Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 26.djvu/188

 178 Southern Historical Society Papers.

than a military knowledge; harmonizing the civil and military au- thority in his department, he possessed the entire confidence of the community in which he was stationed.

" Placed in a subordinate position in the department which he had so long and ably commanded, and the successful defence of which was his hope and pride, he was doomed to witness the great disaster of the war, unable, by protest or remonstrance, to change the tac- tics which, in his opinion, induced the fall of Wilmington.

" In command of Fort Fisher, sharing the privations and dangers of its garrison, twice wounded in leading it against the assaults of enemy, captured with his troops, he died a prisoner, cut off from those kindnesses which affection can only prompt, and love alone offer.

" General Whiting possessed those rare personal qualities most to be appreciated, in the intimate associations and familiar intercourse of private life.

" Unpretending in the observance of the duties of the church, of which he was a strict communicant; aiming to be just, without fear and without prejudice; sincere in his friendships; frank, generous, who ' felt a dream of meanness like a stain; ' his character was the embodiment of truth and honor.

' ' Of the noble sacrifices made for the cause, of the gallant dead who have fallen in its defence, the name of none will be more insep- rably interwoven with its history than that of William Henry Chase Whiting.

" ' How sweet his sleep beneath the dewy sod, Who dies for fame, his country and his God.' '

One who served under him, describes him thus:

" I always thought him a very handsome man commandingly handsome. He was not tall, but he possessed a striking carriage. He was well put together, compact, well-formed, sinewy. His face was strikingly hdndsome. His head was shapely, and hair thick and iron-gray. He was an ideal soldier and commander."

Says Major Benjamin Sloan, Chief of Ordnance, in a recent let- ter to Major Fairly, of the General's Staff, and now Colonel J. S. Fairly, of Charleston:

" I wish I could find words to express my admiration for the man, for the soldier, whom the men in the Department of Wilmington loved, trusted, honored yea, worshipped. His military perceptions