The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-01-11
NEOFBLOODIE
OF BATTLEFIELDS
At Guilford Court House Many
a "POor Fellows Skull Has
Been and Still Continues
to Be Found

His little ~grandchild Wilhelnline.
She saw her brother Peterkin
Roll something large and round,
Which he beside the rivulet
In playing there had found:
He came to ask What he had found,
That was SO large, and smooth aDt
Old Kaspar took it from the boy,
Who stood expectant by;
And then the old man shook his head,
And with a natural sigh,
'Tis some poor fellows skull" said
'Who fell in the great victory.
II find them in the garden,
For there's many here about:
And often when 1 go to plough,
The plOughshare turns them out.
For many thousand men," said he,
Were slain in that great victory
According to S~outhey'S accoun II
Will be seen that more men persisted
at that at Guilford Court
House, but CORVALLIS pronounced 1t
one Of the "bloodiest battles of the
war" and Stedman, a British histo-
rian Of the highest responsibility, and
Who had stood upon a number of the
~bloodiest battlefields Of Europe, and
was in the Battle Of Guilford also,
says Of the latter: The night of the
day on which the action happened was
remarkable for its darkness accom-
panied with rain which fell in tor
rents. The cries of the wounded and
dying who remained on the field dur
ing the night exceeded all description.
Such a complicated scene OF horror
and distress it IS hoped for the sake
of humanity rarely occurs even in q
military life"
Here. too, many a poor fellows
skull'' has been and still continues to
be found in 1880 the late DIR. Foster.
Of Iowa, who was born and lived dur
ing bOyhood upon the battlefield. re-
visited his old home and exhumed
cutie q number Of bodies from two
large British grave about three hun
dred yards in front of Green's first. or
North Carolina militia line. and some
yards southeast Of the old Hoskins log
house, still standing and occupied.
though now Weatherboarded. Being
4 doctor, Foster ~ndeavor to Sc
preserved bones, and dug up too many
of them. These graves had long been
plOWed over and were lost, but with
the assistance Of Uncle Charlie Hos
Fins, an aged egr man. they we're
found and are III a fair way to be lost
q - oStS diSo pOItlIto clt
graves one-third or one-half a mile
north of the first line, where a sec
Ond stand was made by he n0hia ana
"unrewarded' Kirkwood and his Della
Warians, Lynches. Virginia rifIemen
and North Carolina militia who had
=oined them when driven from their
first position. DIR. Foster ecalled that
when children, a sister and himself
had dug into a mound at this spot in
search Of silver coins said to have
been placed upon the eyes of the dead
by their comrades. Still farther north,
perhaps w hundred yards, three
bodies We're found among others found
long E where these brave men had
made their last stand. before being
finally driven and scattered. These
three were D~e1aWarians. for buttons
found with them bore ~. s." upon
their tme-Worn old faces, and the
I)eiawarlans We're the only regulars at
tiat distant point of the field. A flat
tened bullet found in the tomb told its
h~lelanchoiy story. This point, the
NORTHERN limit is marked with .
granite pillar, the remains to
the center Of the battlefield, and q
neat marble shaft erected over then,
This memorial is known as the red
White and blue" it's universal stones
beng of those coIorS-the gifts Of
Vermont, u citizen of Gnilford county
and MAJOR James Wilson. from orr
own Nantahalies. It is some times
called the Delaware monument. b,t
It's inscriptions hear no indication 70
that effect. as after it's erection fur
ther and more careful INVESTIGATION
upon the field bore conclusive evil
d,nce 81 the identity of those rein
TERED here. : hundred wards or
more east OF TINS and on either sida
CT the old New Bern, Hillsboro cn;l-
1ofd court House and Salisbury road
'Iat runs east and west Irouehont
The grounds. we're buried Respectively
the Prltlsll and Americans who fen IL
o.G severe struggle near this snc+
NJ second Queens Guards Of HIGH
iaider ). the first Maryland regiment
anu the Norta Carolina Cavalry rn6ar
.nG MARQUIS OF Bretisny and Colonel
Wiillain N~ashington's Virginia hor.n
here engaged III a severe c,ntast
"ljit from the hiliock about t,orn-
Wallis With his cannon opened on The
'''is beio*. ndiscriminately anon