Augustine Joseph Hickey Duganne was born in Boston, Massachusetts,
in 1823. He was a colonel of New York volunteers during the Civil
War. He was afterward employed upon the staff of the New York
_Tribune_. He died in New York City, October 20, 1884.
The battle of Big Bethel, near Fortress Monroe, Virginia, was the first
action of the Civil War, and was fought June 10, 1861. The Union forces
were under the command of a militia brigadier from Massachusetts,
General E. W. Pierce, to whose incapacity and inexperience the
Confederate success was largely due. Winthrop (Major Theodore, the
author of “John Brent” and “Cecil Dreeme”) led an assault upon the rebel
works, and was shot dead while standing upon a log, cheering his men to
the charge. Says Horace Greeley of him in “The American Conflict,”--“His
courage and conduct throughout the fight rendered him conspicuous to,
and excited the admiration of, his enemies.” The Duryea mentioned in the
poem (Colonel Abram) was in command of a regiment of New York
volunteers. Later, he was made a brigadier-general, participated in
several important battles, and at the close of the war was breveted
major-general.