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                  A

      BIOGRAPHY

                  OF


Dk. ZALAMON JAMES MCMASTEK,

     LATE SURGEON IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY,


  DEDICATED WITH  FILIAL AFFECTION TO OUR
            HONORED TARENTS,

                  B?

   WILLIAM E.  McMASTER,

              OF NEW YORK.
II. S. TATLOB, STEAM JOB rEINTEE, S9 JOUN STEEET.

              18 6 3. 
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PREFACE.
                      --------------♦-••■■♦--------------


   The life-long affection and intimacy which existed between
my brother and myself,  renders  it peculiarly fitting that  his
biography should be written by one thus generously honored
with his confidence.
   Being the oldest of his brothers, and not unfrequently a  de-
fender of his rights among older playmates, it was natural that
he should still cling to me with something of childhood's reli-
ance for counsel and assistance,  as he  merged into the wider
arena of life and manhood.
   I was fortunate in having the ability to gratify the diversified
wants of his eventful career, and the knowledge that my  as-
sistance was received with as generous a gratitude as it was
ungrudgingly given, is a  source of heartfelt gratification.
   The incidents which constitute this history of life and char-
acter, are drawn from a full  knowledge and careful review of
his private and public career, and are presented without osten-
tation of facts or purpose, for the perusal of his kindred
AND FRIENDS.
                                         THE AUTHOR 
 
