“Mother of Edward H. Walton, Co. H, Fifty-seventh Regt. Mass. Vol., died at Andersonville Prison in August, ’64.”
Nor has morbid sympathy been all; out amid the smoke and fire of our guns, with only the murky canopy above and the bloody ground beneath, I have not lost sight of those saddened homes.
Clara Barton.
MAY GOD BLESS YOU
“LaFayette, Ind., March 30, 1866.
“Dear Miss Barton:—
“Will you please excuse a bereaved Mother again addressing you. I have seen by the papers that you have visited Andersonville. Can you give me any information respecting my dear lost son, my poor boy, as you have visited the graves of the precious dead; did you find the name of John Newton Strain? Oh! it would be a satisfaction, although a melancholy one, to know where his dear remains rest and oh! if I could only have them brought home, my noble boy, no better son a Mother ever had. If he had died on the field of battle it would not have been so hard. He belonged to the New York 2nd Cavalry Co. I. Dear Miss, if you can give me any information it will be most thankfully received and the best I can say is, may God bless you and be your great reward.
“From your afflicted friend,
(Signed) “Eliza Foresman.
“Lafayette, Ind.”