Born in Richmond, Jefferson County, Ohio, August 31, 1845. Enlisted February 27, 1864, and mustered March 10, 1864, at Alliance, Ohio, by Capt. Oliver, into Co. G, 52nd O. V. I., and was discharged by reason of disability, May 3, 1865, according to the Adjutant Gen'l's orders. Comrade McFarran was but a boy when he enlisted, and in a time of the year when a change from a good coal fire in the grate to the cold and cheerless camp fires, whose smoke was always towards you, and from the downy feather bed protected by walls and ceiling over head, cheered by a pleasant fire, to a spacious bed, large as earth's terrs-firma, with the starry skies overhead. Do you realize? I think not. Put yourself in his place; bring it home; say to yourself, here am I in a comfortable home and while the winds blow chilly and cold and the rains are coming down I am snug and warm in my bed where the wind and storm can not strike me; then resolve the next day you will take a blanket and for three years you will retire to the College Camps. There upon the cold earth you will lie down to sleep, each night sleeping away while the dews of heaven fall on your upturned face. Your limbs are stiff and numb, day in and day out, and for weeks you keep this up. How long do you think you could endure this usage? How soon would you say, "I can not live this way," and that would certainly be a true prediction. An individual might accustom himself by degrees to the situation and thus prepare himself for exposure and by so doing be less liable to the ills of disease, but sooner or later disease will take possession. These are thoughts thrown in that you may not forget the many hardships endured by your soldiers, and the nerve that was required to stand up under such campaigns. The 52nd O. V. I. was one among the many regiments that had no use for paper collars and silver gloss starch. A well-filled stomach and havorsack, sixty rounds in the box and more within reach, was of far greater value and more to be desired, under the situation, than the gold, glitter and gloss of any easy affluent life. Run up and down their history as you please, you will find their course like the wreck of a steamer on the trackless ocean. After it struck the storm, nothing but wreck and ruin followed in its course. On every battle-field it lost its scores, either killed or wounded, and its decimated ranks wrote high upon the records in letters of blood its brilliant bravery. Upon the headstones, the monuments and the centotaphs in National Cemeteries at Nashville, Chattanooga, Atlanta and others in the churchyards at home, are inscriptions that tell where they were and what they have done while defending the foremost flag of the world, that floats to the breeze of every clime.

Comrade McFarran was with his company when Sherman's march to Atlanta began, and continued on that march until Resaca, Georgia, where on May 14, 1864, they made a charge in which the brigade suffered severly by loss of life and limb. On Monday after the battle, Comrade McFarran, not being able to go farther on account of sickness, was, very much against his will, sent back to the hospital at Chattanooga, Tennessee, whhile the regiment marched for Rome, Ga. The comrade remained in the General Field Hospital at Chattanooga until Aug. 25 and then was sent to Nashville, remaining here about 10 weeks at the Cumberland Hospital, after which the sick were sent further north, to Camp Dennison, stopping at Jeffersonville for three days. The comrade remained at Camp Dennison until April 15, 1865, and was then transferred to Cleveland and mustered out there June 7, 1865. At Chattanooga Comrade McFarran was detailed as Orderly for about seven weeks. He was then taken down with typhoid fever, was taken to Nashville, Tenn., and was there when the rebel General Wheeler made a raid on the place. After arriving at Dennison, he had another turn at the fever. On getting able to go about was detailed on special duty. While here was transferred to Cleveland. Was here detailed as one of the guards around Lincoln's body. Comrade McFarran had much suffering and sickness while in the army, from which he has never recovered. His physical ability was ruined for the remainder of his life, as has been that of thousands of others, who today are suffering from such disability as prevents them from active manual labor.