         BIOGRAPHY

                  OF

Dr. ZALAMON JAMES  McMASTER.
  Dr.  Zalamon James Me Master, late Surgeon
in the  United States Army, was born in the town
of Brutus, Cayuga Co., New York, on the 8th of
June, 1831.
  He was the third of four sons, comprising the
family  of his father, Hugh McMaster, whose pa-
ternal  ancestors emigrated to this country from
Scotland before the revolution, and were among
the earliest defenders of our constitutional liberty.
  The  childhood  of Dr. McMaster was not ma-
terially different from  that  of amiable and sensi-
tive boys, who have the good fortune to be born
in a picturesque  country, with a love of nature,
and reasonable opportunities for gratifying it.
  As he advanced in years, his fondness for the
fields and woods made him a frequent companion
of his older brothers upon their excursions.  In
health  and physical developement he was at this
period  rather slight and  delicate; and when it
was thought that  the  fatigue of some  proposed
excursion would be too great for his strength, and 
6
it was decided by the " older boys " to leave him
at home, it was remarkable with what apparent
sagacity he would  " scent the trail "—they didn't
then  suspect the  " conspiracy" of an indulgent
mother—and when they imagined themselves se-
curely out of reach,  he would  " turn up"  upon
their  path, fully equipped for the occasion.  To
turn back defeated the enterprise, and to go on,
involved the necessity of shouldering the responsi-
bility for  a safe transit over marsh and moor,
yet the young strategist usually triumphed.
  These familiar interviews with nature, to a mind
naturally thoughtful, awoke  an increasing desire
to comprehend  the  vital principles  which under-
lie and animate organic life.   Books which treat-
ed of the natural sciences were industriously pe-
rused, while  the  "last novel"  remained uncut
and  unread.   When  wearied with  reading,  he
would turn for  recreation  to  the construction of
some  ingenious mechanical design, calculated to
illustrate some scientific or philosophical principle.
  His father had retired to his farm near Auburn,
and the country mansion might well have  been
taken for a museum of curious models and  ma-
chines.  From  a " perpetual motion," that never
moved,  to  a complete electrical  apparatus  or
camera obscurer,  the  genius of the young enthusiast
was variously manifest.
  During  the summer  of  1845 a new source of
pleasure opened to him, in the temporary estab-
lishment of my studio  in Auburn.   His frequent 
7
 visits awakened a taste for the fine arts, which re-
 sulted in the development  of considerable skill
 in drawing, that was of subsequent value in  his
 profession.  Almost by intuition he  had become
 a skillful performer upon  several musical instru-
 ments, illustrating the natural tendency of minds
 imbued with a true love of nature, to acquire the
 requisite skill in the aesthetic arts, which interprets
 and idealizes the fragmentary beauties of creation.
   These accomplishments  in one so young, blend-
 ed with gentleness and generosity of disposition,
 made him  a favorite in the society of persons
 older than himself, where,  though he went with a
 modesty  often amounting to embarrassment,  he
 failed not to profit by his observations.
   His sensitiveness at being thought a  boy. and
 especially at being called one by some overgrown
 booby,  often called forth a quiet  satire that only
 provocation ever brought to light. Upon  one such
 occasion he retorted upon a  neighbor:  " do you
 know, sir, that neither age  nor size make a man?
 I could ask you a  hundred questions, not one  of
 which you could answer."
  Between youthful pastimes, ingenious  employ-
 ments, and his school, he had passed the years  of
 his boyhood.  The period had now arrived when
it was decided that he should leave the  paternal
home, where a kind father, an indulgent  mother,
and brothers ever ready to  assist and defend him,
Mere to be temporarily forgotten  in the course of 
8
studies upon which he was about to enter, to fit
him for future usefulness and independence.
  Early in the summer of 1850,  Dr.  McMaster
entered upon the completion of his studies at the
Wilson Collegiate Institute, in Niagara Co., N. Y.
His progress here was rapid and satisfactory.  He
won the respect of professors and students, and,
with his new honors  of scholarship, returned to
his home, to plume his wings for the long flight of
life, which  now for the first time, seemed actually
to open before him.
  The bias of his  mind inclined  to the medical
profession,  as  the most suitable and useful field
for developement  and  success.    But,  during  a
year of indecision, of  various study  and resolve,
he was familiarizing himself with  the  phases of
human life  and society, by travel and intercourse.
Upon several occasions he extemporized himself
into  a " tomb-stone  agent," and went into the
rural  regions, soliciting  orders for  his  brother
Charles, then established in  the marble business
at Auburn.   The tact and perseverance with which
he would " sit for two hours upon a rail  fence,"
taking some bereaved ploughman on the sympa-
thetic side at every " bout" of the field; invite
himself  to  dinner,  and shed " crocodile tears"
with the  afflicted females, until he succeeded in
secuiing an order and  an inscription, were subjects
of serious jests at his  expense in after years.  On
returning  from one  of  these  expeditions, his
brother jokingly proposed to  take him into part- 
9
nership; the  Doctor replied, that  "he preferred
to wait until his medical practice was established,
as his services would then be worth more to the
concern."  He  closed this experimental year by
teaching a district school for a few months in the
winter of 1852 and '53, and in the most brilliant
period of his subsequent career, he never had the
weakness to look back with affected regret upon
the occupation.   It was the renewal of a familiar
phase of life, now viewed from the side which was
both a wonder  and  a terror to the school boy.
