HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
KANSAS CITY, MO.: UNION HISTORICAL COMPANY, BIRDSALL, WILLIAMS & CO. 1881
(The Van Buren section of the History of Jackson County was written by Lone Jack resident, Martin Rice)
CHAPTER XIV.
Pgs. 278-288 [The section pertaining to the Battle of Lone Jack]
In no State of the Union was the horrors of the war more visible, or more severely felt than in Missouri; especially was Missouri more deeply and severely scourged with the evils and evil consequences of guerrilla warfare than any other. No county of Missouri suffered as much from that species of warfare as did the County of Jackson; and no township, perhaps, in the county had greater reason to complain of those evils than Van Buren. The Sni Hills in this and adjoining townships came to be considered but another name for bush-whacking exploits, and barbarities on one side, and Federal retaliation and revenge on the other. Every southern State had its battlefields, gory with blood and ghastly with the dead ; some of them surpassing ghastliness anything in modern times, but none of them surpassing in stubborn courage, determined resistance, and heroic valor that scene which was witnessed in the little village christened for the lone tree of the township.
The citizens of that village had been accustomed to alarms and scenes of bloodshed and cruelty. Scarcely a week passed without some exciting occurrence, or some violent death. But it was reserved for the i6th of August, 1862, to witness the grim monsters, war and death, and carnage, in all their horrors. It is the battle then of Lone Jack that the historian of the township will have to record as the bloodiest of all the bloody scenes in the township during all of that long and cruel war.
For months the guerrilla, Quantrell, and others had been carrying on their system of bush-whacking warfare from their hiding places in the Sni Hills and other parts of the county; while the Union soldiers held and garrisoned the principal towns, and sent out scouting parties to chastise the troublesome bushwhackers; and too often the chastisement fell upon the innocent in place of the guilty. During the first week in August, 1862, a strong effort was made to strengthen the Confederate force in the county, and recruiting officers were busy swelling their ranks. A very large majority of the citizens were in sympathy with the South, and many of them who were opposed to a guerrilla warfare, and had managed to stay at home, by hiding in the woods when ever a Federal scout was in the vicinity, were persuaded then to enter the regular Confederate service, as the surest means of safety; and Col. John T. Hughes, a regular Confederate officer, on recruiting service, was prepared to enlist and swear them into service, as honorable soldiers. While others, who were not at all averse to the bush-whacking mode of warfare, were at the same time swelling the ranks of Quantrell.
Hughes, Quantrell and Hays having mustered and united their forces, on the loth of August made an attack on Independence; garrisoned by a Federal force under Col. Buell; which place and force they captured, with all its stores of arms and ammunition; which circumstance still further aided and stimulated the Confederates in the work of recruiting. Col. Hughes was killed at the taking of Independence, and his command devolved on Col. Gideon Thompson, of Clay county, and Col. Upton Hays. The Confederate officers, with their regiments, battalions and companies, were hurrying up from the South, recruiting and swelling their ranks as they came ; and it was given out, that Lexington and other Federal posts would soon fall, as Independence had dope. In the forenoon of August 15th, those regiments, battalions and companies began to arrive in Lone Jack, and continued to arrive during the day, under the command of Cols. Cockrell, Tracy, Hunter, Jackman and Lewis. Col. Totten, commanding the Federal post at Lexington, after the battle at Independence, having learned that Thompson and Hays were somewhere between Independence and Lone Jack, in compliance with orders from General Schofield, sent out Major Emory Foster, with eight hundred men to cut them off from the reinforcements coming from the south, before those reinforcements could arrive. At the same time Col. Fitz Henry Warren, 15th Iowa cavalry, was ordered from Clinton to co-operate with Major Foster, having left Lexington early in the morning of Friday, August 15th; sent out two small flanking parties to make inquiries, and hunt up the enemy he was after; posted on with his main force, over seven hundred strong, and arrived at Lone Jack at 8 o’clock in the night. His force consisted mostly of Missouri militia, mustered into the United States, drawn from the 6th, the 7th and 8th, Catherwood’s, Phillips’ and McClurg’s regiments, and Nugent’s battalion. He also had some Illinois and Indiana soldiers and the 7th Missouri cavalry, with two field pieces of Babb’s Indiana battery. Foster had been told before reaching town that Confederates to the number of four thousand were there ; but, as he said, having been lied to so often, he refused to credit the report, and pushed on thinking it was the force he was in search of. That force, however, was not there ; nor was there any immediately in the village. Thompson and Hays with five hundred men or more were encamped on the eastern banks of the Little Blue, some fifteen miles away; Quantrell, still further off, and of the reinforcements just from the South, Cockrell was northwest of the village three or four miles; Tracy and Coffee south of it about a mile, on the farm of David_ Arnold; Lewis still further south ; Jackman was also in the neighborhood. Passing through the village, Foster opened fire on Coffee’s and Tracy’s company; a skirmish ensued as the Confederates retreated west, in which a few of them were wounded, and two of Foster’s men killed by their comrades, in the darkness and confusion.
