Mohun; Or, the Last Days of Lee and His Paladins Part 53

"Go ahead, Fitz, old fellow! I know you will do what is right!"[1]

[Footnote 1: His words.]

This was the last order he ever gave upon the field. As he spoke, his head sank, his eyes closed, and he was borne toward the rear.

There was scarcely time to save him from capture. His wound seemed to have been the signal for his lines to break. They had now given way everywhere--the enemy were pressing them with loud shouts. Fighting with stubborn desperation, they fell back toward the Chickahominy, which they crossed, hotly pressed by the victorious enemy.

Stuart had been placed in an ambulance and borne across the stream, where Dr. Randolph and Dr. Fontaine made a brief examination of his wound. It was plainly mortal--but he was hastily driven, by way of Mechanicsville, into Richmond.

His hard fighting had saved the city. When Sheridan attacked, he was repulsed.

But the capital was dearly purchased. Twenty-four hours afterward Stuart was dead.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DEATH OF STUART]

The end of the great cavalier had been as serene as his life was stormy. His death was that of the Christian warrior, who bows to the will of G.o.d, and accepts whatever His loving hand decrees for him.

He asked repeatedly that his favorite hymns should be sung for him; and when President Davis visited him, and asked:--

"General, how do you feel?"

"Easy, but willing to die," he said, "if G.o.d and my country think I have fulfilled my destiny, and done my duty."[1]

[Footnote 1: His words.]

As night came, he requested his physician to inform him if he thought he would live till morning. The physician replied that his death was rapidly approaching, when he faintly bowed his head, and murmured:--

"I am resigned, if it be G.o.d's will. I should like to see my wife, but G.o.d's will be done."[1]

[Footnote 1: His words.]

When the proposed attack upon Sheridan, near Mechanicsville, was spoken of in his presence, he said:--

"G.o.d grant that it may be successful. I wish I could be there."*

Turning his face toward the pillow, he added, with tears in his eyes, "but I must prepare for another world."[1]

[Footnote 1: His words.]

Feeling now that his end was near, he made his last dispositions.

"You will find in my hat," he said to a member of his staff, "a little Confederate flag, which a lady of Columbia, South Carolina, sent me, requesting that I would wear it on my horse in battle, and return it to her. Send it to her."[1]

[Footnote 1: His words.]

He gave then the name of the lady, and added:--

"My spurs--those always worn in battle--I promised to give to Mrs. Lily Lee, at Shepherdstown. My sabre I leave to my son."

His horses and equipments were then given to his staff--his papers directed to be sent to his wife.

A prayer was then offered by the minister at his bedside: his lips moved as he repeated the words. As the prayer ended he murmured:--

"I am going fast now--I am resigned. G.o.d's will be done!"[1]

[Footnote 1: His words.]

As the words escaped from his lips, he expired.

BOOK III.

BEHIND THE SCENES.

I.

WHAT I DID NOT SEE.

I was not at Stuart's bedside when he died. While aiding the rest to hold him in the saddle, I had been shot through the shoulder; and twenty-four hours afterward I lay, at the house of a friend in Richmond, turning and tossing with fever.

In my delirium I heard a mournful tolling of bells. It was many days, however, before I knew that they were tolling for Stuart.

When, at last, after more than a month's confinement to my bed, I rose, and began to totter about,--pale, faint, and weak, but convalescent--my great loss, for the first time, struck me in all its force.

Where should I turn now--and whither should I go? Jackson dead at Chancellorsville--Stuart at Yellow Tavern--thenceforth I seemed to have lost my support, to grope and totter in darkness, without a guide!

These two kings of battle had gone down in the storm, and, like the Knight of Arthur, I looked around me, with vacant and inquiring eyes, asking whither I was now to direct my steps, and what work I should work in the coming years. Jackson! Stuart!--who could replace them?

They had loved and trusted me--their head-quarters had been my home.

Now, when they disappeared, I had no friends, no home; and an inexpressible sense of loss descended upon me, as a dark cloud descends and obscures a landscape, smiling and full of suns.h.i.+ne.

Another woe had come to me. My father was dead. The war had snapped the chords of that stout heart as it snapped the chords of thousands, and the ill.u.s.trious head of the house had descended into the tomb. From this double blow I scarcely had strength to rise. For weeks I remained in a sort of dumb stupor; and was only aroused from it by the necessity of looking after my family affairs.

As soon as I had strength to mount my horse, I rode to Eagle's Nest. A good aunt had come and installed herself as the friend and protector of my little Annie; and with the arms of my young sister around me, I wept for my father.

I remained at Eagle's Nest more than two months. The long ride had made the wound in my shoulder reopen, and I was again stretched upon a bed of illness, from which, at one time, I thought I should not rise. More than once I made a narrow escape from scouting parties of Federal cavalry in the neighborhood; and on one occasion, an officer entered my chamber, but left me unmolested, under the impression that I was too ill to live.

It was late in the month of August before I rose from my bed again, and set out on my return.

In those three months and a half--counting from the time I left Spottsylvania with Stuart--great events had happened in Virginia.

Grant's hammer and Lee's rapier had been clas.h.i.+ng day and night. Hill and valley, mountain and lowland--Virginia and Maryland--had thundered.