He seems at this age to have substantially laid the
foundation of his future  character.   Temperate,
industrious, and  studious,  thoughtful and obser-
vant, with a keen relish for humor, an ardent love
for nature, and great respect for mechanical pur-
suits ; he considered a descent from honest and
worthy parents a juster ground for self gratifica-
tion than the splendors of wealth and ancestry,
without the accompaniment of virtue.
   In March, 1853, having previously studied with
 Dr. Hyde, of Auburn, he entered actively  upon
 the completion of his studies by  attending Medi-
 cal Lectures at Geneva, N. Y.  There is no period
 of existence when the spirit of a man is more apt
 to be depressed than when he is about to quit the
 quiet harbor in  which he has rode in safety from
 childhood, and launch out on the dark and un-
 known ocean, where so many a gallant bark has
 gone down before him.
   With something of these feelings, Dr. McMaster, 
10
who now has a professional claim to the title which
I have heretofore used for convenience, left his col-
lege with commendable honors and established
himself professionally in Syracuse, N. Y., in the
Autumn of 1853. His marked abilities soon gained
him a flattering  reception,  and at the close of the
year he was appointed one of the city physicians.
  In personal intercourse his frankness and urbanity
of manner disarmed all opposition, but it could
hardly be expected that an uncompromising dis-
ciple of the Allopathic School thus  publicly com-
plimented, would be  permitted  quietly to settle
down in that  hot-bed of " Isms" and " Pathys,"
without being challenged to the arena of discus-
sion, by some  of the "sugar-pill,"  and water-on-
the-brain  fraternity.   Their infinitessimal echos
were for a time disregarded, until aroused by these
"new lights"  in science, Dr. McMaster took up
the pen against the pretensions of Homeopathy ;
and with as much ability as he has used the scal-
pel, completely dissected and laid bare the absur-
dities of a theory, which pretends that the 30th
attenuation of a medicine,  is more potent than
the first attenuation, or that a certain number of
shakes of  the vial in  which this  infinitessimal
nothing is contained, increases its power.
  It was  a frequent remark of his, that, " em-
piricism thrives  upon  fanaticism."   The Jerry
Rescue fanatics  had poisoned the  political opin-
ions of a numerous class, infidel abolition preach-
ers,  and their "strong minded" adherents,  had 
11
inoculated their poisonous doctrines, until a sort
of politico religious, "black vomit," had seized
upon the people ; and these sympathizing sugar-
coated theorists, stepped forward with their " Si-
mil ia. Similibus Curanter," as the panacea of all
ills human or divine.
   Strongly as this fanatical infatuation is sketched,
it does not exceed the facts, or the furore in that
vicinity for  Homeopathy at the  advent of  Dr.
McMaster's practice; though its  pretensions, like
its twin humbug, " Phrenology,"  which sought to
supplant Physiology, and usurp the realms of sci-
ence and the soul, were subsequently brought to
the  respectable position of nurse and waiting-
maid to true science.
   Dr.  McMaster's  discriminating  mind  enabled
him to detect the sophistries of plausible theories,
and separate them from sound scientific princi-
ples.  He saw very clearly his  own course,  and
could not be seduced—as a few of easy professional
virtue were—by the allurements of temporary ad-
vantage, to drift into  this shallow current at the
very beginning  of his career.  As  city physician,
his  practice was various, and required constant
reference ; for in the treatment of every case, he
made it the  subject of careful study and investi-
gation.  The object at which he  aimed was to
convince  his judgment as to the exact nature of
the  disease, and then by careful reflection lay
down his course of practice, by breaking up the
disease in its forming  stage, or to control it by 
12
agents stronger than  itself.  This trust in the
power of remedies he was in the habit of strongly
expressing to his patients, and invariably encour-
aged  them with a reasonable hope of early re-
covery.   It is but simple justice to say that this
conscientious devotion and personal sacrifice to his
profession, during the first year of his practice,
deserves a better pecuniary reward than was re-
ceived.   He had seen complacent imbecility, snuff
out the  superior claims  of intelligence,  and in
mores pheres than the medical world, some imper-
turbable clown settled high in place, beyond the
reach of the greatest intellects to pull him down.
  The chair of Anatomy and Physiology became
vacant in the Syracuse medical college, and the
professorship was  unanimously tendered him by
the trustees.  In accepting this  responsible posi-
tion, there arose the question, whether consistently
he should do so, in view of the  fact that the col-
lege- was especially  dedicated to " Eclecticism."
In  his introductory  lecture,  the question  seems
settled by the following paragraph :
  " Of the various kind of Anatomy, it will be my
province to  speak of Human and  Physiological
Anatomy, in the normal state.  To instruct about
the house we live in, and the only tenement we
are sure of residing  in till death.  It will be my
duty to teach the parts, material and uses, of this
fabric ;  and leave it to others how to repair and keep
it in order.'"
  His Homeopathic  antagonist embraced this op- 
13
 portunity to congratulate  the Professor upon his
 " conversion to Eclecticism."   Not to be outdone,
 in gallantry, Dr. McMaster replies, congratulating
 him, upon having attained the thirtieth attenua-
 tion of human physiology, tendering a free ticket
 to his lectures, which, if he would attend, would
 acquaint him  with physiology in its normal con-
 dition without any attenuation whatever. This par-
 ticular Homeopathist, being a fanatical abolition-
 ist,  the Professor  closed his reply with a  profes-
 sional dedication of the following lines, which have
 both pith and point:

           " COMPARATIVE ANATOMY."
   " Who has not heard of the strange conformation,
      Half man and half brute, both united in one;
    The nearest approach to this strange 'malgamation,
      Is in Ethiope's children, 'neath Africa's sun;
    Where Ham, son of Noah, met an Ourang astray,
      And thinking to better his lonely condition;
    Reared up a large family, who e'en to this day,
      Claim all for their cousins, who preach Abolition."

   The labors  of his professorship, in connection
 with his practice, were  arduous and exhausting.
 Within  the  space of three months  he delivered
 fifty-seven lectures, embracing the whole range of
 Anatomy and  Physiology.   He  always  came to
 his subject with careful preparation, as an investi-
 gation of facts.  His memory was correct and re-
tentive, he lectured with clearness  and force, and
his illustrations  were often eloquent  and happy. 
14
 It is worthy of note in this connection to say, that
 without  transcending purely professional limits,
 his lectures inculcated moral accountabihtv, and
 unprofessional or irreverant levity in the dissect-
 ing room, met his prompt rebuke.   Death was  a
 profound mystery to him; the impalpable  spirit
 he did not seek to find at the point of the scalpel;
 and, " whether coming from or returning to God,
 it is  the immortal,  undying part  of  man, but
 which possesses no more of a distinct existence,
 without the matericd brain, than does the power of
 magnetism or gravity upon  the  things they once
 acted."   In a lecture  upon this subject he further
 adds : " Man being the  highest and most perfect
 of created beings, possesses a spirit entitled to  a
 perpetual existence in some condition.   This the-
 ory would be reconcilable with the mooted ques-
 tion of the Resurrection  of the body,  which would
 be placed in  such a  physical condition, that the
 spirit  might  enter and  establish a  new vitality.
 But I dismiss my views without wishing in any
 way to influence the religious belief  of any one."
 This  common-sense  belief that  the spirit only
 manifests itself  through material agencies—the
 highest being the brain—accounts  for  the con-
 temptuous  opinion  of " Spirit Rappings," which
 he considered too absurd for even "rational con-
jecture."
  In July, 1854, he resigned his professorship, and
 entered into partnership  with his brother, Charles
 H. McMasters, in the Drug  business,  at Salina, 
15
 New York.   Here was a new demand upon his
 abilities and industry.  The prescription depart-
 ment,  as well as the responsibility  of buying, re-
 quired his  personal  attention.  After conducting
 the general management of the firm for about a
 year it was decided to remove the stock to Auburn,
 N. Y., and in June, 1855, they took possession of
 their new store in that city.   Dr. McMaster now
 temporarily  suspended his professional practice,
 and gave, with his brother, undivided attention to
 business. Their efforts were at first moderately
 successful, but there was  already  a plethora of
 Drug  Stores, and  the divided trade of " Sweet
 Auburn," proposed no golden future to the young
 firm, so with the close of  the year,  they  closed
 their books  and the concern together.
   The  beginning of the eventful  year of 1856
 found  Dr. McMaster,  like  some hopeful pioneer
 peering into the depths of  the  future, with a de-
 sire to establish himself permanently in his pro-
 fession.  The year just closed,  in which his gen-
 erous nature reveled for the last time for any con-
 siderable length in  the social atmosphere  of  his
 father's home, untrammeled by the yet unknown
 influence that was to attach itself like some per-
 verse barnacle, and impede his prosperous career,
 he still exulted in a life of " single blessedness,"
 will long be cherished as the happiest period of
 his existence.
  As if awakened by a prophetic  consciousness
that he was  about to leave these rural scenes and 
1G
pleasures  for the last time ; each  was renewed
with enthusiasm.  No "bee tree" expedition, or
"coon hunt" was complete without him; of the
summer night serenades, he was leader ; for fish-
ing and hunting excursions he no longer required
the consent or assistance  of his "big brothers."
He had grown to a vigorous manhood, could out-
run a horse at " twenty rods and turn a stake ;"
could lay aside the boy and resume  the man, with
dignity and at pleasure.  He was courteous to all,
affable and well bred: with superior  qualities of
mind and heart, it  is no  marvel that he was a
favorite, and never had a respectable enemy.
  In the beginning  of  the year of 1856, Dr. Mc
Master removed to Chicago, Illinois.   Land specu-
lation in the West at the time ran high,  and the
writer of these pages had "caught the fever" slight-
ly ; so upon the Doctor's arrival he was manipu-
lated into a land agent for a three weeks trip into
Iowa, prospecting and locating.  His horse-back
expedition " out of sight of land," roughing it on
" pork and corn dodgers," was a new school of
practice, which, especially upon the system of diet,
gave him some very matter of fact  ideas.  Upon
his return in May, he opened his office  on Ran-
dolph street, under the auspices of a few friends,
and a hopeful anticipation.  The successful treat-
ment of several difficult cases,  quite  early in his
career, gave him a flattering introduction.  Oppor-
tunities continued to occur, in which the  exercise
of his skill, boldness and address, was sufficient to 
17
 have established a  permanent reputation any-
 where except in Chicago.  The inventor of a spin-
 ning jenny is  much  more likely  to  receive  his
 reward in his  own day, than a man of genius in
 the medical profession.  An infatuated community