After the retreat, Foster returned to the village, where he remained unmolested until morning. Foster and some of his officers occupied the large hotel of B. B. Cave; who, with a majority of the male citizens of the place, had left the town in the care of the woman and children. The horses were picketed in the town, and along a lane running south ; and the men lay down to sleep as best they could. In the mean time, the word was being carried to Cockrell, Hays, Quantrell and others, of the situation of things in the village. Thompson and Hays united their forces with Cockrell’s, and at daylight arrived within one and a half miles of town ; there they first heard the Federal bugle, sounding the morning reveille, and then they dismounted and marched to the attack on foot.
The town was divided into new and old town. The hold, and Federal camp being in the new town, on the prairie ridge, where stood the lone tree, from which the town derived its name. The main street being half a mile in length, from the south side of the new town to the north of the old. On the east of the new town, was a hedge, and full of corn ; on the west was a field, uncultivated that year, and overgrown with rank and tall weeds. Through these weeds, the Confederates made their way, stooping and crouching, and arrived in shooting distance undiscovered ; and while the Union soldiers were busy in feeding their horses, and getting breakfast, a single gun, and then a volley, announced the battle begun.
The Federals were taken by surprise, but they soon rallied, each man to his post. The artillery drew up on the public square, and joined its roar to the roar of musketry already going on. The hotel, the hedge row, the fences, the shops and the houses, were converted into fortifications and breastworks. The Confederates advanced on and on ; and it was soon a hand to hand conflict. The artillery supports, the artillery horses, and the artillery men were shot down, and the guns were taken by the Confederates. In a short time they were re-taken by the Federals. Taken by the Confederates a second time ; and again re-taken.
A large blacksmith shop, which stood near, was a blockhouse and fortification, for each party in turn. The hotel, was at the commencement a fortification for the Federal forces ; from the windows of which they fought and did great action, but the Confederates worked their way nearer and nearer, and at length set fire to it, and it was soon in flames ; and the occupants forced to retire ; and two or three dead bodies were consumed in the burning building. The hours passed, and the contest was kept up, it was Missourian against Missourian, and neighbor against neighbor. Boys who had played together, gone to school together, and grown up together ; were opposed to each other in a deadly strife. Four hours passed, and the conflict of arms was still going on. Both parties, however, were nearly exhausted ; faint with hunger, thirst, heat and fatigue and shortly after ten o’clock, the Federals spiked the cannon, drew them off a short distance, collected their horses and retired, unmolested from the field, and made good their retreat to Lexington. This was a hard fought contest ; and for the numbers engaged, the hardest fought in the State — perhaps in any State — during the whole war ; and it is often asked who had the best of it?
Many accounts have been given of it, more or less partial to one side or the other ; but as this is intended as a part of the history of the county, that will live when all the actors in that bloody drama shall have passed away ; and the hand that writes it will be cold in death ; and there will be none left to correct its errors, or false statements ; let it for once be impartial, and true ; and the impartial reader, whoever he may be, will say of a truth, neither party had much to boast of, in the way of victory. The Confederates could, with truth , and did claim the victory, as the field was left in their possession ; they buried their own dead, and cared for their wounded, and could show as trophies, the two abandoned field pieces, which they carried off with them the next day ; when they themselves had to retreat before superior numbers. On the other hand, the Unionists claim that when the fight ended, and the firing ceased, they were in possession of the ground, and that the Confederates had drawn off to the northern part of the village, and were there being reinforced by fresh troops ; and thus it was only when they saw, or heard of the reinforcements of Coffee, Tracy, and Quantrell, that the field was abandoned ; and that the artillery was left for the want of horses to draw it off. The Federal Commander, Major Foster, was left on the field severely wounded, and his brother mortally wounded ; the command devolving on Capt. M. H. Browner. In retreating to Lexington, the Federals made a detour southward, hoping to meet or fall in with Fitz Henry Warren, from Clinton ; but were disappointed, and following the Warrensburg road, to the cross-road from Holden to Lexington, they turned north and arrived at Lexington before night. The battle over the little town presented a ghastly spectacle.
