398 AUTHENTIC HISTORY 



the war. He rose to the rank of Adjutant General, still retaining that of Brigadier 

 General. 



He was the Adjutant General at the battle of Yorktown, and marched with the troops 

 back to Philadelphia, where the Army was disbanded. After the war he resumed the 

 practice of medicine. 



In 1798 he was appointed Major General in the Provisional Army. 



He assisted in accomplishing the independence of his adopted Country, with zeal, 

 ability and fidelity, high in public esteem. As a physician venerated, in private life 

 respected and beloved, he died lamented by all who knew him, especially by the poor, 

 to whom he gave professional aid gratuitously; and when successive generations shall 

 have passed away, his name and his fame shall survive in the history of his country's 

 glory. 



The subjoined letter from General Washington, the original of which is in the hands 

 of General Hand's grand-daughter, accords the highest meed of praise to the gallant 

 subject of this notice: 



Mount Vernon, January lith, 1784. 



Dear Sir: When I left Philadelphia, I hoped to have had the pleasure of seeing you 

 at Annapolis, before my departure from thence, and to have had an opportunity (previ- 

 ous to my resignation) of expressing to you personally, amongst the last acts of my 

 official life, my entire approbation of your public conduct, particularly in the execution 

 of the important duties of Adjutant General. 



Notwithstanding I have been disappointed in that expectation, and have it now in my 

 power — only as a i^rivate character — to make known my sentiments and feelings respect- 

 ing my military friends; yet, I cannot decline making use of the first occasion, after my 

 retirement of informing you, my dear sir, how much reason I have had to be satisfied 

 with the great zeal, attention and ability manifested by you, in conducting the business 

 of your Department; and how happy I should be in ojiportunities of demonstrating my 

 sincere regard and esteem for you. It it unnecessary, I hope, to add with what pleasure 

 I should see you at this place, being with great truth, my dear sir. 



Your real friend and most ob't serv't, 



G. Washington. 



The Hon'ble Gen'l Hand. 



Keagt, John M., M. D.i the distinguished educator, was born in in Martic 

 township about the year 1795, of German descent, on the paternal and maternal side, 

 the name of his mother's family being Litzenberg. He died in Philadelphia, in the 

 winter of 1836-7, and is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery. In 1819 he published a series 

 of articles in the Baltimore Chronicle, which he reprinted at Harrisburg in 1824, in an 

 octavo pamphlet of 38 pages. In 1827 he published his Pestallozzian Primer, at Harris- 

 bvu'g, a book made up largely of the more modern object lessons, but under the name 

 of "Thinking Lessons, and Lessons in Generalization." As soon as the child knows 

 a vowel and a consonant, he is taught to spell and read the syllables which they form. 

 In the Introduction, the author advocates the teaching of a child to read words "as if 

 they were Chinese symbols,^'' and without a previous knowledge of the letters, a prac- 

 ticable mode which avoids the absurdity of telling a cliild that see-a-tea (which should 

 spell sate) spells cat ! 



In 1827, Dr. Keagy opened a Classical Academy in Harrisburg, where new studies 

 and modes of instruction were introduced, such as the Natural Sciences taught orally 

 in an excellent conversational style, for there were no proper books at that period. Be- 

 sides being a classical scholar, the Doctor knew Hebrew, German, and French; he 

 knew the principles of mechanics, and insisted that steam boilers should have more fire 

 surface. Had he been brought up as a machinist, he would have invented tubular boil- 

 ers, having constructed a copper model composed ijartly of tubes. 

 ITke first syllable rhymes with plague. 



