol. xvi.

Official dispatches of Admiral Dupont.

Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral.

Letters and statements from gentlemen named in the Preface.

The author, having sought his information from original sources as far as possible, deems it unnecessary to mention the great number of histories, regimental histories, and biographies that he has perused, as they throw little light on the subject, and much of that misleading.

CHAPTER I ANCESTRY.—BIRTHPLACE
Isaac Ingalls Stevens, seventh in descent from John Stevens, 1, one of founders of Andover, Mass., 1640—Deacon Joseph, 2—Captain James, 3, captor of Louisburg; deputy to General Court—Lieutenant James, 4, raised company for French and Indian war; died in service—Jonathan, 5, Revolutionary soldier, Bunker Hill; other service; characteristics—His brother James’s diary of siege of Boston—Isaac, 6, crippled by falling tree; marries Hannah Cummings,—her ancestry; hires Bridges farm; untiring industry and thrift; death of wife; second marriage; characteristics; children	[1]
CHAPTER II BIRTH.—BOYHOOD
Born, Marble Ridge farmhouse, North Andover, Mass., March 25, 1818—Delicate child—Heroic treatment—Incidents showing character—Devotion to mother—Her death irreparable loss—Early schooling—Over-study—Evil effects—Insists on leaving school—Works in factory a year—Strict treatment— No indulgence—Injudicious urging—Fever—Rupture from over-exertion—Seeks Dr. Warren—Old Put’s school, Franklin Academy—Rigorous daily life of farmer’s boy—Phillips Academy—Appearance on entering—Earns board and lodgings with Nathan W. Hazen, Esq.—Takes first rank in studies—Power of concentration—Habits of study—Proficiency in mathematics— Protests against bigotry—Overcomes extreme diffidence— Appointed to West Point	[13]
CHAPTER III WEST POINT
Patriotic emotions on entering West Point—Determines to be head of his class—Better prepared rivals, Biddle, Halleck, and Butler—Distinguished classmates—Extra French lessons— Letters describe life and studies—Father and uncle William disappointed at standing at first examination—Abominates smoking and chewing—Early rising—Halleck and Biddle compare notes—“Little Stevens is driving ahead like the Devil”—Gains first place—Spends 4th of July in New York—Southern contempt for Yankee farmers—Determined to resent it—Dialectic Society—Second year encampment—Military ball—Contrasts his situation with that on entering—Characteristics drawn by Professors Bartlett and Church—Extra drawing lessons, great gains—Admires General Miller’s “I’ll try, sir”—Generous rivalry—Eleven good friends—Visit home	[24]
CHAPTER IV WEST POINT.—LAST TWO YEARS
Appointed assistant professor of mathematics—Leading part in Dialectic Society—Efforts at speaking—Reflections on studies and authors—Long walks—Forbidden sweets— Horsemanship—Skating over thin ice—Saves companion from freezing—Letters to father and sisters—Susan goes to Missouri—Again head, third year—Patriotic indignation at British aggression—Advises sending Oliver to college—Letters to Hannah and Oliver—Avows abolition principles—Founds “Talisman”—His own anonymous critic—His intimate friends— Graduates first in every branch—Parents attend graduation exercises	[48]
CHAPTER V NEWPORT
Ordered to Newport, R.I.—Phrenological chart—Lieutenants Mason, Beauregard, Hunt—Ascendency over employees—Newport society—Mr. Stevens welcomed—Personal appearance—Meets his future wife—Benjamin Hazard—Horseback rides—Family mansion—Charming Polly Wanton—Colonel Daniel Lyman—German class—Marriage of Susan to David H. Bishop—Death of grandmother—Urges additional fortifications—Proposes to study law—Friendly letter from Halleck—Takes part of Tilden; of H.L. Smith—Death of Hannah—Delivers address before Newport Lyceum—Lecture on Oliver Cromwell—Visits Washington—Fairhaven battery—Death of Susan—Death of Benjamin Hazard—Marriage, September 8, 1841	[60]
CHAPTER VI CHARGE OF WORKS: NEW BEDFORD, PORTSMOUTH, PORTLAND, BUCKSPORT
Wedding journey to West Point—Returns to Newport—Charge of works at New Bedford—Moves to Fairhaven—Halleck asks aid for engineer corps—Journal—Thanksgiving in Andover—Hazard born, June 9—Fugitive slave harbored in Andover—Elizabeth marries L.M. Campbell in Tennessee—Moves his family to Portsmouth, N.H.—Charge of works there and Portland, Me.—Pleasant society—Examines old forts at Castine—Fort Knox, on Penobscot, buys land for—Youthful appearance— Backwoods uncle, warm welcome—Overwork—Severe illness— Julia Virginia born, June 27, 1844—Visits Andover—Elizabeth and Mr. Campbell—Moves to Bucksport tavern—Goes to housekeeping—New friends—Assistants, Richard Kidder Randolph, Isaac Osgood, A.W. Tinkham—Penobscot River—Barge—Pushes on works—Fine ox-teams—Judge of men—Severe sickness in winter—Visits Washington—Obtains large appropriations— Confidential inquiry if he desires promotion—Characteristic reply—Delighted in dispensing hospitality—Daughter Julia Virginia died, December 7, 1845—Beautiful tribute by Mr. Brooks—Organizes course of lectures—Salmon weir—Advocates engineer company—Enlists first soldier—Views on raising standard of rank and file—Ordered to Mexican war—Speeds to Boston by sleigh	[78]
CHAPTER VII VOYAGE TO MEXICO
Placed in charge of pontoon and engineer train—Delays in embarking—Visits from relatives—Death of Elizabeth—Letters to wife—Sails on barque Prompt, January 19, 1847—Diary of voyage—Seasickness—Warm weather—Passes Bahamas, Great Abaco, Hole in the Wall, Berry Island, Black Chief—Steward commits suicide—The weather in the Gulf—Arrives at the Brazos—Meets officers—Great confusion—Sails to Tampico, beautiful, picturesque region—Landing at Vera Cruz, March 9 and 10	[96]
CHAPTER VIII VERA CRUZ.—CERRO GORDO
Vera Cruz—Defenses—American army invests city—Lieutenant Stevens’s zeal in reconnoitring—Hands torn and poisoned— Horse bolts to enemy’s lines—Throws himself from saddle— Looks out route for covered way—Put in charge with large working parties—Volunteers—Independent ways—Diary of siege—Capture of city—Damage by artillery fire—“Moonlight magnificence and sunlight squalidity”—Secures fine horse— Appointed adjutant of engineer corps—Diary of march to Cerro Gordo—National Bridge—Rancheros—Reconnoissances of Cerro Gordo—Disabled by rupture—Compelled to remain in camp—Description of battle—Letter to wife	[110]
CHAPTER IX JALAPA.—PUEBLA
Prisoners released on parole—March for Jalapa—Encerro, Santa Anna’s country seat—Reaches Jalapa, Eden of Mexico—Prepares memoir on conducting war against guerrillas—Letters to wife—Feeling address at burial of Sapper Carigan—March from Jalapa to Puebla—Beautiful country—Soldado—Pass of La Hora—Las Vegas—Perote, its plain and castle—Leaves Perote with Colonel Clarke’s brigade—San Antonio—Tepe Ahualeo with General Worth and Garland’s brigade—Hacienda of Virayes— Byzantium—Ojo de Agua—Hacienda Santa Annaced—Nopalucan—El Pinal—Acajete—Amasoque—Column of lancers threaten attack— Sheer off at fire of Duncan’s battery in two bodies— Lieutenants Stevens and McClellan pursue one for five miles—Puebla occupied—Health improved—Reports for duty— Reconnoitres road to Tlascala—Examines position in city— Generals Scott and Twiggs arrive—Santa Anna renounces power—His career and character—Attends church—Bull fight— Army recruiting strength—Drilling—Awaiting reinforcements— Engineers making maps—Collecting information—Wealthy Mexican offers to act as spy—Dominguez, robber chief, with some of his band, employed as spies and couriers—Submits memoir on system of espionage and employing robbers—Rumors— Guerrillas invest El Pinal—Colonel Harney marches to disperse them—Arrival of volunteers—Review—Sorry appearance—Good material—Heavy defenses and eighteen thousand troops at City of Mexico—Character of Mexican governing class—Letters to wife—Description of Puebla—Climate—People—Confidence of the troops—Character of General Scott—Arrival of General Pierce	[129]
CHAPTER X ADVANCE TO MEXICO, EL PEÑON, CONTRERAS, CHURUBUSCO
Advance to valley of Mexico—Description of defenses—General Scott and staff with Twiggs’s division reach Ayotla—Daring reconnoissances of El Peñon by Lieutenant Stevens—March around Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco—Occupy San Augustin— Reconnoissances of enemy’s positions—San Antonio road strongly fortified—Pedregal—Intrenched camp at Contreras— Battle of Contreras—Lieutenant Stevens urges decisive movement adopted by Twiggs—“Attack the enemy’s left; you cut him off from reinforcements and hurl him into the gorges of the mountains”—Stormy night—Discouragement—Scene at Scott’s headquarters—Second day’s battle—Reconnoitring from church steeple at Coyoacan—Enemy in full retreat on San Antonio road—Instant advance by Twiggs, led by Lieutenant Stevens, who comes up against fortified convent and brings on battle of Churubusco—Description of battle—Terrible scenes of battlefield banished sleep—Letter to wife—Tacubaya occupied— Armistice	[163]
CHAPTER XI MOLINO DEL REY.—CHAPULTEPEC.—CAPTURE OF CITY OF MEXICO.—RETURN TO UNITED STATES
General Scott and staff enter Tacubaya—Take quarters in Bishop’s Palace—Commissioners to negotiate peace—Mexican treachery—Armistice terminated—Battle of Molino del Rey—Useless attacks—Severe losses—Battle of Chapultepec—Castle stormed—Quitman advances on Tacubaya causeway—Worth on San Cosme causeway—Lieutenant Stevens, with Worth, wounded—Enemy retreat in night—American troops occupy city—Lieutenant Stevens’s remarks on the movements—His character sketches of Lee, Beauregard, Tower, Smith, McClellan, Foster, Mason—Removed to city—quartered in the Palace—Severe wound—Ups and downs—Mounts crutches—Journeys in ambulance with Lieutenant Foster to Puebla—Arrives at New Orleans	[202]
CHAPTER XII HEROES HOME FROM THE WAR
Proceeds to Washington—Flattering reception—Gives full accounts to Colonel Totten—Joyful reunion with family in Newport—Shoots mad dog—Ordered to Savannah—Letter to brother—Character of Cromwell—Makes garden—Justice of Mexican war—Savannah orders countermanded—Resumes works at Bucksport—Purchases house, garden, poultry—Characteristic reply to inquiry as to willingness to be sent to Pacific coast—Brevetted captain and major—Efforts to secure justice for brother officers—Opinion of General Taylor—Brevet pay—McClellan asks assistance for engineer company— Lieutenant Stevens’s views—Advocates reorganization of the army	[226]
CHAPTER XIII COAST SURVEY
Professor A.D. Bache tenders charge of Coast Survey office— Accepts conditionally—Retains charge of works—Assumes new duties—Estimate of General Taylor—Magnitude of Coast Survey Office—Organizes the force—Reforms the office— Meets “men of Mexico”—General Shields—Approves compromise measures—Puritan father condemns Webster— Visits Bucksport—Daughter Gertrude Maude born—Wound breaks out afresh—Contemplates leaving Coast Survey—Moves family to Newport—Pays $400 on house—Generous in money matters—Spends summer in Washington—Letters to his wife— Ideals of woman, marriage, duty, ambition—Admiration for Henry Clay, the master spirit—Compromise measures passed—Fine health—Carries appropriation—Truth and directness superior to low cunning—Office improving, duties more pleasant daily—Publishes Campaigns of Rio Grande and of Mexico—General Scott takes offense	[241]
CHAPTER XIV LIFE IN WASHINGTON
Moves family to Washington—Pleasant society—Takes hold Fourteen Years’ Bill—Reorganization of army—Urges brother officers to do “their duty to their profession”—Army man, not a corps man—Moves to Mrs. Janney’s, on 8th Street—Takes family to Newport for summer, 1851—Another phrenological chart—Rents house on 3d Street and goes to housekeeping—George Watson Stevens—Letters to wife—Responds to toast of Army and Navy at banquet to Kossuth—Advocates coast defenses, and writes articles—Appointed member of Lighthouse Board—Sells Bucksport house—Advocates election of General Franklin Pierce as President—Articles in “Boston Post”—Speeches in Andover, Newport, and Portsmouth—Taken to task by Secretary of War Conrad—Pungent reply—Leader among young officers—Numerous calls—Friendship with Professor Bache—Continued improvement of Coast Survey Office	[257]
CHAPTER XV GOVERNOR, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.—EXPLORATION, NORTHERN ROUTE
Washington Territory organized—Exploration of routes to Pacific determined on—Appointed governor—Letter of resignation from army—Colonel Totten’s reply—Silver service presented by friends on the Coast Survey—Obtains charge of exploration of Northern route—Takes high ground—Impresses his views on the administration—Applies for Captain McClellan—Letter to him—Sends Lieutenant Donelson to Montreal to procure maps and data from Hudson Bay Company—Prepares his own instructions—Magnitude of task—Organizes the expedition— Gives McClellan charge of construction of the military road, Steilacoom to Walla Walla—Declares independence of Hudson Bay Company—Busy scenes in 3d Street house—Sends officers to San Francisco, St. Louis, and St. Paul to hasten preparation— Selects territorial library—Exploration fully reported in vols. i. and xii., Pacific Railroad Reports	[280]
CHAPTER XVI THE PARTY.—THE START
Leaves Washington—Expedites matters in St. Louis—Dispatches party up Missouri—Up Mississippi to St. Paul—Rouses party in camp before breakfast—Breaking mules—Incessant rains—Roster of the party—General plan—March to Sauk River—Winnebago Indians—Canadian voyageurs—Pierre Boutineau—Camp regulations—Assimilated rank—All to stand guard—Pembina train—Pushing on detached parties—March to Pike lake—Swollen streams, bogs—Crossing Sauk and Crow rivers—Lightning Lake—Fish and game—Relieves Lieutenant Du Barry—Discharges inefficient men—White Bear Lake—Parties reassemble at Pike Lake	[302]
CHAPTER XVII PIKE LAKE TO FORT UNION
General course W. 10° N.—Lieutenant Grover surveys separate route—Country within forty miles examined by side trips—Route passes near Breckinridge, Jamestown, Minot, and Great Northern Railroad nearly to Rocky Mountains—Crosses Chippewa River—Camp regulations—Bois de Sioux—Description of country—Red River hunters—Sheyenne River—Lander’s adventure—False alarm of Indians—Myriads of buffalo—The hunt—Lake Jessie—Buffalo threaten camp; stop train—Horse and mules go off with buffalo—Governor Stevens disabled— Lander returns—Inveterate horse-killer—James River—Anxiety at non-return of Tinkham—Guns fired—Parties sent back to find him—Sioux reported approaching—Train arranged for defense—Red River hunters—Tinkham returns safe—Governor Wilkie and Red River hunters—Customs—Hunts—Government—Air tainted by slaughtered buffalo—Maison du Chien—Coteau de Missouri—Mouse River—More Red River hunters—Exchange visits—Express dispatched to Fort Union—Assiniboine Indians—Council—Distribution of presents—Arrives at Fort Union	[320]
CHAPTER XVIII FORT UNION TO FORT BENTON
Description of Fort Union—Alexander Culbertson—The Blackfeet—Making peace—Surveys by side parties—Bugbear stories—Moving westward—Blackfoot war party—Big Muddy— Missouri bottom—Every one ordered to walk part way daily— Milk River—Field order—Abundant game—Gros Ventres—Feast and council—Feud with Blackfeet—Peace made between them— Trading horses—Cypress Mountain—Stories of Indian fights—Bear’s Paw Mountains—Party sent to view them—Box Elder Creek—The Three Buttes, favorite resort of Blackfeet— Crosses Marias and Teton rivers—Scene of bloody Indian conflict—Fort Benton—Fort Campbell	[347]
CHAPTER XIX WIDESPREAD EXPLORING PARTIES
Gathering information—Lieutenant Grover to Bitter Root valley—Lieutenant Mullan to Muscle Shell River—Lieutenant Donelson to examine Cadotte’s Pass—Mr. Lander to Marias Pass—George W. Stevens describes outfitting war parties—Funds fall short—Governor Stevens takes responsibility of incurring deficiency—Starts to visit main Blackfoot camp—Chiefs join the party—Culbertson’s defense of Fort McKenzie—Death of Rotten Belly—Reaches Marias River—Express brings report from Lieutenant Saxton that mountains are impassable for wagons— Returns to Fort Benton—Lander ordered back—Want of harmony in his party—Stanley proceeds to Piegan camp—Lieutenants Saxton and Grover meet on summit of Rocky Mountains—Tinkham returns from Three Buttes and Marias River—Outfitting with pack animals—Lieutenant Saxton, with Culbertson and twenty-eight men, descends Missouri in keelboat—Doty stationed at Fort Benton—Lander’s insubordination curbed—Stanley returns with thirty chiefs—Talk with Blackfeet—Their dress—Peace advocated—Chief Low Horn—His good faith	[364]
CHAPTER XX EXPLORING THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
Lieutenants Saxton and Grover start down the Missouri—March up the Teton via Sun and Dearborn rivers to Cadotte’s Pass— Description of country; game—Governor Stevens proclaims inauguration of civil government on summit of Rocky Mountains— Descending western slope—Big Blackfoot and Hell Gate rivers— Overtakes main party—Fine condition of animals—Bitter Root valley and river—Fort Owen—Lieutenant Arnold here with train and provisions—Nine passes examined—Lander’s erratic course— Council with Flatheads—Chief Victor—Lieutenant Mullan stationed at winter post in Bitter Root valley—Lieutenant Donelson with main party sent via Clark’s Fork and Pend Oreille Lake—Dr. Suckley descends rivers in canoe—Tinkham to explore Marias Pass—Proceed to Fort Benton—Cross mountains to Walla Walla—Governor Stevens moves down the Bitter Root—Meets the Nez Perces—Crosses the Cœur d’Alene Mountains—Cœur d’Alene Mission—Indians—Lake—Falls—Spokane Indians—Spokane Garry, head chief—Forced ride to Colville—Meeting with McClellan—His explorations—Dilatoriness—Reports against country and passes	[375]
CHAPTER XXI UPPER COLUMBIA TO PUGET SOUND
McDonald’s Indian tales—Chemakan Mission—Settlements in Colville valley—Visits Spokane House—Garry’s Lodge—Arrival of main party at Camp Washington—March to Walla Walla—Pelouse River— Crosses Snake River—Rides to old Fort Walla Walla—Visits Walla Walla valley—Pu-pu-mox-mox—Lander ordered to survey Nahchess Pass—Descends Columbia to Dallas, to Vancouver—Colonel Bonneville—Ascends Cowlitz River in canoe—Four days in drenching rains—Lander balks—Tinkham ordered to cross Snoqualmie Pass—Officers reach Olympia—Captain McClellan ordered to run line to Snoqualmie Pass—His failure—Tinkham succeeds—McClellan aggrieved—Governor Stevens’s opinion of pioneers—McClellan’s	[396]
CHAPTER XXII ORGANIZING CIVIL GOVERNMENT.—THE INDIAN SERVICE
Wild country—Scanty population—Character of settlers—Serious problems—Governor Stevens arrives at Olympia—Issues proclamation—Organizes Indian service—Appoints agents—Visits all parts of Sound—Meets Governor Douglass at Victoria, B.C.—Reports on Hudson Bay Company’s claims—First message— Halleck exposes Southern political schemes—Purchases homestead—Preparing exploration reports—Secretary Davis stops further surveys—Drafts protested	[411]
CHAPTER XXIII RETURN TO WASHINGTON.—REPORT OF EXPLORATION
Warm welcome in San Francisco—Lectures on Northern route— Advocates three routes—Via Isthmus to New York—Joyful family reunion in Newport—Proceeds to Washington—Complete report of exploration—Deficiency provided for—General Hunt relates incident—Secretary Davis disparages Northern route—General Stevens’s rejoinder—His final report—Severe labors—Sickness— Doing the work of the delegate—Appointed commissioner to treat with Blackfeet and other tribes—Unimpaired influence	[425]
CHAPTER XXIV CROSSING THE ISTHMUS
Steamer from New York—Riotous scenes—Stops at Havana— Aspinwall—Forlorn place—Cars to the summit—Carusi’s pavilion—Scene at night—Proceeds on mule-back—Tropic rainstorms—Crossing the Chagres River—Lost children— Panama—Embarks on Golden Age—Touches at Acapulco—Panama fever—Reaches San Francisco—Welcomed by friends—Delayed by sickness—Rebuke to General Wool—Steamer up the coast— Into Columbia—Lands at Vancouver—Canoe trip up Cowlitz River—Muddy roads to Olympia—Disappointing appearance— Second message	[433]
CHAPTER XXV INDIAN POLICY.—TREATIES ON PUGET SOUND
Beneficent Indian policy—Intention to write account of his Indian service frustrated by early death—Indians of Puget Sound, helpless, ready to treat—Organizes treaty force—Decides on policy and terms—Sends agents to assemble Indians—Great pains to make them fully understand and to consult with them—Council and treaty of She-nah-nam or Medicine Creek; of Point Elliott or Mukilteo; of Point-no-Point; of Neah Bay—Speeches—Visits Victoria, and calls on Governor Douglass to restrain Northern Indians—Napoleonic campaign—What was accomplished—Present condition of the Indians	[448]

