The Portland daily press., 1863-05-18
From the'New York Independent.
Maior.General Berry.
BY REV. THO. l.. CUYLER.

memorable day,when even the heavens seemed
to hang In mourning over a bereavcd and dis
appointed nation-a hearse halted at the door
OF one of our congregation. 1t was attend
ed by the staff of a Maor-General in the Ar
my of the Potomac. Amid the piercing walls
of an agonized wife and daughter, the collin
wrapped in that dear old flag which has been
so many hero's pail - was borne INTO the
dwelling. A friend who was present tells me
that it was the most touching heart-tragedy he
ever witnessed.
In that coffin lay the manly form of Major
General Hiram e.. Berry, who on Saturday
evening, May 2, led the gallant charge of Gen.
Hooker's own corps on the bloody field of
Charlottesville. 1t was the hottest of the
three days encounters. Stonewall Jackson's
immense corps had precipitated themselves on
our exposed right wing Through the dusk of
nightfall, a rushing whirlwind of men and
tillery swept over the plain. Rockers dispo-
sitons, we are told, were made in moment
Whom Of all Others should he call on in this
critical emergency but his own veteran corps
now commanded by Gen. Berry? General"
shouted the COMMANDMENTS Chief throw your
men into the breach - receive the enemy on
your bayonets-dont fire a shot-they can't
see your The order was obeyed. Pressing
up their silent array of glittering steel, the
enemy's advance was quickly checked, and he
was forced to retire to the breastworks just va
Gated by the llth Corps.
We need not rehearse all the fearful scenes of
that evenings encounter, which did not cease
until the midnight moon had mounted to its
meridian. The next morning the conflict was
renewed. For war is no respecter of the Sab
bath. On that calm, sweet morn, while thous-
ands of little children were singing their Sab
bath-school hymns, their fathers were aiming
their deadly fire at each others hearts. Or
that mornings conflict correspondent says:
Our line of battle formed with Gen. Berry's
gallant division the right Gen. Birney next the
left. Gen. whipple and Gen. Williams supporting
At 81 A. M, the advance became engaged in the ra
Vine Just beyond the ridge where Capt Best's guns
had made their terrific onslaught the night before.
The rattle of musketry soon became long contn-
ued crash, and i'll a few moments, as battalion after
battalion became engaged the roar surpassed all con-
ception. Gen Berry's division, which had checked
the enemy advance the night before engaged him
again. and if it were possible for them to add
aurels to their fame they did it thrice over again
Soon after the struggle ended Gen. Berry
left his staff, aud attended only by an adjutant,
set of on foot to see Gen. Mott. He was
warned not to expose himself; but his heroic
answer was, Il will not send man where |
will not 90 myself" In ten minutes, the bull
let of a rebel sharp-shooter pierced his heart,
and he died without a farewell word. An am
buance was hastily procured, and his body
was borne off through the lines of his own
gallant men, who gathered in frantic grief a.
round it, kissing the lips yet warm, and VOW
ing vengeance on his murderers.
That liieless body, hurriedy embalmed, was
borne on, the next day, to Washington, where
the President OF the Republic met it with
chaplet of flowers, and the offer of military
funeral. But this honor was modestly declined
by his kindred and so they brought on the
dead hero through those dark DAYS of the
dark week, until he was laid down, silent and
cold. before his little household. What a
meeting. For the first time that devoted
wife threw her arms around the form
of him she loved, aud received no answer
ing embrace; for the first time that sweet
girl kissed fathers lips that gave back
no kiss to her. "Ah!" said his wife to me,
"ths is what / expected from the first. L
knew il would come. When he volunteered
for the war. / knew it would cost his life for
he was not the man to draw back until either
the war or his life was ended" His life ended
first; and to-day, amid the toll 81 bells, and
the voices of mnute-guns. and the lamenta-
tons of his townsmen, the most eminent mar
tyr which gallant Maine has yet given to the
cause of liberty, is laid to his honorable re-
pose.
Hiram G.. Berry was a native of Thomaston
and was born in 1925. He was a sturdy boy
of the good old New England type, who hew-
ed ont his own independence by honest toll.
At thirty-six he had won competence.
But when Sumter's walls received the shot
aimed at nations life, the people of glorious
Maine-too near the polar star to brook the
blows of slavery-were among the first to leap
to arms. Col. Berry raised one of the earli-
est repirnanis and iaaa .i... 49, s,o d,e"ntrUus
field of Bull Run. Through the melancholy
campaigns of the Peninsula he fought and suf-
fered, until IRON the view of Richmonds spires,
he was driven back with his shattered brigade
to the banks of the Potomac. He aided in
winning the victory OF Antietam; and soon
won, at the age of thirty-eight, the rank of
Major-General in the army of the Republic.
Maine has given us no goodlier gift
In one moment, a rebels rifc-ball ends this
brief, brilliant career of heroic loyalty; and
henceforth the name of BERRY stands on the
same monument that bears the sacred names of
Lyon, of Baker, of Winthrop, of Mansfield, of
Reno, of the chivalrous Bayard, and the star
eyed Mitchell. Hashe died in rain, Have one
hundred thousand as brave as Berry bed for
thought? Shall we now basely desert the holy
cause for which they gave their hearts blood?
Shall we turn traitors to humanity and make
ignominous surrender to that black-hearted
inquiry which is striking its poniard at the ma
tons heart, and which, before God, stands
guilty of the blood OF Berry and of his compat-
riot martyrs? God forbid!
For one, pray for peace, but only peace
through purity-only peace on the basis of
everlasting justice, and human rights assured
to Gods hnmblest ones-only peace that free
America can wear without a blush only
peace that shall uproot the diabolic cause Of
war, demonstrating slavery-only such peace
as would be sweet and sacred to the departed
spirit of that hero on whose new-made tomb
we lay this our humble chaplet.
BROOKLYN, May IA, 1868.