<p style="text-align:center"><strong>MILTON COGSWELL</strong></p><p style="text-align:center"><strong>No. 1417 · Class of 1849</strong></p><p style="text-align:center"><strong>Died Nov. 20, 1882, at Washington, D.C., aged 57 years.</strong></p><p>Brevet Colonel Cogswell, the subject of this notice, was an officer of the army on the retired list, and Deputy Governor of the Soldier's Home, Washington, D. C. He died suddenly of apoplexy at his post of duty, November 20, 1882, as the first bugle call of the morning was sounded.</p><p>Colonel Cogswell belonged to the class of 1849, which bore upon its rolls the names of Gillmore, Parke, Benet, Baird, Johnson, Beverly Robertson, McIntosh, and many other well-known distinguished or meritorious officers of the late war. Of his early history his interesting and beloved daughter, with filial beauty and affection, speaks as follows:</p><p>"I regret to say that I can give you but a very meagre account of my father's life and service. He never would talk about himself, and all I know I have gathered from his talks with his old friends, when the 'Do you remember's?' have come in.</p><p>"He was born in Noblesville, Indiana, December 4th, 1825, and was the first child born in that town. It was then composed of log cabins, and wolves and Indians abounded. His father was one of the best known men in the State, and, like my father, universally honored and beloved. As a boy, papa was always a great favorite, and was very successful in all out-of-door sports, as well as in school. He entered Bloomington College when quite young, and while there tried several times for the appointment to West Point, but some one else got it every time,�some one with more political interest. He was graduated from Bloomington, if I recollect right, at the age of eighteen, but never gave up his dream of entering the army. He had always wanted to go to West Point ever since he was a little boy. His father was Colonel of a militia regiment, and he used often to say that the excitement in his town over that regiment, and the sight of his father in his bright uniform, mounted on a handsome horse, were what first fired his boyish soul with martial ardor.</p><p>"Finally, in 1845, he got the long wished-for appointment, and went to West Point by stage and canal, and part of the way by railroad. On that journey he saw a locomotive for the first time. Rail and steam had not penetrated to Noblesville in those days. A short time after he entered West Point he lost his father; his mother had died when he was quite a boy.</p><p>"He was graduated July 1st, 1849, and was appointed Brevet Second Lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Infantry; and Second Lieutenant, 8th Infantry, August 4th, 1849. That summer he served in garrison at Sackett's Harbor, N.Y., and in 1850 was assigned to duty on the frontier in Texas. * * * * * He served on frontier duty until 1851 when he was ordered to West Point as Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Instructor in Military Tactics. While in Texas he was attacked with pleurisy, the result of exposure, which almost proved fatal; as soon as he was able to travel he went to West Point where he remained until 1856, having in the meantime been made a First-Lieutenant August 15th, 1856. From West Point he was ordered to his regiment which was serving in New Mexico. * * * * In 1860 he was ordered East on recruiting service and in the same year, October 17th, he was married to Miss Susan M. Lane, of New York city. When the war broke out he went into active service with his regiment, and May 13th, 1861, was promoted to the rank of Captain. In July 1861, he was made Colonel of the 42nd New York Volunteers, and at the Battle of Ball's Bluff he was captured by the Confederates and confined in Libby Prison. In that battle he was second in command, Colonel Baker being chief. * * * Colonel Baker was one of the first killed and the command fell to Colonel Cogswell. He did all that could be done to save the day, then seeing that it was hopeless, he cried, 'Now, boys, spike the guns and we will cut our way to Harper's Ferry,' and it was while spiking the guns that he was wounded in the arm and ankle, and taken prisoner by the rebels under General N. G. Evans. I give his order about spiking the guns, as it became a motto with his regiment, and was afterwards engraved on the sword presented to him by the City of New York on his return from prison. He, with two hundred and fifty-two of his men, was marched to Richmond; his wound becoming very painful one of the guard lent him a horse. When he reached Richmond he was taken to Libby prison, and there the rebel surgeon wished to amputate his arm; but papa refused to have it done, and turning to a young Indiana surgeon, who was among the prisoners, said in his cheerful way, that he had given the case to his Indiana friend as he wished to encourage home enterprise.