E 467 
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 Copy 1 
 
 1 
 
 ADDRESS OF MARTIN P. KENNARD, 
 
 IN BEHALF OF THE SUBSCRIBING CITIZENS, ON PRESENTATION 
 TO THE TOWN OF A 
 
 MEMORIAL PORTRAIT 
 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 BRIG.-GEN1 EDWARD AUGUSTUS WILD, 
 
 TOGETHER WITH THE 
 
 RESPONSE OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN, 
 
 AND THE IMPROMPTU REMARKS OF OTHER 
 
 GENTLEMEN PRESENT. 
 
 \ 
 
 BROOKLINE, MASS.: 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE TOWN. 
 
 1894. 
 
 \ 
 
x 
 
BRIGADIER-GENERAL EDWARD AUGUSTUS WILD. 
 
 From a painting by J. Harvey Young. 
 
 The head a study from a photograph taken in 1863. 
 
ADDRESS OF MARTIN P. KENNARD, 
 
 IN BEHALF OF THE SUBSCRIBING CITIZENS, ON PRESENTATION 
 TO THE TOWN OF A 
 
 MEMORIAL PORTRAIT 
 
 (IF THK l.All!: 
 
 BRIG.-GENl EDWARD AUGUSTUS WILD, 
 
 TUUKTHEK WfTH ['HK 
 
 RESPONSE OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN, 
 
 AND THE IMPROMPTU REMARKS OF OTHER 
 
 GENTLEMEN PRESENT. 
 
 BROOKLINE, MASS.: 
 PRINTED FOR THK TOWN". 
 
 1894. 
 
.1 
 
 UHOnKLINE, MASS. : 
 
 PKtSS OF C. A. W. SPENCER, 
 
 HARVARD Sqj;ARE. 
 
The Great Civil War of 1 86 1-5 in the United States will ever hold 
 a conspicuous place in the world's history, for its magnitude, and as 
 one inevitable in the moral advancement and civil progress of its 
 time. 
 
 This inadequate portrayal of the remarkable career and character 
 of Edward Augustus Wild, a cherished son of Brookline, as set forth 
 in the following pages, with the presentation to the town of his 
 memorial portrait, May 24th, 1893, was not prompted by a too zealous 
 partisanship or from the partiality of social relations, but because of 
 his unalloyed patriotism and his signal service in that contention, in 
 the cause of the Union, and when under its strain the administration 
 of Abraham Lincoln called for the aid of loyal men. 
 
 The initial steps for this presentation were informally taken by the 
 following well-known citizens, General Wild's cotemporaries, fiimiliar 
 with his life, and who thus realized the pubhc duty Of giving him 
 exemplary permanence in the annals of the town, viz. : Edward 
 Atkinson, William I. Bowditch, John W. Candler, William L. Candler, 
 Dr. Tappan E. Francis, Willard V. Gross, Charles E. Hapgood, 
 Martin P. Kennard, Albert L. Lincoln, Jr., James P. Stearns and 
 Fergus B. Turner. 
 
 At the meeting of this self-acting committee the subject was 
 delegated to a sub-committee with full powers, consisting of Mr. 
 Kennard, Mr. Lincoln, and Col. William L. Candler. 
 
 The suggestions of these gentlemen were readily responded to by 
 the generous contributions of the citizens at large, and it is gratifying 
 that the town authorities, in concert with the popular feeling, supple- 
 mented this action by the publication of the proceedings at the 
 expense of the town. 
 
 M. P. K. 
 
 December, 1S93. 
 
ADDRESS OF MARTIN R KENNARD. 
 
 Mr. Chainnan of the Selectmen, the Trustees oj the Public Library, 
 anil Felhnv- Citizens : 
 
 In conformity with the patriotic and well-timed thought of the 
 Chandler Post, G. A. R., of this town, that some appreciative 
 memorial of Hrookline's distinguished son, the late General F^dward 
 Augustus Wild, should be considered, a meeting of a number of 
 our citizens was called to confer upon the subject. This conference, 
 with warm unanimity, deemed it desirable to perpetuate, as far as 
 possible, the interesting personality of a citizen who had won such 
 renown, by a commemorative portrait of him for a gift to the town, 
 to be tendered as a spontaneous and enduring tribute of his fellow- 
 citizens to his virtues and valor. It was also their wish that this 
 portrait, with your permission, should be placed in this hall of the 
 Public Library, in the custody of its Trustees, and to that end the 
 gracious duty of its presentation was delegated to a committee 
 with full powers. 
 
 That committee, Mr. Chairman, I have now the honor to repre- 
 sent, and while its obligations are in some degree pleasurable, still 
 the occasion comes tinged with the shadow of another and a more 
 recent sorrow. He of this committee, and the one of us all who 
 from his long intimacy and affectionate admiration for his comrade, 
 having achieved with him much signal service in the field, whose 
 amiable and unselfish interest in this object gave inspiration to his 
 colleagues, and to whom they looked as the one especially fitted for 
 this duty, which has now unhappily devolved upon me, has, pending 
 the consummation of this felicity, suddenly been called to join the 
 innumerable army that has passed into the infinite silence. 
 
 The inseparable names of General Edward A. Wild and Colonel 
 William L. Candler are thus in the order of events entwined anew 
 in our regard, and with added reason associated in our local annals. 
 
Ordinarily, it would be well-nigh superfluous for me, here in 
 this presence, or indeed in Brookline, to dilate upon the achieve- 
 ments of General Wild, or otherwise than succinctly allude to his 
 citizenship and interesting military record. 
 
 But, Mr. Chairman, in the swift flight of time a generation has 
 passed since the advent of that grievous epoch, when the guns of a 
 misguided and rebellious State were trained on Fort Sumter, and a 
 slave-holding oligarchy threw down the gauntlet of war against our 
 union of States and the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln ; and, 
 therefore, a brief and incidental mention of General Wild's ex- 
 traordinary career, marked especially by his early enlistment in the 
 defence of the Union, and his uncompromising and patriotic devo- 
 tion thereto until its establishment was assured, may be pardoned on 
 this occasion. 
 
