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Up and to the Right
UP
and to the
RIGHT
The Story of John W. Dobson
and Formula Growth
Second Edition

cr aig toomey

Published for the John Dobson Foundation by

McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston • London • Chicago
© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2020

ISBN 978-0-2280-0181-2 (cloth)

ISBN 978-0-2280-0199-7 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-0-2280-0200-0 (ePUB)

Legal deposit second quarter 2020

Bibliotèque nationale du Québec

Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free

(100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Up and to the right : the story of John W. Dobson and

Formula Growth / Craig Toomey.
Names: Toomey, Craig, author. | John Dobson Foundation, issuing body.
Description: Second edition. | Includes index. | Published for the John Dobson
Foundation.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190205679 | Canadiana (ebook) 20190205709 | ISBN
9780228001812 (cloth) | ISBN 9780228001997 (ePDF) | ISBN 9780228002000
(ePUB)
Subjects: LCSH: Dobson John W., 1928-2013. | LCSH: Formula Growth Limited.
| LCSH: Capitalists and financiers—Canada—Biography. | LCSH: Philanthropists—
Canada—Biography. | LCGFT: Biographies.
Classification: LCC HG172.D63 T66 2020 | DDC 332.092—dc23

Produced for McGill-Queen’s University Press by

Focus Strategic Communications Incorporated.
Interior Design and Layout by Rob Scanlan

This book was typeset in 11/15 Sabon.

Acknowledgments
The author would like to give thanks and praises to the following
people for providing helpful input, comments, and support in the
research and writing of this book: René Catafago, Barbara Ellis,
Michael Gentile, Kim Holden, Ari Kiriazidis, Randy Kelly, John
Liddy, Rodney McCollam, Bette Lou Reade, and Rosanna Vitale
from Formula Growth; Ian Soutar and Ian Aitken from Pembroke
Management; Reuven Brenner from McGill University; and Diana
and Parker Knox. Thank you to Los Angeles–based William O’Neil+
Company for supplying company stock charts. Very special thanks
to Alan Freeman for helping to reorganize and simplify the manu-
script of the first edition and for his skilful editing. Thanks as well,
of course, to John Dobson, without whom none of this would have
been possible, and to Mark Abley and Adrian Galwin at McGill-
Queen’s University Press for shepherding the first edition manuscript
into print. Last, but not least, thanks to my beloved wife, Rekha, for
encouraging me to never give up.
Contents
Acknowledgments ................................................................................... v
First Edition Foreword by David Johnston,
Former Governor General of Canada ................................................. ix
Preface by Randall W. Kelly ................................................................... xi
Photos ................................................................................................. xviii

1 An Uncommon Man ....................................................................... 3

2 A Father’s Son .............................................................................. 20
3 The “Real World” ........................................................................ 34
4 Triumphs and Turmoil ................................................................. 48
5 Rebirth and Renewal ................................................................... 69
6 New Blood ................................................................................... 82
7 The Growth Formula ................................................................... 94
8 Case Studies: It’s All About Growth
(and sometimes value ...) ........................................................ 112
9 Formula Growth Hedges Its Bets ............................................... 165
10 Formula Growth Hedge Fund and Alpha Fund ......................... 174
11 A Move into Asia ....................................................................... 187
12 Creating Wealth through an Exceptional Team Effort ............... 196
13 A Foe of Excessive Government ................................................. 205
14 Supporting Entrepreneurship and the
Free Enterprise System ............................................................ 214
15 Looking to the Future ................................................................ 248

Epilogue ............................................................................................... 253

Appendix 1: Formula Growth Fund Annual Performance ................ 256
Appendix 2: Long-term Formula Growth Fund
Performance Chart ................................................... 258
Appendix 3: Vintage of Formula Growth Stocks chronologically
over the decades (price at least doubled) ................... 259
Appendix 4: Formula Growth Current
and Former Employees ............................................. 271
Appendix 5: Sample of John Dobson Foundation
Support Recipients .................................................... 274
Appendix 6: Formula Growth 1974 Letter to Unitholders ................ 276
Index ................................................................................................... 279
“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he
acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect
those around him positively.”
—Bob Marley
First Edition Foreword by
David Johnston, Former
Governor General of Canada
John Dobson was many things: a brilliant investor, an outstanding
leader, a generous philanthropist. But, above all, he was a trusted
and loyal friend whom I knew and admired for many years.
I am pleased that John’s story is finally being told, although sad-
dened that, having passed away on 30 July 2013, he did not live to
hold this book in his hands. During his remarkable life, his contribu-
tions to entrepreneurship, to business education, and to the mentoring
and advancement of young people were considerable. Yet these accom-
plishments rarely received the recognition they deserved.
John’s success as an investor was extraordinary. At the same time,
he tirelessly promoted entrepreneurship, which he believed was the
best way to create wealth for Canadians, and he supported many
ground-breaking entrepreneurial studies programs at McGill and
other universities across Canada. In addition, he provided financial
assistance that made it possible for scores of young people to attend
university. Yet John always kept a low profile – rarely speaking in pub-
lic or giving interviews – preferring to focus more on satisfying his cli-
ents than his ego, and devoting his energy to helping others.
His reluctance to be in the spotlight is reflected in the fact that
he took little interest in telling the story of his life and his Formula
Growth Fund. (He would have preferred to write what he called a
“booklet” on the basics of investing and money management for the
benefit of children as young as four.) As a result, this story has had to
rely heavily on John’s many friends and colleagues to recount, in their
own words, what he meant to them and how he made an important
difference in their lives.
A much deserved tribute, this book tells the fascinating tale of a great
Canadian. For me, the underlying lesson is to always value your friends,
never shy away from opportunity, and strive constantly to work for the
greater good. This is John’s message to us all, one well worth sharing.
Preface

Memo to staff from John Dobson:

Objectives of Formula Growth Limited:

1. To make 20 per cent per year for our unit holders

2. To have fun doing it
3. To make certain that we have the people, discipline, and
procedures to accomplish objectives 1 and 2

Greed and fear. Many people cite these as the two main driving forces
behind the stock market. But a successful investor should know that
qualities such as vision, knowledge, discipline, risk tolerance and
patience are much more important.
John W. Dobson mastered all of these qualities to become one of
Canada’s greatest growth-stock investors. He launched his Formula
Growth Fund on 27 June 1960, with a small group of investors who
put up a total of $134,000 (CAN), including $20,000 from Dobson,
to buy units in the fledgling fund. John’s initial investment would
have been worth some $24 million as of 2020 – an increase of an
incredible 1,200 times! This represents a compounded rate of return
of 12.67 per cent a year over roughly sixty years of successful invest-
ing. In contrast, the same amount invested in the S&P 500 Total
Return index would have been worth just $9.2 million (CAN).
This is the kind of performance that has earned the long-term
loyalty of Formula Growth clients, who include some of Canada’s
most prominent businesspeople and entrepreneurs. It has also drawn
the attention of several of the world’s savviest investors, such as the
late Sir John Templeton, who at one time was one of the largest
Formula Growth Fund unit holders.
xii preface

John passed away on 30 July 2013, just five days after his eighty-
fifth birthday and a few months before the first edition of this book
was published. But we continue to practice his brilliant investment
precepts, creating wealth for our clients, who include high net-worth
individuals, family offices and, increasingly, institutions. We are also
assiduously managing money held in our founder’s estate and the
John Dobson Foundation to ensure it will be around for many years
to promote entrepreneurship, investment and free-market thinking.
Indeed, Formula Growth has lost none of John’s magic. Since
the first edition of this book was published in 2014, Formula
Growth has tripled its assets under management, to some $1.6
billion (CAN). We have also successfully broadened our product
offering to give our clients more choices to meet their investment
objectives and risk tolerances. In addition to our legacy, long-only
Formula Growth Fund, we have a growing hedge fund platform
that employs an additional investment tool – shorting – to drive
down some of the risk in what we do and reduce volatility. This
platform has been very well received, attracting strong asset flow
from institutional investors and other risk-averse investors who
want to sleep easier at night with lower-volatility funds that are
less correlated to the markets.
At the same time, we have applied our time-proven investment
process to a new market in Asia with a talented team in Hong Kong
that manages a range of products for us. We are hopeful that this
business will grow significantly in the coming years by taking advan-
tage of the many exciting investment opportunities that are emerging
in China and other parts of Asia.
Meanwhile, since the first edition of this book was published,
the performance of our funds – including Formula Growth Fund,
Formula Growth Hedge Fund and Formula Growth Alpha Fund –
has been on target. This is thanks to the exceptional stock-picking
and bottom-up growth stock investing skills of our portfolio man-
agers, as well as continued strong stock markets in North America.
Our Asia-focused Formula Growth Global Opportunities Fund has
 preface xiii

persevered despite turbulent market conditions in the region, and we

remain very optimistic about its potential.

