SERMON 
 
 DEATH OF WALTER L. RAYMOND, 
 
 A UNION SOLDIER, 
 
 DELIVERED ON SUNDAY, APRIL 3, 1865, 
 
 BY 
 BENJAMIN B. BABBITT, 
 
 KCCTOB OF CHRIST CHUECH, ANDOVKB. 
 
 ANDOVER: 
 PRINTED BY WARREN F. DRAPER. 
 
 1865. 
 
p 
 
 ^: 
 
 5 
 
 V i~2 L' I 
 
OBITUARY. 
 
 Walter Landor Raymond was born In Charles- 
 town, Mass., Aug. 23d, 1846. When he was three 
 years old his parents removed to Andover, Mass. 
 He received his education in this town, graduating 
 at the Punchard Free School In July, 1862. On the 
 15th of the following August he enlisted in Co. G of 
 the 44th Massachusetts Volunteers, In which his elder 
 brother had also already been enrolled. The follow- 
 ing letter of his father, addressed to Captain Hunt, 
 consenting to his enlistment, shows the spirit whicb 
 inspired both father and son : 
 
 Andovek, Mass., Aug. 15th, 1862. 
 
 Captain Huxt : 
 
 My eldest son has enlisted in yoiir company. I send 
 you his youn,i2:cr brother. He is, and always has been, in 
 perfect liealth, of more than the ordinary power of endu- 
 rance, honest, truthful, and courajj;eous. I doubt not you 
 will find him on trial all you can ask, except his age, and 
 that I am sorry to say is only sixteen ; yet if our country 
 needs his service, take him. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Samuel Raymond. 
 
 The character which the father gave the son in 
 this letter was not overdrawn, but has been fully 
 borne out by his conduct since. Oct. 2 2d his regi- 
 ment was ordered to North Carolina. He was in the 
 
4 ORITUARY. 
 
 battle of Kinston, Dec. 14th, of Whitehall, Dec. 16th, 
 and in the reserve at the battle of Goldsboro, Dec. 
 19th. He went with the regiment subsequently on 
 an expedition to Plymouth, Feb. 7th. He was taken 
 sick the day before the regiment was ordered to 
 Washington, falling down in the ranks when on dress 
 parade on Saturday, March 14th. From that time 
 till the regiment was discharged he was for the most 
 part in the hospital, having not only the chills, but 
 typhoid fever, and sore throat, closely bordering on 
 diphtheria. He was discharged with his regiment in 
 Boston, June 18th, 1863, after the completion of their 
 term of enlistment of nine month. 
 
 For about five months he remained at home re- 
 cruiting his health, which was seriously impaired. In 
 November he re-enlisted, as a veteran, in the 1st 
 Massachusetts Cavalry. In Feburary 1864, with one 
 hundred and twenty others, he left for camp Stoneman. 
 In this camp the regiment was subjected to the most 
 rigorous discipline and thorough drill. His regiment 
 was attached to tlie second corps, and crossed the 
 Kappahannock on the first of May, in that last move- 
 ment on to Richmond, which proved successful nearly 
 a year later, in the capture of that city, April 3d, 1865. 
 His regiment took a prominent part, as is well known, 
 in the hard fighting in the AVilderness, and then left 
 the main body of the army under Sheridan for a raid 
 in the rear of the rebel army, and towards Rich- 
 mond. Daring this raid, which occupied eleven days, 
 ten of which appears to have been spent in a constant 
 successions of fights, until his arrival at Haxal's Land- 
 
OBITUARY. b 
 
 incr, Walter was with that portion of General Sheri- 
 dan's troops who went the nearest to Richmond, 
 (retting within a mile and a half of the city. At the 
 close of this raid, out of seventy-four horses, but thirty 
 remained in his company. Out of the eight men in 
 his own tent, only three were left. Starting with but 
 three days rations, they tried to make them last ten 
 days. So that when they fought, some days they 
 were both hungry and tired; both men and horses 
 having been twenty-four hours without food or rest. 
 
