Harvard memorial biographies ...

Nathaniel Saltonstall Barstow.

"III

stitution. He often had attacks of fever, and could no longer
take the vigorous exercise of which, especially in the saddle, he
was very fond. When duty called he was careless, or rather
utterly neglectful, of his own health. The seeds of the disease
which finally overcame him were taking root. In the spring
of 1863 a small redoubt on the side of the Neuse, opposite
Newbern, garrisoned by some hundred men, was attacked by
an overwhelming force of the Rebels, who poured upon it a
whirlwind of grape and canister, literally tearing to shreds the
canvas of the tents and riddling the barracks. Lieutenant
Barstow was then signal officer of this outpost; and while all
others were crouching behind the works, shielding themselves
from the force of the tempest, it was his duty to signal by his
flags to the main forces on the other side of the river. The
coolness and bravery with which he performed this difficult
undertaking won him great praise.
With the exception of two or three short visits at home, he
continued in and near Newbern until that fatal disease, which
had already taken strong hold on his constitution, finally overcame him. As the duties of a signal officer were now more
severe than he was able to perform, he resigned that position,
and was appointed Assistant Commissary of Musters. At
about the same time he was commissioned First Lieutenant.
Higher rank he might have attained by returning to his regiment; but he felt himself better suited for staff duty, and preferred serving where he could be of most use, even at a
sacrifice of rank. At one time he was detailed at Little Washington, first as Judge-Advocate, afterwards as Assistant Engineer. "I am at present," he writes, May 15, 1863, "putting
up two earthworks, one to mount a hundred-pounder Parrott
and three long thirty-twos, and the other a Itte-de-pont on the
redan principle. It makes one brush up the mathematics."
He became attached to North Carolina, and, although offered
positions at other places, continued at Newbern, fated soon to
become a city of the dead under the terrible scourge of the
yellow fever. Although this disease was not recognized at the
time of his death, his weakened constitution rendered him an