Willard Glazier

“ The adventures of Willard Glazier admirably narrated by John Algernon Owens, under the title of "Sword and Pen," is a fascinating biography in which the author has woven many pleasing incidents, sometimes quite out of the line of his story, yet always to the point and always entertaining. The war adventures of Glazier, who is called the "Soldier-author," have already been largely read and appreciated, particularly by old soldiers. Willard Glazier has enjoyed quite a literary renown, the sale of his first book, "Capture, Prison-Pen, and Escape," having been over 400,000 volumes. ”

“ The Works of Captain Willard Glazier, the soldier-author, are so well known and popular that a life of the writer cannot fail to be interesting to a large portion of the public. A very complete and excellent account of Glazier and his achievements has been prepared by John Algernon Owens, and published by P. W. Ziegler & Co., Philadelphia. ”

“ We have not often met with a more agreeable and pleasant gentleman than Captain Willard Glazier, who entertained a very respectable number of our citizens at Opera Hall on Saturday evening by delivering a lecture on 'Echoes from the Revolution.' The captain [393] has a fine voice and his manner of delivery is decidedly interesting, while his language is eloquent and fascinating. ”

“ He has then unquestionably succeeded in all that he has undertaken; and, as all men aim at success, the query naturally arises, why is it that Willard Glazier occupies so high a position in each of his many fields of labor? ”

“ That he has devoted himself since the war to illustrate the war of the rebellion in books and upon the rostrum is to his credit, and certainly to the benefit of the people whose patriotism he keeps alive by his appeals with pen and tongue. Doubt was cast upon his services on account of his youth. But the fact stands that Willard Glazier was a captain of cavalry at the age of eighteen, certainly a higher record than that of a stay-at-home Copperhead. ”

“ During the school term in their respective districts, it was Willard Glazier's habit to visit his sister once a week, on Saturday or Sunday, and on several occasions a gentleman living at East Schodack, William Westfall by name, who owned a fine horse and sleigh, loaned him the use of his conveyance to drive to Castleton and return. The sleigh was provided with warm robes of fur and the horse was beyond doubt spirited, and a handsome specimen of the genus horse. ”

“ As a soldier, Willard Glazier was "without fear and without reproach." As an author, it is sufficient to say, he is appreciated by his contemporaries—than which, on a literary man, no higher encomium can be passed. The sale of nearly half a million copies of one of his productions is no slight testimony to its value.
Biography, to be interesting, must be a transcript of an eventful, as well as a remarkable career; and to be instructive, its subject should be exemplary in his aims, and in his mode of attaining them. The hero of this story comes fully up to the standard thus indicated. ”

“ But geographical knowledge, like all other knowledge, is of little consequence if it is not progressive, and in its history we have seen the firmly-rooted beliefs of centuries torn up and tossed aside by the explorations and reasoning of intrepid travellers, who, respecting truth and facts more than mere theory, have accepted nothing without proof, merely because others have so accepted it. This is the ground occupied by Captain Willard Glazier in his explorations in search of the source of the Mississippi. ”

“ ORIGIN OF THE GLAZIER FAMILY.
Lineage of Willard Glazier. — A good stock. — Oliver Glazier at the Battle of Bunker Hill. — The home of honest industry. — The Coronet of Pembroke. — The "Homestead Farm." — Mehitable Bolton. — Her New England home. — Her marriage to Ward Glazier. — The wild "North Woods." — The mother of the soldier-author21
CHAPTER II.
BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF WILLARD GLAZIER.
The infant stranger. — A mother's prayers. — "Be just before you are generous." — Careful training. — Willard Glazier's first battle. — A narrow escape. — Facing the foe. — The "happy days of childhood." ”

“ With the ardor of a young patriot, and the generous admiration of a good soldier, he feels as great a pride in the successes of a rival corps as in his own. Nor is this an unworthy feature of his work, because the army was full of little, and sometimes not particularly friendly, rivalries. Willard Glazier's chapters, in which every battle may be regarded as a separate picture, read like a grand panoramic view of gallant deeds and warlike pageantries. If the author occasionally covers up a clear defeat, excusing it with graceful art ”

