1865.] LINES ON THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN A. H. ENGLE. 545 LINES ON THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN A. H. ENGLE. THE following lines on the death of Captain A. H. Engle, A. D. C., on the staff of Major-General J. M. Schofield, commanding Army of the Ohio, were written by Surgeon H. S. Hewit, Medical Director, Department of the Ohio. Captain Engle was killed by a piece of shell, at the battle of Resaca, Georgia. There's a music aloft in the air, As if devils were singing a song; There's a shriek like the shriek of despair, There's a voice like the voice of the gale, There's a rush like the rushing of fiends, Then a wreath like the foam on the wave, Then a writhing, and moaning, and death. Young Engle was a most promising officer, of rare abilities and fine attainments. He possessed a mind far beyond his years in maturity, and a disposition which endeared him to all with whom he came in contact. He was zealous, brave, and painstaking as a soldier-kind, warm-hearted, and earnest as a friend. He entered the service as a private soldier at the outbreak of the rebellion, was appointed First Lieutenant 13th United States Infantry, May 14, 1861, and after serving with his regiment at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, for some months, was assigned to duty on the staff of General Schofield, June, 1862, and served with him till the day of his death. He had served faithfully through several campaigns, and entered, with a fine prospect of making himself a name, upon the campaign against Atlanta. The battle of Resaca was the first pitched battle he ever participated in, and he was killed within thirty minutes after appearing on the field. His death was a most tragical and sad one, and cast a gloom over many, even beyond his own associates, who had learned to love and admire him. VOL. IV.-35 W. LITERARY INTELLIGENCE, AND NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. MR. CHARLES B. RICHARDSON, of New York, has sent us a copy of "Sherman and his Campaigns; a Military Biography, by Colonel S. M. Bowman, and LieutenantColonel R. B. Irwin" (8vo, pp. 512). It contains fine engraved portraits of Sherman, and the distinguished generals who fought under him-Howard, Slocum, Logan, Blair, Schofield, Davis, and Kilpatrick; and maps of the operations around Resaca, of the Atlanta campaign, of the country from Atlanta to the sea, and of the route from Savannah to Goldsborough. The book is handsomely printed and published, and may be relied upon as authentic. The authors, both military men of experience in the recent war, have proved themselves perfectly competent to the task of digesting the materials placed at their service by Sherman, Grant, and many others of our generals. The narrative is well connected, and very military, even in the severity of rhetoric. To the student of history it will be invaluable; but the authors evidently feared so much to trust their imagination in delineating the picturesques of battle, that we fail to find that vividness for which the cursory reader may think he has a right to look. On the other hand, earnest historical students, who design to present the exact truth, may well be pardoned for such an excess of virtue, in the midst of the clap-trap stuff with which the country has recently been flooded. On the whole, this is a noble book, and well attests the genius, skill, constancy, and valor of the noble general who is the subject of the story. Every situation in his life, from his infancy to the close of the war, is here presented. An unknown subordinate at Bull Run, his far-seeing visions of the necessary means and men in the conduct of the war were regarded as insane. From the cloud thus resting upon him he emerges in battle-splendor as the hero of Pittsburg Landing. Active and conspicuous at Corinth, he is Grant's right-hand man at Vicksburg; and from that moment, the eyes of the country have been fixed upon him, and have never been disappointed. There is in no history the rival, except Grant's last, of that campaign which marks, as its chief glories, Atlanta, Savannah, the fall of Charleston, and the surrender of Johnston's army. The philosophy of the truce connected with this surrender is clearly presented in this volume. One slight mistake has been immediately corrected by General Sherman in the following letter: * * "HEAD-QUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, Į } ST. LOUIS, Mo., October 30, 1865. "C. B. RICHARDSON, Esq., New York: "DEAR SIR:** I call your attention to one mistake in page 506 of 'Sherman and his Campaigns,' where I am reported to write: 'I still believe that General Grant, of the United States Army, has made a mistake,' &c., which in the original was: 'I believe the General Government of the United States has made a mistake,' &c. "I wish this error corrected now, lest my silence should be construed as ratifying it. W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General." "I am yours truly, The work is sold by subscription, and is having an enormous sale, as it deserves. We acknowledge, with many thanks to the very tasteful publishers, Messrs. Roberts Brothers, of Boston, the receipt of "Jean Ingelow's 'Song of Seven.'" This is truly a sumptuous volume. The poem is a beautiful one, as it describes with touching pathos the seven eras, of seven years each, in the life of woman. The happy, careless child of seven, the still