“In Testimony of … Their Patriotism and Heroic Devotion to Duty”

Among the 61st killed at the Battle of Peachtree Creek on July 20, 1864 were Sergeant James Grafton and Privates James Richards and John Jones of Company H.  Another member of Company H was then lost July 31 when Private Michael McCluskey was killed outside Atlanta.  All four had enlisted in the 61^st between January and March 1862 in Bellaire, Ohio as the regiment recruited in Belmont County.  To honor their comrades and the sacrifices they made, the surviving members of Company H passed the following resolution that was published in the Belmont Chronicle August 25, 1864: 

At a meeting of the members of Company H, 61^st Regiment, Ohio Vet. Vols., in their Camp near Atlanta, Georgia, on the 11^th day of August, 1864, the following was proposed, and unanimously adopted:

In the inscrutable dispensatiens[sic] of an all wise Providence, joy and sorrow are ever mingled, while we feel to rejoice at the gallant and glorious conduct of our comrades in the 20^th Corps, who were the chief actors in the engagement of the 20^th ult., in  the battle of Peach Tree Creek, before Atlanta, we are at the same time called upon to mourn the loss of four of our immediate companions, viz: Sergt. J. W. Grafton, young, intelligent, noble and patriotic, Privates James D. Richards, John Jones and Michael McClasky, all brave men, and good soldiers, have laid down their lives, at the call of duty, as the highest and last sacrifice they could offer upon their country’s altar.  In testimony of regard for their patriotism and heroic devotion to duty, be it, resolved,

1^st, That no language of ours can portray the deep sympathy we entertain for the memory of our departed heroes; (for heroes they were, no less, than though they had been adorned with all the tinsel and trappings of high official rank) – they were among the first to espouse their country’s cause, and having offered their all in support of “Liberty and Union, one and inseparable,” nobly fell on the field of battle while struggling manfully in defence[sic] of these great principles, vouchsafed to us by the Fathers of the Republic.

2d, That their heroism will be imperishable in the memory of their comrades and friends, who shared with them the perils and dangers of the battle field, as well as the social intercourse and companionship of camp life.

3d, That we mourn with the relatives and friends of the deceased in their sad bereavement, and tender to them the sympathy which their surviving comrades of the company all feel, but which no language of ours can properly express.

4^th, That the BELMONT CHRONICLE be requested to publish the above, and a copy of the same be forwarded to the relatives (of) the deceased.