JOHN WESLEY POWELL. 13 



which would lead to these results; and he carried the musket to 

 help as best he could to secure the fruition of what he saw in pro- 

 phetic vision. And thousands more saw the shadow of fulfilment 

 as the scathing fire mowed them down. 



When the Twentieth Illinois was organised at Joliet, our hero 

 was made the Sergeant-Major of the regiment. At the end of the 

 month, when it was mustered into the United States service, he 

 was commissioned as Second Lieutenant. Before the regiment 

 was mustered, and while he was still Sergeant-Major, he obtained 

 permission of its Colonel to go to Chicago, which was only sixty 

 miles distant, on a plea that he desired to purchase a uniform. His 

 main object, however, was a desire to obtain some books on mili- 

 tary science, and while in Chicago he obtained Mahan's and Vau- 

 ban's works on military engineering. He returned to Joliet, where 

 the regiment was still stationed. These books, together with a 

 small volume of Tactics and the Army Regulations, furnished study 

 for some weeks, and whenever possible he went some distance 

 away from camp for the purpose of looking over and studying topo- 

 graphical features and planning military works for the defense. 

 The Lientenant-Colonel of the regiment, who was subsequently 

 killed at Donaldsonville, finding the Lieutenant studying military 

 science, would sometimes join him, and they often had discussions 

 about military works, such as entrenchments, fortifications, and 

 bridges. Civil engineering and the construction of bridges had 

 been previously studied by Lieutenant Powell. 



When finally the regiment was ordered into the field at Cape 

 Girardeau, Missouri, the Colonel of the regiment directed Lieu- 

 tenant Powell to look over the ground, select a camp, and prepare 

 a plan for the entrenchment of the camp ; and his orders were 

 satisfactorily carried out. At Cape Girardeau there were four, regi- 

 ments commanded by C. C. Marsh, the Colonel of the Twentieth 

 Illinois Infantry, to which Lieutenant Powell belonged. During 

 the first week of the occupation of Cape Girardeau, he carefully 

 studied the country about the camp and made a map of it, and pre- 

 pared a plan of works for the defense of the town, should it be 

 necessary ; but no work was done in the field to carry out this plan, 

 until one day General Fremont arrived at Cape Girardeau with a 

 large retinue of foreign officers, and informed Colonel Marsh that 

 he desired to have the city fortified. Colonel Marsh sent for Lieu- 

 tenant Powell and asked him to submit the map and his plan to 

 General Fremont and his staff. They approved his plan and Colonel 



