Weekly Trinity journal. [volume] (Weaverville, Calif.) 1857-1972, 1864-03-12
TRINITY JOURNAL.
AFTER hUpPP fFeRopo.

sfoar IHAriA 9HE plsADvAyTAeE OF B.ISc TRpE.
- | must pass the lines, Colonel"
g | am sorry, my dear madam, to deny your
request: but our orders cannot be departed
from, was the answer of the gray-haired othcer
who sat before the camp table and addressed
young girl who stood just inside the tent
- And can it be possible that men who profess
to have human sympathy can issue such orders
- Certainly, young lady. Why not? The
soldier has every attendance, and the presence
OF an amateur nurse could not fail to lrrltate
and trouble him, therefore retarding his recov-
cry.
g Colonel, this is argument, but sophistry.
have asked permission to pass that may seek
one whom your surgeons report as mortaily
wounded Do you intend that he shall die With
out friend by his side who carry request
to his far-off home, and to the cid mother who
will prize it beyond all other words that Will be
spoken to her in this life?
The old man leaned his head upon his hand
TO conceal the tears that trckling down
his checks, but in a moment he reused himself
q The case is very hard, he said slowly
q but the good soldier wants only his comrades
about him when life is going out Some one
among them will bear his dying message You
must not urge me young lady am soldier
and cannot depart from my orders have no
discretion
The girl turned away with white face and
camp. Many cap touched respectfully to
her as she passed for her errand known to
the soldiers, and however much they may have
acknowledged the necessity Of the harsh order
that shut her away from the wounded man whom
she sought, there was many one among them
that would have lacked the frmness of the old
Colonel, when he denied the passionately word
ed plea of the blue-eyed girl who had just gone
away.
The smoke of the terrible struggle at MurfreeS-
boro had not vet cleared away and though
week had passed away, since the day of the bat
tie, order had not yet been brought from the
terrible chaos. The dead were buried but the
living were scarcely yet the recipient of the
necessary to keep those who were struggling be-
tween life and death on the right side The
hospitals crowded, and the surgeon knife,
that testing steel to the bravery of the soldier,
was busy in every ward.
As invariably occurs Immediately after a bat
tile, CROW ds of civilians, bent every imagin-
able errand, focked to the camp. Relatives
seeking the dead and the living news-mongers.
and correspondents, anxious to pick up some
thing of incident to feed the hungry appetite of
the public peddlcrs and camp followers, thieves
and gamblers, all in heterogeneous mass,
sought entrance within the Federal lines. 1t
was this influx that brought the order under
which Eleanor Price had been denied the privil-
egc of seeking in the hospitals Lieutenant Frank
ing champion in school days, and atlianced hus-
band in manhood.
In the long, roughly reconstructed shed, impro-
vised for Il hospital, with dying men on every
side, with horror and disorder, that it could
not be shut away from the sight lay the figure
of a man, young and with well cut features, but
gaunt and haggard. Above the husk mattress
upon which he was stretched hung the coat that
had Just been removed from his body. and upon
it the well-worn and weather-beatcn straps that
showed its owner of the rank of First Lieuten-
ant. He had been Invested of no clothing except
the coat, and the gray army shirt was open upon
the breast, revealing the fact tha, his wounds,
whatever their nature, were there. No blankets
covered his limbs. and the tightly closed, color
less lips and dimmed eyes, spoke little hope for
the life of Lieutenant Frank Gordon. Five days
he had lain this way, trembling upon the verge
of eternity, and pronounced by the attending
surgeon past recovery. What little could be
done in the fearful crOwding of thousands of Ia
cerated men upon the hands of the attendants,
and the deficiency Of hospital aid, had been
done, but the care to smooth the path Of death
was not there. Right and left, and in every dl-
rection, he strong men turn aside their heads
and dia in very despair, with lesser wounds than
his own and then, with a sickening terror, he
sail. hack upon his rough and comtortless couch
with prayer that his spirit might be called
while his eye remained closed to the misery
around him.
- With letters from Nashville to the General
in command? Give them to my orderly, and he
will give you back the Generals answer.
- You must excuse me, Colonel, am under
orders not to let these letters go out of my hands
unless into those Of General Rosecrans. If you
say cannot 90 up to headquarters, then must
return and report the fact.
The old Colonel seemed consider q moment
and eyed the young officer who stood before him
well over. before he answered.
Il = III
one, but can see that these orders extend to
an officer in the service bering dispatches.
think you may go up %hat did You say the
was %
Smith Gordon, Twelfth Michigan at YOUR
service
Gordon Gordon I've heard that name be-
fore, think. Orderly, haven't we a Gordon
with us q
Lieutenant Frank Gordon. on staff sir
Shot in breast, sir. Died this morning in hos
pital No. ,, sir, answered the orderly, with the
sen:entousness of a veteran.
'Ah-h-h, yes" responded the Colonel, slow
". Il remember. Halo, Lieutenant, what's
the matter? You look pale You re not fright
ened at the idea of a man dying in the hospital
are you? Here orderly. drop of whisky for
the Lieutenant. Maybe you VIC never been under
fire youngster; if it 5 so-you re eXcuSable-its
dirty business. Take swallow of whiskey
it II do you good. Its none of your Internal
commisSary stuff. Won't take any. hey Well,
don't know but you are right. Whisky is
bad thing in the long run Shall send my or
derby up with you? No Very good, ii you
think YOU can find the way. You look rather
young for this kind of business. Good morn
ing"
And the young man took his way alone in the
ERECTION of headquarters, until he came to
turning of the street that hid him from the eyes
that were looking curiously outtrom the Colonel
tent, then he struck off in an entirely new d.
rection, stopping or two soldiers whom he
met by the way. to ask questions of the way.
Within an hour afterward, he presented him
self before the attending surgeon of Hospital
No. ..
Doctor, is Lieutenant Frank Gordon buried
yct?'
- Buried % questioned the doctor.
% He died. believe, this morning If his
body still remains here, doctor, should like to
see it,"
Buried?p the doctor queried again. II
don think he IS dead yet. Lieutenant. We don
bury anybody here until they dead. sir,
though we don't give them much chance after
-