406 THE FORT SHERIDAN ASSOCIATION
with the soldier and to bring him back in safety to the bank, but both sank. They rose to the surface and Captain LeGette, who had been nearby, rushed in and tried to help him, but all three went down. Captain LeGette, however, w^as able to save himself, and the Colonel of the regiment and the private in the ranks, with their arms about each other, lay down in Hoyl's Hole in Medicine Creek. Colonel Bateman leaves a w^ife and a little girl. It is not in vain that a Lieutenant Colonel, commanding a regiment, should offer up the supreme sacrifice for an enlisted man that happened not to be even a member of his own command.
��A LETTER
In closing, just a word from the bravest of the brave — a wife and three little girls w^ho gave their best with as brave a heart as the strongest w^ho went over the top:
"I w^ish I were able to tell you how much your kind letter meant to me at the time when there was such a great big ache in our hearts, but words seem to fail, and I can only say to you, and to Mr. Moseley's [Captain Arthur Eames Moseley, 23rd Company, Second R. O. T. C. ] Brother Officers, 'Thank you,' not only for your kind expressions of sympathy, but for your interest in us. We have three little girls: Lily, aged twelve; Frances, ten, and Olive, nine. Lily is in the seventh grade; Frances in the sixth, and Olive in the fourth.
"They have been very brave and a great comfort to me. They said, while their eyes were filled with tears, 'Mother, dear, you know Daddy died just like he would have chosen to die, right in the front line, leading his men, and we are just going to help you do all we can, until victory is won.'
"Of course, we get dreadfully lonely sometimes, but there is only joy in our hearts that we were able to give our very best for the cause of freedom. His sacrifice and ours was made willingly, and we are trusting daily for strength for every need, and our Heavenly Father is not failing us."
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