 After remaining at Haxal's Landing some time to 
 recruit, he, with his regiment, joined the army at Cold 
 Harbor, and participated in the severe battles which 
 have made that vicinity so famous. In these battles 
 he lost his horse, and becoming dismounted was sent 
 to White House Landing. The rebels made an attack 
 on this place while he was there. On account of this 
 attack he was temporarily mounted, and attached to 
 the fifth division, with which he joined the main army 
 on the James River. On the way down he was in 
 a fight on the Chickahominy River. He was sent 
 afterwards to the extreme left of General Grant's 
 army on picket duty, where he rejoined his regiment. 
 On the twenty-seventh day of July the regiment 
 recrossed the James River, near Deep Bottom, and 
 was engaged in two considerable fights, an account of 
 which is given in his last letter home to his father. 
 
 Aug. 19th, Edwin B. Daniels, orderly sergeant of 
 his company, in a letter to his father, performed the 
 painful duty of informing him of his son's capture 
 three days previously, on the IGth, adding these 
 
6 OBITUARY. 
 
 words : " The company has met with a great loss, for 
 he was a general favorite with men and officers, and 
 he will be missed by all." 
 
 From the same officer, some fortnight later, we have 
 an account of his capture as follows : 
 
 " We started for our camp near Light House Point, 
 the ni^ht of the 13 th of Auirust. We travelled all 
 night, and on the morning of the 14th we were on 
 the north side of the James River, at Deep Bottom. 
 On the loth we made a forward move towards the 
 Charles City Court House road. Being in the re- 
 serve, all was quiet for us. On the morning of the 
 16th, a detail came to our regiment for one t^quadron, 
 to do escort duty for Gen. Miles. The squadron in 
 which is Co. L Avas sent, and we were to act as his 
 body-guard and as orderlies for him. We woke up 
 the enemy, and drove them, a little at a tinie, for about 
 four miles. Here they grew stubborn, and began to 
 show their teeth, and the General would detail about 
 six men in a gquad, and tell them to go out such a 
 way, and see if they could find the Johnnies. Walter 
 was in one squad, and he with one of Co. M's men, 
 being rather adventurous, kept about a couple of rods 
 in advance (it was in the woods, of light growth of 
 wood, but heavy undergrowth of bushes, about as 
 high as a man's head). There was a squad of men 
 lying doAvn in the bushes, and these two rode on to 
 them, and they rose up right round them. Walter 
 turned round in his saddle and sung out to the men 
 behind him, " Barnum, go back, quick ! The John- 
 nies have caught Hurley and me." The rebels tried 
 
OBITUARY. 1 
 
 to catch the rest, but being dismounted they could 
 not." 
 
 This timely warning which Walter gave his com- 
 rades, is but one instance out of many hundreds of his 
 many kind acts, and must have exposed him to the 
 anger of his captors. On account of this action, at 
 the time of his capture, his friends were for a long 
 time fearful that he might have been killed on the 
 spot. lie was, however, spared to endure a vastly 
 greater amount of cruelty at the hands of the rebels, 
 in his confinement at the Salisbury prison. 
 
 From the date of Sergeant Daniel's letter until the 
 18th of March his friends heard not a word from 
 VV^ alter, when, after the general exchange, which had 
 then been effected, they learned through Sergeant 
 Kavanagh that he died in Salisbury prison, on Christ- 
 mas-day, of severe pneumonia, contracted by sleep- 
 ing on the ground in that terrible slaughter-house. 
 
 Sergeant William Kavanagh, of whom mention is 
 made in the following discourse as the ])erson who 
 brings to us the report of ^Valter's last sickness and 
 death, has been a noble soldier in the Union array 
 from the beginning of the war. He enlisted in April 
 1861, and served for two years in the 36th New York 
 Regiment. He was with the Army of the Potomac 
 from Bull Run till his term of enlistment was out. 
 He won at Fredericksbur";" a "old medal, under Sedfj- 
 WR-k, by being the first to plant the flag upon its 
 heights. He was mustered out in June 1865. He 
 came home to Boston, where in the following No- 
 vember he re-enlisted as a veteran in the 1st Massa- 
 chusetts Cavalry. 
 
8 OBITUARY. 
 
 Sept. 16th, 1864, just a month from the time of 
 Walter's capture, he Avas taken prisoner in a hand- 
 to-hand skirmish, having been left senseless on the 
 field. 
 
