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HE HELD THE FORTDeath at Last Compels Him to Surrender.J!Nt..,_I Ml *SKETCH OP GENERAL CORSE,Noted as a Brave Soldier and Distinguished Citizen.tXLBoston', April 2H.—General John M. Corse, tho “Hero ot Altoona,’* ami impost ma^er of Boston, died at hts home in Winchester yc-ltuday afternoon, after a very short illness. On Wednesday he was apparently well, but dating the night lie hail .in attack of heart failure. Three physicians were summoned anil gave him all possible attention, but the attack is as Btronger than their skill.ills Career.General Torse comes from a Huguenot family ss*hich settled in Virginia about 100 year-ago. Ho.was bom *a Pittsburg, April 27, but bis parents soon removed to 8t l.otiis and afterwards to Burlington. Ia. He was educated in the public RcbnnK of Ihulington.and subsequently went to West Pomr, N. V,, where he graduated in b7. He resigned his portion in the army and went to the Albany law ^ehuol. Ha opened a law oflice in Burlington, but was not able to practice long before the war culled him to put on his shoulder strap* again.sOPM.K.VL.rnilN CORSE.3Ie ran in 1^10 for Licutuuuut governor of Iouurm I he Stephen A Douglas ticket; bm after the tiring on Fort Sumter he accepted an appointment as major of the Sixth Iowa infantry, and took part iu the Fremont campaign in southwest Missouri. He was then detached and appointed judge advocate and inspector general on General Pope*- Hifiit and served with that general through the New Madrid and island No. 10 campaigns He was next at- Shiloh.lie was now promoted to a colonelcy, and was pre-cm with his regiment through the siege o\ Vicksburg and also at the siege of Jacltson, and for gallant and mentor ion- -vi vices at Jackson heWiiH Slade* Urigadler General and gi\en the com maud of the fourth division of the Fifteenth Army corps. Corse was one of she youngest brigadier generals in the service, hut n1«o 011 o of the r»o«t trusted He took his command to Memphis and over to Missionary Bidge. He led the assaulting army of General Sherman, and hml n kg broken by a shell and was carried of! the field. After three months' absence ho returned ami was ghcn a position on General Sherman's stall as inspector general.General Cojc is moat widely known ns the hero of Altoona, On the clay that McPherson was killed in front of Atlanta, July 2*2,1804, General Logan requested the appointment of General Corse to the command of a division, and he was assigned to the command of the second division of the Sixteenth Army corps. Jt was while Corse commanded this division that Hood moved around iu the rear of Sherman's army and attacked the supplies at Altoona. Corse was detailed with #15Q0 men to look after these supplies, and on arriving on the scene he found himself face to face with a determined and desperate enemy, outnumber Lug his forces four to one. The oppo-mg columns met at Altoona Pass, andA Terrible Baltle Was Fought.Eight hundred of the 1W men under General Cor-e were shot lt;lowot but the survivors held their ground and never thoweu their backs to the enemy, although immensely outnumbered. General Corse sent to Sherman for assistance, and a message came back saying that re enforcements were on the way, and asking if he could hold the foct until they arrived, late in the afternoon.It was then Dial General Corse wrote the famous dispatch which o pleased Shernmo that it may be found printed in his story of the “March to the Sea “I have lost a cheek bone ami an ear, but I can lick h—11 yet. was the way the dispatch read. It was «his stirring incident of the war, it is said, that suggested the Moody and Saukey hym:», Hold i he Fori.*’ The bravery and gallantry of General Corse in this engagement won for him promotion to the rank of major general.General Corse was with Sherman on the march to the sea, and subsequently tkiongh the Carolina*;, and was engaged in nil the nflairs from Atlanta to Benton-Tille, N\ C. At the close of the war be was resigned to the command of the department of the northwest, comprising Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana and Dakota, andfund net oil :*n Indian Campaign a Miecewful issue. In 1866 he was ftp-tlt;ponded lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-levenih Tinted States infantry, but do* dined to accept the position and was mustered out.He removed to Chicago, where be rame interested in railroad enterprises. In 1SG7 lie was appointed by President Johnson collector of internal revenue. In 166ft, at the close of his term.be went to Europe, where he remained for four or five years. His first wife, to whom be was greatly attached, died in 1870, and in 1882 ho remarried, his Ffecotul wife being Miss Mc-Keil, a udce of ex-President Pierce.He was in Europe for a long time and retnvncd to Winchestcr 1884. lie took an active dentin! ramnaitrn. andin the spring of part in the present ate committee, was made chairman of the executive committee. He was appointed postmaster of Boston by President Cleveland, Oct. 19,1SSC, and held it until be was succeeded by Postmaster Hart.
Newspaper Details
Fitchburg Sentinel
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, US
Fri, Apr 28, 1893
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Little D.
MO, USA 25 Jul 2019
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