 General Wild was descended from old English stock. He was born 
 in Brookline, Nov. 25, 1825, and, like his pleasantly remembered 
 father, the late Charles Wild, M. D., of this town, was a graduate of 
 Harvard College. His class was that of 1844. He studied medicine 
 and began its practice here in 1847. He, however, went abroad 
 for study, and for further hospital experience, in 1848, and during a 
 rejuvenating pedestrian tour in Switzerland was tempted to go down 
 into Italy. Europe was then in the throes of a halting republicanism, 
 and many dynasties seemed to be tottering. It was an interesting and 
 exceptional era of political unrest. Louis Philippe had been dethroned, 
 and France was an incipient republic under the lead of Lamartinc 
 and his associates, while Louis Napoleon had not yet by his audacity 
 beguiled that people to accept his presidency, under the leverage of 
 which, in his selfish ambition to found a dynasty, he subsequently 
 usurped political power and grasped the imperial sceptre ! Germany 
 was struggling for unity and for the setting aside of no end of petty 
 monarchies and titular creations claiming inheritance of divine right, 
 
 " Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's ark." 
 
 Frederick William the Fourth, King of Pnissia, and brother of the 
 future Emperor William the First, was then busy with the stamping 
 out of republican fire, and with the expatriation of such political re- 
 
formers as the poet Freiligrath, Carl Schurz, Reinhold Solger, Frederic 
 Kapp, Professor Kinkel, and scores of others, including that irrecon- 
 cilable and reckless Russian revolutiortist, Michael Bakounin. That 
 illustrious republican patriot, Robert Blum, had been seized and 
 brutally shot in Vienna. Kossuth and Batthyanyi were then agitating 
 for the independence of Hungary, and thus vexing Austria. 
 
 General Wild was a true representative of republican democracy 
 and in sympathy with this type of men the world over, for " He 
 that loves liberty confines his love for her within no narrow bounds." 
 
 Italy was then ablaze with "the everlasting torch of freedom," 
 and contending for less priestcraft, more liberty, and for a national 
 unity, and Garibaldi was fanning the flame in Northern Italy in 
 sympathy with Sardinia which was then in armed strife against 
 Austria for the redemption of Venetia and contiguous States. It 
 will also be recalled that the Roman and Neapolitan States were in 
 active contention, and that the march of those events disturbed the 
 Pope, who was compelled to leave Rome and take refuge in the 
 fortress at Gaeta-by-the-Sea, and finally lost his temporal power with 
 his political control of the Pontifical States. 
 
 It was later in that decade that we again find that republican 
 chief, after revolutionizing Sicily, virtually knocking at the door of 
 the then unpopular and odious Bourbon King of the two Sicilies, in 
 Naples, who hastily scampered away into Austria before the diitn, dum, 
 dum of the immortal Italian and his brave Genoese and Sicilians. In 
 the meanwhile, the Grand Duke of Tuscany was having sleepless 
 nights in Florence, and subsequently yielded his claims to its govern- 
 ment and fled to Vienna. All this, as will be remembered, ultimately 
 eventuated in the fusion of those States and in a regenerated and 
 united Italy under Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia. 
 
 From General Wild's proclivity to military affairs, perhaps born 
 of his enthusiasm and inherited interest in the Boston Cadet Corps, 
 of which his father , had been a member, and in whose ranks for 
 many years General Wild subsequently held an active place, he was no 
 disinterested observer of the movements upon that European chess- 
 board ; and we can therefore easily imagine his anxiety to be near the 
 scene of action, and that he the more readily crossed the Alps and 
 
wended his way into Italy. There the military camps then included 
 half a million of men, and their lines extended from Lake Garda to 
 the Po ; and there, as he said, he sought opportunity to " witness a 
 battle and a bombardment." 
 
 From the meagre notes now accessible to me it is manifest that 
 our traveller's animated interest in these movements led him to 
 approach too near the military lines of the hostile camps, where from 
 his adventurous disposition and the characfristic coolness of his 
 observations, he was arrested and closely searched, first by one side 
 and then by the other, as a spy from the opposite camp, and 
 released only from his definite explanations, and on two occasions 
 to Genera] Garibaldi personally, who discerned his true character 
 and liberated him. Later, in another quarter, he was again seized as 
 an Austrian emissary and robbed and very roughly treated, fortunately 
 escaping with his life. This was repeated on Lake Garda, where he 
 was arrested at midnight for a robber ; and still another time on the 
 River Po, on the other extremity of this military line, where, in his 
 adventurous desire to see Venice, he was once more seized as a 
 deserter or spy by the Austrians. To all these with many other 
 perilous and disagreeable experiences, in the pursuit of his purpose, 
 lie exhibited an amusing indifference. Fearlessness and honesty 
 were virtues ever inseparable with him. Those who knew General 
 Wild intimately can correctly appreciate the exact effect of these 
 episodes of exciting and unsafe adventure upon his free and 
 imperturbable nature. We can easily imagine they were veritable 
 amusements to him, so regardless was he of such personal detri- 
 ment. To measure him by the dispositions of the most of us would, 
 perhaps, bring a suggestion of eccentricity and with it a touch of 
 humor that sometimes was comical. A hint of this may be pardoned 
 here in confidence, as this is a family meeting. 
 
 Our wanderer returned in 1S50, and resumed in Brookhne the 
 practice of his profession, that of a homoeopathic physician, till 
 1855, when he was married, and upon the declaration of the war in 
 the Crimea, he then, with his bride, sailed directly for Constantinople, 
 where he tendered his services as a surgeon to the Turkish govern- 
 ment. They were at once accepted and he was there attached to 
 the army corps of Omar Pasha, the commander-in-chief of the 
 
Turkish forces, with the rank and pay of lieutenant-colonel, and given 
 a title prefixing that of Bey, signifying "the sincere." Here he 
 saw much service, and continued for two years in charge of extensive 
 military hospitals with the sick and disabled, the results of that war. 
 He also acted as brigade surgeon in the Turkish forces at Trebizond 
 and Batoum, and other ports on the shores of the Black Sea, 
 passing the winter near the foot-hills of the Caucasus, and occupying 
 the hospitals captured from the Russians. On leaving, at the close 
 of the war, he was decorated with the order of the Medjidieh by 
 the Sultan, .\bdul Medjid, and given a war medal, with an 
 accompanying diploma, with also an autograph letter of thanks by 
 Omar Pasha, his commander-in-chief 
 
 General Wild made an extended visit to Italy again, in 1857, then 
 without especial incident, I believe, although the political and military 
 activity that marked that era there had not yet terminated. 
 
