Gen. Stewart's command were assigned Clayton's, Gibson's Stovall's and Strahl's brigades; and his division thus composed was put in Breckinridge's corps, and fought on the extreme left on Missionary Ridge. When the Confederate lines were broken there, Gen. Stewart was ordered by Breckinridge to take command at the bridge over the Chickamauga, and here he saved much of the disastrous day, restoring order, collecting the troops, passing them over the bridge, and then burning it in the face of the enemy.

While the Confederate army recovered at Dalton, Gen. Stewart occupied Mill Creek Gap in Rocky Face, and sustained the brunt of Gen. Thomas' attack in February, 1864. On the repulse of the Federals, he fortified the gap and mountain, constructing lines of small advanced works for skirmishers; and it has been remarked that this experiment of Gen. Stewart led to the general custom in the Army of Tennessee, during the campaign under Johnston, of intrenching the skirmish line. In the famous retreat through North Georgia, and especially at Resaca, Stewart's division was conspicuous, and did some of the hardest and most successful service of the campaign. At New Hope Church, he held the centre of Hood's corps, and gave the enemy a terrible lesson, fighting the whole of Hooker's corps, and inflicting upon it a loss of nearly 3,000 men. This fight was made by Stewart's division alone; his command was without intrenchments, other than a few logs hastily piled up; the Commanding General, in great anxiety, sent several brigades to report to him; but he did not use the reinforcements, and with the loss of not more than 400 men, he sustained the enemy's entire attack, and obtained the first decided success on the Confederate side since the campaign had opened. This was perhaps the most brilliant event in Gen. Stewart's military career. His personal gallantry on the field was marked and admirable; during the whole fight he rode up and down the line encouraging his troops, and to their frequent entreaties to "go back," he replied steadily and with a self-possessed and cheerful courage, that he was there to die with them. The next morning his men sent him a touching message—that he should take care of himself, as they wished no one else to command them.

On the death of Gen. Polk, June 7, 1864, Gen. Stewart was promoted Lieut.-General and succeeded to the command of his corps. In announcing to him his promotion, Gen. Johnston re

marked: "I did not recommend any one. I only telegraphed that you were the best Major-General in this army for the position." On the 20th July, he participated in the battle of Peach Tree Creek, and a portion of his command (Loring's Division) carried the enemy's works, but, owing to some disconcert of the action on the right, was unable to maintain its success. In a subsequent action on the Lick-Skillet road, an attempt to turn the enemy's right, Gen. Stewart was wounded, and had to retire from the field.

His wound detained him several weeks from his command. When Gen. Hood recrossed the Chattahooche, Stewart's corps was sent to capture the enemy's posts and destroy the railroad from Big Shanty to Ackworth. One of his divisions (French's) was detached to attack Alatoona, and might have captured the place, but for a false alarm of the enemy's movements which induced it to draw off. In the campaign of Hood into Tennessee, Gen. Stewart was actively engaged in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, and in the first day's fight at the last mentioned place, although forced back, he still handled his troops so well as to prevent a rout, and keep the enemy at bay. The next day he was in the centre, and it was the disaster on the Confederate left that lost the field.

After the retreat from Tennessee, Gen. Stewart was ordered to Augusta, Georgia, and thence to North Carolina. He commanded all that remained of the Army of Tennessee on the field of Bentonville on the 21st March, 1865-an honourable day for the brave fragment of that army. He was at Greensboro when Gen. Johnston surrendered.

This brief sketch of the military life of Gen. Stewart shows a career remarkable for its steady advances in reputation and solid worth. He was another example of Christian virtue in the Confederate armies; his piety was as remarkable as his valour; and he is most tenderly known for his private walks of charity, and his shining example in the Presbyterian church of which he is a member. To this imperfect record of a man, admirable in other respects than that of arms, the writer may add here some passages from a letter from a literary associate of the General in the days before the war. The tribute is from the pen of Doctor N. Lawrence Lindsley, a gentleman whose name is known far beyond the limits of Tennessee, whose labours as a lexicographer have honoured and

improved the South, and whose stores of pure and tasteful lan guage give to whatever he writes a scholarly interest. His letter refers to Gen. Stewart as the Professor, and proceeds to some just and admirable reflections on the revived concern of learning in the South.

