Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Harvard Memorial Biographies

There is little to tell from this time until the day of his death. In his last letter he writes as follows:—

December 9.

It seems quite funny to be sitting in one's tent, just as comfortable as can be, and with the consciousness that there will be an action to-morrow. Generally the night before an action we have been so busy or so tired that rest and sleep were most sought after. But now one has a perfect opportunity to sit down comfortably and contemplate it. We shall cross, I think, without a serious fight, and shall not have one till we get near Richmond; but I can't tell. I hope we shall thrash them severely, and then there will be a satisfactory peace. I shall try to do my duty to-morrow, and be of what assistance I can to the General, and endeavor to repay by welldoing his uniform kindness.

December 10, 9 A. M.

P. S.—No orders for us yet, though some of the artillery has been put in motion. Good by. The batteries are moving.

The rest of the story is told by General Meade's letter to Mr. Dehon:—

camp opposite Fredericksburg, Va., December 16, 1862.

Dear Sir,—It was my painful duty to telegraph you yesterday of the loss of your son Arthur. He fell on the morning of the 13th instant, while endeavoring to carry an important order to one of my brigade commanders. He was seen to fall from his horse, and was immediately approached by an officer in the vicinity, who, finding life extinct, removed his watch from his person. The ground on which he fell remaining at the close of the action in the possession of the enemy, his fate was involved in uncertainty until yesterday afternoon, when, under a flag of truce, a search was made for our dead and wounded, and Arthur's body was found where he was seen to fall.

My experience of the unnecessary suffering occasioned to relations and friends by the premature announcement of the loss of officers, and the hope I would not abandon till forced by positive evidence, that it might please God in his infinite mercy to spare Arthur, induced me to make no effort to telegraph you till the result of yesterday's examination proved he was no more. His body was