 Again he resumed his medical practice in Brookline, but the stride 
 of political affairs culminating in the outbreak of the warlike events 
 in 1861, rekindled his military ardor and once more drew him into 
 active fields of public service. It is recorded that one of the first 
 acts of the Military Committee organized by tiiis town in April, 1S61, 
 was '■ hiring of a hall for the purposes of a drill-hall and armory, 
 where Captain Edward A. Wild, then a popular young physician in 
 town, with Lieutenants Charles L. Chandler and William L. Candler 
 began recruiting a company." Some of us can remember those 
 early days of 1861, when with that notable ardor, conscientiously 
 prompted by his strong anti-slavery convictions, he unselfishly 
 abandoned the opportune inducements of his profession and pros- 
 pective medical practice, and enlisted in this first Brookline 
 company of volunteers, which he had aided in recruiting at the 
 magnetic call of Governor Andrew, by whom he was commissioned 
 as captain on May 22d, 1861. His military knowledge and excep- 
 tional experience, coupled with his enthusiastic devotion to the Union 
 cause, took him at once into service in the line. To the one 
 nearest to him, and who said to him in a tentative way, " I sup- 
 pose you will be gone but three months," his instant reply, " I 
 enlist for the war," brought a sickening thrill, amid measureless but 
 submissive forebodings. 
 
One of the first thus to respond, he with alacrity and thus 
 unreservedly gave himself to the service of his country for the 
 preservation of the flag with all its stars, and indeed for maintaining 
 the national life. Subsequently he aided in forming the first Massa- 
 chusetts regiment which was enlisted for three years, and was given 
 command of Company A, which was mustered into the United States 
 service in the First Massachusetts Regiment, under Col. Robert 
 Cowdin. This regiment having been chiefly recruited in this town, was 
 largely composed of Brookline men, a few of whom we are privileged 
 to have still with us, while the records on the memorial tablets in our 
 Town Hall, make up for us and for history that roll of honor. 
 
 That was a companionable group, — a representative trio of 
 Brookline's best, — that included Edward Augustus Wild, William 
 Latham Candler, and Charles Lyon Chandler, the first as captain 
 and the others as his lieutenants, that were primarily attached to 
 this company and enlisted for three years, — pioneers with a willing 
 and alert patriotism that helped to set the pace for so many others, 
 and each of whom subsequently distinguished himself and earned 
 and received honorable promotion. 
 
 Colonel Chandler fell mortally wounded in the battle near Han- 
 over Court House, May 24th, 18C4, and it is happily on record that 
 he was kindly cared for in his last hours by Colonel Harris of the 1 2th 
 Mississippi Regiment, within the enemy's lines, with a true soldierly 
 courtesy, that was honorable to himself and gratifying to the kindred 
 of our young officer, whose brief career was heroic, whose character 
 was exemplary, and whose loss was widely and keenly felt. General 
 Bartlett wrote : " Officers and men speak of Colonel Chandler's 
 bravery and devotion with filling eyes. I never saw men who in so 
 short a time had such feeling of admiration for any man's conduct. 
 His loss was felt throughout the corps." 
 
 Colonel Candler, in the e.xigencies of the war, was ultimately 
 transferred to the" staff of the intrepid General Joseph Hooker, 
 where he saw much severe service. He was with that noted and 
 efficient soldier during all Hooker's career, from the time of his 
 commanding a division, until he resigned as commander-in-chief 
 of the Army of the Potomac, and with them there was continued a 
 warm personal attachment. 
 
Colonel Candler was never seriously wounded, although I am told 
 that in the severity of his experience he had three horses shot from 
 under him, and to the end, from exposure in camp life, suffered with 
 impaired health. No one took the field with more lofty purpose, 
 and it is of such men it can be said truly, that they were the glory 
 of the service. These soldiers did not emblazon their deeds, they 
 waged war for a principle, and not as adventurers ; and wherever duty 
 called or circumstances placed them, there they signalized them- 
 selves with the best that was in them ; all correlative testimony bears 
 witness to this. 
 
 I have been permitted to make the following extracts from letters 
 to Mrs. Wild, which indicate the exact spirit which animated Edward 
 Wild when he entered the service, and therefore should have a place 
 here. If there exist clearer illustrations of unselfish patriotism, I 
 know not where to find them. 
 
 "Camp Union, fiu^DENSBURG, Oct. iS, 1861. 
 ".As for promotion, you must recollect that I did not come out 
 here to be elevated, but simply from a sense of duty, and with the 
 single-hearted object to serve my country to my utmost ability, feeling 
 within myself that I was the proper man to come. If I should be 
 broken or be cashiered, I should immediately enlist as a private, for 
 the same reason, and do my utmost in that capacity. If I should be 
 promoted by those who are competent to judge, and who think that 
 I could serve my country better by filling a larger sphere, I should 
 obey orders, and consent to the promotion ; though it must be strong 
 inducement that could draw me away from my present company and 
 my present regiment, for I am proud of both. If, therefore, I should 
 not be promoted, but should remain where I am, I shall not be 
 disappointed, but shall continue to work on, as I only intended to 
 serve during the war, and then retire again into obscurity. You must 
 remember that I spoke in the same tone before leaving Brookline." 
 
 .And again he writes, Nov. 29th, 1861, taking notice of a news- 
 paper article which spoke of the deaths of Lyon, Baker, and 
 Ellsworth, as " military suicide " : 
 
 " As for me, when I am shot down, let no one put on mourning for 
 me. Rather hang out the stars and stripes and be proud. Say what 
 you will, I am not a rash person, neither am I so brave as one hun- 
 dred thousand others ; I mean naturally and constitutionally brave. 
 