The wounded were gathered up, and almost every house became a hospital. The Confederate dead were gathered together and buried that evening; a few feet away from the lone tree, which though dead, was still standing at that time. Some, however, of the dead, on each side, were carried away by friends, and buried in the county cemeteries. Some prisoners, from twenty to fifty had been taken, and to them and a few citizens was assigned the task of burying the Federal dead. At the request of W. H. H. Cundiff, the Federal surgeon. Ambers Graham, and A. L. Snow two of the citizens, harnessed a team and gathered up and carried the killed to the place of burial, and the wounded to the hospital or seminary. On account of the scarcity of help, none of the Federal dead were buried that day. Next morning (Sunday), while engaged in burying the Union dead, and in hauling off the dead horses ; the advance of Warren’s and Blunt’s army came in sight ; marching up from the south ; and the Confederate forces retreated, making a detour to the east, a few miles, and then turning south, closely pursued for several days ; but finally making good their retreat into Arkansas. This retreat of the Confederate forces, left to the citizens of the county, with the surgeons and nurses that remained, the task of finishing the burial of the dead, and taking care of the many wounded ; and it was not till Wednesday, the 20th, that the dead horses, numbering about sixty, were all removed from the town. There have been many, and conflicting statements, as to the number of killed and wounded on each side ; also, as to the numbers engaged in the conflict, and perhaps the exact truth will never be known. As has already been said 800 Union soldiers were dispatched from Lexington : of these, two small flanking parties were not in action.
Of the Confederates, they claimed, the day before when they came in, to number over 4,000. A writer has since said that Cockrell, Tracy, Hays, Hunter, Jackman and Quantrell had between them but 900 men, and that of these 200 were not in the action. It is well to make allowance for both of these statements. When we recollect that an object of this expedition north was for the purpose of recruiting their numbers, and when we recollect that recruiting officers generally picture things to the eye of the recruit in a color different from the reality, we may readily suppose that the number would be represented as larger than it really was, and when the young man was told by these recruiting agents that they had come to the county to stay, that a new leaf was now turned, and that Confederates would garrison the towns, these same agents would fain have had them believe that they had the force to carry out their promises. On the other hand, when it is recollected that one avowed object, and perhaps the real intention, was to make an attack on Lexington and capture that as they had Independence, Mo., no sane person will admit that 900 was the sum total of their forces, especially as the same writer, who places it at 900, has said only a few pages before, that Cockrell, Tracy, Hunter and Jackman had each a regiment, Quantrell a battalion, and Hays 300. Though these, and suck stories as these, have been repeatedly told and printed, they are not necessarily all true. But putting all the information together, that appears most reliable. It is thought the combined force of the Confederates in and near Lone Jack was over (3,000) three thousand, of which more than half were in the action, perhaps not all at one time, but at some time during the few hours conflict.
A letter from one of Hays’ captains, who can be relied on, and who furnished for this sketch, writes thus:
“On the 15th of August, 1862, about 500 Confederates, mostly raw and undisciplined troops, under Cols. Hays and Thompson, went into camp on the east bank of Little Blue, about twelve miles southeast of Independence and twelve northwest of Lone Jack. About 2 o’clock a. m. of the i6th the troops were awakened and ordered to mount and fall into line, and march in the direction of Lone Jack. The order was obeyed with quietness and alacrity. About daylight we arrived within one and a half miles of Lone Jack, midway between Noel’s and Long’s. Here we first heard the enemy’s bugle. Here nearly all the cavalry were dismounted ; the troops marched to the battle ground on foot — a part of the way through tall and growing corn and high weeds. The Confederates, about one thousand strong, under Colonels Hays and Cockrell, approached the town from the west, consequently the enemy were attacked on their western side.”
