382 



HALLECK, FITZ-GREENE. 



of General Magruder, hurling back the masses 

 of the enemy and contributing most signally to 

 the success of the day. The Army of the Poto- 

 mac having been ordered to the assistance of 

 the beleaguered General Pope, General Griffin's 

 command relieved a portion of Pope's exhaust- 

 ed legions at Ely's Ford, and subsequently at 

 Warrenton Junction. About the 1st of Octo- 

 ber, having been promoted to the command of 

 a division, he took part with distinguished suc- 

 cess in the battle of Antietam, fought subse- 

 quently under General Burnside at Fredericks- 

 burg, and still later accompanied General 

 Hooker across the river, and bore himself gal- 

 lantly through that general's brief and unfortu- 

 nate campaign. Under date of August 1, 1864, 

 General Griffin, in company with Generals 

 Ayres and Crawford, was made brevet major- 

 general of volunteers, and on the 18th of Au- 

 gust received the brevet of colonel in the regular 

 army. 



General Griffin was present at the battle of 

 Gettysburg, but subsequently obtained leave of 

 absence, bis health having been considerably 

 impaired, and rejoined the Army of the Poto- 

 mac just before the battle of the Wilderness. 

 From that time forward General Griffin bore a 

 conspicuous part in every action in which the 

 Army of the Potomac was engaged, and at the 

 battle of Five Forks so distinguished himself 

 as to be assigned to the command of the Fifth 



Army Corps, which position he held with honor 

 until the final triumph of the Union arms and 

 the disbanding of the Army of the Potomac. 



As commander of the Fifth Corps, he was 

 directed by General Grant, after the surrender 

 at Appomattox Court-House, to receive the 

 arms and colors of the Army of Northern Vir- 

 ginia. After the armies were disbanded, Gen- 

 eral Griffin was brevetted brigadier and major- 

 general in the regular army on the 13th of 

 May, 1865. On the 10th of August, 1865, he 

 was assigned to the command of the District 

 of Maine, with headquarters at Portland. On 

 the 28th of July, 1866, he was made colonel of 

 the Thirty-fifth Infantry. In the following 

 winter he was ordered to proceed to Galveston, 

 Texas, to take command of the Department of 

 Texas, then as now a part of the Fifth Military 

 District. His headquarters were at Galveston. 

 His administration was marked by vigor and 

 ability, and met the hearty approval of his 

 superiors in command. On the 5th of September, 

 1867, the yellow fever then raging fearfully at 

 Galveston, he was assigned to the temporary 

 command of the Fifth Military District, on the 

 removal of General Sheridan, and ordered to 

 make his headquarters at New Orleans. His 

 reply was worthy of so brave a soldier ; it was 

 that " to leave Galveston at such a time was 

 like deserting one's post in time of battle." He 

 remained, but it was only to die. 



H 



HALLECK, FITZ-GREEXE, an American poet, 

 born in Guilford, Conn., July 8, 1790 ; died in 

 the same place November 19, 1867. He acquired 

 a good academical education in his native town, 

 which was long celebrated for its excellent 

 schools, and in 1808 came to New York and 

 entered the mercantile house of Jacob Barker, 

 then one of its most enterprising and promi- 

 nent merchants. He speedily attained a good 

 reputation as a quick and skilful accountant, 

 and was promoted to the position of cashier. 

 He commenced writing poetry, probably, not 

 long after he came to New York, if indeed 

 he had not done something in that. way be- 

 fore he left Guilford, and his .effusions occa- 

 sionally found their way into the newspapers 

 of the day, but they attracted little atten- 

 tion, and were regarded by him as unworthy 

 of preservation. The earliest of his poems 

 which he preserved, in his collected volume is 

 " Twilight," contributed to the New York Even 

 ing Post in 1818. Soon after the publication 

 of this poem, he formed an intimacy with 

 Joseph Rodman Drake, the author of " The 

 Culprit Fay," a young poet of rare promise. 

 This intimacy continued till the death of Drake ; 

 and Halleck's exquisite elegy on his friend, pub- 

 lished shortly after his death, in 1820, shows 

 how deep a place that friend had won in his 

 affections. Before forming Halleck's acquaint- 



ance, Drake had planned a series of poetical 

 satires on prevailing customs and prominent 

 characters of New York, which, by their genu- 

 ine humor and their sharp but good-natured 

 hits, had attracted very general attention. Of 

 these satires, named u The Croaker Papers," 

 he had published four, when he invited Hal- 

 leck's assistance, and the series was thence- 

 forth conducted by the literary partners, though 

 Halleck's were usually signed either '' Croaker 

 Jr." or " Croaker & Co." They were discon- 

 tinued in July, 1819. Meantime, Mr. Halleck 

 had been making some mercantile ventures of 

 his own, and was, as he says in his poem u A 

 Poet's Daughter," " busy in the sugar trade 

 and cotton line." He still, however, found 

 time to woo the Muse. " Fanny," his longest 

 poem, a satire on the fashions, follies, and pub- 

 lic characters of the day, in the measure of 

 Byron's " Don Juan," was written and publish- 

 ed, anonymously, in the autumn of 1819. The 

 poem enjoyed a great popularity from the 

 pungency of its local and personal allusions; 

 and as there was some delay in issuing a second 

 edition, numerous copies in manuscript were 

 made and circulated by admirers of its wit. 

 Mr. Halleck has stated that only three weeks 

 passed between its commencement and its pub- 

 lication. In 1822 he visited Europe, returning 

 the following year. While abroad he wrote 