 At Danville he led an attempt to break guard, and 
 was bound with a chain and sent to Salisbury, where 
 he met AValter and several of the members of his 
 regiment, who were prisoners there. In a few days 
 the prisoners managed to file off" with broken-edged 
 knives the chains wliich bound Kavanagh. He was 
 then bound with a chain and ball, which, after a week 
 or so, they treated in like manner. Kavanagh then 
 dug out under the walls of the prison, and with three 
 others, one of them a negro, managed to get about a 
 hundred and seventy miles away fiom his prison, and 
 nearly to the end of his journey, before he was re- 
 taken. He was afterward very sick for some time ; 
 but, being a man of more than ordinary strength of 
 constitution, he recovered even in the prison. 
 
 He is of Irish birth and parentage, but has lived in 
 this country for sixteen years. He has given us an 
 exceedingly graphic and intelligible narrative of his 
 imprisonment, a plain and interesting account of 
 Walter's sickness and death, as well as a full account 
 of his career as a soldier in the 1st Massachusetts 
 Cavalry — an account in Avhich he agrees perfectly 
 with A\'alter's letters. Waller's friends feel j)roround- 
 ly grateful to him for his kindness to AValter during 
 their common imprisonment, and especially for his 
 kindness to him in his last sickness, and at the hour 
 of death. Indeed, his evidently profound attachment 
 to Walter, and respect for him, which can be dis- 
 covered in all he says concerning him, has won for 
 Kavanagh, in all our hearts, our fondest affection. 
 We all say, God bless him ! 
 
SERMON.' 
 
 BE THOU FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH, AND I WILL GIVE THEK A. 
 CROWN OF LIFE. — Rev. ii. 10. 
 
 HE whole verse is not without its 
 significance on this occasion. " Fear 
 "^^ none of those thinsfs which thou shalt 
 ^ sutler. Behold the Devil shall cast 
 some of you into prison, that ye may be 
 tried ; and ye shall have tribulation ten 
 days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I 
 will give thee a crown of life." 
 
 Our young friend, whose name I would 
 now mention with the profoundest respect 
 and affection, — Walter Landor Raymond 
 
 1 The following sermon was preached Sunday, April 3d, 1865, 
 in Christ Church, Andover, as a memorial discourse for one 
 who had not only been so heroic in action, and so noble in 
 his death, but who had also been so inhumanly buried by the 
 rebels at his death. The sermon is printed for the satisfaction 
 of his friends. 
 
10 SERMON. 
 
 — obeyed this injunction, suffering the tor- 
 tures of a rebel prison, faithful even unto 
 death. We may cherish the hope that his 
 faithfuhiess to his flag was more than 
 merely natural stubbornness ; that it grew 
 out of Christian firmness. He was, on 
 principle, devoted to the cause of his coun- 
 try, for which he has so heroically died. 
 Wherefore we may trust, that through the 
 mercy of our God in Jesus Christ, he has 
 received the crown of life. 
 
 It is fit, my brethren and friends, that we 
 should commemorate the death of one who 
 so bravely fought, so patiently suffered, 
 and so nobly died in his country's service. 
 Not because he was a braver and a better 
 man than many others who have gone forth 
 to die on the field of battle, or in a rebel 
 prison. No I we rejoice to believe that 
 there are thousands in our armies as noble, 
 as patient, as brave, as Christian, as faith- 
 ful as he, who have remained, and if need 
 be, are ready to remain faithful even unto 
 death. Yea, thousands, both dead and 
 
SERMON. 11 
 
 living, who will deserve of this country 
 everlasting remembrance. 
 
 But this young man stands nearer and 
 closer to us, and is, in fact, to us the rep- 
 resentative of all the rest. Of all who went 
 forth to take a part in the great struggle 
 which still devastates and endangers our 
 country he is the only one from this con- 
 gregation who has lost his life. He has 
 lost his life, too, under such distressing cir- 
 cumstances, by the slow torture of a rebel 
 prison, from starvation. Jt was plainly 
 the cruel neglect of his captors, inspired 
 by this wilful, hard-hearted intention to so 
 break down their prisoners, that they must 
 either die or desert their country's flag, and 
 espouse the cause of the wicked rebellion. 
 He has so died, also, that we are cheated 
 out of the dear privilege of rendering to 
 him the homage which the Christian has 
 ever loved to give to the mortal remains 
 of his friends. Moreover, too, we know 
 that although he deserved so well at our 
 hands, yet he was denied even the rites of 
 