ILLUSTRATIONS

	PAGE
General Isaac I. Stevens, at the age of 43, from a photograph	Frontispiece.
Grave of John Stevens	to face page [2]
Birthplace of General Stevens, Andover, Mass	[14]
Infant Jesus. Crayon drawing at West Point	[44]
Old Wanton Mansion in Newport	[66]
General Stevens at the age of 23, from a miniature by Staigg	[74]
Margaret Lyman Stevens, from a miniature by Staigg	[76]
Low Horn, Piegan Chief	[374]
Charles H. Mason, Secretary of the Territory, from a photograph	[414]

MAPS AND PLANS

Route, Vera Cruz to Mexico	[118]
Battle of Cerro Gordo	[124]
The Valley of Mexico	[162]
Battlefields in the Valley of Mexico—Contreras, Churubusco, Chapultepec, Molino del Rey, Mexico	[172]

THE LIFE OF ISAAC INGALLS STEVENS

CHAPTER I
ANCESTRY.—BIRTHPLACE

About 1640 a mere handful of English colonists went out from Boston, and made the first settlement in the town of Andover, Essex County, Massachusetts. They laid out their homes on the Cochichewick, a stream which flows out of the Great Pond in North Andover, and falls into the Merrimac River on the south side a few miles below Lawrence. The infant settlement was known as Cochichewick until 1646, when it was incorporated as a town under its present name, after the Andover in Hampshire, England, the birthplace of some of the settlers.

Among the first who thus planted their hearthstones in the wilderness was John Stevens. His name stands fifth in an old list in the town records containing “the names of all the householders in order as they came to town.” The mists of the past still allow a few glimpses of this sturdy Puritan settler. He was admitted a freeman of the colony, June 2, 1641 (Old Style). He was appointed by the General Court, May 15, 1654, one of a committee of three to settle the boundary between the towns of Haverhill and Salisbury, a duty satisfactorily performed. He was sergeant in the military company of the town, a post then equivalent to captain or commander. According to Savage, N.E. Genealogies, vol. i., p. 186, John Stevens lived at Caversham, County Oxford, England, and came to America in the Confidence from Southampton in 1638.

Large, substantial head and foot stones of slate, sculptured and lettered in the quaint fashion of his day, still mark the resting-place of John Stevens, after the storms of now two and a third centuries, in the oldest graveyard of Cochichewick, situated opposite the Kittredge mansion, and about half a mile north of the old parish meeting-house in North Andover. He died April 11, 1662, in the fifty-seventh year of his age, and was therefore thirty-five years old when he founded his future home. John Stevens was evidently a man of note and substance, the worthy progenitor of a prolific family, which has filled Andover with his descendants, and put forth from time to time strong, flourishing branches into all quarters of the country. It may indeed be safely said that there is scarcely a State in the Union which does not contain descendants of this sturdy Puritan.

His son Nathan, the first male child born in Andover, lies buried near him under a broad freestone slab with an inscription to “Coun^clr Nathan Stevens, who deceased February y^e 19, 1717, in y^e 75 year of his age.” The memorials of many others of his descendants stand thickly scattered through the quaint old burial-ground. Not the least interesting of these relics is a stone “In memory of Primus, who was a faithful servant of Mr. Benjamin Stevens, Jr., who died July 25, 1792, aged 72 years, 5 months, and 16 days.”

A vigorous, long-lived race sprang from the loins of this first settler John, a hardy, thrifty race of plain New England farmers, honest and straightforward, with plenty of solid, shrewd good sense, bearing manfully the toils and hardships of colonial days, and contributing its quota of ministers and deacons to the church, and officers and soldiers to the wars with the Indians and the French. In 1679 a grant of land was made to Ephraim Stevens, son of the first settler, in recompense of his losses by the Indians. In 1689 Lieutenant John Stevens, another son, perished in the expedition against Louisburg. In 1698 Abiel Stevens, a grandson, was captured by the Indians, but made his escape. In 1755 Captain Asa Stevens and Ensign James Stevens died in the Lake George campaign. Upon the state muster-rolls appear the names of twelve Stevenses of Andover as soldiers in the Revolution.

GRAVE OF JOHN STEVENS

The subject of this work, Isaac Ingalls Stevens, was the seventh in direct descent from John Stevens, the founder of Andover,—1 John Stevens, 2 Joseph, 3 James, 4 James, 5 Jonathan, 6 Isaac, 7 Isaac Ingalls Stevens.

Joseph was the fourth son of the first settler John. He was deacon in the church. He married Mary Ingalls May 20, 1679, and died February 25, 1743, aged 88.

James was the second son of Joseph, married Dorothy Fry, March, 1712, and died May 25, 1769, aged 84. He participated in the military affairs and contests with the Indians and French of his times, commanded a company at the capture of Louisburg, and for his services was granted a tract of land in Maine. He was a deputy to the General Court. His gravestone bears the title of captain.

Captain James’s eldest son was also named James. He was born in 1720, and married Sarah Peabody in 1745. This James was an energetic, promising young man, with a young wife and two boys, when in 1754 a recruiting party with colors, drum, and fife went about Andover beating up recruits for the French and Indian war then raging. The young men all hung back. “Make me a captain,” said James Stevens, “and I will raise a company for the war.” This remark led to his receiving the commission of ensign. He raised a company of the young men of Andover, and marched away at their head to the shores of Lake George, in New York, where, November 28, 1755, he died of camp fever, with the rank of lieutenant.

His eldest son, Jonathan, inherited a due share of his father’s spirit, for we find him hastening to Bunker Hill, and fighting manfully in the battle. He served on other occasions during the Revolutionary war, and after a successful dash upon the enemy writes the following interesting letter to his sister:—

Loving Sister,—These will inform you that I am very well at present, and have been so ever since I came from home, and I hope you and all my friends enjoy the same state of health.

We have been up to Ticonderoga and took almost four hundred prisoners of the British Army, and relieved one hundred of our men that were prisoners there.

Our army have come from Ticonderoga down as far as Pawlet, about sixty miles, and expect to march to Stillwater very soon. So no more at present.

I remain, Your Loving Brother,
Jonathan Stevens.

Pawlet, October ye 1st, 1777.

Jonathan married Susannah Bragg, December 15, 1773, and raised thirteen children,—Jonathan, Susannah, James, Dolly, Jeremy, Hannah, Isaac, Nathaniel, Dolly, Moses, Sarah, Oliver, and William.

