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 ;opy 1 
 
 9RIGIN AND PROGRESS 
 
 ^ 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NJ^TIONJ^H. ^SSOCIA-TIOlSr 
 
 OF 
 
 VETERANS OF THE MEXICAN WAR, 
 
 Alffinuler McConnell fCenaday, Secretary of the National Astorialion of Veterans 
 0/ the Mexican War, and Editor of'Tlie Vedette" of Washington City. 
 
 •^ 
 
 
 ^. 
 
 INCLUDING A BRIEF 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ITS FOUNDER. 
 
 WA.SlllNGTON, D. C. 
 
 1887. 
 
 .d 
 
 cli 
 
 .at- 
 
 or- 
 
 ?U8t, 
 
 ,jassed 
 dllist, a 
 ebrated 
 reckless 
 
From The National View, Washington, D. C, of February 12, 1887. 
 
 The following editorial article from the National View, edited by Lee Crandall, 
 Esq., and his reporter's sketch of the origin and progress of the " National Association of 
 Veterans of Mexican War," including a biographical sketch of the Secretary, A. M. 
 Kenaday. Editor of The Vedette, is reproduced in this form for gratuitous distribution 
 to such of the veterans as have not received it through the paper in which it first appeared. 
 The engravings on the outside pages were executed from photographs, and are pronounced 
 accurate. 
 
 MEXICAN VETERANS. 
 
 THE OLD HEROES HONORED 
 WITH A SERVICE PENSION. 
 
 SKETCH OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, IN- 
 CLUDING BIOGRAPHY OF SECRETARY 
 ALEXANDER M. KENADAY. 
 
 The law granting a service pension to 
 the men engaged in the conflict with Mex- 
 ico in 1846 has gone into operation, and 
 its provisions will undoubtedly embrace 
 every survivor of that war who desires 
 the pension. While in "words" it ex 
 cludesapparently from its benefits all who 
 have not reached the age of 62 years, yet 
 the small number of the survivors, includ- 
 ing the widows of deceased officers and 
 soldiers and sailors who have not as yet 
 attained that age, have only to allege a 
 "pensionable degree of disability," or a 
 ^tate of "dependency" on others to aid 
 them in supporting their existence to en- 
 title them to be placed upon the pen- 
 sion list at a uniform rate of eight dollars 
 a month during the remainder of their 
 lives. The mere fact of a person being 
 unable to perform an average day's work 
 at manual labor will include every man 
 fifty-five years old, and every widow of 
 forty-five, wh'ch practically settles their 
 legal title to a "pensionable degree of dis- 
 ability" or "dependency," under the civil 
 service law and regulations. 
 
 Ths opposition to the measure was 
 mainly confined to the United States Sen- 
 ate, notwithstanding a large majority of 
 thatbody have been instructed, from time 
 to time, by the legislatures of twenty- 
 nine States to recognize the services of 
 the old soldiers who maintained the honor 
 of onr flag sovaliantly in a foreign war, 
 and contributed by their victories so 
 •astly to the resources of the nation. The 
 otagonism of the Senate would certainly 
 i.ve ignored the claims of the Army and 
 vy of Mexico to honorable recognition, 
 h as had been extended by similar 
 ilation to the Revolutionary heroes 
 the veterans of the War of 1812 with 
 t Britain, had it not been for the 
 
 stubborn persistence of theoflScers of tl^e 
 National Society, selected by aconrention 
 of representative men who assembled 
 in Washington City in January, 1874, and 
 petitioned Congress then for the pension 
 which has only just been allowed. Year 
 after year the faithful sentinels at the 
 Capital, entrusted with the interests of 
 their old comrades, have besought each 
 succeeding Congress, with earnest and elo- ' 
 quent appeals, that have always been 
 responded to with magnanimity by the 
 Representatives of the people, but opposed 
 with equal vigor by the Senate; or, more 
 properly, by the dominating party in that 
 body. The pages of the Covijremonal 
 jRfcord during the period of this contest 
 are freighted with speeches pro and con, 
 upon this subject, and some of the fiercest 
 and most eloquent rhetorical combats in 
 this exciting era of American history 
 have grown out of the discussion of this 
 subject. Every time the question of pen- 
 sioning the old veterans was broached by 
 the friends of the proposition it proved 
 to be the signal for flaunting the "Bloody 
 Shirt;" and .lefferson Davis, who was one of 
 the participantsinthat war, was knavishly 
 placed upon the gridiron to justify the op- 
 position to the measure. 
 
 But the contest has been practically 
 ended by admitting the old soldiers to 
 the pension rolls, with a special clause 
 that will exclude Jefferson Davis, inserted 
 by his request; and perhaps the Senate 
 will make no further opposition to the 
 mass of surviors of the Mexican War 
 obtaining full recognition in future 
 amendments for their patriotic services, 
 according to their merits. 
 
 The old soldiers naturally feel jubilant 
 over their partial victory, and are loud in 
 their praises of the faithful officers of the 
 National Association who have main- 
 tained the contest with vigor and intelli- 
 gence. Gen. James W. Denver, the Presi- 
 dent of the organization, has a national 
 reputation. He is a man of large bodilv 
 frame, broad views.of considerable wealtli, 
 and has adhered to the cause only from 
 motives of humanity and the spirit of 
 comradeship which animates the true sol- 
 dier and gentleman. General Denver was a 
 Member of Congress from California thirty 
 years ago, was Commissioner of Indian 
 A flairs under Buchanan's Administration, 
 
 ■ ' Governor of Kansas Territory during 
 
 / 
 
 <s 
 
 "V 
 
the troubles which precedeJ the late war, 
 and was made a Brigadier General of the 
 Army by Lincoln's appointment. The capi- 
 tal of Colorado was named in his honor, 
 and he is worthily surrounded with all the 
 comforts of a successful career — abundant 
 wealth, domestic bliss, and "'troops 
 of friends." 
 
 Gen M.^.nL0N I").M.\nsox, the First Vice- 
 President, was formerly a Member of 
 Congress from Indiana, a distinguished 
 General of Volunteers in the Union Army, 
 widely known in the West as a powerful 
 orator, recently Lieutenant Governor of 
 of his native State, and is now Commis- 
 sioner of Internal Revenue atTerre Haute, 
 
 The Secretary of the National Associa- 
 tion, Mr. a. M. Ke.s'.\u.\v, is perhaps more 
 intimately known to the whole body of 
 the membership than any officer con- 
 nected with it. At the last reunion of 
 the veterans at Des Moines, Iowa, during 
 the banquet which followed the regular 
 proceedings, a toast to General Denver 
 for his great services iji behalf of the com- 
 rades was responded to by him iu a speech 
 of much emotion, in which he disclaimed 
 the praise beitowed, and generously said: 
 
 " The life and soul of this organization, 
 the originator and promoter of the move- 
 ment in behalf of his comrades, is Alex- 
 ander M. Kenaday, the Secretary of the 
 is'ational Association and editor of The 
 Vedette; to him the honor belongs, and at 
 his request I have participated in the good 
 work, and by his self-sacrificing example 
 and enthusiasm I have been induced to 
 remain with him until his dream is ac- 
 complished." 
 
 This magnanimous tribute from the 
 presiding officer was greeted with deafen- 
 ing applause, and more firmly rivetted 
 the hold which the old chief has on the 
 afl'ections of the comrades. \ 
 
 Mr. Kenaday rarely allows himself to be 
 called out for a speech in the re-unions, [ 
 except in the routine -discharge of his du- 
 ties as Secretary, and usually replies that 
 his reward, if any be due, will come "af- 
 ter the curtain is rung down." He is a i 
 typical representative of the rank and 
 file of the army that carried out the or- I 
 ders of Taylor and Scott in Mexico, and 
 we take pleasure in presenting to our 
 readers a biographical sketch of this old j 
 veteran's career, collected by our reporter , 
 from reliable sources, which will be read 
 with interest in connection with the sue- I 
 cess that has recently crowned the Secre- 
 tarv's efforts in behalf of his old compan- ! 
 ions of 1846. ' 
 