 of  money-making adventurers, who would thank
 you  more  for  saving their fortunes than  their
 lives, were not the people best suited for a con-
 scientious,  unassuming  young  man  to succeed
 among.  His aversion to the slightest artifice, and
 reluctance even to many of the sanctioned modes
 of extending a practice, was an undoubted barrier
 to his future success, which was always in arrears
 of his professional skill and reputation.
   Under the slow process of building up  a prac-
 tice in a large city, his mind became restive, and
 after two  years, of what  a less ambitious man
 would have regarded a good beginning, he closed
 his office,  and accepted in April, 1858, an appoint-
 ment of honor  and  trust  in the Chicago Post-
 office.
  His new position being something of a partisan
 appointment, developed his political principles—
 which were both an inheritance and a  choice—
 strongly on the side of the National Democracy.
 His  party had just emerged from  out the dema-
 gogue campaign of "Bleeding Kansas,"  with a
 victory resplendent as its principles and the con-
 stitutional  liberties—a little longer—rescued by
its triumph, from the revolutionary designs of its
enemies.  He took a comprehensive view of the 
18
question thus temporarily settled, and was one of
the few, then, who believed that this cloud of
Abolitionism rising in New England, and sweep-
ing over the North, would, if not speedily stayed,
blot out the sun of our Constitutional Liberty! Of
the truth of these prophetic views, let subsequent
and transpiring events decide.
  Upon no class, responsible for our present na-
tional  calamities,  did his indignation fall with
more severity, than the " Three Thousand Clergy-
men " of New England, and their satalites ; who,
assuming to be the vicegerents of the Almighty,
self-delegated to petition against the  " sum of all
villanies,"  converted  their  pulpits into political
rostrums, and  profanated the  sacred cause of
Christianity.
  During the period  of about three years which
he  held his position in the Post-office, and enjoyed
the confidence and friendship of his associates, he
glided along the eddying wheels of life and society,
making many warm friends, none truer, or more
deserving of his gratitude than James Ward, Esqr.,
and his interesting family, whose  hospitality and
home was as free and open as their hearts.
   His annual visits to the paternal home in New
York, were perfect carnivals of visiting and frolic ;
in  which a general review among  the brothers
was taken of everything they had ever  enjoyed
together.  The genius of a Dickens would fail to
describe some of  these  more than  Pickwickian
scenes, in which four full grown men and brothers, 
19
imagining that they were boys again,  recounted
and re-enacted the pastimes of their youth, to the
infinite merriment of their  dear old parents, who
were most willing and enthusiastic auditors.
  Happy days! their memory sinks into the heart,
as pearls fall into  quicksilver ; they are buoyed
silently and in beauty upon the surface for a mo-
ment, then life's molten  sea closes  over them
forever.
  The current of his life was henceforth changed !
On  the 22d of  November,  1859, he  formed
a connection  by marriage most  unsuited to his
confiding  and  affectionate   nature.  When  I
contemplate what should have been—a  gentle and
affectionate wife, frugal, truthful and refined, with
the soul of honor, and a heart as sunny as a sum-
mer sky, shedding round her home the  sunlight of
content—and turn to the wife, warmed  into life by
the  rays which she obscured, rising like an ill-
defined and angry  cloud, shutting out  the bright
landscape of domestic peace ; I lay down my pen
in silence,  and turn with  renewed admiration to
the memory of that dear brother, in whom family
pride and  love for  his child, rose  superior to the
provocations which he tolerated so manfully.
   In the early part of  1861, Dr. McMaster re-
 signed his position in the Chicago Post-office, and
removed to Eureka, Woodford county, Illinois,  to
practice his profession.
   There is  but little doubt that this removal to a
 small country village was  influenced by an early 
20
love of rural life and the hope to secure domestic
content.  To what  extent these hopes were real-
ized, his voluntary connection with the army, in
the  arduous position of surgeon, with the priva-
tions of camp life must in this  place suggest.
When I visited him in the autumn  of this year, he
walked me about his embryo city one moonlight
night for several hours, pointing out tho desirable
places for a residence, yet always dissolving his
" castles " with words more potent than a magi-
cian's wand.
  Patriotism, born  of a heroic struggle, like gold
from the refiner's fire, comes out of the fierce heat
of revolution, purified  and free  from  the alloy of
baser passions.   The insulted honor of our flag, in
the fall of Sumpter, must be avenged !  The entire
West sprang to arms, and the State which it was
claimed, had given to the country for its President,
" a second Washington "—emulous of the glory his
" transcendent  genius and  generalship" would
shed upon its future, vied with her sister States in
patriotic efforts.  Leaving the standpoint of tem-
porary political power to its accidental occupants,
let us contemplate from a nobler  elevation, the pa-
triotism of a class, than whom, none responded
more worthily to their countiy's call to save its
liberties !  I take pleasure here  in recording one
respectable fact connected with this infernal war.—
The physicinAs and surgeons of our land,  the medi-
cal department of our army, reflect credit upon their
profession, and deserve the nation's gri„ii:ude. 
21
  Late in the year 1861, Dr. McMaster bade adieu
to Eureka, to accept the appointment of regimen-