12 SERMOJT. 
 
 a Christian burial by his enemies. He 
 was treated as a beast, and buried with 
 that contempt which showed the impotence 
 of its demoniacal rage against the cause 
 we love, by seizing that solemn occasion 
 to vent itself. It is a sad privilege to fol- 
 low a friend to the grave, and witness the 
 last rites of Christian love. Next to this, 
 is the privilege of knowing that others did 
 this duty in our absence, if not with loving 
 sympathy, at least with respect. But when 
 denied even this last privilege, as we are in 
 the case of our young friend, by fiends in 
 human shape, who heap dishonor upon 
 those whom their injuries cannot corrupt, 
 we gather around what yet remains to us 
 of him — his memory; recall his worth, 
 and bury him in our hearts, erecting there 
 a monument that cannot crumble, because 
 built out of our own improvement in re- 
 flecting upon his excellent life. 
 
 Walter Raymond enlisted for the first 
 time Aug. 15th, 1862, in what was afterward 
 Co. G of the 44th Massachusetts Regiment, 
 
SERMON. 13 
 
 at the early age of sixteen. With five of 
 his comrades, who then enlisted with hitn, 
 he was a member of my Bible class. He 
 had always been a scholar in the Sunday- 
 school. From childhood he had always 
 exhibited peculiar energy, determination, 
 and hardihood in all his undertakings. He 
 had well improved his opportunities to 
 acquire a thorough education, having grad- 
 uated the July before at the Punchard 
 Free School He had many qualifications 
 for advancement in the army, but would 
 have been prevented from rising high by 
 a certain thickness of speech, which must 
 have interfered with the intelligible pro- 
 nunciation of the word of command. He 
 had everything at home to make him de- 
 sire to stay there. He was not of that fiery, 
 demonstrative spirit, nor was he filled with 
 that wild adventurous enthusiasm, which, 
 to those that possess them, makes the life 
 ol camp and the stirring scenes of the bat- 
 tle-field so agreeable. He was not one of 
 those who follow the bubble reputation to 
 
14 SEBMON. 
 
 the cannon's mouth. Ambition was not a 
 part of his character. Not one of the thou- 
 sand motives which in the minds of men 
 when they enter upon a soldier's life as- 
 sume a questionable shape inspired his en- 
 listment. He entered his country's service 
 because he felt it his duty to obey her call, 
 and after his return from his first term of 
 service, for nine months, nothing could 
 keep him from a re-enlistment, his sense of 
 duty was so strong. He served his coun- 
 try, therefore, with the inspiration which 
 breathed out his life in his last words, " I 
 die for God and my country." 
 
 He went forth in that band of young 
 men who were gathered in the 44th Massa- 
 chusetts — the youthful pride and promise 
 of our ancient commonwealth. When a 
 young man has entered the army, oar 
 minds instinctively seek to know how he 
 met the hardships of the service. 
 
 A careful examination of Walter's letters 
 home, witness to the fact that, while our 
 young friend keenly felt the privations of 
 
SERMON. 15 
 
 a soldier's life, and with wonderful exact- 
 ness narrates the incidents of self-denial 
 forced upon him, he never complained. In 
 vain have we searched all his letters for the 
 first murmur or complaint against any 
 man, officer, or fellow soldier. Not a harsh 
 word of any sort w^hatsoever can be found 
 in any one of his letters; not a harsh word 
 against even the enemies of his country, 
 against whom he was fighting. T say such 
 a man must have been inspired with the 
 noblest zeal which could carry the soldier 
 to the battle-field. 
 
