A railroad surveyor for the United States Government who made several transcontinental expeditions for the proposed Mississippi River-Puget Sound railroad, Frederick Lander was named a brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers from Massachusetts in May of 1861. After serving as an aide-de-campe to General George McClellan during the western Virginia campaign at the opening of the War, he was given command of the Second Brigade, Stone's Division, and held Edward's Ferry following the Union defeat at Balls Bluff in October 1861. Although severely wounded in the leg during the battle, he continued to lead troops into combat at the head of Lander's Division and was preparing to reinforce General Nathaniel Banks in the Shenandoah Valley when he died unexpectedly from pneumonia on March 2, 1862.
He was the author of several other patriotic poems.
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Last modified 16-April-2001