ee that he died upon the battlefield, and not by the hands of his
own comrades for being asleep at his post of duty. I cannot now remember
the speeches, but one thing I do know, that he was acquitted, and I was
glad of it.

"THE DEATH WATCH"

One more scene I can remember. Kind friends--you that know nothing of a
soldier's life--I ask you in all candor not to doubt the following lines
in this sketch. You have no doubt read of the old Roman soldier found
amid the ruins of Pompeii, who had stood there for sixteen hundred years,
and when he was excavated was found at his post with his gun clasped in
his skeleton hands. You believe this because it is written in history.
I have heard politicians tell it. I have heard it told from the sacred
desk. It is true; no one doubts it.

Now, were I to tell something that happened in this nineteenth century
exactly similar, you would hardly believe it. But whether you believe
it or not, it is for you to say. At a little village called Hampshire
Crossing, our regiment was ordered to go to a little stream called
St. John's Run, to relieve the 14th Georgia Regiment and the 3rd
Arkansas. I cannot tell the facts as I desire to. In fact, my hand
trembles so, and my feelings are so overcome, that it is hard for me to
write at all. But we went to the place that we were ordered to go to,
and when we arrived there we found the guard sure enough. If I remember
correctly, there were just eleven of them. Some were sitting down and
some were lying down; but each and every one was as cold and as hard
frozen as the icicles that hung from their hands and faces and clothing--
dead! They had died at their post of duty. Two of them, a little in
advance of the others, were standing with their guns in their hands,
as cold and as hard frozen as a monument of marble--standing sentinel
with loaded guns in their frozen hands! The tale is told. Were they
true men? Does He who noteth the sparrow's fall, and numbers the hairs
of our heads, have any interest in one like ourselves? Yes; He doeth
all things well. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His consent.

VIRGINIA, FAREWELL

After having served through all the valley campaign, and marched through
all the wonders of Northwest Virginia, and being associated with the army
of Virginia, it was with sorrow and regret that we bade farewell to "Old
Virginia's shore," to go to other fields of blood and carnage and death.
We had learne