 Again, as is natural, we would question 
 how did he meet the temptations of a sol- 
 dier's life ? Here, again, we have a most 
 satisfactory report. His letters are those 
 of a pure and uncorrupted heart, even to 
 the last one received. He preserved in 
 the camp the same integrity of character 
 which he had exhibited at home. He had 
 given his word at home that he would not 
 smoke ; therefore, when in the midst of 
 malarious swamps, and breathing pestilence, 
 
16 SERMON. 
 
 though physicians and officers advised the 
 soldiers to smoke, yet Walter wrote home 
 to his mother: "A great many have com- 
 menced to smoke ; but I shall not begin 
 again without your permission, although I 
 think it does a great deal of good. Please 
 inform me in your next if you advise me 
 to." We hear of him from all his comrades 
 that he was always thus scrupulously pure, 
 correct, and exact, and that his officers often 
 commended his example to them. As long 
 as he remained in active service after his 
 second enlistment he bore the same char- 
 acter, ever active in the performance of his 
 own duty, and in helping his comrades do 
 theirs. Afterwards he was found reading 
 in his tent, as one tells us who was with 
 him in his death and bears to us his words, 
 and who had been with him in all his cav- 
 alry service, he passed his time in reading 
 pious little books. The lessons of home 
 and of the Sunday-school were not for- 
 gotten ; he carried his religion into his tent, 
 and forgot it not on the battle-field. 
 
SERMON. 17 
 
 Still once more, one always wishes to 
 know how a young soldier meets the enemy, 
 especially in his first battle. Walter writes : 
 " We received orders to be ready in thirty- 
 six hours. We packed up our knapsacks. 
 That night, before going to bed, I read the 
 twenty-first chapter of Luke and the collect 
 for the second Sunday after Trinity, and I 
 thought that they applied exactly to my 
 position." The scripture read was the Sa- 
 viour's prophecy concerning the destruction 
 of Jerusalem and the end of the world, and 
 his warning to watch and be always ready. 
 The collect or prayer referred to was even 
 more appropriate. In it he based his ap- 
 peal to God upon the fact that he had 
 been brought up in the church of Christ (it 
 is a comfort to know that he remembered 
 his church, as well as his God). The col- 
 lect or prayer referred to is as follows : — 
 
 " O Lord, who never failest to help and 
 govern those whom thou dost bring up in 
 thy steadfast fear and service, keep us, we 
 beseech thee, under the protection of thy 
 
18 SERMON. 
 
 good providence, and make us to have a 
 perpetual fear and love of thy holy name, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 During this same expedition, begun thus 
 with prayer, and in which he was in several 
 battles, he writes : "On one occasion I 
 thought we were going into battle, and I 
 prayed to God that he would watch over 
 me, and if I was killed, receive my soul in 
 heaven ; and I also prayed that I should 
 not forget the cause I was fighting for, and 
 turn my back in fear." How simple I how 
 straightforward I how exactly to the pur- 
 pose ! Surely his courage was not brutal 
 recklessness. His courage was inspired by 
 the cause — a courage for which he had 
 prayed to God. Accordingly he said of his 
 safety during this fight, " I was not struck, 
 for I believe God was watching over and 
 protecting me." 
 
 In all his letters home he never lost sight 
 of his God. His most common expression 
 in closing his letters was, "with God's bless- 
 ing, I remain yours," etc. Once when, 
 
SERMON. 19 
 
 in his second term of service, in the first 
 Massachusetts Cavalry, he went to the very- 
 gates of Richmond, he says : " We have 
 suffered terribly, but I do not complain 
 when I see how gloriously everything is 
 getting along." And again, when having 
 been lost in the thick woods one dark night, 
 and fortunately fallen upon our own pick- 
 ets, he says of the incident : " Had it not 
 been for God's guiding hand, I should have 
 probably gone into the rebel lines." After 
 the long and successful raid first mentioned, 
 he says ; " With God's blessing and pro- 
 tection, I am safe." After two severe bat- 
 tles : " With God's kind care and protection, 
 I have passed through these two fights, 
 and remain yours," etc. And so he says in 
 another place, " I believe we shall succeed, 
 for I think God is on our side." 
 
 When I take into consideration the fact 
 that our friend in these letters tells us very 
 little about his religious condition or senti- 
 ment, and never moralizes or attempts any 
 fine writing, but deals wholly in simple 
 
20 SERMON. 
 
 facts, I regard such statements as these, 
 made wholly in passing, as manifestations 
 of his peculiarly sturdy, straightforward 
 character, and so, as honestly setting forth 
 his own views, and the exact belief he held 
 in a personal God. These expressions, too, 
 show that his belief in God governed his 
 conduct as the unconscious instinct of his 
 life, making him patient under the hard- 
 ships of the soldier's life, proof against its 
 corruptions, and courageous in the perform- 
 ance of his duty. 
 
