Hugh Judson Kilpatrick

            DEATH OF GEN. KILPATRICK
          THE CAREER OF A DASHING CAV-
                   ALRY OFFICER.
       GOING FROM WEST POINT DIRECT FOR THE
         BATTLE-FIELD--HIS SERVICES DURING
          THE REBELLION--DYING WHILE MIN-
                 ISTER TO CHILI.
   Every soldier of the Army that fought in
the rebellion will read with regret the announce-
ment of the death of Major-Gen. Judson Kilpat-
rick, United States Minister to Chili, which oc-
curred at Santiago on Sunday last, according to a
dispatch received yesterday at the State Depart-
ment in Washington from the Consul at Val-
paraiso. Gen. Kilpatrick was still a young
man at the time of his death, yet nearly 20
years ago, when he was but a stripling,
newly come from his studies, he won a national
reputation, and had by his bravery, dash, and
ready judgment in military matters won for him-
self honorable place in the history of the Nation,
and econiums of no mean order from commanders
of much greater experience than himself. The
news of his death was not entirely unexpected,
for recent reports from Chili stated that he was
prostrated by fever, which had resisted the treat-
ment of his medical attendants, and that he was not
expected to recover. He was born in Deckertown,
Sussex County, N.J., Jan. 14, 1836. He was ap-
pointed a Cadet at the United States Military Acad-
emy at West Point, beginning his studies there in
1856, and graduating May 6, 1861, seventeenth in
class of 45, Gen. Adelbert Ames, Gen. Emory Up-
ton, and Prof. John S. Poland being among his
classmates. With his appointment as Second
Lieutenant of the First Artillery he straightway
came to this City, and full of zeal for imme-
diate service he was, on May 9, 1861,
three days after his graduation, commis-
sioned as Captain in the Fifth New-York State
Militia (Duryea's Zouaves) and on the way with
that command from Fort Schuyler to Fortress
Nonroe, Virginia. A month later he participated in
the fight at Big Bethel, one of the earliest contests of
the war, commanding the advance guard and dis-
covering the enemy's position. During the fight
on the 10th Kilpatrick was wounded by a grape-
shot through the thigh, the same shot tearing off
Col. Duryea's shoulder strap and killing a soldier
behind Capt. Kilpatrick. Col. Duryea, in his
report to Gen. Pierce, commended Kil-
patrick for the effective work he had done. A
leave of absence was granted him, and on July 30
he went into recruiting service. Resigning his
volunteer commission on Aug. 14, he devoted him-
self to the organization of the Second Regiment,
New-York Cavalry, of which he was commissioned
Lieutenant-Colonel on Sept. 25, 1861. Having
served in the defenses of Washington until Jan.
29, 1862, he went to Kansas for the purpose of
accompany Brig.-Gen. Lane's Texas expedition as
Chief of Artillery. The expedition was abandoned,
and Kilpatrick returned to his regiment at Arling-
ton, Va. From that time forward he was con-
stantly in motion, taking part in the affairs at Fal-
mouth, Thoroughfare Gap, Carmel Church, Brandy
Station, Freedman's Ford, Sulphur Springs,
Waterloo Bridge, Haymarket, and at the battle of
Manassas, on Aug. 29 and 30, 1862. After the caval-
ry expedition to Leesburg, in September, which he
commanded, he obtained leave of absence until
Jan. 27, 1863, spent most of the time on recruiting
service, and, as Colonel of the Second Caval-
ry, took part in the Rappahannock campaign with
the Army of the Potomac from January to June,
1863.
 It was during this campaign that Gen. Stone-
man made his great raid and that Kilpatrick first
distinguished himself as a cavalry commander.
Leaving Louisa Court-house on May 3 with the
Harris Light Cavalry, he reached Hungary,
on the Fredericksburg Railroad, at daylight
next morning, where he destroyed the depot,
telegraph wires, and railroad for miles, charged a
battery, and forced it to retire to within two miles
of Richmond, where he captured Lieut. Brown,
aide-de-camp to Gen. Winder, and 11 men within
the fortification. He then burned the Meadow
bridge across the Chickahominy, ran a train of
cars into the river, checked a pursuing cav-
alry force, burned 30 wagons of provisions,
and with 13 more prisoners encamped.
Next morning at 1 o'clock he surprised
300 cavalrymen at Aylett's, captured 2 officers and
33 men, burned 56 wagons and the depot contain-
ing 20,000 barrels of corn, wheat, clothing, and
commissary stores, and, crossing the Mattapony,
just escaped a pursuing force of rebel cavalry.
