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EDITED BY John C. Parish
Associate Editor of the State Historical Society of Iowa
| Volume I |
September 1920 |
No. 2 |
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Copyright 1920 by the State Historical Society of Iowa
(Transcribed by Gayle Harper)
BENJAMIN STONE ROBERTS
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One day in
the summer of 1835 a buzz of excitement broke the monotony at
Fort Des Moines: a strange officer had arrived at this
frontier post on the western bank of the Mississippi River.
The newcomer was Benjamin Stone Roberts who had been graduated
from West Point on the first day of the previous July,
brevetted second lieutenant, and assigned to duty with the
First Dragoons. A strange face was an unusual sight in this
out-of-the-way cantonment, and the soldiers watched the young
lieutenant curiously as he entered the log cabin which served
as the headquarters of Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny, the
commanding officer of the post.
At this time
Lieutenant Roberts was about twenty- five years of age, and it
is probable that he had never before been farther west than
New York, for he had been born in Vermont and educated at West
Point. Feeling that he must do credit to his military training
he had dressed himself in the full regimentals of his rank –
dark blue double-breasted coat with many gilt buttons, bluish
gray trousers trimmed in yellow, elaborate cap, epaulettes,
gold lace, orange colored sash, and cavalry sabre. But Colonel
Kearny, the veteran frontier fighter, refused to be dazzled by
the brilliant raiment of his subordinate. After careful
inspection he decided that the hair and beard of the man
before him did not conform to army regulations and he gruffly
ordered the young officer to get a shave and a hair cut.
The
next lesson in the school of frontier army life was a problem
in construction. Lieutenant Roberts, with a detail of men, was
sent to build a log cabin. Cabin construction had not been
covered in the West Point curriculum, but the men were
experienced in such work and the walls of the cabin were soon
raised. At this point the officer discovered that no openings
had been made for windows and doors; and considering this an
irreparable mistake, lie ordered the men to tear down the
partially completed cabin and cut out the necessary openings.
In vain the soldiers pointed out to their inexperienced but
theoretically infallible superior that log cabins were always
built thus, with notches in the logs where the openings were
to be made later by means of a crosscut saw. An officer must
be obeyed; and it was only after a part of the log structure
had been torn down that Captain Jesse B. Brown happened to
pass that away, inquired the cause of the demolition, and
ordered the construction continued – much to the disgust of
the lieutenant and no doubt to the great satisfaction of the
soldier workmen.
Lieutenant Roberts was really a good
soldier, and experience soon made him an efficient officer. He
received his permanent commission as second lieu- tenant on
May 31, 1836, and was made first lieutenant on July 31, 1837.
During at least a part of 1836 he served as post adjutant at
Fort Des Moines, but in some way he became involved in
financial difficulties – due, it is said, to the depreciation
of paper money entrusted to him by the government. As a result
of this embarrassment he resigned his commission on January
28, 1839.
Civil life, however, did not prove
dull and prosaic to the young man for soon after he left the
military service he was appointed chief engineer of the
Ogdensburg and Champlain Railroad by the Governor of New York,
and in 1840 he became assistant geologist of that State. Next
the young West Pointer turned his attention to the study of
law, but before he had completed his preparation for admission
to the bar adventure once more called him ; and in 1842 he
went to Russia, having been assured by the Russian Minister
that his services would be accepted in the railroad
construction work then under way in that country. When Mr.
Roberts arrived in Russia, however, he found that an oath of
allegiance was required from all foreigners employed in such
service, and considering that to become a subject of the Tsar
was too great a price to pay for employment, he refused the
terms and returned home in February, 1843.
Having
finally completed his studies in the summer of 1843, the
former lieutenant of Fort Des Moines began the practice of law
at Fort Madison in Lee County, not far from the site of the
old fort. In addition to his duties as a lawyer Roberts was
also justice of the peace. Here, too, he maintained his
reputation for originality. It is said that on one occasion,
when he desired to transfer a lot to a purchaser, he made out
the deed, signed it, secured his wife's signature, and then as
justice of the peace certified to the acknowledgment of the
signatures.
Scarcely had he become established
in the practice of law before the sound of guns in the
southwest recalled Lieutenant Roberts to military duty. As
soon as the Mexican War began he offered his services to the
United States, and on May 27, 1846, he received a commission
as first lieutenant and was assigned to the Mounted Rifle
Regiment. The following February he was raised to the grade of
captain. Indeed, he was promoted in line as if he had not been
out of the service and received the arrears of pay from the
date of his dismissal or resignation as if he had remained in
the service. Evidently the matter of the depreciated paper
money had been cleared up by this time.
