mm 
 
 I to Ml at Vera Cm, March 22, 1847. 
 
 "In science, in erudition, in taste ; in honor, in generosity, in humanity; in overy 
 liberal sentiment, and every liberal accomplishment." Burke. 
 
 NEWPORT, E. I.: 
 
 I)\VTS AND PITMAN, PRINTERS. 
 
 1878. 
 

 OF 
 
 Who Ml at Vera Cm, March 22, 1847. 
 
 'In science, in erudition, in taste ; in honor, . in generosity, in humanity ; in every 
 liberal sentiment, and every liberal accomplishment." Burke. 
 
 NEWPOKT, B. I.: 
 
 DAVIS AND PITMAN, PRINTERS, 
 
 1878. 
 
When one of the countless shots thrown in a siege and 
 defence, which might have spent itself in the air or on the 
 ground, takes suddenly out of life a mature and accomplished 
 man, we are made to feel how serious are the chances of war, 
 and how heavily its issues of death may come upon the coun-. 
 try and the public service, as well as on the distant circle of 
 private Ufe. Nor are we willing that the loss of such a man 
 should receive only the official or temporary notices of the 
 event and manner of his death. 
 
 A graduate of West Point, a Master of Arts in a leading 
 New England college, a scholar in the ' Greek, Latin and 
 Hebrew languages, carefully and extensively read in theology 
 (for many years his favorite study), well versed in meta 
 physics, ethics, constitutional and international law, and in 
 an unusual degree acquainted with the rules of municipal and 
 technical jurisprudence, a master of Mathematics and of the 
 scientific part of his own profession, which he had practiced 
 from a boy, well instructed and deeply interested in astron 
 omy, chemistry and most of the physicial sciences, so skill 
 ful and so tasteful with his pencil as to have given his 
 pictures a rank among the works of professed artists, and 
 made them intrinsically valuable gifts to his friends, with 
 intellectual powers unusually good by nature, and scrupu 
 lously cultivated and held under absolute discipline, with a 
 grave and serious cast of mind from childhood, resulting in 
 a deep-seated and mastering principle of religion, a father, a 
 son and a brother, with a heart set on the kindly affections, 
 bound to life by every tie such a man, so constituted by 
 nature and so elaborately fitted and adorned for future 
 action, the cruel chances of war, and accidental shot, (I 
 speak as a fool), a senseless iron ball, has in a moment taken 
 
 
6 
 
 at Tampico, and no longer ago than yesterday lamented to 
 me that he had received no advices as yet of the appoint 
 ment. He spoke of it again this evening, with highly 
 complimentary reference to Vinton's gallant and* distin 
 guished services at Monterey. General Scott repeated this 
 evening that the instantaneous surrender of the city and 
 castle would not assuage his grief, nor compensate the coun 
 try for the loss of such a son." Toward evening of the 22d 
 March, Major Vinton went out upon an exposed situation, 
 to watch the effect of our shot, and the direction of that 
 from the enemy. He remained there for some time, came 
 down, and said to Major Martin Scott, who commanded the 
 covering party. " Tell the officers, Major, as you pass the 
 mortars, that our guns are working accurately." He had 
 just returned to his post, when a huge shell, striking the 
 top of the parapet, glanced and struck his head, fracturing 
 the skull. He fell instantly dead, lying upon his back, with 
 his arms crossed over his breast, his face, as an officer writes 
 who was present, "retaining its habitual expression, sedate 
 and earnest, but not harsh." The officers and men rushed 
 to him as he fell, and gathered about him. The shell did 
 not burst, fortunately, for it was found to be charged with a 
 pound of powder, and 320 musket balls. Upon his body 
 were found letters from his children, stained with his life 
 blood, which flowed from a wound in his breast. He was 
 buried in the military coat in which he fell. The funeral was 
 attended by the general -in -chief and all the officers who 
 could be spared from duty, and the service of the Church 
 was read over him by a brother officer, a friend of many 
 years, amid the roar of cannon, the falling of the enemy's 
 shot, and the whirling of sand in the fierce Norther- 
 snatched from the victory of the morrow, that his spirit 
 might gain a greater victory over death and the grave. 
 
