The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-08-18
COL. AvERY'S BODY FOUND
AND 'LIJE, THE BODY SERVANT,
AND MAJOR j. w. WILSON
BURIED

Sergeant Sam Brown. of Mcdowell,
Now Dead, the Only Other One Pre-
sent--Body Identified by Charcoal
That Mai. Wilson Put in the Coffin
The Majors Graphic Stor,.
1t was about the finding of the long
lost grave of the late Col. Isaac T..
Avery.
He was in the front in the charge at
Gettysburg.
lie was shot in the forehead and
killed.
4 reporter of the News and Obser-
yer, happened yesterday to be telling
Major j. w. Wilson, of Morganton,
who sat in his office here, about the
finding of the body, brief account OF
which appeared in yesterdays Balti-
more Sun. A negro happened to be
digging in Riverview Cemetery in
Williamsport, Md, and upon examining
the body found charcoal in the cof-
fin, that had been put there by friends.
This was known, and the body was
thus identified ais well as by the con-
federate uniform which was still rec
ognizable. Judge A. c. Avery and Mr..
Mcpherson, of Fayetteville, had last
june vainly sought for the remains,
but The story went on to say that they
would now be reburied at Gettysburg
and n monument be put over the spot.
The reporter had quite finished his
story, when Major Wilson said
quietly in a tone that seemed weighted
with memories: Il put that charcoal
there"
So there sat the man, who besides
an old negro, still living, is the only
one who saw laid to rest that knight
OF North Carolina.
The old negro?" said Major, his
name is Lie; he IS still living up in
Morganton; be. was the body-servant
of Colonel Avery. When Judge Avery
went last June TO try to find his
brothers body, / gave him diagram to
aid him, and turning to 1Lige, who
was near, | said, Lille do you reckon
you would know that spot now?' i
mought not know how to git TO dat
part oh de country he replied, but eff
you put me in dat cemetery, / could
fine de place. When Col. Avery was
killed, Life and ] and Sergeant Brown,
from Mcdowell county, Che died last
year, took the body up and put it in a
wagon, and Lille drove on ahead in
the wagon. When / got up to Will
Transport on the retreat, / had the
body carried to barn, and | got some
rough oak boards, and made the best
coffin we could. and ] got some char
coal from an old blacksmith shop in
the corner, and put it all around the
body. | hoped to preserve it until
we could pet it across the river to Vir-
ginia soil. Col. Avery was killed,
think, July 3D., and / overlook Life at
Williamsport near little graveyard
between the town and the river. We
dug the grave ourselves. the best we
could. and laid the body away with the
head to a little cedar which / notched
with hatchet and on which | cut his
name. There was a little pine tree
there too. remember the pine and the
cedar, 'the Major continued, with his
eye seeming to be looking through the
years. This was on July 5th."
The Major talked more of Col Avery,
of his magnificent physique and quiet,
almost silent courage. He was only SO
years of age, handsome, strong, made
of war-stuff.
win it be that, when his body is
taken to its second resting place, the
Major and Life viii be there?
Even il they are, the face of his mas
ter viii come to Lie and the soul of
his comrade will come to the Major
osly as they beheld them that July
morning silent except for the sigh of
the little cedar and the burial hymn Of
tho river.