The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1874-06-10

!. great the loss TO me OF one who ha,
been soldier better than myself; m,
bosom friend and dearly believe,
brother, that | can only express tn
emotions of grief
t At first when you went out, yo,
remember how the death of one you
comrades affected you. He lost hi
life by accident How tenderly w
buried him with the honors of war
The whole regiment followed the lit
. tie escort with mufiled drums and re
versed arms, and there were moisten
+ ed eyes as the last volley was fret
over the lonely grave.
Afterwards death was too bus,
with you to allow you to pay sucl
respect to fallen comrades. As the,
began to drop off one by one in tn,
hospitals, and afterwards by score
) on the battle fields, all the respect yo'
could pay was quick sympathizin!
glance, and a fearful regret that tn
day was over You had often t,
leave your comrades by strange an,
unfriendly hands,
Leave him 10 Gods watching eve.
Trust him to the hand that made him;
Mortal love weeps Idly by.
God alone has power to save him.
Lay him low, lay him low,
In the clover or the snow;
What cares he: he cannot know;
Lay him low.
As you rested at Camp Pierpont
you remember the. great soldiers tina
were around and close to you. Their,
were Mccall, Meade, Reynolds. Han
cock, Ord, Jackson, and Bayard, like
his namesake, the French chevaliel
of old without fear and without re
/ proacb;" names afterward famous il
history. Two fell heroically at Fred
ricksburg; another at Gettysburg
another afterward leading the army
of the Potomac, now gone to his rest
two others now high in command in
the regular army.
General M'Call, though getting old
and feeble, yet how gallantIy he main.
tanned himself and nursed the honor
of the Reserves. He was keenlv
alive to any injustice done them.
When Gen. Mcclellan after the Seven
Days fight made his report to Wash
ingtOn, rejecting unintentionally per-
haps, on the conduct of the Reserves
at New Market, Gen. M'Call, at his
own expense, published a review OF
those operations. In it l find the fol-
lowing from Gen. Meade. In a let
ter to Gen. M'Call, dated Warrenton,
Va, Nov. I, 1862, he said:-
1T was only the stubborn resistance
offered by our division (the Pennsyl-
vania Reserves, prolonging the con-
test till after lark, and checking till
that time the advance of the enemy,
that enabled the concentration during
the night OF the whole army on the
James River, which saved it."
1t is, perhaps, exclusively a sub
ject for your historian, but | cannot
fOrbear alluding to the record of your
services.
Among the killed, of officers and
non commissioned, we see the names
of Adjutant Gather; Captains, J. S.
Hinchman, J. p Smith, Daniel w.
'Mayes and Samuel Miller Lieut's
G. S. Knee, III. b. Fox; Sergeants,
John Gundy, Jas. Hughes, Thomas
Paxton, w. II. Rowland, Thos. o.
Rodgers, Ira Johnson, Hiram Kile,
and B. B. Strickland; Corporals, C.
G. Ogle, j. NJ. Winner, Jas. Nc
Adams. VIM. Glass, II. n. Lang, r.
n. McPake, Allen w. Corbett, Tbos.
Nousden, 7. S Wray, VIM. Paden,
II. l.. Sawhill, Jas. G. Page, Edwin
Il. Pier and Charles W. Crawford.
Time will not suffice to give the
names of the hosts ofprivates equally
deserving.
There were lis privates, and 80
officers, in all l47 killed in battle, and
100 and more wounded in battle. Of
lS2 discharged OH surgeons cetificate,
omitted in the rolls to be stated for
what cause, it is safe to say that very
many were from wounds received in
ba tile, and nearly all the remainder
for diseases contracted by severe eX-
posure in the service.
The places where they were killed
and wounded illustrates the battles
in which you were engaged. l find
they were either wounded or killed
at Drainsville, Mechanicsville, Gaines
Mill, White Oak Swamp, Charles
City y Roads, New Market Y Roads,
Manassas Junction, Groveton, Bristoe
Station, 2nd Bull Run, South Noun
tain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Rethes-
da Church, Laurel Hill, North Anna,
Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spottsylva-
MIA Court House.
Some were taken prisoners and died
in rebel prisons. Some missing in
battle and never heard of more. Over
their graves, gathered now in the
national cemeteries, only the word |
Unknown" They sleep their last
sleep; they have fought their last
battles. But they. shall rise again
when the last trump shall sound.
Let their memory be ever green.
How few of us are here, and if all |,
he survivors were here how few now
remain. Thousands, then nearly all
young, in the vigor of early manhood,
since cut off in the bloom and flower
IF their youth-a sacrifice to their
country. Soon decoration day will
,ome again. Let the choicest honors
DC paid to the memory of the brave.
Bring flowers, pale flowers, o'er the bier to shed
\ crown for the brow of the early dcad
FOR this through its leaves hath the white rose
burst,
'or this in the woods was the violet nursed,
Though they smile in vain for what once was ours,
they are loves last giit-bring ye flowers, pale
flowers.
The tolls, the marches, the weary
lelays are all over The camp fires
rave gone out When you quit the
ervice you were not anxious to return
md many Of you so worn and weary
hat you thought you would never
orget the hardships of the service,
md that nothing would ever induce
'ou to enter it again. But after q
,rief spell, finding no comrades around
you TO cheer your lonely hours, the
eminiscences Of the past, in immagi.