Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/581

 WILLIAM H. LYTLE. William H. Lytle was born in Cincinnati, about the year 1828, of an old and much respected American family. His great grandfather, William Lytle, held a cap- tain's commission in the Pennsylvania line dfiring the old French war, and emigrated to Kentucky in the year 1779. His grandfather, WilHam Lytle, was famous in the early border wai-fare of the West, and one of the earliest and most distinguished pioneers of Ohio. He was the intimate, personal friend of Andrew Jackson, under whom, when President, he held the oflfice of Surveyor General of Public Lands. Robert T. Lytle, the father of the subject of this sketch, was, for many years, a very influential poUtician. He represented the Cincinnati district in Congress, and was long the favorite orator of the Democracy of south-western Ohio. His only son, William, was educated in the West, and his fine abilities as a thinker, speaker and writer, were early the subject of remark. After the completion of his scholastic education, he studied law in the ofiice of his uncle, E. S. Haines. Upon the breaking out of the Mexican war, the mihtary spirit which had distinguished his family, showed itself in him. He volunteered, was elected captain of company L, second Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, commanded by Colonel L'vin of Lancaster, and served with dis- tinction during the war. While in Mexico, he wrote some letters which were much admired for their poetic tone and beautiftil description of tropical scenery. At the close of the war he returned to the practice of the law, but was soon elected a mem- ber of the first Ohio Legislature under the present Constitution of that State. He did not speak often in that body, but when he did address the House, he commanded its attention by a strain of eloquence and argument not quite so common in this coun- try as some people suppose. In 1857 he was nominated to the office of Lieutenant Governor by the Democratic party of Ohio. The ticket was beaten by a few hun- dred votes. He was afterward elected Major General of the First Division of the Ohio Militia, embracing within its limits the city of Cincinnati. This was a deserved honor, for in disposition and beaiing he is the heau ideal of a citizen soldier ; yet, con- sidering the force and beauty with which he writes, his friends are constrained to think, that even in his soldierly hands "the pen is mightier than the sword." From the poems contributed for this volume, four have been selected, which are now first published — "Sailing on the Sea," "The Brigand's Song," "Jacqueline," and " MacDonald's Drummer." ( 565 )