 Mr.KENADA v was born in Wheeling ( now 
 West Virginia), on the 8th of December, \ 
 1824, and is now in his sixty-third year. 
 He is of Irish extraction, but his grand- 
 parents settled in Baltimore, Md., prior to \ 
 
 the Revohition.and belonged to that wing 
 of the Kennedy tribe who claim descent 
 from Brian Kenada (Brian Boroihme,) not 
 the Kenealthy branch, a different race. 
 His fatlier, Capt. Teter W. Kenaday. was 
 a steamboat commander on the Western, 
 and Southern rivers for thirty years prior 
 to his death, which occured in New Orleans 
 La., in 1850. The subject of our sketcli 
 studied the art of printing in the office of 
 the Missouri Republican at St. Louis, Mo., 
 with Charless & Paschal, and their succes- 
 sors. Chambers, Harris &, Knapp. At the 
 age of 17, he was sent to the Jesuit Col- 
 lege in St. Louis, to complete the educa- 
 tion he had mainly received in the com- 
 posing room of the St. Louis Republican 
 office, and it took some ten months of the 
 boy's persistent pleading to induce his 
 father to allow him to graduate in the 
 studies and practical observations inciden- 
 tal 10 steamboat life. 
 
 For nearly three years he performed 
 the varied duties of a clerk, assistant- 
 pilot or steersman for his father (wlio was 
 a master of every branch of steamboat- 
 ing), and was allowed the occasional privi- 
 lege of stopping over a trip for recreation 
 at New Orleans and St. Louis, and inter- 
 mediate ports, or for a bear hunt in the 
 Yazoo and Big Black swamps. He per- 
 suaded his indulgent "governor" that he 
 could pursue his moral and religious 
 studies to much better advantage\by con- 
 tact and association with the tli>arougli- 
 breds of the Southwest, than he'^xould 
 gather from examples of pious domiities, 
 who only "played strings" on beiWs, 
 counting up aves and pater nosters. It was 
 on one of these occasional interludsf^ 
 when he was tryinghis hand at his fa- 
 vorite amusement of "type-sticking," that 
 the intelligence was received at Kew Or- 
 leans of General Taylor being cut off from 
 Fort Brown by invasion of our country by 
 the hordes of Arista and Ampudia. A 
 drum and fife awakened his inherited 
 .spirit of patriotism, derived from a long 
 line of Revolutionary ancestors, and in 
 the first company of volunteers accepted 
 by Governor Johnson to till the requisition 
 of General Gaines, commanding that De- 
 partment, for six regiments of six months' 
 troops, young Kenaday was a foremost 
 member. His company was subsequently 
 attached as "Company B " to Col. Sam 
 Marks' Andrew Jackson regiment, and 
 spent three months, the limit for which 
 they could be legallyemployed, near Mat- 
 amoros, Mexico. The regiment, under or- 
 ders, returned to New Orleans in August, 
 1846, and were disbanded. 
 
 Later the "ten regiment bill" was i)assed 
 and Capt. Jack Duperu, a noted duellist, a 
 gallant hero of the Florida War, celebrated 
 throughout the Southwest as a reckless 
 
r 
 
 dare-devil and good-fellow generally .called 
 on the boys to "rally round the flag once 
 again." It was esteemed a high privilege 
 by the ardent youths of that day to be ac- 
 cepted as a member of "Company G," 
 Third Dragoons, and some of the liveliest 
 young men of the Crescent City abandoned 
 their comfortable homes and good paying 
 positions to enter the lists with Alphonse 
 M. Duperu at their head. 
 
 The members of this troop had failed to 
 "see the elephant" on the Rio Grande, to 
 their chagrin, but they no sooner landed 
 at Vera Cruz than the whole menagerie 
 was presented to their gaze. It is suffi- 
 cient to say that Padre Jarauta, a famous 
 guerrilla chief, who roamed over that re- 
 gion of country with bands of despera- 
 does gathered up at Vfra Cruz, soon 
 taught the art of war to the young men 
 from New Orleans, who took daily lessons 
 in broad-sword and horseback exercises 
 until General Pierce's brigade arrived and 
 moved up to Puebla; and " Company G," 
 being the dragoon escort of that "com- 
 mand, had the "refreshing" experience of 
 a scrimmage with the emeny almost every 
 day of the march, as all of the footmen 
 can attest, who were with that command. 
 
