Show fy TA when eagle and beaver wed there s a maiden who ho though grown to womanhood Is a child among the nations she I 1 li i one ol 01 britain a fair and llady brood held iteld in check by her relations iler near ne gabor is a EL cousin big and smart and it seems somehow or other that they cannot always live as now apart she mill have to leave her mother her big cousin cousins e noble eagle proudly soars while her beaver coyly eyes h in and if he came a lover to her doors she would surely not despise him in the starry sky she bhe reads her destiny a bright and wondrous story of what the maiden canada will be when she sits beneath od d glory britannia may a tear ot of borrow sorrow shed when ler 1 er daughter wills to leave her but columbia will pat the ions 1 on s head when the eagle weds the beaver new york sun death of major gen reynolds ben it did its work ou may come domn now nearly forty years ago on the morn ing of the first day of july 1863 these words were spoken by a confederate officer and a lanky beardless youth clambered down aiom his perch in the top branches of a cherry tree with a rifle still smoking in his hands simultaneously and only yards away a gallant union general an army corps leader on whose shoulders gleamed the stars betokening his rank fell from his horse with a bullet hole in his head and he died before his aids could reach his side this Is the story of the death of major gen reynolds Hey pennsylvania s beloved soldier son at the opening of the first day days s battle at told by the sharpshooter who bad had laid him low and now published tor for the first atine the incident has been hith efto almost unvoiced for the man who when only a boy of 16 years fired the fatal shot has bitterly repented of it his name is benjamin thorpe and fae he is now at the age of 56 what ho h was in the war the crack shot of carolina and he still lives on als his ancestral just 0 the village of satterwhite ben thorpe is not proud of his achievement and only to his more in dimate friends will he talk of the shot fired from the treetop that july mom moin ing years ago when he does of it there Is pois nant regret in his tone he regretted it the day he learned who the distin bishel target which his bullet struel was mas and he has never ceased to res reg et it lonely be he lives upon his big planta tion his only companions except tor for northern visitors being a alf of negro hands and twenty gaunt and ferocious looking ind he ile hab u never married all day on the of gf june 1863 the legions of I 1 ee lov longstreet sti beet an I 1 IT 11 had been sweeping up from the bouth south ern plains in the direct on of gett bure burg intent upon rg the union army of hooker and A alide ide nd open ing up the fairest an I 1 riel c t valleys and most populous pop ulois s cit es of the aith aoi th to pillage in the van were mere the confederate brigands of Petti grev and aicher of heath s division H 1111 11 s co ps and swinging UR ua the chambe soum I 1 ioa oa I 1 this force on the morning ot of J ly 1 had taken up a comman command I 1 n po t on juet just below seminary ridge it NI pherson Phere ons s woods ard abo t ai at farm arm house which stood juat ut beyond them lay the tv twenty enty irth no 0 o th cir allne infantry each man a harp barp I 1 oo 00 er trained by loep loii diac ice to it i c a squirrel from the top of a tall tre and a aundrel oi 01 mcie of these sharpshooters lay sni ay y hi iden in th tops of the trees dundei or ers to s iele cle out union officers as tl air quail racing them and holding a command ing position on the crest of seminary ridge were the ullon a t fiery flery and cavalry under buford thus matters stool 1 at 9 celiel clod on an the he morning of july I 1 iben gei goi go i reynolds eynolds then corni commar nap i r the b birst dinst army corps and hoedl L u the left of the union line came galloping pal lopin alon alona the emmetsburg Emmets burg road frau 1 Is heal Ru quarters arters in advance of wa wn sv orth s vision in which we e inc u led the bif vif fifty ty sixth n a I 1 ep ic 10 t and the second wisconsin tl ti e tame I 1 iron brigade quickly I 1 e li M iii plan of battle and as scon as he the sec see ond wisconsin arrived the fa all 11 west of the seminary he 0 je do e el I 1 the a 11 to charge the northern eid end 0 of mckier sons eon s woods anere arched erate orate brigade lay bidden ai at I 1 capture the position they obeyed and carrvel out the order given but some idea of 0 the cost play pay be gained from the fiat that the second wisconsin left 20 2 dead 11 the broods woods the death roll of the T e ity sixth north carolina in that me s bloody affray was As the gallant charge was made gen reynolds sat upon h s horse on a small eminence near the corthern Por thern and of the wood woods orders to his aides for or the movements I 1 otier troops he ile had lust t riled Is i s I 1 ea I 1 to look for his supporting support ira columns coli ans n I 1 hasten them on when a i fie ba f t crnick him in the bad of the lead freed from the firm hand upon tap rein his horse plunged a fw lois i Is forward