riper years, exclaims: "Poor Sill! poor Sill! he was pure as a virgin, immaculate as the angels of heaven." And General W. S. Smith, a comrade in arms who knew him well, flings his whole heart into the tribute he offers to his memory, and closes with the words: "Admirable as an officer of the very finest talent, a soldier gifted with that rare intrepidity which springs from conscious rectitude, an elegant scholar, he was even more distinguished as a warm and devoted friend. His soul, free from earthly stains, has gone to God, and we can but weep who loved him so well." No less warmly speaks General Sheridan's aid: "His loss was deeply felt by the whole army. Never was man more beloved by his associates and troops. He was a good General, a brave soldier, a perfect gentleman, and a God-like Christian. Mild, quiet, pleasant, yet firm, energetic, and thorough, beloved by all, respected by all, mourned by all, not one voice raised to revile his name."

But the order, Onward to Murfreesboro! sounds throughout the camp, the army of the Cumberland must advance.

The surface of the country between Nashville and Stone River is undulating. The whole region rests on limestone, which frequently crops out, sometimes on the ridges, again in the lowest ground, and where the rock approaches the surface it is generally covered with a dense growth of cedars. The rest of the surface has been covered with luxuriant forests of deciduous trees.

On Friday, December twenty-sixth, the Fourteenth army corps, Major-General Rosecrans commanding, commenced, in three columns, its march toward Murfreesboro. The right wing, commanded by Major-General McCook, with the divisions of Davis, Johnson, and Sheridan, moved down the Nashville pike.. Onward they marched. They knew that a battle-field was before them, but they knew not just where that battle-field would be. Onward, through the dark and stormy day-onward, through thick forests of cedars, where abrupt, rocky bluffs surrounded them on every side. McCook's advance, under Davis, was the first to encounter the enemy. Skirmishing lasted during the forenoon on Friday, followed by rapid artillery practice when the opposing numbers or nature of the ground made it practicable. At night General McCook bivouacked in a grove at Nolinsville.

On Saturday, supposing they would have a heavy force to encounter, as they had received instructions from Rosecrans to press the force of the enemy at Triune, Sheridan's division deployed over hills and through farms, and formed into line of battle. Although having a superb position, the rebels retired, and at evening the Stars and Stripes waved over the ground the enemy had occupied but a few hours before. Sunday dawned a bright, sunny day. It was a blessed season of rest to the wearied, watching soldiery. Watching-the battle-field was still before them-they knew not how near. And Monday came with sunshine and warmth, no appearance of winter, no freezing or even frosts at night. Onward

marched the well-ordered right wing of that grand army, onward with occasional rests, till just at dark it struck the Wilkinson pike, a fine Macadamized road, seven or eight miles in length, leading into Murfreesboro. And here Sheridan's division, in which General Sill commanded a brigade, took the advance. As they passed on, most significant indications appeared. The rail-fences for miles on either side were carefully opened at about every third panel, so that cavalry or troops might readily pass. That night they bivouacked in the woods without tents, without fire, even the striking of matches to light pipes or cigars was carefully guarded. With lowering heavens above them, and the damp earth for their bed, the soldiers slept.

Tuesday morning foretold a cool, cloudy day. At nine o'clock, McCook, with Sheridan still in the advance, moved on the Wilkinson pike. General Sill, to the right, with his brigade passed onward through dense cedar thickets, meeting with such formidable resistance that it was deemed prudent to move Davis to support his right. The enemy, posted in powerful natural positions, defended by rocks and almost impenetrable cedar forests, formed in line of battle just below a bend in Stone River, on the Nashville side. Sill's approach to the rebel line lay through thickets and over pastures, known as Blanton's and Harding's farms, where woods on every side make an irregular, six-sided open space. Onward through the dense cedars, driving the enemy before them; onward to the open field they went, and there deploying southwardly, crossed the farms, until at evening they had gained the crest of a wooded hill to the south. Thus the combat and roughness of the country had brought forward Sheridan's division so as to face south-east. The position was faulty; instead of being parallel with the enemy, our division, on the extreme right, approached them at an acute angle, which would probably have touched their centre, and when the terrific onset came early in the morning the enemy doubled around our line, crushing division after division.

On the march from Nashville to Murfreesboro, the presentiment of early death, which for many months had clung to General Sill, seemed to him very near realization. Tuesday afternoon, riding in advance of his brigade, he turned to his friend and aid, Captain De Bruin, and said: "Mr. De Bruin, do you know we shall have a severe struggle to-morrow? we are going to fight thirteen divisions with eight divisions."

"Well, General," replied De Bruin, "what will be the result?"

"I think we will whip them, but many a good officer and soldier of our army will be left upon the battle-field. I do not expect to come out of that fight safe.

From this time General Sill never relaxed attention to his brigade. Through the night he took no rest. At midnight he left his bed and called for his horse. Captain De Bruin did the same. The General said: "No, Mr. De Bruin, lie

down and take your rest. You will probably have plenty of work to do on the morrow."

The night was dark and cloudy but not tempestuous. An unearthly stillness. prevailed, and through the stillness and in the darkness Sill rode around his lines, listening to the movements of the enemy. He foresaw the events of the coming day, and therefore ordered the wounded removed to the rear before daylight.