 Having had the melancholy privilege of reading portions 
 of the journals and letters of the deceased, and haviDg 
 learned many particulars of his life from the best sources, I 
 have desired to perform one of the duties a citizen owes to 
 such a man, by presenting his character and services to the 
 
sympathy and admiration they so justly deserve. But I find 
 it will be impossible, within the limits of these columns, to 
 give*even a rapid sketch of his life, with such anecdotes and 
 extracts from his journals and letters as will exhibit him in 
 the light in which he has always appeared to those who 
 knew him. It is almost impossible to make selections where 
 there are so abundant materials, each portion of which ex 
 hibits some trait we are unwilling to omit. The evidence 
 presented by these letters and journals, and the letters ad 
 dressed to him at various periods, is 'of a kind not to be 
 doubted. Opinions expressed after a melancholy or glorious 
 death are apt to be over favorable to the former life and 
 character; but there is no severer trial and no more trium 
 phant issue than when a man is weighed by contemporane 
 ous evidence, furnished without favor or reference to future 
 effect. Tried in this balance, all will agree, nay will ardently 
 proclaim that in Major Vinton, the country has lost a man 
 of extraordinary qualities of mind and heart, who, had he 
 lived, would have adorned the highest stations in his pro 
 fession in a manner not to be always expected of merely 
 military men. 
 
 The son of a lady of uncommon powers of mind, joined 
 with great worth and influence of character, the elder of 
 four brothers, now distinguished in the church and army, 
 he was a boy of unusual promise at school, and was cele 
 brated at West Point, where his instructors, in letters 
 written at the time, pronounced him " unrivalled " in genius, 
 acquirements, and high tone of moral character. He received 
 a commission when scarcely seventeen, was employed for 
 several years on topographical duty on the Atlantic coast 
 and the Canada line, and yet was so good a tactician, that 
 at an early age he was appointed by Gen. Eustis, adjutant 
 at the school of practice, and gave entire satisfaction in 
 that arduous office to a fastidious commander. While resid 
 ing at Washington, as aid to Gen. Brown, he was employed 
 by the government in several duties of a special nature, and 
 certain papers which he prepared were so generally admired 
 in Congress, that in a leading speech in favor of the Military 
 
8 
 
 Academy, Lieut. Vinton was referred to as an instance of 
 the kind of men the system of that institution could pro 
 duce. * 
 
 Indeed, success might be predicted in every thing he 
 undertook ; for he had too much self-knowledge to under 
 take what he was not fitted for, and an energy, method, and 
 high spirit, which yielded to nothing short of necessity. 
 Until the breaking out of the Florida War, nearly all his life 
 was passed in garrison duty on the sea-board, where he had 
 great advantages for the pursuit of his studies. His 
 furloughs were spent in traveling, or in the refined society 
 found in the larger cities, and among libraries and works of 
 art, in which he delighted. His chief recreation was with 
 his pencil, in copying frV>m nature or the great masters, 
 chiefly in land -scapes or scriptural subjects, and his passion 
 for this art seemed to grow "with every year of his life. But 
 he constantly bent the powers of his mind to hard and sys 
 tematic study. The secret of his success is to be found in 
 a few lines of a confidential letter to a young friend, written 
 about this time ; " I have been thought over rigid, and even 
 heartless, in my requirements for the formation of excellent 
 character ; but it is because I have seen how idle, how sense 
 less and pernicious, are the ordinary habits and views of 
 young men, that I became so exigeant in my beau-ideal. I 
 could repudiate all pleasures that do not please on reflec 
 tion, and abandon every pursuit that does not lead to 
 substantial results. I speak now of precepts applicable to 
 young men of ambition those who wish to be useful or 
 distinguished in the world. As to drones, I make no rules 
 for them." 
 
