GEN. JOAB N. PATTERSON DIES AT AGE OF 88
On July 18 at his home in Concord occurred the death of General Joab N. Patterson, of the class of 1860, one of Dartmouth's oldest graduates and the only surviving general of the Civil War in the state of New Hampshire. General Patterson, who was a veteran of two United States wars, long a United States marshal, a former member of the state legislaure, and a high degree Mason, died after a lingering illness at the age of 88.
Concerning General Patterson the ManchesterUnion of July 19 said editorially:
"To read the bare outline of Gen. Joab N. Patterson's life is to get the impression that here is material enough out of which to construct two or three lives. There is one whole life's work in his military record, that of a veteran of two wars and commander in the militia for many years. For in this relation General Patterson did not simply 'belong to something.' He opened a recruiting office at the outbreak of the Civil War, raised a company, won a commission, went into the fighting, was wounded at Gettysburg, rose to a brevet-brigadier generalship. Then for many years after the war he was in the militia service, attaining the highest rank and holding it for years. And then he served in the war with Spain. Or one may take his public service as an official, as a representative in the legislature, United States marshal, second auditor of the United States Treasury, superintendent of public buildings in Havana. All this means a full life, a life having many contacts, a life all compact of interesting and immensely varied experience.
"Incidentally, this soldier and public officer was an outstanding figure in the Dartmouth sesqui-centennial in 1919. He was the marshal of the academic procession at the hundredth anniversary celebration, and fifty years later was honored by being made the honorary marshal. No man in all that great company that celebrated Dartmouth's hundred and fifty years of achievement had a more enjoyable time than this aged alumnus, who, by the way, worked his way through college by teaching country schools in the winters when he was acquiring his own school education. That is. just one more touch in the picture of a full life.
"Best of all, this crowded life of many activities and great service was crowned with friendships without number. One could not talk with him long and deeply without sensing the atmosphere of friendship in which he lived."