Cold and gray, through misty falling rain, came sunrise on the last day of the year 1862. Breakfast at dawn was scarcely begun, when through the forests on the right rolled the roar of cannon. Under cover of night, aided by dense fog, the enemy had massed the bulk of their force close to their pickets, and as the sun came up, down into the valley they swept and dashed into the whole line of our right wing. General Johnson's batteries, Goodspeed's and Edgarton's for the support of Sill on the right, were utterly unprepared; the division of Davis, overpowered by numbers, was thrown into confusion and obliged to give way. General Sheridan's division held the left of this line, protecting the right of the centre under Negley. Sill commanded the right brigade, Shaffer the centre, and Colonel Roberts the left. Thus, when Davis's staunch division retired, Sill received the enemy. He was thoroughly prepared. His gallant brigade met the shock dauntlessly, and hurled back the enemy with a splendid charge. Shaffer and Roberts were also ready; they, under steady Sheridan, drove back the foe. Shaffer's brigade now occupied a sharp angle formed by the opposing lines, and here for a moment the conflict raged furiously, for this was the key to Negley's position. But compact ranks and well-served artillery so annoyed the enemy that they again rushed upon Sill. Gallantly he met and repulsed them, gallantly his brigade charged, again the flashing banner of the stars advanced, but Sill-in the forward line, encouraging his men and directing the movements of a battery-suddenly fell. A Minie-bullet had pierced his left eye and penetrated the brain! The sun flashed out on a thousand bayonets of glittering steel as onward swept his brigade. His men knew they had heard their General's voice for the last time on earth, and in terrible energy of grief they rushed to avenge his death. In disorder and dismay Withers's rebel division fled, and returned no more that day. The sun flashed out-fitting symbol of the glorious dawn into which "the brave, the gentle, and the true" had entered.

As his body was borne to the rear, General Sheridan ordered De Bruin to go with the escort accompanying it. It was conveyed to a point near a hospital, where an attempt was made to secure an ambulance, but the rebel cavalry attacking the hospital compelled our men to retire, which they did, having first placed the name and rank of the General on his coat. And thus it was that the body fell into the hands of the rebels. The Murfreesboro Rebel Standard, in its last issue before the Federal army took possession, contains notice of an order that General

Sill should be interred with "military usages accorded a brave soldier, whether friend or foe," and closed with the words, "the ball passed through his head, his countenance, still handsome, bore the impress of a brave soul."

But the rebels did not bury him. Let it be remembered in justification of their failure, that the battle was continued until Saturday. Had the victory they so confidently expected crowned their armies, they might have done more honor to themselves in the burial of General Sill. A surgeon of the Twenty-seventh Illinois, while attending the wounded on Wednesday afternoon, was taken prisoner and sent to Murfreesboro. The colonel of his regiment, also a prisoner, died of his wounds. Hearing that General Sill had been buried by the confederates, Surgeon Bowman procured a coffin similar to General Sill's, the same hearse, and the same driver, who took him to the place where General Sill's body had been left. It was in a fence-corner, no grave dug, no detail for that purpose. Too late in the day to go back to town and procure a detail of men, the surgeon, with two faithful assistants, made a grave, and laid the young General and Colonel Harrington side by side brothers in arms-brothers in death.

This was a funeral of truest military honor! The very earth vibrating with the tramp of soldiers and horsemen clashing in horrid conflict-the roar of a hundred cannon the requiem for the dead-weary captives bending over the grave performing the solemn rights of sepulture!

Days passed, and the body of General Sill, recovered by friends, was borne in triumphant procession toward his native home. Every demonstration of respect that civic and military authority could give was accorded by the people of Cincinnati as the funeral cortége passed through that city. And then-in solemn pomp, in bitter grief, "the brave, the pure, the true" young soldier was carried to the house of his aged father in Chillicothe. On Sunday, February third, a devoted, loving people attended him to his final resting-place, the peaceful cemetery of his home. Again, all that civic, military, and friendly interest could bring followed him to the grave. And with the calm burial-service of the Episcopal Church they laid him down to rest-his cross bravely borne- his crown nobly

won.

ROBERT ANDERSON.

N the history of the Southern Conspiracy, General ROBERT ANDERSON must hold a distinguished place, being the first federal officer against whom the fatal thought of rebellion took voice in the throat of a cannon; and though his shattered health has constrained him to play no further part in the tragedy which he opened with such brilliancy, his loyalty to "old glory," his wise courage and Christian firmness, in that one hour of peril, will ever keep his name honored and revered among the American people.

General Anderson came from a patriotic and military family. His father, Captain Richard C. Anderson, was the man whose little band surprised an outpost of the Hessians at Trenton, on the night prior to the decisive battle of that place—an attack which the Hessian commander, Colonel Rahl, then on the lookout for Washington, construed to be the whole assault against which he had been warned. General Washington met Anderson retreating with his company, and was very indignant at what they had done, fearing it would prepare the enemy for their advance in force. The result, however, proved the contrary, and Anderson was then complimented on the exploit. Captain Anderson served with Washington throughout the New Jersey campaign.

The subject of this sketch is a native of the state of Kentucky. The blood of a brave soldier ran in his veins, and displayed itself in his early desire to adopt the profession of arms. Passing over young Anderson's preliminary studies and scholastic successes, we find him, in 1832, acting inspector-general of Illinois volunteers in the Black Hawk War. He filled this situation, with credit to himself, from May until the ensuing October. In the following June, 1833, he was made first-lieutenant. From 1835 to 1837 he occupied the responsible post of assistant instructor and inspector at the United States military academy. He was assigned to the staff of General Winfield Scott as aide-decamp in 1838; and in 1839 published his "Instructions for Field Artillery, Horse and Foot, arranged for the Service of the United States"-a handbook of great practical value.

Lieutenant Anderson's services during the Indian troubles were acknowledged by a brevet captaincy, April 2d, 1838. In July of the same year, he was made assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of captain, which he subsequently