On the next day the cruel battle was fought. The ground was covered with dead and dying men, soldiers on both sides, covered with blood and dust. One of these soldiers was John Davenport. He had been wounded and would die; and he was suffering from both pain and thirst. When the battle was over, his devoted friend hurried to his side and found him mortally wounded. When he found him, skulkers were stripping him of the silver buckles which he wore.[2]
He was tenderly nursed by his life-long friend during the few hours that he lived. Realizing that the end was near, John Davenport said to his friend, "Harry, I am dying; and you remember last night you said to me in jest that if I lost my life today, that you were going home and marry Lucy. You have been my best friend, you are a noble and good man, and I now ask you in earnest to do as you said you would in jest—go back home after the war is over, marry my wife, and take care of her and my five little children."
About one year after the death of John Davenport, Harry Burnley and Mrs. Lucy Davenport were married. Several years later they moved to Warren County, Georgia, where they lived and died and were buried. Mrs. Lucy Davenport Burnley was the mother of fourteen children, five by her first marriage and nine by her second. Among her descendants are to be found very many noble men and women in America—distinguished as writers, lawyers and educators, and in every walk of life. Many of her sons and grandsons have sacrificed their lives for their country.—Mrs. Annie Davidson Howell.
FOOTNOTE:
[2] These skulkers in their hurry to get away left five silver buckles and epaulettes which were exhibited at the Exposition in New Orleans some years ago.
[WHEN BEN FRANKLIN SCORED.]
Long after the victories of Washington over the French and the English had made his name familiar to all Europe, Benjamin Franklin was a guest at a dinner given in honor of the French and English Ambassadors. The Ambassador from England arose and drank a toast to his native land: "To England—the sun whose bright beams enlighten and fructify the remotest corners of the earth."