George Gaylord Strickland, book-keeper, was born at Stockbridge, Mass., December 8, 1841; enlisted May 31, 1861; at the battle of Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862, he was wounded by a musket ball in the side; was carried to a barn where he remained until Saturday, July 5, when he was taken in a baggage wagon to Richmond, where he arrived Sunday, July 6, and was placed in Libby prison, where he remained until July 18, when he was exchanged and sent North, reaching New York, July 23. He was placed in Bellevue hospital, where he died August 8, 1862. His funeral was attended from the Olivet church in Springfield, on Sunday afternoon, August 10, 1862. His coffin was covered with national emblems and strewn with flowers. The church was crowded with sympathizing friends, to pay the last sad rites of respect to his memory. The Union Guard served as escort. Strickland was a young man of estimable character, and his loss was deeply felt by his surviving comrades.
(From the Westfield News Letter, August 27, 1862)
From dawn the noise of battle rose and fell
Along the slopes of Malvern to the plain,
And now the shattered columns of the foe
Were staggering backward from the last assault,
Chased by the never-flinching, Northern fire.
And as their sullen ranks reeled down the hill,
A shout of victory on the winds came borne,
And from the long blue lines went forth a cheer.
Then, where wert thou, my friend, to whom that sound
Had been the gladdest on the earth below.
For well I knew that when the loudest peals
Knelled to the brave, and thickest lay the slain,
The trust to hear thy country's triumph-cry
Has been thy light of lights, thy leading star;
O fallen hero, 'twas thy funeral dirge.
Transfixed from side to side with deadly pain,
Mangled and agonized, and cast to earth,
One of a thousand clouds; for this went thou.
But why should I sit mourning? He and I
Were mates together in a pleasant school.
We toiled and won together. We were friends.
But when the news of the rebellion came,
He went to fight, while I remained at home,
For which I blame myself. My countrymen,
Let us go forth, we who are stout and young,
For from the hills and lakes of Northern Maine,
Down to the borders where the war goes on,
Echoes a universal cry, To Arms!
Boston, August 16. ALVANIUS
Strickland was with Company F, Springfield City Guards.
Captain Joseph Keith Newell, Historian of the Regiment, ed., "Ours." Annals of the 10th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, in the Rebellion. (Springfield, MA: C.A. Nichols & Co., 1875), p. 510- 511