nelcy of the Hudson Brigade on being elected major in the New York regiment.

As a strict military disciplinarian and good tactician, General Shaler has always borne a high reputation. When a member of the Washington Greys, he won the admiration and esteem of all by his personal and military merits, and as the captain of the second company, he had the reputation of being one of the best officers in that acknowledged-to-be superior regiment, making his command a model company. When the Chicago Zouaves were on their exhibition tour in 1860, Colonel Shaler was not afraid to drill his company by their side, in presence of the officers at West Point, and soon after he received from Colonel Ellsworth a gold champion medal as an acknowledgment that the second company of the Seventh Regiment was the best drilled body which the Chicago Zouaves had seen. The First Regiment of the Hudson Brigade, which was under his command, contained infantry, cavalry, riflemen and artillery, and was acknowledged to be the best regiment in New Jersey, especially the cavalry and artillery, which became exemplars to similar organizations.

Immediately on the receipt of the news of the firing upon Fort Sumter, Major Shaler left New York in the first train, and proceeded to Washington. At the White House he met Colonel Ellsworth, who introduced him to Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Cameron, the Secretary of War. The Secretary evinced an earnest desire to get troops to Washington, for the protection of the city, with as little delay as possible, promising to do any thing for Major Shaler if he would get one thousand men there within a week. He hastened to New York, and reporting the fact to Colonel Lefferts, the commanding officer of the Seventh Regiment, a meeting of the officers was immediately called, and in three days the regiment was on its way to Washington. Major Shaler remained with the Seventh while it was in Washington, and on the 11th of June, 1861, he was appointed by President Lincoln Lieutenant-Colonel of the First United States Chasseurs, afterwards the Sixty-fifth New York Volunteers. The Hon. John Cochrane was appointed colonel at the same time. The organization, equipment, and discipline of this regiment, were assigned to Colonel

Shaler. A camp of instruction was established at Willet's Point, Long Island, and on the 27th of August, 1861, the regiment, one thousand strong, started for Washington, fully organized, equipped, and splendidly drilled. They marched down Broadway silently, steadily, and compactly, without a word or look to disturb the harmony of their departure, while hundreds of men and women crowded about the horses of the officers, to take them by the hands, and bid them God-speed! War, at this late day, is a distinct science and trade. Men engaged in the arts of peace, however brave, are unable to stand their ground against veteran soldiers who are under complete subordination, and whose movements have all the precision of clock-work. Colonel Shaler always regarded strict military discipline to be of the highest importance, and determined that all the soldiers with whom he had any thing to do should be brought to the highest possible point of perfection. Commanding such men, he would have confidence in them in the trying hour of battle; let what might be hurled against them, they would stand unmoved as a rock until ordered to change their position. In October of 1861, Camp Cochrane was established near Washington, and the instruction of Colonel Shaler's regiment of Chasseurs was entered into with a zest, and a degree of discipline acquired, which, in the numerous battles it afterward engaged in, proved of infinite value.

To follow Colonel Shaler through all the battles in which he was engaged, is almost to write the history of the war in Virginia. Having been assigned to the Fourth Army Corps, he was engaged in the siege of Yorktown, pursuing the enemy when that stronghold was evacuated, and reaching Williamsburg on the 5th of May, 1862, where he supported the Seventh Massachusetts Regiment in that bloody battle. On the 31st of May he was in the famous battle of Fair Oaks. During the advance of the army up the Peninsula, the benefits of the hard drilling the Chasseurs had received were conspicuously shown, and when they were called upon on the 31st of May to resist the mighty avalanche of the enemy upon the right of our line at Fair Oaks, every officer and soldier was entirely satisfied that the discipline which seemed

so rigid and unnecessary, in the previous winter's camp, was the means of averting a terrible disaster from a great portion, if not to the whole army. By a strict obedience to the commands of the officers, to hold their fire until the enemy could be seen in the bushes close to them, they were enabled to fight from three o'clock, P. M., until dark, about five hours, with a loss of only seven killed and twenty-four wounded, having eight out of forty cartridges left in their boxes, capturing a battle-flag, and bringing in their front, the next day, one hundred rebels, representing eight different regiments. It is believed no such evidence of the advantages of subordination and discipline has been furnished during the war.

At the battle of Malvern Hill the command of Colonel Shaler did wonderful execution, preventing the enemy in their front from forming, and driving him to the cover of the woods by their well-directed fire. The Chasseurs advanced coolly and in order, keeping low until the rebels showed themselves in force, when they poured in one of their deadly volleys. They were engaged in this position about two hours, without relief, and did not leave or ask for support until their ammunition was exhausted. The men who carried back the wounded returned to the regiment, and continued the fight. "My men fight well," wrote the colonel to his wife after the battle, "and appear to appreciate now the lessons I have given them." His conduct in this battle was one of the bases for his hard-earned and well-deserved brevet Major-Generalship. On the 11th of July he was commissioned colonel of the regiment, in place of Colonel Cochrane.

