Capt. Charles H. Riggs was born at Tiffin, Ohio, in 1835. He was, therefore, at the time of his enlistment, twenty-seven years of age. He was agent of the Cleveland and Toledo railroad at Sandusky, a position which he filled well and ably, being well liked by the entire community and highly esteemed by the men of the road. Thus, young, loved and prosperous, he left with his command for the seat of war, alas! never to return. Always deporting himself as a true soldier and Christian gentleman, he possessed the esteem of his men and the confidence of his superior officers. Cool and brave in the hour of danger, he had none of the bravado spirit, that courts battle in the quiet camp, or anticipates brave deeds to be accomplished. He was taken prisoner with his command at Winchester, June 15th, 1863. Not of a sanguine temperament, he seemed to think from the very first that he never again would behold the free North or the faces of dear ones at home—which unhappy sentiment of course little fitted him to bear up under the hardships, privations and diseases incident to a prisoner of war. Early attacked with a chronic complaint—from which he never seemed to rally—after long months of suffering, he breathed his brave, young life away on the 15th day of September, 1864, in the hospital at Charleston, amid the thunderings of cannon hurling missiles of destruction upon the doomed city, where first the flag of treason was flung insultingly to the breeze. Many a heart was made sad in the regiment at the news of his death; it seemed as though a brother had been taken from us. Groups of men upon the company street could be seen moving listlessly along, talking over the sad intelligence. What then must have been the sorrow of his family at home? Poor, stricken ones, our hearts bled for you then as we sympathize with you now. A dutiful son, a loving brother, a brave soldier, and a true friend—well may be said of him: “Green be the turf above thee, friend of my better days, None knew thee but to love thee, nor named thee but to praise.” Many more events and episodes of deepest interest to us might be narrated, did space permit. Of the tiresome marches, the sleepless nights, and the lonely picket posts, in the dead of winter, no pen can fittingly the story relate. No! Only in your meetings can you even faintly outline the unwritten history of your soldier lives. The sufferings, the danger, and the privations so patiently born, you yourselves can only know. By these memories so holy, by our brave ones gone, by the defeats sustained, and victories gloriously won, let us hope that the Union, which it was our fortunes to help sustain and preserve, may remain unbroken forever. FINIS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES