bright sun, and the dews begin to fall softly upon the green earth. True, he labored more than most men, but he labored as he frolicked, because his mind could not be idle, but burst into work as by the irrepressible instinct with which he sought occupation as an outlet to intellectual excitement, but what he accomplished was nothing to the measure of his powers. He studied more than he seemed to study, more, probably, than he cared to have it believed he studied. But he could accomplish with only slender effort the end for which less. gifted men must delve and toil and slave. But the imitators, the many youths of warm passions and high hopes, ambitious of distinction, yet solicitous of pleasure, blinded by the glare of Prentiss' eloquence, the corruscations of a wit and fancy through which his speeches were borne as a stately ship through the phosphorescent waves of a tropical sea-what example was it to them to see the renown of the forum, the eloquence of the hustings, the triumphs of the senate associated with the faro table, the midnight revel, the drunken carouse, the loose talk of the board laden with wine and cards? What Prentiss effected they failed in compassing. Like a chamois hunter full of life and vigor and courage, supported by the spear of his genius-potent as Ithuriel's-Prentiss sprang up the steeps and leaped over the chasms on his way to the mount where the 'proud temple' shines above cloud and storm, but mediocrity, in essaying to follow him, but made ridiculous the enterprise which only such a man with such aids could accomplish. And even he, not wisely or well; the penalty came at last, as it must ever come for a violation of natural or moral laws. He lived in pain and poverty, drooping in spirit, exhausted in mind and body, to lament that wasting of life and health and genius, which, unwasted, in the heyday of existence, and in the meridian luster of his unrivaled powers, might have opened for himself and for his country a career of usefulness and just renown scarcely paralleled by the most honored and loved of all the land.

"If to squander such rare gifts were a grievous fault, grievously hath this erring child of genius answered it. But painfully making this concession, forced alone by the truth, it is with pleasure we can say, that, with this deduction from Prentiss' claims to reverence and honor, there yet remains so much of force and brilliancy in the character, so much that is honorable, and noble, and generous, so much of a manhood whose robust and masculine virtues are set off by the wild and lovely graces that tempered and adorned his strength, that we feel drawn to it not less to admire than to love.

66

In the midst of his budding prospects, rapidly ripening into fruition, insidious disease attacked him. It was long hoped that the close and fibrous system which had, seemingly, defied all the laws of nature, would prove superior to this malady. His unconquerable will bore him up long against its attacks. Indeed, it seemed that only death itself could subdue that fiery and unextinguishable energy. He made his last great effort, breathing in its feeble accents, but at more touching and affecting pathos and a more persuasive eloquence in behalf of Lopez, charged with the offence of fitting out an expedition against Cuba. So weak was he that he was compelled to deliver in a sitting posture, and was carried, after its delivery, exhausted from the bar.

"Not long after this time, in a state of complete prostration, he was taken in a steamboat from New Orleans to Natchez, under the care of some faithful friends. The opiates given him and the exhaustion of nature had dethroned his imperial reason, and the great advocate talked wildly of some trial in which he supposed he was engaged. When he reached Natchez he was taken to the residence of a relation, and from that time, only for a moment, did a glance of recognition fall, lighting up for an instant his pallid features, upon his wife and children weeping around his bed. On the morning of July 1, 1850, died this remarkable man in the forty-second year of his age. What he was we know. What he might have been, after a mature age and a riper wisdom we cannot tell. But that he was capable of commanding the loftiest heights of fame, and marking his name and character upon the age he lived in we verily believe. "But he has gone. He died, and lies buried near that noble' river which first, when a raw Yankee boy, caught his poetic eye, and stirred by its aspect of grandeur his sublime imagination; upon whose shores first fell his burning and impassioned words as they aroused the rapturous applause of his astonished auditors. And long will that noble river flow out its tide into the gulf ere the roar of its current shall mingle with the tones of such eloquence again— eloquence as full and majestic, as resistless and sublime, and as wild in its sweep as its own sea-like flood—

"The mightiest river

Rolls mingling with his fame forever.'

'The tidings of his death came like wailing over the State, and we all heard them as the toll of the bell for a brother's funeral. The chivalrous felt when they heard that 'young Harry Percy's spur was

cold' that the world had somehow grown commonplace, and the men of wit and genius, or those who could appreciate such qualities in others, looking over the surviving bar, exclaimed with a sigh:

"The blaze of wit, the flash of bright intelligence,

The beam of social eloquence,

Sunk with his sun.'"'

CRUTCHFIELD'S ARTILLERY BRIGADE.

Report of its Operations, April 3-6, 1865, when it was captured with Lee's Division at Sailor's Creek.

This, printed from the original manuscript, was recently supplied by General G. W. Custis Lee, late President Washington and Lee University:

SAVANNAH, March 3, 1866.

Major-General G. W. C. Lee, Commanding Lee's Division, Ewell's Corps, Army Northern Virginia.

