The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, Issue 5, May, 1884 | Page 3

some of his companions were raising an ash pole in honor
of Harry Clay, they were attacked by some Democratic boys, when
young Arthur, who was the leader of the party, ordered a charge, and
drove the young Democrats from the field with sore heads and subdued
spirits. His first vote was cast in 1852 for Winfield Scott for President,
and he identified himself with the Whigs of his ward when he located
in New York City. In those days the best citizens served as inspectors
of elections at the polls, and for some years Mr. Arthur served in that
capacity at a voting-place in a carpenter's shop, which occupied the site
of the present Fifth Avenue Hotel. When, in 1856, the Republican party
was formed, Mr. Arthur was a prominent member of the Young Men's
Vigilance Committee, which advocated the election of Fremont and
Dayton. It was during this campaign that he became acquainted with
Edwin D. Morgan, and gained his ardent life-long friendship.
Animated by a military spirit, Mr. Arthur sought recreation by joining
the volunteer militia of New York, and he was appointed
judge-advocate-general on the staff of Brigadier-General Yates, who
commanded the second brigade. The general was a strict disciplinarian,
and required his field, line, and staff officers to meet weekly for drill
and instruction. Mr. Arthur thus acquired the rudiments of a military
education, and became acquainted with many of those who afterwards
distinguished themselves as officers in the volunteer army of the
Union.
General Arthur was married in 1859 to Ellen Lewis Herndon, of
Fredericksburg, Virginia, a daughter of Captain William Lewis
Herndon, of the United States Navy, who had gained honorable
distinction when in command of the naval expedition sent to explore
the river Amazon. His heroic death, in 1857, is recorded in history
among those "names which will never be forgotten as long as there is
remembrance in the world for fidelity unto death." In command of the
steamer Central America, which went down, with a loss of three
hundred and sixty lives, he stood at his post on the wheelhouse, and
succeeded in having the women and children safely transferred to the
boats, remaining himself to perish with his vessel. General Sherman
has characterized this grand deed of unselfish devotion as the most

heroic incident in our naval history. Mrs. Arthur was a lady of the
highest culture, and in the varied relations of life--wife, mother,
friend--she illustrated all that gives to womanhood its highest charm,
and commands for it the purest homage. She died in 1880, after an
illness of but three days, leaving a son and a daughter, with a large
number of mourning friends, not only in society, of which she was an
ornament, but among the poor and the distressed, whose wants and
whose sufferings she had tenderly cared for.
When the Honorable Edward D. Morgan was elected Governor of the
State of New York, he appointed Mr. Arthur engineer-in-chief on his
staff, and when Fort Sumter was fired upon, the governor telegraphed
to him to go to Albany, where he received orders to act as state
quartermaster-general in the city of New York. General Arthur at once
began to organize regiments,--uniform, arm, and equip them,--and send
them to the defence of the capital. His capacity for leadership and
organization was soon manifest. There was no lack of men or of money,
but it needed organizing powers like his to mould them into disciplined
form, to grasp the new issues with a master-hand, and to infuse
earnestness and obedience into the citizens, suddenly transformed into
soldiers. His accounts were kept in accordance with the army
regulations, and their subsequent settlement with the United States,
without deduction for unwarranted charges, was an easy task. It was by
his exertions, to a great extent, that the Empire State was enabled to
send to the front six hundred and ninety thousand men, nearly one fifth
of the Grand Army of the Union.
There were, of course, many adventurers who sought commissions, and
some of the regiments were recruited from the rough element of city
life, who soon refused to obey their officers. General Arthur made short
work of these cases, exercising an authority which no one dared to
dispute. Neither would he permit the army contractors to ingratiate
themselves with him by presents, returning everything thus sent him.
Although a comparatively poor man when he entered upon the duties of
quartermaster-general at New York, he was far poorer when he gave up
the office. A friend describing his course at this period, says: "So
jealous was he of his integrity, that I have known instances where he

could have made thousands of dollars legitimately, and yet he refused
to do it on the ground that he was a public officer and meant