possible in that direction. At the head of a scout of nine or ten men the agile, lithe form of the colonel might have been seen as he pressed the spur home in the flank of his noble dark bay, and impetuously rode onward to the spot of the desperate encounter, followed by his faithful troopers.

"Swifter than an eagle, stronger than a lion,' was Turner Ashby that day. Arriving at the spot, he was not slow to see that hot work had been going on; but not meeting any one from whom to learn definitely what had taken place, other than that a desperate fight had occurred, he pushed madly on the line of retreat taken by the enemy. Such was the impetuosity and the rapidity of the movement that he was not long in coming abreast of the enemy as they occupied Kelly's Island—a long, narrow island in the Potomac. Discovering them just as they were in the act of firing, he rapidly wheeled his men off the track of the railroad, formed them under the cover of the embankment, and with a shout which made the woods ring, he cried out, 'Charge them, men, and at them with your bowie-knives!' And then, dashing his horse into the Potomac, closely followed by ten dauntless spirits, proceeded himself to obey the command. The fire which they now encountered was a close and heavy one, emptying two of the saddles just as the little band reached the island. 'Reserve your fire, men, and at them with your bowie-knives!' cried the colonel. And at them they went. Suspecting that some harm had befallen his brother, he fought with a terrible courage, and those who saw the wild glance of his eye and heard the shout of his 'Charge them, boys! charge them!' will never forget it. The charge being pressed with increasing energy he was soon left in mastery of the field, a brilliant victory, though by no means a bloodless one. ... .

"Quickly gathering up the wounded and repairing to the Virginia shore, the colonel returned to the scene of Captain ASHBY'S engagement of the morning, for he found among the articles captured upon the island his brother's spurs and horse. Searching diligently, Captain ASHBY was found, still alive, but with scarcely strength to ask for a drop of water.

Some spirits was administered, which rallied him a little, and on a blanket stretched across two elastic poles he was carried across the mountain, by slow and easy stages, on the shoulders of the men who loved to follow him, to the hospitable mansion of Colonel Washington, near Camp Washington.' Here the writer had the melancholy pleasure of nursing and tending him during the week he survived his eight desperate wounds, and it affords him a saddened pleasure to remember how uncomplainingly he bore his great suffering. The surgeons thought he might recover, so great was his vitality, and such a desperate effort did nature make to right herself; but after enduring seven days of terrible suffering, sufficiently rational at first to make to his brother, the colonel, the recital upon which this description is chiefly based, the spirit of RICHARD ASHBY passed away on the 3d of July, 1861."

The body of Captain ASHBY was buried with all the honors of war in the Indian Mound Cemetery, near Romney, Virginia. After the close of the war the body of Captain ASHBY was removed to the "Stonewall Cemetery," at Winchester, Virginia, where it was reinterred by the side of his brother, General Ashby, and Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Marshall, of the 17th Virginia Cavalry.

Killed before the first great battle was fought in his native State, the dashing, spirited soldier had gained for himself the reputation for a bravery not surpassed in our war.

S. F. ATWELL,

OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, VA.; CORPORAL, CO. "A," CORPS OF CADETS.

Cadet S. F. ATWELL was a native of Westmoreland County, Virginia, his father living near Montrose. On the 20th of May, 1862, when in his seventeenth year, he became a cadet. In his college-life the record is excellent. At the end of his fourth class-year he had attained honorable standing in his studies, and for his soldierly qualities was appointed fourth corporal in Co. "A." Of his private character, a room-mate and friend says, "He was a consistent member of the Episcopal Church, and I can bear testimony that he exerted himself continually to impress the truth of the doctrines of Christianity upon his companions. I well recollect his zealous efforts to repress profanity amongst us."

Only those who remember the utter recklessness as to religion of the greater number of the corps during the war, when foolish boys high-strung with the excitement of the times imitated the vices of camp without imitating its virtues, can appreciate the moral force and courage requisite to assume the stand of young ATWELL, to lead the life of godliness, and to be esteemed a manly Christian by his companions. Within a week from the close of his second year, in May, 1864, the cadets were ordered to join General Breckinridge at Staunton. Before daybreak on Wednesday, the 11th, preparations were being made to leave the Institute, and when, after an early breakfast, the corps filed out of the Virginia Military Institute grounds, it is no special praise to say that ATWELL'S heart beat high at the prospect of serving his country. Every young heart there went forth to battle not only willingly, but gladly. The writer now, ten years after, recalls it vividly as the most joyous moment of his life, and the impression that so felt all the boys. As we passed along the road to Staunton this feeling showed itself in snatches of song shouted out merrily

along the column, more frequently the whole battalion joining in whistling "Rosser's Quickstep," then a favorite among us. Little we anticipated that in a few hours some of our comrades would lay dead on the field of battle; that others, in terrible suffering from deadly wounds, would be longing for death as a relief.

Such was the sad fate of the subject of this memoir. Arrived at the little village of New Market, in Shenandoah County, on Sunday morning, the 15th, the cadets were carried into battle about noon. Held in reserve until about two o'clock, it then became necessary that they should be ordered into the thick of the fight. Of this battle, its results and the casualties, a full account has been given. Among the wounded was ATWELL, struck in the calf of the leg; his wound was considered severe, though not dangerous. Being removed to Staunton, he had almost gotten well, when he was attacked with lockjaw, and died in the most excruciating agony. His pain was so intense that he could not touch the bed without a groan of agony, and death came to him as a blessed relief.

A true soldier of his mother-country, an earnest child of Jesus, he laid down his life for the cause, and gained life immortal in the company of the Master, whose blessed name he had tried to defend while on earth.

CHARLES M. BARTON,

OF WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA; FIRST LIEUTENANT, CUTSHAW'S BATTERY.

Among the severest losses of the South, in her late struggle, was that of her youthful population, the choice spirits of her youth first volunteering to take part in the contest; in too many cases the first sacrificed; a loss, in its very nature, irreparable. The material wealth and resources destroyed and wasted may, in time, be replaced. The various sources of

prosperity, closed up, may again be opened; and the operations of trade and commerce, suspended or deranged, may again be resumed more successfully than ever. But not so as regards the waste and loss of life with these youthful warriors. Too many of these, forsaking home and its endearments at the first call of patriotic duty, never again returned; and too many others, spared to return, came back as mere wrecks, ruined and broken alike in mind and in body.

The subject of this memoir belonged to the former of these classes. Responding to the call of his native State for defenders, during the summer of 1861, his brief career terminated in the spring of 1862. He fell in battle in sight of the home of his nativity, amid the natural objects with which he had been familiar from boyhood, and within a few miles of the home which he had left when entering upon military service, a sacrifice in the moment of victory upon the altar of patriotism. CHARLES MARSHALL BARTON, the eldest son of David W. and Fanny J. Barton, was born in Winchester, November 30, 1836. He received his early tuition at the Winchester Academy, and the Episcopal High School near Alexandria, and entered the Virginia Military Institute at the beginning of the session 1853, graduating on the 4th of July, 1856. During the last session of his course at the Institute, Cadet BARTON was brought under decided religious impressions, in a season of special interest, during the spring of 1856, and made a profession of religion only a few weeks before the session terminated. He was confirmed by Bishop Johns in company with some thirty or more of his comrades from the same institution. This most important step was taken in an earnest and decided spirit, and his subsequent course was in accordance with it. The writer of this sketch was present when the profession was made, had opportunity of conversation with him in reference to the feelings and resolves by which it was dictated, knew him intimately during most of his subsequent life, and it is grateful to think of that life as characterized throughout by an unostentatious, but unbroken consistency.