Year: 1863

CAPTAIN FLINT.


We copy the following letter of Col.
Sawyer to W. S. Flint of Irasburgh, faith
er of Capt. Flint, from the Green Moe"a-
tain Eapress, published at Irasburgh.
The fact that the Captain was engaged to
young lady in this county at the time of
his death, gives additional interest to any
thing relating to his melancholy DEATH


Headquarters Sd Cavalry Brigade,


Department of Washington, April %, 1868. !


". S. Fhnt,-Dear Sir AT the time
l sent you the brief but melancholy dis
patch alluded to in your letter of the 18th
inst, l knew little of the unfortunate af-
fair in which your son lost his life, be-
yond the facts announced, and the vague
and contradictory rumors that always
crowd so swiftly upon an event Of the
kind therefore concluded to wait un-
til should rejoin my regiment, from
which was separated for the time, or at
least until | could gather reliable infor-
nation, instead of attempting to give an
account of the affair which even now,
seems to be but little better understood
than three weeks since. The hasty and
severe reflections upon Capt. Bean which
caused such heart burnings here and
in Vermont, will, unless that officer be
summarily degraded from the service,
before an opportunity is offered to him to
do so, lead him to have an investigation
of the whole affair, the result of which
Investigations l will not anticipate.
Enough is known and admitted however,
to leave the friends Of Capt Flint moth
ing to desire so far as his memory is con-
nerncd. The officers have adopted resolu-
tions expressive of their sorrow for the
loss of their brave companion, and their
sympathy with those more nearly bereaved
which will be duly forwarded to you.
For the rest beg you to patiently await
the development of the facts.


For my own part, wish to say that
having known your son intimately from
the time he entered the service to the day
of his death, and having during all that
time been his commanding officer, in one
capacity and another, am we'll justified
in saying that his honest zeal for the cause
of this distracted country; his skill in
his new profession his excellent moral
character, and his sound and sober judg-
ment, made him what he certainly was,
one of the most valuable officers in the
regiment. To me, sir, he was devoted
friend, and vindicated his manhood in
many ways that made me proud of his
friendship; and when those cruel bullets
struck in the same hour Flint, Woodbury.
and Grout, you may well believe | had
cause, personally, for great grief. For
you, sir, he had all the flial devotion a
son could owe father; and l know you
will feel his loss with poignancy of grief
little known to any other than parent
50 untimely bereaved; Yet | am proud to
mingle my grief with yours and to be able
to console you with the certainty that
those who weep for him are not confined
to those who knew him at home. He had
made character and friends here. | know
of nothing in such an hour Of grief to
you, to which point you for consolation,
better than spirit of exalted patriotism,
such as animated the bosom of your son.
This would cause you to weep, if you
had no more noble SONS for your country's
altar. ! am, Sir, your obt scrv't


4. B. SAWYER,


Col lat VI Cav