 Arriving at Puebla, the company to 
 which Kenad/>y (who had been promoted 
 a sergeant) belonged, was attached to Gen- 
 eral Worth'scommand,and continued with 
 that division through the battles around 
 Mexico. At Cherubusco it was Sergeant 
 Ken AD ay's good fortune to be detailed with 
 a df.tachment of his company as a guard at 
 Getleral Worth's headquartersin the field. 
 The position afforded the young sergeant 
 /an excellent opportunity to view the opera- 
 rions of that glorious engagement, which 
 lasted about tlwee hours. It was in rather 
 close proximity to the tete-du pont and the 
 Convent to be entirely free from appre- 
 hension the first hour or so, but the feel- 
 ing gradually settled to a conviction that 
 the boys all bore charmed lives, and the 
 bursting of bombs in their midst only 
 drew forth the usual long drawn "ah-h-h!" 
 that one hears at a harmless pyrotechnic 
 exhibition. 
 
 The recital of incidents jotted down by 
 the reporter goes on to say that General 
 Pillow and his staff paid a friendly call on 
 General Worth during the battle, and 
 while those two distinguished gentlemen 
 were hob-nobbing the men of the Fifth 
 Infantry commenced clambering into the 
 mouths of the saucy Mexican cannon, 
 which protruded their ugly muzzles from 
 the port-holes of the tete du pont ; and the 
 dragoons at this juncture, not having any- 
 thing else to do, set up the the famous 
 "Cherubusco yell" that electrified the 
 whole Army, drowning the racket of mus- 
 ketry and heavy connonading, and so 
 
 terrified the superstitious "greasers," who 
 nerhaps imagined "all hell had broken 
 loose," that they broke up in front in most 
 admired disorder, and with a right-about- 
 face they went ofl" upon their rear with a 
 double-quick movement intensely demora- 
 lizing to the rear aforesaid. 
 
 The relator says that Generals Wortli 
 and Pillow immediately started off in a 
 gallop, jumping over the maguays and 
 ditchi^s, to congratulate the brave 'dough- 
 boys" who had been having all the fun to 
 themselves, and the disgruntled dragoons, 
 who had not yet had any glory in theirs, 
 methodically began to tighten the girths 
 of their horses and leisurely picked their 
 way through the cornfield and ditches, 
 until they reached the turnpike leading 
 from San Antonio to the lete du pont. 
 
 Here they found the staffs of the two 
 generals huddled together, and acting 
 very impatiently, as if there was some 
 serious impediment to their progress. 
 The dragoons formed in line to await or- 
 ders, when Lieut. Wm G. Mosely, of the 
 Third Dragoons, who had kept "up with 
 the staff, approached Sergeant Kenaday, 
 and called his attention to a huge wagon, 
 loaded with Mexican ammunition, the 
 top and sides of which were in flames 
 and the mules all lying dead in their har- 
 nesses. He ordered Kenaday (as Lieuten- 
 ent Mosely himself describes the incident 
 in a volume of "Reminiscences of the Mex- 
 ican War," written in Florida in lSo4, and 
 is also referred to in Ripley's History of 
 this engagement, as illustrative of the 
 reckless darint: of the troops) to move 
 forward his "first-four" and proceed to 
 unload the ammunition into the water 
 ditch alongside of the wagon. "Go !" was 
 no sooner said than executed. Kenaday 
 and a comrade (Ed. Curtis) jumped into 
 the huge wagon, that seemed as lat^e as 
 a hoosier log-cabin, and dumped package 
 after package of cartridges covered with a 
 sort of gunny-bag, that wasl exceedingly 
 hot to handle without gloves, into the 
 ditch, while another comrade turned 
 them over in the water with his saber as a 
 toasting-fork. (See page 8 of this pamphlet.) 
 
 While this performance was going on, 
 General Worth, perceiving their danger, 
 rode up to the end of the burning wagon 
 and ordered his boys out, which order 
 they promptly obeyed. The staffs seeing 
 General Worth pass the dreaded wagon, 
 put spurs to their horses and also moved 
 to the front. It was thought at the mo- 
 ment that the timely unloading of this 
 wagon probably saved the lives of every 
 man within a radius of 600 yards, which 
 would have proved fatal to "Worth's and 
 Pillow's victorious divisions of brave 
 men, within the hour of their glorous 
 triumph. 
 
