Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/185

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CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY.
171

the zest of the young convert, and Hugh White with the ripened experience and hearty joy of the Christian of long standing. The next day, when General Lee had ordered forward his whole line, Stonewall Jackson had given his favorite order, "Sweep the field with the bayonet," and the Confederates were pressing forward and sweeping everything before them, Colonel Baylor, with the flag of his regiment in his hands and the shout of victory on his lips, fell in the very forefront of the battle, giving his brave young life to the cause he loved so well. As the flag fell from the nerveless grasp of brave Baylor, Capt. Hugh White sprang forward, caught up the falling colors, waved them in the view of the veterans of the "Stonewall" brigade, and called on them to follow him in the charge. The smoke of battle soon enveloped the young hero and his comrades, but when the line had swept irresistibly forward, driving the enemy from the field, and adding "Second Manassas" to the series of Confederate victories, it was found that Hugh White, captain of the "Liberty Hall volunteers," a hero on former victorious fields, had also been killed. And thus those two young men, who had mingled so lovingly in the prayer-meeting of the evening before, entered together through the gates of heaven.

When Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, the flower of cavaliers, fell at Yellow Tavern in the heroic stand which prevented Sheridan from riding into Richmond, he was carried into the city and was visited by President Davis, who tenderly took his hand and asked him how he felt. He promptly replied: "Easy, but willing to die if God and my country think I have fulfilled my destiny and done my duty." To the doctor who was holding his wrist and counting his pulse, he said: "Doctor, I suppose I am going fast now. It will soon be over. But God's will be done. I hope I have fulfilled my destiny to my country, and my duty to God." Turning to Rev. Dr. Joshua Peterkin, of the Episcopal church, of which General Stuart had long