Greensborough Patriot (NC)

December 18, 1862

Page 2

 

                                                For the Patriot

                                             Tribute of Respect

                        In Camp Near Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 5, 1862

            At the meeting of the “Guilford Grays,” Co. B 17^th Regiment N. C. Infantry, held on the 5^th of December 1862, the following preamble and resolutions were offered and unanimously adopted:

            WHEREAS an all-wise God in his beneficent wisdom decreed that it should be the melancholy fate of our beloved Capt. and companion in arms William Adams, to fall at the late battle of Sharpsburg, Sept. 17^th while bravely leading on his men in a gallant charge against the centre of the enemy’s line, therefore be it,

            Resolved: That his company are mournfully impressed with a deep sense of the severe and irreparable loss which they have sustained, feeling at the same time, that the loss is not all their own, but that in his fall the Confederacy has been deprived of one of its bravest officers, society of one of its brightest ornaments, and his bereaved family, of a son and brother, whose virtues and whose memory cannot soon cease to live in the hearts of all who knew him.

            Resolved: That a tribute is due to the memory of Capt. Adams for the heroism which he displayed, and the noble manner in which he fell at the engagement of Sharpsburg.  ‘Twas amidst the clangor and strife of battle.  Groans of agony and shouts of triumph arose around.  There was much to distract the attention and appall the bravest.  Two small regiments were ordered to charge and drive before them ten times their number.  On they started, over the slain—through fences—no obstacle impeding; on, on, on—the enemy waver, they turn, they fly.  At this moment, his face suffused with the flush of triumph, waving his men still on, our noble Captain went down among the slain, a hero and a patriot.

Resolved: That we extend our heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved family and friends of the deceased.

Resolved: That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the family of the deceased; also to the Greensboro’ “Patriot,”  “Way of the World” and Raleigh “Standard,” with a request to publish.

                        Sergt. WILL U. STEINER, Ch.

                        H. G. KELLOGG, Sec.

                        Sergt. A. D. LINDSAY, Com.

                        Sergt. C. A. CAMPBELL, Com.

                        Corporal W. L. BRYAN, Com.

                        S. C. DODSON, Com.

                        R. B. GIBSON, Com.

                        I. W. McDOWELL, Com.

                        H. R. FORBIS, Com.

                        R. B. WORRELL, Com.

 

[Transcribed by Sharon Strout]