“And yet at times we get a glimpse of light that reveals much of the fitness and beauty of this divine ordering of events. Here is an example before us. There is a peculiar appropriateness in the ordering of events that brings James Booth Lockwood here to be buried. Born in this parish, baptized here, confirmed in St. Anne by Bishop Whittingham, April 19, 1868, he received his first communion at this altar on Christmas-day of the same year. The rector of the parish, who presented him for confirmation and administered to him the holy communion, has just been called suddenly to his rest. In the midst of untiring labors the call found them both at the post of duty, and both were taken away while in the performance of that duty. But there was something peculiarly sad in the circumstances and mode of young Lockwood’s death—circumstances due partly to the nature of the work in which he was engaged, partly to the fault of others. But what matters it how or when he died, if found at Death’s call doing the duty assigned to him?
“One of the earliest of the adventurers along this coast, then as little known to the world as the Arctic regions are now to us, when his little ship was overwhelmed by the stormy sea, comforted the frightened and trembling helmsman with the assuring words, ‘My child, heaven is as near to us by sea as by land.’ And so what matters it where we die and how we die, so long as we are reconciled to God, and are faithfully fulfilling our calling? May God give us grace so to live that we may never be afraid to die in any place or in any manner!”
That the story and the fate of James B. Lockwood excited a profound sentiment of sorrow and admiration throughout the entire country was manifested in many ways, and a notice of some of them will form an appropriate conclusion to this in-memoriam volume. Among the first tributes of honor and affection was the following official order published by the colonel of his regiment, announcing his death to the military associates of the young soldier:
[Order, No. 46.] Headquarters Twenty-third Infantry, Fort Wayne, Mich., July 25, 1884.
Another name is added to the list of our honored dead. The official announcement is received from the War Department of the death of First-Lieutenant James B. Lockwood, at Camp Clay, near Cape Sabine, Smith’s Sound, Arctic regions, April 9, 1884. He was assigned to this regiment as second lieutenant, October 1, 1873, and promoted first lieutenant March 15, 1883. He served with distinction throughout Arizona, Nebraska, Kansas, the Indian Territory, and Colorado, always performing with zeal and thoroughness the various and complex duties that usually fall to the lot of the young officer. In 1881 he turned from the arduous duties and savage warfare of frontier life to face still greater hardship and danger, and finally to lay down his life in those frozen and inhospitable regions which have proved the sepulchre of so many heroes before him.
Lieutenant Lockwood was a young officer of great promise in his profession; of a noble and exalted character, his fine mind tended constantly to the investigation of scientific truths. When the privations, the suffering, and the achievements of the “Lady Franklin Bay Expedition” are fully related, higher authority will doubtless pay a more fitting tribute to the worth, the fortitude, and the matchless courage of an officer who, in Arctic exploration, has carried the American flag to a point in advance of that of any other nation.
His reward is an imperishable fame, which he sought with even greater resolution than leads the soldier to the cannon’s mouth. The pleasant smile and manly form of our comrade are lost to us forever, but his name and memory will be always green in our hearts.
Officers of the regiment will wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days.
By order of Colonel Black: T. G. M. Smith, First Lieutenant and Adjutant Twenty-third Infantry.
When the news of Lockwood’s fate was known at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, arrangements were at once made, by those who had known and loved him there, to erect a tablet to his memory in the handsome post chapel at that place. When completed it was placed in a conspicuous position, and bore the following inscription:
In Memoriam
JAMES B. LOCKWOOD,
FIRST LIEUTENANT TWENTY-THIRD INFANTRY,
A MEMBER OF THE
Greely Polar Expedition,
Died at Cape Sabine, Grinnell Land,
April 9, 1884.
This tablet was erected chiefly at the expense of Lockwood’s old regiment. To one of the officers General Lockwood presented a sword that had belonged to his son, and, in his acknowledgment, that officer made this remark: “As a friend of your son, I shall take pride and comfort from having in my possession the sword of a friend, who lived so nobly and died so honorably. Should you desire it to come back to your family when I have joined your son, I hope you will tell me so, and I will provide accordingly.” Among those who earnestly co-operated with this gentleman in erecting the tablet was one who wrote to his fellow-officer as follows: “No two people, outside of Lockwood’s own blood relations, loved him more than you and I. And yet I do not know that I am right in calling his end untimely. He died, as he had ever lived, in the discharge of his duty, and I imagine, when the records of the expedition become more known, it will be seen that his duty was well done to the end. He was a man, and has died like one. God grant that when our time comes it may find us, too, in the discharge of our duty!”
During Lieutenant Greely’s sojourn in Portsmouth, when on his way home, and while yet too feeble to use the pen, he dictated the following letter to General Lockwood:
Portsmouth, N. H., August 9, 1884.
My dear General Lockwood: Had I not seen Commander Sigsbee, and given to him such information as he wished, and as I knew would be most important to you in regard to your son, I should have attempted an earlier letter to you. I am still unable to write to you by my own hand. As I told Commander Sigsbee, James died from water around the heart, induced by insufficient nutrition. His last days were quiet and painless. He did his whole duty as a soldier and an officer. His loyalty to truth, fidelity, and zeal could always be relied upon by me. His unvarying kindness, his gentleness, his deep interest in and toward the men of the expedition indicated a nature thoroughly imbued with the essential and fundamental principles of Christianity, and won for him their good-will, confidence, and affection. I feel that you and Mrs. Lockwood may well be proud of such a son. His daily conversation during the past winter told us how much he loved his parents, and how deep and close were the bonds of affection which united him to his sisters and brother. He seemed to feel that he had not done full justice to the many and great advantages that you had given him, and hoped to make amends in the future. His innate modesty in this, as in other matters, I think did scant justice to his true merits. I write by Mrs. Greely’s hand—she joins me in sympathy and condolence. I feel that this letter insufficiently informs you regarding James. From day to day he intended to write you, but delayed too long. His diary, in short-hand, was kept up, I believe, to the day preceding his death. Sincerely yours, A. W. Greely.
Another letter from Portsmouth, written by Sergeant D. L. Brainard in answer to some inquiries made by General Lockwood, was as follows: