The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1871-11-04
A HERO GONE TO REST.

D1ED-In Monroe, October 81, 1871,
t 8 p. NJ, THos. r.. HOTCHKIss, aged
2 years and 1 month. His funeral will
AXE place from the residence OF his
lister, Mrs. Trask, at half-past 3 o'clock,
o-day. The friends and acquaintance
re respectfully invited to attend.
Monroe, La, November 1, 1871.
Such was the formal and modest no.
ice, to our little city on Wednesday
of an event which has occa-
stoned the deepest sorrow among our
citizens and will carry to many heart
abroad the most profound grief and
Death, we all know, is
our common lot, and when the sum-
mons to close our eyes and set forward
on the march for eternity, may come, a
kind and all-wise Creator has not re-
vealed unto any OF us; teaching us the
lesson thereby all nature should heed,
that no animate thing has any deter
mined limit of existence, and hence
that the death of friends, neighbors and
kindred is an event for which we
should always be prepared. But how
seldom this preparation is made and
how hard it is to realize its multifari-
Gus bearings, before Death itself makes
the occasion which startles us with the
magnitude of our loss and the agony OF
our distress. In this instance, these
poor words have a most forcible and
touching application our deceased
friend was just entering upon the prime
of life, but had made name illustrious
for deeds of daring and valor. He had
throughout the day of his death been
attending to his business as merchant,
although, for a month or two, not in
robust health. About eight o'clock he
retired to his room at the store, not
feeling very well, and expressing a de-
sire to sleep, but saying he was unable
to do so. Mr.. Grant, his clerk, admin
istered small opiate, and withdrew to
close up the days business. Returning
shortly after, he was appalled, to find
that the gallant spirit of the noble hero
had taken.its flight, and that the earth
ly career of as brave and manly soul
as ever inhabited frail mortality, had
in stiffness and unobserved terminated
forever!
| Fruitful as our country has been Of
men of noble deeds and gallant bearing
none of its sons are better entitled tt
applause from the living than our dead
| friend. A brief sketch of his life will
attest his worth and establish his claims
to the highest rank among those who
have made Southern history illustrious
in the grandeur of the achievements il
commentaries.
Major Hotchkiss was born in the
city of New York, where his father
at the time, was a wholesale clothing
merchant. Becoming embarrassed in
business, the father removed to Louis
vile, and there died, leaving his sor
Thomas to the care of an uncle. Un
der his uncle's guardianship, tn
nephew became FESTIVE, and he left hi
roof at the age of sixteen, wandering
off from Connecticut, where the uncl
lived, to the State of Ohio. Here h
apprenticed himself, for three years, t
a brick-maker and builder, workin,
during the summer and attending
school during the winter. At the ter
mination of his apprenticeship, h
started out to make his fortune as
contractor and builder. In this bust
ness he was engaged in Issaquen
county, Mississippi, when the late wa
broke out. Among the first to enlis
in defence of the South was private 7
r. Hotchkiss, and here began Il caree
of military exploits not surpassed i
daring or in romantic incident by tina
of any of the heroes of the Los
Cause.
In a short time after enlisting, MI
Hotchkiss received authority to raise
separate company. He raised tn
company; was made lieutenant a
first, but very soon, through the activ
exertion of influential friends, he wa
raised to the captaincy to which h
was originally entitled Our EInite'
information does not supply wha
TRANSFERRED in the interval continuin,
until Capt. Hotchkiss was taken upol
the staff of the lamented Cleburne
who recognized in the dark flashin,
eye of the youthful Captain and in hi
extraordinary sclf-posscssion, the i'm
prints of military genius; and tina
sturdy old hero, the Stonewall jackson
of the Southwest whose blows wer
those of a giant and who never strucl
a blow that was not fatal, made Capt