 On the 16th of last August, just two 
 years from his first enlistment, Walter was 
 taken prisoner, carried to Kichmond, then 
 to Belle Isle, and thence, in a few days, to 
 Salisbury. From the time of his capture 
 he w^as entirely lost to our view, until, on 
 the 18th of March, his father heard from 
 him that he had died on Christmas-day, 
 after an imprisonment of a little more than 
 four months. 
 
 A rebel prison ! who can estimate its 
 hardships but he that has endured them X 
 
SERMON. 21 
 
 A rebel prison I in which out of ten thou- 
 sand who entered it, about one half were 
 within six months carried out in the dead- 
 cart. This general statement ought to be 
 enoufifh to suo-o^est to our minds the horrors 
 of our friend's terrible position. We have 
 no letters from him to tell us the story of 
 his sorrows, " half revealed yet half con- 
 cealed." Nothing to tell us how he felt as 
 he perceived the desperation of his case. 
 We are left to the reports of his comrades 
 who endured the trial with him. 
 
 With a keener relish than most men for 
 the good things of the table, with a natural 
 distaste for the meal with which he was 
 fed, with more than the usual craving of 
 the young for the food he loved, our friend 
 was peculiarly unfitted to bear the hard- 
 ships of a southern pjison. Did he, for all 
 this, flinch at all in his loyalty to his God, 
 or his country ? Did he swerve in his in- 
 tegrity as a man ? Did he forget the lessons 
 which he had learned in his childhood at 
 home or in the Sunday-school ? No. 
 
22 SERMON. 
 
 When the rebels kept the prisoners fast- 
 ing for days, and then brought in tempting 
 food, and even delicacies, for those who 
 would desert their flag, and espouse their 
 side, he answered, " I would rather be car- 
 ried out in that dead-cart." When it was 
 evident that his bodily health was failing, 
 that the meal which he received was re- 
 jected by his system, and that the syrup 
 was all that was left to him for nourish- 
 ment ; and when he sought in all honest 
 ways to obtain an exchange of meal for 
 syrup, and had failed, he appears to have 
 been entirely above the temptation to 
 which many others yielded, to steal form 
 his fellow sufferers. One of his comrades 
 tells us, " I told him he must steal, as I did, 
 or he would die." Walter replied, " Ko ; 1 
 was not brought up to that." And so, says 
 the same man, " He died, because he was 
 too simple to live." 
 
 We have another of his comrades here 
 with us to-day, one who received his last 
 message, who caught his last breath and 
 
SERMON. 23 
 
 bears it to us full of the spirit of his life, 
 who tells us of the details of his last sick- 
 ness and death. He began to show signs 
 of sickness just after the first of December ; 
 a fortnight later nausea set in ; severe 
 pneumonia siezed him. One morning when 
 his companions waked, Raymond was ap- 
 parently still asleep, but the hand of death 
 was upon him; he lay in a profound stupor 
 all the morning. His companions sat be- 
 side him all that morning, nursing him with 
 those few and scanty means within their 
 reach, now washing him with water, and 
 now so placing the block of wood or the 
 brick beneath his head as to give him ease. 
 That day was Christmas-day. They sat 
 there and watched him as his life ebbed 
 slowly away, until, about two o'clock, he 
 roused himself, stretched out his hand, drew 
 to his side his dearest friend among those 
 around him, and said, in a strong, clear 
 voice, " I am going to die. Go tell my 
 father I am ready to die ; for I die for 
 God and my country"; and then looking 
 up with a fond and heavenly smile, he died. 
 
24 SERMON. 
 
 In the glory of those words rebel prison, 
 rebel fare, rebel insults, are all forgotten. 
 That mean and miserable tent was the 
 gate of heaven. Those starving and naked 
 companions, startled, saw a vision of an- 
 gelic beauty. They went down so close 
 to paradise as to hear its whispers and to 
 snuff the fragrance of its spicy groves. 
 