tal surgeon in the 11th Illinois Cavalry, and en-
tered at once upon his  duties in camp,  at Peoria.
I sent him his equipment from New York, and the
sword which I presented him, upon which both
our  names is engraved,  now again  in my  pos-
session, after being worn upon the bloodiest and
most sanguinary battle-field of the war, possesses
a priceless value.
   In perusing the letters received  from him  in
camp, written immediately after leaving Eureka,
I  find one  alluding to his temporary  return  to
that place, in the following touching language  :
   " I went up to Eureka Saturday; there is some-
thing to me  extremely affecting  in  a  home de-
serted.   I  cannot describe  the feelings  that
possessed me to  see  things as they  had been
left, and all so silent.  Every happy association
which my mind had contemplated,  crowded like
surging waves upon my consciousness, and if a
few tears stole unbidden from my eyes,  they were
unseen by any one.  An open daguerreotype here,
a bady's stocking there, and trifling relics  where-
ever my eyes rested, remind  me that ' home plea-
sures ' were for me no longer."
   Further along  in the  same letter, he writes:
" I am  getting exhausted in funds, there  is con-
siderable due, but none  collected.   I  wish  you
were here to lend me a few dollars, I have no one
to go to, but will try to worry it through till I get 
22
 something from  my services."  God bless his
 noble  and confiding nature, at the very time he
 was penning that manly appeal,  my order for
 one hundred dollars was on its way to relieve him.
   On the 22d of January, '62 he passed his exami-
 nation with distinguished honors, and received from
 Governor Yates his commission as surgeon with
 the rank  of Major.
   To his new responsibilities he devoted himself
 with characteristic energy and fidelity; as a conse-
 quence of which,hisregimentreportedlessthanhalf
 the average amount of sickness in the western de-
 partment.  But these severe labors began to tell
 upon his  health, and although  slowly recruiting,
 during the brief respite of transfer to Tennessee,
 yet the protracted and exhausting  labors of the
 6th of April, gave a shock to his system from
 which he never  recovered.
   On the morning of that day of terrible slaugh-
 ter, he was with the  advance of Gen.  Grant's
 army at Pittsburg Landing. From a letter writ-
 ten two days after the battle, I extract the follow-
 ing facts :
   "I  was sitting  in my tent  enjoying  a  quiet
 smoke, when the stillness of that  beautiful Sab-
 bath morning was  broke by the long roll of  the
 drum,  and the guns of the enemy's attacking
 column.  It was evident that they had attacked
us in force, for the wounded began already  to be
brought to the rear, in scores.   The shells of  the
 enemy fell thickly around my tent, still I remained
at my duties, hardly conscious that a terrific bat-
i 
23
tie  was  raging;  until ordered  by the medical
director, aboard the City of Memphis.  As I was
leaving my tent, which the Rebels burned before
we  reached the  steamer, a minnie ball cut off a
young hickory sprout, not a yard distant from my
head, from which I cut a walking stick, the only
Rebel trophy which I bore off the field, save a
score of  bullets cut from  the wounds  of our men.
I worked at all kinds of surgery, from early morn
till eleven o'clock at night, and finally sank down
from complete exhaustion, and was myself carried
away.  We dropped  down the river ten miles,
with  over  seven hundred wounded on  board,
where I took charge of a hospital, near Savannah,
and had to sleep  on the floor.  The suffering
which  I witness makes me almost forget my own,
but I am  so sick and exhausted, I must soon
give up."
  One day later, he writes in his diary :  "I am
almost unable to go  out of doors ; our  entire
wounded cannot be less than  seven  thousand;
every  house, shed, and  shanty in Savannah  is
filled with them.  I am too weak to write much-
succeeded in getting a piece of chicken, and some
poor soup from it.  Diarrhea still weakens  me,
night-sweats and fever continue ; yet I feel that,
a vxelc of mothers good home nursing would  cure
me"
  From  that fatal  6th of April, he was never a
well man.  In laboring to save the lives of others,
he sacrificed  his own, and  like thousands of our 
24
 patriot army, his remaining brief career was one
 of suffering.  Unable  longer  to perform  any
 duties whatever, and scarcely able to walk ;  re-
 fused a  furlough, though every neighborhood
 swarmed with absentees from  the army  whose
 impudent robustness belied their parole ;  he re-
 signed  his commission, and returned to Illinois.
 In the  last of  May I visited him, and succeeded
 after a few weeks, in bringing him back once more
 to the home of his childhood.
   Every thing which nursing and remedies could
 accomplish, was done for him ; and he soon ralied
 sufficiently to take  short rides, and finally a trip
 to  the sea-side ; which proved  an injury rather
 than a benefit.  On his way thither, I saw him in
 New York ; he  appeared quite comfortable, but
 his condition, then, awakened my serious appre-
 hensions fdr his  recovery, about  which he still
 spoke hopefully.
  He referred with evident  pleasure to his recent
 visit to the " Susquehanna  Country,"  as  he des-
 ignated the mountain home of his Uncle  Hem-
 strought,  near  Campville,  N.  Y.  The primitive
 log-house of his uncle, set  like a rough diamond
 amid  the modern  dwellings  of  his surrounding
 children, had sheltered  its patriarchal occupant
 from  the snows of fifty winters.   Dr.  McMaster,
 when a boy, had listened to the veteran's  tales of
frontier life and adventure ; had heard  his mother
 and dear old aunty gossip together about their
