May 10 1918
To the Tribal settlement came
this letter from the company chaplain:
“Dear Governor Neptune:
Your son gave his young life for freedom on
the day the Armistice was signed. He was in
the last great drive, at the so-called second
battle of Verdun. Tenderly we carried the
bodies to a beautiful spot on the hillside
and laid your boy with ten of his companions
to rest. The entire battalion gathered around
them. The American flag was spread over them,
while touchingly and fitting the band played
‘Nearer, my god to thee.’ After
the Christian service, the army guns salute
was fired and the bugler blew Taps, the call
in the army which summons soldiers to rest.
Just as the service was finished we noticed
3 German officers coming, flying the white
flag of surrender. It was a most fitting close;
the very thing for which your son and his
comrades had given their lives had come to
pass. I am sure that from Heaven they looked
and saw that they had not lived in vain. We
marked their graves with crosses, and the
cemetery with a large white cross that could
be easily seen from a distance, and sent the
exact location to Washington. “That
is a good letter”, was the quiet comment
of Governor Neptune and turned back to re-read
another paragraph of Moses’ last letter.
“I am glad the service flag is raised
and that our people went to Holy Communion
for soldiers in the army. I am proud of my
people; school children and all who help."
From “Passamaquoddy
at the Turn of the Century 1890-1920 Tribal
Life and Times in Maine and New Brunswick,”
Donald Soctomah, 2002.
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