"He observed himself, and required in his students, punctuality in regard to all College appointments, thoroughly entering into the sentiment of Seneca, that time is almost the only thing of which to be covetous is a virtne.' To the respect and admiration in which he was ever held by his pupils, was added their devoted affection. He was not only their teacher, but a counsellor, guide and friend, ever exhibiting as lively concern for their health and comfort, as for their intellectual progress. Even in the auditorium, frigid as such places commonly are, and chilling as are its exercises, the students realized the amplitude and wealth of his heart, as well as of his head. Possessing, by nature, talents of a high order, accomplished in all liberal studies, and, in the truest sense, trained for the educator's work, Gen. Stewart devoted himself, from first to last, with untiring assiduity to the duties of his office; winning a reputation, in his chosen field, of which the University had cause to be proud, and which, at the time of its suspension in '61, was second to that of no other mathematical instructor in the land. But it is not my purpose, in this communication, with sounding phrases to essay to set forth his praise. Such an effort would be out of keeping with his character, which is marked far more by utility than display. He had, years previous to the war, been crowned with that pure fame which is the best earthly reward of meritorious exertions. He stood and stands among the foremost of our men of science and scholars. Frequently invited to other institutions, and but lately elected President of the University whose mathematical chair he had made famous, he bears his honours with that unconscious ease which is the test of true worth.

"His moral and personal qualities form the proper complement of Gen. Stewart's public character. Unaffected deportment stamps him, with its authentic seal, the thorough gentleman. The virtues and humanities of domestic life, softening and shading down the energy of his intellect, unite to render him, at his fireside, and in all social circles, the object of equal affection and admiration. Pos

sessing an uncommon degree of refinement, punctilious in his observance of all the nicer proprieties of life, never encroaching on the sanctity of those rights and feelings which, unprotected by law, must owe their security to delicacy of sentiment in enlightened communities, a firm believer, without a shade of bigotry, in the Christian religion, an ardent lover of truth, liberal in his principles, affable in his manners, and combining with extraordinary attainments in the severer sciences the art of recommending them with impressive effect, Gen. Stewart is undeniably one of the most useful of men, and a living proof that pure patriotism is not a delusion, nor virtue an empty name.

"Ours is the noblest form of government when a people are prepared for it, and to this end they require a higher education than obtains in any other country. And on the same principle, we ought to have more philosophers, men of science, artists, authors, statesmen-in fine more great men and accomplished citizens than any other people. The highest forms of culture need to be multiplied, not merely for embellishment, but to preserve our very existence as a nation, which has been all the while endangered by cunning demagogues and boastful sciolists abounding much more than men of high intelligence and real worth. The sons of Greece caught new life from desperation. And fortunate it is for the desolated but heroic South, that her Stewarts, her Lees, and others, are now consecrating their great talents and mighty energies to a work which, more than all others, will infuse new life into the people, revive and surpass the prosperity of former days, and win, from surrounding ruin, a triumph more glorious than the greatest recorded in American history. It was well said by the gifted Jean Paul Richter' Honour to those who labour in school-rooms,""

MAJ.-GEN. BENJAMIN F. CHEATHAM.

CHAPTER LXVII.

His military services in Mexico.-His popularity at home.-Commands in the WestAdventure in the battle of Belmont.-Record of his division in the Army of Ten nessee.-Anecdote, illustrating his fighting qualities.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CHEATHAM was born in Davidson county, Middle Tennessee, in 1819. He was a nephew of the first male child born in that county, and was grandson of the famous old Indian fighter, Robinson, to perpetuate whose memory and virtues the adjacent county was named. His father was, during the administration of Martin Van Buren, postmaster at Nashville, and the son was his deputy, and discharged the duties of the place. He never went further into public office, although he was often solicited, on account of his popularity, to stand for some of the honours within the gift of his party; and he was tendered a foreign mission during Mr. Buchanan's Administration, which he declined from his preference for private life.

In 1846, he went to Mexico as captain of a company in the 1st Tennessee regiment. With this company he fought at Monterey, and there first attracted marked attention for his skill and daring courage. With his regiment he had participated in the preceding battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. From Monterey, he joined Gen. Scott at Vera Cruz. The time for which his company had enlisted expired soon afterwards, and he returned to Nashville, and raised a regiment. With this he again joined Gen. Scott on his march to the capital of the country, and participated in nearly all the battles around the City of Mexico. In most of these desperate conflicts, as senior colonel, he commanded a brigade.