The career
of Captain Roberts in the Mexican War furnishes one of the
romantic incidents associated with the story of Iowa and war.
He was present at the siege of Vera Cruz, and led his regiment
in storming the heights of Cerro Gordo on April 18, 1847. The
Mexicans, who referred to the Mounted Rifle Regiment as the
''Cursed Riflemen", met the charge of the Americans with a
shower of bullets but, as Captain Roberts put it, ''when
dangers thickened and death talked more familiarly face to
face, the men seemed to rise above every terror."
Again on the
tenth of August, Captain Roberts led the assault on the town
of San Juan de los Llanos. Eight days later he participated in
the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, and on the thirteenth
of September he commanded the storming party which captured
the castle of Chapultepec. The following day he led the
advance of Quitman's army into the City of Mexico, and to him
was as- signed the honor of raising the first American flag
over the palace of the Montezumas. Justin H. Smith thus
describes the scene:
"As a triumphal procession the
command looked rather strange. Quitman and Smith marched at
its head on foot – the former with only one shoe ; and behind
them came troops decorated with mud, the red stains of battle
and rough bandages, carrying arms at quite haphazard angles.
Not less astonishing looked the city, for sidewalks, windows,
balconies and housetops were crowded with people. Except for
the silence, the countless white handkerchiefs and the foreign
flags, it might have been thought a holiday. Before the
palace, which filled the east side of the plaza, the troops
formed in line of battle. Officers took their places at the
front, and when Captain Roberts hoisted a battle-scarred
American flag on the staff of the palace at seven o'clock,
arms were presented and the officers saluted."
The
following day Captain Roberts was sent out with five hundred
men to drive the straggling forces of Santa Anna from the
streets of the capital. In October he was transferred to the
command of the United States cavalry forces in the District of
Puebla and here on November 10, 1847, he surprised and
defeated seven hundred Mexican guerrillas under General
Torrejon, captured their supplies, and recovered a large
merchant train which the bandits had captured en route to the
City of Mexico. The sword of the guerrilla chief which became
the prize of Captain Roberts was presented by him to the State
of Iowa, and was later deposited in the office of the Adjutant
General at Des Moines.
A suit of ancient Mexican armor,
said to have been taken from the palace in the City of Mexico,
was also presented to the State of Iowa by Captain Roberts.
This souvenir, consisting of a helmet of brass similar to
those worn by the Spanish military explorers, with a crest
ornamented with stiff black hair from a horse's mane or tail,
and a breastplate and backplate of steel covered with
burnished brass, the whole weighing about thirty-five pounds,
was presented by the State officials to the State Historical
Society of Iowa and may still be seen in the library of the
Society.
The gallant conduct of the young
officer did not go unrewarded. He was brevetted major on
September 13, 1847, for "gallant and meritorious conduct" in
the battle of Chapultepec and lieutenant colonel on November
24, 1847, for his part in the actions at Matamoras and the
Pass Gualaxara.
But nowhere were the gallant
exploits of the young captain more appreciated than in the
newly admitted State of Iowa. Comparatively few citizens from
this frontier Commonwealth had taken part in the battles in
Mexico and the patriotic people of Iowa were sincerely proud
of those who served in the front ranks. The legislature,
indeed, expressed this appreciation of the achievements of the
Fort Madison attorney in two joint resolutions. One of these –
adopted on January 15, 1849 – was a vote of thanks and read as
follows:
“Whereas, Capt. Benjamin S. Roberts,
of the United States Army has presented to the State of Iowa,
a suit of armor, taken as a prize of war; and a sword captured
from General Torrejon, in the late war with Mexico, designed
to commemorate the part borne in the late struggle by the
officers of this State. Therefore
“Resolved by
the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, That Capt. Benj. S.
Roberts of the United States Rifles, for his gallantry and
heroism during 'the late war with Mexico, has won for himself
a brilliant distinction, which reflects a lustre upon the
character of the American soldier, and an honor upon this
State. And for this evidence of his patriotism and attachment
to his adopted State, he deserves and is hereby tendered the
cordial thanks of the Representatives of the people."