He united the business of a currier and tanner to his ancestral pursuit of farming, and achieved the modest independence he so well merited. The house that he occupied for many years stood on the old road that passed along the western border of the Cochichewick meadows, that were long since flooded and converted into a lake, the extension of the Great Pond, for the water supply of the woolen mills of his son Nathaniel, and the cellar is still visible on the west side of the road, some three hundred yards from its junction with the road from the village of North Andover to the mills. He afterwards built one of those large, square, substantial mansions, once common in New England, on the crest of the high ground east of the village, and commanding noble views of the hamlet, the Great Pond, and the Cochichewick valley and the mills. This house was unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1876.

Jonathan Stevens purchased, for sixpence an acre, a large tract of land in Maine, which he divided into three farms, and bestowed upon his sons Jonathan, James, and Isaac. They settled, and named the place Andover, after their native town, and the descendants of the two former still reside there.

Jonathan Stevens was a tall, large man of fresh, ruddy complexion and fine appearance. He was fond of relating the incidents of the battle of Bunker Hill, and used to recount the tale to his children and grandchildren every Fourth of July,—how Putnam went along the line and commanded them not to fire until they could see the whites of the Redcoats’ eyes; and how Abbot, the strongest man in town, bore a wounded comrade off the field on his back. On the anniversary of the battle he invariably invited his comrades in the fight to his house, and entertained them with New England rum and hearty, old-fashioned hospitality, while the veterans fought the battle o’er again. He sat among the veterans of the battle at Webster’s magnificent oration in dedication of the Bunker Hill monument. On his eighty-fourth birthday he worked with his men in the hay field, keeping up with the best all day, and suffered no ill effect from the unwonted exertion. He died April 13, 1834, at the age of eighty-seven. In 1799 he gave the tract of land upon which was erected Franklin Academy, on the hill north of the meeting-house.

Jonathan’s brother James, Captain James’s other son, also served in the Revolutionary war, and left a diary of the siege of Boston, recently discovered in the garret of an old mansion in Andover, which opens like an epic:—

“April ye 19, 1775. This morning about seven o’clock we had a larum that the Regulars were gone to Concord. We gathered to the meeting house, and then started for Concord. We went through Tewksbury into Billerica. We stopped at Pollard’s, and ate some biscuits and cheese on the common. We started and went on to Bedford, and we heard that the Regulars had gone back to Boston. So we went through Bedford. As we went into Lexington we went to the meeting house, and there we came to the destruction of the Regulars. They killed eight of our men, and shot a cannon ball through the meeting house. We went along through Lexington, and we saw several Regulars dead on the road, and some of our men, and three or four houses were burnt, and some horses and hogs were killed. They plundered in every house they could get into. They stove in windows and broke in tops of desks. We met the men a coming back very fast,” etc.

Jonathan’s fourth son was Isaac, born in 1785. On reaching manhood he went before the mast on a voyage to China, and brought back, as a gift to his mother, a beautiful china tea-set. After his return from sea he went to Andover, Maine, to settle upon the lands bestowed by his father upon himself and brothers, Jonathan and James.

With characteristic energy, Isaac Stevens set to work clearing his land, and reducing rebellious nature to orderly submission. While thus at work in the woods one day, a heavy tree fell upon and crushed him to the earth; his left leg was terribly mangled, the bones broken in two places, and he received other serious injuries. The doctors insisted that the leg must be taken off in order to save his life, but Isaac Stevens with inflexible resolution refused to allow the amputation, and after a long, painful illness finally recovered. The limb, however, in the process of healing, became materially shorter and permanently stiffened, so that he was unable to bend the knee joint, and during the remainder of his life the wound broke out afresh periodically, and caused him great suffering. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered to bear the journey, he returned to his native Andover, where, under his mother’s careful nursing, he slowly recovered from the terrible injuries he had received.

It was at this time that he formed an attachment with Hannah Cummings, the daughter of a sterling farmer family like his own, and who united to a warm and affectionate heart, noble and elevated sentiments, strong good sense, and untiring industry. Their marriage followed soon after, on the 29th of September, 1814. He now relinquished the project of settling in Maine, and hired an old farmhouse with some twenty acres of land of Mr. Bridges. This house, one of the oldest in Andover, is situated at the end of Marble Ridge, a short distance south of the Great Pond, and at the point where the road from the village to Haverhill, after crossing the Essex Railroad, forks, the left branch leading on to Haverhill, while the other turns short to the right and conducts to Marble Ridge Station. The solid timbers and stockaded sides of the rear part of this old house—for the front is a later structure—were the mute witnesses of a stratagem in early Indian troubles as novel as it proved successful. The stout-hearted farmer settler was alone, with his wife and little ones about him, one night, when he discovered a large party of savages stealthily approaching, and spreading out so as to encompass his house. Hastily barricading the doors, he seized his trumpet, which he bore as trumpeter of the military company of the settlement, stole unperceived out of the house, caught and mounted his horse, and, making a circuit through the fields, gained the high road between the Indians and the village. Then, putting spurs to his steed, and pealing blast upon blast from his trumpet, he charged furiously down upon the Indians, now in the very act of assailing his domicile, who, thinking no doubt that the whole force of the country-side was upon them, incontinently fled into the forest.

Judged by the standard of these days, the young couple had an unpromising future. They were very poor, the husband a cripple, and they held as tenants a few barren acres from which to extract a livelihood. But Isaac Stevens now toiled early and late with untiring energy; he saved at every point, and turned everything to account with true Yankee thrift. He built a malt-house, and after laboring on the farm from earliest dawn until dark, would work at preparing the malt until late in the evening. His farm embraced a large meadow lying on both sides of the Cochichewick, just below where it issued from the Great Pond, but now flooded by the milldams still lower down, where he cut vast quantities of meadow hay, with which he filled his barns and fed a goodly number of horned stock during the long, rigorous winters, realizing thereby a handsome profit in the spring. His young wife joined her efforts to his, and frequently cut and made clothing for the neighbors around, in addition to the unceasing and arduous labors of a farmer’s wife. Such thrift and industry could not fail of success. The Bridges house and land were purchased, largely on mortgage at first; then the wet meadow was added; then a goodly tract of generous land was bought of the father, Jonathan Stevens, and other fields and tracts were added from time to time. During the thirteen years following their marriage, the first scanty holding grew to a farm of one hundred and fifty acres of their own, and free from debt. Seven children, too, came to bless their union and increase their cares. Then the devoted wife and mother died, November 3, 1827, leaving this helpless little flock, the oldest of whom was but twelve and the youngest two years of age. Henceforth life was a heavy and unceasing labor to Isaac Stevens. The little farm grew no larger, and all his efforts were now required to maintain his family and keep free from debt. Two years afterwards he married Ann Poor, of North Andover, impelled by his situation and circumstances, with so many helpless children about him and the household economy of the farm unprovided for. The second wife failed to restore the happiness of home. She had no children, and died in 1866, four years after her husband.

Isaac Stevens was a man of deeply marked and noble characteristics. His fortitude was severely tested by the misfortune which left him a lifelong cripple. His cool courage and inflexible resolution are best illustrated by his manner of dealing with a dangerous bull he once owned. This animal grew daily more and more savage, until every one stood in fear of it except the owner, who, as often happens in such cases, persisted in thinking it quite harmless. At length, however, the bull one day chased a neighbor, who had imprudently ventured to cross the field in which it pastured, and overtaking him just as he reached the fence, tossed him high in air, so that falling fortunately on the farther side of the inclosure, he escaped with no more serious injuries than some severe bruises and a broken nose. The bull, furious at the escape of his prey, was bellowing and pawing the ground. “The bull must be shot!” cried the man who helped off the injured neighbor. But Isaac Stevens at once armed himself with a stout cudgel, coolly hobbled into the field, disregarding all remonstrances and entreaties, fixed his eye upon the enraged beast, backed him into a narrow corner where he could not escape, and thrashed him over the head with the club with such terrible severity that he was completely subdued, and ever after remained perfectly gentle and submissive.

Always strictly observing the Sabbath, he held liberal views of religion and attended the Unitarian Church. He kept himself informed of the current events of the day, taking the New York “Tribune” and Garrison’s “Liberator,” and manifesting the greatest interest in education, temperance, anti-slavery, and every cause that would make mankind better or happier. “How he denied himself all comforts almost, and quietly sent money to free the slave and for the temperance cause! He was a strong pillar of the foundation principles of right and justice that it would be well for young men of this day to study,” said one who knew him well.

He was, above all, a man of perfect integrity and truth, and of a strict sense of justice. There was not a fibre of guile or indirection in his moral nature. He held strong and ardent convictions, noble and lofty ideals of duty and philanthropy, and an intense hatred and scorn of wrong or oppression in any form. He strongly opposed and denounced the use of liquors and tobacco, and became early in life a vehement and outspoken abolitionist of slavery, at a period when the advocacy of such doctrines demanded unusual moral courage as well as stern conviction of right. At his decease, years afterwards, he bequeathed five hundred dollars to the Anti-Slavery Society, requiring only that Wendell Phillips should deliver a lecture in the parish church of North Andover.

The untiring industry which, with his frugality and good management, enabled him to achieve comparative independence so early in life, was not the course of a drudge and miser, but of an ardent, resolute spirit spurning poverty, debt, and dependence. All through life he manifested an unconquerable aversion to debt. He loved a fast horse, and the old mare which he kept until she died, over twenty-seven years old, was, in her prime, the fastest in the town. After reading a newspaper or book, he was in the habit of giving it to a neighbor, telling him to hand it to another after perusing it. He took great pains with his orchards, and planted apple-trees along the stone walls bordering his fields. He also planted the noble elms now overhanging the old farmhouse, and the long lines of this graceful tree now bordering the road from the house to the crest of the hill overlooking the village and the road over Marble Ridge, and the numerous clumps and rows in his fields wherever a sightly eminence seemed to require such an adornment.

His children were:—

Hannah Peabody, born September 24, 1815, died November 24, 1840.
Susan Bragg, born February 14, 1817, died April 8, 1841.
Isaac Ingalls, born March 25, 1818, died September 1, 1862.
Elizabeth Barker, born July 14, 1819, died December 10, 1846.
Sarah Ann, born January 13, 1822, died February 8, 1844.
Mary Jane, born August 5, 1823, died June 22, 1847.
Oliver, born June 22, 1825.

The following account of the ancestry of Hannah Cummings is given by her nephew, Dr. George Mooar, D.D., of Oakland, California, who has collected much information concerning the Cummings genealogy:—

“Hannah, wife of Isaac Stevens, was the third child of Deacon Asa and Hannah (Peabody) Cummings, born October 23, 1785, married September 29, 1814, and died November 3, 1827.

“The line from her father to the first American ancestor runs thus: Asa (6), Thomas (5), Joseph (4), Abraham (3), John (2), Isaac (1).

“Deacon Asa was born in Andover, Massachusetts, but removed in 1798 to Albany, Maine, a pioneer settler there, a trusted, intelligent, and capable citizen, who in 1803 represented his district in the General Court.

“Captain Thomas (5) was born in Topsfield and died September 3, 1765. He married Anna Kittell, the widow of Asa Johnson, of Andover.

“Captain Joseph (4), of Topsfield, was quite a character. The biographer of Dr. Manasseh Cutler says that he found among the papers of that eminent person a notice of Captain Cummings in which he is spoken of as a remarkable man, well versed in the politics of the day, and he adds: ‘From the interest Dr. Cutler felt in him, he must have been a stanch patriot and Federalist.’ In a notice which appears in the ‘Salem Gazette’ we are told that when nearly a hundred he would readily mount his horse from the ground. He died in his one hundred and second year.

“Abraham (3) was a resident of Woburn and of Dunstable.

“John (2) was quite a large proprietor in Boxford, Massachusetts, and later was one of the first fourteen proprietors of the town of Dunstable.

“Isaac (1) appears on a list of the ‘Commoners of Ipswich in 1641, but appears to have arrived in America three years before. No exact knowledge of his previous residence in Great Britain has been obtained. The prevailing tradition gives him a Scottish descent.’

“An elder brother of Hannah Cummings was Dr. Asa Cummings, D.D., of Portland, Maine, eminent for classical learning and piety, and editor of the ‘Christian Mirror’ for many years.”

CHAPTER II
BIRTH.—BOYHOOD

Isaac Ingalls Stevens first saw the light at the old Marble Ridge farmhouse, on the 25th of March, 1818. He was a delicate infant, and it was impossible for his mother, with her other little ones and the engrossing labors of the farmhouse, to bestow upon him the care his condition required. His grandmother, one day visiting the farm, was shocked to see him still in his cradle, though three years old, and, remarking that unless he was taught soon he never would walk, insisted upon taking him home with her, where, under her gentle and experienced hands, he quickly learned to run about. After returning home his father used to plunge him, fresh from bed, into a hogshead of cold water every morning.

Such heroic treatment would be sure to kill or cure, and perhaps no better proof could be given of the native vigor of his constitution than the fact that he lived, and became strong, active, and hardy.

Even as a child he was active, daring, and adventurous. He used to climb the lofty elms in front of his grandfather’s house, and cling like a squirrel to the topmost branches, laughing and chattering defiance to his grandmother’s commands and entreaties to come down.

One afternoon Abiel Holt, the hired man on the farm, went a-fishing for pickerel, and took Isaac, who was then a very little urchin just able to run about cleverly. After catching a fine string of fish, they came to the old causeway which crossed the water where now stands the dam under the Essex Railroad, but which was then submerged several feet deep in the water for some distance.

A rude footway had been contrived here by driving down forked stakes at suitable intervals along the causeway, and placing loose poles in the crotches from stake to stake, forming one row for the feet and another a little higher for the hands.

The contrivance was rickety and unsafe to the last degree; the poles swayed and bent at every step, and it required great care and the use of both feet and hands to avoid a ducking. It was now time to drive up the cows, which were pasturing beyond the water; so Holt, bidding the child remain there, crossed over after them, taking with him the string of fish, which he hung up on one of the stakes on the farther side, for he wanted the pleasure of taking his spoils home in triumph, and feared, if he left them with Isaac, the latter would take them and run home while he was away. On returning he was struck with consternation to find no trace of either the child or the fish. He carefully scrutinized the water without result, and at length slowly returned to the farmhouse, filled with misgivings, and was not a little relieved to find both his charge and his fish safe at home. The child had worked his way across the water by the poles, although, standing on the lower row, he could hardly reach the upper one with extended arms, and had returned, holding the string of fish in his teeth, in the same way. His father ever after was particularly fond of relating this anecdote in proof of the daring and adventurous spirit so early manifested.

