When reached, Colonel Washington was struggling to rise on his elbow, and, though gasping and dying, he muttered, "Water," but when it was brought to his lips from the nearby stream he was dead. His body was carried to my outpost headquarters, thence later by ambulance to Reynolds' headquarters at camp. Washington's name or initials were on his gauntlet cuffs and upon a napkin in his haversack; these served to identify him. He was richly dressed for a soldier, and for weapons had heavy pistols and a large knife in his belt. He also had a powder-flask, field-glass, gold-plated spurs, and some small gold coin on his person. His sword, tied to the pommel of his saddle, was carried off by his horse.
On the next day Colonel W. E. Starke, of Louisiana,(13) appeared in front of my position bearing a flag of truce, and a letter addressed to the commanding officer of the United States troops, reading:
"Lt. Col. John A. Washington, my aide-de-camp, while riding yesterday with a small escort, was fired upon by your pickets, and I fear killed. Should such be the case, I request that you shall deliver to me his dead body, or should he be a prisoner in your hands, that I be informed of his condition.
"I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
"R. E. Lee,
"General Commanding."
Colonel Milo S. Hascall of the 17th Indiana conveyed Washington's body, on the 14th, by ambulance, to Lee's line, and there delivered it to Major Lee.
One of Colonel Washington's pistols was sent by Reynolds to Secretary of War Cameron; the Secretary directed the other one to be presented to Sergeant John J. Weiler, the knife to Corporal Birney, and the gauntlets to private Johnson, all soldiers of the 17th Indiana. General Reynolds obtained the field-glass, but subsequently gave it to Colonel Washington's son George. Hascall took possession of the spurs and powder-flask, and Captain George L. Rose, of Reynolds' staff, retained one or more letters (now in possession of his son, Rev. John T. Rose), through which one or more of the fatal bullets passed.
Colonel Washington was buried on his plantation, "Waveland," near
Marshall, Fauquier county, Virginia.
Thus early, on his first military campaign, fell John Augustine Washington, born in Jefferson County, Virginia, May 3, 1821, the great-grandson of General Washington's brother, John Augustine Washington, and on his mothers' side a great-grandson of Richard Henry Lee, Virginia's great Revolutionary patriot statesman. He inherited Mount Vernon, but sold it before the war to an association of patriotic ladies, who still own it.
The tragic death of Colonel Washington was a fitting close of the complex plan of campaign, which, though entered upon under most favorable circumstances, failed fatally in execution in each and all important parts, though Generals Lee and Loring, Colonel Savage, and others of the Confederate officers present with the troops, had seen much real service in the Mexican War, and many of them were educated West Point officers.
Neither Lee or Loring ever made an official report of the campaign, and both for a time were under the shadow of disgrace because of its ineffectiveness.