in 1880. Mr. Cobb was an alderman of the city of Roxbury in 1861 and 1862; he was president of the Roxbury Charitable Society, and held other important public trusts in that city. He was

mayor of the city of Boston, 1874-76, in which office he manifested an energy, courage, and firm non-partisanship which, with his inbred courtesy, good judgment, and experience, made his administration very popular. He was elected actuary of the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1880. He married Aurelia L. Beattie in 1848. They have no children.

Mr. Cobb has been eminent in business, an honorable and successful merchant; and his intelligence, high moral standing, and engaging manners have won for him confidence and respect both in private and public.

I am indebted to him personally for valuable aid in relation to the General and State Societies of the Cincinnati, and for suggestions derived from other quarters through his courteous assistance.

CHAPTER XIII.

REVOLUTIONARY MEN IN THE WAR OF 1812.

AMONG the families who retained personally or received by inheritance the military or naval spirit of the Revolution, are several too prominent to be overlooked. Passing by, of necessity, many to whom I would gladly do justice in this connection, I can speak of a few only whose friendship I have enjoyed, and others whose acquaintance has been a privilege.

HENRY DEARBORN was born in Hampton, New Hampshire, in March, 1751, and died at Roxbury, Massachusetts, June 6, 1829. He was an original member, in New Hampshire, of the Society of the Cincinnati. In 1814, July 4, at a public dinner in Lexington, Massachusetts, I first saw General Dearborn. He was received with great enthusiasm, and I looked upon him with intense interest. His large and commanding figure, his rich military dress, his brave air, his martial face, and urbane manners attracted universal attention.

Henry Dearborn was practising medicine in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, when, on the 20th of April, 1775, hearing of the battle of Lexington, he immediately marched, with a company of sixty volunteers, and reached Cambridge, distant sixty-five miles, the next day. He was made a captain under General Stark; was at the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17; and accompanied Arnold on the expedition to Quebec. At that place he was taken prisoner, December 31, 1776, and was exchanged in March, 1777. He served as major at the capture of Burgoyne, September 19, the same year, and distinguished himself and his regiment by a brave charge at the battle of Monmouth, in April, 1778. He was in Sullivan's expedition against the Indians in 1779; was with the army of Washington at Yorktown in 1781, as colonel of the First New Hampshire Regiment; in garrison duty in 1782 at Saratoga; and in the main army until the peace of 1783.

He was appointed, by President Washington, marshal of the district of Maine; was twice a member of Congress; and for eight years, under Jefferson, was secretary of war. In 1812 he became senior major-general in the United States Army. In 1813 he captured York in Upper Canada, and Fort George at the mouth of the Niagara, and afterward was placed in command of the military district of New York. In 1815 he resigned his commission in the army, and, after holding for some years the office of collector of the port

of Boston, May 7, 1822, was appointed Minister to Portugal. At the end of ten years he left that position, at his own request.

General Dearborn in his prime, and, as seen in his portrait painted by Stuart, was tall, well proportioned, and appeared very vigorous, fitted for the great toils and fatigues of his life. His countenance and whole figure were dignified and commanding; although in later years when I saw him, he seemed somewhat encumbered with flesh. He was well fitted for the various offices, military and civil, which he held. His mind was solid and comprehensive, and improved constantly by culture. He had a native loftiness of character which forbade intrigue and duplicity, and was above envy and the low art of disparaging others to exalt himself. In his domestic and private life he was singularly happy; and of his two children one, who was the honored son of an honored father, appreciated his character and manifestly aimed to follow his precepts and copy his example.

The connection of General Henry Dearborn with the War of 1812 leads me to speak of that contest, and of the fears and superstitions it awakened. I was but a small boy when war between the United States and Great Britain was declared by Congress, through James Madison, then President. The country was intensely excited at that time by the animosities of the two great political parties, Federal and Democratic. My father was a warm Federalist, and of course I

was a sage follower in his path. I heard constantly of the wickedness of our rulers, called Jacobins, who had plunged us needlessly into the war, with all its atrocities and sufferings. The Indians were employed by our foe as allies, and when the scalps of our people were brought in, the British officers congratulated the savages for their bravery, and gold was paid them for these trophies. Again and again no quarter was given to prisoners, and the helpless and fallen were put to death. My young blood was chilled when I read in the papers such language as that of Admiral Cockburn - referring to the conduct of the Russians in their contest with Napoleon -"The Cossacks spared Paris, but we did not spare the capital of America." I noticed many years since, when the Admiral died, the "London Times" lauded that act although the capital was then entirely unprotected- as a splendid achievement." I was shocked to hear of a British officer who went to a quiet house on Chesapeake Bay, and, finding three young ladies there at tea, gave them only ten minutes to clear their house, and at the expiration of that time, set fire to the building. It seemed hardly consistent in the organ of the British government, in our recent struggle to save the life of the nation, after having justified such acts, to lecture us, as it did, for our lust of power and our barbarity in warfare, and to call England the guardian of civilization. Let us rejoice that a better spirit now prevails in our mother country.

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