“'I am dying. I want you to tell cousin Mary that I have never forgotten her; I love her, and wish I could see her now. We will not speak of our differences now; the approach of death softens our hearts. You are a brave man, Tom. I am proud of you, even as an enemy. When I die, as I will in a few minutes—I can only last a little while—will you bury me just where I fell? There is the spot,' looking over his left shoulder and asking one of the men to mark it.
“This exertion caused the blood to flow profusely, as he had been shot through the lungs.
“In a few minutes he breathed his last. Gen. Anderson had him properly interred at the place where he requested, and marked it with a headstone with his name upon it. He wrote to his wife the facts as I have given them to you. Gen. Anderson never alluded to him afterwards except in the most respectful terms. When Mary, the General's wife, received a letter giving an account of her cousin's death, she wept, but said nothing.
“But to return to the results of the battle: Biggs retreated and left the field to Rosenfelt, who concluded to go into winter quarters instead of making pursuit. He said it was necessary that his army should recuperate. Wishing, however, to cover Nashua, he sent a command out to the west from Murphy's Hill, on the road to Frank-town. It fell upon Stephen Lyon's brigade to go. He was quite unwell, but would by this station have an independent command—his brigade and two regiments of cavalry and two batteries of artillery—consequently he was gratified by the order. In marching the command moved slowly, there not being an urgent necessity for their presence at Franktown. On the second day's march they halted and had a luncheon at a spring by the roadside.
“Gen. Stephen Lyon was lying on a mattress in an ambulance. When the command had rested he sent them forward, remaining at the spring himself, saying to his officers that he would come on after resting, as he could soon overtake them. H e kept with him only one officer (Lieut. Curtis), two orderlies and the driver, not dreaming of an enemy being in that part of the country, as Biggs's army was many miles south of Stone Run, or rather to the southeast at Tullahoming.
“Col. Joseph Whitthorne (then Brigadier-General), with a detachment of cavalry, came dashing up. He captured Lieut. Curtis and the two orderlies and driver, and then asked who the officer was that was lying in the ambulance. On being told that it was Gen. Stephen Lyon, he replied:
“'I have sworn to kill him if I ever met him, for sending a spy into my camp.'
“Stephen was unarmed, and protested that he knew nothing about the charges alleged against him. But it did no good. Whitthorne ordered his men to shoot him, and it was done and my poor boy was in this cold-blooded way murdered by this gang of bushwhackers. My other sons had his body taken back to Murphy's Hill and buried. I never knew who murdered him until the war was over.”