Having destroyed other rebel property, he next
day joined the Twelfth Illinois Cavalry at King and
Queen Court-house, and on May 7 regained the
Union lines at Gloucester Point, having marched
about the rebel army, a distance of nearly 200
miles, in less than five days, with a
loss of 1 officer and 37 men, and having
captured and paroled more than 800 prisoners.
He was made Brigadier-General of Volunteers on
June 13, 1863, and Brevet Major of the United
States Army on June 17 for gallant and meritorious
services at the battle of Aldie, where he com-
manded. His gallant services at Gettysburg in
July, 1863, won for him the rank of Brevet Lieuten-
ant Colonel in the regular Army. From the time of
the memorable Pennsylvania Campaign until April,
1864, he was actively employed in Virginia with the
Army of the Potomac, participating in another raid
on Richmond and destroying much property of
great value to the enemy.
 Early in April, 1864, he was transferred to the
Army of the Cumberland, to take command of the
Third Cavalry Division. The division had not been
organized when he took command. Two regi-
were assigned to it, the Tenth Ohio Cavalry
and the Ninety-second Illinois Mounted Infantry .
In a month he organized the division effectively, in
the meantime testing the fighting qualities of the
Western soldiers at Ringgold on April 29. That he
fulfilled his duties in a credible manner was
shown in his selection by Gen. Sherman to
command the advance cavalry of the right wing
of the army in the movement on Atlanta. On
May 13, in the attack upon Resaca, he was
severely wounded, and was compelled to go on
sick leave. Before his wound had healed he re-
turned to the scene of operations before Atlanta,
with the rank of Brevet Colonel in the regular
Army for gallant conduct at Resaca. It was at
this time that he accomplished his raid around At-
lanta, a most important movement resulting in
three brilliant engagements, and serving its pur-
pose admirably in ascertaining for Gen. Sherman
the best route to get to the rear of the rebel Gen.
Hood. To a Union prisoner who was soon after
taken before Gen. Hood the rebel General
put the inquiry what the Federal officers thought
of Kilpatrick's raid, and Gen. Hood charac-
terized it as the most brilliant cavalry exploit
of the war. Gen. Kilpatrick led the advance of
Gen. Sherman's army when he cut loose from his
base of supplies and started for Hood's rear, and
when Atlanta fell and the "march to the sea"
began Gen. Kilpatrick was selected from all the
cavalry officers as the fittest man to lead the cav-
alry. For the admirable manner in which he per-
formed this duty he was commended by Gen.
Sherman at Savannah, and was continued in
the same position in the advance from Savan-
nah north through Georgia and the Carolinas.
He commanded the Third Division of Cavalry
Corps in the Military Division of the Mississippi
from April 26 to June 13, 1865, and then obtained
leave of absence to accept the position of United
States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni-
potentiary to Chili. On March 13, 1865, he was
made Brevet Brigadier-General of the United
States Army for gallant service at the capture of
Fayetteville, N.C. and Brevet Major-General,
United States Army, for gallant and meritorious
services during the campaign in the Carolinas.
He resigned his volunteer commission on Jan. 1, 
1866.
 Gen. Kilpatrick remained in Chili as Minister
under President Grant until 1870, when he was re-
called. While in Chili he married a lady of Val-
paraiso. In the Presidential campaign of 1872 he
spoke for Horace Greeley, but soon after
Greeley's defeat resumed his place in the
Republican Party, doing effective work as
a campaign speaker in the Fall of 1876.
In 1880 he was a delegate from New-Jersey to the
National Convention at Chicago, where he opposed
the nomination of Gen. Grant. In the Garfield
campaign he worked zealously as a speaker in
Ohio and Maine, as well as in New-Jersey, where
he stood as a candidate for Congress from the
Fourth District, being beaten, however, by Henry
S. Harris. In April last he was nominated by
President Garfield as Minister to Chili, and was
confirmed by the Senate.
 Personally, Gen. Kilpatrick was a man of genial
social qualities, and was highly esteemed by the
members of the Grand Army of the Republic. Not
long ago he entertained the Grand Army organiza-
tion on his farm at Deckertown for nearly a week
at a time. As a speaker he possessed to a remark-
able degree the power to rouse audiences to the
highest pitch of enthusiasm. He has become well
known as a lecturer, his best-known lecturers being
on "Sherman's March to the Sea" and "Our Cava-
alry in the War."