 girhsli days,  had made their hearts merry with 
25
 his mirth  and music, and enjoyed many a " rol-
 licking " with his kind hearted cousins ;  this ever
 hospitable roof, which its owner would not ex-
 change for a palace, still possessed attractions for
 the weary invalid.   Years before, he had carved
 his name upon the rude pine log beside the door-
 way,  where  now again  he traced  his initials.
 There stands the record—the boy and the man,side
 by side ;  but alas!  where is the hand which
 traced it.  He spoke in the kindest manner of his
 reception  among the relatives, and amused me
 with his description of brother George's military
 advent as " Fife Major," to the volunteer recruits
 then enrolling in the neighborhood.
   He  bore his sufferings with a manly fortitude,
 and his mind exercised  so complete a mastery
 over his body, that his very feeble hold  upon life
 was scarcely realized. On Thanksgiving day, his
 presence completed the circle of our family, as-
 sembled as it proved, for the last time together in
 life !  My impressions, amounting to a conviction,
 that his life was running its last sands, were fully
 confirmed.  I had no heart for his assumed cheer-
 fulness,  and  witnessed with mingled feelings  of
 pride and pain, the  enthusiasm with which he still
 clung  to  his  profession ;  actually performing a
 successful operation for a soft cataract in the eye
 of a poor  blind uncle, and was completely ex-
 hausted by the effort.
  The few succeeding weeks of his life, presented
the desperate struggling of a mind inspired with 
26
confidence in  Medical Science  to  arrest the pro-
gress of the Destroyer;  while powerless before
all remedies, he was drifting to that bourne border-
ing upon the chartless waters of Eternity!
  As he drew nearer his  end, he  evinced an in-
creasing desire for his father's home, and affection
for the society of its inmates.  The record of his
Diary during this period, in which he wrote, down
to the day before his death, gives a better epitome
of his thoughts and feelings than any I can sub-
stitute.  In a  clear, steady  hand, written  with
pencil, I find the following record :
  " Burnside defeated,  and retreats  across  the
Rappahanock."
  " Dined  at Uncle Truman's, felt quite cheer-
ful."
  " Worse to day, feel Iodized from its use."
  " Received a letter, ten pages, from Edward,
written  on the cars from Albany to New York."
  " Father, George and Charles, were tipped over
by  ' Jerry's' running them into a  ditch. Father
was hurt."
  " Christmas eve, troubled with a palpitation of
the heart."
  " George  came  after me,  and  I  went home,
hung up my stocking ;  must keep up the appear-
ances of boyhood ; found a few trinkets  in it."
  " Dec. 29th.  Beautiful weather, felt no better.
George  took me home to Auburn."
  This was the last visit of his life, and I find but
one later record in his Diary: 
27
  " Dec. 30.  Dr. Briggs came to see me, advised
verat veride for my palpitation."
  It became alarmingly evident to  his attendants
that his life was rapidly drawing to its close.   I
was telegraphed, at New York—but reached Au-
burn too late to see him living.   The family gath-
ered round him for their last words of love and
consolation; the  faculties of his mind remained
unimpaired, and the dying man still cherished
hopes  of  recovery.   The  attending physician
made his last call; and when his brother Charles,
who had been his constant attendant, announced
that Dr. Briggs had said, he would not probably
survive an hour ; Dr. McMaster, replied, with his
usual  calmness :   " Does he say so ?  Well,  he
knows," and with no visible emotion, gave himself
into the arms of  his brother,  to  die !  After  a
few moments, he aroused, and gave some business
directions  about  the disposition of his personal
effects, which he requested should be used for the
support of his only child, an interesting daughter
under two years of  age, whom, let us hope, will
take whatever of character  she  inherits, from her
generous and noble hearted father.
  He  received the last  farewell of his kindred,
who were present, evincing for  his mother, in the
expiring moments of his life, as he had through-
out his career, the most endearing evidences of
love and  gratitude.  He informed them that  he
was too weak to give very visible expression  to
his feelings, begged them to not grieve so deeply, 
28
or to consider him unfeeling ;  left his parting
blessing  for his absent father  and brothers, and
with the composure of one prepared for a pleas-
ant journey :—On the First  Day of  the New
Year, 1863, at 10 o'clock m the Evening, at his
Residence  in Auburn, tranquilly and without a
struggle, he passed away.
  The Son, the Brother, and the Patriot, was no
more !   In the prime of early manhood, just en-
tering upon a career of usefulness, Dr. McMaster
had  sacrificed  his  life  upon the  altar of  his
country.
  His death was caused by an affliction known as
Tubor Culodis—not an original condition of the
lungs, but a habit acquired by exposure  to mala-
rious atmosphere, excessive physical labor, intense
anxiety, and necessarily irregular habits of diet
and rest.  The course of his disease was rapid in
destroying life, by  the great  number and  rapid
development of the tubercles, impeding and inter-
rupting  respiration, rather than by suppuration,
and the  usual consequences of that termination. 
29
   His Funeral Service—Was attended  at  the
Second Presbyterian Church, in Auburn, under
circumstances of  much solemnity and  respect.
The military of the city turned out as an escort,
and the medical profession were  his pall-bearers.
The Sermon, by the Rev. S. W. Boardman, from
the following text,  was both eloquent and appro-
priate  :—