Colonel Shaler was with General Couch on the 16th of September, 1862, in his pursuit of the rebel General McClaws through Pleasant Valley and up Maryland Heights, and immediately after he marched to the battle-field of Antietam. On the 11th of December, 1862, he forced the passage of the Rappahannock below Fredericksburg, and supported the assault made by General Meade. He was at the second battle of Fredericksburg in April, 1863, when his brigade was assigned the herculean task of dragging and carrying the pontoon-boats from the woods, about a mile back, to the river, which was accomplished between sundown and three

o'clock in the morning. On the night of the 2d of May the Sixth Corps entered Fredericksburg with Shaler's brigade at the head of the column, the Chasseurs leading. The next morning he was ordered to assault the works on Marye's Heights. The approach was a narrow road leading from the rear of Fredericksburg, passing over a small stream, and running directly up the heights, with formidable earthworks on the line at each side of the road, a row of infantry defenses at the foot of the hill, well manned, and two pieces of artillery at the top which enfiladed the approach. Colonel Spear, at the head of the column, fell at the first discharge of these pieces, and the whole column was thrown into confusion. An officer of the Sixth Corps, writing to Mrs. Shaler two days after the battle, says: "Your gallant husband charged upon the heights and carried the battery which defied the Irish Brigade so many times last summer. He was the only mounted officer who ascended the heights, and although in the outset the leading regiment broke and fell back, causing much commotion, yet at this critical moment the colonel dashed forward, seized the flag, and shouted with a loud voice-' Come on, boys!' And they did come on' with a yell. Another moment and our brave colonel stood upon the ramparts waving the dear old flag high in the air."

6

The star of a Brigadier-General fell upon his shoulder while thundering on at the head of his column up Marye's Hill. On the 1st of July, 1863, he performed that remarkable march of the Sixth Corps, leaving Manchester, Va., at nine o'clock, P. M., and reaching Gettysburg at four o'clock, P. M., on the 2d of July, a distance of thirty-four miles in nineteen hours, reaching that terrible battle-field just in time to support troops in need on our left. On the seventh of November he was in the battle of Rappahannock Station, when 1,570 Union soldiers took 1,600 prisoners. In January, 1864, he was sent to guard the post of Johnson's Island, in Sandusky Bay, Ohio. His management of affairs at this post gave the greatest satisfaction, not only to the authorities at Washington, but also to the prisoners themselves. A disposition on his part to secure to the prisoners a full allowance of the rations and fuel which the Government authorized, and to

allow them every facility for making the tedious hours of prison life as cheerful as possible, produced a feeling of interest in him which manifested itself shortly after his capture, by the writing of numerous letters, on the part of the prisoners, to their friends in the South, to take good care of General Shaler.

In April, 1864, General Shaler returned to the Army of the Potomac, and on the 6th of May he took part in the Battle of the Wilderness. Having fought all day, with varying success, at about six o'clock in the evening he rode into the woods on the right of his position to gather in what men might have strayed in that direction, for the purpose of re-forming his line, when he found himself surrounded by the enemy, and was obliged to surrender. In this battle he was wounded, and his clothes were pierced in three places. At his capture he was turned over to Captain Page, of Gordon's brigade of Georgia troops, "who treated him kindly, especially after he had given him his gold belt, which, according to the value placed upon their money, was worth $330. For this act of forced kindness he was permitted to ride for two miles and a half on an old nag which could be sold in New York for about twenty shillings." He was taken to General Ewell's headquarters, and the next morning marched to Orange Courthouse, where he was treated more kindly by the Confederate officers than was agreeable to the hordes of non-combatants and bitter rebels with whom the town was thronged. As usual, the Richmond papers indulged in a howl of satisfaction at the capture of a Yankee officer, and the Examiner of the 18th of May blew the following blast among others: "The two worthies are named Shaler and Seymour; the former has visited Richmond before, in his capacity of captain of a company in the New York Seventh, when that dandy regiment of Gotham cockneys was entertained here on the occasion of the Monroe funeral obsequies. At that time, coming as a friend and (in some sense) compatriot, he and his comrades were received with all the cordial, unsuspicious hospitality of Virginia. Now, advancing with his crew of cut-throats and fire-raisers, to burn and sack the city in which he has been an honored though unworthy guest, he experiences Virginia's