Personal Recollections of Distinguished GeneralsShanks, William Franklin Gore
History
Personal Recollections of Distinguished Generals
Shanks, William Franklin Gore
Generals -- United States; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Biography
If Napoleon could revisit the "glimpses of the moon," he would
doubtless laugh--perhaps his nephew really does laugh at the idea of
our calling the victors of this short-lived rebellion "veterans"--or
with that sternness with which he once reproved his marine secretary,
Truget, for propagating "the dangerous opinion that a soldier could
be trained to all his duties in six months," the first Napoleon would
ask us, with a look of imperial scorn, to show him in our boasted army
a _corps_ like the eighteen thousand troops of the French Monarchy
that under his discipline became the Old Guard, which "died, but never
surrendered." Julius Cæsar would doubtless smile at our presumption,
and point to the old veteran legions of his armies with which he
overran Europe, and into which no recruit was admitted until after
eight years' service and discipline in other ranks, and ask us for
veterans like his. Our soldiers were not, perhaps, the veterans for
Napoleon or Cæsar, nor for such purpose as those of Napoleon or Cæsar,
but they were such veterans as perished with Leonidas at Thermopylæ,
and won victory in following Arnold Yon Wilkenried in the mountain
passes of Switzerland. Nothing can be sublimer than the patient
heroism displayed by the veterans of the "War for the Union;" and
when Time shall have hallowed, as it will, the yet familiar scenes of
that struggle, tinting the story with a hue of romance, rounding the
irregularities in the characters of the leaders, and toning down the
rude points in the characters of the men, forgetting their excesses and
remembering only their devotion and daring, the heroes and veterans who
fought for the unity of the land will loom up as sacred in our eyes as
are those who, in ages past, fought for its independence and liberty.
INDEX.
Anderson, Gen. Patton, page 232.
Anderson, Gen. Robert, 31, 54.
Ashley, James D., 282, 283.
Avery, Capt. Wm. L., 154.
Baird, Gen. Absalom, 83, 291.
Ballard, A. J., 216, 217.
Ballard, Bland, 216, 217.
Banks, Gen. N. P., 253.
Beauregard, Gen. P. G. T., 144.
Benham, Gen. Henry W., 246.
Bennett, James Gordon, 117.
Blair, Gen. Frank, 27, 198.
Blunt, Gen. James G., 141, 142.
Boggs, Gen. W. R., 138.
Bowen, Gen. John S., 138.
Boyle, Gen. J. T., 217.
Bragg, Gen. Braxton, 64, 65, 69, 110, 111, 112, 145, 148, 151, 154,
248, 255, 256, 257, 266, 285, 290, 291, 293, 319, 324.
Bramlette, Gov. Thos. E., 217.
Brannin, Gen. John M., 266, 289.
Breckenridge, Gen. John C., 257, 290.
Brough, Gov. John, 262.
Brown, Capt. Jacob, 63.
Brownlow, Col. James, 73.
Brownlow, Gov. William G., 73.
Bruce, Col. Saunders D., 212, 213.
Bryant, William C., 300.
Buchanan, James, 283, 284, 318.
Buckner, Gen. Simon B., 51, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 219, 225, 226,
232, 291.
Buell, Gen. Don Carlos, 33, 34, 43, 62, 65, 102, 147, 229, 230, 234,
245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258,
294, 333.
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