   " 2d Timothy,  1st and  10th :—Our  Saviour
Jesus  Christ  who hath  abolished  Death,  and
hath  brought  life  and  immortality  to light,
through the Gospel."

  In addressing the mourners, he said :—
  " Let us pray that the year so sadly ushered in,
may terminate under God's favor, and  its close
see us  again in the  enjoyment of a settled, free,
and lasting  peace  !  The  mourners to-day recall
with gratification  the industry,  energy,  ability
and success of their departed son, brother, and
friend.  His amiable and upright deportment, his
moral  and useful  life, they remember with a  sad
satisfaction.   The hope which  he excited, and
the promise which he gave of future eminence,
leave them with bitter disappointments.   But the
fact that he died  for his country, and especially
that he spent his  own life in relieving pain, and
saving the lives of  others, may justly afford them
a grateful and consoling thought, so long as they
live to mourn his loss !" 
30
  Having thus sketched the principal events con-
nected with the life of one loved with more than
a brother's love, I will not  extend these pages
with  a  recapitulation  of  the virtues which en-
deared  him to his kindred, and  made him  so
universally esteemed among men.
  From the golden chain of a happy home circle,
the brightest  link has been untimely severed.
Upon a  gentle slope,  where the sun first gilds
that legendary eminence, " Fort Hill  Cemetery,"
quietly  repose  his' earthly  remains ; while the
immortal part  of  him, which Time,  nor Death,
can steal away ; still lives in our hearts, a conso-
lation and a blessing; to lead us bike some saintly
guide through  the labyrinths of Life, on  to the
Beautiful, the True, and the Good :—The Pleas-
ant Land of the Hereafter ! 
 
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3W
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