Nelson Cross

     DEATH OF GENERAL CROSS.
      HE COMMANDED A FAMOUS
       BROOKLYN REGIMENT
During the Peninsular Campaign and at
  Chancellorsville He Greatly Distin-
     guished Himself--His Record.
           ------------
 The news of the death of General Nelson
Cross at Dorchester, Mass. which oc-
curred recently, will not occasion much
surprise to his comrades in this com-
munity who have known of his failing health
for some time. He was about 75 years old.
The last communication received by any of his
surviving comrades here was sent to General
Peck last year.
 Colonel Cross was born in New Hampshire.
He had four brothers, all of whom took part
in the civil war. Colonel Edward Cross, a
brother, went through the Mexican war, was
colonel of the Fifth New Hampshire and was
killed at the head of his brigade at the battle
of Gettysburg, where two other brothers, Nel-
son and a younger one, were also engaged.
 Nelson Cross was a lawyer by profession, at
one time being a probate judge in Cincinnati.
He was a member of the Ohio legislature
prior to the war and was always an ardent
Democrat. He finally went to Milwaukee,
where he acquired a little property. He set-
tled in New York just as the civil war broke
out. Being an attendant at Henry Ward
Beecher's church, he easily enlisted that dis-
tinguished preacher's support in raising the
First Long Island regiment of volunteers, af-
terward known as the Sixty-seventh New
York.
 Julius W. Adams was the first colonel and
Nelson Cross the lieutenant colonel. Mr.
Beecher's son was lieutenant in Company A
and his half brother, the Rev. James Beech-
er, was the chaplain.
 The state of New York did not encourage
the raising of this regiment, so Mr. Beecher
procured its acceptance by the war depart-
ment at Washington through Simon Cameron,
secretary of war. Colonel Cross became the
[colonel of the] First Long Island regiment of volunteers, af-
ter the first hard battle of Fair Oaks and
Seven Pines. He commanded it at the great
battle on Malvern Hill, the last of the seven
days' fighting. He was also present at Antie-
tam and Fredericksburg, although not ser-
iously engaged. At Chancellorsville he led the
charge that captured Marye's hill, a famous
exploit for the old Sixth corps. He was bre-
veted brigadier general for gallantry. He was
married in early life, leaving one daughter,
who was educated in Germany. His wife and
daughter were living in that country at the
time of his death.