Death of Gen. Steedman.

Gen. Jas. B. Steedman, after an illness of several weeks, died of pneumonia at his residence in Toledo on last Thursday afternoon, at 3:30 o'clock. His funeral took place on Monday, being one of the largest funeral gatherings ever seen in Northwestern Ohio. He was buried with military honors, many of his old companions in arms being present. Quite a number of citizens of Napoleon and Henry county paid their last respects to "Old Chickamauga," and a former resident of this county, by being present at his funeral. (Gen. Steedman was born in Northumberland County, Penn., and learned the printer's trade in the office of the Lewisburg Democrat. When only about twenty-on- e years old he moved to Napoleon, Henry County, Ohio, and for some years afterward divided his attention between railroad contracting and the publication of a country newspaper, taking positions at the same time as local political leader. He was one of the heavy contractors on the Wabash & Erie canal, also the Wabash railroad at the time of their construction. He was elected, as we learn from a biographical sketch in the Enquirer, twice successively to the lower branch of the Legislature, was a member of the State Board of Public works for four years, and was elected Public Printer at Washington in 1857. He was a Douglas man at the "Charleston Convention, and made a canvass for Congress as an adherent of the "Little Giant," but was defeated. In 1801 General Steedman had become a resident of Toledo. He went into the war as Colonel of the Fourteenth Ohio Regiment, and made a brilliant career. To give anything like a detailed account of his services in the war would be to simply reproduce matter which Is easily accessible in books, and which is already in the keeping of those who would be Interested in it. General Steedman rapidly progressed as a military commander, and in 1863 became a Major-General of volunteers for distinguished and gallant services on the field of Chickamauga. He was accredited the hero of that battle. At the time of that memorable encounter he was stationed at a bridge with orders to hold it at all hazards. Having no enemy in front of him, he left his orders to take care of themselves and proceeded to the support of General Thomas, who was severely pressed. He knew nothing of the country or the position of the armies, but by marching to the "sound of the cannon," skirmishing on the way, he found fighting ground, and soon became hotly engaged. His services proved to be of the great est value to General Thomas. This was only one of Steedman's notable achievements in the war, but it was the one that gave him the proud and affectionately familiar title of "Old Chickamauga." After the war he made an official tour of inspection of the Freedmen's Bureau, and was for some time Collector of Internal Revenue at New Orleans. Later he served in the Ohio Senate, and was active in the politics of the State up to the time of his death. He was always consistently and earnestly a Democrat. As a soldier, politician and citizen he combined all the most admirable qualities. He was absolutely steadfast in his principles, and had a force of character which brought admiration even from those who were his political adversaries. He was a practical man of strong sense, and was as fearless and aggressive in politics as he was in war. He was also a disciplinarian, though the most striking event of his soldier life was his promotion to a Major-Generalship for disobedience to orders. He was generally the first to smooth out the wrinkles after a hot party wrangle, and always in the front when his party was in its greatest need. General Steedman was a warm-hearted, generous man, distinguished as a soldier and politician, but even greater in those graces of manhood which commended him as a friend. Grief over his death will be deep indeed. No man was more deserving of friendship, and no man more substantially earned the praises which are accorded to our heroes.