BIRTHPLACE OF GENERAL STEVENS, ANDOVER, MASS.
From Historical Sketches of Andover, by Sarah Loring Bailey

He was a sensitive, earnest child, not demonstrative, but having great affection and tenderness, which he lavished upon his mother. Her early death was his first and greatest misfortune. When he was only seven years old, his father, who always drove furiously, in driving with his wife in his wagon rapidly around a corner, overset the vehicle. They were thrown out violently upon the ground, and the unfortunate mother struck upon her head. From this shock she never really recovered, and died two years after the unhappy accident. During this period Isaac attached himself closely to his mother, and acquired no slight influence over her. The early death of this tender and devoted wife and mother well-nigh destroyed the happiness of her family. Isaac ever cherished her memory with the tenderest veneration. He thought that from her were inherited great part of his talents, and that had she lived he would have been spared the injudicious forcing of his mind in his childhood, to which he always declared he owed a real mental injury.

After the mother’s death, a housekeeper was employed to provide for the helpless little flock, and attend to the household duties; and two years later the father married his second wife, Ann Poor.

Isaac was sent to school before his fifth year, where from the first he displayed great power of memory, close application, and devotion to study. His teachers were astonished to find that he did not stop at the end of the day’s lesson, but habitually learned far beyond it, often reciting page after page. It was said that there was no need of telling Isaac how much to study; it was enough to show him where to begin, and he would learn more than the teacher cared to hear. His first teacher, Miss Susan Foster, said with astonishment one day, after hearing his lesson in arithmetic, “There is no use for me to teach him arithmetic; he is already far beyond me in that.”

After his tenth year he attended Franklin Academy, in North Andover,—Old Put’s school, as it was usually and more familiarly styled,—kept by Mr. Simon Putnam, who attained great repute as a teacher. This was situated on the hill north of the meeting-house, on land given for the purpose by grandfather Jonathan. Here he studied the usual English branches. Among his schoolmates were William Endicott, Jr., the well-known philanthropist, Hon. Daniel Saunders, the late George B. Loring, and Major George T. Clark. It appears that wrestling was a favorite sport with the active and hardy boys at this school.

His father, proud and ambitious on his account, kept him constantly at school, and urged on to still greater efforts this earnest, ardent nature, intense in everything he undertook. The evil effects of such mistaken treatment soon made themselves felt. His mind became wearied and dull from overtasking. The teacher advised rest. The boy, then but ten years old, begged his father to take him out of school and let him work on the farm, telling him that he could no longer study; that he could not learn his lessons. But the father refused, not realizing the son’s condition, and bade him go back to school and study what he could. Isaac then went to his uncle Nathaniel, who owned the Cochichewick woolen mills, situated two miles below the farm, and obtained his permission to work in the factory for a year. He prevailed upon his grandmother to let him lodge at her house in order to be nearer the factory; and having thus decided upon his course, went home and informed his father of the arrangements he had made, who, astonished at the judgment and resolution of the boy, acquiesced. So Isaac went to work in the factory, lodging at his grandfather’s, rising long before daylight that he might eat a hurried breakfast, walk a mile to the factory, and begin the day’s work at five o’clock in the morning, and toiling ten to twelve hours a day. He entered the weavers’ room, where he soon learned to manage a loom. The best weavers were women, it seems, and able to run two looms apiece. Isaac at once determined to excel the most capable; and before he left the factory, succeeded in reaching the goal of his ambition, and managed four looms unassisted.

After a year of this unremitting labor, he left the mills. As he was returning home with the scanty sum he had earned in his pocket, taking it to his father, he passed a shop where some tempting hot gingerbread was displayed for sale, and felt an intense longing to buy a penny-worth; but reflecting that his earnings belonged to his father, and it would be wrong for him to spend any of them, he overcame the desire and went home. But when he handed the money to his father, and asked for a cent to buy the gingerbread with, he felt stung to the quick by the latter’s refusal. In truth, the father’s hard struggle with poverty and adverse circumstances had narrowed his noble nature. Too much had life become to him nothing but hard work, self-sacrifice, and a severe sense of duty. He did not appreciate the sensitive nature of a child, and its needs of sympathy, recreation, and occasional indulgence.

Directly across the road from the house was a small pool called the frog-pond. Isaac selected a corner of this pond for his garden, filled it up with stones, and covered them with rich earth brought from a distance in his little cart with great pains and labor. He eagerly seized every moment that could be spared from school and his unceasing round of morning and evening chores to devote to this darling project. At last the garden was prepared, and planted with his own favorite seeds. But his father, fearing that it might distract and take up too much time from his studies and duties about the farm, rudely uprooted his tenderly cared-for plants, and put in potatoes instead.

On another occasion his father’s injudicious urging nearly proved fatal. Isaac was helping in the hay-field, and was working with such ardor and had accomplished so much that his father was actually astonished. Instead of restraining, he praised him without stint. Under this stimulus the ambitious boy redoubled his exertions until he was prostrated by a sunstroke, resulting in a raging fever, from which he barely escaped with life after a severe sickness.

On another occasion, when twelve years old, he was working in the hay-field, pitching hay upon the cart; he was badly ruptured, and had to be carried to the house. As soon as he was able to travel he went alone to Boston, and sought out Dr. Warren, a noted surgeon, and laid his case before him. Dr. Warren was so much struck with the lad’s courage and intelligence that he refused to accept any fee. “If you do exactly what I tell you, you will get well,” he said, “and I know you will do so from looking in your face.” The surgeon had a truss made, and prescribed treatment, but all the remainder of his life Isaac was obliged to wear the truss, although he outgrew the injury in a measure until it broke out afresh in Mexico from over-exertion.

Measured by modern conditions, it was a severe and laborious home life in which the farmer’s boy grew up, but it was a wholesome one, and well adapted to bring out all his powers. Morning and evening, throughout the year, he had his round of duties, feeding and milking the cows, feeding the pigs, cutting and bringing in wood, etc. During the winter he rose long before daylight to attend to these chores and shovel snow from the paths, then after a hasty breakfast trudged away to school, and on returning again resumed the round of unending farm work. In summer there was no school for three or four months, and then he worked on the farm, hoeing corn, making hay, driving oxen, and performing all the hard and varied labors of a New England farmer’s son. But the New England farmers of that day were the owners of the soil. They knew no superiors. The Revolutionary struggle, as recent to them as the great Rebellion is to us, was fresh and vivid in their minds, and stimulated noble ideas of liberty and national independence. The standard of personal honesty, manhood, and morals, bequeathed from their Puritan ancestry, was high. Such was the moral atmosphere of Isaac Stevens’s household, heightened by his own earnest, philanthropic, and elevated sentiments. All his children were intellectual and high-minded, and nothing can be more touching than the constant ambition and striving of his five daughters for education and self-improvement. All became teachers, but died young, victims of consumption.

Nor was the life of the youth nothing but a round of hard work and privation. If he worked hard and studied hard, he enjoyed play with equal zest, and shared the rougher sports of those days with his cousins and other boys of his age. They were more pugnacious and rougher than nowadays. Wrestling was a common sport, and boyish fights and scuffles were usual.

At the age of fifteen he entered Phillips Academy in Andover. Nathan W. Hazen, Esq., a well-known and respected lawyer of the town, furnished him board and lodgings, in return for which he took care of the garden, and did the chores about the place. One of his schoolmates, describing his first appearance at the academy, said: “The door opened, and there quietly entered an insignificant, small boy, carrying in his arms a load of books nearly as large as himself. But the impression of insignificance vanished as soon as one regarded his large head, earnest face, and firm, searching, and fearless dark hazel eye.”

He remained at the academy over a year. As usual, he took the front rank from the beginning. His reputation as a scholar, especially in mathematics, extended beyond the school. Besides his studies he took sole care of Mr. Hazen’s garden, a half acre in extent, groomed the horse, milked the cow, and fed them, cut and brought in the wood, and did many other jobs about the house, performing an amount of labor, as Mr. Hazen declared, sufficient to dismay many a hired man. He studied early in the morning and late at night. His power of concentrating his mind upon any subject was extraordinary. His industry was untiring. The impress this boy of fifteen made upon those with whom he came in contact during his stay at this place is really remarkable. Mr. Hazen, who proved a considerate friend and adviser to the struggling youth, relates that every evening Isaac would bring his chair close to the office table, at which the former was accustomed to read or write, in order to avail himself of the light, and would work out mathematical problems on his slate. He would remain quietly with his hand to his head in deep thought for a little time, when suddenly he would shower a perfect rainstorm of figures upon his slate without hesitation, or erasure, oftentimes completely filling it. Generally the correct result was reached; but when the solution was not found the first time, he would rapidly wipe off every figure and begin again as before. His mind always sought out and mastered the bottom principle. It was remarked that, whenever he had once solved a problem, he could unhesitatingly solve all others of the same character.

On one occasion a mathematician of some note, who had just published a new arithmetic, brought his work to the academy, and tested the acquirements of the scholars by giving them his new problems to solve. When Isaac was called to the blackboard, he astonished the author and the teacher alike by the ease and rapidity with which he solved every example. They plied him again and again with the most difficult problems, but he mastered them in every instance. “Well, sir,” exclaimed the author, somewhat piqued, “I think you could make the key to this book.” Isaac took the book, and in three days returned it with every example worked out.

A very difficult problem was sent from Yale College to the academy. While the teachers and scholars were puzzling over it, Isaac sat in thought for half an hour with his hand to his head, then rapidly worked out the problem on his slate and presented the solution.

Young as he was, it seems that he had thought enough on religious subjects to become a decided Universalist and Unitarian. A religious revival took place while he was at the academy, and many of the scholars were brought within its influence. Among others, one of the teachers became “converted,” and sought all means to promote a similar experience among his pupils. In order to remove the stumbling-blocks of doubt and ignorance, he offered to answer any questions they might propound on religious topics. The first question Isaac put, “Can a sincere Universalist be saved?” was met by a decided and uncompromising “No.” But the youth plied the unfortunate zealot with such queries that he was forced to confess his inability to answer them, and to withdraw his offer. Once, when he wanted the whole class to attend one of the revival meetings, he put it to them that all who were willing to dispense with the afternoon session and attend the meeting should rise. All promptly stood up except Isaac, who resolutely kept his seat. “Every one in favor except Stevens,” exclaimed the teacher with some bitterness, realizing the protest against his own bigotry. In truth, the youth’s sense of right had been shocked by the doctrines he heard advanced; he was strongly opposed to such revival meetings, and his earnest nature would not bend in a matter of principle.

At one of these meetings his two sisters, Hannah and Susan, yielded to the exhortations and influences of the occasion, and took their seats on the converts’ or mourners’ bench, as it was called. Perceiving this, Isaac immediately marched up to the front, and made them both leave the church with him, no slight proof of his influence over them, older than himself. In fact, while they felt great pride in his talents, his sisters had come still more to respect and lean upon his sound judgment and firm will. He lavished upon them all the great tenderness and affection of his strong and earnest nature.

During his boyhood he was affected with excessive diffidence, or bashfulness. With characteristic resolution and good sense, he set himself to overcome this weakness. He made it a point always to address any one whose presence inspired this awkward feeling, but, he said, it was years before he overcame it.

After a year and four months of this severe application, Isaac completed his course at Phillips Academy. He wished to study law with Mr. Hazen, but that gentleman discouraged the idea. At this juncture his uncle, William Stevens, suggested West Point, and wrote to Mr. Gayton P. Osgood, the member of Congress for the North Essex District, in which Andover was situated, inquiring if there was an appointment in his gift, and suggesting Isaac’s name. Mr. Osgood replied that there was no vacancy. But uncle William was not satisfied; he wrote to William C. Phillips, the member representing the South Essex District, by whom he was informed that no cadet had been appointed from Mr. Osgood’s district. Accordingly he formally made application in behalf of his nephew. A lawyer by profession, and cashier of the Andover bank, he was a man of some influence. Mr. Hazen and other friends joined their recommendations. Mr. Phillips exerted a favorable influence, and although there were other candidates with more influential backing, Mr. Osgood bestowed upon Isaac the desired appointment. Both uncle William and Mr. Hazen declared that the recommendations had little weight, and that Mr. Osgood selected him on account of his reputation for ability and scholarship.

CHAPTER III
WEST POINT

The following letter to his uncle William, written immediately after his arrival at West Point, vividly portrays the mingled emotions that stirred the heart of the raw but ambitious country youth on reaching the goal of his boyish hopes,—his ardent patriotism, awakened by the historic scenes about him; his ambition and determination to be first in his class, “by unflinching resolution, indomitable perseverance, fixing his whole soul upon the object he wishes to attain with concentrated and undivided attention;” his gratitude to his uncle and friends for his appointment, and his affectionate regard for his family. It is also significant of his self-reliant character that he expresses no fears in regard to the impending examination for admission, but remarks, with well-grounded confidence, that “there can be no difficulty in sustaining myself with honor and respectability.”

West Point, June 13, 1835.

Dear Uncle,—I now enjoy the long-anticipated happiness of addressing you from West Point. And perhaps you may ask, does it meet my expectations? I am not prepared to answer this question fully at present, but will say that I like my situation, although subject to very strict regulations, and fully believe there can be no difficulty in obeying every regulation and sustaining myself with honor and respectability. And be assured that I always shall consider myself greatly indebted to you for your kind exertions in my behalf, and it shall be my determination to demean myself in such a manner as to convince you and all my friends that their exertions have not been thrown away. Here I am surrounded by young men from every State in the Union, who are eagerly endeavoring to arrive at distinction, many of whom have determined, and, what is better still, will make every exertion to carry their resolve into effect, to be first in their class.

Every one must buckle on his armor for the conflict: let him be girded with unflinching resolution, indomitable perseverance, decision and firmness of mind, singleness of purpose, integrity of heart, let him fix his whole soul upon the object he wishes to attain with concentrated and undivided attention, and he will undoubtedly, with scarcely the possibility of a doubt, obtain the post of honor.

