June 18, 1864.
... Do you remember David W. Norton, who joined our church
eight years ago, and afterwards went to Chicago? He became major in an Illinois
regiment, fought in all the chief battles, and was killed, June 3, by a rebel
sharpshooter, while in front of our lines with the general, sketching the
enemy's lines. Monday I went to Mount Auburn to the funeral. Yesterday I
received a cane he cut for me on Lookout Mountain, after the battle.
. . . Do you see how bravely the colored soldiers have
fought at Petersburg? They have been praised by the generals on the field for
their courage. Still, Government can pay them only seven dollars a month! I
talked with Governor Andrew about it after church last Sunday. He said, “I
wrote last week to Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens that I should pursue
this matter without rest or pause; that I should neither forget nor forgive any
neglect or opposition in regard to it; that I would not die till I had
vindicated the rights of the colored soldiers.” . . .
SOURCE: Edwin Everett Hale, Editor, James Freeman
Clarke: Autobiography, Diary and Correspondence, p. 289