 Think you not that such a man as this 
 was, — whose integrity was so constant, 
 whose trust in God was so firm, who suf- 
 fered such a terrible trial of imprisonment, 
 without yielding in the least, and who 
 stood firm to the end, and died, in the con- 
 fidence of his God, for the cause of his 
 country, — think you not tliat such a man 
 reaped the promised reward of the just ? 
 Most surely he did I He was faithful unto 
 death ; and so we doubt not God has given 
 to him a crown of life. 
 
 Just after his second enlistment he 
 avowed his intention, on his return, to take 
 upon himself, in confirmation, the vows 
 of his baptism, and to stand forth in the 
 
SERMON. 25 
 
 church a Christian man. This announce- 
 ment, when made by such an one as Wal- 
 ter was, was enough. His word would not 
 have been violated. He has done nothing 
 in all his service since but what is perfectly 
 consistent with this intention. Underneath 
 all his action there evidently was a strong 
 and deep current of religious feeling, which 
 made his most intimate friend in the army 
 say of him, " he was very religious, all the 
 time reading religious books." It was 
 plain the terrible scenes through which he 
 passed, both before and after his imprison- 
 ment, softened rather than hardened his 
 heart, deepened rather than effaced his re- 
 ligious impressions. 
 
 He had grown to be tall and command- 
 ing in form. The discipline and training 
 of the army had made him straight and 
 martial in his bearing. He was beloved by 
 all : a son to be proud of, a friend to be 
 esteemed, a man that we could not well 
 spare. But God took him ; and do we not 
 believe that he took him from us for good ? 
 
26 SERMON. 
 
 Yes, verily, we bow to his wisdom and to 
 his will, for we know his love. 
 
 Our friend died for no common cause. 
 It is sweet to die for ones country ; but 
 when the standard of that country is the 
 symbol not only of its own liberties, but 
 of human rights, the brotherhood of man, 
 and Christian progress, it is then, indeed, 
 glorious to die for that standard. The 
 fond and heavenly look which lighted up 
 that gloomy tent last Christmas-day, tells 
 us what he thought at that moment of 
 such a death as he was dying. 
 
 Our friend died nobly ! The glory of 
 the battle-field, the thunder of artillery, the 
 shout of victory, the desparing shriek of 
 retreating and defeated foes, have made 
 many a gory bed seem bright and re- 
 splendent with honor. But the firmness 
 and constancy required to endure the ter- 
 rible scenes of the prison at Salisbury far 
 excel the heroism of an excited contest, 
 where every one is urging on his neighbor 
 to the strife with the shout of the battle 
 
SERMON. 27 
 
 cry ; where one fights under the sympa- 
 thetic inspiration of ten thousand men, all 
 moved by the impulse given to them by 
 one man, all stirred with one word of com- 
 mand from one loved and honored leader, 
 urged on to the fray by his voice, trumpet- 
 tounged, amid waving banners, advancing 
 columns, the stimulating whiz of bullets 
 sounding close by, and the thunder of the 
 distant artillery, mingled with the shout of 
 victory. The heroism that makes a man 
 bold and effective as a soldier in such an 
 hour, may utterly fail him when, lying low 
 on a bed of wasting sickness, he shivers 
 under a scanty blanket, with only a tent to 
 shelter him from the wintry storm, attend- 
 ed by fellow prisoners who are cowed and 
 broken down with hunger; even the sight 
 of the old flag denied him ; hungry, neg- 
 lected, insulted, despised, with no voice 
 but that of a woeful melancholly gloom to 
 sound in his ears. Wherefore, to die, as 
 our friend died, in the midst of such scenes, 
 boldly, cheerfully, and triumphantly, with 
 
28 SERMON. 
 
 a word of comfort sent to his far-off friends, 
 and a smile upon his face, is more glorious 
 than to brave and endure a thousand deaths 
 upon the battle-field. I say, then, our friend 
 died nobly. Let us give him to-day a noble 
 funeral in our hearts, bury him in our 
 memories, and emulate his zeal for his 
 country, and, above all, his firmness for 
 God and the right. 
 