The first class graduated yesterday. The whole number attached to this class was 54, which is the greatest number that ever graduated at any one time from this institution. There were splendid fireworks last evening, which lasted until nine o’clock. All the cadets were permitted to partake of the sport. It is said that the cadets who leave here are so affected that they even shed tears. Is it to be wondered at? Is there a spot in the whole United States which is associated with so many hallowed and pleasing recollections of the patriotism, of the struggles, and of the victories of our Revolutionary fathers? We are as it were in the cradle of liberty, in the stronghold of freedom, and may we be scions worthy of the tears and of the blood of our Revolutionary sires: may I not disgrace my country, my State, and that character of proud disdain and patriotic valor which inspired the heroes of Andover on the morn of Bunker’s fight; and above all may I cherish that love of freedom and sympathy for the sufferings of mankind which characterized the life of Washington, of Kosciusko, and the other worthies of the Revolution; and in fine may I cherish a heart full of gratitude for those kind friends who by their exertions have assisted me to procure my present situation. I shall be examined Monday, and the encampment will be pitched on Tuesday. We shall have no uniforms until the 4th of July, at which time the new cadets mount guard. As soon as I have entered upon the active duties of the station, I shall again write to Andover. Give my love to father, mother, brother and sisters, to your own family, and all inquiring friends, remembering me especially to grandmother. I remain your grateful nephew,

Isaac I. Stevens.

Wm. Stevens, Esq.

He entered the academy resolved to place himself at the head of his class, not in presumptuous or ignorant self-confidence, but fully recognizing the arduous struggle before him. A boy of seventeen, with scanty advantages of education, but inured to hard work and hard study, he did not hesitate to contest the palm with youths older and far better prepared than himself, of whom two at least had received a collegiate education, and had publicly avowed their determination to attain the first place. These were Henry W. Halleck, of New York, distinguished as major-general, and at one time commanding the army in the war of the Rebellion, and Henry J. Biddle, of Philadelphia, both of whom were older in years, of assured social position and wealthy connections, accomplished French scholars, and well up in mathematics; and one may fancy the derision with which they regarded the rivalry of the undersized farmer’s boy from Andover.

“One evening,” says General E.D. Townsend, late adjutant-general of the army, “a classmate of mine, who was very fond of mathematics, General Israel Vogdes, came to my room, and told me there was a ‘Plebe’ just entered from my State, who was a fine mathematician already, and would stand ‘head of his class in math.’ This interested me, and I went around to offer to assist my fellow-statesman in entering on his career. This was previous to his first encampment. I found Mr. Stevens a modest, straightforward young man, who, in reply to my offer of any assistance I could give him, informed me he wanted to stand head of his class,—that he was not afraid of mathematics, but knew nothing whatever of French. I at once suggested to him to do what was sometimes but not often done, to apply for permission to take lessons during the encampment of one of the professors, for which a small compensation would be allowed to be deducted from Mr. Stevens’s pay. He caught at this idea, and subsequently carried it out. The result was he stood fourteenth in French in the first January examination, and first in mathematics. This did not satisfy him, as I found on congratulating him on what I deemed a most creditable standing. The next June examination, by his untiring application, he stood head both in mathematics and French. There were some four young men in his class who were ripe scholars when they entered West Point, and who were by no means wanting in studious habits.

“The following year, drawing was added to the course. Mr. Stevens came to me for more advice, saying he had not the slightest notion of drawing. I suggested to him, first, great care in his outlines to get them accurate, and then, if he found on trial that he had no talent for shading, that by using a very fine-pointed crayon, and making with patience and care light, smooth marks, he might succeed in producing a well-finished and pretty picture. He came to me shortly after to say that he had improved upon my hint, for he first filled in the outline with a fine pencil, and then traced over this with a coarse one the prominent lines of the picture. Well, he stood head in drawing, and this although at least one of his competitors was quite expert with his pencil before he entered the academy. As might be expected from the beginning, Mr. Stevens graduated at the head of his class in every branch throughout the course.”

Among his classmates, who afterwards rose to be generals in the army, will be recognized Henry W. Halleck; Henry J. Hunt, the distinguished chief of artillery of the Army of the Potomac; George Thom; Edward O.C. Ord; Edward R. S. Canby, who commanded the army against Mobile in 1865, and was massacred by the Modocs in 1873, when in command of the Department of the Columbia; and James B. Ricketts; and in the Confederate army, Jeremy F. Gilmer.

Among those in the three classes above him, distinguished as generals in the army, were Montgomery C. Meiggs, quartermaster-general during the war, Daniel P. Woodbury, James Lowry Donaldson, Thomas W. Sherman, Henry H. Lockwood, John W. Phelps, Robert Allen, of the class of ’36.

Henry W. Benham, Alexander B. Dyer, S. Parker Scammon, Israel Vogdes, Edward D. Townsend, William H. French, John Sedgwick, the soldierly and steadfast commander of the Sixth Corps, beloved of his troops, Joseph Hooker, John B.S. Todd, of the class of ’37; and on the Confederate side, Braxton Bragg, Jubal A. Early, Edmond Bradford, and John C. Pemberton.

William F. Barry, Irvin C. McDowell, Robert S. Granger, Justus McKinstry, Charles F. Ruff, and Andrew J. Smith, of the class of ’38, and P.G. T. Beauregard, the distinguished Confederate leader, as also William J. Hardee, Edward Johnson, and Alexander W. Reynolds.

In the class of ’40 were the distinguished W.T. Sherman, George H. Thomas, George W. Getty, Stewart Van Vleit, and William Hays; and on the Southern side, John P. McCawn, Richard S. Ewell, and Bushrod R. Johnson.

In the class of ’41 were Zealous B. Tower, Horatio G. Wright, Amiel W. Whipple, Albion W. Howe, Nathaniel Lyon, John M. Brannon, and Schuyler Hamilton.

In the class of ’42 were Henry L. Eustis, John Newton, William S. Rosecrans, Barton S. Alexander, John Pope, Seth Williams, Abner Doubleday, Napoleon J.T. Dana, Ralph W. Kirkham, and George Sykes; among the Confederates, James Longstreet, D.H. Hill, Gustavus W. Smith, Mansfield Lovell, Lafayette McLaws, and Earl Van Dorn.

Now fairly entered upon the life and duties of a cadet, his intense and ardent nature found full occupation. His ambition was aroused. Hard study agreed with him. The days sped rapidly and pleasantly away. He fell into companionship with the most talented and high-spirited young men. Nor, time and attention all absorbed by severe application, did he sink into a mere bookworm. Every morning before breakfast, rain or shine, he walked around the post for exercise, a distance of two miles. He shared, too, in the escapades natural to a free and spirited youth, and did not always come off scot-free from these scrapes, for his name stands forty-third on the conduct roll for the first year.

“I have never been homesick for a single minute since I have been here,” he writes his sisters Hannah and Elizabeth, September 8, 1835; “I never passed three months more pleasantly in my life, and since I commenced my studies time never seemed more fleeting. We are obliged to stand guard once a week, drill every day, have a dress parade, with roll calls, etc. We study ten and a half hours a day, two and a half of which are spent in the recitation room. I have recited four lessons in algebra and three in French, and I think I can get my maximum unless sick, or otherwise disabled, that is, miss no questions in any of my studies the coming year. I can get both of my lessons in half an hour, and I shall have much leisure time. If I had some Greek books I think I could pass my time to better advantage.

“I like the military life very much. There is as fine a set of fellows here as ever breathed the air. We study hard, eat hearty, sleep sound, and play little. In camp every one was wide awake for a scrape, or for any kind of fun. But in barracks we are as sober and steady as Quakers. We go to the section room with long and solemn faces. I assure you we know that by study and severe application alone we can keep our places. I admire the spirit which pervades the whole class. The common remark is, ‘I intend to bone it with all my might.’ To bone it means to study hard. Every one seems determined to rise, or keep his present standing at any rate. We are divided in four sections in mathematics, and seven in French, arranged in alphabetical order. Consequently I stand in the last section in each. A transfer will be made in the course of the week, those who do best being put in the higher sections, and those who do worst into the lower sections. I hope to rise in both. That I may do so, I intend to get my lessons in the best possible manner. It shall be my aim not only to understand my lessons, but to convince my instructors that I understand them. To do this I must accustom myself to collect my ideas readily, to be free from embarrassment and trepidation, and always to be perfectly calm and self-possessed.”

TO HANNAH.

November 28.

I am doing pretty well. My health is strong and vigorous. I am not only contented with my situation, but like it very much indeed. We are kept tremendously strict, I assure you. I was visiting last Wednesday evening, and they arrested me for it, and did not release me until this evening, and in addition to that they obliged me to perform an extra tour of Sunday guard duty, which is very tough, I assure you, this cold weather.

Uncle William, it seems, was disappointed at his early standing in the class, and wrote him rather a reproachful letter of exhortation and advice, winding up with the wish that he should stand first in mathematics by the end of the year. In reply he explains that his first rating was low because his name came near the end of the alphabet.

West Point, December 5, 1835.

Dear Uncle,—Your letter was received yesterday, and read with much pleasure. I feel gratified that I still retain your confidence, and that you expect me to sustain an honorable stand. It is also rather flattering than otherwise to know that you feel disappointed because I have nothing more than a respectable standing in my class, for it shows that your estimate of my abilities is as high as, perhaps higher than, it should be. I assure you that your wish shall be gratified not only within the close of the first year, but within the first six months, if it is within my power. Should my stand be no higher than at present, you must not feel disappointed. For such a stand is not only “very respectable,” but very high in a class like ours. I beg of you, however, to think no more of the communication, because my stand even then was much higher than 19. The sections since then have been rearranged, and I have risen very much. You must also recollect that at first I was within seven of the foot both in M. and F. In two weeks I rose 25 men in M. and 80 in F. I then remained in the second section in mathematics till the middle of November, when I was transferred to the first section.

There are only two in our class who have got the maximum at every recitation both in M. and F. since the commencement of our studies; these are cadet Biddle from Penn. and a fellow from Mass., whose birthplace, I believe, is Andover. I am now at the head of my section in French. My present standing in M. is as high as the highest, and it is considered so by every member of my class. There are four of us in M. who have done equally well, that is, we have each of us got the maximum, done all the extras, and demonstrate equally as well. Their names are H.J. Biddle, of Penn., I. Butler, of Va., H. W. Halleck, of N.Y., and ——, of Mass. I have often thought of the advice you gave me, and I hope I have profited by it. I have spent two hours in studying other authors, and in learning to demonstrate eloquently and with perspicuity, to every hour devoted to the text-book. In French I have risen more than any other man in the class. My stand at first was 67th, now it is 22d. When I came, I had scarcely looked into a French book for five years, and could not pronounce a single syllable. And, believe me, it is not egotism which prompts me to say this, but it is in order to put to rest all your apprehensions on my account. I also wish to assure you that I associate with none whom I ought not to respect.

West Point, December 20, 1835.

Dear Father,—You have probably received a communication from the War Department giving my stand for the month of November, which I hope will give you better satisfaction than the last return. I think my general standing in January will be still better. I shall be examined one fortnight from to-morrow, and I intend to do my best. My standing will greatly depend upon it. At the examination, each one has a demonstration to perform, besides some 20 or 30 questions to answer. If my demonstration is good, and the answers to all my questions are correct, my stand will remain in mathematics at least as good as it was in November, which, I presume, is fourth. In French I think I shall rise considerably, because my mark is as good as any one’s, and I think I have gained the good-will of my teacher. Very much depends upon this. We can always secure their esteem by being attentive and respectful, and, last though not least, by paying considerable attention to our personal appearance. Lieutenant Church, my professor in mathematics, and Mr. Molinard, my professor in French, are both very fine men and accomplished teachers. The latter is a Frenchman.

I am acquainted with many Westerners, who generally are very fine fellows. They are generally very generous and open-hearted, and it is very easy to get acquainted with them. There have been two duels fought between cadets since I have been here, though no ill consequences followed. In each case the combatants were Westerners. If they had been found out, they, together with the seconds, would have been dismissed.

Our State does the best of any in the fourth class. There are three in the first section in mathematics, and two in the first section in French. Penn. has two in each. Henry J. Biddle, of Penn., will probably be head in mathematics in January. His name comes before those who have an equal mark with him; he is a splendid mathematician, and has graduated at a college, and was undoubtedly better prepared than any other member of the class. He will also be head in French. We have a splendid collection of Philosophical, Mathematical, and Historical works in our library. There is no difficulty in getting books, and I intend to avail myself of its many advantages. There is a universal history of modern times, consisting of 42 volumes. I am now reading Rollin’s Ancient History. Our evenings are very busy. We study from half past five till ten.

It is noticeable in his letters that he finds the regular course of studies very easy, owing undoubtedly not less to the remarkable native powers of his mind than to his habits of study and faculty of intense application. Yet, as in boyhood, not content with the prescribed curriculum, and spurred on by his ambition to achieve the headship of his class, he takes extra French lessons, spends “two hours in studying other authors, and in learning to demonstrate eloquently and with perspicuity, to every hour devoted to the text-book,” and reads Rollin’s Ancient History. Such indomitable resolution and energy combined with great ability could not fail. In six months he had gained a high place in the first section, and had become the competitor with three others for the leadership. He writes uncle William, who has congratulated him on his standing, and now thinks it best to caution him against studying too hard:—

West Point, February 1, 1836.

Dear Uncle,—It was very gratifying to learn that my standing was so satisfactory to my friends. Since it has been attained by no extra exertion, it is incumbent on me to deserve to sustain it for the future by strict and unwearied attention to all my academic studies.

Your caution respecting hard study shall be observed, for the very good reason that it is impossible to do otherwise. The regulations in this respect are very good, and are such as to secure to each one the privilege of studying as much as is necessary, while it restrains all from over-exertion. We retire at ten and rise at six. Of the remaining sixteen, four hours are devoted to recreation, meals, etc., and twelve to study. Of these twelve hours, two and one half are spent in the section room. The intercourse between the cadets is so free and uninterrupted that it is impossible to study except during study hours. Surely twelve hours’ study per day ought to injure no one of a sound constitution.

Our class will have a society next fall. Every class, except the fourth, has one or more societies, which meet every Saturday evening. We have some very fine speakers in the corps, and many take great pains to improve themselves.

