<p style="text-align:center"><strong>CALEB HENRY CARLTON</strong></p><p style="text-align:center"><strong>No. 1842 · Class of 1859</strong></p><p style="text-align:center"><strong>Died March 21, 1923, at Atlantic City, New Jersey, aged 86 years.</strong></p><p style="text-align:center"><strong>Interred at Lakeview Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio.</strong></p><p>Brigadier General Caleb H. Carlton, U.S.A., retired, who died at Atlantic City, New Jersey, March 21, 1923, in his 87th year, as noted briefly in this paper on March 24, had a most interesting and distinguished army career. He was born in Ohio, September 1, 1836, and was a graduate of the United States Military Academy, Class of 1859, when he was assigned as a Brevet Second Lieutenant to the 7th Infantry. For his gallantry in battles during the Civil War, General Carlton received two brevets. He was awarded the brevet of Major in 1862 for gallant and meritorius services in the Peninsular Campaign, and was breveted Lieutenant Colonel for gallant and meritorious services at the Battle of Chickamauga.</p><p>He became a Second Lieutenant, 4th Infantry, October 12, 1859, and was subsequently assigned to the 10th Cavalry in 1870, to the 3rd Cavalry in 1876, and to the 7th Cavalry in 1889. He was retired in June 1897, at his own request, after over forty years' service, and with the rank of Brigadier General. As a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Infantry, General Carlton marched with 300 recruits under command of Colonel Floyd-Jones from the head waters of the Missouri River to Walla Walla through the wilderness inhabited only by Indians, buffalo and antelope, where now are thriving states.</p><p>On the Pacific Coast he aided in keeping California in the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War, returning by sea and the Isthmus of Panama to the East just after the first Battle of Bull Run. As First Lieutenant and Captain of the 4th Infantry, he served in the Army of the Potomac in the siege of Yorktown, Battles of Gaine's Mill, Malvern Hill, Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg and other battles of the Peninsular Campaign.</p><p>In 1863 he was made Colonel of the 89th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served in the Georgia Campaign with the Army of the Cumberland till he was captured with the remnant of his regiment at Chickamauga. After four months in Libby prison he was exchanged and returned at the close of the war to his captaincy in the 4th Infantry. In 1870 he transferred to the Cavalry, in which he served twenty-seven years as Captain of the 10th, Major of the 3rd, Lieutenant Colonel of the 7th and Colonel of the 8th regiments of Cavalry. Most of this service was on the then Indian frontier, west of the Mississippi, where he ably shared in the work of building up the nation by protecting the early settlers from the hostile savages in Indian Territory and at various posts in Wyoming, Nebraska, Arizona and Texas, arduous duty familiar to those of the old Regular Army.</p><p>After retiring in 1897, General Carlton spent his remaining years principally in Washington, D.C., Old Point Comfort, Virginia, and Rye, New York. He was always active in his endeavors to improve the army and the condition of the enlisted men particularly, and was one of the first to institute the canteen. He also was one of the first to suggest the Star-Spangled Banner as our national anthem. Unable, to his great regret to take an active part in the World War owing to his age and many infirmities, he wrote many editorials and articles on army organization and other military subjects. He was a frequent contributor to the columns of the Army and Navy Journal.</p><p>To the last the keen mind, broad outlook and unfailing courage of General Carlton aroused admiration in all who met him. He spoke of the past only to draw lessons for the present, and believed the present a great improvement on the past. On the sword presented him on his graduation by his father are the words, "Stand by the Union". The device of the Class of '59, a sword and an olive branch, and its motto, "Ready for Either, Faithful in Both", well express his character.</p><p>The interment was with military honors in the family lot in Lakeview Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio, on March 24, the Very Rev. Francis S. White, D.D., dean of Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, officiating. General Carlton married Miss Sarah Pollock, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Pollock of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1863. Mrs. Carlton died in 1896. Two children survive, Schuyler C. Carlton of New York City and Mabel P. Carlton of Rye, New York.</p><p>General M. D. Hardin writes to the Secretary of the Association as follows:</p><blockquote><p>"Your letter brings me the first news of the decease of my dear friend and classmate, General Caleb Carlton. We began not only our West Point life together, but our military life and experience by crossing the Great Plains from St. Louis, Mo., to Fort Vancouver, Oregon, by the Great Northern Route in the summer of 1860. Carlton stood very high in my admiration from the moment he was so seriously injured whilst we were cadets, by his almost superhuman power in bearing up so well against injuries, mental or physical, never complaining, nor ever declining any duty cast upon him however much pain or suffering he was enduring. He was always a hero in my eyes and very dearly beloved. I have often stopped over in Washington whilst en route south to my winter home in Florida, and also on my return north, just to have a few minutes with Carlton, my beloved friend and classmate. God rest his soul."</p></blockquote><p>Similarly General Hugh L. Scott writes:</p><blockquote><p>"General Carlton was a soldier of the old school, with all the courtly traditions of the days before the Civil War. He was a gentleman of the highest type; a fearless, just, humane, and upright soldier, with a wonderful resolution and endurance of pain, under whom I served with more satisfaction to myself owing to the above qualities than under any other, during an experience of many years in the army. He was possessed of a store of wisdom from which I learned much; he had an understanding and consideration for the Indians, who revered him; he was a strong support for those he considered his friends, among whom I was honored to fill a place, and I feel a deep sense of personal loss at his death."</p></blockquote><p>Note-Biographical sketch by Miss Mabel P. Carlton with acknowledgments to Service Journals.</p><p style="text-align:right">� Mabel P. Carlton</p><p style="text-align:center"><a href="https://usmalibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/aogreunion/id/16978">Annual Report, June 11, 1924, pp. 76�79 · U.S. Military Academy Library</a></p>