The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1864-04-01
After Murfreesboro,
4 Story that has the Disadvantage of
Being True.
sI must mass the lines. ColnneI'

Il must pass the lines, Colonel
i am sorry, my dear madam, to deny you +
request; but our orders cannot be departed
FROM was the answer Of the gray-haired
officer who sat before the camp-table and ad-
dressed young girl who stood just within
the tent.
And can it be possible that men who pro-
tess to have human sympathy can issue such
orders?'
Certainly, young lady. Why not9 The
soldier has every attendance, and the pres
ence Of an amateur nurse could not fail to
irrita'e and trouble him, thereby retarding
his recovery
Colonel, this is no argument, but sophis-
try. have asked permission to pass that l
may seek one whom your own surgeons re-
port as mortally wounded. DO you intend
that he shall die without a friend by his side
who can carry his last message to his far of
home, and to the old mother who will prize
it beyond all other words that will be spoken
to her in this Efe9'
The old man leaned his head upon his
hand to conceal the tears that were trickllng
down his cheeks, but in moment he reused
himself
J The case is Very hard he said, slowly I;
but the good soldier wants only his comrades
about him when. life is going out. Some one
Smong them will bear his dying message.
You must not urge me young lady | am a
soldier and cannot depart from my orders. |
) have no discretion
/ The sirl TUNED away with white face
and clenched hands and walked silently out
from the camp. Many cap was touched
respectfully t. her as she passed, for her er-
rand was known to the soldiers, and how
ever much they have acknowledge the neces-
SHY of the harsh order that shut her away
from the wouLIed man who she sought, there
was many one among them that wo I'D
have lacked tn tirmness Of the old colonel,
when he denied the passiOnately worded
,Iea OF the Jlue-eyed girl vino mad just gone
away.
The smoke of the terrible struggle at Muir
freesboro had not yet cleared away, and tho
week mad pissed away since The day of the
battle, order had not yet been brought from
the terrible chaos. The dead were buried,
hut the living were scarcely vet the cipient
of the care necessary to keep those who were
struggling between death aud life on the
right side. The hospitals were crowded, and
the surgeons knife, that testing steel to
the bravery of tie soldier, was busy in every
ward.
As Invariably occurs Immediately after a
battle. crowds of Civilians. bent on every i'm
aginabe errand, flocked to the camp. Rela-
tiyts seeking the dead and the living; news
mongers, and paper correspondents, anxious
! to pick up anything Of incident to feed the
hungry appetite of the public: peddlers and
camp-iollowerS thieves and gamblers, all in
one heterogeneous mass, sought entrance
within the federal lines. 1t vas this influx
that brought the order under which Eleanor
Price had been denied the privilege OF seek
ing in the hospitals Lieut.. Frank Gordon,
her playmate in childhood, her untlinchng
champion in school days, and aifianced hus-
band in manhood.
In the long roughly constructed shed, i'm
prov!sed for hospital, with dying men on
every side, with horror and disorder, so that
it could not be shut away from the sight, lay
the figure of man, young and with well cut
features, but gaunt and haggard. Above the
husk mat;rass upon which he was stretched
hung the coat that had just been remov.
ed from his body, and upon the shoulder the
well worn aad weather-beaten straps that
showed its owner of the rank of lst 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 that
his wounds, whatever their nature. were
there, No blanket covered his limbs, and
the tightly closed, colorless lips and dimmed
eyes, spoke little hope for the life of Lieut..
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 lacerat-
ed 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 direction, he saw strong men turn
aside their heads and die in very despair
with lesser wounds than his own; and then,
with sickening terror, he sank back upon
his rough and easeless couch, with a prayer
that his spirit might he called while Lis
eyes remained close to the misery around
him.
with letters from Nashville to the gener.
al in command ? Give them to my orderly
and he will give you back the generals an
swer.'
You must excuse me, Colonel, ] am un.
der orders not to let these letters 90 out oi
my hands unless into those Of Gen. Rose.
Grams. If you say l cannot 20 up to
headquarters, then must return and repor,
the fact
ILL., old ala, ol sosnaad tn ..a