Memorial Addresses. 21 



and dying ; speaking words of comfort ; writing letters for the help- 

 less soldiers, and treating all alike, white or black, unionist or rebel, 

 with tenderness and sympathy. 



During his connection with the Christian Commission the 

 young man kept a diary. The following entry, dated March 31, 

 1865, was made: "I went to the front to-day when a sharp battle 

 was raging — the battle of Stony Creek — where our loss was about 

 1000 killed and wounded. The Fifth corps was repulsed and 

 obliged to fall back during the forenoon to the south side of the 

 creek. In the afternoon, however, it recovered the lost ground. 

 The dead and wounded of both sides fell into our hands and pre- 

 sented a sad scene. Men lay on the ground stiff in death, their 

 unclosed eyes turned upward in vacant stare, and their stiffened 

 hands and arms raised toward heaven as if in supplication to God. 

 And O what agony was depicted on the faces of some of our 

 wounded boys. It was an inestimable boon to be allowed to moisten 

 their parched lips with a little cold water from the spring near by, 

 or to note down a few words of farewell from some dying boy to 

 his beloved mother. Surely, man pays a terrible price for indul- 

 gence in crime, and no nation ever paid more dearly for its wicked- 

 ness than our own American people for the enormity of chattel 

 slavery." 



Here is another extract: "After the surrender of Lee, I and 

 others this morning effected an entrance through the rebel lines, 

 in order to do which we were obliged to flank the guards. We 

 found ourselves among defiant rebels. All the officers and many of 

 the privates expressed the rankest treason with unlimited bold- 

 ness. They would fight us again if General Lee would only say 

 the word. They were not whipped but only overpowered; would 

 leave the country unless they could achieve their independence. 

 The South would never submit so long as they could keep an or- 

 ganized force of 5000 men; would turn guerrillas as soon as the 

 main armies had surrendered, and harass the United States into 

 recognition of their independence." 



Again: "After a long discussion with Sergeant Gray, of the 

 Seventh Louisiana, in regard to the cause of the war, I finally sug- 

 gested that after all we had better shake hands and be friends 

 again, letting bygones be bygones, when he immediately straight- 

 ened his athletic form and with a flood of indignation in his eye, 

 replied: 'Shake hands with you ? Never will I shake hands with 

 the man who has shed the life-blood of my dearest friends. Let 