GENERAL:

In compliance with your request that I would communicate in an official form such information as I may possess of the operations of Crutchfield's Brigade, from the evacuation of the lines on the north of the James river to the capture of the Division at Sailors' Creek, on the 6th April, 1865, I have the honor to report as follows:

The Brigade consisted of the 10th, 18th, 19th and 20th Virginia Battalions of artillery, the Chaffin's Bluff garrison composed of five unattached Virginia companies of artillery, temporarily organized as a battalion, and the 18th Georgia battalion.

These battalions were organized in pairs, and commanded as follows: The Chaffin's Bluff battalion and the 18th Georgia by Major W. H. Gibbes; the 18th and 19th Virginia by Lieutenant-Colonel Howard; the 10th and 20th Virginia by Lieutenant-Colonel Atkin

son.

I need not recapitulate the circumstances of the march; nor enlarge on the starving condition of the troops, further than to say

that from the commencement of the movement to the moment of our falling into the hands of the enemy, the only stores issued were, one pound of meal and one-third of a pound of bacon. These were issued on the afternoon of the 4th, and so far as I was informed, only to this brigade; the Brigade Commissary having, fortunatly, that small supply on hand.

We saw or heard no signs of the enemy until the 5th, when reports of small arms at some distance indicated their approach. Having passed Amelia Court House several miles, several companies, from the Chaffin's Bluff Battalion, and from the battalion under Colonel Atkinson's command, were deployed as skirmishers on the left of the line of march, and continued to march in that order and position, parallel to the column, during all that day and night. But there was no appearance of an enemy until about 10 o'clock that night, when we were fired upon by what was supposed to be a small advanced party of the enemy's cavalry.

About 10 or 11 o'clock on the morning of the 6th the enemy being discovered in close proximity, the brigade was formed in line of battle faced to the left. I presumed to cover the passage of the trains. But the enemy contented himself with shelling the trains and the road by which the troops passed. But no one was hurt.

After crossing Sailor's Creek, and while halted near the crest of the hill beyond it, the enemy was discovered advancing in heavy force towards our left and rear. His artillery came up rapidly and took position on the summit of the hill we had recently passed over, on the other side of the creek, near the houses of Hillsmans' farm, and not more than 350 and 400 yards from us, as I have ascertained by a subsequent careful examination of the ground.

The division immediately formed line, faced to the rear, about one-third of the distance down the hill, Crutchfield's Brigade on the right. But before the line was formed, and while the greater part of the troops were yet moving to their position, the enemy opened fire with case, shells, and canister.

The 18th Georgia was on the extreme right of the brigade; next stood the Chaffin's Bluff troops, Major Robert Stiles. In consequence of the transfer of Major Gibbes on the day previous, to Hardaway's Battalion of Artillery, the command of these two battalions had devolved on myself. The conformation of the ground was such that I could see distinctly only these two battalions after getting into position. Consequently, whatever I have to state further relates to them alone.

The different battalions moved up successively from right to left. No sooner were the colors of the 18th Georgia and Chaffin's Bluff troops established, than the enemy directed his fire upon those commands with great rapidity and accuracy. But both battalions dressed up to their colors with as much steadiness and formality as if on parade. I observed particularly the Chaffin's Bluff companies, as I was told they had never before been engaged. There was something surprising in their perfect steadiness and order. By this time many casualties having occured, and the enemy's fire becoming remarkably accurate and severe, the troops were directed to lie down in their places. But notwithstanding this precaution, many of Major Stiles' command were killed and wounded. The 18th Georgia suffered not at all, as they lay in a slight depression of the ground. I do not think I had a man hurt by artillery during the engagement

Covered by his artillery the enemy moved up his infantry in three lines of battle, preceded by skirmishers. As soon as our own skirmishers had retired, they were received with a general discharge from our whole line, which speedily threw their first line into confusion, killing and wounding considerable numbers.

Unable to face our fire, that line fell back in disorder, which, as I was afterwards told, they communicated to their second line. Such was the eagerness of Major Stiles' men, that upon perceiving the enemy's hesitation, they sprang up from their recumbent attitude. and rushed upon them, fixing bayonets as they advanced; and it was with difficulty that Major Stiles and I could check them and restore the line. I was also afterwards informed, by other officers of the brigade that the enemy's second line was broken in a similar manner by our fire, and that his third line was met by ours in a general advance with the bayonet, and driven back beyond the creek, when the flag of truce appeared announcing the surrender of the whole corps by General Ewell.

I communicate information received from others of what did not fall under my own observation, for the sake of the corroboration it may give to statements from other quarters. After the restoration of our line, broken, as just stated, by the precipitate charge of Major Stiles' command, my attention was confined to what took place on our extreme right, and I saw no more of the general engagement. And if I go on to recount too minutely what may be considered one of the minor events of the field, I trust it may be pardoned as a just tribute to the splendid courage and unfaltering devotion to the cause of their country of my brave battalion. No words of mine seem