 Our friend carried his heart safely, fixed 
 on his God. He was. eminently a man of 
 deeds, rather than words ; of facts, not of 
 sentiments. Like the lightning's flash, such 
 men do their work before they tell their 
 story in noisy words. He made himself 
 felt as a religious man, without talking 
 about religion. He was prepared for death, 
 without making much ado about prepara- 
 tion. He was daily trained in the reflec- 
 tion that God is near, and that he might 
 die at any moment. The familiar thought 
 rooted itself deeply into his soul. Where- 
 fore, when he spoke of it, he dealt with it 
 as a fact; he acted upon it as a reality. 
 
SERMON. 29 
 
 To him religion was action ; prayer a posi- 
 tive law, as regular as the law of gravita- 
 tion ; and God's providence a thing to be 
 trusted in. Walter's was a nature for just 
 this kind of religion. 
 
 Now such religion as this has its defects. 
 None of us are perfect. All have some 
 besetting sin. Every kind of manhood is 
 liable to peculiar failings of its own. Where- 
 fore, after all, as for ourselves, so also for 
 all men, we are bound to rely upon our 
 blessed Saviour for the pardon of our sins, 
 and so for our acceptance with God. We 
 know that in him our whole trust must be 
 placed, and that when our hearts are thus 
 stayed on him there is to us a certain and 
 a sure hope. 
 
 Wherefore, trained as our friend was, 
 from his baptism in infancy, to the recog- 
 nition of this truth of Christ; retaining, as 
 he did, the associations and instructions 
 of his childhood and home, so fondly and 
 so decidedly ; so silent and retentive as he 
 would naturally be among those whose 
 
30 SERMON. 
 
 sympathy he could not rely on ; a man of 
 such few words on so tender a topic as 
 the heart's love,' — we are satisfied to ac- 
 cept what he has written, and the last 
 word which he sent to us, as evidence — 
 though brief and concise, yet sustained by 
 his telling life and death — as evidence to 
 the point, and amply sufficient too, to 
 show that his heart was right, and that he 
 looked to his God, as he had always been 
 taught to look to him from his childhood, 
 only through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 So let us, my friends, remember our duty, 
 and follow the injunction of the text, ever 
 faithful, even unto death. Let us hold fast, 
 my young friends, the thought of God, the 
 integrity of an honest life, the sturdy reso- 
 lution of one who will not falter from his 
 word when it is gone out of his mouth. 
 So, too, let us be ready to give our word 
 to the cause of Christ, and to the faithful 
 oaths of a true soldier and servant of both 
 oar country and our God. For if we do 
 this then, together with him whose life and 
 
SERMON. 31 
 
 death we have now reviewed, we shall at 
 last be ready to die. Our sins shall then 
 no more rise up against us. In the blood 
 of Christ they shall be forever washed 
 away, and we, accepted with Christ, shall 
 receive the crown of life, because we have 
 been faithful even unto death. 
 
 I think, my friends and hearers, that you 
 will all join with me in the sentiment and 
 the prayer of the following "hymn, as ex- 
 pressive of the spirit of this occasion. 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN PATRIOT'S PRAYER. 
 
 God of our fathers, in whose name 
 We raise our standard from the dust; 
 
 Be thou witli us, e'en now the same 
 As e'er of old, both good and just. 
 
 Hear thou our cry! We mourn, we grieve, 
 
 War's unrelenting cruel strife : 
 From fierce and bloody foes relieve 
 
 Our nation's hopes, our nation's life. 
 
 Hear thou the prisoijer's groaning cry ! 
 
 Hear thou the wounded's shriek! 
 Hear thou ! for deathly gasps pass by. 
 
 Hear thou ! for gaping wounds do speak. 
 
32 HYMN. 
 
 Hear thou the plea of sinners' tears, — 
 Is not the blood of ancient wronjis 
 
 Now cleansed? Must our repentant fears 
 Wait longer still for peaceful songs ? 
 
 God, speed thou the right in haste! 
 
 Our best, our noblest blood we give; 
 But that we mourn no saddening waste 
 
 By death, oh let our nation live! 
 
 But let it live in righteousness; 
 
 Upright and strong in Christian grace; 
 No longer build our happiness 
 
 On injuries done a toiling race. 
 
 Oh let our motto be impressed 
 On golden coins, with freedom's bust: 
 
 Oh let our gathering wealth be blessed; 
 For now 'tis true " In God we trust." 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 I iliiilli 
 013 760 193 A 
 
 t^^^ih. 
 
 \,v/r<k