Young's Point, La., March 14, 1863.
My Dear Sir: — Your favor of the 25th ult., is
received. I had heard of the Adjutant's death several days before your letter
came to hand. The news of his death cast a gloom over the entire regiment, men
as well as officers, and little groups gathered in almost every street of our
camp giving and receiving the sad intelligence.
It is not flattery or idle words to say that the loss of no
officer would have been more deplored than his. You say truly “he was an
honorable, noble boy,” and had, by strict attention to his duties, by the
energetic manner of always doing his duty, by his kindness to all and by his
cool, gallant conduct at the hill of Vicksburg and Post Arkansas, endeared
himself to all of us. None speak of him but to praise, and I do not think he
had an enemy in the whole regiment. – I cannot express in words to you, my dear
sir, how I mourn him, and have only heart to say that up to this period of my
life I have had but two among all my companions whom I really loved –
Frank Mann and S. Kirkwood Clark – one was shot down by my side at Wilson's
Creek and the other I lost at Post Arkansas.
I envy each his death. God grant when in His good providence
I am to die, I may meet a soldier's death and die, like Frank and the Adjutant,
charging a Rebel battery.
I am, sir, Very truly
yours,
GEO. A. STONE.
Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa City.
SOURCE: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of
Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 286