 By the pursuit of such a course of rigid self-denial and 
 discipline, he was able to perform labors in various depart 
 ments of art and science, in such a manner as to command 
 the respect of men to whom those pursuits were profes 
 sional. The works of his pencil are received among artists ; 
 his correspondence upon astronomical subjects were valued 
 by men of science ; his general scholarship procured him a 
 degree of Master of Arts in a leading University ; his 
 
 
edition of the work on military tactics was highly satisfac 
 tory to the government and the general-in-chief ; and in the 
 second volume of Mr. Sunmer's Reports, the lawyer will 
 find an argument prepared by him in a case in which he was 
 personally interested, depending before Judge Story, to 
 which that judge paid the best compliment of following in 
 his decision, the same course of reasoning pursued in the 
 argument 
 
 His letters show him to have been as remarkable for the 
 soundness of his views as for his acquisitions. With refer 
 ence to several political and theological subjects of those 
 times, they show us how a thoughtful man, removed from 
 the strife of parties and the whirl of events, may take the 
 same views at which the actors come to after the retrospec 
 tion of years. 
 
 But that which most interests us in his character, is the 
 tenderness and depth of his affections. He had married a 
 lady of distinguished merit and beauty, who died early, 
 leaving three children, two daughters and a son, who now 
 survive both their parents. In his relations as a father, a 
 husband, a son, and a brother, he was sensitive to every im 
 pression, and gave and received exquisite pleasure in the 
 interchanges of affection and esteem. In one letter we find 
 an earnest plea for the paternal affection, in answer to a 
 suggestion that it might interfere with the love and duty 
 we owe to the Most High. He speaks from the heart, and 
 and will not permit the natural affections to be severed from 
 religion, and set over against the love of God. 
 
 Indeed, the tone of his mind was grave, and its tendencies 
 religious and peaceful. So far was he from falling into the 
 error, common among young military men, of supposing it 
 necessary to profess fondness for war, that he never hesi 
 tated to deprecate it as the greatest evil. At the time of 
 the threatened rupture with France, and again with Great 
 Britain, his letters are full of expressions of hope that peace 
 may be preserved, and of suggestions as to the mode of 
 securing it; while he was faithfully preparing himself for 
 duty in the field. But still more earnest is he when, during 
 
10 
 
 the Sonth Carolina difficulties, a civil war seemed impending. 
 " Supposing victory to crown either standard, there is noth 
 ing to be hoped for in the subsequent acts of the prevailing 
 party which will promise uinch for the welfare of the coun 
 try, or of the human family. Arms, therefore, is an alterna 
 tive to be deprecated beyond measure. The lessons which 
 are read to us daily from South America, are sufficient to 
 teach the dullest understanding on this point. This is not 
 a government to be supported by bayonets, nor the contro 
 versy one of physical prowess. Any arbitration is better 
 than successful contest in the field." 
 
 While in Florida, in the prosecution of the war, his mind 
 came under the influence of religion far more than ever be 
 fore. His whole soul was warmed into a new life, and for a 
 while, like the bewildered apostles, he seemed to " stand 
 gazing up into heaven." His journal and letters during this 
 period are of the most intensely interesting character. 
 Nothing in the famed life of Martyn more touches the 
 heart, than the humility, self-accusation, and child-like de- 
 votedness of the high-minded, heroic man. At a secluded 
 post, in the midst of the interminable pine forests, 
 the solitude and silence of which he describes as 
 awful and almost oppressive, far from his family and 
 friends, his mind and affections ripened into the highest 
 state of Christian experience and discipline. He then 
 turned his thoughts, or rather, they were turned for 
 him, towards the office of the Christian ministry. His let 
 ters are full of doubts, hopes and plannings for taking Holy 
 Orders. He ears that his health will not enable him to 
 follow a sedentary life ; he doubts his fitness ; fears that 
 selfish motives, the prospect of being with his family and 
 friends, may combine with others ; and examines himself in 
 the most thorough and humble manner. He cannot honor 
 ably quit the army then in the field, and the prospect of 
 retiring from it was somewhat distant. His pecuniary 
 affairs, too, were hardly such as to warrant him in yielding 
 up all income for three or four years, and the banks in 
 which his property was invested were embarrassed and in 
 
danger. Then too, he doubts if he is not too old to begin 
 the study of a new profession ; but modestly considers his 
 acquirements in the languages,, and avers that he aims at 
 Ho distinction as a scholar or a preacher, but only at that 
 degree of fitness which the rules of the Church require, to 
 enable him to do his work in some humble part of the vine 
 yard. To lose no time he sends for books, and in his tent 
 and in the forest he pores over the Greek and Hebrew, 
 the commentators and sermonizers, and devoutly uses the 
 best books of meditation and reflection. He prepared sev^ 
 eral outlines of sermons, and in his choice of subjects leaned 
 towards those of a pathetic and personal character, that are 
 more likely to bring tears into the eyes than to tax the 
 understanding. As another preparation, he used to read 
 parts of the service aloud by himself in the forest. He says 
 in his journal : " It requires time and habitude for one to 
 become reconciled to the sound of his own voice. It throws 
 one at first into absolute trepidation. In the solitude it is 
 sufficiently appalling. What must it be in an assembly of 
 people, a silent auditory, where a thousand eyes are fixed 
 upon you, a whole congregation of faces bent upon you, ready 
 to criticise and condemn the slightest fault ?" This from a 
 man who could stand with firm nerves a three-hours' fire from 
 concealed Indians, scale the heights and walls of Monterey, 
 ad face the blazing batteries of Vera Cruz ! 
 
 In a letter from Fort Taylor, he says : " Since I have been 
 here, which is five or six weeks, the following has been my 
 daily course : Rise at reveille, private devotions, study Greek 
 and Hebrew. Walk to my palmetto temple, . a mile distant. 
 Church service aloud. Return to reading. Dinner. Read 
 ing aloud with Major G. Study Greek an hour. Walk with 
 Major G. to palmetto temple, social prayer and hymn. Re 
 turn to tea. Bible class of twenty soldiers and two or three 
 officers in the evening. After tattoo, retire to my tent, Greek 
 and Hebrew or religious reading, private devotions and bed. 
 On Sundays we have public worship, with good attendance 
 from men and officers, the Major and I officiating alternately. 
 Our interruptions are so few, that the foregoing routine is 
 
12 
 
 carried on with great regularity day after day.^ It is proper 
 to remark, that this is from a letter written to one whom he? 
 had selected as a confidential adviser in his religions habit> 
 and studies. 
 
 Bnt it IB in vain to attempt to do justice to this period of 
 his life. Perhaps it had been better to pass it by in silence, 
 It is of a sacred and private nature, and may not be under 
 stood or appreciated when so hastily noticed. 
 
 It was Capt Vinton's fortune to be engaged in one of the 
 few battles of that distasteful war, the action at Lake Munroe. 
 The event, and his own feelings, are faithfully described in 
 his letter of February 12, 1837 : " I have at last been an actor 
 in the trying scenes of a battle. Hostile bullets have whistled 
 their strange music in my ears, and my hitherto untried 
 nerves have been tested by the crisis, which puts them to the 
 severest trial. The ordeal has been passed, I may say suc 
 cessfully. I am assured of my ability to be composed and 
 self-possessed, though my comrades were falling on my right 
 hand and my left." 
 
