The National tribune., 1885-10-22
Recovering q Body at Midnight,

| To THE EDITOR: On the 3lst of December
| 1862, three persons We're at the National HOte
| in Washington, arranging an expedition to the
| battlefield of Bull Run The object was to re-
| cover the body of Capt. L. A. Acton, 5th N. J..
who was killed Aug. 20. 1862. The party con-
| sisted of Isaac Acton, father of the deceased
and John w. milford. both of Salem n. j., and
| the writer. After some difficulty we procured
pass from Gen. Heintzelman, commanding ut
Washington, and proceeded on foot to Alexan-
dria, where we spent the night. MIR. milford
withdrew from the party, but Mr.. Acton and
| myself, taking with us an undertaken. left Alex
andria by rail the following morning.
Arriving at Clifton we were confronted by
two formidable obstacles TO further advance.
The German Colonel commanding the extreme
pickets of that portion of the Department posi-
lively refused at first to inCorse the pass on the
ground that his pickets did not extend to the
battlefield, aud that If we yentured beyond
them we, in all probability, would be taken pris-
onecs. But after telling him that l would go,
even if he did not indorse the pass, because l
had authority to do SO from his superior Otticer,
he ut last reluctantly signed it, The other iffi-
Guilty was to secure q driver and team. This
was effected after desperate hunt for two or
three hours. All the farmers whom we at first
approached positively refused, on any terms to
furnish conveyance, alleging as a reason the
certainty OF capture of the whole party.
At last we started at o'clock in the morn
ing, Jan. !, 1863, for Centerville, where We ar
rived about o'clock. At Centerville we found
the LIST Vt. Cav. stationed, and their pickets ex-
tended along the ROAD from Centerville toward
Bull Run battlefield for a distance of near two
miles, and this was the last protection furnished
us on the road. In defiance of many remon-
strances, and with no encouragement from the
multitudnous series of pickets through which
We passed to advance beyond the pickets to the
place of burial four miles distant, Mr. Acton
and myself resOlutely persisted in our determi
nation to advance. F4F
In due time, without noteworthy incident, we
reached the place of burial, ut the foot OF high
HILL which overlooked che whole field of battle.
There, under small tree, the body of Capt.
Acton, with those of Lieut.. Abbott, of the 7th
N j., and an officer of the Sth N j., was buried,
with an inscription on a small wooden head
board designating his name and rank. AT this
spot we arrived about ii o'clock at night. After
faithful use of pick and shovel for an hour,
under the light of the moon which had just
risen, we succeeded in removing the DOdy from
its resting place. 1t was buried in the Cap
tain's military clothes, surrounded by three or
four thicknesses of canvas as a winding sheet.
After four months burial it was in such a
markable state OF preservation that the features
of the cOuntenance could very readily be recog-
nized.
The occasion seemed to be fitting one to re-
hearse to the rest of the party the circumstances
of the Captains death. Between 2 and 3 o'clock
in the afternoon, about half a mile from the
top of the hill at the foot Of which he was
buried, i'll strip of woods skirting large open
field, he was struck by ballet of a sharpshooter
concealed in a tree, decorating his bowels in
terrible manner and causing death in 20 min
utes after the reception of the wound.
After drive of an hour, at / o'clock in the
morning of Jan. 2, to the utter establishment of
the Vermont Cavalry pickets, and in contradic-
ton of their prophecies of capture and imDris.