The
second resolution was approved on the same day and provided
that the Treasurer of State be authorized "to procure a finely
wrought sword and scabbard, not to exceed in cost the sum of
one hundred dollars, with the proper inscriptions, to be
presented by the Governor to Captain Benjamin S. Roberts, of
the Rifle Regiment, as a memento of the pride of his fellow
citizens of this State in the soldier-like patriotism and
deeds of valor performed by him in the late war with Mexico."
This sword, elaborately inscribed, was presented to Captain
Roberts in the Capitol at Washington by the Iowa
representatives in Congress. No other similar honor has been
bestowed by the State of Iowa.
Captain Roberts was a leader in
organization as well as in battle. On March 20, 1860, he
submitted to the Secretary of War a plan for the
reorganization of the militia, but there is nothing to
indicate that this plan received much notice. Indeed, the
advent of the Civil War soon made necessary the training of
all available men. Early in 1861 Captain Roberts was sent to
Fort Stanton, New Mexico, to join Colonel George B. Crittenden
who was organizing an expedition ostensibly against the
Apaches. After the expedition started, however. Captain
Roberts became convinced that the real object of Colonel
Crittenden was to aid the Confederate cause. He refused to
obey treasonable orders, and, procuring a furlough, hastened
to Santa Fe to inform Colonel Loring of the situation; but to
his astonishment and chagrin he was reproved and ordered back
to Fort Stanton. It transpired soon after this that Crittenden
and Loring were both disloyal.
For a time,
following the battle of Valverde and the rout of the Texans,
Colonel Roberts was in command of several military districts
in New Mexico, but on June 16, 1862, he was made brigadier
general of volunteers and transferred to the staff of General
John Pope as chief of cavalry. In May, 1863, General Roberts
was transferred to the Department of the Northwest, and a
month later was put in command of the Iowa District with
headquarters at Davenport. Here he was within a few miles of
the place where twenty-eight years before he had reported for
duty to Colonel Kearney,
In honor of the distinguished
general and former Iowan, the camp of the Eighth and Ninth
Iowa Cavalry companies at Davenport was at first named Camp
Roberts. Later the name was changed to Camp Kinsman, and
toward the close of the war the Federal government donated
this military establishment to the Iowa Soldiers' Orphans'
Home.
Although Iowa was a loyal State it
appears that some complaints of disloyalty were made to
General Roberts, and that he attempted to forestall resistance
to the government and especially to the draft by the seizure
of arms belonging to certain citizens. General Pope, the
department commander, did not approve of the action taken for
in July, 1863, he wrote to General Roberts from Milwaukee,
Wisconsin:
“I regretted much to receive your
dispatch stating that you had seized arms, &c., the personal
property of the citizens of Iowa. I don't desire you to have
anything to do with such matters. I have carefully refrained
from allowing such things to be done here, though I have been
repeatedly urged to do them. . . . . I confine myself strictly
to my military duty. I hope you will do the same . . . .
Surely the seizure of personal property on suspicion merely
that it might hereafter be used in resisting the laws was out
of place by a military commander in loyal States, and can only
lead to ill-feeling and disagreeable and unnecessary
complications, which it has been my steady purpose to avoid."
General Pope urged that no action of this kind be taken by the
military authorities in loyal States except upon the request
of the civil authorities. Within a short time this contingency
occurred in Iowa, for on August 6, 1863, Governor Kirkwood
wrote to the Secretary of War that because of a mob of armed
men in Keokuk County he had asked General Roberts to detain
the six companies of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry until the danger
was passed. This request was complied with. In a letter to
General Roberts General Pope commended his handling of this
tense situation and added: ''It is not necessary to inform the
people of Iowa that troops will be used to enforce the draft
nor to hold out to them any such threat in advance of
execution of laws, which it is only apprehended they may
resist."
On December 2, 1863, General Roberts
was relieved of his command of the Iowa District and was
transferred to the Department of the Gulf where he served
during the remainder of the war. He was mustered out of
volunteer service on January 15, 1866, remaining in the
Regular Army as lieutenant colonel of the Third Cavalry.
During the years immediately following the Civil War General
Roberts devoted his energies to the invention and improvement
of military equipment. He retired from the army in December,
1870, to take up the manufacture and sale of a rifle he had
designed, but it does not appear that he was successful in
securing the orders he anticipated during the Franco-Prussian
War. He died at Washington, D. C, on January 29, 1875.
RUTH
A. GALLAHER
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