First Lieutenant PERKINS BARTHOLOMEW

First Lieutenant PERKINS BARTHOLOMEW, was born at New London April 23d, 1841. He resided in that city, employed as a carpenter, until his enlistment in Co. H of the 14th, July 11th, 1862. He was at once made a corporal, then a sergeant, and March 19th, 1864, commissioned as second lieutenant. His promotion to a first lieutenancy came June 16, 1864. He was in every march and engagement of the regiment from the time of his enlistment to his death, which occurred at the battle of Boydton Plank Road, Oct. 27, 1864.

From a sister of the gallant young soldier, we learn that he enlisted from a conviction of duty, and that he was naturally a mild, timid youth. We all know that his courage was proven on so many fields that this revelation of his character shows him to be one of those true heroes who, knowing danger, face it. Lieut. Bartholomew always felt that success would crown our arms, and looked forward hopefully. When mortally wounded and lying in the rifle-pits, where the regiment was compelled to leave him in its rapid movements, he gave his accoutrements to a comrade, requesting him to “keep them” unless “they should engage in a fight the next day. If so, not to encumber himself, but to throw them away.” This touching thoughtfulness for others in his own distress, marks the true unselfishness of an heroic life, and makes us realize how much the war cost humanity.

The last words of the young lieutenant were, “Tell my mother I die like a true soldier, fighting for my country.” The officers of the regiment, in which he was on the eve of promotion to a captaincy, in their resolutions on his death, tenderly spoke of him as “a generous and noble comrade, a gallant and faithful officer, a devoted and self-sacrificing patriot, who fell at the head of his command, fighting in defense of the flag he loved.”