You wish to know our uniforms, rations, etc. Our uniform is gray. Our pantaloons are made as usual, except a stripe of black velvet on each leg. Cousin Charles can describe our coats, which are the same both winter and summer. In summer we wear white pants made of Russia drilling.

Remember me to all inquiring friends, especially to grandmother and your own family.

Your nephew,
Isaac I. Stevens.

N.B. Tell our folks to write soon.

To his sister Susan:—

West Point, February 23, 1836.

Dear Sister,—Be assured that advice from you, and advice from all those whom I know to be my friends, will afford me the greatest pleasure, and will always be received with the most respectful attention. The disgusting habits of chewing, smoking, etc., I abominate, and therefore shall never indulge in them. As for drinks, either distilled or fermented, I do not use them, because in the first place they cannot be obtained, and, in the second place, I have no desire for them. The fact of the case is, that in barracks there are no temptations offered us but what every one who has any mind could easily resist. In camp it is not the case; then many temptations are offered us, to which we are in great danger of yielding, since we have much leisure. When a person has his whole time employed, there is little danger of falling into bad habits. Last fall, when I commenced the Algebra, I had very little to do, and came very near contracting some very bad habits, as sleeping in the morning, etc., which at first required some little difficulty in breaking; but now I do not think of such a thing, not even Sunday mornings, and I often rise at four or five o’clock. This is owing to having hard lessons to get. You mention that you are studying Latin and like it very much. I have but one caution to give you on this subject, which is, get your grammar perfectly. Everything depends upon this. You can never make a good Latin scholar unless you know everything about the grammar. Since you are studying French, I intend next encampment to write you a letter in French, which you must answer, and we will correct each other. We use Levisac’s Grammar, and at every lesson get about half a page of exercises, and are obliged to get them so that we can write any sentence our Prof. gives us upon the blackboard without referring to the books. We are now writing sentences upon the pronomial verbs. We get for our translation eight pages in Charles XII. per day. Our teacher, Mr. Bevard (the author of the French Lessons), is a very good linguist, and the most thorough teacher I ever was under. He is very particular about our pronunciation, and corrects us very frequently. I think by June I shall be able to pronounce French pretty well and read it fluently, and shall endeavor to rise considerably.

You must write whenever you can find it convenient, and your letters shall always be punctually answered. I observe that you pay the postage. I wish that you would allow me to pay it, as I think I am better able to do it than you. Remember me to all inquiring friends.

Your brother,
Isaac I. Stevens.

Miss S.B. Stevens.

His letters show the maturity of the mind and judgment of the youth of seventeen, and exhibit a slight formality and precision that indicates that he was taking pains in the composition. His correspondence must have taken no little time. His great, warm heart went out towards all his relations, and he was frequently writing to his uncle William, and his cousins in Andover and Salem, Mass., in Albany, Maine, and in Nashville, Tenn. He wrote constantly to his father and sisters, keenly alive to their welfare and happiness. The latter were beginning to scatter widely from the paternal roof-tree. Hannah, the eldest, was at Haverhill, earning her livelihood. Susan was attending the female seminary at the South Parish (Andover); Mary was at Methuen, at Mr. Stephen Barker’s; and only Sarah and Elizabeth remained at home. Deeply sympathizing with them, he comforts them, urges them to treat their stepmother with respect, and touchingly alludes to their father’s unfortunate condition, his growing infirmities, and his sincere affection for and devotion to his children.

The first academic year rolled rapidly away. One day, as the examination drew near, Halleck and Biddle were comparing notes as to the prospects. “That little Stevens,” said the former, “is driving ahead like the devil, and he is sure to be first in mathematics. I don’t think he can beat me in French, at any rate.” “And I am sure,” rejoined Biddle, “that he cannot touch me in drawing next year. One thing I have made up my mind to,—if he gains the head of the class over me, I shall resign.” This dialogue was overheard, and repeated to “little Stevens,” who related it in after years with some amusement.

He had pursued his object with unflagging zeal, energy, and determination during the year, but, reflecting how heavily he was handicapped in the race by men like Biddle, Butler, and Halleck, so much older and farther advanced in their studies at the beginning, he might well feel anxious. He entered the examination room, as he describes it, cool and collected, with nerves high-strung yet under perfect control, and fully determined to come out ahead. He was not disappointed. He rose to the first place,—a place, once achieved, which no competitor was to wrest from him.

Camp Jones, July 6, 1836.

Dear Uncle,—I received your letter by Mr. Johnson, and although short it was very acceptable.... We had a fine time on the Fourth of July, an oration, dinner, etc. I had a great desire to spend the Fourth at New York city. I applied and obtained a leave of two days, commencing on Sunday noon and ending on Tuesday; had a very fine time,—went to the Navy Yard, Brooklyn, got introduced to about half a dozen midshipmen, etc. The military were out, as well as several societies. In the evening I went to the theatre, where Celeste danced as usual.

Since we have been in camp we have had a very easy time, nothing to do but go on guard two or three times per week, attend roll calls and dress parades. Next week we will be drilled three times per day as well as recite in infantry tactics, and attend the dancing-school. I have come to the determination to study French this encampment: shall commence next week. I cannot reasonably expect to keep my present standing in that branch unless I exert myself. I can translate quite readily, but I write quite indifferently, and can speak it but very little, whereas there are three immediately below me who can read, write, and speak the language very well. Why the Board placed me above them is more than I can conceive. Two of them have told me they would rise me, and I have told them they should not do it. If they do rise me, I shall not complain; and if they do not, so much the better. As to mathematics, I have no cause for fear,—both Biddle and Halleck admit I ought to stand head, and my professor had no doubts about who should be placed there. As soon as we reënter barracks, we commence drawing. Success in this branch depends as much (and perhaps even more) upon persevering application as on a natural taste. I intend to do my very best, otherwise I shall fall very much in general merit, even should I keep my standing in other branches. Biddle will stand head, or near the head, in D., as he now draws very well. If he was third in D. and I was twelfth, he would rise me in general merit. Our merit rolls will be published in about two weeks. I am entitled to five, and shall send one home. In this roll the standing of every cadet, the class to which he belongs, and the number of his demerits are published. Mass. stands better in my class than any other State. Greene and Grafton, both from Boston, stand ninth and tenth. But there was one from Salem found deficient in French, although he passed well in M. I think he is a smart fellow, and will stand high next year. His name is Humber. He had been a sailor for six years, and French came very hard to him by reason of the very limited knowledge he had of language. I suppose that the farmers must have begun haying in good earnest. I should much prefer working on a farm for two or three months to the life I now lead. It is now thirteen months since I have done any work to which I have hitherto been accustomed, and I shall probably soon get my hand out. Many of the cadets, chiefly those who come from the slavery States, have a great contempt for our Yankee farmers, and even pretend to compare them with their slaves. They have the greatest contempt for all those who gain a subsistence by the sweat of their brows. For my own part I shall always respect every man who is honest and industrious, and more particularly those who live in the manner that has been ordained by God himself; and whenever any man, in conversation with me or in my hearing, compares that class, of which I am proud to be one, with slaves, I shall always consider it as an insult offered to myself, and shall act accordingly. Remember me to all inquiring friends. Write when convenient.

Your nephew,
Isaac I. Stevens.

Wm. Stevens, Esq.

Camp Jones, West Point, August 16, 1836.

Dear Uncle,—You probably have seen most of my letters that I have written home this encampment; you will see that I have taken things fair and easy, and have had quite a pleasant time. I can always get a permission to walk into the country whenever I ask for it, so that, between attending my military duties, dancing, rambling about in the country, and reading novels, I could not do otherwise than pass my time pleasantly. I cut rather a sorry figure dancing, as might be expected, but there is a chance for improvement, which I intend to make the best of.

There is a standing society in the corps called the Dialectic Society. Ten or fifteen persons are selected from each class except the fourth class, so that it consists of forty or fifty members. The society is continued by selecting the above number from every new class after it has been here one year. I intend to get elected into it, if possible. They have a fine collection of books to the amount of several hundred volumes. There are also many fine speakers in it, and many of them take great pains to improve themselves, even to the neglect of their studies. This is unquestionably bad policy. It is losing a dollar for the sake of saving a sixpence; but there is no kind of difficulty in paying proper attention to our studies, and improving ourselves in writing and speaking: by writing, I of course mean composing. If you will examine our merit rolls, you will see that Jennings and Halbert, of the second class, are among the deficients. These men were decidedly the best writers in the class, and the former was the orator on the Fourth of July. As it is always better to act than to talk, so they have missed it in neglecting their studies in order to become good speakers.

As I stand head in French, you may possibly suppose I can speak the language. Such is not the case; but one thing is certain, I am determined to be able to speak it one year from this time. But how I shall do it is another thing. I can write it some, but it will require great pains to be able to write it correctly and speak it fluently. Neither time nor patience shall be wanting on my part in order to accomplish both the above objects. As soon as we commence studying, I intend to have a talk with Mr. Bevard, the head teacher in French, and a most estimable man, about it, and do as he directs me.

In return for this I shall expect a good long letter, telling me all the news and giving me good advice. Remember me to all inquiring friends, to Aunt Eliza, and cousins Eliza, William, Susan, and George.

I remain your nephew,
Isaac I. Stevens.

Wm. Stevens, Esq.

West Point, September 1, 1836.

Dear Father,—In my letters you often have me write about my leave next year. I look forward to this with a great deal of pleasure. As you may well suppose, I want to see my friends very much. How long a leave had I better get? I can have ten weeks if I choose, or a shorter time. I am now a corporal, and shall probably be made a sergeant next June. If I get a leave of ten weeks, I cannot keep my office. But if I retain it, my leave will not exceed four or five weeks; but to make up for this I could get as long a leave the year after; whereas, if I resigned my office and took the ten weeks’ leave, I could get no leave the next encampment. The office now is not worth much, but it is very well to have it when I am in the first class, for then I shall be made a lieutenant, if my conduct is good. What had I best do? If I continue to be head in mathematics, there is a chance of my being made an assistant professor in M. next year. Two of the cadet professors will then graduate, and their places will have to be filled. I do not think, however, it is best to place any dependence upon it. If there was an even chance of my being made such, I would not hesitate about resigning my office, if you should think it best to obtain a leave of ten weeks.

Your son,
Isaac I. Stevens.

Mr. Isaac Stevens.

West Point, September 2, 1836.

Dear Father,—Yesterday we commenced our studies. We entered the barracks the 30th of August. The ball on the 29th was a most splendid one, and the hall was very full. We made use of the mess-hall, which was decorated in fine style. Our band was present, and their performances served to increase their reputation. The ball was continued until after three o’clock, but I did not remain after half past one. It was estimated that nearly six hundred visitors were present. As this is the only thing of the kind we have during the year, the corps take unusual pains to have everything done in the best manner, and great care was taken that the whole should present quite a military appearance. Many of the lamps were encircled by brightly burnished bayonets, which served as reflectors. Directly in front of the hall was a battery of cannon, in rear of which sentinels were stationed to keep off those who had no right to be present. I enjoyed myself very much, and took part in several cotillions.

We marched into barracks the day after the ball, and were allowed a day or two to arrange things. My situation is much different now from what it was one year since. Now I have attained a situation which then I scarcely hoped for. Now I am surrounded with my classmates and friends, when one year since I had no friends; for we were strangers to each other, and consequently displayed that cold civility, and uttered those unmeaning compliments, which distinguish the intercourse of strangers. One year since I was unknown to the officers of the institution; now I trust I have secured the confidence and esteem of those with whom I have come in contact. Then I was a poor plebe, who had not passed his January examination; now I no longer bear that title, but possess the privileges and the name of an old cadet.

The fourth class is a very large one, upwards of a hundred. Next June I do not believe upwards of sixty will be left, and it is doubtful whether upwards of forty-five graduate, so many are found deficient and discharged. My room-mates are the same as last year, with the exception of Mr. Bacon. I think we shall always room together, at least I hope so. Both Carpenter and Callender are hard students and steady fellows. The former is a very smart man. The latter you will find, by reference to some of my old letters, roomed with me before January, resigned, and was reappointed this year. I do not expect to stand first next January, but think my standing will not be below second. Drawing will come hard to me, and I shall stand quite low the first three or four months. No efforts of my own shall be wanting to secure a good standing in this branch. We spend six hours per week in the drawing academy, but I intend to practice twelve hours per week in my own room.

Your son,
Isaac A. Stevens.

Mr. Isaac Stevens.

From early boyhood General Stevens made a strong impression upon every one he met. Undersized, and at first glance insignificant in appearance, his intense individuality and intellect were always deeply felt. At once he commanded the respect of the professors at the academy; and their recollections of him, and of his characteristics, were still vivid after the lapse of forty years, and the continual passing of an army of youth before their eyes. Said Professor W.H.C. Bartlett, July 16, 1877, who was professor of natural and experimental philosophy:—

“General Stevens was a small, undersized, young man when he entered West Point, very modest in demeanor. He had the habit of speaking carefully and distinctly, and of clearly and precisely expressing the exact idea he wished to convey. His mind was comprehensive, given to generalizations; he had the faculty of generalizing, of always thinking out first principles. In solving a mathematical problem, he would apply the principles which governed the class of problems, and not simply seek a solution of the single one before him. He was very early regarded by the faculty as a man of great talent and promise, sure to take a high stand in his class and in the world. He was popular with his class, but his popularity arose more from their opinion of his abilities than from social qualities. The professors soon felt that whatever he said was worthy of attention. I recollect that he took an active part in the Dialectic Society, and recollect his moving the books and busying himself in the room. Biddle was his competitor for the headship of the class, and after he left there was practically no one to contest the honors with him.

“Halleck’s was an entirely different mind from Stevens’s,—less comprehensive, less devoted to original research, to principles. Halleck was strong in history, in precedents.

“I recollect Stevens’s answer when a witness before a court of inquiry,—how he knew that a party had done so and so,—if he had said so. ‘No,’ replied he, ‘he did not say so, but what he said and his manner combined convinced me of the fact; and the manner is a great part of any conversation.’ When he graduated, he stood not only at the head of his class, but among the highest that ever graduated from the academy.”

