George L. Wood

“ And now, after an absence of more than two weeks, on a perilous message, he was again with us, as fresh and light-hearted as when he left for his daring enterprise. He joined us by the way of Gauley Bridge, having been the first to make the trip. Alone, through a country infested by murderous bands of guerrillas and outlaws, he traveled more than a hundred and fifty miles. Before such deeds of individual heroism, all but the grandeur and magnitude of large battles fade into obscurity. In such single exploits there is a stern, silent daring, that obscures the maddened bravery of a battle-field. ”

“ Remember, I pray you, that the spilled blood which was so dear to you, was precious also to God; that it is from such seed that He makes freedom, peace, social order, and prosperity to grow.
"'And, citizens, what shall I say of the Seventh, which mourns its noble dead? Shall I summon here the spirits of those who have fallen on the half-score fields, where the staunch old regiment has left its dead? Shall I call from the shadowy world those who have died in festering prisons? Shall I order the rally for those who, broken in body, shall engage in active pursuits no more? ”

“ At fatal Ringgold, he again commanded the regiment. He led it up the steep ascent, where the whistling of bullets made the air musical; and where men dropped so quietly that they were scarcely missed, except in the thinned ranks of the command. The regiment had not recovered from the shock produced by the announcement of the death of Creighton, when the noble Crane, on whom all hearts were centred in the fearful peril of that hour, fell at the feet of his devoted comrades, pierced through the forehead by a rifle bullet. ”

“ A little after three o'clock the Seventh Regiment was ordered over the crest of the hill, into a cornfield beyond. While advancing to this position, a most terrific cannonade was directed against it. It seemed as if every cannon was being directed against this band of heroes; but it never faltered in this march of death, moving coolly on, regardless of the missiles that were tearing through its bleeding ranks. Comrades were falling, and brothers dying; the mangled, bleeding victims of the fury and violence of war were left thick, making the ground sacred on which they fell ”

“ We are here to mourn, to honor, and to bury the noble dead! They were the pride of our city and of Northern Ohio. Brave and honored representatives of a brave and honored constituency! Of one thousand eight hundred soldiers who have filled the ranks of the Seventh Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but little over a hundred now report for duty. Many of them sleep in patriots' and heroes' graves. Most of the remainder bear on their persons honorable marks of their patriotism and bravery. In honoring the representative, we honor the constituency. ”

“ He was with the regiment in its toilsome marches in Western Virginia, during which he was always at his post. During the affair at Cross Lanes he was taken prisoner, and now began those terrible hardships which no pen can describe, nor imagination picture. Prison life is a sort of living death,—a state of abeyance, where the mind is thrown back upon itself; where time, although passing, seems to stop, and the great world outside, to stand still. Through all this trial, and hardship, and misery, Colonel Shurtliff passed, without weakening his faith or his patriotism. ”

“ The sweet strains of music and the heavy tramp of the soldiers alone broke the silence. There was nothing but this martial bearing, which marked the carriage of the members of the regiment, to distinguish them from the multitude which was hastening in the same direction; for there were no arms and no uniforms. Each member was dressed in his citizen's garb, and there was no attempt at military evolutions. It was a simple march of determined men to the defence of their country. ”

“ The bright day opened on a city of mourners. People gathered on the streets, waiting for the hour for the funeral. Business was unthought of, even the latest news by telegraph, exciting as it was, and calculated to stir the pulse with triumphant joy, failed to engross the attention. Men spoke of the dead heroes, of their first departure for the war, of their terrible battles and bloody sacrifices; and of that last fearful struggle on the hill at Ringgold, where the gallant leaders laid down their lives for their country, amid their dead and wounded comrades. ”

“ The men were ready for the task. The zeal of Cross Lanes, of Winchester, of Port Republic, burned to a white heat. The gallant Seventh, leading the column, flung itself into the billows of fire, as if it were rescuing home from robber hands. But, ah! chivalric Creighton fell, and, alas! sturdy Crane, too; and of the commissioned officers of the Seventh, but one remained unhurt. Is it wonderful that the grand old regiment, losing the inspiring command of the brave soldiers whose voices had so often aroused its purposes, fell back? ”

“ That those who admired and loved them in life, and delight to honor them when dead, should, with sympathizing hearts and grateful hands, minister such a funeral ovation, is due to them in view of the sacrifice they made, the toils they endured, and their deeds of patriotism and valor. When the bugle was first sounded in Washington, calling the North to the defence of our institutions, these were among the first to respond; leaving their business, their friends, and their families, for the field of strife, they unsheathed their swords to strike for freedom's sacred cause. ”

“ He has been a soldier and a man; pure, noble-hearted, sympathetic, and always ready for any duty. He has been brave, courageous, and trustworthy. He has gone from us with no stain upon his honor, no spots upon his escutcheon, but with his armor begrimed with the dust of many battles. Although young in years, he had lived long, if you count the hardships he had endured, the stirring and momentous events through which he had passed, and in the transpiring of which he had been an actor, the service he rendered his country, and humanity at large, and the good he had done ”

“ I well remember the impression which the strong voice of the sombre captain made upon me, as, after the young soldiers, with bare heads and uplifted hands, had taken the oath, he cried, "Company, right face; forward, march!" The tone of the command was as if he would say, "Now, men, there is no retreat. Only service, perhaps death, is before you."
"'A week later, General McClellan, who had then just taken command of the Western Department, came looking for the right material with which to begin his Western Virginia campaign, and inspected the regiment. ”

“ Music wails at its head. A downcast guard of honor marches, with mourning colors, behind hearses trimmed with the badges of woe. Look you, kindred, the band which follows the dead is made up of the men who marched in that May Sabbath line two years ago. But the farmer, the student, the smith, are not there. These are soldiers all. They are scarred with the marks of Cross Lanes, of Winchester—nay, let me not stop to recite the long list of battles through which they have passed. ”