 "Early in the morning of the 8th inst., half an hour before 
 light, we were aroused by the war-cry of the savages, and a 
 fire was poured into our camp on all sides, except that towards 
 the lake. Our men, though recruits, almost without excep 
 tion, repaired with alacrity to their posts and returned upon 
 the enemy full volleys of musketry. The morning was ren 
 dered still more obscure by a dense fog, which, with the 
 smoke from the fire-arms, nearly concealed the enemy from 
 our sight. But we had the direction with sirfficient precision 
 and poured in our shot with interest. For three hours this 
 conflict continued, with only one or two slight intermissions, 
 our men gaining confidence and enthusiasm every moment. 
 At length the savages began to slacken their fire, and made off 
 carrying their dead and wounded, but leaving behind many 
 articles which they would never have relinquished but for 
 discomfiture and necessity. They came down upon us with 
 all their force, thinking perhaps, to take possession of our 
 camp. Their numbers were large, variously estimated at from 
 three to five hundred, and their fire was sustained with a 
 
13 
 
 vigor and pertinacity unprecedented." In this action Capi 
 Mellon was killed, and Lieut. McLaughlin and thirteen 
 privates wounded. One man was struck down at Capt. Vin- 
 ton's side, so near as to cover him with his blood. 
 
 Although officers were brevetted and promoted who did 
 not see an Indian nor hear the crack of a rifle during the 
 whole war, and appointments were made from political 
 motives, over the heads of the regular officers, yet Capt. 
 Vinton received no favor- from the source of official honor. 
 This has always been considered a gross injustice. Doubt 
 less it was so ; but there were reasons which account for, 
 though they do not excuse it. He would never make, nor 
 permit his friends to make for him, those efforts through 
 lobbies and ante-chambers which so often determine official 
 favor. But chiefly, it should be considered, that his inten 
 tion of leaving the army and taking Holy orders was well 
 known ; and on applying for a furlough at the end of the 
 season, he had intimated his intention to resign his com 
 mission. 
 
 The continuance of the war in Florida, and the financial 
 difficulties of the country, as well as his uncertain health, 
 obliged him to abandon his cherished hope of the ministry, 
 and he made up his mind to devote the remainder of his life 
 to the duties of his profession, to general studies and to the 
 education of his children. 
 
 Being at Providence during the Dorr insurrection, he 
 entered ardently into the cause of the State, and saw the 
 necessity of military organization and discipline to save the 
 lives and property, and what is more than ]ife or property, 
 of the inhabitants from the recklessness of an armed mob. 
 He hastened to Washington and asked for authority to offer 
 his services to the State. This was not given, and he was 
 told that he must act on his own responsibility. As he was 
 not forbidden he took the responsibility ; and had he been 
 called to account, would have made any sacrifice for the good 
 of his native State. He knew the risk he ran, for it was 
 generally feared that if the Dorr movement prevailed in 
 Providence, it would also prevail in Washington. The people 
 
 
 
14 
 
 of Rhode Island well remember and appreciate the value of 
 his military counsels in that crisis, of his incessant disciplining' 
 of the volunteer companies, and the spirit and intelligence 
 infused into the young citizen soldiers by his course of mili 
 tary lectures. And we rejoice to know that Rhode Island i 
 to pay to his memory the highest honor a republic can pay to 
 one who has served his country faithfully unto death the 
 honor of reverently transporting his remains from the field of 
 his fame to the land of his birth, and of interring them among 
 his kindred with the testimonials of a public funeral. She 
 may be congratulated on being able to add the name of Vinton 
 to those of Greene, Perry, Olney, and others of her sons, who 
 in every war on sea and on land, in every part of this conti 
 nent, from Lake Erie to Vera Cruz, have up-borne the honor 
 of that high-spirited State. 
 
 While stationed at the arsenal at Augusta, Georgia, he 
 received orders to join the army of Gen. Taylor, on its march 
 from Rio Grande into the interior of Mexico. During this 
 march, he performed the duties of a field officer, often with a 
 separate command, a proof of peculiar confidence In an ene 
 my's country. He was sent to take possession of Mier, which 
 it was thought would be defended, and to act as governor of 
 the place during its occupation. This he did and remained 
 there until the main army passed on, and then rejoined it in 
 season to act a conspicuous part in the battle of Monterey. 
 His letters, journals and pencil sketches give excellent des 
 criptions of the scenery and inhabitants of his new country, 
 their religion, dress, habits and characters, and present a fine 
 illustration of the uses to which a man of thought and science 
 may put a toilsome and oppressive march. But his letters 
 are yet more marked by his characteristic strength of affection. 
 At every stage he corresponds regularly with eacli of his 
 children, giving most excellent and affectionate advice, and 
 often touching upon the holiest and most sublime topics. 
 From the rude furniture of his tent, surrounded by armed 
 men and the strongest and coarsest developments of life, he 
 writes a beautiful, critical and sober-minded essay on the- 
 presence and agency of the spirits of departed friends, in 
 
