Service with the French Troops in Africa: By an Officer in the United States Army
(This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)
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Philip Kearny was an American soldier. He started his army career as lieutenant of cavalry of the 1st U. S. Dragoons and achieved the rank of major general in 1862.
Background
Philip Kearny was the son of Philip and Susan (Watts) Kearny and nephew of Stephen Watts Kearny. He was born on June 1, 1814 in New York City, New York, United States to great wealth and distinguished social position. His mother died in 1823, and during much of his boyhood and youth he made his home with his maternal grandfather, John Watts, Jr.
Education
A succession of boarding schools, including the Round Hill School conducted by Joseph G. Cogswell and George Bancroft, furnished Kearny's elementary education. Family opposition kept him from entering the United States Military Academy, and he enrolled at Columbia College as a sophomore in 1830. His grandfather, who had lost all his sons, sought to divert him from the military career on which his heart was set by offering him $1, 500 a year if he would study for the ministry. To this proposition Philip could not agree, but he compromised by taking a law course. He attained the law degree in 1833. In 1839 he went to France to study cavalry tactics in the cavalry school at Saumur.
Career
Kearny's whole attention was given to military maneuvers, and when his grandfather died in 1836, leaving him a fortune of about a million, he applied for a commission in the army. He fond of horses and a fearless rider from boyhood, he naturally turned to the cavalry branch of the service and secured on March 8, 1837 a second lieutenancy in the 1st United States Dragoons, commanded by his uncle, Stephen Watts Kearny. In 1840 he saw service with the Chasseurs d'Afrique in Algiers. Upon his return to the United States he acted as aide-de-camp to General Alexander Macomb, commander in chief of the army, and to his successor, General Winfield Scott.
Kearny saw further service on the frontier, but early in 1846 resigned his commission. A month later, however, on the outbreak of the Mexican War, he was reinstated, recruited his squadron to war footing in the Middle West, and became General Scott's bodyguard on the advance to the city of Mexico. His dragoons were mounted on uniform dapple-gray horses, selected by Kearny and procured at his expense, "the hoofs of all striking simultaneously as if they were galloping to set music". While leading a charge on the retreating Mexicans at Churubusco his left arm was shattered so badly as to require amputation. He was promoted to the rank of major for his courage in action. After leading an expedition in California against the Rogue River Indians, he resigned from the army in 1851 and took a trip around the world.
Upon his return he settled for a few years in New Jersey, employing himself in extensive improvements on his recently acquired country estate, "Belle Grove, " near Newark, New Jersey, in a section now named Kearny. In 1859, however, he returned to France and was attached to the staff of General Morris, commander of the cavalry of the Imperial Guard under Napoleon III. He was present at the battles of Magenta and Solferino, and is said to have participated in every charge of the cavalry. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War he hurried from Paris to Washington hoping to secure a general's commission, and was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers in command of the 1st New Jersey Brigade.
Throughout the Virginia campaigns he had ample opportunity, at first on the Peninsula under McClellan, later as major-general under Pope, to show his mettle. He participated in at least twelve engagements. The dash and spirit which he had come to symbolize are expressed in E. C. Stedman's poem, "Kearny at Seven Pines. " The men of his division each wore on his uniform a bit of scarlet cloth known as the "Kearny patch. " "You are marked men, " Kearny said to them on one occasion, "you must be ever in the front . " It is said that his troopers cheered him every time he rode down their lines. Following his custom, when ordered to a new position, of riding through the country learning the roads, he unwittingly entered the enemy's lines at Chantilly, September 1, 1862, and met his death.
General Lee, who had known Kearny in the Mexican War, forwarded the body under a flag of truce to General Pope, and subsequently, at the request of Kearny's widow, he delivered to her the General's sword, horse, and saddle. Kearny won not only the devotion of his men, but the sincere respect of his fellow officers.
Kearny was a popular officer, a fine horseman, and was quick to praise and reward those under his command.
Quotes from others about the person
"Tall and lithe in figure, with a most expressive and mobile countenance, and a manner which inspired confidence and zeal in all under his command, no one could fail to admire his chivalric bearing and his supreme courage. He seemed to think that it was his mission to make up the shortcomings of others, and in proportion as these shortcomings were made plain, his exertions and exposure were multiplied. " - General Pope
"The bravest man I ever knew, and a perfect soldier. " - General Scott
Connections
On June 24, 1841, Kearny married Diana Moore Bullitt of Louisville, Kentucky, grandniece of William and George Rogers Clark. They had five children.