rific Sunday afternoon charge. Their battle-cry was, "Wipe out Perryville." With his regiment Colonel Banning held the right all that afternoon, and just at dark, when out of ammunition, in a hand-to-hand contest, the One Hundred and Twenty-First engaged the Twenty-Second Alabama, drove them, and captured their colors, the only Rebel colors taken in the battle of Chickamauga.

Colonel Banning remained in command of the One Hundred and TwentyFirst throughout the Atlanta campaign, being in Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Rome, Kenesaw Mountain, Dallas, Peachtree Creek, and Jonesboro', as well as in many hard skirmishes. After the fall of Atlanta, General Jeff. C. Davis, the commander of the Fourteenth Corps, in his official report, recommended Colonel Banning for promotion to a Brevet Brigadier-General for gallant and meritorious service during the Atlanta campaign.

General George H. Thomas indorsed this recommendation, and the brevet was issued.

In the battle of Nashville he served with his old commander, General Jas. B. Steedman, distinguished himself, and was brevetted Major-General.

General Banning was placed in command of the One Hundred and NinetyFifth Regiment, and served in the Valley of Virginia in the spring and summer of 1865. He commanded the post of Alexandria, Virginia, until December, 1865, when he was mustered out of the service, to take his seat as a member of the Ohio Legislature, to which he had been elected from Knox County.

General Banning's promotions were all won upon the battle-field. On duty he was a rigid disciplinarian, and the very letter of his orders had to be obeyed. Off duty he rode, chatted, and smoked, wrestled, jumped, and ran foot-races, ate, and almost lived with his men; while his old white hat and velveteen pants gave him anything but a military appearance. His command was always supplied with the best the quartermaster and commissary departments afforded.

His punishments were never severe. He never court-martialed or preferred charges against a soldier. On the march he would dismount, take some tired soldier's gun, and place him on his horse. At night he would not sleep until he had visited his men and seen that they were comfortable, and visited his pickets and seen they were well posted.

BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL ERASTUS B. TYLER.

G

ENERAL TYLER was born in West Bloomfield, Ontario County, New York. Soon after his birth his parents removed to Ravenna, Ohio. The General was educated at Granville, Ohio; and at an early age engaged in active business, which required him to travel extensively in the States of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina. He was a partner in the American Fur Company at the breaking out of the war, and was attending to the business of the company, in the mountains of Virginia, when Fort Sumter was fired upon. Impelled by his sense of duty, as a loyal citizen, he retired from his lucrative employment, and, in obedience to a telegram from Governor Dennison, hastened to meet such requirements as his country might impose upon him. Being Brigadier-General of Militia, and in command of the division formed by the Counties of Portage, Trumbull, and Mahoning, he repaired to his home in Ravenna. He opened a recruiting office on April 17, 1861, and on the 22d he was in Camp Taylor, near Cleveland, with two companies. Here an election for Colonel was held by the thirty officers of the ten companies that constituted the Seventh Ohio, and General Tyler received twenty-nine votes. This choice was confirmed at Camp Dennison by a vote of the whole regiment. The Seventh Ohio was organized, at first, for three months; but after spending six weeks in instructing the men, Colonel Tyler, in one day, succeeded in re-enlisting seven hundred of them for three years; and, in a few days, he secured the requisite number for a full regiment.

It being well-known that Colonel Tyler was intimately acquainted with the whole region of Western Virginia, he was ordered to Grafton to advise with General McClellan. He spent eight days in consultation with that officer, and gave him information as to the mountain passes, roads, streams, fords, and the general topography of the entire section. About the 26th of June Colonel Tyler's regiment came forward to Grafton, where he took command and proceeded to Clarksburg. His first march was to Weston, where were forty thousand dollars in gold, in danger of being captured by Wise. It was known that General McClellan was on his way to Clarksburg, where, upon his arrival, Colonel Tyler expected an order to march for Weston. Accordingly he anticipated the order by drawing up his men near the depot, directing them to watch his motions when the train arrived, for if the order was "march," he would wave his handkerchief, and they were to start immediately. Upon the arrival of the train General McClellan asked him how soon he could march for Weston. "Look yonder and I will show you," was Colonel Tyler's reply; and waving his hand

kerchief, the regiment struck the double-quick and rapidly disappeared. The gold was saved, and turned over to the new State of West Virginia.

General McClellan, upon leaving Western Virginia, placed General Tyler in command of the Seventh, Tenth, Thirteenth, and Seventeenth Ohio Regiments, the First Virginia Infantry, Captain Mack's Howitzer Battery, Captain Bagg's "Snake Hunters," and a company of Chicago Cavalry. The operations of Colonel Tyler in the valley of the Great Kanawha were conducted with marked efficiency. He was, however, unfortunate in having his own regiment surprised at Cross Lanes by Floyd's command, utterly broken, routed, and scattered in every direction. General Rosecrans, then commanding the Department of West Virginia, was at first disposed to blame Colonel Tyler severely for this disaster, but investigation had the effect to mitigate, if not wholly to do away with, the

censure.