The battle then having been commenced by Hays and Cockrell with 1,000 men, and other detachments of other commands claiming to have been engaged, the impartial mind comes to the conclusion above stated. As to the number killed on the Confederate side, there is not much room for doubt, or for conflicting statements, and there never has been much. They were buried with more care than the Union soldiers, and head boards were placed at their graves, on which were written the names of the several soldiers. Two weeks after, these boards numbered fifty-nine, which, with an addition of perhaps a dozen carried away by friends, will approximate the number of the killed and the mortally wounded. Of the number killed on the Federal side there have been statements made differing widely. They were all buried in one long and narrow trench, laid in side by side, with no board or other mark to designate the name or number. The writer above alluded to says : one hundred and thirty-six were dead on the ground. Some others claim to have counted over one hundred, others eighty, etc., etc.
The Federal surgeon reports forty dead when the battle ended, and A. L. Snow, who assisted in carrying the dead to the place of burial, counted, when done late in the evening, forty-three. About twelve or thirteen of the wounded are said to have died that night, and a few others before they were removed on the 20th.
The grave, six feet in width, in which they were laid side by side as closely as men could be placed, will serve to indicate, or approximate, the number very nearly. It is eighty feet in length, and any person who has had any experience in burying men in that way, can arrive very nearly at the number that are reposing there now. That silent mound is an important and an impartial witness, the testimony of which cannot be doubted. From all the evidences obtainable, then. We venture to say that the loss in killed was so nearly equal that it cannot be said with certainty which suffered the greater loss.
It has been said that more than one half the number engaged in the fight on each side were killed and wounded. We think this an over estimate. The number of the wounded reported by the Federal officer was i6o, and the number of the Confederate wounded is thought not to have been much, if any, in excess of that number.
This battle, like all other hard fought battles, had its incidents, incidents which will never be forgotten by those who witnessed them ; and not only were the combatants there to witness them, but others, now combatants were unwilling spectators of the bloody scene. The citizens of the town were there ; at least the women and children were there; and the conflict was in their midst, and around and about them. In the streets, in the houses, in the yards, and in the fields, on either side.
When the house of B. B. Cave was occupied by armed men, his mother, his wife and little children were there, and there they remained till the attack was made, remained while the storm of battle was raging in and around it, not daring to face the leaden tempest outside, but crouching in the safest rooms of the building, while their once peaceful home was converted into a blockhouse, filled with armed warriors, dealing death and meeting the same. There they remained, until to the roar of the battle was added the roaring of the flames above and around them, and when the aimed occupants were driven from it by the devouring element, they too had to leave and encounter the showers of leaden hail that fell and passed on every side. The mother was an aged lady, very fleshy, who on ordinary occasions could walk but slowly’, and with great difficulty; but there was no help for it now, she must get away ‘ somehow.
Safely they passed out of the burning building, out of the Union line into the field on the west, through the Confederate line, and beyond it and lay down amongst the tall weeds which shut out the sight, but not the sound of the raging battle. After some time the infant child demanded the sustenance which nature requires, and the young mother partially raising herself to apply the breast to the lips of her suffering babe, was pierced with a ball, which passing through the lungs inflicted a fatal wound, of which in a few weeks she died; another victim of cruel war, and of that sanguinary contest.
Another house further north, the one now owned and occupied by Wm. Phillips was then occupied by Benjamin Pitcher. He too was about, having left when the soldiers came in on the night of the 15th. But his wife and two small children and a niece of sixteen were here. When the attack was made some of the Union soldiers were in the house cooking breakfast — a breakfast they were destined never to eat. As the fight waxed warmer and warmer the women and children crept into a wardrobe to escape the bullets that were piercing the house. In the course of the fight the confederates occupied the house and fought from it, firing from the windows above and below. This being noticed the artillery was turned upon the house, and ball after ball went crashing through it, one ball cutting off” the part of an old fashioned bedstead near the wardrobe. The soldiers in the house then assisted them out and told them to escape for life. They fled to the church 600 yards away and took refuge in the house of their God.
That lady-left her house a fortification suffering a cannonade ; she returned some hours after to find it a hospital, filled as other houses in the town were, with the wounded and dying, the beds and bedding saturated with blood, or torn into strips to make bandages for the wounded. She met some days afterward, at the “house of the writer, the Federal sergeant who was cooking breakfast in the house when the action began. He had received a severe wound, a wound from which he never recovered, but rode with the retreating column two and a half miles to the house of Jacob Bennett, when faint and unable to proceed further he stopped and was well cared for.
