Page:The McClure Family.djvu/86

66 (5). , born Oct. 21, 1828; owned a farm deeded him by his father near Spottswood, Va., where he was living at the beginning of the Civil War. He was mortally wounded in a charge on Fort McGilvray.

The story of his life has been written as follows: "James A. McClure, of Augusta Co., Va., fell mortally wounded in the battle of March 25, 1865, near Petersburg, Va.

Brought up by pious parents in the ways of wisdom and that virtue which ennobles our nature, his whole life was a verification of the promise made to those who train up their children in the way they should go; and like the young man our Saviour loved, it might almost be said of him, that he kept all of the commandments from his youth up. In the formation of a character so correct as to be almost faultness, the governing principle was not fear, but love—the love of God, of his Saviour and of virtue. Consequently when duty called he hesitated not to go, though it were to the mouth of the cannon where he fell.

In every station and relation in life he acted well his part where all the honor lies; but beyond all this there were distinctive characteristics that marked the man and caused him to be respected and beloved by many of his fellows. His disposition was frank, cheerful and happy; his benevolence disinterested, his generosity whole-souled and free, while meanness was an utter stranger to his nature. To him there was a luxury in doing good; and to crown all his faith in Christ was a single childlike simplicity, beautiful to him who witnessed it, and exciting the feeling 'of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.'

With such a character, it is not necessary to say that he was all a neighbor, a friend, a father, a husband could be. It was in these relations that his modest unobtrusive virtues shown most brightly and here the blow falls with the most crushing weight."

The following from the Minutes of Mt. Carmel Session.

"The Session of Mt. Carmel Church, on receiving the mournful intelligence that James A. McClure, a member of this body, had fallen on the battlefield mortally