“Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled:
“That the President of the United States be requested to present to the nearest male relative of Lieutenant Burrows, of the brig Enterprise, a gold medal, (see [Plate XI.],) with suitable emblems and devices, in testimony of the high sense entertained by Congress, of the gallantry and good conduct of the officers and crew, in the conflict with the British sloop Boxer, on the 4th of September, 1813.”
It is rare to find a character more distinctly defined than that of Lieutenant Burrows. He could accommodate himself to the circumstances in which he was placed, and suspend the exercise of a darling passion, when the season would not admit of its indulgence. His heroism maintained a long and obstinate contest with the king of terrors, and he was only cold and insensible to the charms of glory, when he was invested with the coldness and insensibility of death. It is much to be lamented that no likeness of this distinguished young officer now exists. The mind, in cases like the present, labors to supply the defect, and to form for itself a sort of sensible image, for we never read of high and illustrious actions without associating them with a body.
MONUMENT OF BURROWS.
The following record must be read by every American, with pride and pleasure, at such an instance of liberality and honorable munificence to the memory of the brave.
A gentleman from New York, Matthew L. Davis, Esquire, while passing through Portland, some time since on a tour eastward, had accidentally taken a walk into the burying-ground. His attention was attracted to the neglected grave of the late Captain Burrows. The only guide to the spot, where is deposited one who had so much heroic merit, and who deserved so much of his country, was the tombstone of his deceased competitor, Captain Blyth, of the Boxer, which had been but recently erected by the surviving officers of that ship. The thought was instant. Mr. Davis immediately gave orders for an elegant marble monument to be erected over the grave of Burrows, without the sparing of labor or expense.
It was done! and its style of execution does credit to the ingenious artist, and the inscription is highly creditable to the taste, judgment, and modesty of the generous donor, and worthy the hero whom it is designed to commemorate.
THE TOMB OF BURROWS.
I saw the green turf resting cold
On Burrows’ hallow’d grave;