On
the evening of Sunday, the 8th day of June, about 6 o'clock, he resigned
his spirit to his Heavenly Father. The nation, while it learns with
grief the death of its most illustrious citizen, finds solace in
contemplating his venerable character and services. The Valley of the
Mississippi beheld in him the bravest and wisest and most fortunate of
its defenders; the country raised him to the highest trusts in military
and in civil life with a confidence that never abated and an affection
that followed him in undiminished vigor to retirement, watched over his
latest hours, and pays its tribute at his grave. Wherever his lot was
cast he appeared among those around him first in natural endowments and
resources, not less than first in authority and station. The power of
his mind impressed itself on the policy of his country, and still lives,
and will live forever in the memory of its people. Child of a forest
region and a settler of the wilderness, his was a genius which, as it
came to the guidance of affairs, instinctively attached itself to
general principles, and inspired by the truth which his own heart
revealed to him in singleness and simplicity, he found always a response
in the breast of his countrymen.
Pages:
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46