LIEUTENANT JOHN J. WHITE.
We want to give a slight tribute to the memory of a very brave young officer of company F, Lieut. John J. White.
This young man had enlisted in his company as a private. He was young, intelligent, a stranger to the company at its organization, but his soldierly bearing, intelligent comprehension of duty, and its prompt performance, soon attracted attention to him as comprising the material suited for a leader, and he was promoted to a lieutenancy. At the crossing of the Sand Town road in front of Atlanta, August 7, 1864, the lieutenant was in command of company G, under temporary detail for that purpose. The short advance made by our line at that place, was accomplished in the face of a galling fire of musketry and artillery, not less than half a dozen batteries of the enemy, centering their fire upon our exposed ranks. Men were falling in every direction and the scene was for a time simply terrific. Our position once reached, the men were ordered to lie down. The confusion of getting into position doubled the line in some parts and left gaps in others. Lieutenant White was actively endeavoring to get the left to give way so as to let all of company G into line, and in meeting with opposition he stepped a few paces to the right to inform the colonel of the situation, and was just in the act of saluting him with his sword, when a shell from the enemy crashed through his right shoulder, tearing the arm from his body, from which wound he died in a few hours. Amid the storm of battle, when brave men expose themselves only from necessity, that coolness and mental collection that enables an officer to remember all the refinements of discipline, even to the salutation of his superior, is a quality to be admired, as it evinces a talent so essential to command under the most trying circumstances. Lieutenant White was of a modest and retiring disposition, ordinarily, but in action was the impersonation of true courage. He was beloved by all who shared his more intimate fellowship, and his death cast a gloom over the regiment. May peace forever brood over the land that holds the remains of the brave soldier.