Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1867-10-15
[Fron. the Norfolk Yirginian.l
wsEraU Tn Memoriam.

[Fron. the Norfolk Yirginian.l
.93u5.EaU In Memoriam. go q
STERLING PRICE is dead The shadow of
great sorrow is on our hearts. The twin genius
of the war has followed his illustrious brother,
and the people of the South weep a double
grief for SToNEwALL JACKSON and STERLING
PRICE. t.5a-.--t.-.f ...
We would fain do justice to the memory of
one who, in all the relations of a man, states
man and soldier, stood pre-eminent among
his contemporaries, but our grief refuses to ind
vent in words ll-a
sour heart is in the coffin there
~ With Cesar
And yet it is due to history, due to ourselves,
due to posterity, due to the memory of the
great dead, and the great struggle in which he
bore himself so illustriously, that the death OF
such man should not be passed by in silence.
= As man, he was the noblest work of God
an honest man, one of natures noblemen,
man of great head and of great heart, man of
firm unbending integrity, of infexible will, OF
indomitable perseverance. and yet Of such kind
" feeling, such generous impulse, that 1t was
said of him by the martinets of the service, that
he was ''too good man to be General"
An incident that occurred during the first
year of the war, will illustrate his kindness of
heart and the magnanimity of his disposition.
A private who in his eagerness to reach Price,
had left home without sufficient clothing, having
worn out his only jacket, was standing guard in
his shirt-sleeves at one of the outposts of the
camp, under a heavy shower of chilling rain, a
cold day in November, when General Price and
his staff passed on their way to his headquar-
ters., e
+ AS the sentinel saluted, Price observed that
he was in his shirt sleeves. The General halted
and demanded what are you doing on guard in
your shirt sleeves?" Private-"I have no
jacket. sir, it is the best can do. The Gen
eral dismounted, pulled off his overcoat and
then his fatigue jacket, and slipping from its
collar the insignia of his rank, handed it to the
poor sentinel The sentinel looked amazed
Take that, sir, and put it on!'' The sentinel
replied: II had rather not, General; [ am
only private, and if catch cold it don mat
ter, and the army can t do without you"
first duty of soldier is obedience? Put it on,
sir, it shall never be said of Sterling Price that
he wore two coats while there was a man in his
army who had none.
Sterling Price was born in the county Of
Prince Edward, Virginia, and was nurtured on
Virginia soil, Virginia air and Virginia prlncl-
pies, and throughout his life he ever maintained
and expressed for his native State the greatest
love and devotion.
Price, on attaining his majority, emigrated
to the State of Missouri, where his name was
to become household word, and a special sub
ject of prayer and blessings, and now, alas of
tears, to that State,
Whose meanest rll, whose mightest river
Flows mingled with his fame forever.
1t was not long before the ability of Price
manifested itself to the people of his adopted
State, and he filled successfully the highest Of
fees in their gift, being for long time MEM
Der of Congress from that State, and Governor
of the State.
In the Mexican war he distinguished himself
by display of the military talent that after
wards on an ample field rendered him SO famous,
and was made Brigadier General by the Uni
ted States Government, when among his COM
petitors for the position, was no less man than
Jefferson Davis
When the war broke out and Missouri finally
concluded to separate from the United States
and establish a sovereign government OF her
own, all eyes were turned on Sterling Price. and
Governor jackson Immediately rendered to him
the command of the State troops-a command
at that time merely in contemplation, the State
not having man under arms. Price imme-
diately accepted the appointment, and issued
his proclamation. In three months the weight
of his name had collected an army of 10000
men, without arms or equipment, but full of
confidence In their course and in their leader
How he armed these men, how he drilled them,
how he precipitated them with the force Of an
avalanche upon the Federal troops until a cam
paign commenced without men, money, arms
or ammunition, eliminated in the capture of
Lexington, and the entire humiliation OF the
Federal power In the State, belongs to history.
1t was a campaign that had but one parallel in
the war, and that was the campaign of jackson
in the Valley.
We have not space to follow the career of
General Price throughout the war but it was
one Of unexampled success. As a leader no
man ever had more perfect control over his
men. The Old Guard never loved Napoleon
with more total devotion than that which the
Missouri troops gave to Price. They had the
same confidence in him that jackson had in
Providence. They believed him to be infal-
BILE, and no matter what he called upon them to
do, they did it implicitly, and left the result to
Price.
And their confidence was well placed. 1t Is
matter of history that he never lost battle
while he was in command and had with him
his old Missouri troops, the veterans that had
obeyed his call in 1861. In his last campaign
he was unsuccessful, but it was no fault of his
His command was then largely made up of the
conscripts and skulkers who had Stunned ser
vice as long as service was voluntary. If in
this campaign he had had the men who faced
death at his word at Springfield, at Lexington,
at Pea Ridge, at Corinth, and thousand other
places, the result would have been different.
But the fame Of Price needs no defence-his
reputation as a successful commander is world
wide his name is dear to thousands through
out the South, who knew him but to love him,
who named him but to praise. His death will
cast deep gloom over the whole of the country
that loved him so well.
He will no more look upon the battlefield,
his manly form will never again tower above
the smoke and amid the bullets, his eagle eyes
will never again discern the weakness Of the
enemy, his voice will never again cheer his
veterans to the charge
'He sleeps his last sleep; he has fought his
last battle;
That noble form is in the dust, that eagle eye
is closed in death, that kindly heart has ceased
Its beatings; the sunshine of his face is shroud-
ed forever; we shall see him no more And
yet he lives he lives in the page of history he
lives in ha boortc of biC y,oo,1o