Harvard memorial biographies ...

272

Harvard Memorial Biographies.

directly when introduced, and pronouncing it, with rank attached,
very distinctly, and also a happy faculty for remembering any officer
he may have by chance seen before, and extracting from him, in an
incredibly short space of time, all the information he possesses.
He is a truly great man, as he has and will prove himself to be.
Your hope that we shall now remain quiet until the wiiter is over
will not be fulfilled. An hour ago orders came to be in readiness
to move at seven to-morrow. The Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps
several days since embarked and landed at Hilton Head or thereabouts. To-morrow our corps crosses the river to the South Carolina shore. Augusta, or some point on the Augusta and Charleston
Railroad, will be, I suppose, our first objective point. That General Sherman commands the army is sufficient guaranty that there
will be little rest."
Captain Grafton accompanied his regiment on its march
northward through North Carolina. They marched with inadequate supplies, without proper clothing, and amid increasing
opposition. At Averysborough, North Carolina, they first
encountered the enemy in force, on the morning of March
16, 1865. The action was thus described by an eyewitness:"At about seven, A. M., on the i6th, our brigade, with skirmishers
in front and cavalry on both flanks, advanced over the works, and
had gone but a short distance when we met the enemy's skirmish
line. This was driven about a mile, though it contested the ground
with some spirit; but at that distance we encountered a line of battle, with artillery, and our force being inadequate to break it, we
were forced to pause and wait for troops to come up.
" It was on our skirmish line, which was but a short distance in
advance, that Captain Grafton was killed. The enemy was so near
and his fire so close, that it required the greatest exertion to hold
him until the necessary relief should arrive to attack his position.
Captain Grafton had command of about twenty men, -his own
company and another, - and worked hard with them against heavy
odds until he was struck in the leg. He started to the rear; but,
in his anxiety to do his whole duty, turned back to give some last
instructions to his men, and received a mortal wound in the neck.
He was seen staggering back, and was helped to the rear; but he
never spoke, and died in a few minutes."
The death of Captain Grafton was deeply felt, not merely in