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—
Cl^tiSiUioltr
carried a Spanish testament habitually with him, and his last words (indis-
tinctly heard) were in Spanish.
" He was a constant reader, and his memory held a store of classical
literature. One of his comrades writes that, once on a dusty march, com-
ing suddenly on a spring of fresh water, he repeated from Horace :
' O fons Bandusiae splendidior vitro '
"giving the whole ode from memory.
"Among his favorite books were Charles Kingsley's novels, especially
'Amyas Leigh '—the heroic manliness of Kingsley's heroes was all his own.
" The pati'iotic sentiment was always strong in him. To die for the
country and the old flag this seemed to him better than living to grow
old. Major Davis tells of walking with him during the Newbern expedi-
tion to the grave of the gallant Capt. Lee of the ii* who had been
killed a few days before. They had gathered some wild flowers and
dropped them on Lee's grave. ' Poor Lee,' said Davis. ' Not so,' said
Griswold, ' I say happy Lee, fortunate Lee. What life could he or any
of us lead better than to die for our country !
Fortunate
—
Lee !'
" The same feeling was supreme when his own death came. General
Burnside went to him a short time before the end, as he was lying in a
tent. As he knelt down beside him, Capt. Griswold took one of his
hands, and said :
' General, do you remember when I asked you at New-
bern to transfer me back to my Regiment, that I might again see active
service, that I told you I then gave my life to you and to my country ?
General, you have it.' General Burnside, deeply affected said :
' Captain,
I thank you for myself and for our country. You have done your country
noble service ;' and, on the latter asking if he had any request to make,
he desired that if convenient when the General went North he would
see his mother and tell her he died while fighting for his country. After-
wards, seeing many of his brother-officers standing about in sorrow, all
mourning that his death was near, he said with a smile :
' Why, what is
the matter ? You do not feel sorry for me, do you !
wished to be— I die for my country.'
I am just as I
" Though there were very many heroic deaths during the war, his last
hours left an unusually deep impression on those who were present. Burnside
spoke of it with much feeling, years afterwards, when in New London."
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