Death Of General Lyon

The splendid victory won by Gen. Lyon on Saturday last, Las cost the nation the sevorest losa it has yel sustained on the battlo field - the Hfo of the heroic conmiander. - Af ter having a horse shot under him and mounting another, ha receivcd a shot in the Binall of the back while leading the centre of his coï'umn and turning to eheer on his bravo men. No bullet has sent a deeper pang to to the heart of the nation - Gen Lyon feil dead on the field of his greatest triumph. Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon was the sou of Amassa Lyon, of Ashford, Windhain couuty, Conneeticut. His grandfather was a Uulouel of distinctiou in the revolutionary army. He was born at Ashford in 1810 He eutered the Military Veadomy at West Point in 1837 and graduated with distinction in 1841. On graduating he reeeived lus oomtnissiou aa lieutenant in the ariny, and was at once ordered to join the army in Florida, tlicn operating against the - After uneomplaniiugly passing through that most duagreoable campaign ainong the everglades of Florida, he was stationed for some years at various posts on our western frontier. Soon after the comiucnceuient of hostilities between the United States and Mexico lio has ordered to joiu General Taylcr, and after reachiug Mouterey aocompanied the expcdition agaiust Vera Cruz. ín tlie bovibardmeut and capture of Vera Cruz and tbe severely contested battles of Contreras, Cherubusoo and others which ooourred between tbat place and the city of Mexico, his activity aud military skill fouud full play. He took an active part in each and all of them, and, while iightiug iu the streets of the city of Mexico, uear Beien gate, oa September 13, 18-17, received a troniid from a musket ball. - After the couclusiou of peace with Mex ico, he was ordercd to Jeflerson Barracks, Mo., for a contemplated march ovcrland to California. ISy a change of orders from the War Department, his regiment wís dispatehed by sUip'ma Cape Horn, aud reaohed California soon after its aequisition by the United States. - His stay in California was prolonged beyond that of most of liis fellow officers, and his time unoeasingly einployed io op erating among t!ie Indiana, subjeeted to long and tedious marches, constant alanns and frequent skirinishes, living a larae portion of the time in tents, and subject to the fatigues aud privations incident to a campi-ign in that ncw and bitherto unkow couutry, so far removed from the comforts of oivilization. After bemg relicved from his long servico n California, he waa again Btationod on out western fruntier, serving most of the time in Kansas and Nebraska. During tlio troubióB of 1855-6, the free Stato of Kansas found a warm friend and sympathizor iu Capt. Lyon, netwithstanding hi.s political sympatíiics had bofore boen deoidedly on thside of tho administration. He was then stat.ioncil at Fort Leavenworth, under Col. Suinner, but was subseijUL-ntly removed to the St. Jjouis Arsenal, where the outbreak of the present war found him. His masterly capture of tho rebel camp at St. Louis and his later victory over Claijï. Jackson at Boopvllle, are too fresh in the public mind to need recapitulation. lie i-cciuvímI his oommitision s Brigadier öeneralj lrom Washington, only a few dnys before his d;jath. Ho had been acting iu that capaolty previously, by the election of the Missouri volunteers. In person Gen. Lyon was below the medium height, and in manner s'mgularly modest and unassuniing. His whole soul was in the war for the Union, and it mattered not to hún whether his own rank was high or low. His public let tors and dispatches have boon widely noticed for their brevity, conoisoness, and elegance of language. His noto demanding the surrender of Camp Jaekson will bo long remeuibered as a model of military diction. In his death the Union has lost one of its bravestand most aocomplished defenderá; thesoldiera have lost a commander in wlioin they had tho most implicit confidöneo ; and tho country feeh that ono of its trucst hearts has ceascd to beat.