The
Greensborough Patriot
July
24, 1862
Page 3
DEATHS
Killed.—In a fight with the enemy,
on the 21st of June, between Richmond and the Chickahominy,
Henry C. Gorrell, Capt. Of Company E, in the 2nd
regiment N.C. State Troops, in the 23rd year of his age. In his school boy days, he was regular in the
discharge of his duties, studious in his habits, and exemplary in his conduct,
which habits he carried into after-life; and for one of his age, had acquired a
large fund of historical and literary information. He was always a dutiful and affectionate son,
and a kind and loving brother, upon whom the eyes of his parents and brothers
and sisters were always cast with doting fondness, and by whom his noble
qualities and many virtues will ever be cherished with the most lively
remembrance. As a citizen, he was prompt
and active in his business,--social, liberal and generous in all his
intercourse with society, and had succeeded in acquiring the esteem and good
will of most who knew him; and the better he was known, the more he was
beloved. At the age of sixteen, he made
a profession of the religion of Christ, and publicly attached himself to the
Presbyterian Church in Greensborough; and his after-conduct in a “Godly life
and conversation in the world;” in his liberality for the support of the
Gospel, (according to his means) in all its schemes of benevolence; and his
conscientious discharge of all his Christian duties, gave to his friends a
comfortable assurance that his profession was sincere, and that he had given
his young heart to God. When he entered
the army, he did not leave his religion behind him, but carried it into the
camp, on the march, and to the cannon’s mouth.
An officer who saw him when he fell, remarked to a friend upon the spot
where he was killed, that “no man could have fallen in the regiment whose death
would have been more lamented; -- no man could have fallen who was better
prepared to go.”
At the breaking out of this cruel
war,--waged with savage ferocity against all that he held most sacred and
dear,--he was attached to the “Guilford Grays, who so promptly responded to the
call of Gov. Ellis, in April, 1861, and with that company went to Fort Macon,
where he remained for several months.
But supposing that his company would be confined entirely to garrison
duty, and panting for more active service in the field, he withdrew from the
Grays, and attached himself to a volunteer company of State Troops raised in
his county, of which he was elected first Lieutenant, and afterwards was
promoted to the rank of Captain, made vacant by the election of Captain
Morehead to the position of lieutenant-Colonel of the Forty-fifth
Regiment. On the 21st of June
his regiment was ordered out to storm and carry at the point of the bayonet, a
strong redoubt of the enemy, flanked by two other strong works on the north and
south. Whilst on this perilous duty he
fell, pierced entirely through the head with a minnie
ball, and intstantly died.
“-- -- -- his soul,
With one pang,
one bound, escaped control.”
The following extract of a letter
from Lieut. Hobson to a friend in this place, describes the manner of his
death, and records the estimation in which he was held in his regiment:--
“But nothing during the war has so
much affected me, as Capt. Gorrell’s death. It would not have been so bad if there had
been any necessity for the sacrifice.
Four companies charged two batteries supported by a brigade of
infantry. Our company and Captain
Howard’s led the charge. The men acted
handsomely. Capt. Gorrell
was among the foremost of his men. He
fell in the thickest of the fight, only a few feet from me. He was standing perfectly cool, encouraging
his men. One of his men rose up beside
him; he told him to take good aim, and had scarcely uttered the words when he
was pierced through the head with a ball, and fell, groaned and died without a
struggle. Soon after he fell, we were
ordered to retreat and it was impossible to recover his body. I tell you, Joe, he fell like a brave man,
and the death of no man in the regiment would be regretted as much as his
is. He was universally popular with
officers and men. I was very sorry to
hear that his father failed to recover his remains. The day after he left, this grave was found
by the Orderly Sergeant of company B.
His hat was found at the grave with the hole through it, and is
preserved.”
Thus died one so young, so promising
in the opening-bud of his manhood. At
the earliest call of his country, he girded on his armor, and died like a true
patriot and soldier—fighting the enemies of his country and his home, and
defending the dear ones that made that home precious in his sight.
“No useless coffin confines his breast,
Nor in sheet nor in shroud they bound him;
But he lies like a soldier taking his rest,
With his martial clothes around him.”