 A few minutes later the order waa 
 
given to "let loose the dragoons" on the 
 retreating Mexican army. Kenapay ob- 
 tained permission from his commander to 
 start down the road and clear the track 
 ahead of the squadron which, under Phil. 
 Kearny. McReynolds an<l Duperu, had 
 been ordered up; and while galloping over 
 the road his party was joined by a Major 
 of Infantry (Major Mills, of Fifteenth 
 United States Infantry of Iowa), and this 
 small party cleared the road of stragglers 
 until the racket of the squadron overtook 
 the little detachment, when Captain 
 Kearny ordered the Sergeant to merge 
 his men with Kearny's command, and in 
 that foremost van Kenad.w rode to the 
 (iarita San Antonio, till the "eruption of 
 V^esuvius," from the enemy's heavy bat- 
 tery at the city gate took place, when his 
 horse dropped with a grane-shot that 
 struck him under the stirrup leather. 
 Kenadav was about to strip his horse of 
 his accoutrements, when the poor beast 
 gave him a pitiful look as if beseeching 
 to he taken out of that scene of carnage, 
 and the .Sergeant put his shoulders under 
 the animal'.s haunches, and getting him 
 on his feet led him back to where his 
 coQimand had halted to take an account 
 of stock and call the roll of survivors. 
 
 After the surrender of the City of Mex- 
 ico, and pending negotiations for peace, 
 Sergeant Kenaday obtained a furlough 
 from (reneral Scott and became an at- 
 tache of the American Slar^ a newspaper 
 edited by his friend .Tohn H. Peoples, 
 and in this broader capacity enjoyed e.\- 
 ceptional advantages for "revelling in the 
 Halls of the Montezumas," and making 
 the acfiuaiutance of many officers and 
 men connected with the other commands 
 of the .\rmy, which gave him special 
 (lualihcations for the position that it now 
 appears he was destined to fill further 
 along in his career of life. Indeed, a 
 I^hilosophical contemplation of all the 
 circumstances of his life seem to indicate 
 that this individual man was predestined 
 to organize his old comrades iu their.ad- 
 vanced age and beck them on, after many 
 trials and tribulations, to a just recogni- 
 tion of their eminent services to the 
 country. Certain it is that he was pri- 
 marily instrumental in efl'ectinga national 
 organization of the survivors many years 
 after the war, and from that circumstance 
 the people of this generation have a more 
 general knowledge of the causes, conduct, 
 and material results of that war than was 
 known even by the generation that pre-" 
 ceded the one now on the stage. 
 
 -)t- * * * * -:f * 
 
 After peace was conquered, Mr. Kkn.\- 
 DAV returned to New Orleans, and soon 
 after the gold excitement of California at- 
 tracted him, as it did many thousands of 1 
 
 the disbanded volunteers, to that distant 
 land. He left his aged parents in the 
 Crescent City, promising to make a home 
 for their declining years ; but within a 
 year after his departure on this mission, 
 both of his beloved parents died, and 
 this circumstance destroyed whatever 
 ambition he had for accumulating for- 
 tune. 
 
 His career in California was notable for 
 public-spirted and generous social quali- 
 ties. -After prospecting the State from 
 end to end, in 1849-'-50 for gold mines, he 
 concluded, after learning of the death of 
 his parents, to resume the printing busi- 
 ness, which was a pretty good thing to 
 "fall back on." In 1851 he participated 
 in organizing Eureka Typographical 
 Union (which subsequently" became No. 
 21 of the International Union.) As Presi- 
 dent of the Eureka he was mainly instru- 
 mental in establishing the wages of print- 
 ers at $2 per thousand ems, which rate 
 was maintained for a considerable period. 
 
 In April, 1861, Mr. Kknadav married 
 Miss Mary Louise Canniff, ot New York 
 City, a sister of VVm. Canniff (a member 
 of Raymond's staff of writers when the 
 New York Times was started), who is a 
 lady of noble lineage, cultured, and pos- 
 sessed of rare artistic accomplish- 
 ments. They have had five children, 
 none of whom survive, howeverV 
 
 Mr. K. has always been popuIaV wit'a 
 the members of his craft, who are Vretty 
 good judges of men, and they have af va- 
 rious periods of his life called him u|)\and 
 put him forward with highest authoVity 
 and confidence in his ability in important 
 movements, where the interests of theN 
 printing fraternity or the working classes 
 generally were involved. He has never 
 sought political preferment nor held of- 
 fice under (lovernment (except for a pe- 
 riod when he was too infirm of body to 
 pursue his journalistic duties, and 
 promptly resigned it when his health was 
 restored.) 
 
