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Civil War Soldiers - Lander
| Lander, Frederick W.,
brigadier-general, U.S. Army, was born in Salem, Mass., Dec. 17, 1822.
He attended Dummer academy at Byfield and studied civil engineering at
the military academy at Norwich, Vt. ; practiced his profession for a
time in Massachusetts and then entered the service of the United
States government as a civil engineer. He made two expeditions across
the continent to determine a feasible railroad route, making the
second trip at his own expense, and being the only member of the party
who survived its hardships. He afterwards, in 1858, surveyed and
constructed the great overland wagon route, and while engaged in this
work his party of 70 men was attacked by some Pah Ute Indians, whom
they defeated in a decisive engagement. In all he made five trips
across the continent, and for his efficiency he received official
recognition from the Secretary of the Interior. In 1861 he was
employed by the United States government to visit secretly the
southern states in order to ascertain the strength of the insurgents,
and when McClellan assumed command of the army in western Virginia he
became volunteer aide on his staff. He was commissioned
brigadier-general of volunteers May 17, 1861 ; participated in the
capture of Phillippi, June 3, and in the battle of Rich mountain July
11, and was given command of one of the three brigades composing Gen.
C. P. Stone's division on the upper Potomac. Upon hearing of the
disastrous defeat of the Union forces at Ball's bluff, Oct. 21, 1861,
Gen. Lander hastened to Edward's ferry, which he held with a single
company of sharp-shooters, but was severely wounded in the leg. He
reported for duty before his wound was healed, reorganized his brigade
into a division, and at Hancock, Md., Jan. 5, 1862, defended the town
against a vastly superior force of Confederates. Although still
suffering keenly from his wound, he led a brilliant charge at Blooming
Gap into a pass held by the Confederates, thereby securing a victory
for which he received a special letter of thanks from the secretary of
war. He received orders on March 1, 1862, to move his division into
the Shenandoah valley to cooperate with Gen. Banks, and while
preparing an attack on the enemy he died suddenly of congestion of the
brain, at Paw Paw, Va., March 2, 1862. Gen. Lander was a gallant and
energetic soldier, and his death was a great loss to the Union army.
Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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