Daily Nashville union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1862, 1862-04-30
Fltr-Iamos 0,Rrien Last Letter.

FttE-J anos O'Hrien Last Letter
The following beautiful extracts are
from letter written, while on death
bed Of intense agony, to friend in New
York, by Lieut.. FrTz-JAMEs o'BRIES, Of
the late Gen. LASDER's staff. This gall
liant young gentleman very recently died
from a gunshot wound in the shoulder,
received In a hand-to -hand encounter
with a Rebel leader, during a skirmish,
in which he killed his antagonist. The
act Of dashing bravery was promptly ao-
knowledged, in q special dispatch, by
Gen. MCCLELLAN.
Lieut.. 0BRIEE was well known as one
Of the brightest ornaments of American
literature, and YVES universally beloved
by all who came in contact with him.
The calm and noble resignation, genial
good nature, sparkling wit, and deep
patbos OF those few words, penned by a
brave yOungman on The very Threshold
Of eternity, present one Of the most
touching and ennobling pictures that
ever came to our notice:
- have nothing TO write
about except myself, rather One-sided
subject. Still / must write or die. /
hayn't yet told you Of my sufferings, and
didn't intend to; but the III is on me, and
l must harrow you q little / hope to
God you never will have to go through
what have experienced, and what ana
liable TO- For the first week of my
wound, nothing but enormous doses of
morphine kept me from going crazy with
pain. l had to be kept all day in lazy,
hall -slumberous condition, in which /
felt like a kind of hot-house plant,
DOING and living, and that's ALL
1t was at this period conceived that
prejudice against my left arm, which has
since ripened into hate Icannot express
the feelings with which now regard that
limb. long to cast it of, to disinherit
it, to cut il off with q (sharp) shilling,
and thrust il out upon the world to beg.
It's hand at present is fit for no higher oc-
cupstion than to clutch pennies. While
highly morphinized, and in semi-c
scious state, formed the idea that the
aggrayating limb did not belong to me,
but was a YagabOnd and malicious arm
that had attached itself 10 me for the
purpose of preventing my being Com
mander-in- Chief, which ( vas to be as
soon as had fought Beauregard in the
coliseum with trident and a shrimp
net All my arrangements had been
made. Both armies of the Potomac were
TO assist at the spectacle, when, during
my sleep, a Rebel spy took away the
arm on which l depended for using the
shrimp-net, and left me mutilated
member instead. This is the true histo--
ry of the case, although prejudiced per-
sons might be apt TO call it morphine
hallucination.
left off morphine completely four
weeks ago. II was hard struggle to
part with tho great consider, but / gave
it up and took TO brandy. They gave
me good deal of this in egg -nogg and
milk-punch to sustain my really wasted
frame Imagine the 1853 pound man you
knew, down TO about 1910, and so weak
that the falling Of book startlcs him as
it were the bursting of shell. | wish
were here to sketch me as am
engineered out of bed to big chair
with haggard face, spider limbs, and
body fairly contracted with the pain Of
moving. The day after tomorrow / am
to have probe put into the wound and
showed down as far as my elbow, after
which they will cut the flesh of the fore
ARR, ,tt,a7 IN fba hmm for civ incboe A.,
length. SO you see have quite pleas
ing prospect before me.
My amusements are not
various / can see from my window a
railroad depot and a locomotive; but
steam, although a giant reformer and
an industrial power Of vast etceteras, is
not strictly cheerful To- day is Spring
opening day Of the season. The display
is very tasteful and elegant We noticed
quite a chaste aud novel thing in the way
Of sunshine, which will, no doubt, be
extensively palronized. A very neat
| and delicate article Of budding elm,
trimmed with early blue-birds, attracted
much attention, as did also little chef
douvre, consisting of q pot-pourri of hep
ticas, crOcuses and snow drops. Testing
apart, the day is lovely. The sun shines
on the distant hills, The singing of the
birds comes through my window with a
grateful sound as lie sad, and silent,
and suffering Oh, liberty Of motion,
health and strength / never knew what
treasures you were till now.
l