 In 1803 he was delegated by the Ku- 
 reka Union of San Francisco to organize 
 the first union of all trades in that city. 
 He presided at their meetings and |)ub- 
 lished a journal in their interests, called 
 the /o((rrta/ of the Trades and IVorkini/men. 
 His writings on this subject evince in- 
 tense hatred of oppression in every form, 
 amounting almost to phrenzy, and'the ut- 
 terance of his convictions "has been ab- 
 solutely fearless. This movement cul- 
 minated in 1SB7 by the adoption of his 
 petition for an eight-hour law in the Cal- 
 ifornia legislature, by a unanimous vote, 
 and paved the way for the subsequent 
 National enactment. 
 
 During this period of public activity his 
 name again became familiar to many of 
 
his old Mexican War comrades residing 
 on the Pacific Coast, and it too often hap- 
 pened that some gallant veteran would 
 be summoned to his long home from the 
 wards of the couiity poor house. As the 
 medical colleges had a sort of prescrip- 
 tive right to the bodies of unfortunate 
 persons buried from the county hospital, 
 Mr. Kenauay was often solicited to '"pass 
 around the hat" to save the remains of 
 his comrades from such ignoble desecra- 
 tion. But taking up collections was not 
 a profitable occupation, and he conceived 
 the idea of organizing an association of 
 Mexican war veterans to attend to such 
 and kindred matters, and an opportunity 
 almost immediately presented itself. The 
 survivors of Stevenson's First New York 
 V^olunteers called a meeting in San Fran- 
 cisco, on the 2d of July, 1866, to partici- 
 pate in the Fourth of July parade, and 
 extended an invitation to memb rs of all 
 other regiments. The history of the 
 meeting shows that Kenaday was ap- 
 pointed chairman of an organizing com- 
 mittee to carry out the plan he submitted 
 for establishing the Society of Veterans 
 of 1846, and in his cajiacity as such he is- 
 sued a stirring address to the soldiers and 
 sailors residing on the Pacific Coast and 
 adjacent Territories, calling on them to 
 unite. All the details were left to the in- 
 dividual exertions of Mr. Kenaday, who 
 wa.s successful in organizing a body of in- 
 fluent/ial citizens, about two hundred in 
 nunyber, who assembled on his call and 
 elected General H. W. Halleck President, 
 an^ other well known citizens to the re- 
 j.Haining offices. The movement was a 
 grand success, and the association entered 
 upon its humane work with much enthu- 
 siasm ; but the drain on their slender 
 treasury was more than they could well 
 ali'ord. In this emergency, Mr. Kenaday 
 oflered a resolution to appoint a commit- 
 tee to petition the Congress of the United 
 Slates to build a branch of the Soldiers' 
 Home on the Pacific Coast, to be erected 
 out of the funds collected from the City of 
 Mexico by a general order for the benefit 
 of the conquerors, all of which had been 
 transferred to the Commissioners of the 
 Home in Washington City. 
 
 The resolution was adopted, and Gen- 
 eral Halleck appointed Mr. Kenaday a 
 member of the committee. But before i 
 any further action was taken-, Mr. K. was 
 attacked by a carbuncle on the back of 
 his neck that very nearly terminated his 
 earthly career. "The virulent disease con- 
 fined him to his bed for six months, and i 
 left him a physical wreck — txVa^ars 
 were required to reconstruct him to his ; 
 normal proportions, and the effects of the 
 attack clung to him for fully seven years. 
 
 In July, 1868, however, he proceeded tj 
 Washington City on his mission, and in ' 
 
 January 1869, succeeded in getting a reso- 
 lution passed through the Senate author- 
 izing the Secretary of War to report a 
 plan for carrying out the objects set forth 
 in Kenaday'h petition. The matter went 
 through the various channels and wa.s 
 returned approved, and it only required 
 the signature of the Secretary of War to 
 enable Mr. Ken.\day to return home, a 
 successful agent of his association. 
 
 But it was fated otherwise. The Secre- 
 tary of War (General Rawlins), died be- 
 fore the paper reached his desk. The 
 successor to his position referred it to the 
 Adjutant General, who was one of the 
 Soldiers' Home Commissioners, and the 
 whole work Was buried in a War Depart- 
 ment piseon-hole, from which it was im- 
 possible to disinter it. 
 
 Mr. Kenaday, however, did not aban- 
 don his task, hopeless as it appeared. 
 He exhausted every plan to resurrect his 
 bantling, and determined to remain in 
 AVashington City until some measure of 
 relief to his old comrades, equivalent to 
 thaf which brought him here, should be 
 granted. ~ 
 
 In 1873, the first seven years of devo- 
 tion to this purpo.se expired. In the 
 spring of 187.'i, he issued a call through 
 the daily papers of Washington for com- 
 rades of General Grant in Mexico to as- 
 semble and participate in a body in the 
 inaugural ceremonies of the Fourth of 
 March. The call was anonymous, but 
 was attended by two or three score of 
 veterans who registered their names. Mr. 
 Kenaday enlisted a few comrades to sup- 
 port his movements, and took charge of 
 the assemblage. ' He informed those pres- 
 ent that a petition had been presented in 
 Congress a few days before from conj- 
 rades in Pittsburg, asking for a service 
 pension, and suggested that a local organ- 
 ization in Washington could a-^sist very 
 materially in obtaining such relief. On 
 his motion, a committee was appointed 
 to organize such a society, with instruc- 
 tions to extend an invitation to veterans 
 elsewhere to organize a National Associa- 
 tion, by sending representatives to a con- 
 vention to be held to the Capital in Jan- 
 uary, 1874. 
 
 As was the case in San Francisco, Mr. 
 Kenaday was charged with all the details 
 of organization. In May, 1873, a meeting 
 of the i)ropo8ed association was called, and 
 in the meantime the general object which 
 ,the organizer had'in view was explained 
 to Gen. J. W. Denver, Gen. Albert Pike, 
 Gen. Douglas H. Cooper, Jacob J. Mar- 
 tin (Sixth Auditor), and other well-known 
 gentlemen, who approved it, and General 
 Denver was elected President, with Mr. 
 Kenaday as Secretary. 
 
 The local organization being an accom- 
 plished fact, the Secretary immediately 
 
 V. 
 
opened a correspondence witli well- 
 known veterans in every State and Terri- 
 tory, and in January, IS74, a convention 
 assembled in Willard Hall composed of 
 distinguished men from nearly all the 
 States. A constitution was adopted for a 
 National Association, a petition was pre- 
 pared and presented to Congress asking 
 for a pension the same as had been 
 granted to the soldiers of the Revolution 
 and the War of 1812, and provision was 
 also made for a general meeting at the 
 ('entennial Celebration at Philadelphia 
 in 187G. 
 
 Mr. Kenad.w was selected as the Secre- 
 tary of the National Association, and on 
 him devolved the entire executive work 
 of the organization. Tlie constitution 
 adopted by the first meeting failed to pro- 
 vide means for defraying necessary ex- 
 penses, and the Secretary was left power- 
 less to carry on the campaign. In this 
 dilemma it was suggested by some of the 
 leading officers and members that the 
 Secretary could open an office and adver- 
 tise to transact business before the Depart- 
 ments for comrades who had claims to 
 present. He accordingly gave up his 
 regular business which yielded an income 
 of $300 a month. It was a most unfortu- 
 nate suggestion, as their claims were 
 nearly all outlawed, by limitation, and 
 out of many thousands of small claims 
 presented he hardly realized the postage 
 involved. But being possessed of some 
 individual means and a fund of energy 
 and faith in the ultimate success of the 
 enterprise, he held to the task assigned 
 to him against all odds, and pushed his 
 work with vigor in sunshine and in storm. 
 He encountered some fierce opposition 
 from a few members of the National Asso- 
 ciation during the first seven years of its 
 existence, possibly growing out of ignor- 
 ance of the ditticulties surrounding his 
 position; but for the past seven years the 
 opposition has not manfested itself to any 
 measurable extent. 
 
 In January, 1877, the bill to pension 
 the survivors of the Mexican War passed 
 the House of Representatives by a unani- 
 mous vote, but the Senate did not concur, 
 and the subject went over to the next Con- 
 gress, to be commenced de novo. 
 
