Macon County NcArchives Obituaries.....Siler, Jesse W. , Lieut. November 7, 1862
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Carolyn Shank Carolynshank@msn.com July 21, 2007, 11:13 am

The Standard of Raleigh, Jan. 21, 1863
The Standard of Raleigh, Jan. 21, 1863
   LIEUTENANT JESSE W. SILES, was born in Macon County, North Carolina, June 
29,1838, and died in the Battle at Gains' Cross Roads, November 7, 1862, in 
the 25th year of his age. He was born of a devoutly pious mother, raised by 
indulgent parents, and surrounded with all the means of ease and comfort. But 
when the Northern Government made the first attempt to force upon the South 
the most flagrant violations of the Constitution and crush out the rights of a 
free people, and for that purpose called upon North Carolina for her quota of 
seventy-five thousand troops, young SILER was amongst the first to volunteer, 
and became a member of the first company raised in his native county -- "The 
Jeff Davis Guards." He remained at his post in this Company (16th Regiment, 
North Carolina Troops) through the memorable campaign in Western Virginia, and 
until the reorganization of the Army, when he joined the Company of CAPT. THAD 
P. SILER (1st. N.C. Cavalry) and was elected Lieutenant.
  LIEUTENANT SILER had been a student of both Emory and Henry College and the 
University of North Carolina, and was a respectable scholar. He was generous 
and liberal -- always ready to divide the last bisquit and share the hardships 
and responsibilities of the camp with a fellow-soldier.
   He was true to the South -- brave and unflinching in her defence, and while 
skirmishing with the enemy at Gains' Cross Roads and some distance in advance 
of his squadron, he received the fatal shot. Seeing him fall, some of his men 
ran to him, when he pointed significantly to the enemy, and without speaking, 
died in a few minutes.
   Thus passed away a young man of fine person, fine mind, generous impulses, 
and in the early vigor of manhood -- a martyr to the cause of constitutional 
rights -- the liberties bequeathed to us by our noble ancestors -- a cause 
that has for its ultimate perpetuation of the franchises of the ballot-box and 
the priceless blessings of civil liberty. C.D.S. 

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