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[121] in season for the ensuing campaign, and fought in the battles of Chancellorsville, Beverly Ford, and Gettysburg. Rising in rank by regular promotion to fill vacancies, he was commissioned First Lieutenant, November 1, 1862, and Captain June 6, 1863. Colonel R. G. Shaw expressed to the Governor of Massachusetts a desire to have Captain Fox for the Major of the Fifty-fourth (colored) Regiment. But this fact was not known until the classmates and friends had both fallen. Had they lived, and had the promotion been offered to Captain Fox, his belief in the policy of emancipation and in the capacity of the negro as a soldier would probably have induced him to accept it, notwithstanding his strong attachment to the Second Massachusetts. In his letters he made but few references to his own feelings, none whatever to his conduct in times of peril, and declined to dwell upon the horrors of war. He left, as had always been his wont, his actions to speak for him; and it was from others, not from himself, that those who were most interested in his well-being and his well-doing, learned of unswerving fidelity. His scholarly tastes were never weakened, and it may be almost said that his scholarly pursuits were never intermitted. He asked to have sent him, whenever opportunity offered, standard books, arguments on the grave questions of the day, and works on government. His Horace and his Shakespeare were always a part of his accoutrements. Whatever anticipations he may have had, should his life be spared, bore reference to his chosen profession; but they never made him impatient or discontented, or caused him to shrink from the obligations of the present. It was his way to give himself wholly to the special work on hand. Writing on the eve of an expected movement, and referring to a wish he had entertained for a leave of absence, he said, ‘I have little hope or desire to get home now.’ His ability, coolness, and determination as a soldier were shown in the closing scenes of his service in the field. On the
Sever and Francis, 1866.
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