338 HALPINE, CHAKLES G. 



which lie could be admitted, and graduated 

 with all the honors of his class, we believe, in 

 1846. He at first attempted the study ^ of 

 medicine, but, disliking it, turned his attention 

 to the law, meantime writing for the press. 

 His father's death, which occurred without 

 premonition, left the family dependent, and 

 Charles did not add greatly to their immediate 

 resources by marrying at the age of nineteen 

 a young lady without fortune, but one who 

 proved in all their subsequent life a true help- 

 meet. The young scholar found employment 

 in connection with the Irish press, and his 

 versatile talents were beginning to win him 

 some reputation in England, when in 1852 he 

 determined to emigrate to America. He land- 

 ed in New York in the summer of 1852, nearly 

 twenty-three years of age, with a wife and one 

 child, 'and with hardly an acquaintance on this 

 side of the Atlantic. He soon found his way 

 to the N. Y. Herald, for which he continued to 

 be for many years a contributor, and in a few 

 months had a connection with at least half a 

 dozen daily and weekly periodicals. As a trans- 

 lator of the Continental languages he was em- 

 ployed by one paper, while for another he dis- 

 cussed in a masterly manner leading general and 

 local political questions of the day, and at the 

 same time he would prepare a severe criticism 

 on some professional subject for a monthly, and 

 then turn his attention to a pathetic poem or 

 rollicking, song for one weekly, while for an- 

 other he would illustrate its columns with a 

 stirring story founded on some legend or his- 

 torical statement. 



In 1856 he removed to Boston, where he 

 became assistant editor to the Post.- His pen 

 was at once felt as a humorous and descriptive 

 one. His relations with the Post were of the 

 most pleasant character. After a time, in con- 

 nection with B. P. Shillaber ("Mrs. Parting- 

 ton") and Dr. Shepley, he started a humorous 

 paper, The Carpet Bag, which was a success 

 in every way except financially. Disgusted 

 that so meritorious a periodical was not better 

 -appreciated, Halpine returned to New York, 

 and, keeping up his relations with the Boston 

 Post, wrote also for the New York Herald, and 

 was for a time associate editor of the Times. 

 In 1857 he became the principal editor and 

 part proprietor of the Leader, which rapidly 

 increased in circulation under his manage- 

 ment. He had written previously the cele- 

 brated Nicaragua correspondence of the Times 

 at the time of Walker's expedition, and had 

 been its Washington correspondent. For the 

 Tribune he had written considerable poetry, 

 among other pieces the famous one "Tear 

 down the flaunting lie," which, since his death, 

 has been claimed by another, who would hard- 

 ly have ventured upon such a step during his 

 life. At this time also he published a volume 

 entitled "Poems by the Letter H." - In 

 April, 1861, at the first call of the President 

 for troops, Mr. Halpine enlisted in the Sixty- 

 ninth regiment N. Y. S. M., was promoted 



HAMBURG. 



to a first lieutenancy, and served faithfully 

 during the three months which followed. 

 When the regiment was ordered to return, 

 Lieutenant Halpine was transferred to General 

 Hunter's staff as assistant adjutant-general, 

 with staff-rank of major, and soon after ac- 

 companied the general to Missouri to relieve 

 Fremont. In his new position, Major Halpine 

 speedily made himself thoroughly familiar 

 with all the duties pertaining to it, and re- 

 ceived the commendation of officers who had 

 graduated at West Point as one of the best 

 executive officers of his grade in the army. 

 When General Hunter was sent to Hilton 

 Head to succeed the lamented Mitchel, Halpine 

 accompanied him again as assistant adjutant- 

 general. While here he published his first 

 war-songs under the nom de plume of " Private 

 Miles O'Reilly," of the Forty-seventh New 

 York. These songs were admirable in their 

 way, and some became great favorites with 

 the army. One of the best of the ' ' Miles O'Reil- 

 ly " papers, written, we believe, in the autumn 

 of 1863, was a humorous report of a dinner 

 supposed to have been given to Private Miles 

 O'Reilly at Delmonico's, in which the gallant 

 private, somewhat enlivened by the punch, 

 gives an account alternately in prose and verse 

 of his visit to Washington, his interview with 

 the President and Cabinet, and their and his 

 opinions of matters at home and abroad. So 

 particular and graphic was this, that many 

 supposed it was a description of a real occur- 

 rence. He was subsequently for a time assist- 

 ant adjutant-general on General Halleck's staff, 

 with the rank of colonel, and accompanied 

 his old commander, General Hunter, in his 

 expedition to the Shenandoah Valley in the 

 spring of 1864. This expedition was not suc- 

 cessful, and Halpine returned to Washington, 

 where he was made brigadier-general of vol- 

 unteers and major in the regular army, but, 

 wearying of inactivity, he resigned both com- 

 missions, and, greatly to the regret of the War 

 Department, which complimented him with 

 the brevet rank of major-general of volun- 

 teers, he left the service and returned to New 

 York. Here he soon became editor of The 

 Citizen, at first under the Citizens' Association, 

 and in June, 1866, he became its proprietor. 

 He supported Mr. Lincoln's reelection in the 

 autumn of 1864, and during that year two 

 volumes, one of his humorous writings under 

 ths name of Miles O'Reilly, and the other of 

 some of his war-songs and humorous verses, 

 were published. In the autumn of 1865 he 

 was elected, by a coalition of Republicans and 

 the Democratic Union, Register of the County 

 of New York. He was constantly engaged, 

 however, in writing for the press, and his over- 

 tasked brain and his convivial habits probably 

 induced the neuralgic affection, to overcome 

 which, he inadvertently took too large a 

 dose of chloroform, which caused his death. 



HAMBURG, a free city of the North-Ger- 

 man Confederation. Area, 156 square miles; 