15 
 
 which he gives his views of the subject on scriptural grounds, 
 and upon reasons drawn from natural religion and philosophy. 
 Another to his daughter, contains some valuable remarks on 
 the choice of companions in a large school, and one to his son 
 presents in a clear and simple manner, suited to a boy's 
 capacity, the difference between envy and emulation, and 
 gives earnest warning against seeking for relative distinction. 
 All are marked by a, sense of the reality of a superintending 
 Providence, and a full belief in an intelligent, personal, 
 sympathetic Supreme Being. In all, he endeavors to instil 
 the governing principle of his own life, a sense of duty. To 
 other friends he writes with vigor and animation upon the 
 campaign and its results, and confesses himself deeply inter 
 ested in it. After alluding to the hardships of the march, he 
 says: "Yet there is excitement and manly emprise, and on 
 the whole I am far better pleased here than when luxuriating 
 in the polished halls of Augusta Arsenal/' On the night of the 
 battle of Monterey, he writes to his daughter, showing a 
 spirit of preparation for the duties and chances of the mor 
 row, which could not but insure him success in whatever 
 might fall to his lot to attempt. 
 
 He was with Gen. Worth's division and was actively and 
 prominently engaged in the operations of each day. He was 
 with the troops as they passed so long under the fire from the 
 two heights, in the storming of those heights, the capture of 
 the palace, and the penetrating into the town, the digging 
 through walls and firing from house-tops. He was in five 
 several engagements, in each of which he was exposed to 
 severe fire from the enemy. In the storming of the second 
 hill, he led a battalion on one side of the hill, while Col. 
 Childs commanded on the other, and after forcing their way 
 up over rocks and brambles, amid a shower of musket balls, 
 they drove the enemy from the top, at the point of the bayo 
 net, and forced them to retreat to the stronghold of the 
 bishop's palace. 
 
 The part performed by him in the capture of the bishop's 
 palace was of so distinguished a character, and attracted such 
 admiration at the time, that it deserves a full recital here. 
 
 
16 
 
 We cannot present a juster description of it than is contained 
 in a letter from Capt. Blanchard, who served under him at 
 the time. " I found Capt. J. R Vinton in command of the 
 advance, and he then told me that his plan was to try to draw 
 the enemy from their position in and near the palace, and 
 when they were fairly out, to rise and charge them vigorous 
 ly and if possible to get possession of the palace. The ad- 
 Tance was covered as much as possible behind the rocks, to 
 protect them from the dreadful shower of grape and musket 
 ry which the enemy kept up from their defences. I asked him 
 if we should advance or fire. He told me that I might ad 
 vance if I did not expose my men too much, and that he 
 wished me to fall back whenever I saw the enemy coming out. 
 until we were upon his line of ambush, and then to close on 
 him and rush on them. It was a well conceived plan and the 
 result showed that it was well executed. The enemy were 
 induced to come out |ind charge, and as they came up the 
 hill, Capt. Vinton shouted, 'now my men, close and drive 
 them !' With a will they closed to centre, delivered their 
 fire and with charged bayonets rushed on the Mexicans. They 
 were thunder-struck, and after a moment's stand, broke and 
 ran. Our men were in the palace and fort before they all 
 escaped, and in ten minutes their own guns were turned upon 
 them. The main body under Col. Childs came down in solid 
 column and we were the victors. It was a stirring, thrilling 
 scene, and I cannot do it justice, for it should be seen to be 
 felt. Capt. Vinton derived all the credit which his position 
 enabled him to obtain, and I shall always be of the opinion 
 that his plan was an admirable one. I hope he will be pro 
 moted, not only for his skilful and gallant conduct on that 
 day, but for his general meritorious conduct as an officer." 
 