</p><p>"He remained in Libby, cheering those imprisoned with him, alleviating their sufferings, and winning the respect and love of all, until sometime in November 1861. * * * He was one of the officers selected by the Confederate government as hostages, and sentenced to be hung if any harm came to the privateers-men captured by the Unionists, and threatened by them with death as pirates. When the ballots for life or death were drawn, he drew one for death, and with six other officers was marched from Libby to the Richmond negro jail, from which a number of negroes had just been taken. * And so they lived until March 27, 1862, when they were sent home on parole. When my father reached New York he was almost unrecognizable, and was very ill for some time, only escaping brain fever by the most careful nursing. Had his constitution not been of iron, he could not have survived the sufferings and hardships of his imprisonment. I do not think he ever did recover from the effects of it. * * *</p><p>"His exchange was not effected until late in the fall of 1862, when he was ordered to the command of a line of forts between Georgetown and Alexandria. He resigned his volunteer commission April 8th, 1863, and was placed in command of his former regiment, the 8th Infantry. He was then ordered to Fortress Monroe as Commissary of Musters. He was there some time, and then was ordered to the command of some troops on Governor's Island, only to be ordered almost immediately, with his regiment, into the field, where he remained until almost the close of the war. In the last Richmond campaign he served as Provost Marshal General to the Ninth Army Corps, and was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel July 30th, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services before Petersburg. He was promoted to the rank of Major October 8th, 1864. In the winter and spring of 1865 he was for a short time in command at Governor's Island, and during that year was brevetted Colonel for gallant and meritorious services during the Civil War.</p><p>"At the close of the war he was assigned to garrison duty at Baltimore, and afterward served as Acting Judge Advocate of the Department of North Carolina. He also served as Assistant Commissary of Musters, and Assistant Commissioner of the Freedman's Bureau in the same State.</p><p>"In 1868 he was made Provisional Mayor of Charleston from March to July. Though when he first undertook that office he was rebelled against in every way, (the feeling was very bitter at that time,) he performed his duties so well and so justly, and did so very much for the city, that when he was ordered away the citizens sent a delegation begging him to resign and become civil Mayor. Of course, he refused. He was too fond of his profession and of his regiment to resign.</p><p>"He was placed in charge of civil affairs at Summerville, South Carolina, the same year. That fall, when the army was consolidated, he was transferred from the 8th Infantry, his old regiment, of which he was so fond, and with which he had served for almost twenty years, to the 21st Infantry. The day he said good bye to his old regiment was one of the hardest days of his life. He had built it up and made it one of the finest regiments in the service; officers and men loved him, and would follow him anywhere. He was called the 'Father of the Regiment.' The day he left, it was drawn up in line to say farewell. Young as I was, I remember how old men broke down and cried like children as he parted from them.</p><p>"His new regiment was ordered to Arizona, and he took it across the continent on the first train which ever went through. He was present at the laying of the last rail. From San Francisco he took his troops by sea to Los Angeles, Cal., and from there marched to Tucson, A. T.</p><p>"At Camp Goodwin he caught the Arizona fever, and this, combined with the hardships of his whole life, shattered his constitution terribly. Fortunately, he was then ordered to Drum Barracks, Cal., but suffered severely for a year, when he was again ordered to Arizona. All his friends, and every army surgeon who knew him, then advised him to retire, as they said it would be certain death if he returned to that hard life. For a long time he refused, but, finally, much against his will, went before the Board and was retired September 26th, 1873, for disability contracted in the line of duty.</p><p>"From California he went to Plainfield, N.J.; there he lived six winters, going to quiet seashore, or mountain places in the summer. In the winter of 1877 he went to Florida for his health and while there the Commissioners of the Soldiers' Home offered him the Deputy Governorship of that institution. The offer was a great surprise to him, but a very pleasant one, and he accepted it gladly, and about May 24th commenced his duties there which he discharged to the entire satisfaction of everyone. He was relieved from duty there June 1st, 1881, owing to the change in the Administration and went to New Mexico, where he spent the summer visiting Colonel J. G. C. Lee of the Quartermaster Department. There he renewed many of the friendships of his youth, and went around visiting old places of which he had been fond. He had always said that he hoped before he died to be able to go back to New Mexico. His stories and anecdotes of that territory, especially when he got with some old friends who had been there at the same time, were very interesting. In the Autumn of 1881 he returned to Washington where he spent the winter, and in April 1882, was