The Death of Lieut. Fisher-Hundreds and thousands will be called upon to mourn the loss of relatives and friends by the casualties in the battles now progressing in Virginia. This was to be expected, and although many had endeavored to so school their feelings as to be prepared for the worst, still when the tidings of the death of a beloved father, husband, son or brother reaches the ears of those who are waiting at home with throbbing hearts, there are none who are able to receive the sad intelligence of the fall of a loved one without tears and mourning. Among the deaths of those best known to us is that of Lieut. John Henry Fisher, Co. I, 138th Regiment, P.V., brother of Major B. Frank Fisher, of the Signal Corps, and son of the Rev. P.S. Fisher, of Sellersville, Bucks county.
In the summer of 1862, Lieut. Fisher was active in his exertions to raise a company for three years or the war, but he did not succeed in raising the entire number. He therefore took the men raised by him to Harrisburg, and had them incorporated into a company with a number of men raised by Capt. Feather, of Montgomery county, and were mustered into the 138th Regiment, P.V., as Company I, and have been in service since August of that year.
During the month of March last Lieut. F. obtained a short leave of absence, and reached Doylestown while his brother Captain B.F.F. was here to deliver a lecture for the benefit of the Ladies' Aid Society. After his escape from Libby prison, the brothers met for the first time in nineteen months. The time spent together was short, as the Captain had to report at Washington the next day. Lieut. F. returned to his regiment where, as from the first, he performed all the laborious duties incumbent upon him with cheerfulness. He was a good soldier, obeying the commands of his superior officers strictly, and performing all his duties with fidelity. By his suavity and conciliatory manners he won for himself many warm friends in the regiment, and was endeared to all his companions by whom he was held in high regard, and we deeply feel and mourn his loss. Lieut. F. was born on the 23rd day of July 1842, and had not reached the years of manhood when he entered the military service of his country. He fell in the discharge of his duty, gallantly leading his men in action, on the 5th of May 1864, aged 21 years, 9 months and 13 days. He was a courageous and noble youth. But what is of far more importance, he has left that testimony behind that warrants his friends in believing that he was a God-fearing man, and endeavored to lead a Christian life, and that in his death the country lost not only a true patriot, but a Christian soldier.
The following is an extract from the last letter he wrote his mother. It is an evidence of his piety.
The army is in motion. In reply to your kind letter, I am thankful that I have Christian parents to advise me in all things useful to me both in this life and to that which is to come, and I hope that your prayers as well as mine may be answered. I commit myself to Him who is the giver of all goodthings, and hope that he may guard me through this life and when death comes he may receive me in his heavenly mansions where I shall praise and glorify him through all eternity. What a consolation!
Your affectionate son. John.
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