What courage I have conies by force of reason, and of faith, and of 
 self discipline, and of determination. I pray heaven that when I 
 see the need of sacrificing myself, no weakness of mine shall deter 
 me." 
 
 Such men make history, and by such patriotism and self-sacrifice 
 as theirs, liberty was redeemed, and a great nation was literally 
 born again. 
 
 The pathos of that empty sleeve in the portrait before us, attests 
 only remotely what General Wild was called to endure, all of which 
 was unrepiningly met and borne with that gentle cheerfulness which 
 was a part of his nature. 
 
 His right hand was permanently crippled by a bullet in the 
 engagement at the Seven I'ines on the field of Fair Oaks, Virginia, 
 June 25th, 1862. He came home, on the invalid list, for a short time, 
 but soon reported again for duty in the field. Promoted by regular 
 grade to a colonelcy, in August, 1862, he took command of the 35th 
 Massachusetts, and two days after proceeded to Washington with 
 this regiment, and with his arm still in a sling. In three weeks 
 he was with General Burnside, and in the battle of South Mountain. 
 It is recorded that this new regiment there, and again three days 
 later, distinguished itself by steady, determined bravery, worthy of 
 veterans. 
 
 After Hooker was wounded at the battle of .\ntietam, General 
 Meade took command of Hooker's corps. When, on Sept. 14th, 
 1862, the battle of South Mountain was over. Colonel Candler on 
 enquiring for General Wild, learned that he was again seriously 
 wounded and had been sent to the rear. His reminiscences of his 
 painful search that inclement night for his loved friend were among 
 the most touching to which I ever listened, and it is impossible for 
 me to repeat them here. Colonel Candler, as it were, strained his 
 prerogative as an officer of the staff, but taking the opportunity of 
 the night, and of the temporary disorder when he was nominally off 
 duty, tired and hungry, having been in incessant service in the 
 saddle and without food for twenty-four consecutive hours, at length, 
 after riding miles in the darkness and the wet through " Virginia 
 mud," and amid those direful roads and the debris and material 
 
disorder incident to such a battle-field, in the early hours of the 
 morning, found his comrade in a room alone in a little roadside 
 shanty, where had been improvised a temporary hospital. 
 
 His left arm had been shattered by a shell, and he was compelled 
 in that condition to walk two or three miles to find shelter. He had 
 submitted to three surgical amputations, and finally, to save his life, 
 his arm, under his own directions, was taken off at the shoulder. 
 He said, subsequently, " I told the surgeons if they found it neces- 
 sary to amputate the arm, not to let me wake and find it on." 
 
 At the sight of each other the fortitude of these friends mutually 
 gave way. Upon the unexpected appearance of Candler, Wild's 
 indomitable spirit yielded, and he burst into tears. I will not under- 
 take to picture that meeting of these fond friends under those 
 circumstances. I leave it to your imagination. Everything was 
 then done that could be. for the General's comfort and to save his 
 life. Thus disabled, he was sent home again in December, 1862, 
 and when but partially recovered he again returned to duty and 
 assisted Governor .Andrew in organizing the first colored troops. In 
 April, 1863, he was promoted by President Lincoln a brigadier 
 general of volunteers, and proceeded to North Carolina before 
 his wound was healed. Here he raised a brigade of colored troops, 
 chiefly from among the newly emancipated slaves by colonizing them, 
 with headquarters at Newberne. Later, in July, he took a large 
 body of these raw colored troops to South Carolina, where they 
 did valuable service in the siege of Charleston. Once more 
 he returned to the recruiting work at Newberne, and in January, 
 1864, was in command of the district of Norfolk and Portsmouth. 
 The opening of the spring campaign in May, 1864, found our 
 indefatigable soldier again in the field, in command of colored 
 troops, participating in the siege operations against Petersburg 
 and Richmond until the autumn. During a part of this time he 
 was in command of a division containing three brigades of 
 infantry, besides artillery and cavalry — a portion of the 25th 
 .\rmy Corps, composed wholly of colored troops, — and on tlie 
 third of .April. 1865, he was among the first to enter Richmond 
 as the Davis government departed forever. Subsequently he was 
 
14 
 
 on duty in pursuit of the fugitive Richmond cabinet into North 
 Carolina, and indeed into Georgia. Did time allow, one could 
 dwell on much of agreeable anecdotal interest in the romantic and 
 picturesque career of this almost unit|ue character, who, in his 
 boundless devotion to his country's cause, knew no fear, and 
 no interest but that of her service. On May 24, 1S64, when in 
 charge of important army stores on the James River, he was sur- 
 rounded by a greater force under General P'itz-Hugh Lee. This 
 rebel general, in a note couched in terms of studied and direct 
 formality summoned him to surrender. Wild's laconic reply was 
 evidently unstudied, and so characteristically innocent of diplomacy 
 that it provokes a smile. He returned the note with his endorsement, 
 as follows : " We will try it. Ed. A. Wild, Brig. Gen'l Vol's." 
 
 The struggle came and Wild was victorious in holding his position, 
 although attacked from both sides of the river. Had (ieneral Lee 
 known Edward .A. Wild as well as some of us, he would have 
 realized how preposterous it was to make such a proposition to 
 him while life lasted. 
 
 Referring to my memoianda of conversations with General Wild, 
 I find much that, could it be related here, would be interesting, — 
 touching the last hours of that struggle in the rebel capital in which 
 he bore a part, and of his subsequent pursuit of those fugitives. His 
 later experience when in command of those raw colored troops in 
 North Carolina, and further southward whither he was sent after the 
 stirrender of Lee and pending the adjustment of Union jurisdiction 
 in those States, is also notable. It will be remembered that as the 
 Union forces approached Richmond and its evacuation was immi- 
 nent, Jefferson Davis with his companions fled by train with certain 
 portable property which included the specie of the banks, etc. 
 They carried also an important quantity of treasure of curious 
 interest, consisting of gold ornaments and silver plate, — it being con- 
 tributions of the women of Richmond to the rebel treasury in its 
 extremity, — some of which was distributed on the way to meet 
 expenses, and bore well-known rebel names. Their progress was 
 impeded and their railway connections broken, but the officials kept 
 on their course, and in advance of others who prompted by the 
 flight of their leaders were led to join in the general "Sar/ve qui pent." 
 