In an incredibly short time the result of the action was known for miles around, and citizens were coming in to give the needed assistance to the wounded or to carry off and bury the friends who had fallen, for amongst the dead were some of Van Buren’s own citizens; some who had but recently entered the Confederate service and fell in their first fight, amongst whom may be mentioned James Helms, D. C. Webb, John Temple, Walden and Tally. Those or nearly all of them were carried off by relatives and friends in Round Prairie.
In a few hours, too, friends were there from Pleasant Hill and beyond, and carried back with them the dead body of Drary Farmer, a Union soldier, and Capt. Wm. Allen Long, mortally, and Sergeant Luke Williams, severely wounded. Women, too, when the men were absent, or too timid to venture, were soon seen coming in with baskets and boxes of provisions and other needed articles; and this continued for several days, until the necessity ceased.
When General Blunt, on Sunday, the 17th, came into the town, and the Confederates retreated, he did not stop to take possession of the field, or the wounded or leave any garrison, but pushed on with his whole force in pursuit ; and the town and the wounded prisoners were left in command of Colonel Gideon Thompson, who remained for some time. The Federal authorities at Lexington sent ambulances and carriages, and, on Wednesday, the 20th, removed nearly all the wounded to Lexington, from which place they were sent in boats to Jefferson City ; and in the National Cemetery, there may be seen more than one head stone, in memory of soldiers who died of wounds received at Lone Jack. Some few of the wounded, who had been quartered, or had found a resting place in the houses of citizens, and comfortably situated, preferred not to go, and were left to the hospitality of strangers ; and one poor unfortunate was left alone,- in a dying state, in the Seminary building, which had been used as the Federal hospital. He, too, was cared for while living, and buried when dead, by John W. Tate, Thos. Potter, and other.
With a few exceptions, the brave Union soldiers, who were wounded, and those taken prisoners, were treated with kindness and courtesy, by their equally brave captors, of the Confederacy, and by the citizen sympathizers with the Confederacy ; and nearly all who would accept it received a discharge on parole of honor. A few exceptions there may have been — a few exceptions there were — as there almost always is ; some were robbed of their money, their valuables, and some of their clothing ; and one. Lieutenant Levi Copeland, who had incurred the ill will of a portion of his captors, as was said by unnecessary acts of severity toward the friends and families of bush-whackers ; and, on that account, was particularly obnoxious to them, was given over to the Guerilla Quantrell, and was never seen by his friends again. There is no doubt as to what his fate was, (It is said there were two or three others, but this is not certain.)
As has been said, in this fierce conflict, neighbor and friend fought against neighbor and friend ; members of the same Christian church, who had together knelt at the altar, and had partaken of the sacrament together, were here on opposite sides ; and many have, or might possibly have, taken each others lives. Major Foster, who commanded the Federal soldiers, and Colonel Vard Cockrell, who brought on the attack, were neighbors and acquaintances in Johnson county; Captain (William) Allen Long, who led a company in Foster’s command, and Colonel Warner Lewis, were friends and neighbors in Cass. Long, who was mortally wounded, also had many friends and acquaintances in the Confederate column, and among the Confederate sympathizers ; and by some of them he was carried to Pleasant Hill, where he died in a very few days.
These are but some of the incidents of this memorable struggle, which has made the little town of Lone Jack historic. Where the lone tree once stood now stands a marble shaft, which has been erected by voluntary contributions from the friends of the lost cause. On each of the four sides of the pedestal, is the following inscription :
IN MEMORY OF THE CONFEDERATE DEAD WHO FELL IN THE BATTLE OF LONE JACK, ON THE 16tH of AUGUST, 1862.
Just west of this, and but a few paces from it, is the long and narrow mound in which the Union soldiers sleep, with no stone to mark their resting place.
Several years ago a society was formed, and an effort made, to raise the needed funds to erect a monument to their memory ; but the required amount was not obtained, and it was abandoned. Congress has appropriated money to place head stones at the grave of every Union soldier that can be identified ; but here are at least sixty brave men promiscuously laid together, and no one of them can be distinguished from another.
Year after year the citizens of Jackson and surrounding counties have met on the 1 6th of August, to commemorate the deeds <9i daring done on that memorable day in 1862. It is the big day of the year, for all the country round; and the i6th of August, brings together larger crowds to the little village of Lone Jack, than even the 4th of July does in some of our large cities ; and one pleasing circumstance, in relation to these gatherings is, that as time passes, at each succeeding anniversary, there is less of partisan feeling manifested. May it continue to be so until none of that sectional partisan bias and feeling will be perceptible.