 This manoeuvre, so well-planned and so consummately 
 executed, w*as distinctly seen by the officers of the brigade 
 on the opposite side, who spoke of it as brilliant in the ex 
 treme, and the first reports that reached us, brought his 
 name as conspicuous among the heroes of the day. 
 
 After some time spent at Monterey and Saltillo, he was 
 ordered with the greater part of the regulars to join Gen. 
 
17 
 
 Scott in the attack on Yera Cruz. Here it was he wrote his 
 last letter which has already been given to the public. Those 
 who knew him know how truly he speaks of his past life. 
 His country will not forget in what spirit he gave his to her 
 "in her time of appeal." "I have hitherto lived mostly for 
 others but my children will reap some of the fruits of my 
 self-denial by the ; means I shall leave them of living indepen 
 dently, and securing a good education. I commit them, in 
 full reliance to the care of their Heavenly Father, and I hope 
 their trust in Him will ever be at least as firm as my own. 
 My confidence in the over-ruling providence of God is un 
 qualified, so that I go to the field of action assured that what 
 ever may befall me will be for the best. I feel proud to 
 serve my country in her time of appeal ; and should even the 
 worst, death itself, be my lot, I shall meet it cheerfully." 
 
 In the opening of this Memoir, I noticed the manner of his 
 death and the high opinion entertained of him by the general- 
 in-chief. It is gratifying to know that this regard was not 
 owing to accidental intimacy, still less to anything in the 
 nature of favoritism. On the contrary, without intruding 
 into private relations, I may be permitted to say that Capt. 
 Vinton earned, by proofs of a high tone of character and 
 uncommon abilities, addressed to the mind of an honorable 
 and discriminating commander, the favor and confidence he 
 received. 
 
 It is painful to reflect that Capt. Vinton died without know 
 ing that his services at Monterey had been appreciated and 
 rewarded by the government. It was six months since ,the 
 capture of Monterey : Congress had been in session nearly 
 four months, and the session was drawing to a close. Ten 
 regiments had been added to the army. Men of every sort 
 and kind taken from all imaginable situations in life, favored 
 by some political or personal influence, had obtained high 
 titles and commands, overtopping the educated gentlemen of 
 ten and twenty years service : and the men who had fought 
 and bled in the field, the heroes of Monterey, remained un 
 noticed. Men too, who had never set a squadron in the field, 
 never given or executed an order, were appointed at once to 
 
18 
 
 stations which the regular officers could hardly hope to reach 
 in a long life and after many campaigns. An officer writes : 
 "The army feels keenly that the officers who have so nobly dis 
 tinguished themselves in the field receive neither brevets nor 
 promotions. Why should not such men as Childs, John R. 
 Vinton and C. F. Smith, and others of that class, be placed 
 at the head of the new regiments." Towards the close of the 
 session, the tardy act of justice was performed but too late 
 to gratify the proper pride of one at least of those to whom 
 it was directed. His appointment as Major, confirmed in 
 March, and dating back to the battle of Monterey, reached 
 the besieging army a few days after his fall. He died in the 
 belief that his services were overlooked. But to such a man 
 with whom duty and not opinion had been the ruling prin 
 ciple, this little honor was not necessary. He made no com 
 plaint, but again took his life hi his hand and stood among 
 the murderous shells and balls that ploughed the ground 
 about the devoted post, proud of being thought worthy of a 
 trust so conspicuous and so critical. "I observed," says a 
 writer, " the look of gratified pride that lighted up his thought 
 ful countenance, when the general answered to him that he 
 was appointed to that command." 
 
