The Pacific Coast Mourns a Fallen Hero
General Lander's death, linked to his mortal wound at Ball's Bluff, stirs deep regret across the Pacific Northwest.
We published in our synopsis of news the death of this able and gallant officer. Next to that of Col. Baker, his loss will be more deeply regretted on the Pacific coast than any that has occurred during the war. It is a most singular coincidence that Gen. Lander received his mortal wound at the same time Col. Baker fell, and what is still more remarkable is the fact that the reverse at Ball's Bluff, that has cost the country the lives of those valuable men, has been the last of our reverses. Their memory will flourish green in every patriot heart, when that of Davis, Beauregard, and other rebel chiefs will be forgotten, or only remembered to be execrated.
“Their memory will flourish green in every patriot heart.”
During the Civil War, the Pacific Northwest was physically distant from the front but ideologically torn. This eulogy reflects how local settlers, many of whom were veterans or displaced Easterners, processed the loss of leadership through a lens of intense regional identification.
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