On the 10th of December Colonel Tyler was ordered to Romney, where he united his forces with those under General Lander, and was assigned to the command of the Third Brigade of Lander's division. At the death of General Lander he joined General Shields in the Shenandoah Valley. He participated in the battle of Winchester, and for bravery upon that occasion, he was appointed a Brigadier-General of Volunteers on May 14, 1862. He was also engaged at Front Royal and Port Republic. In the latter engagement General Tyler with three thousand troops resisted Stonewall Jackson with eight thousand for five hours, when Jackson received a re-enforcement of six thousand men. General Tyler, however, retired in good order.

At the battle of Antietam General Tyler commanded a brigade of Pennsylvania troops that were enlisted for nine months. It was their first battle; and though not brought into action until the eleventh hour they did excellent service. He was with his brigade at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and soon after this the brigade was mustered out, the term of enlistment having expired.

General Tyler was now ordered to Baltimore, and placed in command of the north-western defenses of the city. He assumed command at the time that General Lee was making his invasion into Maryland, and secessionism was rampant throughout the city. General Tyler, with great industry, set about arming the Union citizens, and in three days he had ten thousand men at the barricades ready to repel the invaders. The administration of General Tyler in Baltimore received the unqualified approbation of the Union citizens.

Soon after this General Tyler was stationed at the Relay House, in charge of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the shores of Chesapeake Bay, forming a line of defense nearly two hundred miles long. It is sufficient to say that no Rebel raid ever crossed this line, until the attempt which resulted in the battle of Monocacy. General Tyler, though not in chief command, may claim a large share both in planning and in fighting this battle; and though neither the result of long preparation, nor on so extensive a scale as many others, it was severe and decisive. Speaking of General Tyler's part in the Monocacy battle, President Lincoln is reported to have said to Mr. Fitzgerald, of Philadelphia,

"The country is more indebted to General Tyler than to any other man for the salvation of Washington." From the Relay House he was ordered to the command of the Kanawha Valley, and he remained in this position until the close of the war. The rank of Major-General by Brevet was conferred upon him for meritorious service.

Few have been more exposed to danger than General Tyler, and yet he has singularly escaped serious personal injury. At Winchester seven balls passed through his clothes; at Port Republic he was struck twice with ball and shell, and his hat was torn in pieces; at Fredericksburg he was struck on the left breast by a ball; at Chancellorsville he had a button shot off the left side of his coat; and in other battles he had similar escapes. He has been the recipient of many valuable presents; among the more notable of these, bestowed by those who knew him best, the officers and men of the First Brigade, Third Division. Army of the Potomac, are a magnificent sword, sash, belt, and spurs, and a valuable horse of fine action and high spirit. General Tyler had been for many years a temperate man, even to the extent of total abstinence. He maintained these principles in the army, and he succeeded by his example in suppressing, to a great extent, the use of intoxicating liquors among the men of his command. Integrity, firmness, and kindness of heart have secured for him popularity in every department of the army in which he served, and the obedience, respect, and affection of his men.

VOL. I.-53.

BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS H. EWING.

T

HOMAS H. EWING, the third son of Hon. Thomas Ewing, the distinguished statesman and politician, was born in Lancaster, Ohio, August 11, 1829. He received a liberal education; was graduated at Brown University, Rhode Island; and in March, 1855, at the Cincinnati Law School. At both institutions he ranked high, and he was generally believed to have inherited a large share of his father's ability.

In 1856 he removed from Ohio to Leavenworth, Kansas, where, with one of his brothers, and with his brother-in-law, then known as Captain Sherman, he began the practice of law. He was successful from the outset, and soon came to rank as the leading lawyer of the young State. He also became prominent in politics, and was accepted as one of the Republican leaders. He was chosen Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of the State, and in this position he served for a period of two years.

On the 15th of September, 1862, he recruited and organized the Eleventh Regiment of Kansas Volunteer Infantry, of which he was appointed Colonel. He commanded his regiment in the battles of Fort Wayne and Cane Hill. At Prairie Grove he had risen to the command of a brigade, and for his gallant services in this battle he was promoted to be Brigadier-General of volunteers on the 11th of March, 1863.

In June, 1863, he was assigned to the command of the District of the Border, comprising all of Kansas and the western tier of counties in Missouri. He now began the work of exterminating the guerrilla bands which infested the border counties, and repressed, with a strong hand, the thieving expeditions, which, through every month of the preceeding summer, had desolated with impunity the villages of that unhappy region.

In March, 1864, the District of the Border was abolished by the creation of the Department of Kansas. By request of Major-General Rosecrans, then commanding the Department of Missouri, General Ewing was ordered to report to him, and was assigned to the command of the St. Louis District.

On the 24th of September, it having been ascertained that General Price had entered the State with a large force, General Ewing was ordered to the post at Pilot Knob, with instructions to hold it if possible against any mere detachments of the enemy, but to evacuate it if menaced by Price's whole army, known to be fifteen or twenty thousand strong.