• Sixty Years of Success •

With Formula Growth marking its sixtieth anniversary in 2020, we

felt it was important to once again highlight our founder’s invest-
ment wisdom with a special commemorative edition of Up and to
the Right. In addition to providing an update on our hedge fund
platform, this edition features additional case studies of stocks in
which Formula Growth has had particular success over the years.
The case studies from the first edition and John Dobson’s investment
rules have been very popular among students in learning institutions
across Canada, and we are delighted to be able to share some more
lessons learned with readers.
One lesson to be quickly drawn from reading the story of John
Dobson and Formula Growth is that the investment “game” is not
always smooth or steady, but it is well worth the effort. Because the
original Formula Growth Fund has traditionally invested almost
exclusively in small- to mid-cap high-growth stocks in the United
States, it has been prone to considerable volatility. As described in
the following pages, it has been buffeted by economic and political
events as well as the occasional investment simply gone wrong. In the
mid-1970s, during an especially severe stock market downturn that
had a serious impact on the fund, there was even a failed attempt to
remove John from its management.
Another lesson to be drawn from the story is the importance of
being long term in your investment thinking and letting the magic of
compounding work for you over the long haul. John was so success-
ful because he hung tight and remained optimistic through all the
ups and downs. He never lost faith in the stock market, in his invest-
ment formula, in compound investing, in the advantages of having a
long-term investment horizon to reduce risk, and in his hand-picked
team of portfolio managers, administrators and support staff.
xiv preface

A man of considerable energy, skill and generosity, John developed

an extraordinary network of investment brokers, advisors and experts
stretching across North America and abroad, and cultivated relation-
ships that endured for decades. His acumen for building an investment
firm with exceptional professionalism, excellence, savvy – and for-
ward thinking – embedded in its DNA also paved the way for Formula
Growth to launch our hedge fund platform in the early 2000s – one
that has become the envy of an industry too often riddled with failure.
One of John’s favourite expressions was KISS – Keep It Simple,
Stupid. He picked a career that was anything but simple, deciding
to compete with the best and brightest on Wall Street. And while
the academics, professors, analysts and consultants concluded that
the market was too smart and too efficient to beat, he proved them
all wrong. He not only beat the market, he pulverized it. He did this
through KISS – he always stayed calm, and he never wavered. KISS
is devilishly hard to do, especially when it comes to investing real
money – yours or other people’s. But John was a master at it.
John’s two overarching principles of investment were really sim-
ple: one, invest with good people running businesses that are grow-
ing fast; and two, always look forward and never look back. He
never cared about the tiny details, the current quarter or the latest
macro concern being touted by the talking heads on TV. He nagged
everyone at Formula Growth to always look to the next year, and
even the two years after that, when calculating target prices for
stocks in the portfolio.
John’s “potential sheets” (spreadsheets that expressed a target
price for every stock in the portfolio) were held in great reverence at
Formula Growth. They were something akin to the Holy Grail. He
obsessed over these sheets and targets. He grilled the team if the tar-
gets made no sense. Through these sheets, he forced us to peer into
the future, no matter how cloudy, and to take a shot at where the
company or the stock would be by then.
We were not allowed to be cautious. We had to take some risk;
otherwise, there could be no reward. John always reminded us that
 preface xv

there were no rich pessimists. He wanted us to hit the ball straight

down the fairway, and he wanted us to hit it a long way. He would
browbeat us if we sold too soon because he knew the math of com-
pounding could not work its magic on our returns if we were out of
stocks prematurely.
But John would never admonish us if we made honest mistakes.
As with the game of golf, he expected some bad shots; he understood
that the investment business is just too tough not to have them. If we
hit the ball into the woods or the sand, he simply expected us to get
it back in play and make the most of it. And he expected us to finish
the round, to see it through. Unlike his favourite golf club, Mount
Bruno, which has the occasional mulligan, there are no mulligans in
the stock market. And there was no such thing as quitting for John.
In the end, he believed investing was a “numbers” game. You will
never bat a thousand, but, as in golf, if you have sound fundamentals
like a good grip, posture and swing plane, along with a good work
ethic and nerve, you will post some solid scores. In his investing
career, as on the golf course, John posted many, many good scores.
The principle of supporting good people and looking forward,
never back, also permeated John’s lifelong philanthropic work. He
knew that if he encouraged passionate and energetic people, espe-
cially young people, we could build a better world by creating more
leaders. This encouragement was obvious in the spectacular work
he did through his John Dobson Foundation and through his per-
sonal generosity. We are proud to be carrying on this work on his
behalf today.
Thanks to the Foundation, John had a remarkable influence on
generations of new entrepreneurs throughout North America and
backed numerous organizations extolling the virtues of free-mar-
ket capitalism. In 1989, the Foundation established the innovative
Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship at McGill University, spawn-
ing similar centres at numerous other universities across Canada. In
addition, the Foundation supports entrepreneurial development at
dozens of Canadian universities and colleges, as well as outreach
xvi preface

programs, think-tanks, and other initiatives. These include or have

included such varied groups as Shad Canada, Youth Employment
Services Montreal and Junior Achievement of Canada. John was also
the original sponsor of the Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs
(now Enactus Canada), a national student body that advocates entre-
preneurial education. In recognition of his many contributions and
achievements, John was awarded honorary doctorates from McGill,
Concordia, Acadia and Dalhousie universities. In 1997, he was
named to the Order of Canada and described as “a generous philan-
thropist [who] created a foundation to help develop entrepreneurial
skills and self-sufficiency among Canadian youth.”
Through it all, John constantly stressed to anyone who would
listen the importance of common sense and having fun in life. His
approach was “grip-it-and-rip-it,” and have fun while you are doing
it. When it came to fun, he had an almost obsessive passion for the
game of golf that began in his youth. He played on over 600 of the
leading courses throughout the world, was a long-time board mem-
ber of the Royal Canadian Golf Association, and helped run the
Canadian Open. He even served for a time as a highly respected Golf
Digest course rater for Canadian and US golf courses, and he was not
shy about complaining of the unnecessary difficulty of some greens.
Golf played an important role in helping John develop business rela-
tionships and loyal friendships that endured for over half a century.
He described it as a networking game played all over the world.
In addition to golf and work, John devoted a tremendous amount
of personal time to mentoring and teaching. I experienced the guid-
ance of “Mr D” first-hand. He focused on me and taught me every-
thing he knew. He pushed and challenged me. As a great networker,
he introduced me to everyone – and he seemed to know everyone. He
was Facebook and LinkedIn and the World Wide Web all rolled into
one. He worked a room better than anyone I ever knew. Amazingly,
he did it the old-fashioned way, as he never had a cellphone or even
a computer. I was lucky. When I met my boss nearly forty years ago,
I won the lottery. What skills I have today, I owe them all to Mr D.
 preface xvii

Since the publication of the first edition, all of us at Formula

Growth have been missing John Dobson, his wise guidance and zest
for life. But we are thankful to be in a position to once again share
his story among as wide an audience as possible, and to be faithfully
carrying on his work for the benefit of our clients and Canada as a
whole. We are committed to be building on a sixty-year track record
of steering our investments, and our business, in one direction: Up
and to the Right.

Randall W. Kelly
Chief Executive Officer, Formula Growth Limited
Even when he was a little boy, John Young John with a grapefruit — a
Dobson’s forthright personality was rare treat in 1934 — and his family’s
obvious to see. big car.

John is on the right of this picture, together with his sister, Virginia, and his
father, Sydney Dobson.
Since you cannot play golf in a
Montreal winter, young John turned
his attention to hockey.

Fortunately, the snow would eventually

melt and allow John to pick up his golf
clubs.
John with his friend Jacques Tétrault and two young women, one of them feeding a
piglet in the landmark Montreal restaurant Au Lutin Qui Bouffe.
John Dobson, the quintessential
young businessman.

John, his sister, and his mother. The young man’s

fixed smile seems aimed at his mother’s hat.
On the practice tee at the Mount Bruno
Country Club.

At the Royal Montreal Golf Club in 1980, helping

run the Canadian Open.
As the friendly inscription shows, Dobson was on excellent terms with Canadian
prime minister Brian Mulroney.

Confronting Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group.

Receiving the Order of Canada from Governor-General Roméo
Leblanc.

In 1996, McGill University awarded Dobson an honorary

doctorate of law. Here he is with McGill’s chancellor, Gretta
Chambers.
The Formula Growth family, circa 2000: Seated from left to right are John Dobson;
Kimberley Holden, vice-president (retired); Randall W. Kelly, chief executive officer
and co-chief investment officer; René Catafago, executive vice-president and chief
financial officer (retired); and standing are Anthony T. Staples, vice-president and
senior portfolio manager; and John Liddy, co-chief investment officer and executive
vice-president.

To the end of his life, golf remained one of John Dobson’s passions.
Up and to the Right
Chapter 1

An Uncommon Man

John W. Dobson was a study in contrasts. A wealthy man who

always shunned luxuries and conspicuous signs of wealth. An
extremely generous man who saw frugality as the ultimate virtue. A
highly sociable and, at times, gregarious individual who nevertheless
always lived alone and did not enjoy being the centre of attention. A
life-long bachelor who often relied heavily on the support of women
and took a keen interest in the careers and goals of young people.
An affable person who could also be temperamental, impatient, and
unwilling to suffer fools. An outstanding investor who made much
of his money bringing new technologies to life but resisted most of
them himself – he would always choose a smart conversation over a
smart phone. An energetic and curious student whose 1949 McGill
University yearbook quote paraphrased George Bernard Shaw:
“Activity is the road to knowledge.” He followed this maxim over
the next six decades.
Talk to friends and colleagues about John Dobson, this man of
contrasts, and they all agree that he was consistent about the three
main passions in his life: work, the promotion of entrepreneurship,
and the game of golf. He pursued all three with remarkable energy,
dedication, and enthusiasm, adhering to the highest standards of hon-
esty and integrity. In the process, he had a huge impact on those whose
lives he touched, earning their unwavering loyalty and respect.
“John really was in many ways a very decent, honest, and fine
example of mankind,” says legendary Montreal money manager
Stephen Jarislowsky, who knew Dobson since the early 1950s. “He
was John, period. There were not too many people in his mould. I
especially admired him as a decent human being, as someone who
was trying to make a difference. He spent his whole life trying to
4 up and to the right

change things in Canada for the better, whether it was entrepreneur-

ship, or business, or politics. He had very strong values, which are
hard to modify or shake.”
While Dobson always demonstrated an unrelenting dedication
to work in the service of his Formula Growth clients, he was also a
strong believer in the importance of enjoying yourself, both on and
off the job. “John always advised me to have a balanced approach,”
said Ian Soutar, his long-time colleague and friend, who passed away
in 2016 at the age of 79 after a multi-year battle against multiple
myeloma. “He’d say: ‘You can’t spend all of your time in the office
worrying about stocks. You’ve got to get out, travel a bit, and play
some golf.’ John kept his life very simple. It was golf and it was the
investment business. I think that’s one of the reasons why he was as
successful as he was.”
Formula Growth executive John Liddy notes that simplicity
was a hallmark of Dobson’s life. Despite his considerable wealth,
he stayed in the same modest apartment for thirty years. “He never
lived large at all. His own self-aggrandizement was never a part of
what he was about. I can’t think of many others like that. He was a
real old-school, generous guy.”
While he spent time socializing and playing golf, work was often
foremost on Dobson’s mind, but there was not always a clear distinc-
tion between the two pursuits. “You were always challenged by John,”
says Peter Mackechnie, a former Formula Growth executive. “For
example, he’d suggest an afternoon of golfing. But when we’d get back
to the office, we’d go over what we called target sheets to assess stocks.
It was a very serious attitude there. There was no fooling around when
we were working on stocks because John believed so much that the unit
holders deserved the best we could give them. And he gave a lot.”

