The Maine bugle ... campaign; 1-5 Jan. 1894-Oct. 1898 - Maine.gov

120 THE MAINE BUGLE.
skirmishers, and were on the skirmish line at the time of the
final surrender. I think the opinion has generally prevailed
that there was not much fighting on the day of the surrender
and as compared with many other days, this was true. There
was no set battle, yet many noble lives were yielded up, and
many were severely wounded. I remember riding along a
short road where lay our dead in the joints of Virginia
fence that lined the road, some with eyes wide open, still grasp-
ing their rifles, the muzzles of which were scarcely cold. But
the vital spark within every bosom had been quenched forever.
Immediately after this scene I was stopped by the cry " Chap-
lain, Chaplain ! " and on turning I was told that a soldier in a
house close by, from the State of Maine, needed my services.
Here I found lying on a feather bed on the floor one with the
downy freshness of youth on his cheek and the film of death
gathering in his eye. He had been cruelly mangled by the
piece of shell that struck him. I told him who I was, and on
inquiry learned from broken sentences that he belonged to the
Eleventh Maine and was the grandson of one whom I had long
and favorably known. He was greatly comforted when I told
him this, and seeing that the time he had to live was only a
question of minutes I told him I would not leave him. He at
once clung to me as a child would cling to a mother, and I
drew from him in those brief moments some cf the noblest sen-
timents of patriotism I heard during the war ;
his expressions of
christian resignation and trust made that dingy room appear a
spot, " Privileged above the common walks of life quite on the
verge of heaven." He sent a loving message to his mother, ac-
cepted the words of Jesus, " I go to prepare a place for you,"
and closed his eyes in death. I was surprised at the expres-
sions of patriotism, faith and resignation from one so young.
But when afterward I received a letter from his mother con-
taining sentiments worthy of a Spartan mother, imbued with a
true christian spirit, the mystery was solved, and I have often
thought we made light estimate of the cost of the war when we
computed it in gold, and added to this the sacrifice of ordinary