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His mother is also known as a writer of some note,
being the authoress of "Jephthah' s Daughter," and some other works. James pursued his
preparatory studies at the institution of which his father is President, until 1859, when he
went to Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, New Hampshire, for one year. He entered
Dartmouth at the beginning of the Fall term, August 24, 1860. When the war broke out,
in the Spring of 1861, no funds could longer be transmitted to him, and he left us for his
home in Tennessee. Being ardent and enthusiastic, he threw his whole heart into his
country's struggle for what he thought its rights. Upon entering the Service, he was
placed in the Quartermaster's Department; but that did not suit his active temperament,
and he joined the Fourth Georgia Cavalry, and was appointed Adjutant on the staff of
Colonel Avery, commanding the regiment.
He was killed by a fall of his horse, near
Kingston, Georgia, on August 30, 1863. His horse reared and fell backward, and crushed
him to death instantly. The regiment was just commencing a forced march when the
accident occurred, and when Colonel Avery asked who would remain behind to bury the
dead boy, and take their chances for overtaking the regiment, every hand was raised. A
detail was made to bury him, and they rode several miles to procure screws to fasten the
lid of the coffin which their own hands had made, saying that they could not bear the
sound of a hammer to drive nails into the box containing the remains of so loved a
comrade. One of the members of this regiment afterward said that if they could not
obtain assistance from the authorized officer when they came into camp wet, hungry and
cold, it was a common saying among them, "Go to Graves, he will not see us suffer," and
he was always ready to attend to their needs. His chief characteristic was self-denial, and
his generous, self-sacrificing disposition made him a universal favorite wherever he was
known, and his memory is tenderly cherished by those who knew and loved him.
Source: "Memorialia
of the Class of '64 in Dartmouth College" complied by
John C. Webster, Shepard & Johnston, Printers, 1884,
Chicago
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