Daniel W. Flagler, the Commandant at Rock Island Arsenal, was born in Niagara Co., N. Y., June 20, 1835 , a son of Sylvester and Abby (Remington) Flagler. On the Fagler side of the house he descended from Holland Dutch, who emigrated to Dutchess Co., N. Y., about the year 1700. On the maternal side he is English. He married the daughter of Brig.Gen. C. A. Finley, Surgeon General U. S. A., in Philadelphia , Pa. , and has two children, viz.: Elizabeth Moore, who was born in 1866, at Augusta , Ga. , and Clement A., born at the same place, in 1867. The latter is now a cadet at West Point .

Col. Flagler's military record is creditable, and he, seeing what Gen. Rodman saw, has been a strong advocate for the location of a military establishment, or rather a place, where, in time of emergency, the Government, without appealing to foreign powers, could equip an army in a short time. While advocating this Col. Flagler says he is opposed to war, but that our institutions ought to be maintained; and that in the nature of things we cannot have a large standing army in this country; and furthermore says he is glad of it, but that this Government may at some time become involved among its various sections, or with some other peoples, and the result might prove disastrous to civil liberty. The Americans, as a rule, are a level-headed people, and seek no wars; they never have been a people for conquest ; their progenitors came here at a time when they had nothing to hope for but liberty. The liberty they sought, and have maintained. Shortly 25 years ago the country became involved in a con­ troversy that cost thousands of lives, and but the money consideration is not a thought.

Col. Flagler says that he has no desire for a large standing army; that he is in true and hearty sympathy with the ideas of the men who make the nations of the earth, and who have borne the burdens. "But," says he (and to see him when he said it would impress every one that he had nothing but the good of his country at heart), " the building of an arsenal at an accessible point in the Mississippi Valley, while costing but a tithe of the amount required for supporting a stand­ing army, would at any time be of more service, for the reason that the arsenal would be constantly employed in the improvement of articles of warfare; " and said he, " the American people can always fight." There is reason in this; and it shows that American soldiers possess what none other on earth do. This man Flagler has with a steady determination carried out his views. He is familiar with all the detail work connected with the arsenal at Rock Island , and, like most soldiers, is a gentleman.

These comments are gathered from people who have lived in the vicinity of Col. Flagler's work for many years.

He is a man of powerful physique; and more than that, the development of his head shows that he is a man of great strength of mind, and a genial gentleman. The country ought to understand how he has labored for its best interests, and realize how great such men are. They are not the men that sought the conquest of everybody and every nation. It has remained for America to develop a class of soldiers that will stand far ahead of the Spartans; and the old guard, after doing their duty, returned to their homes. Conquest, malice never entered into their ideas; they fought from principle.

His record as a military man is second to none, only the great captains of the country. A graduate of West Point, he was an ardent and faithful advocate of the war during the late civil strife. He served through the war with distinction in many positions,among others, as Chief of Ordnance of the Army of the Potomac, on the staff of Gens. McDowell, McClellan, Burnside, Hooker and Meade; was also with Burnside's expedition to North Carolina, and obtained three brevets during the war. He served in command at Augusta, Ga., until May, 1871, when he assumed command of the Rock Island Arsenal. Subsequently, he assisted in the trial of experimental powders and heavy gun carriages, at Fortress Monroe, in 1873.

His record appears in a published register of West Point men.

Portrait and Biographical Album of Rock Island

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