“ It teaches honesty, self-help and patriotism; and we cannot have too many teachers at work upon these things.
New York Tribune.
The history of a famous man can never fail to interest the reading public, especially when it records such adventures and dangers as those through which the hero of the "Sword and Pen" passed. Willard Glazier's connection with the great civil war is a fact rendering unusually fascinating his biography, as perhaps no other [523] fact could have done. ”

“ Boston to San Francisco.—Captain Willard Glazier started from the Revere House this morning at eleven o'clock, on horseback, for San Francisco. Quite a gathering of his friends and comrades of the 'Grand Army' were present to wish him God-speed. He was escorted by Colonel John F. Finley and E. A. Williston, who were mounted; and Adjutant-General Charles W. Thompson, Department of Massachusetts, 'G. A. R.;' Commander Theo. L. Kelly, of Post 15; Adjutant Grafton Fenno, of Post 7, and many others in carriages, who will accompany him to Bunker Hill and thence to Brighton. ”

“ Willard Glazier suffered no occasion to pass that presented a chance of picking up useful information on topics connected with the localities he rode through—their population, industries, features of the country, prominent men, etc., his capacity for absorbing such [389] knowledge being large, and the intention of utilizing it in the interest of the public having been his chief motive in undertaking the adventurous journey. ”

“ The author carries his readers into every scene which he depicts. Throughout the book one is impressed with the idea that he saw all that he describes.... The triumphs, the despondencies, the sufferings, the joys of the troops, are feelingly and vigorously painted.... His book is a noble tribute to the gallant horsemen, who have too often been overlooked."
The Syracuse Herald remarks:
"Among the newest, and we may truly say the best of the books on the civil war, is a work by the widely-known author, Captain Willard Glazier, entitled 'Three Years in the Federal Cavalry.' ... ”

“ Marquette, the zealous missionary, traversed the river from the mouth of the Wisconsin to the mouth of the Arkansas. La Salle pursued his explorations from the mouth of the Illinois to the Gulf, his sole aim seeming to be the conquest of North America in the name of the King of France. Hennepin explored but a small section of the stream, extending from the mouth of the Wisconsin to Saint Anthony Falls; while Willard Glazier had made the discovery of its primal reservoir, and traversed its entire length from source to sea. ”

“ Hannibal's toilsome marches across the Alps and through Upper Italy only gave hardihood and courage to his legions, who came thundering at the very gates of Rome, and threatening its immediate overthrow; but a winter's camp-life at Capua left them shorn of their strength.
But then we have remedial influences even in camp, and we hail them with no little delight. Daily the news-boys make their appearance, calling out: "Washington Chronicle and New York papers!" They enjoy an extensive patronage. ”

“ Captain Glazier served under Generals Kilpatrick and Custer during the late war, since which time he has devoted much labor to writing and is now making the attempt to cross the continent from Boston to San Francisco on horseback, for the purpose of collecting material for another work. He left Boston the early part of May, and will endeavor to reach the Sacramento Valley before the fall of the deep snow. His horse, Paul Revere, is a magnificent animal, black as a raven, with the exception of four white feet. ”

“ This momentary diversion over, I again resumed the march, vowing that this would be my last experiment with "sealed wonders" and that hereafter I would confine my treatment to battling Paul's back with warm water and castile soap, whose virtue I had learned in the cavalry service during the war.
Found that the Rochester papers had been discussing my military record before my arrival, and that the Express and Sunday Morning Times had upheld my cause against the Union, which had ventured some falsehoods on the ground that my "youthful appearance" belied my experience as a soldier. ”

