I do not know his past life, but
I feel as if it must have been good. At any rate what I saw of him
here, under the most trying circumstances, with a painful wound, and
among strangers, I can say that he behaved so brave, so composed, and
so sweet and affectionate, it could not be surpass'd. And now like
many other noble and good men, after serving his country as a soldier,
he has yielded up his young life at the very outset in her service.
Such things are gloomy--yet there is a text, "God doeth all things
well"--the meaning of which, after due time, appears to the soul.
I thought perhaps a few words, though from a stranger, about your son,
from one who was with him at the last, might be worth while--for I
loved the young man, though I but saw him immediately to lose him. I
am merely a friend visiting the hospitals occasionally to cheer the
wounded and sick.
W. W.
THE ARMIES RETURNING
_May 7_.--Sunday.--To-day as I was walking a mile or two south of
Alexandria, I fell in with several large squads of the returning
Western army, (Sherman's men as they call'd themselves) about
a thousand in all, the largest portion of them half sick, some
convalescents, on their way to a hospital camp. These fragmentary
excerpts, with the unmistakable Western physiognomy and idioms,
crawling along slowly--after a great campaign, blown this way, as it
were, out of their latitude--I mark'd with curiosity, and talk'd with
off and on for over an hour. Here and there was one very sick; but all
were able to walk, except some of the last, who had given out, and
were seated on the ground, faint and despondent.
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