• Punctuality •

Dobson’s energy was legendary – few could keep up with him. “He
was always the last one in the room, looking for something to do,”
 an uncommon man 5

says Randy Kelly, who succeeded him as Formula Growth’s president.

“After a long night of business meetings or socializing, he would still
get into the office right on time the next morning and be ready to go.”
In fact, one of Dobson’s most intractable quirks was his obsession
with being on time. “The number one lesson from him is the impor-
tance of punctuality,” says his niece, Diana Knox. “In his mind, if you
weren’t punctual, you were showing the other person that their time
is not as important as yours is. You had to always make sure you were
on time for John, or heaven help you otherwise!”
Bette Lou Reade, a long-time Formula Growth portfolio man-
ager, recalls accompanying Dobson and Ian Soutar on a business
trip to Dallas, Texas, where a number of appointments had already
been lined up. “The plane was late, and because we were staying for
a couple of days, we had each checked in several suitcases. When the
plane landed, John would not let us get our bags off the carousel. He
insisted that we had to get in the limousine and make it to the meet-
ings. So, the whole day I could not concentrate on a single company
because I thought I was going to lose my suitcase. It was just sitting
in Dallas Airport on the ruddy carousel! We went back to the airport
that night, and sure enough, there were the bags.”
This unflinching dedication to punctuality even extended to lei-
sure activities. “Sometimes we’d have a golf game. You’d get off a
plane, and all John would do was go straight to where we were going
to play golf,” says Reade. “You could never eat, never had a chance
to change. You just had to get there.”
At times, some felt that Dobson’s intolerance for tardiness bor-
dered on rude, yet it was so extreme that it could sometimes be
amusing. “I remember going one day to the Four Seasons Hotel in
Montreal to pick up a friend of John’s from California who was here
to attend a meeting,” says Barbara Ellis, Formula Growth’s long-
time office manager, who retired from the firm in 2014. “John had
told his friend to meet us at 5:03 p.m., but at 5:05 p.m. he wasn’t
there, so John drove off. I said, ‘He’s only two minutes late! Can’t
we wait a bit?’ ‘Nope,’ John replied. ‘I told him 5:03. I gave him two
6 up and to the right

minutes. He’s late!’ I don’t know what happened to him, but I don’t
think he made the meeting.”
Even though Formula Growth made many successful investments
in technology firms, Dobson displayed a complete lack of interest in
computers, mobile phones, or other modern communication devices.
“John didn’t keep up with information technology systems and never
had a cellphone,” noted Ian Soutar. “He was always quite resentful
of the fact that when he’d come into the office people had no time
to sit and talk to him. They’d be looking at their screens, emailing
people, the kind of stuff that goes on in the real world. The whole
information flow has changed now. It’s so much quicker and so much
more intense. Whether it’s better or not, I don’t know, but it’s the
way people operate today. His view was that we’re really wasting our
time too much, and there’s a whole load of information that we can’t
process anyway.”
Dobson, who never married, had a somewhat conflicted relation-
ship with women. While relying on their support, especially from
Formula Growth colleagues such as Barbara Ellis, Bette Lou Reade
and Kim Holden (Bette Lou’s daughter and a one-time portfolio
manager), when push came to shove, he preferred to deal with men,
even on social occasions. “All John’s stuff did not involve wives, so
if we went to a hockey game or something, it would generally not be
with wives because he didn’t have one,” says Peter Mackechnie. “He
was all into business, growth, opportunities, and free enterprise, that
kind of thing. He really didn’t have time for women, but he enjoyed
their company nevertheless.”
Ian Soutar recalled that his former partner, the late Neil Ivory,
once invited Dobson to have dinner with him and his wife. Dobson
had a girlfriend with him, and he was going to a hockey game that
evening. “They got through the main course, and the dessert was
about to come. But John looked at his watch and said it was time to
go to the hockey game. His date said it was impolite to leave, and she
was going to stay for dessert. John said that was fine. He got up, left
his date there and went to the hockey game by himself.” Soutar said
 an uncommon man 7

that this story reveals a lot about Dobson’s character. “I think that if
you are going to get married, if it’s going to last, you’re going to have
to compromise. And he was not fond of compromising.”
Dobson’s unusual temperament was a source of bemusement
among those who knew him well. “You could never foresee how John
would react,” says René Catafago, Formula Growth’s former CFO
and executive vice-president, who was also Dobson’s personal finan-
cial and tax advisor. “He was very unpredictable. One time he gave
me hell for ordering a new desk, saying it was a waste of money. Yet
he could be so generous. He was also absent-minded. I remember one
day he was in the boardroom and my office was not too far. I heard
him scream for me, so I immediately jumped up and said, ‘Yes, John?’
He responded, ‘Not now, I’m busy!’”
Sometimes Dobson’s meticulousness and attention to detail, so
critical to his success as an investor, could be maddening, according to
Catafago. “I once was at a meeting, giving John spreadsheets of com-
panies I had analyzed. Everything was so neatly done, with columns,
ratios, and cash flow. It was a nice sheet per company. Everything
was pluses and minuses, which were in brackets. I saw John looking
very perplexed about the whole thing. He turned around and showed
the sheet of paper to Ian Soutar and said, ‘Ian, don’t you think the
way he does his brackets is funny?’ I got so mad, I said, ‘John, after
all the work I have done, all you have to pick on is my brackets?’”

• Generosity •

Despite his quirks, Dobson is fondly recalled for his generosity and
concern toward others. “He genuinely cared about people in this
organization and keeping everyone together,” says Kim Holden.
“He fostered this culture of togetherness, always asking how the
day was going, how the evening and vacations were, and so on.
He was very good about it.” Dobson’s generosity, often sponta-
neous, is legendary. “I had no money at all when I started, and the
banks wouldn’t give me a mortgage,” says Bette Lou Reade, who
8 up and to the right

was anxious to buy a home. “As soon as John heard about it, I got
my mortgage.”
“In the 1970s, John started providing financial assistance for
youngsters, including the children of his friends who were attending
university,” said the late Robert Paterson, a boyhood friend. “No one
knows how many he helped. He seemed uncomfortable with people
being aware of his generosity, as this was a private matter with him.”
Jim Durrell, a businessman and former mayor of Ottawa, knew
Dobson since the 1950s when his father worked with Dobson at
Dominion Engineering Works in Montreal. Durrell likes to tell
a remarkable story about Dobson’s impromptu approach to giv-
ing. It happened a few years ago after a game of golf at the Cape
Breton resort of Baddeck, where John was having dinner with
Kelvin Ogilvie, then president of Acadia University (and a retired
member of the Canadian Senate), and Harvey Gilmour, an Acadia
fundraiser at the time. “The maître d’ came over after we had
eaten and said he hoped we enjoyed the meal,” Durrell recalls.
“Kelvin mentioned that the waiter had done an outstanding job.
The young fellow came over later to thank us for the compliment,
and we asked him where he was going to school. He said he had
wanted to go to Acadia, where his father had gone, but his family
didn’t have the money. He was working to save up for next year.
Ogilvie gave him his card and said, ‘I’m the president of Acadia.
Your marks are all right?’ He said yes, his marks were great. Then
the Dobber [as Dobson is known to some intimates] chirped in:
‘If your marks are good, then you have a four-year ride at Acadia
courtesy of me.’ The fellow graduated a couple of years ago and
did exceedingly well.”
Durrell suggests there’s a moral to this story. “I’ve since said to
my kids, ‘Treat everybody you deal with respectfully because you
never know who they may be.’ My dad would always say, ‘The world
should be a better place because you’ve been here.’ That’s been a
guiding principle for us throughout life. And there’s no question the
world has been a better place because the Dobber’s been here.”
 an uncommon man 9

According to Durrell, Dobson never hesitated to give his straight

and unedited opinion. “He didn’t tell you what you wanted to hear,
rather what he thought.” He remembers toying with the idea of get-
ting an MBA as a young man, and Dobson advised him not to, say-
ing the degree was overrated. “He felt I should get out and work
more. He said there were too many people with theories and not
enough practical experience.” Durrell formed his own business and
later spent a lot of time with Dobson working on a business plan
for a new concept. “Our idea was to privatize recreational facilities
across Canada. John gave me advice and lent me some money as an
investment. He has a powerful personality, but for all of his bluster,
he was as compassionate and caring an individual as you can find.
If someone asked what I admired about John, I’d say his philan-
thropy, and his assistance to people was consistent and always with-
out fanfare.” Durrell eventually sold the recreational company to a
US buyer. He went on to become a prominent member of Ottawa’s
business community, serving as president of the Ottawa Senators
hockey team and chairman of the Ottawa International Airport
Authority, as well as spending five years as the city’s mayor. In 2012
he was appointed a member of the Order of Canada for his decades-
long contributions to the city of Ottawa as a businessman, mayor,
and committed volunteer.
While Dobson usually limited his giving to entrepreneurial or
academic pursuits, he was sometimes willing to bend the rules.
Nancy Durrell McKenna, Jim’s sister, approached Dobson in 1996
about an idea for improving the health of mothers in Africa. She
had a chance to work on a project in Ghana and asked Dobson if
he would be willing to give her $50,000. “He said I wasn’t an entre-
preneur and he wasn’t supporting maternal health, but he told me
he supported me as an individual. A charity in Canada was able to
accept his donation, and it was given to me then to do the work,”
she recalls. Today, Nancy Durrell McKenna is Founder Director of
SafeHands for Mothers Charitable Trust, a UK-based charity that
supports safe maternal health practices in developing countries.
10 up and to the right