before its tr acken r der fell to the ground dead and yards aa a the confider Con feder ate officer seeing him fall lowered the glasses he had held t his eye cye and grimly said ben den it did its norl ben den thorpe had I 1 een one of the hundred sharpshooters selected from the twenty sixth no th tb card carol na de h ht t bb Aia aidi spite the fact that he was but 16 years old and the position assigned to him was in the top ot of a cherry tree which commanded the low ground or swale over which the union troops must make their way may to reach me pherson s wood woods what followed toll owed is best told in his own words I 1 had been in the tree top perhaps halt half an hour when the wisconsin regi ment came charging across the low ground toward the woods and had made a couple of shots when the par ty of officers rode up on the little knoll and halted I 1 was hying to make up my mind chich one I 1 should try for when my lieutenant appeared under the trea tree and began absei ving the party through his field glasses A moment later he glanced up and said ben do you see the tall straight man in the center of the group groupe he Is evidently an officer of some high rank and is directing operations which threaten our line sight your gun at yards and see it if you can reach him I 1 did as he told me but saw that the bullet struck tar far short of the mark that was a little short ben said my lieutenant and after another long and careful glance through his field glasses he said sight her at yards this time and hold steady for we must have him carefully I 1 sighted my long bar relied rifle at the range given and steadying it on a big limb took good aim and fired I 1 knew before the re port died away before I 1 saw gen reynolds fair that the shot had been a good one and would reach its mark I 1 aw the horse plunge forward saw the rider sway and fall from his saddle and then heard the voice of my lieutenant saying ben it did its work you may come down now its it s time tor for us to be moving not until long afterward did I 1 learn who it was my bullet had brought down and when I 1 did learn when I 1 heard and read of what a great and good man and splendid soldier I 1 had brought to death I 1 was genuinely orry I 1 have been sorry ever since and when the war was over I 1 took occasion to write to his relatives in forming them of the facts and express ing my sorrow and regret I 1 have letters from them splendid letters in which they tell me not to morra over it that was the fortune of war and that they could hold no ani ant rosity oi 01 hatred against a soldier boy who mho had fought as ha he believed abd simply obeyed his superior officer s ciders it vas of co arse the fortune of war but I 1 cannot help feeling even at th s late day that it was a cruel for tune which selected me a mere boy to bring to his death this gallant gen gon eral wl 0 had won fame an I 1 escaped the enemies bullets on so many fields I 1 have read his history since he as a grand man on it s record and from all I 1 I 1 ave otherwise heard and I 1 only vish I 1 could undo my work mork i 0 v the farmer bov sharpshooter was in ch interested in a description of the I 1 unal lound at lancaster pa where gen renolds and his brother ad miral will am reynolds are burled buried side by ide and of the manner in wh N it r ch it john I 1 reynolds post G AR AR headd arters aie ate at 1226 south bigdi street this cita cit annually dec dee i orated uen ren grave grane with ith flow ers he ile declared his intention of him belt self sen sell I 1 1 ng a floral goral tribute next men or al day it if he lived to see it pitts burg leada thought he meant scott chaplain joseph Tu twitchell itchell of hart fort for conn tells a story of a certain corporal corpo ial al n his raiment ment a gay hearted fellow aid and a good soldier of whom he was very fond on occasion of his ie covery facin a dangerous sic knes the chi choplain plain felt it his duty to have a erious castoral talk with the corporal while bile he was convalescing and arched his opportunity opi ort unity for it As I 1 sat on ona day says mr air twitchell on the cide de of his bed in the hospital tent chatting chattin with him he tasked me what the campaign was going to be I 1 told him tl at I 1 didn dian t know well said be I 1 suppose that gen mcclellan knows all about it I 1 answered agn mcclellan has his plans of course but he be 1 inow now things may lot come out as be he expects but said t tl e corporal pres dent lincoln knows doean t bea no I 1 sa d he doesn doean t I 1 now either lie has his ideas but he can t e ahead an more than gen gem A cC mclellan lellan can dear me said the corporal it would be a great comfort if there was that did know about tl ee things and I 1 saw my chance hante corporal I 1 observed that s a aver vera natural feeling and the blessed I 1 lart art is is one who does know everything past present and future abo it you and me and about talis army who knows when we aie ate 9 going to moie and where to and what s go to happen knows the whole thing 01 said the corporal you mean old c ott army and nay journal |