Category: Biographies

Gentlemen rovers

We preach in advance of the Army, We skirmish ahead of the Church, With never a gunboat to help us When we're scuppered and left in the lurch. But we know as the cartridges finish And we're filed on our last little shelves, That the Legion that never was 'listed Will send us a...

Chapters

10. Part 10

The eldest son of a Scotch banker, Walker was born in 1824 in Nashville, Tennessee. His father, a stiff-necked Presbyterian who held morning and evening prayers, asked an interm...

4. Part 4

Aware that the dethroned Bashaw had fled to Cairo, Eaton landed at Alexandria, and, hastening to the Egyptian capital by camel, succeeded in locating the exiled Ahmet, whom he f...

7. Part 7

Long before daybreak on the morning of the 8th of January the divisions of Gibbs and Keane were in position, and waiting impatiently for the outburst of musketry which would be...

6. Part 6

Then Governor Claiborne played his last card, and secured indictments of the Lafittes on the charge of piracy. Pierre Lafitte was arrested in his blacksmith-shop and confined wi...

5. Part 5

At his hail the boats halted, as though in indecision, and their commanders held a whispered consultation. Then, apparently deciding to take the risk, and hoping, no doubt, to c...

11. Part 11

Says General Charles Frederic Henningsen, the famous English soldier of fortune who was Walker's second in command: "I have heard two greasy privates disputing over the correct...

3. Part 3

It is a remarkable fact that, notwithstanding the desperate fighting which characterized this battle, the _Constellation_ had only two of her crew killed and three wounded, whil...

9. Part 9

Meanwhile the authorities at Washington had not been idle. Though Larkin was ostensibly the American consul at Monterey and nothing more, in reality he was clothed with far grea...

12. Part 12

Though a youth in appearance and in years, Ward was a seasoned veteran long before he set out on his last campaign. Before he was five-and-twenty he had had enough experiences t...

8. Part 8

The four years which intervened between the collapse of Spanish rule in Mexico and the arrival of Jedediah Smith at San Gabriel were marked by political chaos in the Californias...

2. Part 2

Boyd's adventurous career under his own flag and in the service of his own people forms quite another though a scarcely less thrilling story. Trained and experienced officers be...

1. Part 1

We preach in advance of the Army, We skirmish ahead of the Church, With never a gunboat to help us When we're scuppered and left in the lurch. But we know as the cartridges fini...

13. Part 13

While recruiting his army to its newly authorized strength, Ward did not give the Taipings a moment's rest. He kept several flying columns constantly in the field, attacking the...