“The most important lesson I learned from John was giving. He

had a huge philanthropic spirit. He supported entrepreneurs and put
many people through university. Giving back was very, very import-
ant to him.”
Prominent research scientist Sam Catherine Johnston was
another recipient of Dobson’s generosity. Despite her somewhat less-
than-stellar academic performance at McGill, he backed her in the
pursuit of a doctorate at Harvard. Her goal was to design, imple-
ment, and evaluate a global development program for mental health
policy planners and doctors who care for refugees and assist peo-
ple in post-conflict areas. “Where most people who would provide a
scholarship for a young person would look first and foremost for a
perfect academic record (which I did not have upon graduating from
McGill), Mr Dobson instead paid attention to my work in educa-
tion in the two years after I graduated, as well as my strong desire to
do something innovative. Global Mental Health Program trains fifty
doctors around the world, a testament to Mr Dobson’s generosity
and his willingness to take risks in investing in young minds.” Today,
Johnston is director of postsecondary and workforce development at
the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), a non-profit edu-
cation research and development organization that works to expand
learning opportunities for all individuals through universal design
for learning.
Florence Tracy, retired director of McGill Residences, credited
John’s generosity for the provision of needed bursaries for many
McGill students. “John donated [money] to McGill for me to use
without restrictions and to disburse according to my own discretion,”
she wrote on the occasion of Dobson’s eightieth birthday. “One stu-
dent applied for a Rhodes Scholarship in the Caribbean region but
was unable to afford to travel home for the interview. Thanks to
John, she was able to attend and become the first woman from the
Caribbean to be selected as a Rhodes Scholar.” Tracy noted that
Dobson also funded the establishment of computer labs at six McGill
residence halls in 1996, long before students routinely arrived with
 an uncommon man 11

PCs. Alex K. Paterson, a prominent Montreal lawyer and former

chair of McGill University’s board of governors (and the cousin of
Dobson’s boyhood friend Robert Paterson), noted on the same occa-
sion that hundreds of students across Canada received the benefit of
Dobson’s generosity. “A lot [was] done anonymously. Many others
benefited from his investment advice for over half a century and were
guided not only by John’s investment wisdom but by his counsel on
a litany of subjects.”
Dobson’s support for young people was consistent through-
out his long career. Philippe Hynes is a prime example. He first
met Dobson while he was working as a bartender at Dobson’s
beloved Mount Bruno Country Club near Montreal. Later, while
at Concordia University, Hynes participated in a Formula Growth-
sponsored portfolio management competition, and Dobson became
his mentor. “He gave me advice on where to go for a master’s
degree,” Hynes recalls. “I had been accepted to Boston College,
and he offered to pay. But after making some phone calls, he said
that it doesn’t matter if the university you go to is not one of the top
twenty. Because of his advice, I decided to go to L’École des hautes
études commerciales (HEC) in Montreal, which turned out to be
the best decision.” By staying in Montreal and getting to know
investment firms there, Hynes positioned himself for a success-
ful career. After working for Van Berkom and Associates Inc., he
co-founded and is currently the president of Tonus Capital Inc., an
investment and portfolio fund manager. But Dobson was still there
for him. “John invested in our fund, which is a great reference to
have in Montreal. He was so well respected, and his involvement
gave us credibility.”
Hynes retains enormous respect for Dobson and remains forever
grateful for his backing. “He was always there to guide me. He was
very generous with his time and money.” Hynes was not a member
of the Mount Bruno Country Club, but in 2008 Dobson even spon-
sored his wedding reception there. “He invited me to play golf that
morning with my father and father-in-law. It was quite a thrill.”
12 up and to the right

• Philanthropy •

Diana Knox considers her Uncle John to be a “genuine philanthro-

pist” who did things quietly and often anonymously. After graduating
from high school, she decided to study languages in Switzerland for a
year. She suspected her uncle helped finance the trip, but no one ever
told her so directly. On her return, she enrolled at university in New
Brunswick and there met her future husband, Parker Knox.
“We have instilled an interest in travel and languages in our own
kids, and I think this interest goes back to John. All of this happened
because of him,” she says.
Parker Knox says Dobson has also been a marvellous role model
for him, especially when it comes to leadership. “While leadership
is fundamental in business, Dobson believed it is lacking in today’s
world,” he says. “Many people will think of him as an entrepre-
neur, but his views on leadership were fundamental.” Dobson’s
belief in being ethical in business still inspires Knox. “If I had trou-
ble with how to handle a business situation, John would counsel
me by asking me good questions, but never clearly telling me what
to do. He led me through a process of discovery. He didn’t tell me
what to think but told me about different perspectives to view the
issue from.”
This humility is a constant theme for those who knew Dobson.
“John was very blunt and direct, but also highly trustworthy,” says
Reuven Brenner, the retired REPAP chair of economics at McGill
University’s Desautels Faculty of Management, and a long-time
Dobson confidante. “He was very humble and modest. You discov-
ered his giving almost by accident. He was one of the few who prac-
tised what he preached.”
Brenner remembers first meeting Dobson when he was moving
into his McGill office more than twenty years ago. “The boxes had
just arrived at my office. I was unpacking when John knocked at the
door. He came in and said, ‘I am John Dobson. Go on doing what
you’re doing.’ I had no idea who he was. I asked the dean, who told
 an uncommon man 13

me, ‘Don’t ask questions. Just keep him happy. He’s one of our big-
gest donors.’ I do not know if I managed that, but it was the begin-
ning of a long, close friendship.”
The late William I.M. Turner Jr, a board member of the John
Dobson Foundation for many years, said that what Dobson did with
his money was selfless, and helped to influence generations of new
entrepreneurs throughout North America. “He was a very good
judge of people,” said Turner, a prominent businessman who passed
away in 2015. “On occasions, he was a little impatient of stupidity.
He deserved his good friends. He worked hard for them.”
“He was a loyal man, so he had very many loyal friends,” agrees
former Canadian prime minister John Turner, who could rely on
strong support from Dobson throughout his political career. “I was a
friend of his for nearly seventy years. We shared a lot of confidences.
We saw eye to eye on most issues.”

• investing in the course •

Investing may have propelled John Dobson’s professional life, and

entrepreneurship education may have dominated his philanthropy,
but when it came to his personal life, no passion was more cen-
tral than the sport of golf. From the moment a visitor walked into
Dobson’s office at Formula Growth, the role of the game in his life
was there for all to see: a set of golf clubs standing beside his desk,
ready to be hauled into action at a moment’s notice.
Since his teens, when John Dobson took up the sport at the
Mount Bruno Country Club on the south shore of the St Lawrence
River opposite Montreal, golf was seldom out of mind. “It’s a dis-
ease,” he readily admitted, describing golf as “a kooky game but a
helluva good way to spend a life.” A central part of Dobson’s social
life, golf was also the catalyst that allowed him to see the world, driv-
ing him to play at more than 600 separate golf courses around the
planet, including premier courses in Australia, Japan, Latin America,
and Scotland, the game’s homeland.
14 up and to the right

For over half a century, golf proved its worth to Dobson as an

unparalleled way to forge and maintain business relationships and
friendships. “It’s a networking game played all over the world,” he
said. “When you play golf with somebody for four hours, you get to
know them a bit.”
Wrapped up in this intense love of the sport was Dobson’s pro-
found attachment to the Mount Bruno Country Club on the South
Shore of Montreal. “I virtually grew up in Bruno,” he noted, call-
ing the club by its diminutive. When he was much younger, it would
take no more than fifteen minutes to drive from the family home
in Montreal’s Square Mile to his beloved Bruno across the historic
Victoria Bridge. “He was a very highly regarded member of the
Mount Bruno Country Club,” said the late Drummond Birks, whose
grandfather owned part of the property on which the course was
built almost a century ago (it opened in 1918). “I think he was the
second-oldest member, but I had ten years on him. I was a third-rate
golfer, and he was better and much keener.” Indeed, as late as his
mid-fifties, Dobson’s handicap was in the low single digits.
According to Birks, the origins of the club date back to the late
nineteenth century when Edson Pease, head of the Montreal office
of the Merchants’ Bank of Halifax (forerunner of the Royal Bank of
Canada), decided to build a summer home on Mount Bruno because
of its beautiful landscape and close proximity to Montreal. He asked
two brothers from the Drummond family, who were running steel
distributor Drummond McCall, to join him in making a bid for the
property. One of the brothers was Birks’s grandfather. In the early
1890s, the three friends built their homes on Mount Bruno, and Pease
later became a prime mover behind the establishment of the Mount
Bruno Country Club, even though he was not much of a golfer him-
self. In the contained world of Montreal’s Anglo elite, Mount Bruno
was the Royal Bank’s answer to the venerable Royal Montreal Golf
Club, a bastion of the arch-rival Bank of Montreal. In fact, John’s
father, Sydney, who spent his career at the Royal Bank, was president
of Mount Bruno Country Club in the 1940s.
 an uncommon man 15