IS 
 
 It having become known that the Confederacy was at an end, 
 and reported that Davis had been captured, trains were pillaged by 
 the confederates themselves, their soldiers, their teamsters and others, 
 intent on securing their dues, or at all events their need. In Rich- 
 mond the confederates who remained were destroying their records, 
 their fortifications, their war material, and setting fire to their city, 
 the suppression of which fell upon the Union troops. Those in 
 charge of the gold of the banks temporarily secured it, although it was 
 ultimately seized by General Wild in conjunction with the Freedman's 
 Bureau Commission, with also a million dollars' worth of cotton. Sub- 
 sequently the treasure of the banks had other claimants, but it was 
 eventually turned into the treasury of the United States. General 
 Wild was mustered out of the United States service January 15, 1866. 
 
 There are many Brookhne names that find honorable place on the 
 muster-rolls of that war, to which we all refer with pride, for it is on 
 record that General Wild led in the list of forty-eight commissioned 
 officers furnished by this town, with 880 enlisted men, which notably 
 included five brothers of one family bearing the name of Richard- 
 son, and four of another, bearing the name of Dwight. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, the records of General Wild's distinguished military 
 services are permanent in the archives of his state and of the nation. 
 But we have thought it due to this gallant son of Brookline whom we 
 are here to commemorate — as well as to ourselves, — that the features 
 and individuality of such a citizen, after a career so notable, a service 
 so honorable, and a history so romantic, should not be allowed to 
 fade with his own generation, and without an especial recognition by 
 his fellow-citizens and his contemporaries ere their own stars are set. 
 
 I fiiin would hope that the day may come when the others of this 
 trio of young Spartans who from this town so readily enlisted in the 
 first fcomjiany of the First Massachusetts Regiment for that 
 memorable struggle, may by their portraits likewise have place with 
 the Lares and Penates of our Brookline houseliold. 
 
 General Wild's class of Harvard University made him a compli- 
 mentary presentation of a sword, at an early stage of the war, and 
 again manifested their appreciation of his character by an enduring 
 mural tablet of bronze in that Valhalla, the Memorial Hall of the 
 University, and also by personal subscriptions for this portrait. 
 
i6 
 
 Realizing that his wounds disabled him from again practising his 
 profession, General Wild turned his attention to mining enterprises, 
 with wide and diversified experience, more especially choosing his 
 interests in California, and also about Lake Superior. He pursued 
 these researches for some years with great persistency, but his 
 fortunes were varied, and on the whole disappointing, and finally he 
 accepted a proposition of a valued friend, to aid him in the survey 
 for a railroad in an inviting country, from the Magdellena River to the 
 City of Medellin. in the State of Antioquia, Republic of Colombia, 
 South America. He left New York. July ist, 1891, and reached his 
 destination the 30th. His old love of adventure and the novelty of 
 enterprise in such a new field were the incitements for him, and asso- 
 ciated with the work was a warm friendship which he enjoyed. There, 
 enervated by the heat of a tropical latitude — to which he was 
 imused, although living at a considerable altitude — he succumbed 
 after a short residence, dying amid appreciative and loving friends, 
 and, as it was written, "passed away peacefully," the 28th of August, 
 1891. 
 
 It is gratifying to relate that already during his stay in South 
 America he had found many friends. Within an hour after the 
 General's death, the American Vice-Consul, Seiior Lucian Santa 
 Maria, courteously proffered his personal and official services, 
 which were at that moment welcome. 
 
 The Governor, Secretary of State, and the Treasurer, paid their 
 official visits, and graciously tendered their services. The Com- 
 mandante called, by direction of the government, tendering his 
 personal services and military honors to the dead, as a General of 
 a friendly nation, and while a quiet and private funeral was desired, 
 his friends consented to an infantry escort. The Secretary of the 
 Treasury of the State was also attentive to the last. The invitations to 
 the funeral were delivered by special messengers of the government. 
 
 These obsequies were attended by the Governor, and by all the 
 officers of tiie State, who manifested their respects and paid every 
 honor, conceded from the friendliness he had inspired, and regard 
 due to his rank ; while the bells of the cathedral across the street 
 tolled a requiem as the procession moved. 
 
17 
 
 His friends there, and here at home, all hold with especial gratitude 
 the gracious conduct of that government and community on that 
 occasion. He had the friendly attentions of the Protestant minister 
 and his wife, an American lady, who in his illness furnished him with 
 delicacies, while English friends, with others, at the last laid upon 
 his coffin wreaths and garlands. 
 
 Perhaps it is not too much to say here, that that government and 
 the people recognized that they were rendering funeral honors to a 
 gallant Union officer who had fought and suffered for themselves, as 
 well as for the Great Republic — for that Greater Republic of which 
 Colombia and the United States are alike members — for the Com- 
 monwealth of American Nations. 
 
 Called unexpectedly to the preparation of these notes, I have 
 been more and again more impressed with the unique nature of our 
 heroic fellow-citizen and with the extraordinary and varied char- 
 acter of his career, for as the common phrase goes with his intimates, 
 "There was never but one Ned Wild." It is truthfully asserted that 
 through his whole service in the field he never used tobacco or tasted 
 intoxicating drink, not even beer. Wounded seriously and repeatedly, 
 and indeed crippled, still undaunted he persistently returned to the 
 service, and remained till mustered out at the very last. 
 
 One is tempted to characterize him as the Alpha and the Omega 
 of our service of that period. Let us preserve these memories and 
 render lasting the example of one who, with absolute unselfishness 
 and such vigorous loyalty in the great exigency, faithfully gave him- 
 self to the cause of his country. 
 
 We trust that this canvas may be treasured for its faithful por- 
 traiture, as also for its artistic worth. Painted from photographs 
 taken while he was in active service, it delineates an illustrious son of 
 Brookline, an heroic soldier, of gentle mold, an amiable and 
 exemplary citizen with a pure and unblemished record, who won 
 the respect, the gratitude and the unfeigned admiration of his 
 fellow-citizens. 
 
