Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/191

Rh The career of two boys in Charlottesville, Va., French Strother Bibb and Willie M. Abell, touchingly illustrated the morale of the Confederate armies. French Bibb left the university of Virginia in the spring of 1863, and joined the Charlottesville artillery, of which he was made junior lieutenant, and in which position he discharged his duties so faithfully, so bravely, that he won the respect of his superiors, and the admiration and love of the entire battery, nearly all of whom were his seniors in age. He fell on the victorious field of Chancellorsville, heroically doing his duty, and, as he was borne from the field by an irreligious comrade, he calmly said to him: "I am willing to die for my country; and I think it had better be myself than you." Willie Abell gallantly rode with his regiment, proving himself a very hero in the fight, and at the same time illustrated the power and influence of the Gospel in his intercourse with his fellows, until he fell in the discharge of a delicate and important duty, and left behind the name of a hero. The Charlottesville Chronicle thus told the story of his death: "Mr. Abell, who was acting adjutant of his regiment (Fifth Virginia cavalry), had gone forward to reconnoiter in advance of the skirmish line, and discovered that a squadron belonging to his regiment was in a position where it was about to be cut off, of which it was unconscious. He started immediately to inform the colonel that it might be withdrawn, and just at this moment he received the fatal shot through the body; but in this condition he galloped on, gave the information, saved the squadron, and then lay down to die. Such are the young men we are losing."

I am aware of the fact that my illustrations have been drawn largely from the army of Northern Virginia, but this has been by no means because that army is more fruitful in illustrations than the other armies of the Confederacy, but because I served in that army, and have deemed it best to use illustrations that came under my