Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1901-01-18
The Heroism of DR.. Craig.

;, Ths tragic death of DR.. j. n. Graf
while addressing the Synod of Virgil
Ia, ELECTED from several friends illu
IN tratlons of the heroisn of his characte
ar notably when his church and th
ng Wnole community at Holly Spring
in were smitten with the yellow feve
'st scourge, and thousands were fleejn
IL Tor their lives. He took his life 10 hi
ID hands and remained, nursing man
u through the dread disease, bdryins
ed more. working night and day to miti
q gate the terrors oil the Calamity. till b,
e. too was stricken down.
,t The same noble trait of his character
Ia Was manifested in his sudden death
is Those who looked in his face while be
IS spoke hurrledly though vehemently,
q Saw the rapidly paling cheek and the
: bright eye losing its lustre as his life
s was going out, though they guessed
I not how few minutes there were ret
r left to him on this earth. His life was
9 ebbing, and he must have felt his
strength failing and his hold on earth
7 slipping, still he talked on, with ali en-
ergy in his voice that made it reach
the most distant pews in the large
} building. His last words seemed to
Indicate that he was making an heroic
effort, but he spoke those words with
clear tones that everyone in the room
heard, and they came from a loving
heart, with love to the felloW-workers |
he was addressing Brethren, Breth.
rem, y he said, II can say no more;"
| and his life, spent to the last in the
cause he lOYed, and pleading for help
for those infirm fathers and needy
childrrn of the Church, whom be car
ried in his big heart, went out with
the words. and he lay dead on the floor
of the pulpit. I
But it was to refer to heroism on
another field, where men love most to
seek hero, the battlefield, that l took
up my pei. The scene was before
Richmond, thirty six years before that
just recorded. DIR. Craig had young
er brother, Hugh Brown, who had
taken his degree few years before in
the class OF the writer at old Washing I'll
ton College, in Lexington, Va, now v
Washington and Lee University. When A
the war came on. this brother volun- tt
teered in the Confederate army, and oi
in June, ga, was the gallant adjutant OF
1f Edgar's battalion (lny command, I'll
lone more brave, more devoted than be. bt
His colonel had said of him, He ID
Knows no fear" CO
1t was on the bloody second of June. liz
It the battle of second Cold Rarbor, al
eading bis men in a hand-tO. hand fight Al
With HancOck's men. far In the front. an
eyond the breastwOfks, that Brown fla
'raig fell, mOrtally wounded, and his ms
attalion was forced back into their OF
wn works, where they remained me
trough all that scorching day and on
1at hot fight, holding their ground, Ell
irving back the enemy, as they CIR
aarged and recharged over the ground Oh
here Craig and his comrades Law Ca
ying between the fires of the oppos- hal
lg forces. tie,
DIR. Craig was upon another part of far
le field in another command, but rIe
caring, during the day, that bis broth Ne
had fallen, he made his perilous way Jel
where the remnant of Edgars bat of
lion fought, and heard that his young bel
other lay out in front, perhaps still Inc
i've. He said he must 60 to him. The for
lminent danger of the undertaking bis
as explained to him. He understood In
all, but be took his life in his hald in
he did at Holly Springs for those he Lie
ved. and stimulated by his sense of her
ty as he was in his death at Newport Sta
eWs, he braved the guns of the enemy whi
front, and the guns of his friends in the
. rear, and slowly but surely made she
J way to the side of his brother. bro
om he found still alive No one
ows all that passed between the,
ing and living hero during those ter nv,
lie hours, but the older brother re-
lined by the side of the younger till roa,
died, and we may be sure that the g.,
I'VE young spirit went to his God th;a
tr1.. "Au .io"o'ns close
Iyers of the minister and brother. 60
en- he brought the precious body off Nc
~ W LIS does
'nds in old Augusta, where it now
Is among the graves of those who an
ew and loved him best. II. G.. M.
Christian Observer.