 " When hearts, whose truth was proven. 
 
 Like thine, are laid in earth, 
 There should a wreath be woven 
 To tell the world their worth." 
 
Acceptance of the Portrait by the Town. 
 
 The portrait of General Wild was accepted, on behalf of the 
 town of Brookline, by Mr. Horace James, chairman of the Board 
 of Selectmen, who spoke as follows : — 
 
 Mr. Chairman ami Gentlemen of the Committee hai'ing in charge 
 the matter of a Memorial Portrait of the late General Wild : 
 It gives me great pleasure to accept, on behalf of the town of 
 Brookline, the portrait of one of her illustrious sons : the portrait of 
 one who stood in the front rank of the patriotic, self-sacrificing men 
 of his day and generation ; of one who at the call of his country 
 did not hesitate to give up business, comfort, life itself, if need be, 
 in defence of its flag and the union of States. 
 
 The committee have expressed the wish that the portrait may be 
 placed in the reading-room of the Public Library, and in charge of its 
 trustees. In compliance with this wish the Selectmen request the 
 Trustees of the Public Library to take charge of the portrait, and to 
 place it in some conspicuous place in the reading-room, with the 
 hope that those, especially the younger portion of the persons who 
 may visit the room, may be prompted to enquire who and what 
 manner of man he was whose memory we thus seek to perpetuate. 
 And may the record of his life, and the example he has left us, 
 serve to inspire all, both now and in the future, with the same senti- 
 ments of patriotism and devotion to duty which we have seen 
 exemplified in him. 
 
Acceptance by the Public Library. 
 
 The trust was accepted, on behalf of the Pubhc Library, by 
 Charles H. Drew, Esq., chairman of its Board of Trustees, who 
 feelingly testified to the worth of the man whom the portrait repre- 
 sented, and spoke of the efforts of such patriots as General Wild, 
 which resulted in giving to us a united country. 
 
 Other speakers, who had been intimate friends of General Wild, 
 were : Hon. John W. Candler, Edward Atkinson, Clement K. 
 Fay, Moses Williams, Dr. Tappan E. Francis ; Prof. Charles J. 
 Capen, of the Boston Latin School, and Mr. Shattuck Hartwell, 
 Harvard classmates ; Fergus B. Turner, one of the two surviving 
 members of the original Brookline company now living in this 
 town ; Mr. Conant, of Boston, who served throughout the war with 
 General Wild, and Col. Charles E. Hapgood. 
 
Remarks of Hon. John W. Candler. 
 
 I appreciate the invitation to take some part on this interesting 
 occasion. It seems to me a gathering in which we all feel a sincere 
 and earnest purpose, and may congratulate ourselves that another 
 obligation we owe to our soldiers and posterity is being fulfilled. 
 .A,lthough the number assembled this evening is not large, we know 
 that we voice the patriotic sentiment of all the citizens of Brookline, 
 who have never failed, when the opportunity was offered, to recognize 
 the courage, the self-sacrifice and patriotism of the men they sent 
 to do battle for the Union. The portrait of this heroic man will 
 recall to all of us who knew him, how nobly and with what devotion 
 to the cause he aided in recruiting and organizing Company A of the 
 First Regiment, enlisted for three years by the State of Massachu- 
 setts. 
 
 General Wild was a marked and original character ; true to 
 his convictions on all occasions, the personification of devotion to 
 principle, — a man of faith, he would have died a martyr for any cause 
 he believed in and espoused. He was a leader of men and called 
 about him kindred spirits in his devotion to freedom and his country. 
 The story of his life, which this portrait will suggest, will prove to 
 be an inspiration to the highest duties of citizenship in the genera- 
 tions in this town that follow us. 
 
 My personal relations with General Wild were intimate. He was 
 my neighbor, companion and friend for many years. At some 
 other time I might speak of his humorous, quaint, attractive, social 
 qualities ; but tonight, under the shadow of a very recent event, as I 
 attempt to recall the garnered years, so many memories crowd upon 
 me with which he and my family are associated that I cannot attempt 
 
it. I feel too much in the mood and spirit of that beautiful poem of 
 Emerson's, as he revisited the old homestead in Concord : — 
 
 " Knows he who tills this lonely lielil, 
 To reap its scanty corn, 
 What mystic fruit his acres yield, 
 At midnight and at morn ? 
 
 " In the long sunny afternoon. 
 
 The plain was full of ghosts ! 
 I wandered up, I wandered down, 
 
 Beset hy pensive hosts. 
 
 " I touch this flower of silken leaf. 
 
 Which once our childhood knew; 
 It's soft leaves wound me with a grief 
 Whose balsam never grew." 
 
 I had many associations and conferences with the officers of Com- 
 pany A, and followed them with careful watchfulness on every march 
 and in every battle. I will refer to only one visit to their regiment, 
 which indicates how little many of us comprehended in the early 
 months of the war, its magnitude and the sacrifices of the terrible 
 struggle. After the battle of Bull Run, I spent a week or ten days 
 with the officers of Company A, when their regiment was stationed 
 at Budd's Ferry, under General Joseph Hooker, who commanded 
 that brave and gallant Division of the old Third Corps. The 
 regiment was in fine condition, and although they had been in 
 battle, and were then often under fire, and knew something of the 
 hardships and dangers of a soldier, they were all cheerful and 
 hopeful, and music and amusement were part of their daily life. I 
 shared it with them, and enjoyed it with them. But when the day 
 came to bid them good-bye, just before the Peninsular campaign, I 
 felt the parting. Five of the officers of that regiment were intimate 
 friends and constant companions, — Lieut. -Col. George D. Wells, 
 Major Charles P. Chandler, Capt. Edward A. Wild, ist Lieut. Wm. 
 L. Candler, 2d Lieut. Charles L. Chandler. As I looked at them, 
 as they stood in the sunlight on that beautiful morning on the banks 
 of the Potomac, I said to myself: Some one of you I shall never see 
 
again. I did not tiien believe the fearful sacrifice of the war would 
 claim more than one in five, but when the war was over, three of 
 them had been killed on the field of battle, and Wild returned home 
 to us shattered and maimed by the bullets of his foes. This incident 
 connected with the history of one company, illustrates what the 
 heroic men of 1861 faced, to preserve to us the union of the States. 
 
