Harvard memorial biographies ...

434

Harvard Memorial Biographies.

and he made many warm friends during the short year he
spent in Cambridge. Among these was George Washington, a
grand-nephew of the first President, and, curiously enough, also
born on the 22d of February.
As the winter vacation of 1861 drew nigh, the Southerners
in the Class, feeling that it was very doubtful whether they
should return to Cambridge in the spring, gave a farewell supper to a few of their Northern friends. During the evening
both Crowninshield and Washington replied to a toast expressive of the hope that all the party would meet again, to continue their college life as pleasantly as they had begun it.
The evening passed agreeably, and the friends separated, -
these two to meet again, but under widely different circumstances. A year after this, Crowninshield, having been detailed to bring in the wounded after the first battle at Winchester, was walking through the hospital, when he heard a
feeble voice say, "Crownie," " Crownie." He stopped, and
recognized his college friend. Washington had been shot
through the lungs, and, being too weak to talk, could only
press the hand of his friend. His release was speedily obtained, and he was sent home to his mother. Nothing has
been heard from him since, but there is every reason to believe that he died, soon after, of his wound.
The second term of Crowninshield's college life was passing
quietly, when Fort Sumter was fired on, and immediately all
was excitement in Cambridge as elsewhere. Many of the
students determined to go to the war, and Crowninshield was
among the number. He left College in June, 1861; and,
being just eighteen years old, expressed his determination " to
fight out the war, provided his life and limbs were spared."
His course once adopted and stated to his friends, without
saying anything more upon the subject (for he was a person
of few words, and of very few when speaking about himself),
he devoted his whole time and energies to obtaining a commission. He suffered many vexations, and was often disappointed; but was always hopeful, and never relaxed his endeavors. Earnest efforts, combined with patient waiting, at