94 Southern Historical Nor/,///
when a grand monument will be erected by that lovely city he lost his life defending. In the hurry of business pursuits and other causes, meritorious acts of public men are sometimes overlooked for a time. It was only on the i4th of this month, in the historic vil- lage of Brooklyn, Conn., there was dedicated an equestrian statue to General Israel Putnam for great military deeds performed more than a century ago, which consumed long years in memorializing the Connecticut Legislature for funds sufficient to pay for it. The statue stands near the den where he shot the wolf, and from which he dragged him feet foremost in the presence of his alarmed neigh- bors.
I was not on this ill-starred field; but it is well known to the world the formidable and fearless force of cavalry and artillery with which Stuart had to contend. It has been estimated at more than twelve thousand, commanded by a skilled and intrepid leader, that had for his object the capture and sack of Richmond, and was rap- idly approaching that city, when Stuart intercepted him at this point, and had his first tilt with him on the Telegraph Road. About 4 o'clock a brigade of mounted cavalry was thrown suddenly on the extreme left of the Confederate line, to which Stuart hastened, for he knew it was a weak point to which the enemy had directed this mounted charge. In this charge the enemy captured a battery on the left and repulsed nearly the entire left line. Immediately on the Telegraph Road, at a point Captain Dorsey occupied, about eighty men had collected. In the midst of these Stuart threw himself, and by his directions inspired and held them firm, while the enemy, with the quickness and violence of a cyclone, swept by them. With these valorous men he fired in their flank and rear as they passed. These brave men were met by the ist Virginia Cavalry and driven back. As they retreated, one of their number, who had been dis- mounted, inflicted the fatal wound by pistol, from which Stuart died the next day. But before this sad catastrophe occurred he had struck the enemy, hip and thigh, with that violence with which Samson smote the Philistines, that caused him to recoil and to abandon the capture of Richmond. As Stuart was conveyed by loving hands from the field, he observed some of his men leaving the scene of action. He called out to them: " Go back! go back! and do your duty as I have done mine, and our country will be safe. Go back ! go back ! I had rather die than be whipped."
These were his last orders on the battlefield. While dying in yon city the next day, he heard the roar of artillery, and turned to Major
