Richmond Enquirer

FOR THE ENQUIRER.

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

ARMISTEAD T. MASON.

An undertaking arduous in itself requires to its conduct and success, ability to plan and assiduity to execute. Sensible of the difficulty with which eulogy and panegyric, however merited, are properly bestowed, and of the diffidence and distrust with which they are received, I have entered on the task of speaking on the merits of Mason, with more reliance on the strength of his own worth, than on my ability to portray it. I know that there are of his friends more competent to the enumeration and display of his merits than I am, and this humble effort is intended only to elicit a more masterly portrait of his character from abler and bolder pencils. To rescue from the grave, where the body is entombed, those virtues that adorned and dignified the person who possessed them, is a duty we owe to the dead, and a service we perform to the living. That just fame which is won by merit is the last best gift we have the power to bestow on the former, and the strongest possible incentive to a noble emulation in the latter. The writer flatters himself that however feeble he may be in the execution of his subject, he has been happy in its choice: Happy too in the era his efforts are displayed. Tacitus had said in his life of Agricola, that virtue is held in the highest estimation: when it flourishes in the greatest abundance.—Virtutes iisdem temporibus optime estimantur, quibus facillime gignuntur.

General Armistead Thompson Mason when he fell, was aged about 34 years.

The causes that produced this distressing calamity may hereafter be examined with an accuracy and candor, that shall fear and deserve no contradiction. A. T. Mason had received the best education his country could bestow. Whilst at the College of Wm. and Mary, he acquired a reputation for talents, which was rising to a climax, as his faculties were developing.—On a public occasion, he there delivered a speech on the subject of universal suffrage, which enlisted undivided applause, was published at the request of the professors, and long circulated as a specimen of oratory. He possessed in a most eminent degree the confidence and affection of his fellow students—a popularity never procured but by merit—a popularity no envy could eclipse, no factitious importance could acquire—a popularity that was afterwards transferred from the boys of his college to the sages of his country, and extended with the extension of the orbit in which he revolved—a popularity he merited for his talents, his patriotism, his services; but, above all, for the goodness of his heart, that was seen by the eye that beamed in his eye, that carried confidence to every bosom, and aroused the spirit of philanthropy in the most phlegmatic of men.

Soon after the completion of his education, and his return to Loudoun, the county of his nativity, he was appointed to the command of a troop of cavalry, without regard to the pretensions of others, superior to his own in point of seniority. Then it was that those energies that shone so conspicuously during the late war began to appear. Mason took unusual delight in the profession of a soldier. His men were peculiarly devoted to him; and it was highly pleasing to see him arranging their columns, even on the most ordinary occasions. His example inspired his companions with a taste for the science of arms. He often distributed among them the most valuable books of tactics, at his own expense, and, in repeated military harangues, exhorted them to the performance of those duties they owed to themselves and their country. Mason did not long remain a captain of the troop: the voice of his country called him, at the age of 23, to the command of a regiment, without having filled the intermediate grade of majority, which enabled him to employ his talents on a greater theatre, and which he did most successfully.

When war in 1812 was declared by the U. S. against Great Britain, Mason was in the first requisition to defend the coast of Virginia. Inspired by the vigor of his example, and a full confidence in the safety of his conduct, the soldiers of his regiment displayed a perseverance and alacrity truly exemplary. His chivalrous zeal, and soldier-like frankness, united to his great knowledge of tactics, secured to him a reputation in the army which will long be the boast of Virginia. His companions in arms were devoted to his person, and the gratitude of their heart will long induce them to venerate his name and to cherish his memory.

His was the post of danger, and theirs the confidence of security, whilst he occupied it. The discipline of his camp, the zeal which he breathed into his men, his self-command and presence of mind on the most trying and perilous occasions, taught the enemy the duties of caution and forbearance. Sailors, who deserted in shoals from the fleet of the foe, repeatedly and unanimously declared, that the reputation of Mason for obstinate and unyielding courage, furnished to the enemy one of the strongest preventives of invasion. In fact there was a boldness of design in all his movements and gesture that peculiarly fitted him for a soldier. It is far from my object to deduce or even to authorize invidious comparisons: to detract from the merit of another, to emblazon the shield of Mason; to add a laurel to his brow, his merit had not won and woven in a wreath. My humble task is the delineation of truths—which the patronage of his state has stamped with its seal, and perpetuated on its records.

AMICUS.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]