“ Like many other well-known men, he began life in humble circumstances, and only to his own efforts was due the great success he achieved. The author, John Algernon Owens, brings out vividly the strong points of his hero's character, and throws around the whole narrative a halo of bright fancy, which renders the book as attractive as the most highly wrought romance.
Baltimore American.
"Sword and Pen." Willard Glazier has made himself prominent both in war and literature. He cast his lot with the Federal cause, and served for a time as a private soldier in the Second Regiment, New York Cavalry. ”

“ Winchester, an important post in the Shenandoah Valley, guarded by General Milroy, was nearly surrounded by the advancing Rebel hordes, before our general even dreamed that he was in jeopardy. The few of our men who escaped from that garrison, were greatly demoralized, while about four thousand were made prisoners, and many heavy guns, small arms, wagons, horses, and stores of all kinds fell into the enemy's hands. ”

“ Promptly at eight o'clock the lecturer, with Mr. J. F. Creed, appeared on the platform. Mr. Creed in introducing the lecturer stated the object of the lecture to be in aid of the Custer Monument Association of Monroe, Michigan. He also read several letters introducing Captain Glazier to the public, from well-known citizens of Michigan, and acknowledging receipts of the proceeds of the lectures delivered in Detroit and Kalamazoo. The theme of the lecturer afforded a fine field for the display of his talents as a speaker. ”

“ A shining array of precious stones, from the white brilliance of the diamond, to the mottled moss agate, greets the bewildered gaze, and skillful workmen are deftly transforming them into the beautiful gems which shine in the jeweler's window. ”

“ He [Pg 251] ordered the occupancy of Culp's Hill on our extreme right, and extended the lines to our left well up the high ground in the vicinity of Round Top, a rocky eminence about two miles from Gettysburg, and nearly equi-distant from the Emmitsburg and Taneytown roads. The line having been made as secure as possible, Hancock wrote to Meade that the position was excellent. His despatch had scarcely gone, when he was relieved by General Slocum, a ranking officer, and so, leaving the field, Hancock hastened to report in person to his chief the condition of things at Gettysburg. ”

“ In short, he was one of those big-hearted men who are so brimful of the "milk of human kindness" that the greatest pain they ever feel is the pain they see others suffer. His plan therefore was, spare the rod even if you do spoil the child.
But—perhaps fortunately for young Willard—Mrs. Glazier held different views. From his very infancy she endeavored to instil into his nature habits of truthfulness, industry and thrift. "Never waste and never lie" was her pet injunction. Her aim was not to make her son a generous, but a just man. ”

“ On either side of the street stand palatial hotels and magnificent private residences, from whose innumerable windows twinkle innumerable lights, which, mingling with the quadruple row of gas-lamps which look like a winding ribbon of light, make the vista perfectly dazzling in its beauty. ”

“ On the great field were riderless horses and dying men; clouds of dust from solid shot and bursting shell occasionally obscured the sky; broken caissons and upturned ambulances obstructed the way, while long lines of cavalry were pressing forward in the charge, with their drawn sabres, glistening in the bright sunlight. Far beyond the scene of tumult were the quiet, dark green forests which skirt the banks of the Rappahannock. ”

“ It is a broad, beautiful road, winding through hill and dale, with grand old forests and mountains in the background, their foliage tipped with variegated colors by the fingers of Autumn, as an artist would put a finishing touch to his landscape. ”

“ However, we are satisfied from what we read, that our grand Peninsular army is making some telling demonstrations toward Richmond, and that the Rebel General Thomas J. Jackson, surnamed "Stonewall," since his famous defeat by General James Shields at Kernstown, near Winchester, is still in the valley.
May 25th.—We reached Falmouth to-day and took possession of our old camping ground in front of the Phillips House. We have but little to do except to graze our horses in the surrounding fields, and to recruit our strength. We also have the usual camp work, namely, policing, drilling, etc. ”

“ As one approaches the Terrace, which is an elbow of blocks at one end and a diagonal at the other, one is confronted by a confusion of cross streets, which look as if they had been gotten up expressly to demoralize one's points of compass. ”