Professor A.E. Church (of mathematics) writes July 27, 1877:—

“My recollection of your father as a cadet at West Point is very vivid. I remember him as an earnest, industrious student, strictly attentive to every duty. He possessed mathematical talents of the highest order, standing in this branch, as in every other, at the head of his class, notwithstanding rival classmates of great abilities. A distinguishing trait which he possessed in a remarkable degree, and, from what I know of his after life, continued ever prominent, was an unhesitating readiness to apply and carry on strictly and systematically every principle he had learned, never failing to come to the right result.

“While others were pondering over the intricacies of a mathematical proposition, often in vain seeking some shorter way or more curious result, he seemed at once to grasp the most practicable rule, and straight onward to pursue it to an end which admitted of no doubt.

“Though admirably adapted for a military commander and great engineer, had he selected the profession of the law he would have been prominent among the most distinguished lawyers of the age. His early death was a serious loss to the army and country, and with his many friends was sincerely mourned by myself.”

The grasp and thoroughness of his mind, his power of generalization, of seeking and mastering first principles, which Mr. Hazen remarked in the boy, impressed the West Point professors, too, as the prominent mental characteristic of the youth.

Says General Zealous B. Tower:—

“I roomed with Cadet Stevens for four months in one of the small rooms in the south barracks. Stephen D. Carpenter was the other occupant of that limited living and bed room. Each cadet was provided with a small mattress, to be spread upon the floor when needed, and when unoccupied to be rolled up in its canvas, well strapped, and put into a corner of the room. Later, iron bedsteads were introduced, but the mattresses were never unrolled and spread until the hour for retiring. A cadet inspector visited the rooms half an hour after reveille; the Officer of the day also inspected them, and the company officers also went the rounds. Tattoo at 9.30 P.M. was the signal for retiring, and taps at ten P.M. for putting out all lights, when one of the officers again inspected each ‘stoup,’ or floor, of the barracks.

“Stevens’s duties as assistant professor of mathematics occupied an hour and a half each day, taking that portion of time from his study hours; but it did not interfere with his studies, for he possessed quick intelligence, and great concentration of his mental powers. This faculty was very pronounced, and would have given him distinction in any profession that he might have undertaken, and the more so that it was allied to industrious habits and an enthusiastic nature. He never plodded over his lessons, but often finished them in half the time allotted to their acquisition. Stevens was a pleasant room-mate, being very genial, kind, and considerate to others. He never failed in his friendships, or in anything that appeared a duty to his fellows. He was popular among those of his associates who valued sterling, manly qualities, and among the most prominent members of his corps. He spoke rapidly when a matter of interest engaged his attention, for he thought rapidly. Though, rather short in stature, his large head and very expressive, intelligent eyes made him noticeable and attractive in conversation, engaging the marked attention of his auditors. His enthusiasm and strong convictions gave an energy to his manner of discussing favorite topics that lent the charm of eloquence to his speech.”

West Point, March 11, 1836.

Dear Father,—Last week we commenced Calculus. This is considered the most difficult branch of mathematics. Our text-book is a compilation from the most distinguished French mathematicians by Professor Davies. We have about ten pages per lesson, and will be about five weeks going through it. We next study surveying, which ends our course in mathematics.

Since the examination I have attended the drawing academy every day, the regular attendance being every other day. Were I two files higher in this branch, it would put me head in general merit. I am now drawing our Saviour, represented as a child. I have been at work on it for about four weeks. It will probably take me eight weeks more to finish it. It is very slow work, I assure you, but as our standing depends entirely upon the excellence and not upon the number of pieces, I consider the time is not lost, provided what I do is done well.

It seems there is a very great excitement in Congress respecting the slavery question. It must afford pleasure to every friend of free discussion to learn that the South did not succeed in the resolutions censuring Mr. Adams. At the same time, I think he is unnecessarily agitating this dangerous question, and that his zeal will tend to awaken only feelings and desires which should never be cherished. Is not the dissolution of the Union a subject of fearful foreboding? Ought then the sages of our land like Mr. Adams at this time to agitate a question which in the opinion of the South infringes upon their rights, and which, inflexible as we know them to be in their maintenance, will cause them to look upon a secession from the Union as the only means of preserving them? The South are sensible of the evils of slavery. They deplore the existence of this curse, entailed upon them against their consent by the arbitrary decrees of England, and I believe that (if left to themselves) they will adopt some measures to rid themselves of it.

Your son,
Isaac I. Stevens.

INFANT JESUS
Crayon drawing at West Point

West Point, March 5, 1836.

Dear Sister,—I received your letter this morning informing me of aunt Eliza’s death. She was certainly the finest woman I ever knew, and the remembrance of her engaging qualities will long be cherished. Uncle William is very much to be pitied.

Have you any school in view now for next summer? You also appear to be very much interested in Latin. I detested Latin when I first commenced to study it, but I soon brought myself to like it. So it is with drawing. I take more pleasure in drawing than in anything else. I like it full as well as reading novels. In my last you will recollect that I wrote of the piece I was then drawing. I have now got it most half done. I was all last week (two hours per day) drawing one eye, a part of another one, and one curl of hair. You can see by this that I draw very slowly, much slower than any one in my class. The time spent in the drawing academy seems shorter than any other part of the day, and I have not yet felt any impatience at my slowness in drawing since I have commenced my last piece, a sure sign that I like it very much.

Your brother,
Isaac I. Stevens.

Miss Susan B. Stevens.

Dear Sister Elizabeth,—You spoke of Mr. Maynard thinking I ought to be content with my present standing, and ought not to expect to stand higher. Be that as it may, one thing is certain, that I will never cease to try for number one till I have got it again, and were I convinced that it was almost an impossibility, I would still try. I like the reply of General Miller to his superior officer in the last war, when, being directed to attack and carry a battery of cannon on an almost inaccessible eminence, the silencing of which was indispensable, made this answer only, ‘I will try,’ and with the most determined courage carried it in an almost incredibly short space of time. I don’t like backing out; it is contemptible. I shall, however, be contented with whatever standing is given me, and since I have been here I have always endeavored to prepare myself for any contingency. This is absolutely necessary. It is the only way to guard against envy, jealousy, and all those mean and degrading passions to which the human heart is prone. Harry Biddle and myself are now the only members of our class who are contending for head, yet I don’t believe there are two men in the class on better terms. He is one of the finest young men I ever knew; and although he was very much disappointed last June, he never uttered a word showing he harbored the least ill-will against me. When the result of the June examination was known, he came and congratulated me, but told me he meant to rise me. In January it appeared he had redeemed his word, and so I went and congratulated him, and balanced the account. This is the only way to get along, for if we allow those passions I have mentioned to obtain the least ascendency over us, it will render us disagreeable and unhappy. There are eleven of us in four rooms, which are contiguous to each other, who are all good friends, and we enjoy ourselves as much as any other eleven men in the corps.

At the end of the second academic year he again stood head of his class, and had the pleasure of announcing his success to his father. He stood seventeen on the conduct roll, having eleven demerits.

West Point, June 18, 1836.

Dear Father,—I received a letter from Oliver a few days since. He says he is “going a-gunning” on his birthday, and wishes me to be at home to keep him company. I wish this could be the case, but under present circumstances I shall not come home until the last of July, and my leave will last but four weeks only. I did not know this till about a week ago, and I have deferred writing to be able to give you my standing. The examination was closed yesterday. My standing is first in mathematics, first in French, and fourth in drawing, which puts me head in general merit. Mr. Biddle is second in M., third in F., and first in D. I presume you will be satisfied with this. You recollect that Mr. Biddle rose me in French last January, and I suppose that rising him again this June will make it all right again. I had very good luck indeed, and my recitation in mathematics was much better than at any previous examination. We march into camp on Tuesday. It is to be called Camp Poinsett, as a compliment to the Secretary of War.

In July he returned home, after an absence of two years, to spend the brief leave of a month. He had foregone one the previous year, partly on the score of economy, at his father’s suggestion, and it was with a heart full of joy and glad anticipations that he hastened to visit the loved ones at home, and the dear and familiar scenes of his childhood.

Isaac must have keenly enjoyed this visit. His sisters were proud of him, and overjoyed at his return. He had surpassed the most sanguine hopes of his friends, and on every hand met with a warm welcome. His success at the academy, his cadet uniform, and his erect, soldierly bearing invested him in the eyes of the community with the new-found respect and importance accorded to rising and promising young manhood. His cousin Henry, writing after his return to the Point, says: “If you look as dignified as you did when you were here, I do not wonder that you are beyond suspicion. I should like very much to see one hundred cadets playing at football. Do you run as erect as you walk?” West Point drill and discipline, however, had not abated his adventurous spirit, or love of the sports natural to his age. Sailing on the Great Pond with a number of companions, and the wind having died out, for pastime he climbed to the top of the mast, which suddenly broke and let him fall headlong into the lake. On another occasion he was poling a boat with his little brother up the Cochichewick towards the “Hatch,” as the point where the stream flowed out of the Great Pond was called, when the oar stuck fast in the tenacious mud of the bottom, and, grasping it too firmly, Isaac lost his foothold, and was dragged over the stern into the mingled mud and water, to the sad defilement of his speckless white cadet trousers. Exasperated at this ridiculous accident, he swore lustily, calling upon Oliver in no gentle tones to bring back the boat.

CHAPTER IV
WEST POINT.—LAST TWO YEARS

Returning to the Point after this brief respite, the young cadet resumed his studies with his accustomed vigor. He was appointed assistant professor of mathematics, a position of additional labor as well as honor, which he retained to the end of his course. Moreover, he took an active part in the Dialectic Society, which as a “plebe” he looked forward to joining. In a letter to Mr. Hazen he recounts his early efforts in debate:—

“You are probably aware that we have a debating society here, of which I have the honor to be a member. Last evening (we hold our meetings on Saturday evenings) we had an animated debate on the expediency of studying the dead languages. It was the only tolerable one we have had this fall. Some pretty good speeches were made. One was particularly fine. Mr. Jennings, the person to whom I allude, in my opinion was made for an orator. He is undoubtedly a man of a large mind, and expresses himself admirably. His delivery is very good, and his diction is choice and effective. Declamation is one of the regular exercises; and as my turn came round, I had the pleasure of unburdening myself of a short piece, and of being most woefully used up by the critical, who are regularly appointed for such performance. This is not very encouraging, to be sure. I must, however, acquit myself better next time.

“You are probably aware of the great defects in our course of study. It is not calculated generally to strengthen and improve the mind as much as a four years’ course of study should. Some of the faculties are developed in a high degree, whilst others are almost entirely neglected; its effect is—if the expression can be used—to cast the mind in a rough, strong mould, without embellishing or polishing it. Its effect is also (perhaps no more than any other regular course of study) to confine our attention to particular pursuits, and make us neglect all that general information which is essential to a man of liberal education, and in fact absolutely indispensable for any one who engages in the actual pursuits of life. Don’t you believe it is of greater advantage to a person to have a good idea of political economy, or a knowledge of the elementary principles of composition, than to be able to solve some abstruse problem in mathematics?

“I almost wish I could content myself with standing about fifth in my class. I could then spend three or four hours a day in reading and getting valuable information, and could improve myself in composition. I might also cultivate a taste for the higher branches of literature, my taste for all which at present, except novels, is about at the zero point. As it is, I am obliged to work hard to get an hour a day to devote to reading; and as I consider history and solid works of that nature most valuable, I have been able to read but one novel within the last three months. I have been reading some of the speeches in ‘British Eloquence’ of late; also in the ‘Eloquence of the United States.’ Do you think the characters of Pitt, Fox, and Burke, as described by the author in the former work, are correct? My former ideas of Chatham were somewhat different. The author makes him out a more selfish man than I supposed him to be. A few days since I picked up a volume of Phillips’s Speeches, and read most of them. Is not his speech in the case of Blake v. Wilkins admirable? What do you think of them generally? It seems to me there is more of the pomp of words than real, effective oratory in them. He has too much pathos in some of his speeches. A little of it, and sometimes much of it, produces a very good effect; but where it is nothing but a pathetic appeal to the feelings, the effect is destroyed, at least with people of sense.”

This letter shows that the youth was beginning to think for himself, and to weigh things according to his own ideas. The arduous course of study he was pursuing did not wholly engross his attention. He soon became the leading member of the Dialectic, active in getting up lectures and other literary exercises. Nor was he simply a bookworm. “The eleven of us, in contiguous rooms, who are all good friends, and enjoy ourselves as much as any other eleven men in the class,” derived some of their enjoyment from breaking the rigid rules of the institution, and in hairbreadth escapes from detection. They used to run over to Benny’s without leave. They would bring pies and other edibles into barracks buttoned up under their coats, and, after the post was wrapped in slumber, would indulge in these forbidden sweets. His companions ofttimes complained that Stevens would learn his lessons in a minute, and then come about, making a racket, and disturbing them in their studies. He used to take long walks and excursions about the neighboring country.

Naturally active and fearless, he became a fine horseman, and always appeared to best advantage when mounted, where his erect figure and soldierly bearing gave him the effect of higher stature than when on foot.

In winter the cadets were in the habit of skating on the river. Isaac, light, active, and fearless, and exceedingly adventurous, delighted to skim full speed over the thinnest ice he could find, which bent and crackled under his skates. His companions kept remonstrating with and forewarning him of a catastrophe, which in his case never occurred. One extremely cold day, however, one of his associates broke through the ice and fell into the river. They rescued him with some difficulty, and bore him dripping wet to the barracks in all haste, but the unlucky youth was nearly frozen when they carried him into his room. His mates at once set to work making a hot fire, and bringing blankets, etc. But Isaac now took the lead, as the commanding spirit always does in a real emergency. He caused them to put out the fire, throw open all the windows, and to vigorously rub the insensible youth with snow brought from the outside until his circulation was restored, and the frost taken out of his benumbed extremities, when he suffered them to rebuild the fire and renew the warm comforts, both solid and liquid.

His uncle Moses, a distinguished teacher, settled in Nashville, Tenn., visited West Point this fall; and his father writes, “Your uncle Moses speaks of your acquirements in rather extravagant terms.”