Brenda Norris, the sister of John Turner and a long-time friend

of Dobson, recalls an amusing incident on the golf links dating back
more than sixty years. “It was the summer of 1949 in St Andrews,
New Brunswick, where we spent every summer, as did John and his
sister, Virginia. I was attempting to learn golf but wasn’t much good
at it and didn’t much like it. Tennis was my sport. However, one of
my current boyfriends was an avid golfer, and so I persuaded John to
join us on the golf course. Every time my friend was either looking
for his ball or looking the other way, John hit my ball for me. My
beau was mightily impressed, and years later when I bumped into
him (the romance didn’t last!), he asked me if I was still a great golfer,
and I replied, ‘Of course!’”
In his hallmark red jacket, sweater, or polo shirt, John Dobson
soon became a hugely popular player at Mount Bruno and elsewhere,
known for his great sportsmanship and dedication to the game. As a
governor of the Royal Canadian Golf Association and an honorary
director of the Quebec PGA, he was a big supporter of golf across the
country. He also introduced a trophy for the winner of the annual
Quebec Pro/Junior Golf Tournament, which for many years was held
at Mount Bruno.
In 1975, Dobson helped run the Canadian Open with John
Churchill-Smith, a friend whose son Michael became Dobson’s
personal physician. It was being played at the Royal Montreal Golf
Club, where Dobson was not even a member, although Churchill-
Smith was. It was very unusual for the chair of the Open not to be
a member of the host club, but nobody was upset in this instance,
such was Dobson’s stature in the Quebec golf scene.
Dobson met many important and influential people on the
golf course over the years and understood the value of develop-
ing strong relationships. He recalled once running into golf leg-
end Jack Nicklaus (“The Golden Bear”) during a tournament in
Florida. “We weren’t on the same team, but mine was running sec-
ond to last. I went up to Jack and said, ‘If you were on our team,
we would be first!’ He joked that he would have played with us if he
16 up and to the right

wasn’t already committed. How many people could have had such
an encounter?”
On another occasion, during a game at Lake Nona in Florida,
Dobson ran into Denis Thatcher, husband of then British prime min-
ister Margaret Thatcher. The Canadian prime minister at the time
was Brian Mulroney. “We had met several times before,” Dobson
recalled. “Anyway, he says to me, ‘That boy you have up there is
not very smart. He’s managing everything wrong when it comes to
South Africa.”
Dobson also recalled playing golf with Robert Lowry, the Lord
Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, at a course in Ulster. “We were on
the ninth hole, and he had his bodyguards around. Suddenly, this golf
ball comes bouncing around and hits Baron Lowry right in the face.
I turn to a bodyguard and say, ‘You’re supposed to protect this man.
What kind of a guard are you?’ He thought it was pretty funny.”
Golf was the centre of Dobson’s social life, and it soon deter-
mined what he would do with his vacation time as well. For almost
three decades, from 1968 to 1997, Dobson was a member of the
Roger Bacon Golfing Society, a loose grouping of eighteen fanat-
ics dedicated to playing “good” golf courses and meeting golfers
“everywhere other than in Montreal.” The society took its name not
from the famous philosopher, but instead from a legendary nine-
teenth-century Scottish golfer of the same name.
During the Roger Bacon Golfing Society’s history, members par-
ticipated in thirty annual tours, during which they played 210 rounds
of the game at 131 golf courses in Canada, the United States, England,
Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the Channel Islands.
Golfers included members of the Royal Montreal Golf Club as well
as Mount Bruno. Many were also members of the world’s most pres-
tigious clubs, thanks in large part to access facilitated by involvement
in the Roger Bacon Golfing Society and the multiple connections of its
members. Over the years, members played a total of forty-one matches
against teams from twenty-five clubs and three societies, beginning
at Royal Aberdeen in 1970, and the last one at Elie in 1996, both
 an uncommon man 17

in Scotland. In the Bacon Chronicles, a privately distributed book

recounting the history of the society, Dobson is satirically described as
“a very noisy stock promoter renowned for sartorial elegance, in red.”
John Gray, a friend since the 1930s, played golf with Dobson
on countless occasions and praises his contributions to the Royal
Canadian Golf Association. “We were keen to do better and occa-
sionally had a good round. He was very interested in the game.” Like
other golf buddies, Gray became a unit holder of Formula Growth
at its inception. “I believed in the integrity of the man. That’s the
only basis for investing in anything – to understand the people you’re
dealing with and to only deal with those you know have integrity.
I’m not interested in some guy recommending something to me. I
want to know that he has skin in the game.”
Another long-time Dobson friend and Formula Growth investor,
Edmond Eberts, ran the Turnberry Golf Tour from 1985 to 2004, an
annual international invitational event. “The great Dobber – there
was only one of him,” he enthuses. Eberts, who has authored sev-
eral books on golf and is chairman and founder of Rapport Capital
Formation Strategists Inc., went to Bishop’s College School with Ian
Soutar. Like Dobson, he also worked at C.J. Hodgson, opening their
first Toronto office. He met Dobson around 1965, only a few years
after Formula Growth was set up. In 1986, Dobson endorsed Eberts’s
nomination as a new member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club
of St Andrews, Scotland. “There are only 120 Canadians among the
1,800 members,” Eberts notes.
Montreal art gallery owner Robert Landau met Dobson in the
early 1990s through golf at Mount Bruno and later joined him on
golfing trips to Bermuda and Florida. Landau also became a Formula
Growth investor. “A lot of people and members of the golfing frater-
nity invested in his fund. I invested later within my capacity and over
the long term did very well. He had a very good track record, was
always very honest and honourable,” says Landau.
Still another of his golfing partners was Montreal dentist Frank
Kay, who got to know Dobson through the sport and later invested
18 up and to the right

with Formula Growth. (He also took on Dobson as a patient.) He

recalls that early in their friendship, Dobson had invited him to play
golf after someone in his Mount Bruno golf group had fallen ill. “He
was a very persistent man. He called me at least five or six times!
He convinced me to go to dinner and to go on a golf trip to Las
Vegas. When I came back, I invested in Formula Growth. The first
year there, I lost half my money. But he had a good track record, so
I doubled up and did extremely well for the next thirty years. I was
always impressed with his straightforward honesty. He and I basically
had the same philosophy about golf as well – they tend to make golf
courses too hard for no particular reason.”
Dobson’s tendency to be opinionated did not leave him on the
links. “John’s enthusiasm for this great game has never waned,”
Gregor Jamieson, director of golf at Florida’s Lake Nona Golf &
Country Club, wrote on the occasion of Dobson’s eightieth birthday.
“He continues to make comments on the handicap system as well as
the speed of greens. His opinion is that they are altogether too fast,
which I concur with, as the skill level of most players is not good
enough to be able to play at our speed.”
That passion for the game sometimes bordered on the foolhardy,
according to former Formula Growth executive Peter Mackechnie.
“We once played Castle Pines golf course just south of Denver, where
they played the PGA International Tournament. There was this wild
thunderstorm, and everyone was off the course. But Dobson was so
determined to see it through. The bloody thunder and lightning were
rocketing off the rocks by the side of the course, and by the end of the
eighteen holes we were totally drenched. I was really glad to be alive
and relieved that I wasn’t struck by lightning. Dobson walked into
the bar area, and like he always used to do, he would give his name
first, ‘John Dobson, Montreal.’ And he said, ‘I’m the special repre-
sentative from the Royal Canadian Golf Association who rates the
courses, and I would just like to tell you that this golf course that I
played today . . . ’ And I thought, ‘John, how can you be saying this?
It was raining so hard! We were running for our lives!’ But he said,
Another random document with
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 THE OCCUPATION OF NEW ORLEANS.
At eleven o’clock, A. M., on the 24th, the flag-ship raised her anchor,
and led the way up the river towards New Orleans. Commander
Farragut had been apprised of the obstacles which he would meet,
and was therefore prepared to encounter them. There was no
occurrences of moment on the way up the river, except the
demonstrations of joy or of opposition made by the people, according
to their loyal or disloyal sympathies. Boats loaded with cotton were
burnt or burning along the river as they passed, and fragments of the
Mississippi battery floated down the stream.
At about the same hour of the next day, the fleet reached two forts,
one on either side of the river, about two miles below the city, known
as the Chalmette batteries, which had no flags flying. At eleven
o’clock they opened on the Cayuga, which was then in the advance.
After a short time spent in firing the bow-guns, the Hartford poured
in a terrific broadside, which appeared to be very destructive. Other
discharges followed from other vessels, and the garrison abandoned
the works without hoisting a flag. The guns being silenced, and the
forts evacuated, the fleet passed on and came to anchor opposite the
city about one o’clock. The river was filled with vessels on fire, and
along the levee cotton, stores, and other property were wantonly
burned, filling the atmosphere with suffocating smoke, and adding to
the heat of the day. Vast amounts of property were thus destroyed.
On shore and on the wharves the people hastened to and fro, some
cheering for Jeff. Davis and the Confederacy, Beauregard, and
others, while some of the more exulting loyalists cheered for the
Union and the old flag.
 NEW ORLEANS AND VICINITY.

SHOWING THE DISTANCES ON THE

MISSISSIPPI, AND THE ISLANDS BY
THEIR NUMBERS.