 It is most gratifying that this portrait of General Wild is so suc- 
 cessfully painted, and we have reason to congratulate the citizens of 
 the town and to feel grateful to our fellow- citizen, Mr. Kennard, who, 
 in giving the portrait in charge to our town government, contributes 
 his comprehensive and eloquent address. We who knew General 
 Wild, recognize the tribute of a friend as well as a patriotic citizen, 
 who appreciated the importance of the war and all the results it 
 accomplished. His address will add an interesting and valuable 
 chapter to the history of the town. 
 
 We must 'not forget, on this occasion, that every monument we 
 rear, that every name we can inscribe on marble or bronze, that the 
 lineaments we can have traced on canvas for future generations to 
 look upon, are not personal alone to the heroic leaders, but emble- 
 matical that the people hold in unfading remembrance the heroes 
 they led — the rank and file that may have no monuments. 
 
 The three commissioned officers that Brookline sent, to lead her 
 soldiers on many a hard-fought field, have now all entered into the 
 silence. The " sound of the trumpet and the noise of the battle " 
 can reach them no more. Their record is finished. That record of 
 men so brave and true, who never faltered in their duty, I believe 
 will always be remembered and cherished with pride and honor by 
 the citizens of the town. 
 
Remarks of Clement K. Fay, Esq. 
 
 General Wild was a good many years older than I but my 
 acquaintance with him began in my childhood, when he was known 
 as the "Young Doctor," to distinguish him from his able and some- 
 what eccentric father, the " Old Doctor." It was at a time when 
 Brookline was much more rural than it is now. Its pleasant lanes 
 and shady streets, bounded by old-fashioned stone walls, and its 
 green fields and smiling meadows made it far more attractive, in my 
 hunil)le judgment, than it is now, since it has undergone what is 
 commonly called "improvement." (Applause.) 
 
 I gratefully endorse all that has been said this evening in praise of 
 General Wild's conspicuous bravery and his many other manly 
 qualities, but I trust it may not seem inappropriate to recall some of 
 the other traits and accomplishments of this many-sided man. He 
 had a keen sense of humor and a lively appreciation of fun, and his 
 hearty laugh was most contagious. 
 
 Fiefore the war, he was the leader of a select amateur musical 
 organization in BrookHne called "The Hypnophonians." This name 
 was derived from two Greek words signifying " Sleep-Destroyers." 
 It was a brass band and its members were well-known citizens of tlie 
 town. Our worthy friend Dr. Francis, who sits on my left, was the 
 president of the organization and played the triangle. Our gallant 
 and beloved Colonel Candler was an enthusiastic member and could 
 play on almost any instrument. Our esteemed fellow-townsman, 
 Mr. James P. Stearns, played the trombone. The Hypnophonians 
 used to rehearse in a vacant room over Palmer's paint shop, in an 
 old wooden building which stood where Mr. Goodspeed's stable is 
 now. The rehearsals were kept up to a late hour, and General 
 
24 
 
 Wild used to continue his practice on the bugle as he walked up 
 Washington Street to his father's house, next the Blake estate, 
 regaling the inhabitants of the town with solos in the stillness of 
 midnight. 
 
 I well remember attending some of the concerts given by the 
 Hypnophonians, when I was a boy, in the old Town Hall which 
 stood on the site of the present one. Their repertoire was com- 
 paratively limited and they did not attempt anything very ambitious 
 in a musical way — at least in public. The two pieces that they 
 knew and played best were the " Fireman's Fest March " and the 
 "Amelia Waltzes." (Laughter.) It is needless to say that these 
 two selections were sure to find a place on every programme, whether 
 at a concert or serenade. Several of the inhabitants used to be 
 serenaded more or less, especially those who would be most likely 
 to throw open their doors and e.xtenil their hospitality to the 
 members of the band. 
 
 During the war several of the Hypnophonians, besides General 
 Wild, were in active service in the field and the meetings were 
 suspended for several years, but after the war they were resumed 
 with the addition of several new members, among whom I had the 
 honor to be counted. At these meetings it was customary to recall 
 some of the experiences of the Hypnophonians before the war and 
 I shall always remember, with great pleasure, the almost boyish 
 interest that Cieneral Wild took in hearing and recounting them. 
 His merry laugh still lingers in my ears. It was thought at first, 
 after the band was reorganized, that the General, who had formerly 
 played the bugle, would be unable to take an active part but with 
 characteristic ingenuity he surmounted that difficulty by playing the 
 bass drum and cymbals — two instruments instead of one. He 
 used to put the bass drum in an arm chair and place one cymbal 
 on the floor, tying the other one to his foot, so that he could beat 
 on both at the same time. 
 
 One night, before the war, the Hypnophonians started out to 
 serenade Mr. Moses Williams, the father of my life-long friend and 
 contemporary who is here with us to-night and who bears the same 
 honored name. That name was then, as it is now, the synonym in 
 
25 
 
 our town for genial and generous hospitality. It was to be a 
 serenade of more than ordinary interest as they were to try, for the 
 first time, a patent lamp which was fastened to the breast of each 
 member so that he could see the notes of the music. They 
 assembled in Mr. Williams' orchard, under the window, and began 
 as usual with the "Fireman's Fest March." (Laughter.) Either 
 from haste or inexperience the wicks of the lamps were not properly 
 adjusted and some of them began to smoke and choke the players so 
 that the opening piece came to an abrupt and disastrous ending, and 
 they had to readjust the lights, which occupied some time. When they 
 were ready to begin again, General Wild had taken off his lamp and 
 fastened it to the bow of an apple tree. As he gave the signal for a 
 second start the sight was so ludicrous that the members broke down 
 again with a burst of laughter. Meanwhile Mr. Williams, to whom 
 these serenades were no novelty, had risen and hurriedly dressed 
 himself, and rushing down stairs invited the members into the house 
 and entertained them in his usual hearty fashion. After the collation 
 one of the band suggested that they should continue the serenade 
 in the house, where there was a good light. (General Wilde used to 
 tell us that he could never forget the eager and fervent way in which 
 Mr. Williams assured them that he would not think of troubhng 
 them to finish the serenade as he was sure they must have several 
 other places where they wanted to go that evening ; so they reluct- 
 antly withdrew. (Laughter.) 
 