Among the killed and wounded on the Federal side were Captain Wm. Plumb and Captain Jas. Dunden, of Catherwood’s regiment, and Captain H. D. Moore and Lieut. Jno. R. Foster, of McChengo’s regiment. Captains Brady and Bryant among the Confederates were killed.
THE DYING SOLDIER AT LONE JACK.
(Written by Martin Rice of Lone Jack)
A soldier of the Union lay
Sore wounded at Lone Jack,
And as his life-blood ebbed away.
His thoughts were wandering back —
Back to his childhood’s early home.
Back to his native land.
And dreaming, fancy seemed to roam
Amid a kindred band.
No wife or child beside him now.
Though wife and child he had;
No comrade bathed his bloody brow —
His comrades all had fled ;
And there upon that hard fought field,
In that small village street.
He lay with those who scorned to yield.
Disdaining to retreat.
No kinsman’s hand or voice was nigh
To minister relief;
But yet there was a pitying eye
Looked on the scene with grief —
A stranger, though a friend, stood near
The dying soldier’s side.
And wept, his dreaming talk to hear,
And soothed him till he died.
” Farewell my wife and children all
My country calls away,
And can I hear my country call,
And not the call obey ?
I go, and ere I shall come back.
Grim war shall cease to frown ;
I go though men may call me back.
To put rebellion down.”
” I go my wife ; I go my son,
The Union to sustain,
For North and South shall still be one,
And one shall still remain.
‘ I go and if I ne’er return,
Farewell ye loved ones all —
And if I fall I trust you’ll learn
I fell as man should fall.”
But then his fancy more and more.
And wider seemed to roam —
He seemed to think the war was o’er,
And he was safe at home.
And there as if to friends, he told
Of war and war’s alarms.
Of many a comrade soldier bold,
And many a feat of arms.
Of conflicts sore, he spoke of one —
A sore, a bloody fight —
The hard day’s march from Lexington,
The skirmish of the night.
Spoke of the sleepless bivouac.
As on their arms they lay
Within the village town of Lone Jack,
To wait the coming day.
And then he spoke of the attack.
Which came at early morn —
The rebel charge, the falling back —
The hedge and growing corn.
He spoke of deeds of daring done,
Of many a soldier slain,
The loss of the artillery gun,
The taking it again.
But here his memory seemed to fail —
His voice was failing too —
Alas! he ne’er will tell .the tale
To those he loved so true ;
Some other tongue to them will tell
The story he assayed ;
Describe the battle where he fell,
The spot where he was laid.
HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY. 287
Through scenes of youth he seemed to pass,
Though now his hair was gray,
And once again he led his class,
As in his school boy days ;
He called his playmates’ names, although
None answered to his call,
For some had died long years ago,
And far, far distant all.
He often called his father’s name —
He called his brother’s, too —
But oftener still his mother came
Within his dreaming view ;
He seemed to think that mother near,
And for her hand would feel,
‘Twould melt the hardest heart to hear
His piteous appeal !
“Oh, mother, help your little son —
My head is aching sore.
And here I lie, with pillows none,
Upon the cold hard floor.
Oh, lay me on my trundle bed.
Or take me on your knee —
She does not hear what I have said;
Oh, where can mother be ? “
Anon the scene would change, and he
By fancy still beguiled
A husband — father — seemed to be,
And spoke of wife and child ;
He spoke of them so tenderly,
So often called their names.
Though absent, yet ’twas plain that they
Were present in his dreams.
His days of early manhood came,
And passed in plain review
His constant struggles after fame,
His disappointments too ;
He spoke of hardships undergone.
He spoke of dangers passed.
And still his thoughts kept wandeirng on.
And wandered to the last.
But when more recent scenes appeared,
To claim his wandering thought —
The storm which civil war had stirred,
The suffering it had wrought.
Upon his home and family
His thoughts appeared to dwell,
With them again he seemed to be —
To them he bade farewell.
And there beneath that lonely tree
Which gave the town its name,
The traveler will turn to see
And read the warrior’s fame.
And when that tree shall cease to stand,
As it must shortly do,
A monument with marble hand
Will point to where it grew.