blithe but thoughtful girl of fourteen, the bride of twenty-one, the mother of twenty-eight, the widow of thirty-five, the mother-in-law of forty-two, and the lonely woman of forty-nine, seeking for a better home: these are the multiples of seven. The last is thus indicated: The illustrations are simply exquisite, and the book is a most beautiful gift. We have received from Messrs. D. Appleton and Co., of New York, a beautiful number of the "Companion Poets for the People," entitled "Voices of Nature; by William Cullen Bryant;" with numerous illustrations. These tasteful little volumes bring within the means of poor people our best poets and our finest specimens of typographical art, and, at this gift season, will enable those, who cannot afford to buy costly gifts, to present fitting mementoes to their friends, beautifully printed and exquisitely illustrated. The price is only fifty cents. We are also indebted to Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. for a volume containing the "Tenth and Twelfth Books of the Institutions of Quintilian, by Professor Frieze, of the University of Michigan." The notes are copious, scholarly, and explanatory. 12mo, pp. 175. Price $1.25. Messrs. T. B. Peterson & Brothers, of Philadelphia, have sent us the "Red Court Farm, and other Stories," by Mrs. Henry Wood. Mrs. Wood's power consists in plots, which she defies the reader to unravel until he reaches the end; and in these three stories under one cover she has been true to herself in that particular. She commits murders without compunction, raises ghosts, demolishes railway trains, and lets pretty widows ply their coquetries in such a manner as to enchain the reader, however much he may detest the crimes. Paper, 8vo, pp. 256. Part L. of the Rebellion Record has been received from Mr. D. Van Nostrand. It continues the valuable documentary history of the war, and has admirable portraits of General Canby and General Couch. Every number leads us to renew our advice to our readers-"Buy it." Price fifty cents, for each part. A curious, gossiping book, published by Messrs. Ticknor & Fields (12mo, pp. 331), is Mrs. John Farrar's "Recollections of Seventy Years." It contains pictures of life on both sides of the Atlantic, and extends in time from the French Revolution to the present day. There are also pen-and-ink sketches of many of the notables during that stirring period. Among the most famous personages who figure in these pages are Robespierre, Mrs. Barbauld, George III., Elizabeth Fry, the famous Lord Nelson and the infamous Lady Hamilton, the Princess Charlotte, and Hannah More. The last chapter describes Miss Delia Bacon, the Shakspeare monomaniac. Recent experience in straining our eyes by reading it late at night prompts us to declare it one of the most interesting volumes we have taken up for many a long day. We are also indebted to Messrs. Ticknor & Fields for a pretty copy of Owen Meredith's fine poem, "The Apple of Life," the most successful specimen of harmonious hexameters in rhymed couplets we have ever seen. "The Great West: Travellers', Miners', and Emigrants' Hand-Book to the Western, Northwestern, and Pacific States and Territories," is the title of a valuable little book by Edward H. Hall, published by D. Appleton & Co. It contains a map of the best routes to the gold and silver mines, and a complete table of distances. 12mo, pp. 198. The following is the table of contents of the October number of Colburn's United Service Magazine (British): "Rifled Guns and Missiles; Curiosities of Naval Literature the Clock in the Navy; Sketches of Mauritius during a Three Years' Residence; Artillery: its Organization, Action, Formation, &c.; Recollections of Sandhurst; Our Naval Establishments; Oswald Hastings, or the Adventures of a Queen's Aide-de-Camp; The Breakwater and Fortifications of Portland Isle; the French and United States Navies; Foreign Summary; Musketry Practice of the Regiments at Aldershot; An Adventure with Alligators; Editor's Portfolio; Correspondence; Gunpowder Non-explosive; Suggestions for the introduction of a new System for carrying out Military Law; Critical Notices; Naval and Military Intelligence; Obituary; Stations of the Royal Navy in Commission; Stations of the British Army; Promotions and Appointments." We record with pleasure that the writer of the able article on the French and United States Navies is permitted to admire Admiral Farragut-after all, a brave old sea-dog, you know-and to praise Lieutenant Cushing for destroying the Albemarle. Peterson sends us George Francis Train's ad captandum and rambling speech on Fenianism, delivered at the Academy of Music, in Philadelphia, October 18, 1865. The third livraison of the Spectateur Militaire, September 15, 1865, contains a continuation of Colonel Delard's excellent article on the "War in Denmark;" one on the military occupation and rule in Algiers, with a large and excellent map; and one on the Camp of Chalons. In the Chronique Politique et Militaire, in speaking of the reciprocal visits of the armored fleets of France and England, the editor says: "Is it necessary to call attention to the fact, that the character of President Johnson is such as to give some concern to England; that recently, also. the formation of a considerable army on the banks of the Rio Grande, without being a positive menace to the Mexican Empire, cannot be favorably regarded either at Mexico or at Paris? The