Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 18.djvu/381

 Rh heads. We moved around the little summit horizontally, General Polk and I to the right, General Hardee to the left. In a few minutes another shot came flying over our heads, General Polk still with me. Very soon after, when I was trying to ascertain if any part of our line was visible, another shot came the third. I immediately looked around to assure myself of General Polk's safety, when a young officer near called to me that he had fallen by the last shot. Looking to the crown of the little summit I saw him lying at full length upon it—dead. Hastening up I found that the bolt from a field-piece had passed left to right through the middle of his chest. In a few minutes a rapid discharge of shells into the woods around was begun.

"As General Polk had served in that army from its formation he was greatly loved and admired in it, and his death was deeply deplored.

"We had no signal stations then nor ambulances at Marietta. This disposes of the fable of the deciphering of a Confederate signal by a Federal officer."

To General Johnston's letter Mr. Peters adds: "Bishop Polk's remains were buried outside the chancel-rail of Christ Church, Augusta, Ga. A large and ornate mural tablet in his memory was erected in the church near the chancel. The inscription is in letters of gold on black marble. After stating his services in the church as Bishop of two dioceses, his rank of lieutenant-general in the army, and dates of birth and death, it concludes with this quotation from the Book of Job:

"Leonidas Polk, having graduated at the United States Military Academy, West Point, subsequently entered the holy ministry, and was Bishop of Louisiana at the outbreak of the war. His devotion to the cause of the Confederacy impelled him to apply his military talents in its service and temporarily to leave his diocese to some other bishop. He won promotion in the field, and at his death he held the next highest rank in the Confederate army. General Polk was one of the three Confederate lieutenant-generals killed or mortally wounded in battle; the others were Stonewall Jackson and A. P. Hill."