Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1880-01-24
BABES OF THE BLUE AND
THE GRAY.
eoD's owS FLAG OF TRUCE.


man named Payne was involved
with John Wilkes Booth, in 1865,
in the as sassination of President
Lincoln, and the attempt upon
the life of S cretary William Ell.
Seward; nor does any one need to
be told of tie height TO which
pablic indignation reached in
Washington city at that time. AT
this particular period Major w.
F. Halleck, of the United states
service, having in charge two hum
dred Confederate prisoners in
Washington city, was set upon by
a mob who demanded of him the
body of one of these, General
Payne, of the Confederacy, who,
it was believed by the populace.
was the person who had stabbed
Seward. Major Halleck,'s guard
consisted of not more than fifty.
He appealed in vain to the mob,
assuring it that the Payne who
was then his prisoner was not the
Payne who had stabbed the Sec
rotary. He was not believed, and
the fury of the crowd increased,
and its determination to have the
prisoner became manifest. Order
ing his men to load their guns and
prepare for work, Major Halleck
defiantly proclaimed to the mob
that those were his prisoners. and
lit was his purpose to die right
there with them, before he would
surrender one of them into their
hands. His guard was prepared
to execute his orders. and tn or
ders were upon his lips, ready to
be given the momsnt the occasion
arose. The mob saw the officers
determination, retired and aban-
doned its purpose After the war
Major Halleck and General Payne
became near neighbors and friends.
A child of each dying at the same
time, the two were inferred in the
same grave, and it is of this cir
cumstance that the following is
written. Major Halleck, it is
hardly necessary to say, is identi-
cal with the gallant Federal SOL
dier of the same name who deliv-
cred the patriotic speech recently
at the soldiers reunion in Sails
bury, North Carolina
What matters it now if they met there
before,
From the North and the Southland
the Blue and the Gray
On fields tLat were awful with carnage
and gore,
Mid the roaring and strife of that terri
BILE fray?
All, little they needed the dying and dead,
Fer hard was the hear: then, and fash
ing the eye;
But now they are weeping DER one little
bed,
Where two little darlings so peacefully
lie
"Under the sod and the dew, }"
Close to each other they lay
One is the babe of the Blue,
The other the babe of tie Gray.
What matters it now if they led to the
fight to-a ot
The men who are sleeping beneath the
green sod (?
Or wuat does it matter which fought for
the right?
For Judgment is mine, said our mer-
ciful God,
Aye bravely they fought here, but, dy.
ing, forgave;
And, clasping each other, lay dead on
the plain;
Thus bowling in symp lthy over the grave,
These warriors are united in pain,
"Under the sod and the dew"
Fairas twin lilies they lay
Beautiful babe of the Blue,
Beautiful babe Of the Gray.
What matters it now, if this tall, waving
grass
Is higher and ranker, and greener to
day,
Because Of it drinking that red flood, alas
The blood of the Blue and the blood o.
the Gray?
While yet it was warm from the hearts o.
the brave
1t met and united in one purple tide.
So mlngle III" tears er this little twin
grave
OF the treasures buried here, each side
by side,
"Under the sod and the dew
Sleeping together for aye
Sweet little babe of the Blue,
Dear little babe of the Gray.
What matters it now bat question then
not;
Enough that they suffer fathers keer