Death of a Young Soldier - Oscar Nichols - 1863

 Oxford Times, April 1, 1863

Another of the young soldiers of the 114th has been obliged to succumb to disease, an enemy far more dreaded and fatal than rebel bullets.  Oscar Nichols, son of Mr. J. Nichols of this village, died at the Regimental Hospital on the 11th inst., of brain fever, after an illness of but two days.  Young Nichols at the early age of nineteen, has laid his life upon the altar of his country.  He belonged to Company "F," whose Captain, commanding, James T. Fitts, writes form Brashear City to his sorrowing friends as follows:

Oscar was a faithful soldier, and a good boy, and one who had not an enemy in the company or Regiment, All speak well of him, and deeply regret his sudden decease.  We buried him today, in a pleasant spot on the shore of the Bay, near the Camp.

To which Surgeon L.P. Wagner adds the following tribute:

Everything for his comfort was rendered him while he lived and his brother O. King took the utmost pains for him, and has prepared a grave in a beautiful spot on the bank of the bay, where rests the remains of as brave and dutiful a soldier as ever served in the cause of his country.  

Oscar was the third son of Mr. and Mrs. Nichols have given to the service of their country, and the sympathy of loyal souls is theirs in this sad bereavement.

"How sleeps the brave who sink to rest, 

With all their country's wishes blessed,

When spring with dewy fingers cold,

Returns to deck their hallowed mould,

She there shall dress a sweeter sod

Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. 

By fairy hands their knell is rung,

By forms unseen their dirge is sung;

There honor comes, a pilgrim gray,

To bless the turf that wraps their clay;

and Freedom shall awhile repair

To dwell a weeping hermit there."