Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 10.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

[308] Howe achieved nothing remarkable, and yet he was deeply regretted, and all who read of him even now, are filled with a tender pity for his sad fate, so much so, that within the last few years the people of New York have given expression to their sympathy by erecting a monument to his memory on the spot where he fell, near Lake George, more than a hundred years after his death.

Our hero, Captain Harleston, was destined to serve his country in a far greater war, with conspicious efficiency, and to lose his life whilst participating in the most glorious defense that has ever been made by any city on this Continent. The analogy between himself and Lord Howe lies simply in the beauty of his character. Those who knew him are more apt to think of what he was than of what he did; and like Lord Howe his personal qualities have caused the many friends who loved him to regard his memory with an almost romantic sentiment of tenderness.

Many earnest souls went up to the feet of God from the battle-fields of the South during our late war, but none ascended on less dust-soiled wings, than the one that put on immortality amongst the ruins of Fort Sumter, the morning of November 24th 1863. “Happy are they who die in their youth when their renown is around them,” says Ossian. Aye! happy truly is that young soldier whose record is fair, purpose pure, and heart single, for then he earns “the quick promotion of a glorious death,” and casts the honor of his devotion and his martyrdom into the balance, in favor of the cause that he loved, and has hallowed by the sacrifice of his life. From thenceforth he belongs to his country, and is crowned forever in the hearts of all men with the laurel and the amaranth. It is a high destiny; but the crown is won by pain and anguish. Let us remember this, and be proportionately grateful.

Francis Huger Harleston was a son of South Carolina in every sense of the term. A representative of the type of people of the old State Born of two families connected with her Revolutionary history, and indoctrinated to the hearts core with the love of “States rights” and constitutional liberty; holding in respect the “traditions of the Elders” and proud of the distinctions of the past, as well as regardful of the honor of the present.

Isaac Harleston, an ancestor, was a soldier of the Revolution, and one of the officers who fought in Fort Moultrie against the British. The many centennials that have been celebrated during the course of the last few years seem to have brought those far off days nearer, and I think that it is very easy for us to picture to ourselves that most brilliantly successful fight of the Revolutionary war.