Life and Letters of General W. H. L. Wallace

XX. Public Opinion of General Wallace. His Services as an Officer. His Character as a Man. Memorial Window.

CHAPTER XX. PUBLIC OPINION OF GENERAL WALLACE. HIS SERVICES AS AN OFFICER. HIS CHARACTER AS A MAN. MEMORIAL WINDOW. A STRONG friendship existed between General Wallace and General T. E. G. Ransom-they were kindred souls. Ransom went out as Major in Colonel Wallace's regiment, rising to Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel and Brigadier-General, the latter position before he was thirty years old. Dr. Eddy says of him: "Young, heroic and handsome, brave. enthusiastic and manly, courageous as a lion, tender as a woman. No man so completely recalls the best qualities of the days of chivalry. No braver heart was laid upon the country's altar, no clearer head was bowed before the great destroyer, no more unsullied sword has been laid upon the wall. Yielding up his life in the very flower of youth he will remain in memory ever young." After General Wallace's death Mrs. Wallace gave his Colonel's shoulder straps to Colonel Ransom, who writes her the following letter: "HEADQUARTERS, ELEVENTH ILLINOIS INFANTRY, "CAMP STANTON, April 28, 1862. "DEAR MADAM: "Your present, with the accompanying beautiful letter, handed to me by your brother, are before me. I can only express my gratitude for the honor you would confer in your expressed wish for me to wear the 'pasantz' of your late lamented husband. While I appreciate your noble motive , while I feel honored with the trust, my love for your husband, my reverence for his memory, prevents me from placing the sacred emblems so lately worn by him upon my unworthy shoulders. "But I will promise you that they shall be worn nearer to my heart through the battles that may follow. I trust they may constantly remind me of him who has gone before and may they nerve me to emulate his noble teachings and example. And then when these scenes of blood and car- [2111 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GENERAL W. H. L. WALLACE nage are past and Peace once more reigns over our land, I shall hope to return these precious relics to you. If it should be otherwise and' I fall at the head of the 'old Eleventh ' I shall but follow in the steps of the illustrious dead, our former brave commander, and still 'the eagles' can be borne to you by other hands, who will tell you whether the laurel won for them when worn by their late owner, have had their luster dimmed while entrusted to my keeping. "As the friend of your late husband and of yourself, having received so many flattering evidences of your confidence and esteem, it perhaps, should be my mission in this hour of your deepest sorrow to offer you consolation, but, my dear Madam, I am unequal to this task. I know in expressing my own feelings I should add new pangs to your already overburdened heart. I could but tell you of long hours of sadness, of frequent lonely rides to the spot where he fell and how I bow with sorrow when I reflect that never more can I meet that noble man on earth-how can I who have been governed by worldly thoughts, ambition and pride, intrude upon the sacred grief and offer consolation to one whose Christian life and happy belief points to a higher, nobler sphere, where as your beloved husband said, 'vVe meet in Heaven.' Then let these last beautiful words of that dying hero serve as a bright light to guide you through the dark paths of this life. "That this hope will sustain you, that a kind Providence who has promised to care for the widow will watch over and protect you amid the many trials that are before you is my earnest prayer. "Believe me, Madam, that anything that it may be in my power to .10 to lighten your burden of cares thrown upon you in any way whatever I shall be happy to assist you, and trust the near ties that bound your late husband and myself together, the love I shall ever sacredly cherish for his memory , will be evidence to you of the happiness I should feel to be of the slightest service to you, his nearest friend. With expressions of highest esteem, "I am truly your friend, "T. E. G. RANSOM. "Mrs. Ann Wallace, Ottawa, Illinois." [2121 LIFE AND LETTERS OF GENERAL W. H. L. WALLACE Captain William McMichael, Assistant Adjutant-General to Major...