At two o’clock Commodore Farragut sent Captain Bailey on shore

to communicate with the authorities, and demand a surrender of the
city. He started with a flag of truce, and on reaching the levee was
greeted with curses by the mob. With some difficulty he reached the
City Hall, with the officer who accompanied him, and there found the
Mayor, City Council, and General Lovell, the commander of the rebel
forces in the city. New Orleans being under martial law, the civil
authorities could do nothing, and General Lovell declared he would
never surrender it. He was informed that the city was then in the
power of the Federal fleet, and the responsibility of any suffering or
destruction that might follow his obstinate determination must rest
with him. If no resistance were made, nothing would be injured.
General Lovell then agreed to evacuate the city, and restore it to the
control of the civil authorities. Captain Bailey and Lieutenant Perkins
entered a carriage and returned to their boats. Just before they
reached the levee, the new ram Mississippi, already mentioned,
floated down the river wrapt in flames. The rebels had attempted to
tow her up the river, but finding some of the Federal vessels on the
alert in pursuit, they set her on fire. Two or three other similar
vessels, partly built, were in the shipyards of the city and Algiers, on
the other side of the river, which were also destroyed.
When the news of the passage of the forts by the Federal fleet had
been telegraphed to the city, the popular excitement was unbounded.
Under apprehension that the city would be pillaged, and given up to
the violence of a body of Northern desperadoes, the mob, led on by
some of the most bitter secessionists, were anxious to fire the public
buildings, and reduce the city to ruin in advance. But other counsels
prevailed, and they were fortunately restrained from the commission
of these atrocities.
On the following morning, the 26th, at half-past six o’clock, the
Mayor sent his secretary and chief of police to see the Commodore,
informing him that he would call a meeting of the Council at ten
o’clock. Commodore Farragut replied to the message of the Mayor,
and sent him a formal demand for the unqualified surrender of the
city. The Council met, and on hearing a message from the Mayor,
John T. Monroe, that body adopted resolutions in accordance with
the message, and the Mayor made a reply to the Commodore, stating
that the city was subject to his power. Both the message of the
Mayor, and his reply to Commodore Farragut, breathed a spirit of
bold defiance to the Federal authority, declaring that they submitted
only to stern necessity, and that they still maintained their allegiance
to the Confederate States.
At ten o’clock two officers were sent on shore, with a body of
marines, to raise the flag on the Custom House; but the protest of the
Mayor was so urgent, under the apprehension that the mob would
resist this attempt to plant the old flag in its rightful place, that the
Commodore deemed it advisable to recall the order. About the same
time the Pensacola sent a boat to raise the flag on the mint. A general
order for a thanksgiving service at eleven o’clock, on shipboard, had
been issued, for the success of the expedition, and while thus
engaged, the stars and stripes were torn down by a mob. The
Pensacola fired a howitzer, killing one man, which occasioned
intense excitement.
 On the surrender of the forts, General Butler hastened with his
forces to the city, where he arrived, with his transports, on the
afternoon of the 28th.
On the morning of the 29th, Pierre Soulé, one of the most
prominent men of New Orleans, visited the Commodore for the
purpose of a private interview. Soon after he left the ship, the
marines of the fleet went ashore in the small boats to raise the flag on
the Custom House and Post Office. Two howitzers were in the
company, to assist, if necessary, in maintaining order. The duty of
hauling down the State flag of Louisiana, and replacing it with the
national emblem, was assigned to Commander H. H. Bell. When the
boats reached the levee, the men formed in line of march, and
proceeded to the Custom House, where the stars and stripes were
once more flung to the southern breeze. After leaving the Custom
House, they proceeded to the City Hall, where Captain Bell
generously yielded the distinction of raising the flag to George
Russell, boatswain’s mate of the Hartford, who had won general
approbation by his heroic conduct.
General Butler established his headquarters in the city, proclaimed
martial law, and commenced his administration without opposition.
With this peaceful and successful result was crowned one of the most
brilliant achievements in naval history.
 THE EVACUATION OF YORKTOWN.

May 4, 1862.

As the month of April was passing away, dispatches from the

peninsula gave assurances that the two great armies now confronting
each other before Yorktown would in a few days be compelled to test
their relative strength in a general engagement, should neither,
meantime, voluntarily abandon the position. The daily bulletin of
casualties gave evidence of closer and more sanguinary contests
among the working or reconnoitering parties, or from the batteries
erected on new parallels of rugged embankments springing up daily
in closer proximity. A most arduous portion of the soldiers’ labor
during the siege is thus graphically described:
Working in the Trenches.—A working party is detailed for night
duty. With muskets slung on their backs and shovels and picks on
their shoulders, they proceed to the selected ground. The white tape
marks the line of excavation—the dark lanterns are “faced to the
rear”—the muskets are carefully laid aside—the shovels are in hand,
and each man silently commences to dig. Not a word is spoken—not
one spade clicks against another. Each man first digs a hole large
enough to cover himself—he then turns and digs to his right-hand
neighbor. Then the ditch deepens and widens, and the parapet rises.
Yet all is silent—the relief comes and the weary ones retire. The
words and jests of the enemy are often heard, while no noise from
the men disturbs the stillness save the dull rattle of the earth as each
spadeful is thrown to the top. At daylight a long line of earthworks,
affording complete protection, greets the astonished eyes of the
enemy, while the sharpshooters’ bullets whisper terror to his ears.
 On the 2d of May the rebels opened fire from an immense gun
mounted on a pivot at a corner of the main fort on the heights of
Yorktown, which inflicted serious injury on the Federals, who replied
with much spirit from their No. 1 battery, mounting one and two
hundred-pounder Parrot guns. On the twenty-third discharge of the
enemy’s gun it burst into a thousand pieces, tearing up the parapet,
and making fearful havoc among the immense crowd surrounding it.
The Federal guns on No. 1 battery were then brought to bear on the
rebel works at Yorktown and Gloucester, and on their shipping, with
marked effect, to which they were unable to reply.
From the 1st to the 4th of May the Confederate army evacuated
Yorktown, without awaking the suspicions of the besiegers, making a
safe retreat with all their field artillery and most of their stores.
Eighty heavy guns at Yorktown and Gloucester, with large quantities
of ordnance stores, fell into possession of the Federals, who occupied
the rebel ramparts on the morning of the fourth.
On the same day the iron battery Merrimac made her appearance
off Sewall’s Point, and the Federal gunboats availed themselves of
the opportunity to go up the York river, convoying a portion of the
army transports, with the design of intercepting the retreating
enemy, while most of the cavalry and horse artillery, followed by the
infantry, started in immediate pursuit by land.
When within two and a half miles of Williamsburg, at two o’clock
on May 4th, General Stoneman’s advance came up with the enemy,
who threw out a body of cavalry to check the pursuit. Captain
Gibbon’s battery was brought to bear on the horsemen, who on their
approach were met by a charge of the First and Sixth regular cavalry,
who drove them back, capturing twenty-five of their number. Two of
the Federals were killed, and about twenty wounded; and twenty of
Captain Gibbon’s horses were killed.
 THE BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG.

May 5, 1862.

The evacuation of Yorktown, which occupied several days, was

completed on the morning of Sunday, the 4th of May, the main body
of the retreating rebels taking the principal road through
Williamsburg, and smaller portions of the army passing along the
road near the banks of the York river. A line of entrenchments had
been run about two and a half miles from Williamsburg, and became
the scene of a fiercely contested engagement on May 5th.
The rebel forces had succeeded in passing through the city, and left
a force of about five thousand men to engage and retard the advance
of the Union army.
The approach to Williamsburg from the lower part of the
peninsula is by two roads, one on the James river side, from Warwick
court-house, and the other from Yorktown, on the York river side.
Both these roads lead through a dense forest, broken only by
occasional openings, and over alternate soils of sand, reddish clay
and swamp. The heavy rains had saturated the soil, and the retreat of
the rebels, with their ponderous trains, had cut the roads up to an
extent that made them almost impassable. In very many places
where they led over swampy ground, horses and wagons would sink
together, and other teams were necessary to draw them out and place
them upon soil that was firm only by comparison. This was the
general character of both these roads. They gradually approach each
other through the forest, and meet at a sharp angle about forty rods
beyond the edge of the forest, in a large open plain, which stretches
away on either side, and lies directly in front of the village of
Williamsburg, at a distance of about two miles. Beyond this
intersection of the two roads, and directly ahead, was a long
earthwork, some hundred rods in advance, called Fort Page, (also
called Fort Magruder,) commanding with its guns and the infantry
who were concealed behind its walls both these converging roads.
Looking to the right, the eye ranges over a broad open field,
stretching a mile or more away, with a rolling surface, backed by a
swamp, and dotted with five separate earthworks, placed to
command the plain in advance and concentrate their cross-fire upon
the troops approaching by the roads. Looking to the left, there are
three other works of a similar character, commanding the
approaches on that side. Here the woods came closer up to the road,
and for a space of some twenty or thirty acres lying along the James
river road, the trees had been cut down, and the ground in part had
been filled with rifle-pits.
 BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF THE COUNTRY FROM RICHMOND TO
YORKTOWN.

1. Richmond.—2. Manchester.—3. Hanover C. H.—4.

Mechanicsville.—5. Beaver Dam.—6. Gaines Mills.—7. New
Bridge.—8. Cold Harbor.—9. Garnetts.—10. Golding.—11. Trent.—
12. Couch.—13. Savage’s Station.—14. Fair Oaks.—15. Seven Oaks.
—16. Bottoms Bridge.—17. White Oaks Bridge and Swamp.—18.
Charles City Roads.—19. Malvern Hills.—20. Turkey Bridge.—21.
Turkey Creek.—22. Turkey Island Bend.—23. Berkeley.—24.
Harrison’s Landing.—25. City Point.—26. Fort Darling.—27.
Dispatch Station.—28. Summit.—29. White House.—30.
Cumberland Landing.—31. New Kent C. H.—32. West Point.—33.
Williamsburg.—34. Yorktown.—35. Gloucester Point.—36. James
River.—37. Chickahominy River.—38. York River.—39. Pamunky
River.—40. Mattapony River.—41. Riemkatank River.—42.
Rappahannock River.—43. Richmond and York Railroad.—44.
Virginia Central Railroad.—45. Richmond and Fredericksburg
Railroad.—46. Richmond and Danville Railroad.—47. Petersburg
and Richmond Railroad.—48. Appamotox.

