battle of Pea Ridge, in directing the deployment of his command (the Third Illinois Cavalry), and holding his ground under a terrific fire of shot and shell," during which he was several times wounded.

After the war closed, General Carr, as colonel of the Fourth U. S. Cavalry, experienced a great deal of hard service in the Indian campaigns of the Southwest. In 1885-87, when stationed at St. Louis, he was very popular and prominent socially-as he was invariably at all stations. He there aided in organizing the first commandery of the Loyal League of Missouri, and was its first commander. His son, Clark Carr, there married a daughter of Colonel Don Morrison, and was, later, a major in the Spanish-American War.

Arriving at the age limit, General Carr was retired from active service on February 15, 1895, with the rank of brigadier-general, and from that time resided in Washington city. Very few men who passed through the Civil War gained more enviable reputation for bravery, skill, and all the true soldierly qualities than General Carr. As commander of the Third Illinois Cavalry, he added credit and luster to the achievements of our volunteers in that terrible conflict. Of splendid stature and military bearing, General Carr was an ideal soldier. He was a fine speaker, and fluent and interesting in conversation. His superior attainments, genial social disposition, his noble character and courtly manners, compelled the admiration and sincere friendship of all with whom he came in contact.

GENERAL WESLEY MERRITT.

General Carr's death was followed on the next day by that of another distinguished soldier of the great American conflict of 1861-65. On the 3d of December, 1910,

General Wesley Merritt died at Natural Bridge, Virginia, at the age of 74 years, 5 months, and 23 days. He was born in New York on June 10, 1836. In his infancy he was brought to Illinois by his parents, Hon. John Willis Merritt and wife, who settled in Looking Glass Prairie, St. Clair County, subsequently removing to Belleville, the county seat. There Wesley acquired the rudiments of his education in the common schools of that era. In 1855 Colonel Bissell, then representing that district in Congress, sent Wesley as a cadet to the West Point Military Academy. Graduating there in 1860, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the Second U. S. Dragoons, and ordered to join that regiment at Camp Floyd, in Utah, where he reported for duty to Colonel Philip St. George Cooke. So favorably was the colonel impressed by Wesley's intelligence and military aptness that he appointed him adjutant of the regiment and assistant adjutant-general of the Utah department.

The next year, 1861, found him, at the beginning of the Civil War, an aide-de-camp on General Cooke's staff in the defenses of the national capital. Transferred to General Stoneman's staff in 1862, he saw much active service in the Richmond campaigns. Returning to his regiment, he was with it in the bloody engagement at Beverly Ford, where his bravery and skillful management were so conspicuous that he was publicly commended by General Buford. Rapid promotion followed his evident military ability. He was made a brigadiergeneral of volunteers and placed in command of the reserve cavalry brigade of the Army of the Potomac. When but 27 years of age, as a general, he succeeded General Buford in command of that division operating in Virginia. Brevetted lieutenant-colonel in the regular army, and a general of volunteers, he accompanied General Sherman to Charlottesville and was then placed in command of a division of the army in the Shenandoah Valley. General Merritt led the Cavalry charges at Bev

erly Ford, Culpeper Court House, Brandy Station, Barnett's Ford, Todd's Tavern, Hawe's Shop, Meadow Bridge, and at Gettysburg.

After Lee's surrender at Appomatox, General Merritt was assigned to the command at Shreveport. In 1876 he was commissioned colonel of the Fifth U. S. Cavalry and appointed Military Inspector at Chicago. Then for six years he had much hard marching and considerable severe fighting with hostile Indians in the Northwest. From 1882 to 1886 he was Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point, and in 1887 was promoted to brigadier-general. In 1898 he commanded the Army of Invasion and was made Military Governor of the Philippine Islands. In 1905 he was commissioned a majorgeneral. At the close of the war with Spain he accompanied Chief Justice Fuller to Paris as a member of the commission to draft the terms of the peace treaty, and his advice chiefly influenced our government to retain possession of the Philippine Islands.

General Merritt was twice married; his second wife, whom he married in London in 1898, being the granddaughter of Judge John D. Caton, late justice of the Illinois Supreme Court.

Though not born in Illinois, General Merritt was in every essential respect an Illinoisan. His father, a learned man and able lawyer and writer, represented St. Clair County in the Legislature, and was successively and successfully the editor of the Belleville Advocate, founder and editor of the Salem Advocate, and editor of the Illinois State Register. His brother, Hon. Thomas E. Merritt, was for more than twenty years a member of the Illinois Legislature, first of one House and then of the other; and Hon. Edward L. Merritt, another brother, repeatedly represented Sangamon County in the lower House.

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General Wesley Merritt was a thorough gentleman, noted for his modesty, his dignified, honorable deportment, and fine social qualities. His record in war was brilliant, in peace it was illustrious for manly integrity and the highest citizenship. He was buried at West Point by lamplight on the night of December 6th, with the military honors of his rank.

DEATH OF GENERAL JOHN COOK

John Cook was born in Belleville, Ills., June 12, 1825; died at Ransom, Mich., October 13, 1910. He was buried in Oak Ridge cemetery, Springfield, Illinois.

He was the son of Daniel P. Cook, an early Illinois member of Congress, and for whom Cook County was named. His mother was Mrs. Julia Edwards Cook, the daughter of Ninian Edwards, Territorial Governor of Illinois.

General Cook was married October 20, 1847, to Miss Susan Lamb, daughter of James L. Lamb of this city. By this union seven children were born, of whom three survive-James L. Cook and John C. Cook of Springfield and William J. Cook of Chicago.

General Cook was later married to Miss Mary E. Baker of Ransom, Mich., in September 1889. His wife and four children survive him.

General Cook was in the dry goods business for several years, and later went into the real estate business. He was mayor of Springfield in 1855, and was sheriff of Sangamon County in 1856.

General Cook was one of the first to respond to the call for volunteers, and his regiment, the Seventh Illinois Infantry, was the first to leave the State during the Civil War.

He was quarter master general of Illinois prior to the Civil War and later commanded the First Regiment. He was made the commander for the Third Brigade for General Charles F. Smith's Division, which had charge of Fort Donelson.

He received the message bearing the surrender of Fort Donelson through General Smith to General Grant. He was then promoted to brevet major-general. As a token of appreciation of the service and good conduct shown at Fort Donelson, Governor Yates, on behalf of the people, presented him with a beautiful sword.

General Cook was a member of the Legislature in 1868. He was sent as the agent for the Sioux Indians to the Rose Bud agency in 1879.

A fuller notice of the life of General Cook, and some account of his family, will be presented at the annual meeting of the Illinois State Historical Society in May, 1911.

LEGH KIMBALL BRAINERD.

Legh Kimball Brainerd was born in Springfield, Ill., March 28, 1867, and died at Mercy Hospital, Chicago, December 3, 1910. He was the son of Gideon R. Brainerd and Elizabeth Lamb Brainerd. Mr. Brainerd belonged by the ties of blood and family connection with many of the prominent families of Central Illinois. His mother was born in Springfield, the youngest daughter of James L. Lamb, a pioneer merchant of Kaskaskia, and later of Springfield.

James L. Lamb came to Springfield in 1831 from Kaskaskia, and was for forty years connected with all the movements for the growth and betterment of the city. The Lamb family were connected with the Roberts,