; "I can die willingly here, and lay my bones
under the old flag, but I didn't want to die down there." And when asked
if he had kept his faith in God while suffering so much at
Andersonville: "O yes! He has been my leader these twenty years, and I
thought He would bring me out all right." His name was John Buttery; he
did not live long enough to hear from his wife and six children, in
Connecticut.

Among the unknown was a boy apparently about seventeen years old, with
clustering curls of auburn hair, and eyes, that once must have been full
of life, now sending forth only a vacant stare. I worked over him,
hoping to get him to utter one word before he died that would give some
hint of his name or home, but in vain.

That month of December, with its cold, leaden sky, and bleak, wintry
winds, will never be forgotten. On going down one dreary morning, in the
obscurity of early dawn, I found that a tent in which five men
dangerously ill had been left the night before was not to be seen; at
first I distrusted my senses,--it was surely the place where the tent
had stood, but the only vestige left was the plank floor. On inquiry, I
found that in the middle of the night the tent had blown over, and men,
furniture, and all had been moved in a furious storm.

Sixty men were buried at one time, and several times over forty were
borne in a long train of ambulances to the cemetery. The martial dirge,
with the sound of its muffled drum, was daily mingled with the groans of
the dying. Many a man who did not shrink from death still desired to
live long enough to hear from his home once more, and died piteously
lamenting his lot. Others, though dying, would cling to the hope of
going home; and when told that the doctor feared they could not live an
hour, and asked if they had any messages to leave, with their last gasp
would say, "O, I shall live! I am going home to see my mother."

In contrast with such cases were others of calm fortitude. These lines
were dictated at midnight by a man who had hoped to live, but whose
strength suddenly failed:--

"DEAR WIFE:--I am on my death-bed. Get N---- E---- to settle
our affairs, draw my pay, &c. If our daughter is still
living, I want her to have a share of three hundred dollars.
I die under the protecting folds of the starry banner of
freedom. You must take good care of the little one. Trust in
God, and meet me in heaven. I bid a last farewell to all my