exchange of courtesies between the French and English navies, the enthusiastic toasts for the preservation of the union between the two countries, already cemented upon the fields of battle, are not a menace either, but it would be silly not to see in them a warning. The union of the two Western powers has already arrested th expansion of Russia; this union is ready to array itself, if necessary, in opposition to the Monroe Doctrine." So be it, gentlemen! The Monroe Doctrine is a rock, against which, if les flottes cuirassées de la France et de l'Angleterre choose to run, with ■ good head of steam on, tant pire pour les flottes. "On Radiation. The 'Rede Lecture' delivered in the Senate House, before the University of Cambridge, England, on Tuesday, May 16th, 1865. By John Tyndall, F. R. S." New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1865, pp. 48. The establishment of public lectures upon physical science, by which the man who has been for years minutely and laboriously investigating a phenomenon or class of phenomena is called upon to present his results to a general intelligent audience, appreciative of mental effort, but not special experts in the branch of science presented before them, is one of the most beneficial institutions of our day: beneficial to the investigator, because it calls upon him to pause for a moment from his speciality, and look around upon Nature in general to see where his researches have led him, and what the relation of his discovered facts is to the rest of Nature: useful to the audience, because every intelligent man of the community, whose sympathies extend beyond his own organism and his pocket, wants to know what every other laboring man is doing in the work which is appointed to be done. He has, perhaps, neither time, nor taste, nor power for the investigation by which the limits are to be reached, but he has all these for the appreciation of their importance. For the greatest, if not the only great value of physical science, is the demonstration that all things in Nature are one-as Professor Tyndall well expresses it: "Nature is not an aggregate of independent parts, but an organic whole." This premise being thoroughly established, what follows any one may see. Professor Tyndall has nobly distinguished himself among the army of laborers who are now engaged in scientific investigations, by his profound researches, especially into the subject of the radiation and absorption of heat. The results which he has reached are of the most interesting and valuable character, and his methods of experimenting are so ingenious, and his habits of research so accurate, that he fairly deserves to stand as an investigator with Newton, Lavoisier, and Regnault. More than this, he has an excellent faculty of generalization, a gist much more rare than the others. All these he has utilized in the lecture before us, in which he rapidly but precisely sums up the results of the labors of himself and others on the important subject of radiation, points out the useful conclusions to be drawn from these discoveries, and shows how large an addition has thus been made to the domain of our knowledge of the laws of the phenomena of Nature, and how strong the additional argument that "Nature is not an aggregate of independent parts, but an organic whole." "Hand-Book of the Steam-Engine, by John Bourne." New York: Appleton & Co., 1865, pp. 474. Mr. Bourne is well known as a writer of practical books upon the steam-engine, and the success which several of these books have attained is good evidence of his competency. The present work is stated in the preface to be mainly designed as a key to his "Catechism of the Steam-Engine," but has, during to its composition, been somewhat extended in its scope and objects. The design of the work is excellent. Intended for young men who wish to devote themselves practically to the construction and management of steam-engines, it assumes nothing as known, and expounds successively the principles of arithmetic, algebra, mechanics, and physics, so far as they are of use to such a student, and then passes on to the exposition of the practical application of these principles in the art to be learned. For the English student we have not seen as good a book, for Mr. Bourne appears to have examined almost all that has been done by Englishmen. To the American student, although still very valuable, it presents the disadvantages of ignoring every thing that has been done except by Englishmen; for the citations of Regnault, Person, etc., are evidently only citations at second-hand from Rankin and other English writers. To ignore the beautiful French and German formulæ, and pass over French, German, and American practical experience, at a time, too, when Continental machinery is successfully competing with the English upon English ground, is not to recommend the work to any but Englishmen. But, notwithstanding this' defect, the merit of the book is very great, and we warmly recommend it to the young men among us who are preparing themselves for the building and management of the steam-engine. Let us say too, to recommend this book to those who admire Mr. Carlisle, that it has an excellent index and table of contents affixed, and an appendix of undoubted utility, and that it is very neatly printed, and nicely got up for its readers by the publisher. Messrs. T. B. Peterson & Brothers, of Philadelphia, have sent us Mrs. Henry |