 His habits of order were singularly preserved to the last. 
 On the leaves of a pocket-book he made daily and almost 
 hourly memoranda in pencil, which he afterwards transferred 
 at leisure, to his journal. These notes are carried down in a 
 clear hand, to within less than an hour of his fall, and being 
 found on his person are now in the possession of his friends. 
 The last entry is as follows: 
 
 "March 22d, ordered to the trenches to command the 
 batteries, early. Gen. Scott sent in a flag for the city to sur 
 render at 2 p. m., refused. Seven mortars opened at 4 p. 
 in. Heavy cannonading." 
 
 These were his last words. In a few minutes he fell. 
 
 To those who have questions as to the military calling, it 
 may be said that Major Vinton followed his profession with 
 no unsatisfied or uninquiring conscience. He had settled it 
 in his own mind that the office of an armed magistrate, for 
 
19 
 
 such only is the soldier of a Christian civilized state, is an 
 honorable and necessary one in organized society, distinctly 
 recognized in "the ways of God to men," and approved by 
 the best and wisest of all ages and nations. With the devout 
 Fuller he could say, "a soldier is one of lawful, necessary, 
 commendable, and honorable profession," and with the author 
 of the "Kingdom of Christ," he might add, "and wtrt I say 
 further is, that if we attach any sacredness to the Jewish 
 history, as containing the divine specimen of a national life, 
 we cannot refuse to believe that the other nations of antiquity 
 were justified in their deep inward conviction that God has 
 not given swords to men in vain, but that there are occasions 
 on which the magistrate is bound, by his allegiance to God, 
 to cut off offenders against the majesty of law." 
 
 It is not alone to the God-fearing and accepted warriors of 
 the old testament, whose lives are written for our example, 
 nor to those whom John the Baptist taught to be just and 
 merciful bearers of the sword, nor to the devout centurion, 
 to whom, in the midst of the Roman camp, the angel could 
 say, "Thy prayers and thine alms have come up as a memorial 
 before God," nor to St. Louis and other hero saints of later 
 ages, that we are to look for illustrations of the great truth, 
 that the application of force, under the solemn sanctions of 
 the highest earthly tribunals, to protect from wrong, and 
 enforce right, whether against our own citizens, or against 
 our neighbors, in tribes or in nations, is a legitimate and 
 recognized portion of the divine government upon earth, 
 administered by human, responsible agents. Until the king 
 dom of peace shall be fully established on earth, every age 
 will present for our regard its Christian warriors, as well as 
 jurists, scholars and statesmen. For the coming of that 
 kingdom, no one prayed more sincerely than he whose beau 
 tiful, refined and chastened life terminated, by what we might 
 almost call an incongruity, amidst the uproar of a field of 
 battle. 
 
r 
 
 Who is the happy warrior ? Who is he 
 
 That every man in arms should wish to be ? 
 
 Who, doomed to go in company with Pain, 
 
 And Fear and Bloodshed, miserable train ! 
 
 Turns his necessity to glorious gain ; 
 
 In face of these doth exercise a power 
 
 Which is our human nature's highest dower; 
 
 Whose powers shed round him in the common strife, 
 
 Or mild concerns of ordinary life, 
 
 A constant influence, a peculiar grace : 
 
 But who, if he be called upon to face 
 
 Some awful moment to which Heaven has joined 
 
 Great issues, good or bad for human kind, 
 
 Is happy as a lover : and attired 
 
 With sudden brightness, as a man inspired : 
 
 And, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law. 
 
 In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw : 
 
 Or, if an unexpected call succeed, 
 
 Coine when it will, is equal to the need : 
 
 He who, though thus endued as with a sense 
 
 And faculty for storm and turbulence, 
 
 Is yet a soul whose master-bias leans 
 
 To hoine-f elt pleasures and to gentle scenes : 
 
 Sweet images ! which where'er he be, 
 
 Are at his heart ; and such fidelity, 
 
 It is his darling passion to approve ; 
 
 More brave for this, that he hath much to love. 
 
 This is the happy warrior ; this is he 
 Whom every man in arms should wish to be.