General Sherman, gazing on his noble features, calm in death,
silently mourns the man who was his right hand. Thomas, Schofield,
Howard, Logan, and Slocum stand beside the dead general. They bewail
the priceless sacrifice of Peachtree Creek.
In the doomed city of Atlanta, there is gloom and sadness. With
the fragments of the regiment which adored him, a shattered guard
of honor, watching over him with yet loaded guns, in charge of the
officers headed by Major Peyton, the body of Maxime Valois rests
within the Southern lines.
For the dear land of his birth he had abandoned the fair land of
his choice. With the captured banner of his country in his hand,
he died in the hour of a great personal triumph, "under the Stars
and Bars." Game to the last.
High-souled and devoted, the son of Louisiana never failed the call
of his kinsmen. He carried the purest principles to the altar of
Secession.
Watching by the shell from which the dauntless spirit had fled in
battle and in storm, Henry Peyton feels bitterly that the fate of
Atlanta is sealed. He knows the crushing of their weak lines will
follow. He can picture Sherman's heavy columns taking city after
city, and marching toward the blue sea.
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