medal from the city of New York. He was given the commission of 2d lieutenant in the 2d U. S. infantry, and served in California, in charge of Fort Yuma, and elsewhere in the west, being en- gaged in frequent actions with hostile Indians. While stationed at Port Yuma, the command under Maj. Samuel P. Heintzelman was compelled to fall back on San Diego for want of supplies, and Sweeny was ordered to remain with ten men. The Indians besieged his camp from 5 June until 6 Dec, 1851, but he was finally extricated by a gov- ernment exploring expedition under Capt. Lorenzo Sitgreaves. After other duties at various posts he was promoted captain, 19 Jan., 1861. Soon after the beginning of the civil war he was ordered to St. Louis and given command of the arsenal, which contained immense quantities of munitions of war of all kinds, sufficient fully to arm and equip 60,000 men, together with over forty tons of pow- der. Capt. Sweeny had but forty unassigned re- cruits under him, while in St. Louis there were nearly 3,000 hostile minute-men, fully equipped. Advances were made to induce him to surrender the arsenal ; but the reply, that if a serious attempt should be made to capture the arsenal he would blow it to atoms, prevented any action on the part of the Confederate sympathizers. He was second in command of the Union troops at the surrender of the state forces at Camp Jackson, and conducted the final negotiations, in consequence of Gen. Na- thaniel Lyon's having been disabled. Subsequently he was instrumental in the organization of the Missouri three-months' volunteers, and he was ap- pointed brigadier-general on 20 May, 1861. In the campaign that followed he took an active part with Gen. Lyon, and was severely wounded at the battle of Wilson's Creek, and later he was acting assistant adjutant - general under Gen. John C. Fremont. He then accepted the command of the 52d Illinois volunteers, and was attached to the army under Gen. Grant, participating in the capture of Fort Donelson, after which he took 6,000 pris- oners to Alton, 111. At a critical moment toward the close of the first day of the battle of Shiloh a gap existed between the right flank of Sweeny's brigade and Gen. William T. Sherman's left. The defence of this position, which was the key of the situation, was intrusted to him by Sherman, who has since said : " I attach more importance to that event than to any of the hundred achievements which I have since heard saved the day." His commission of brigadier-general of volunteers dates from 29 Nov., 1862, and thereafter he commanded a division of the 16th army corps and was en- gaged in protecting the Memphis and Charleston railroad. He was promoted major of the 16th in- fantry, 20 Oct., 1863, and in the Atlanta campaign had the 2d division of the 16th corps in the Army of the Tennessee. At Snake Creek gap his com- mand took possession of the gap twenty-four hours in advance of the cavalry, and held it in spite of every effort of the enemy. He took part in the battle of Resaca and forced a passage across Ooste- naula river at Lay's Ferry, where he fought a successful battle, which action resulted in Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's retreat southward. He also participated in the battles of Dallas and Kenesaw Mountain, and at the battle before Atlanta on 22 July, 1864, his division drove the enemy back with great slaughter, capturing four battle-flags and 900 prisoners. Subsequently he had command of the post of Nashville until July, 1865, and he was mustered out of volunteer service on 24 Aug. of that year. He participated in the Fenian invasion of Canada in 1866, and was present at the battle of Limestone Ridge. During this period he was out of the National service, but was reinstated by the president soon afterward and given posts in the southern states. Gen. Sweeny was presented with a sword by the city of Brooklyn for services ren- dered in the civil war. He was retired on 11 May, 1870, with the rank of brigadier-general.
SWEET, Alexander Edwin, editor, b. in St.
John, New Brunswick, 28 March, 1841. His
father, James, removed to San Antonio, Tex., in
1849, and was afterward mayor of that town. He
also served in the Confederate army as a lieutenant-
colonel. The son was sent to school in Pough-
keepsie, N. Y., and in 1859 went to Europe and
entered the Polytechnic institute, in Carlsruhe.
Returning to Texas in 1863, he served in the Con-
federate army in the 33d Texas cavalry. After
the war he studied law, was admitted to the bar,
and practised in San Antonio for several years. In
1879 he became editor of the San Antonio " Ex-
press," and, still practising law, became city at-
torney. Afterward he was editor of the San
Antonio " Herald," and a contributor of humorous
Earagraphs to the Galveston "News." In May, 1881,
e removed to Austin, Texas, and formed there a
partnership for the publication of a weekly journal
entitled "Texas Siftings," which was removed to
New York in 1884. With J. Amory Knox he has
published " On a Mexican Mustang through Texas
from the Gulf to the Rio Grande" (Hartford, 1883).
SWEET, Benjamin Jeffrey, soldier, b. in
Kirkland, Oneida co., N. Y., 24 April, 1832 ; d. in
Washington, D. C, 1 Jan., 1874. His father was
a clergyman in poor health, and at nine years of
age the boy was set at work in a cotton-mill.
When he was sixteen his father removed to Stock-
bridge, Wis., and settled upon a piece of wild
forest land, where the son spent a year in clearing
a homestead for the family. At the age of seventeen he entered Appleton college, but remained
only a year, and then returned home, where he
alternately taught and worked on his father's
farm. His spare hours he devoted to the study of the law. Before he was twenty-seven he was elected to the senate of Wisconsin, but at the opening of the civil war he was commissioned major of the 6th Wisconsin regiment. Soon afterward he resigned and raised two fresh regiments, the 21st and 22d Wisconsin, of the first of which he became colonel. In the battle of Perry ville, where it formed a part of one corps that during all of one day sustained an attack from the whole of Bragg's army, it lost 300 in killed and wounded. Col. Sweet had been for several days confined to an ambulance by malarial fever, but when the battle began he mounted his horse and took command of his regiment. During the battle he received a wound that was supposed to be mortal. His life was saved by the careful tending of his wife, but his health was permanently shattered. He was given a colonelcy in the Veteran reserve corps, and stationed at Gallatin, Tenn., building a fort there in the winter of 1862-3. In May, 1864, he was ordered to take command of the prison at Camp Douglas, Chicago, where about 10,000 Confederate soldiers were confined. In June he discovered that an outbreak had been planned for the 4th of July which should liberate and arm the prisoners, and result in the sacking and burning of Chicago. He quickly strengthened his defences and re-enforced his garrison, and the attempt was thus rendered hopeless. Early in November, Col. Sweet received positive information that the post was to be attacked on election night, only three days following ; 5,000 armed men under com-
