The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1906-03-23

PEN-PICTURES OF THE 0LDEN Time
BY col w L. CLAYTON.

|. CLAYTON.
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pany, went into servive, was
elected Lieut.. Col. Of the 1st.
Miss. Reg. of Infantry. He
would fight all the week and
preach on Sunday, unless it
should be a fighting Sunday. He
was captured at Fort Donaldson,
exchanged, and captured again
at Port Hudson, and died on
Johnson's Island, and his body
was brought back and buried in
some small country church yard
above Mooresville near where he
lived when he entered the army.
He was very strict disciplinari-
an while on duty, and could not
make any allowance for failure
to stand firm before the enemy
or when on picket duty; but
when he was off duty he was one
of the boys. There was never a
braver soldier than he, nor one
who would go farther toward the
enemy than Col. Preacher HAM
ilton. He was a brave and chiv-
alrous officer, a christian gentle
man and a devoted husband, lost
his life in defense of what he
believed devotion to duty in the
service of his country, and now
there is a simple slab to mark
the place where he rests in the
old church yard in the country.
Some of his old comrades in arms
think there should be a better
monument erected to his memo
ry. with proper workings to do
honor to so brave a soldier. Ma
ny men situated as he was, be-
ing exempt from military service,
would never have heard a can
non boom, noricome in sight of
an enemy. But he, laying aside
all legal rights of exemption
from military service, and having
in view the good of his country,
forgot, as it were, for the time
being, his sacred calling, and
heard only the call of hiscountry
for help. The truth is Col. Ham
ilton was military man, had "a
martial name, came of a fighting
South Carolina stock, and if he
had been compelled to remain at
/ home while the fight was going
on around him he would have
been as a Gagged lion. He would
have cnafed and worn his life
away against the bars of fate
which thus confined him. In the
midst of the most terrific con-
fiict of arms he was at home. It
was the food he lived on. 1t
was the panancea for every
wound, the solace for all his
troubles. War and conflict and
command gave vent to his ex-
panding powers. And while de-
lighting in the roar of cannon
and the clash of small arms, and
the CLEAN of the saber, he still
kept his judgment cool and col
lected through it all. Excitable
he was, but it was the excite
ment of concentration, and his
thought was ever uppermost to
guide his actions Alright. | think
with his old comrades that a fit
ting monument should be erected
over his last resting place. A
few dollars from each, and none
from those who really need it
for a living, would do the work.
1t may be he was not as true to
his Lord as his sacred calling re-
quired, but when he saw the wav-
ing plume of the battle flag and
heard the cry of his bleeding
country for help, and saw the
scarcity of true and brave men,
/ feel like the compassionate
Lord will make many allowances
for his want of full devotion to
| his sacred calling by reason OF
his great devotion to and sacri-
fee for the love Of country. [
hope he may not rest the heavier
beneath the clod for want Of
strictly following his higher cal
ling and being led into the ser
| vice of his country.
Col. Hamilton, /, an old sol
der myself, bring to thy grave
my requiem, and mourn thy sad
death in a foreign prison! If thy
life had gone out in a blaze of
glory on some battle field, and
thou hadst there rested all these
years in thy glory where thy
blood enriched the soil, we would
have been better content. Let
us entwine the flower and the
evergreen and cast them on thy
humble grave in memory of thy
service to thy country. Soldier,
rest! The battles fought, the
conflicts over. the victory S won!
vu:Al I....oo &c u..,ou. 4 sn,;tnd