| Funeral of Capt. Jorgensen at Leominster.
The funeral of the late Capt. H. P. Jorgensen of the 15th regiment took place in Leominster on Thursday afternoon, July 23. The occasion called together one of the largest assemblages of people from that and the neighboring towns ever congregated there. Worcester was represented by the mayor, members of the city council, the German Turners, and others, the State Guard along with the Cornet Band performing escort duty. Among the officers of other regiments present were Col. Sprague and Lieut. Col. Studley of the 51st, the pall bearers were composed of past captains and lieutenants of the 15th. there was a numerous attendance of past members of the 15th, mostly belonging to Co. A., and appearing in the uniform of the Leominster Artillery, Co. A. of the old 9th militia regiment. they numbered about thirty, under the command of Lieut. Polly. The State Guard took the cars at Lincoln square station, marching thence from the city hall to tale the 11 1/4 train. On the arrival of the train at Leominster, at about half past twelve, a procession was formed at the depot, and marched to the Leominster House in the following order: The State Guard, accompanied by the Worcester Cornet band; city government of Worcester; the German Turners’ Association, numbering about thirty, with their banner; Col. Sprague and Lieut. Col. Studley with other military gentlemen present; and citizens of Worcester. At the Leominster House a liberal collation was provided for them, by the citizens of Leominster. The chief marshal of the day was Col. Chas. H. Merriam, with he following assistant marshals: N. D. Hawes, D. B. Looke, G. Lathrop, F. W. Whitney. From the hotel the procession marched to the Unitarian church, where the funeral services were held. The coffin was draped in the American flag , and covered with a profusion of wreaths and boquets on each side. In the pulpit were four clergymen, representing the different religious sects of the town, who joined in the excercises. The church was crowded to its utmost capacity. The services were commenced by the Rev. Mr. Parker, of the orthodox (Congregational) church, who read a portion of scripture. he was followed in a prayer by Rev. Mr. Bailey, Methodist. The sermon was preached by rev. Mr. Fay, Unitarian, who took his text from Exodus 21:23---“Thou shall give life for life.” A most admirable discourse it was, and most earnestly and attentively listened to. It was an elaborate and truthful exposition of the great principles on which the action of a government must be based, in order to be prosperous, he disregard of which inevitably brings ruin upon nations which violate it. It was a disregard of the great principle of freedom. and sanction of the principle of slavery, in the action of our government , hitherto, he contended, which had brought the present evils of war and bloodshed upon us, and we could get out of it only by eradicating its cause---rooting out slavery. It was a defense of this great principle of freedom, against the usurpation of the slave power that Jorgensen fell, regretting that he had not another life to give for the salvation of his adopted country. It was the life of men like him, acting like him, which was to save the country. The great principle actuating him, was to fight for freedom of all everywhere, and he crowned his noble creed by the sacrifice of his life in the sacred cause of universal freedom. We understand that the discourse will be printed. It was followed by a prayer by Rev. Mr. Watson of the Baptist church, and then by the singing of “The Lords Day” by the German singing society of this city, composed of intimate friends of the deceased. This concluded the exercise at the church. The procession was then reformed and marched to the cemetery,, about three quarters of a mile from the village, a large number of citizens of Leominster and vicinity , in carriages and on foot, bringing up the rear. At the grave, after the remains were lowered, “Farewell” was sung by the German Quartette and three volleys were fired by the State Guard. The pall bearers were Capts. Forehand, Wood, Bartlett, Howe, and Gale, and Lieuts. Goddard, Fuller, Staples, Frazier and Dudley, late of the fifteenth regiment. |