"Their graves are severed far and wide."

Some sleep beneath the tall pines of Yorktown; and the bright azalia
casts its purple blossoms over the graves of many who lie in the swamps
of the Chickahominy. The Antietam murmurs a requiem to those who rest on
its banks, and green is the turf above the noble ones who fell
gloriously at Fredericksburgh. Some rest amid the wild tangles of the
Wilderness, and upon the arid plain of Coal Harbor. Many of their graves
are upon the banks of the Ny and the Po. The marble monument at Fort
Stevens tells the names of some who gave their lives in the defense of
the Capital, while the simple headboards of pine tell where repose many
in the valley of the Shenandoah, and before Petersburgh. The remains of
some have been brought back to the peaceful cemetery at home to rest
beside the dust of loved ones.

"'Tis little; but it looks in truth
As if the quiet bones were blest
Among familiar names to rest,
And in the places of their youth."

Must it be said, many of the strongest yielded to the grim monster
starvation in the rebel prison pens, and found relief from their
tortures in lowly graves at Andersonville and Salisbury.

A little band, with bronzed faces and manly hearts, returned home. Their
glorious and unspotted record had preceded them. They needed no song of
victory, and they desired no greater marks of honor than their simple
silver crosses, the badge of their corps.

No incident worthy of note occurred until we reached Albany, where we
left the cars and embarked upon the steamer Knickerbocker, an old
dismantled craft, unfit for any purpose but the transportation of
soldiers; whose decks were covered with mud an inch in depth, and whose
doors having been thrown overboard, a free circulation of the rough
November air was allowed in every part. The men had no rations, and some
of them became clamorous; but order was soon restored, and rations of
bread and ham with coffee were distributed. They could not, however, all
be brought to a perfect state of quietude. Some were determined not to
submit, and passed the night in carousal, while those soberly inclined
tried in vain to sleep. The officers found lodging in the after cabin,
where some in berths and some on the floor, we passed a restless night.

As we approached New York in the morning, the sky was hung with heavy
clouds, and as we left our rickety old craft for _terra firma_, the rain
poured in fresh torrents