 In February, 1879, an amendment to 
 the arrears of pension appropriation bill, 
 introduced by General Shields, passed the 
 Senate in open session by a vote of 3G 
 ayes to 22 nays, but the enemies of the 
 bill assembled in a Republican caucus and 
 resolved to reconsider the action taken, 
 which was done in an all night session 
 after a fierce debate. From this time for- 
 ward it was made a party measure, the Re- 
 publican party opposing it, and the Demo- 
 cratic party, with a few insignificant excep- 
 tions, favoring the cause of the veterans. 
 
 In 1880, Mr. Kenadav commenced his 
 third term of seven years' service. At 
 this time he was publishing a paper, The 
 Vedette, which circulated throughout the 
 country wherever a Mexican Veteran 
 could be reached. The bill came up in 
 May in the house of Representatives for 
 consideration, but the Republicans under 
 the leadership of Mr. Garfield, prevented 
 any action. 
 
 When the Presidential campaign opened 
 Garfield and Hancock were the candi- 
 dates, and The Vedette espoused llie 
 cau.se of the latter with considerable vigor. 
 It has been unmistakably an opponent of 
 the Republican party ever since. Mr. 
 Blaine had also evinced considerable anti- 
 pathy to the Mexican veterans, and when 
 he received the nomination for the presi- 
 dency he had no more vigorous antagonist 
 than The I'edf«>',whose editor was evident- 
 ly impressed with a remark once made by 
 General Burnside, when under the pres- 
 sure of his party rule he changed his vote 
 in the Senate in opposition to pen.sioning 
 his comrades of Mexico, that he was "a 
 party man, and in his experience the man 
 who attempted to get in his work outside 
 of party lines would be a failure." 
 
 In concluding this biographical sketch of 
 Mr. Kenaday, it is reasonable to believe 
 that his old comrades of Mexico will show 
 their appreciation of his services. Twenty- 
 one years (from 1866 to 1887) isi a long 
 period of personal devotion to one object, 
 "Whatsoever a man soweth, that sli^U he 
 also reap." He stated in the last issue of 
 The Vedette that scheming claim agents 
 had purloined the names of comrades 
 which he had been collecting with great 
 labor and expense, and were re.sorting to 
 deception and all manner of unfair rivalry ' 
 to divert their business from his agency. It 
 would not be creditable to the men he has 
 served so long and so faithfully if they 
 desert him at this juncture of the con- ' 
 test, as he professes a purpose with a| - 
 parent sincerity to devote his means and 
 his labor to further promote their inter- 
 ests and the welfare of the organization 
 of which he is the founder. ^ 
 
 The objects of the National Association iB 
 are not confined to the one purposeof ob- 
 aining a pension to the survivors of eight 
 dollars a month. It professes other an*" 
 higher aspirations, which can only be 
 eflfected by remaining a united and patri- 
 otic body, determined to rescue from ob- 
 livion the fame of their distinguished com- 
 rades who have passed oflT the stage. It 
 remains to be seen what proportion of the 
 survivors will adhere to the organization. 
 In any future amendments to the present 
 law, which does not do full justice to the 
 old survivors of Mexico, it should be re- 
 membered that there will be no reward in 
 the nature of attorneys' fees to insure at- 
 
8 
 
 tention to the future interests of the vete- 
 rans or their widows, and it is, therefore, 
 manifestly the hest policy of the survivors 
 to retain such officers as have proved true 
 to thern in the dark hours of adversity. 
 
 Mr. Kbnaday has filed the applications 
 of about 2,500 of his comrades in the Pen- 
 sion Office since the President approved 
 the law, (under an agreement wliich is of 
 
 j record, made some tnonths ago,) and hun- 
 ] dreds of prepared cases are daily pouring 
 in upon him from all parts of the country. 
 [ He is literally "reaping the harvest" of a 
 a long term of altruistic service, and every 
 true man should rejoice at his prosperity 
 in his old age. "Well done! — Good and 
 faithful servant !" 
 
 ^ 
 
 .N INCIDENT OF THE BATTLE OF CHERDBDSCO, ADGOST 20, 1847 .-SERGEANT KENADAY 
 
 UNLOADING A POWDER WAGON. 
 
 LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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