During the winter his father’s health was poor, and he suffered much from his injured leg. Oliver alone remained at home. Hannah was in Haverhill, attending school, and supporting herself by her needle; Sarah was in Lowell, working in a factory; Elizabeth was at Belfast, Maine, visiting an aunt, and attending school; Mary was at Methuen; and Susan was attending school at the South Parish. The latter, a girl of warm heart and lively sensibilities, had not been satisfied with the sober Unitarianism of her family, and had become attached to the “Orthodox,” or ancient Puritan faith, a sincere and somewhat enthusiastic convert. The letters of these motherless girls, thus scattered about, reveal a touching picture of their earnest desire and efforts for study and self-improvement, their tender affection for their father, and their endeavor to treat their stepmother with respect and affection. It was to their brother Isaac that they resorted for comfort and guidance. They confided to his warm and sympathetic heart all their troubles, aspirations, and plans, and constantly sought his advice. The noble old man at the farm, too, had come to rely upon the manly character and sound judgment of the youth of nineteen at West Point. He writes of the difficulty of making both ends meet, of his earnest desire to give more schooling to his three younger daughters, and of preserving intact for his children the little property he had accumulated so laboriously. He asks Isaac to write and advise Susan, who he thinks lacks stability, and Hannah. He entreats his son to come home every summer vacation.

West Point, December 17, 1836.

Dear Father,—It was with much concern I heard of your lameness, and I am very much afraid it will prove more serious than you seem to be aware of. You ought not to think yourself obliged to work, when it is of manifest injury to you. You are now getting to be along in years, and you have done hard work enough. You ought now to think of making yourself comfortable. I do hope you will be careful about exposing yourself, and will endeavor to enjoy the little property which you have accumulated with so much toil. Your children, you may be assured, had much rather that it should all be consumed in making your declining years pleasant and happy, than receive a single cent of it themselves. I think you will do wrong to feel the least anxiety about leaving property to your children. You have evinced the greatest affection for us, and the utmost disinterestedness in consulting the welfare of your children, and it is our duty to make every return in our power. Believe me, we will endeavor to exert our utmost in order to secure the happiness of the remaining period of your life, and we ask of you, as a favor, no longer to undergo the toil and exposure to which you have hitherto been accustomed.

I wish I could have been at home Thanksgiving time. Three successive Thanksgivings have seen my absence from home, and it is very probable that three more will pass away without allowing me the opportunity of spending them at home. As it is, I hope I shall be enabled to pass two or three weeks at home next summer, but it is very uncertain. The superintendent has come to the conclusion no longer to permit the members of the first class to be absent on leave during the encampment, and it will be very difficult to obtain a leave unless the application is backed by very urgent reasons.

At last Susan decided to go to Missouri, encouraged by the favorable reports of relatives who had moved thither, and hoping to find a more promising field as a teacher. In May, 1838, her father accompanied her to Port Labadie, situated on the Missouri River, some miles above St. Louis. Here she found kind friends, and met with tolerable success in her chosen vocation.

At the June examination of 1838 Isaac again stood at the head of his class. On the conduct roll he was number twenty-three, with twenty demerits. He spent part of the summer leave at home. Returning to the Point, he made a pedestrian trip to Philadelphia with a classmate, in the course of which they were thoroughly drenched in a rainstorm.

The following letter exhibits his patriotic indignation at the British aggressions on the Maine frontier, a precursor of the spirit with which he resisted and defeated similar aggressions on the extreme northwest in after years:—

West Point, August 21, 1838.

Dear Father,—You must have seen from the papers that the executive of the State of Maine is making preparations to carry into effect the resolutions of its legislature, and that the commissioners will be supported in the running of the boundary line by the whole military force of the State. Kent has pursued a course alike honorable to himself and the State which he represents. If the national government shows itself so regardless of the honor and interests of a State as has been evinced by the cold indifference with which negotiations for the last fifty years have been carried on, it becomes the solemn duty of the sovereignty thus trampled upon to rise and maintain its own rights. This fawning subserviency to expediency in a matter of principle I despise. So does every honorable man; better die in a just cause than live by an abandonment of it. I have sufficient confidence in the virtue and patriotism of the people of Maine to believe that they will triumphantly sustain their executive in his energetic and honorable measures. Should there be actual resistance and the difficulty resolve itself into an open conflict, the government dare not withhold its prompt assistance. The whole Senate, without a single dissentient voice, have borne witness to the fallacy and gross injustice of the claim made by the British crown upon the lands in question. Was this meant to vanish into thin air? The 4th regiment of artillery are now in New York city. Why not send them to the east? They are certainly wanted on the boundary.

He had frequently remonstrated with his father for treating Oliver with too exacting strictness, and he now urged him to send the boy to college as soon as he became old enough. In reply the father declares:—

“As to Oliver’s going to college, it is out of the question. A great many boys are ruined by going to college that would have made useful men if they had been put to some trade, or compelled to be industrious. By the most rigid economy I can adopt, the income of the farm will not pay my expenses. I am willing to rise early, work late, live on simple fare, but dunning letters I detest; rather live on two meals a day. I would advise every young man, who means to be punctual, and honest, to keep out of debt.”

Oliver, however, in due time entered Bowdoin College, Maine, with the consent and aid of his father; graduated well, and became a successful lawyer in Boston, where he has held the position of district attorney for nearly thirty years.

He urges Oliver to cultivate a taste for solid reading, and assures him that a taste for any subject can be acquired when the determination is fixed upon it.

“Let me advise you to get Plutarch’s Lives, and read them. Plutarch, you know, is a celebrated Roman author. His Lives of the distinguished men of Greece and Rome has justly immortalized his name, and it will live as long as the men whose actions he has related are admired. The style is simple and unaffected. He has seized upon the principal events in the life of each; relates to us many, anecdotes of their efforts, of their disappointments and failures; then he describes in bold and feeling language that untiring industry, that patient and ceaseless thought, which overcame every difficulty. Read the lives of Cicero and Demosthenes, Nicias and Phocion. When you next write, tell me what you think of them. Another work I want you to read; it is Sparks’s ‘American Biography.’ We should certainly be intimately acquainted with the deeds and characters of our own great men. Have you ever read any volumes of the ‘spectator’? There are, I think, ten volumes of them, consisting of essays of four or five pages each upon all subjects. The style is flowing and graceful, exceedingly interesting; a vein of wit and sprightliness pervades them all.

“For myself, things have gone smoothly on since I was at home. My daily duties are all sources of pleasure. This renders me satisfied with myself and with all around me. I am never afflicted with low spirits, or with feelings of discontent,—all this for the simple reason that all my time is interestingly employed.

“Have you finished harvesting? Did you gather many walnuts? We have a large number of chestnut-trees at West Point. I have gathered quite an abundance of them.”

TO HIS FATHER.

November 17.

Dear Father,—I have just come from the meeting of our society. Our proceedings are quite good; and there is an evident improvement every evening. It is indeed much better to employ Saturday evening in listening to, and participating in, a debate on some interesting subject than staying in one’s room reading novels, or perhaps doing nothing. We had quite an animated discussion the other evening on the justice of lynch law. We got very warm; indeed, the debate came very near merging into the discussion of abolition. This, you are aware, is a very tender subject, and, for our society, a very improper one. For my own part I got very much excited, and my free avowal of abolition principles did not tend to allay the feeling which existed among the members.

You can well suppose that I am looking forward to graduating with much interest. My entering this institution I consider my first important step in life. I have succeeded better than I have ever had any right to anticipate. I have endeavored to make it my rule never to relinquish any undertaking, but always to try till success crowned my efforts. I have thus got along pretty well. I have not the slightest doubt that I shall succeed well enough as long as my efforts are carried on in a proper spirit, which is never to rely too confidently on success, and to bear every disappointment with a good grace.

I feel much anxiety to see Oliver improve. These long winter evenings should not be trifled away. Oliver might study, read to the family, or otherwise improve his time, till half past nine o’clock. If he should be disposed to read any longer, let him have a good warm fire, and his reading will not be thrown away. You are, I know, a great admirer of Franklin. He used to study until twelve at night when obliged to work hard all day. How could Oliver and the girls, if any are at home, pass the time better than reading or studying till perhaps ten in the evening?

TO HANNAH.

January 27, 1839.

Dear Sister,—It may be said that Scott and Addison are elegant writers. Johnson, that intellectual giant, said that whoever wished to become a perfect writer must give up his days and nights to Addison. The style of Addison is peculiarly easy and harmonious, the very music of composition; and although not so deep and original a thinker as many whose styles are less attractive, his works will always be admired for their sound views on moral and religious subjects. Scott, you know, has been called the magician, and excelled all his contemporaries in the ease, rapidity, and finish of his performances. The last volume of his “Waverley” was written in one week, and his novels were ushered into the reading community with so rapid a succession as astonished every one. Some think that Scott excelled as a poet, and, wonderful as he was as a writer of romance, he was still more successful in verse. Some of his poetry and a few of his novels are well worth reading. His “Lady of the Lake” and “Ivanhoe” are much admired. The “Tales of my Landlord” and “Guy Mannering” also are very fine. There is a little volume of poetry, called “The Book of Pleasures,” which I intend to read, the first opportunity. It contains The Pleasures of Memory, of Hope, and of the Imagination, all three beautiful poems. You had better read them, if they are to be obtained.

Our examinations are finished, and we are again under full sail for the next, and, for myself, last examination. The result of the present is, head in three branches and second in the fourth. The last five months I spend at West Point should be employed to better advantage than any other five months before. I have marked out for myself a pretty severe course of study, by which I shall endeavor to abide. When I graduate, it will be a satisfaction to look back upon my four years’ course, and feel a consciousness that I have improved my opportunities. After graduating, where I shall be stationed is uncertain. But I shall endeavor to get ordered to Boston under Colonel Thayer. There are extensive fortifications now erecting in Boston harbor on George’s Island. It would be a capital chance to be employed upon them, particularly when the superintendent of the works is so distinguished a man as Colonel Thayer. There are reasons, which you can well imagine, why I wish to be near home.

He must have been an omnivorous and rapid reader to have mastered Franklin, Plutarch, Addison, Scott, Rollin’s Ancient History, besides poetry, speeches, and novels; one wonders where he could have found the time, but he was ever working at high pressure. In addition to the hard work necessary to retain the headship of the class, and to discharge the duties of assistant professor, he took the most active and leading part in the Dialectic, and delivered the valedictory address at the graduation of the class. He also founded “The Talisman,” a journal for the practice and improvement of the cadets in composition. In the introductory address, which he wrote as editor, he presents his views of the need for, and objects of, the paper in glowing language, concluding:—

“We have thus announced our intention of establishing a paper. Its character will be readily understood from the preceding exposition of our views. We shall hoist the white flag, emblematic of our motives and intentions. On it shall be inscribed in golden letters The Talisman. This flag will we defend with our life’s blood; and when expiring nature is about to give up her last hold upon us, we will wave it aloft in triumph and die beneath its shadow.”

In a letter to his uncle William he gives an amusing account of anonymously criticising his own effusions:—

“Several of us have amused ourselves in writing a paper, which we have called ‘The Talisman,’ and having it read at the meetings of the Dialectic. Our motto is, The Human Intellect the Universal Talisman. The best of the joke is, no one can divine who are concerned in it. Indeed, once I wrote a most famous blowing up of one of my own performances, and was extremely amused to have several of my friends console me; in fact, one told me he would not give a fig for these criticisms, to which I assented, asking him if he had any idea who were the editors of the paper, to which he replied in the negative. When we graduate next June, we wish to have an address delivered before the society by some able man. Do you think we could get Governor Everett?”

As already stated, Cadet Stevens was put forward by his classmates to deliver this address himself.

He contributed to “The Talisman” a series of articles, written in a simple, direct, and forcible style, and marked by an earnest tone and elevated sentiments, among which were “Agency of Steam in Mechanical Operations;” “In Jury Trials, ought the Twelve Jurors to be required to be Unanimous?” “Has Man a Conscience?” “The Importance of a Good Style of Writing to an Officer of the Army;” “History;” “The Proper Study of Mankind is Man.”

His most intimate friends at the Point were Henry L. Smith, Jeremy F. Gilmer, Zealous B. Tower, Henry W. Halleck, Stephen D. Carpenter, Bryant P. Tilden, William B. Greene, Franklin D. Callender, John D. Bacon, Paul O. Hebert. Among these high-spirited and intellectual young men he was an acknowledged leader; and even after leaving the academy, they were continually calling on him for advice in their own affairs, and for aid in efforts to benefit the service, to secure increased rank and pay, etc.

Thus the last term sped rapidly away. At the examination he was first, as usual. He stood thirty on the conduct roll, having sixteen demerits. It will be observed that in “conduct” during the course he stood but little above the average. Evidently, with his spirited and vigorous nature, he did not mind infringing the rules at times. When the Academic Board reviewed the standing of the members of the class to award to each his proper grade, it was found that Cadet Stevens stood at the head, not only generally, but in every one of the studies. Moreover, his standing, as compared with all who had ever graduated from the institution, was among the first. This remarkable achievement, together with his strong personality, deeply impressed the officers of the academy. They were proud of their pupil, they felt that he reflected honor upon the institution, and they vied with each other in encomiums and attentions which they deemed his due.

The Life of Isaac Ingalls Stevens, Volume 1 (of 2)

THE LIFE OF
ISAAC INGALLS STEVENS

PREFACE

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

MAPS AND PLANS

CHAPTER I
ANCESTRY.—BIRTHPLACE

CHAPTER II
BIRTH.—BOYHOOD

CHAPTER III
WEST POINT

CHAPTER IV
WEST POINT.—LAST TWO YEARS

The Life of Isaac Ingalls Stevens, Volume 1 (of 2)

THE LIFE OFISAAC INGALLS STEVENS

PREFACE

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

MAPS AND PLANS

CHAPTER IANCESTRY.—BIRTHPLACE

CHAPTER IIBIRTH.—BOYHOOD

CHAPTER IIIWEST POINT

CHAPTER IVWEST POINT.—LAST TWO YEARS

THE LIFE OF
ISAAC INGALLS STEVENS

CHAPTER I
ANCESTRY.—BIRTHPLACE

CHAPTER II
BIRTH.—BOYHOOD

CHAPTER III
WEST POINT

CHAPTER IV
WEST POINT.—LAST TWO YEARS