recalled to the Deputy Governorship of the Soldiers' Home, and there as the bugle blew reveille, on the 20th of November, he died, as he had lived, on duty. It was just as he had wished, he was back there among his old men, and it was a sudden death. He never was anything of a society man, but when he did go out, was one of the most charming and entertaining conversationalists I ever listened to. He was a great reader, and one of the best informed men in the Army or out of it. Never was a quotation commenced that he could not finish it and give its author, and with regard to general information he was a perfect encyclopedia. * * * * His memory was remarkable, and he was a pretty good geologist. Never did an old soldier get into trouble that he did not write to 'the Colonel.' He was generous to a fault, never turning a deaf ear to want, or pain, or sorrow. He did not know what selfishness meant. Young people idolized him, and animals instinctively loved and trusted him. With all his perfections he was the most modest man I ever knew. One of his peculiar attractions was that very rare and fascinating twinkle in his eyes so dear to the memory of all his friends. * * Papa never asked in his life to be ordered anywhere, and in the whole twenty years of his active service never had altogether more than three months leave.</p><p>His early friend General C. M. Wilcox, has favored me with the following in regard to the character and qualities of the deceased:</p><p>"After a service of some six years in the army, I was ordered to West Point, and there was intimately associated with him, we being in the same department. From an uninterrupted and almost daily intercourse of three or four years we became the warmest of friends, and continued as such up to his sudden and unexpected death. In character he was open, manly, independent, of earnest and strong convictions, devoted and sincere in friendship, and not without forbearance and due consideration for those with whom he might differ.</p><blockquote><p>"He was of an active, quick mind, with a retentive memory and devoted to his books. His reading was varied, extensive and most thorough; few men were better posted in the English literature and history, in each of which he was familiar with authors whose names are rarely mentioned and to be understood by few without the aid of a glossary.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>"In social life he did not care especially for what may be called fashionable society, but rather preferred to be with those whom he knew well and with whom he had common tastes and associations. With such he was most interesting, never seeking to lead in conversation; he had rather to be drawn out and was then always entertaining, often very instructive, never fatiguing, overflowing, as he was, with good humor and sprightly wit; to me it was always a pleasure to be with him.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>"When stationed with him at West Point we were but Lieutenants; recalling him in that grade he was attentive, honorable and conscientious in the discharge of his duties, firm in maintenance of discipline, with a strictness that fairness and justice demanded without ever being tinged with even a suspicion of oppression or wanton annoyance.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>"After a separation of near a score of years, we came together again by his being on duty near this city, at the Soldiers' Home, as Lieutenant-Governor of that institution. Our previous acquaintance and friendship were resumed at once. This time he was the head of a family, and in this new (to me) position, traits of character hitherto dormant, were developed, without a knowledge of which his character, full and complete, would not have been fully known and appreciated. In his family, always showing a kindly deference to, and consideration for, his wife, and to his only child, a daughter just budding into womanhood, a careful, never-ceasing devotion to her education, which he personally directed, and had the gratification of seeing himself so fully rewarded. It is generally conceded that her education could not have been more complete and satisfactory. As an evidence of his kind, generous, unselfish disposition, he had been with his regiment but a short time when he volunteered for a laborious and long protracted tour of duty involving several months, and four or five hundred miles of marching, in order that a brother officer might not be separated from his family at a poor frontier post.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>"With this brief tribute we leave our friend's memory to the care of those who best knew him, well knowing that there was much about him that they will not willingly let die.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>"Leaves have their time to fall, And flowers to wither at the north wind's breath, And stars to set, but all, Thou hast all seasons for thine own, Oh! Death!"</p></blockquote><p style="text-align:right">� S. B. Holabird</p><p style="text-align:center"><a href="https://usmalibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/aogreunion/id/10147">Annual Report, June 12, 1883, pp. 58�64 · U.S. Military Academy Library</a></p>