made terrible inroads upon the
Seventy-seventh. Instead of nearly a thousand men with which we came to
the Peninsula, inspection in the middle of June showed only about two
hundred and fifty men present for duty. Although this regiment had from
the very beginning occupied an exposed position in the very front line;
although it composed a part of Smith's division, which has already
become famous both in the Union and rebel armies for being always in
closest proximity to the enemy, yet it had thus far lost very few men in
battle. All the rest of those now absent had been stricken down by
fevers, or worn out by the exhausting labors and exposures of the
campaign.

[Illustration: James B. McKean--Col. 77th Regt. NYSV.]

Among those attacked by typhoid fever was Colonel McKean. After
suffering a few days in the vain hope of soon being able to place
himself again at the head of his regiment, he was removed from the
poisonous atmosphere of the swamps to Washington, and thence to his home
in Saratoga. The men looked upon his departure with sincere regret, for
they not only respected him as an able commander, but loved him for his
never failing interest in their welfare. He had been to the regiment in
the capacity of commander and father. His leave of the regiment was
destined to be final; for except as an occasional visitor he never
returned to it; and after many months of suffering, his constitution
undermined, and his health permanently destroyed, he was forced to
relinquish the command. But though forced to leave the field, the men of
his regiment never ceased to cherish feelings of love and respect for
their first commander. They had witnessed his bravery on the field, and
they now knew that he was contending with disease with the same
fortitude that had marked his course in the army. The departure of
Colonel McKean from the service was not only a great loss to his
regiment but to the whole corps; for he was not only a brave officer,
but a gentleman of superior intellectual endowments. Another of the
sufferers from typhoid fever was Lieutenant Bowe, a young man of fine
abilities and greatly beloved by his regiment. After several weeks of
absence, he returned to camp on the 18th of July restored to health. On
the very next day, while standing with several officers in a tent, he
was fatally wounded by an accidental shot from a pistol. His father,
hearing of the sad occurrence, came for him and removed him from camp;
but on