Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1895-12-10
HIS DYING WORDS.


cession of tragedies-naturally witnessed
and experienced many melancholy happen
ings. The four years were to me an un-
broken chain Of instances of mans inhu-
manity to man and of strange and In
many cases heartrending condolences
Thirty years Of active business life have
of course, served to blot from my memory
many Of those stirring panoramas, but
there is one so weird and SO full of melan-
choly interest that it will remain with mo
as long as this life lasts. +" So spoke an old
soldier as he rested himself in a comforta-
BILE chair in the lobby of the exchange yes
terday.
"How was it, colonel9" inquired several
fellow loafers In concert. "Tell us all
about It,"
swell, it's tale that a man who desires
to preserve intact a reputation for veracity
can relate only to his friends. 1t is as true
as gospel, but 1t Is so strange and SO unac-
oountable 1t sounds like reporters fake.
''It occurred way back in 1868. We were
camped near Lookout mountain. 1t was
the day before the battle Of Missionary
Ridge. In one Of the commands was a
handsome young lieutenant from Carroll
county, Ga. I cannot for the life Of me re-
member his name, but I remember dis
tinotly how he looked. He was gallant,
spirited, intelligent fellow.
Son the afternoon before the battle he
received box from home. He had wife
and five children there and each Of them
sent some little remem brance. Among 9th
or of the box's contents was a neat suit of
clothes. The lieutenant promptly entered
his tent and donned 1t. He was ordinarily
a jolly, cheerful sort of fellow, but when
he emerged, decked In his new suit, we saw
that something was wrong. Boys, said
he, you know am no coward or sensa-
tionalist, but somehow the moment I put
this suit on l realized would never live
to wear the oreases out of It, am as GER
tain to be killed In that fight tomorrow as
that tomorrow comes.
'We attempted to ridicule his notion,
but he continued SO serious in his belief
that we desisted and left him to figure
himself into pleasanter humor. His
mind had not changed by the next morn
ing, and his company insisted on his not
entering the fight, In the face of his
strange conviction. The captain was alb
sent, however, and the lieutenant positive
~ refused to stay out, saying an officer
should lead his men wherever duty called
him. At the head of his company he
plunged that day into the thickest Of the
fight. My company was near his. Almost
at the same instant each Of our bodies
Caught ball. We were carried to one side
and placed near each other under tree
1t was evident his prediction would in
few minutes be verified. Twenty minutes
after he was shot he died.
"But now comes the strangest part Of the
story-the part that most affected me and
the part which hesitate always about re-
lating," continued the colonel. SIN tho
last moments Of that young soldiers life,
head in the lap of comrade, heard him
moan: Ny poor wife and five little chill
dren What will become Of them9' He
died few minutes afterward, just at the
noon hour.
MY wound was not serious, and was
out again in a couple of days. As limped
around the young Georgia soldier in whose
arms Lieutenant -- had died ran up to
me and inquired If had communicated
the fact of the soldiers death to his wife.
l replied had not; that did not know
even the name or the residence Of the I'M
fortunate man and had only camp &C.
Quaintance of few hours with him.
"'Read this, he said, handing mo let
ter directed to the dead lieutenant 1t was
written by his wife and expressed her in
tense anxiety. 1t was dated on the after
noon Of the day on which the battle Of
Missionary Ridge was fought. The loving
wife said that at noon Of that day, as she
sat musing miles away in Georgia on the
event Of these stormy times, she was star
tied from her reverie by hearing the voice
Of her husband say: My poor wife and
five children! What will become of them9'
The voice was so distinctly that OF her
husband, she said, that she rushed to tho
door to welcome the handsome face. So
thoroughly convinced was she, she stated,
that she searched the premises for him.
She said she could not reconcile the occur
renee and that 1t had added to her anxiety.
She begged her husband to hasten reply,
that she might know her fright had been
foolish one.
~ helped the honest soldier write the
melancholy letter advising the loving wife
of her husbands brave conduct and un-
timely death. We told her all Of the cir
cumstances that led up to it and sent her
all Of his simple belongings and the gifts
he had received on the eve Of the battle,
excepting the fatal suit. That was burned
by his sturdy comrades as though 1t had
been a thing of evil have never heard
anything further about the melancholy
case, but have often wondered how that
good Confederate widow was standing the
ravages Of this rough old world. never
meet Georgian but that ask If he comes
from Carroll county. have found some
who claimed 1t as their home, but none
could inform me Of the widow and the five
babies, only one important chapter in
whose history knew. Perhaps some Of
the boys are in the legislature-,the eldest
must be past middle age. will venture
they are good men, for their father was ev-
cry inch q man and soldier, and their
mother was evidently q woman Of intelli-
gence and high character. Robert Nc
David In Louisville Courier journal.