Sketches of the War: A Series of Letters to the North Moore Street School of New York — John Shaqi
Sketches of the War: A Series of Letters to the North Moore Street School of New YorkNott, Charles C.
History
Sketches of the War: A Series of Letters to the North Moore Street School of New York
Nott, Charles C.
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives; United States. Army. Iowa Cavalry Regiment, 5th (1861-1865)
The remains of my soldier it was determined should be sent to his
family. He was dressed in his uniform, and on the following day the
railroad swiftly carried him back to his old home.
When all was over, I gathered together his few effects. This the law
makes the duty of an officer. There were also some unanswered letters
to be returned--pleasant letters, beginning, "Dear Frank, we wish you
merry Christmas!" and hoping he would have happy holidays in camp. And
there was one touch of melancholy romance added; for hidden in the
recesses of his pocket-book was a tress of hair, and on the wrapper
a name; a letter, too, with the same signature. I determined that no
curious eyes should run over these, and that they should not be the
subject for careless tongues; so I carefully placed them in a separate
package and sent them to one who perhaps will grieve the most.
And since I commenced this addition to my letter, there has been
another interruption--a second victim of an unhealthy camp and crowded
barracks. His death, poor boy, possessed fewer circumstances of
interest. He was a German, with no family circle to be broken; a sister
here, a brother there, and parents in a distant land. When told of
Frank's death he seemed anxious, and whispered me that there were many
dying in the hospital. The surgeon said there was no danger, but I saw
it did not reassure him. On Sunday I got leave to send down one of my
men, who was his friend, to the hospital, to be with him as a night
nurse. On Monday I rode down. "How is Leonard?" was the first question
to the surgeon. "He is very low," was the answer. I went up to his
room. His friend sat by the cot, holding his hand. But the eyes were
glazed, the pulse had stopped, and all was over. He had just died.
You may wish to know something of a soldier's funeral, not such as we
have in Broadway, with music and processions, but such as are occurring
here.
I asked leave for the squadron to attend the funeral, and the colonel
said certainly, all who wished should go. At the appointed time we
mounted and rode slowly to the hospital, accompanied by the chaplain of
the regiment. We reached it soon, and the men were drawn up in line.
Even in such scenes military discipline enables us to move more easily
and rapidly than in ordinary life. A few commands in an unusually
subdued voice were given. "Prepare to dismount." "Dismount!" "Ones
and threes hold horses, twos and fours forward." Half of the squadron
then passed by the coffin, and then relieved the others in holding the
horses. All was done so quietly and quickly that it formed a contrast
to a similar scene at an ordinary funeral. The ambulance came to the
door. The ambulance carries the sick to the hospital, and the dead to
the grave: it is the soldier's litter and his hearse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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