To Capt. French, now absent on military duty, the events of this day, sir, shall be faithfully transmitted, and I can well imagine how his manly heart will overflow with gratitude. The perils and privations he endured, the pain and anguish of his wound, will be forgotten in the joy of this event--in the knowledge that the Legislature of his beloved State, with a magnanimity alike honorable to themselves as to him, have placed in his hands this mute but eloquent certificate of brave deeds in his country's service.
In accepting for him this evidence of the regard in which New Jersey holds his bravery, in the presence of her assembled representatives, and of this bright and beautiful array of her mothers, wives, and daughters, I pledge myself to you, sir, her chief Executive Magistrate, that my brave young friend will treasure it as the proudest gift of his life--that its keen and polished blade shall suffer no stain from his dishonor--that in peace he will guard it with a soldier's fidelity, in war defend with it the honor of his country--unsheath it never in an unholy cause--and part with it only when he shall be laid at rest "beneath a soldier's sepulcher."
Presented by the State of New Jersey to Lieut. Samuel G. French, of the third Regiment, United States Artillery, for brave and gallant conduct displayed in the battles of Palo Alto, Reseca de la Palma, and Monterey. Subsequently distinguished at Buena Vista, and promoted to the rank of captain.
AEQUM EST MILITEM INTREPIDUM HONORE AFFICERE.
And so my good friend Mr. Thompson relieved me from the embarrassment of returning thanks, publicly, for the sword delivered by the Governor.
While on this subject I will here remark that this sword and the former one were taken from my summer home in Woodbury, N. J., in the absence of the family, and with all personal property and realty sold by the United States marshal at public outcry under the confiscation act of 1862.[16] Were the proceeds covered into the treasury?
I arrived in Washington during the winter of 1849-50, and made a report of the expedition that was published by the government as I have stated. The Quartermaster General, or the War Department, kept me all the year 1850 in Washington, or within call, for any special duty required.