As soon as the evacuation of Yorktown was ascertained, on Sunday

morning, General Stoneman, with several regiments of cavalry,
followed by light field batteries, including horse artillery, started in
pursuit of the enemy. About noon General Hooker’s division left the
camp in front of Yorktown, followed by General Kearney’s division,
both belonging to General Heintzelman’s corps, and marched
towards Williamsburg, to support General Stoneman, and assist him
in cutting off the enemy’s retreat. The cavalry followed close upon
the rear guard of the enemy, and during the day there was occasional
skirmishing between them. After having advanced about six miles
the cavalry halted to await the arrival of the infantry. The divisions of
Generals Smith and Hooker met at a crossing of the roads, and
continued on their routes, and met again at the junction below Fort
Page. It was now late in the day, and General Sumner, who desired to
engage the enemy, was compelled to defer an attack until the
morning.
The troops bivouacked at night in the best positions they could
secure. General Hooker’s division was in front of the centre of the
enemy’s works. General Smith’s infantry, and General Stoneman’s
artillery and cavalry were on the right. Generals Kearney and Couch
had also come up, and halted in the rear, while other divisions took
position where they could be disposed to the best advantage. Rain
had fallen almost constantly during the day, and now a stormy night
drew its dark mantle over them, while the wearied army lay upon the
wet earth, and sought repose.
Early on the following morning, the 5th, the troops commenced
their march, and soon came up to the point where the road passes
out of the woods into the open plain before the fort. The first who
came up formed a part of General Hooker’s division. As they
advanced from the James river road to the opening, they were
greeted with a storm of balls and grape from the bastion; and as the
men were deployed in the woods, and attempted to pass over the
fallen timber, they were met by a heavy fire from the rebel infantry,
close in front, concealed in their rifle-pits or behind the trees.
General Hooker ordered up Bramhall’s battery, but just as it left
the woods and was coming out into the open ground, the wheels
stuck fast in the deep clay mire, in which the horses vainly
floundered in the effort to draw them out. The rebels had pushed
their infantry into the woods on their right, and were pouring deadly
volleys into the ranks of the Federal troops, which compelled them to
retire. One gun was abandoned. General Hooker’s men struggled
nobly against the terrible disadvantages under which they were
fighting,—for the rebels, seeing the progress they were making, sent
back for reinforcements, and they increased during the day until not
less than twenty-five thousand of their troops turned back from their
retreat.
 As the enemy gradually augmented in number, the fight became
more severe, and was hotly contested on both sides. General Hooker
had resolved to maintain his position. General Grover’s brigade, (the
First, Eleventh and Sixteenth Massachusetts, and Second New
Hampshire,) was on the left; General Sickles’ brigade, (the First,
Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Excelsior of New York,) and General
Patterson’s New Jersey brigade, (the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and
Eighth,) occupied positions nearer the right of the column. Near
these were company “H,” United States First Artillery, Captain
Bramhall, and company “O,” New York Volunteer Artillery, Captain
Smith. These regiments took positions along the edge of the woods,
and the artillery opened on the forts, when the struggle became
general nearly along the whole line.
At an early period of the battle it was perceived that the enemy was
endeavoring to turn the left of the Federal line, when a part of the
First and the Eleventh Massachusetts were ordered forward to
anticipate and prevent the movement. While the Eleventh was
engaged at a point about fifty yards from the enemy, a rebel officer
displayed a white flag, and shouted, “Don’t fire on your friends!”
Colonel Blaisdell immediately ordered his men to cease firing, and
Michael Doherty, a private of company A, stepped forward to meet
the flag, upon which the officer called out to his men, “Now, give it to
them!” The command was immediately obeyed, and a heavy fire was
poured into the regiment, by which a number of men were cut down.
Doherty fell among the rest, but he fired his piece at the dastardly
officer, who fell dead upon the spot.
The First Massachusetts remained at its post, doing severe
execution among the enemy until all its ammunition had been
expended, when it was relieved by the Seventy-second New York,
Lieutenant-Colonel Moses, which was in turn relieved by the
Seventieth New York, Colonel Dwight, who was also aided by a
portion of the Second New Hampshire.
The reinforcements of the enemy were pouring in, and adding
continually to the severity of the struggle. Colonel Moses was ordered
to the front, for the purpose of silencing a battery on the left. He was
soon confronted with a most murderous fire, when he was relieved
by the Seventieth New York. The rebel regiments in front were
reinforced by another, and soon successfully engaged. Colonel
Dwight was slightly wounded in the leg, and Colonel Farnum, being
severely wounded, was carried to the rear. The regiment fought with
determined bravery, against superior numbers, when Colonel Dwight
ordered a charge through the fallen timber. The Soldiers, with
invigorating cheers, advanced upon the rebels, and with irresistible
ardor put them to flight. The regiment held its position till its
ammunition was exhausted, and then supplied themselves from the
cartridge-boxes of their dead and wounded comrades.
On came the rebel reinforcements. Massive and determined
columns pressed forward, and at last the helpless regiment, which
had expended all its ammunition, was pressed vigorously by the
enemy, and Colonel Dwight and many of his men were taken
prisoners. They were carried to Williamsburg, where they were
rescued the next day, when the Federal army reached that city. The
heroism of this regiment may be seen from the fact that out of thirty-
three commissioned officers who went into the action, no less than
twenty-two were killed or wounded.

BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG.