“ But when on Ringgold's hillside they raised their swords to gleam as never before, from a volley of Confederate musketry their death-warrant came. Their bodies sank to the ground—their spirits ascended through the smoke-cloud of battle to the patriot's God, to join the slain of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, where the stars forever shine in original splendor and glory. ”

“ From what our soldier friends do and suffer from the myriad untimely deaths, shall we not learn the magnitude of the work of the army, and our great indebtedness to all who have gone to fight for us, our homes, and our country? Let us render them the honor due. When men become illustrious, it is but natural that their friends review their lives, and that others inquire who they are, whence they came, and what circumstances molded them for their greatness. ”

“ Soon the rebel fire was more rapid, and a yell in the distance denoted an advance of their infantry. Shall we retreat? No! we will hold our ground, or die! On they come, yelling defiantly: 'tis A. P. Hill's division, second to none but Jackson's. We look anxiously for another battery. It comes! It comes! We are safe! The gallant Eighth Rhode Island Battery comes up in splendid style; our ranks open right and left for them, the exhausted battery of howitzers wheeling out of line. ”

“ Through rain, and sleet, and darkness—oppressed with the solemn stillness that at night hangs over the earth—with a sense of loneliness weighing upon his feelings—he stood like a spectre in the gloom, the guardian of the thousands slumbering in the camp. While others dream of home, and friends, and firesides, afar off on the hills of New England, or the starlit prairies of the West, the wakeful picket keeps his vigil. ”

“ Upon almost every battle-field, from Cross Lanes to Dalton, the glorious banner of the Seventh has been in the van of the battle. We have watched your course with painful interest. After every battle, came the intelligence that your regiment had fought bravely, and had come out with thinned ranks.
"You have the grand consolation of knowing that the victories of Gettysburg, of Lookout Mountain, of Ringgold, and of Resaca, were not won without your aid. To have been in any one of those desperate conflicts, is glory enough for any man. ”

“ In many skirmishes, and in every battle of their brigade, they struck with such bravery and success as to have secured perpetual illustriousness; while ever a nation exists to feel the throb of a nation's heart, while a man lives to read the annals of America, their noble deeds shall be known, and their illustrious names shall be honored. ”

“ The rebel artillery, in the rear of this stone wall, had been turned upon the advancing column. The grape and canister was tearing the bark from the trees over our heads, while the solid shot and shell made great gaps in their trunks. Under our feet the turf was being torn up, and around and about us the air was thick with flying missiles. Not a gun was fired on our side. The head of the column soon reached the ravine, when a deafening discharge of musketry greeted us. ”

“ And will not every one who visits their tombs, and reads their epitaphs, whisper, "Peace and honor." And when this cruel war is over, and the God of our fathers shall crown our labors and sufferings with success, and bestow upon us, as a nation, an honorable, righteous, and perpetual peace, then, amid the light, and songs, and joy of the nation's jubilee, let their epitaphs be written anew. ”

“ It seemed to these mourners, in their loss the regiment itself was blotted out—that it would no more be known and honored—that its sun had forever set. But no, many a brave heart, that stood in that circle, was to be made a sacrifice to his country; many more hearts were to be left crushed and bleeding for the loved ones fallen in battle. ”

“ While this scene was being enacted afar off among the hills of Georgia, the peaceful valleys of Ohio were echoing with the lamentations of friends at home. The hearts of the people of the Western Reserve were bound by the strong ties of kin and friendship to this gallant regiment, which had but just made its great sacrifice, and they were all in mourning. When the news came of this great disaster, it could not be believed; the friends of the fallen would not give them up. And it was not until a dispatch was received that their bodies were on the way home, that it was generally believed. ”

“ But I now ask you to join me in one fervent prayer to the God of the aged, the fatherless, and the widow, our fathers' God, and the God of battles, that He will, by His almighty arm, sustain, and, by His abundant grace, comfort the aged mothers, and bereaved widows, and afflicted friends of our brave soldiers, and their departed sons, husbands, and brothers; that He will thus sustain and comfort all whose hearts have been cloven by the battle-axe of war ”

“ Tell art to lift above them worthy marble. Write upon the stone the names of the battles in which our heroes have fought. Write also the virtues of the dead. Write, too, that gratitude has lifted the monument, partly to do honor to them, worthy of it, whom human praise can never reach; and to teach the living that it is well to make even life a sacrifice to duty. ”

“ And each hundred was made up, not of the rabble, but of sons, whom worthy fathers and mothers dearly loved; of men, who, if they should stay at home, would soon be conspicuous for wealth, or learning, or skill in useful arts. And these thousand true men, loved well at home, made of sterling stuff, were on their way to war—to actual war. To serve the imperilled country, they had quit all,—farms, shops, books, friends, hopes, the past, the future,—all but duty and honor. ”

“ He now accompanied the regiment in its march up the Shenandoah River, across the Blue Ridge, and back again to Front Royal; and from thence to Port Republic. In the battle fought at the latter place he was conspicuous for bravery. During that well-contested action be contributed all that lay in his power towards winning a victory. But valor alone cannot win a battle; numbers combined with it can only accomplish that. This was his first experience under fire; but he stood up to the work like a veteran; being second to none in deeds of daring. ”

“ The American people hold that distinction must be given to those by whom it is merited; and that it cannot be the subject of monopoly. Each person, however mean his birth, has the same right to enter the list for the prize as he who was born of a higher rank. It is this freedom, which is given to all, that has caused the Northern States to make such rapid progress towards civilization and greatness; and it is the crippling of this great principle that has cast a shadow over the enslaved South. ”