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408 mantled the combined British and American column that dispersed the Boxers and captured their headquarters on the Eight Temples; he was in command of the American troops that occupied the Imperial city; he commanded the entrance and restored order in the section occupied by the American troops.

He was appointed to represent the United States army at the coronation of Edward VII. in Westminster Abbey, London, England. He was for eight years chairman of the Republican state committee of Delaware. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from McKendree college in 1895.

He was married, January 3, 1866, to Ella, daughter of General John W. Andrews, of Stockford, near Wilmington, Delaware, and they had three daughters all living in 1905. He has made his home for the last twenty years at Wilmington, Delaware, where he is a member of the Wilmington Country club of which he was president from its organization. He was also a member of the Union, the Army and Navy and the University clubs of New York city, the Metropolitan club of Washington, District of Columbia, the Philadelphia club, the Chicago club of Chicago and a companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. His highest inspiration to attainment in military life came, he says, from reading the lives of the noble characters of history and romance. To American youth he says: "Be just and fear not—always do your level best—act on the principle that 'you will pass through this world but once, therefore any good thing you can do, do it now, do not postpone nor defer it, for you will not come this way again.'"

General Wilson is the author of "Life of Andrew J. Alexander" (1868); "Life of General Grant" (with Charles A. Dana, 1868); "China-Travels and Investigations in the Middle Kingdom" (1887, 3d. ed., 1900); also of various military biographies in book and pamphlet form, published and unpublished. Among the latter is the life of major-general John Aaron Rawlins. He has been actively engaged as manager and director of various corporations throughout the entire period of his civil life.