 I could recall many other interesting stories of this sort about 
 General Wild and the Hypnophonians, but this is scarcely the 
 time for doing so. 
 
 I trust I am guilty of no impropriety, on this solemn occasion, in 
 venturing to speak of what was really one of the most charming 
 characteristics of General Wild. It is surely pleasant to feel, as 
 we gaze at the portrait of this hero looking so stern and soldier-like, 
 that he had always with him, when off duty, this healthy and genuine 
 sense of humor to shed its sunlight on his pathway through life. 
 (Applause.) 
 
Remarks of Shattuck Hartwell. 
 
 Mr. Chairman : 
 
 I ask pardon for my rather tardy response to your call upon me, 
 and I can only plead in excuse that it took me quite by surprise, 
 as I had not expected to speak here tonight, but came as a listener 
 only. And I have listened with the deepest interest to the felicit- 
 ous remarks of previous speakers, especially to your own admirable 
 address. 
 
 My friendship with Edward A. Wild was such, and so lasting, my 
 associations with him so peculiar, that I hardly dare trust myself to 
 speak of them in this presence, but I cannot be wholly silent now, 
 at your renewed call. My acquaintance with him began quite early 
 in our freshman year, and my first distinct remembrance of him is of 
 being in his room, in Stoughton Hall, when Rev. Dr. Pierce called 
 upon him, and of being very greatly impressed by the evidently tender 
 interest of that venerable gentleman in his young parishioner, and 
 by Wild's frank and cordial manner with the good doctor. Later in 
 that first freshman term. Wild invited me to his delightful home in 
 your beautiful town, and from that time through our whole college 
 course, and also later while I was still at Harvard, I was always made 
 most cordially welcome to its genial and generous hospitality. .And 
 while memory lasts I can never forget my many pleasant hours and 
 associations in his charming family. 
 
 In college, Wild held excellent rank as a classical scholar and was 
 greatly distinguished in mathematics — especially in the higher 
 mathematics. Indeed, no one in the class surpassed him in natural 
 aptitude or genius for the higher mathematics, and therein was his 
 especial forte. Those terse words of his defiant reply to Fitz- 
 
27 
 
 Hugh Lee's summons to surrender, — " We'll Iry tJuit !'' — \ have 
 often heard from him when confronting an obscure passage in Latin 
 or Greek, or before his always successful grapple with some diffi- 
 cult mathematical problem. And when in the papers of that time 
 I read his reply to Lee, I said, exultingly, to my family, — "That's 
 the same Ned Wild of our class ! " As a writer in the class his 
 style was clear, logical and terse, sparing of rhetoric and wasting 
 no words. He would sometimes surprise his friends, and his own 
 family, indeed, by some entirely unexpected achievement. A 
 notable one, of which I was a glad witness, was when he brought 
 home from Philadelphia, either at Thanksgiving or at Christmas, his 
 medical degree, won upon a brilliant examination and a full year in 
 advance of the regular course. His medical father's exultant pride 
 was quite phenominal to hear and see. Wild had tried that feat, 
 too, and won as usual. 
 
 In any emergency he was one of the readiest and most alert, — 
 level-headed always. For instance, in the last term of our senior 
 year at Har\-ard, on June 17th, then a holiday, Wild and three others 
 
 of us, classmates, took a long ride on horseback, and returning from 
 
 « 
 Brookline into Boston, at evening, we were passing over the Milldam 
 
 when we saw, and seeing, watched in the bright moonlight a small 
 sailboat heading directly toward that highway, and not far distant. 
 Suddenly one of our party. Wild I think, shouted, " She's capsized ! " 
 as the fact was, in tacking with rather a stiff breeze. We rode at 
 full speed to the landing at Braman's bath-house, left our four horses 
 in charge of the nen-ofts man of the party, the others sprang into a 
 boat, Wild leading, pulled swiftly to the floating boat and took from 
 her upturned keel three men, somewhat water-soaked and rather 
 more sober than they had been, apparently, under sail. 
 
 Again, and more notably, he was with the very foremost, in 1861, 
 when he so promptly volunteered, after the fall of Fort Sumter, 
 raised and led to the front Company A of the First Massachusetts 
 Regiment, literally the initial company of that great array of Massa- 
 chusetts Volunteers. Wild's military ser\aces and success were 
 matters of great pride and rejoicing among his classmates. After 
 his wounds in battle on the Peninsula and the lo.ss of his arm at 
 
28 
 
 South Mountain, the class gave him an elegant dress sword. And 
 in this year, they have placed in Memorial Hall at Harvard a 
 beautiful medallion in bronze, commemorative of his battles. 
 
 I count it my good fortune to have been for a brief time his guest 
 in camp, when he was in command at Newport News, in the early 
 autumn of 1.S64, and later, in the last campaign before Richmond ; to 
 have shared his headquarters at the front, nominally of his staff but 
 without rank. Ami I must always regret that a summons home, on 
 leave of absence, because of serious illness in my family, lost me the 
 honor of riding into Richmond with him, at the head of the. 2Sth 
 Army Corps, Colored Troops, among the foremost, if not truly the 
 first to enter the fallen city. 
 
 But I must not longer test your patience. I rejoice sincerely in 
 this fit occasion, and that I can share it with you, his fellow-citizens 
 of Brookline. I am glad indeed to see this life-like portrait of your 
 gallant soldier and good citizen, my beloved classmate and friend, 
 given such place of honor in your public library, and I trust it will 
 remain there while these walls endure, an incentive to manly duty, 
 whether military or civil, and commemorative of an unselfish and 
 noble life. 
 
GRAVE OF GENERAL WILD, 
 Al Medellin. Colombia, Soulh Amefica. 
 
013