The engagement had now become one of grand proportions. Two

regiments of the New Jersey brigade were conducted by General
Patterson to the front, to assist in repelling another attempt of the
enemy to turn the Federal left. They occupied the heavy timber
which interrupted the view of the enemy’s works. When they
advanced they were also met by fresh regiments of the enemy, and
for a time the advantage alternated between the contending forces,
and the tide of battle was seen to ebb and flow on either side,
uncertain as to the issue. The forces of the enemy suffered severely as
well as the Federals, who delivered their fire while lying upon the
ground. Just then, Colonel Johnson came up with the Eighth New
Jersey, in time to check the flanking movement of the enemy, which
was rapidly reaching round to the left. Again the orders of the rebel
officers, to the front and rear were heard, and again the surging
columns of the foe were met and driven back. In this position for
nearly five hours the New Jersey brigade stood the fire of superior
numbers, and with all the coolness and determination of veterans
resisted the advance of the enemy. At a late hour in the day the
arrival of fresh troops relieved them from the ground they had
disputed with such undaunted courage.
Generals Heintzelman and Sumner united their commands toward
the right, on the line of the Yorktown road. General Hooker, finding
himself so severely pressed, sent to General Heintzelman for
reinforcements, but he was away, and the message was read and
returned to General Hooker by General Sumner, who endorsed it,
“opened and read by the senior officer on the field.” After some time
spent in painful suspense by General Hooker, he was cheered by the
arrival of General Peck with his brigade, forming the advance of
General Couch’s division, which arrived on the ground at one o’clock,
having marched up from Lee’s Mills, ten or twelve miles, that
morning, in the midst of a pouring rain, and through mud ankle
deep. General Hooker being sorely pressed, the men were marched
at once into the field, taking a position on his right, in the centre of
the army, where they were at once exposed to the full force of the
enemy’s fire. For two hours they held their position against terrible
odds. Twice they were driven back, and twice they rallied again, and
recovered their ground.
When the brigade first reached the field, the One Hundred and
Second Pennsylvania advanced to the front, delivered its fire, and fell
back, giving place to the Ninety-eighth Pennsylvania, which held the
ground until the One Hundred and Second rallied, and the two
maintained the position. The Fifty-fifth New York, De Trobrian’s
Zouaves, came up on the left and then retired, while the Sixty-second
New York held the rebels in check, and the One Hundred and Second
and Ninety-eighth Pennsylvania delivered a cross-fire. The Fifty-fifth
then formed a new line of battle, and advanced to the support of the
Sixty-second, and the Ninety-third Pennsylvania came up and
opened fire on a battery commanding the road, until the rebels were
driven back at all points.
The Federal reinforcements were at last coming up to the scene of
action. Urgent requests for aid had been sent to the rear, and
Governor Sprague rode back from the field to Yorktown, to report
the facts to General McClellan and urge forward the requisite
assistance. In the mean time General Kearney, with his division, a
part of General Heintzelmar’s corps, had received orders from him to
press on with the utmost haste, which was done. He arrived, closely
followed by General Berry, with his brigade, when they took a
position on the extreme left, in order to prevent flanking by the
enemy. The Third Michigan was ordered to the left as a support,
while General Berry moved forward with the remaining regiments,
arriving on the ground at about half-past two o’clock, P. M. The Fifth
Michigan, Colonel Terry, proceeded to the left of the road, in front of
some fallen timber and the rifle-pits, while the Thirty-seventh New
York, Colonel Hayman, went still further to the left. The Second
Michigan occupied a position on the right of the road. As soon as
these arrangements were completed, an order was given for the
troops under General Berry to advance and charge, which they did in
a splendid manner, driving the enemy entirely out of the timber. At
this charge the enemy lost sixty-three men killed. The rebels, being
posted in the rifle-pits, caused the Federal troops much annoyance.
The Fifth Michigan, however, soon compelled them to retreat,
although it lost a great many of its men in the effort.
The enemy had the advantage of protection, while the Union men
were obliged to expose themselves in bold relief. The Federal bullets
could not penetrate the earthworks around the rifle-pits, and the
only way to drive the enemy out was to make a bayonet charge. This
charge was made in splendid style by the Fifth Michigan in front, and
the Thirty-seventh New York at the left, the men pushing up to the
pits near enough to bayonet the riflemen behind them. By this charge
considerable loss was occasioned on both sides.
 When General Kearney’s troops were coming into action, they met
the lengthened files of General Hooker’s wounded being carried to
the rear. The shrieks of the lacerated and bleeding soldiers, who had
been fighting so long and so well, pierced the air, and this, joined to
the mud and rain, and the exhaustion of those who had come several
miles on a forced march, was not calculated to produce a favorable
impression on them as they were going into action. General
Heintzelman, however, ordered several of the bands to strike up
national and martial airs; and, when the strains of these familiar
tunes reached the ears of the wounded, their cheers mingled with
those of the soldiers who were just rushing into the battle. The effect
was wonderful on the other side; for some of the prisoners state that
when they heard the bands strike up the Star-Spangled Banner,
followed by that enthusiastic cheer, they knew that the victory would
be ours.
The Third and Fourth Maine regiments having been detached from
General Birney’s brigade, and temporarily assigned to General
Emory, General Birney came forward with the two remaining
regiments,—the Thirty-eighth New York, Colonel J. H. Ward, and the
Fortieth New York, Colonel Reilly. These were deployed to the right
of the Hampton road, and, like those under General Berry on the left,
relieved fragments of regiments which had borne the brunt of the
battle since its commencement. All this time the rebel artillery was
sending a rapid fire into the Federal ranks.
The Thirty-eighth New York regiment was ordered to charge down
the road and take the enemy’s rifle-pits in front by the flank. Colonel
Ward led seven companies of his regiment in this most brilliant and
successful charge. The other three companies, under Lieutenant-
Colonel Strong, were doing efficient service in an adjacent portion of
the field.
The battle had now been raging uninterruptedly from an early
hour in the morning, and seemed at last to be checked by the heroic
conduct and successful charge of General Kearney’s troops. The
extreme left was still heavily pressed, however, by the obstinate force
of the rebels in that part of the line.
To General Hancock was intrusted the most dangerous, because
the boldest manœuvre of the day. He passed with his brigade—the
Fifth Wisconsin, Colonel Cobb; the Sixth Maine, Colonel Burnham;
the Forty-ninth Pennsylvania, Colonel Lowrie; the Seventh Maine,
Colonel Mason, and the Thirty-third New York, Colonel R. F. Taylor,
supported by Lieutenant Cowan’s and Captain Wheeler’s batteries—
to the right, for a mile parallel to the front, but completely hidden by
the forest. Thence across a fifty-acre heath edged with timber, north
to the extreme left of the enemy’s line of works. At this point the
rebels had dammed a creek which empties into York river, and
straight across the narrow causeway frowned an earthwork, which
looked imposing as a castle from its commanding position on the
opposite hill.
General Hancock found this singular defence deserted, but it was
with caution his skirmishers ventured across the dam and planted
the Federal flag on the parapet, fifty feet above water mark. Then the
whole force went over at double-quick, turned to the left, and
followed a narrow, dangerous road, a gorge cut in the hill-side by the
pond, till it emerged in turn, from the east, on the open battle-field.
A splendid picture met the eye. Two miles distant Hooker was
fighting the rebels on the other side of Fort Page. From the latter
point the rebel artillery was playing upon his lines. Between Hancock
and the fort were two lesser works, at intervals of half a mile. Their
garrisons quickly retreated on seeing him, and retired on the main
force—the movement before practiced on the left, and one which
plainly indicated that the rebel force was too small to hold the line.
But it was also evident, from the determined stand made in and near
Fort Page, that the rear guard was under orders to make a desperate
maintenance of its position.
Although Hancock had a regiment with him besides his own, yet
his force was scarcely five thousand, all told, and totally separated
from the main body. If overpowered in front, retreat would be utterly
impossible through the narrow gorge behind them. General Keyes
appeared on the field at this moment, and told General Hancock that
he did not visit him to assume the command as ranking officer, but
to see him, Hancock, “carry the left.” General Keyes at once sent back
for a support of cavalry and artillery. This was about one o’clock in
the afternoon. For some reason, General Sumner omitted ordering
the reinforcements forward.
A regiment was soon in the enemy’s deserted works (No. 3 from
York river). The old flag was raised with wild cheers from its parapet;
and eight cannon were quickly unlimbered in the field beyond. A
smaller, intermediate outwork was still held between this and Fort
Magruder. In front of it a line of rebel skirmishers deployed, but
were quickly dispersed and forced to retire. In five minutes the
Union guns were playing, some on the great fort at six hundred yards
distance, the rest on the woods to the north, through which the
rebels were retreating on their main body.
Just then the clouds broke away in the west, and a flood of light
came in upon the whole panorama. Nothing could be more beautiful
and inspiriting. The deserted rebel forts, surmounted with Federal
colors; Hancock’s infantry awaiting orders in battle line; a signal
officer waving to the centre his flag-signals from the parapet of work
No. 3; the long fire-belching, smoke-canopied curve of Fort Page in
the distance; still further beyond, white flashes, and huge clouds of
smoke appearing from Hooker’s battle-ground on the left, of whose
desperate contest the stunning roll of musketry and roar of cannon
gave true token—all these combined formed a broad battle-picture
worthy of Varney.
Wheeler’s artillery fired with precision and rapidity for an hour,
the fort answering gun for gun. But the rebel infantry seemed to have
their hands full in managing Hooker, and as it was not yet
practicable to storm the fort, the Union forces found little to do, and
stood under fire of the artillery with small loss, awaiting a share in
the business. It was not long in coming, and came in the shape which
more than one observer had feared from the outset. It was preceded
at four o’clock by one of those dead, ominous half hour pauses which
so often make the decisive turn of an engagement. Many thought the
enemy were retreating. Others, who have had occasion to dread these
still and awful lapses from the bloody work of a field-day,
prognosticated an unknown danger impending close at hand.
Suddenly there burst from the woods on the right flank a battalion
of rebel cavalry! Then, to the right and left of the horse, three
regiments of infantry supporting it!
But General Hancock was equal to the crisis. Forming his infantry
against this sudden attack, he held them in magnificent order, while
the rebel foot and horse came on, cheering, firing, and charging in
gallant and imposing style. Wheeler’s battery turned and poured hot
volleys into them as they came, and over five thousand muskets
riddled them through and through. But they kept on—nearer—nearer
—closing up, cheering, and sure of their power to sweep the Federals
before them.

Thus they came, swifter than it can be told, until their line, now
broken and irregular, was within two hundred yards of the
unwavering columns. Then Hancock showed himself the coolest and
bravest of the brave. Taking off his hat, and using the courtly prefix
of the olden time, he said: “Ready, now! Gentlemen, CHARGE!” The
whole line swept forward, as the reaper’s sickle rushes through the
grain. Its keen edge had not yet touched the enemy, when his ranks
broke simultaneously, fled in confusion to the rear, and the field of
Williamsburg was won.
About five o’clock P. M. some excitement was caused in the rear,
and soon an officer, with his staff, rode to the opening in the woods
where he could get a view of the field. It was General McClellan. The
moment he was seen, loud and deafening cheers rose up along the
lines of the centre, and rolled away to the right and left, imparting a
new enthusiasm to the forces. The chief officers were quickly
consulted, and reinforcements were sent to the aid of Hancock and
Hooker. Hancock’s brilliant and successful charge had already won
the day on the right, and the effect of it in the panic and rout of the
rebels was becoming sensibly felt in front of Hooker’s division, when
the long-looked for assistance came to his side. The rebels promptly
retired, and the desperate struggle of the day closed on a splendidly
contested field. The men were compelled to bivouack on the ground,
with the rain still falling, in proud anticipation of a renewal of the
conflict in the morning.
The rebels had been reinforced as late as five o’clock, and it was
expected that General Johnston would command them in the
morning in person, but the opportune appearance of the Federal
reinforcements, together with the successful movements of General
Hancock, created a panic among them, and they fell back on
Williamsburg, and commenced their hasty retreat from that place. At
two o’clock on Tuesday morning the Federal forces began to move.
As they approached Williamsburg they found the way clear, and on
coming up to the city the rear guard of the foe were flying on the road
toward Richmond, leaving the town to be occupied by the Federal
troops. General McClellan appointed General Jameson Military
Governor of the place, and the troops marched through the main
street of the city to the homely, but glorious and soul-stirring strains
of “Yankee Doodle.”
The houses, churches, barns and stables were found filled with the
wounded of the rebel army, as well as the Federals whom they had
taken prisoners. It was a sad, heart-rending scene, those brave
soldiers mangled, dying and dead. The Federal troops immediately
commenced the work of burial, while the surgeons found incessant
occupation in the discharge of their duties. The battle field presented
a frightful scene of carnage, and several days passed before all the
dead and wounded stragglers were found in the woods and among
the underbrush where they had fallen.
The loss of the Federals was about 500 killed, 1,600 wounded, and
623 prisoners. That of the rebels was somewhat greater in killed and
wounded. Five hundred prisoners fell into Federal hands. Some
hundred of the rebel dead were buried on the day following the
battle. Lieutenant-Colonel Irwin, of the Eighth Alabama, formerly
United States Senator, was found dead on the field.
Thirty-five regiments of the rebels were engaged in the action, that
number being represented by the wounded men left after the battle.
 BATTLE OF WEST POINT, VA.

May 7, 1862.

West Point is the name given to the landing-place at the head of

the York river, which is formed by the junction of the Pamunkey and
Mattapony rivers, and is thirty miles above Yorktown.
After the evacuation of that place, and the entrance of the Federal
troops, the Union army proceeded in its advance toward Richmond
by different routes, as already detailed. One column marched by the
land route, under Heintzelman, Sumner, Hooker, Kearney and
Keyes, while General Franklin led his corps by transports up the York
river to West Point, leaving Yorktown at nine o’clock, on Tuesday
morning, May 6th. The banks of the river presented a fine
appearance, and white flags were displayed from many of the houses.
The house of Mr. Bigler, a firm loyalist, was almost covered with an
immense flag, bearing the stars and stripes, while one of the ladies of
the house waved the beautiful emblem of peace along its folds, from
one of the windows. The rebels had set fire to a valuable mill
belonging to Mr. Bigler, and its ruins were still sending up great
clouds of smoke into the air, a lurid witness of the destruction which
had marked their progress. The army arrived at West Point about
two o’clock, P. M., and commenced its disembarkation.
In consequence of the shallowness of the approach by water, it
became necessary to use pontoon boats and scows to facilitate the
landing. Operations were therefore slow; but the troops were landed
by midnight. The rebels did not dispute the landing. Pickets were
immediately thrown out into the woods in front, the roads leading to
the landing-place examined, and trees were thrown across the roads.
The pickets were occasionally engaged during the night, but only two