Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1901-10-12
A Soldiers Pathetic Fate.

George n. Beall, OF this place, travel
ing i'll West Virginia during the sum
mer, fell in with some friends who en-
tertained him with a hospitality whose
characteristics in Il social way are hard
ly excelled anywhere. The peoples
gates are open to the traveller, who is
not only boarded and lodged but made
to feel at home" as we'll
1t was at one of these homes Mr..
Bcall found rest, entertainment, and
memories of the evil war being yet rife
i'll that region, story, fortified by a
print i'll a scrap-book, was told him Of
brave man and his fate whose name is
preserved by citizen of Frostburg-
Philip Wolf. The scrap-book article
was published i'll the Dcmocr0t, of Yves
ton, Lewis county, West Va, during
the year 1871, and Mr.. Beall made a
copy of it for the Journal as printed
below.
Mr.. Wolf, of this place, recognizes in
the Inflated Philip Wolf an uncle for
whom he was named. He also has an
uncle, a brother of Philip, if living, i'll
Boston, Mass, who, it is believed, like
our Mr. Wolf until now, has never heard
of the discovery of how Philip set up his
gun as sign-post indicating the spot
where, alone. he suffered and breathed
his last
Under the heading of "a War Relic"
the story appears in the scrap-book as
follows:
Squire Woofter and Louis Bennett have re-
turned from their hunting expedition IN the
wilds of PocahOntas
While in POcahontas they learned the
particulars of the following remarkable in
cident
In 1861, after the battle of Rich Mountain,
an engagement occurred between the Con
federate and Federal forces in the valley be-
tween Cheat and Allegheny mountains at a
place known as Camp Barlow
The battle, considering the number of men
engaged, was a very severe one, and scores
of brave fellows gave up their lives that day
along the headwaters of the Greenbrer.
The Federal forces were successful and the
Confederates were compelled to abandon their
wounded to the care of the enemy.
Among those left behind was a young man
named Philip Wolf, who had been desperate
ly wounded while fighting in one of the
thickets which abounded in that neighbor-
hood. As nothing was heard from him after
wards it was supposed that the Union forces
had captured him; but time passed, the war
ended, and still no tidings came from the
gallant young soldier, and nothing ever was
heard further in relation to him until Septem-
Der, last, when Brown Yeager, the county
surveyor of Pocahontas county, while MAX
ing survey for some parties who had pur
chased wild lands in the vicinity of Camp
Barlow" had his attention drawn to a
peculiar object in thicbet near by where he
had placed his compass.
Upon examination it proved to be gun
OF the kind used by soldiers in the early part
of the WARMTH the bayonet attached, and
firmly stuck in the ground. Near by were a
few scattered bones denoting the place where
the brave fellow had crawled in his last
agony and died
But his musket through all the years that
have since elapsed had stood a silent sentinel
over the remains of one who must be placed
on the roll of those of whom the poet hath
said:
On fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread;
And glory guards with solemn round
The bivouaC of the dead
Upon examining the gun it was found that
it was loaded, and the iron and wood work
etc, in most remarkable state of preserva.
ton. The cap was in its place, and, upon
pulling the trigger, the weapon discharged its
load as it did when its dead bearer picketed
along the slopes of Cheat and Allegheny
For sixteen years it had stood firmly waiting
for the recognition of its owners remains
waiting and watching for the tardy honors
which at last were bestowed upon all that
was mortal of Philip Wolf. For sixteen
years the grand mountains had looked down
upon the scene of carnage, and blushed for
the inhumanity of man to man.
But at last, by mere accident, the brave
fellows remains were discovered, and they
! now rest, with the faithful companion Of his
solitude, in a grave on the banks of the
| Greenbrier.