The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-06-21
Close Calls.
How Near Soldier Can Come to Death.


At the battle of Peach Orchard, when Nc
Clellan was making his change Of base,
Michigan infantryman fell to the ground
as if shot stone dead, and was left
lying In heap as the regiment
changed position. The ball which hit
him first struck the barrel of his gun,
glanced and struck button off his coat, tore
the watch out of his vest pocket, and then
struck the man just over his heart, and was
stopped there by song book in his shirt pock-
ct. He was unconscious for three-quarters of
an hour, and it was a full month before the
black and blue spot disappeared.
AT Pittsburg Landing, member Of the
Twelfth Michigan Infantry stopped down to
give wounded man drink from his canteen.
Whlo in this act a bullet aimed at his breast
struck the canteen, turned aside, passed
through the body of a man and buried itself in
the leg of horse. The canteen was split open
and dropped to the ground in halves. ma
At the second battle of Bull Run, as New
York infantryman was passing his plug of to-
bacco to a comrade, bullet struck the plug
and glanced off and buried itself in KNAPP
sack The tobacco was rolled up like ball Of
shavings and carried a hundred feet away.
Directly in line of the ball was the head of a
lieutenant, and had not the bullet been de-
flected he would certainly have received it.
As it was, he had both eyes filled with tobacco
dust, and had to be led to the rear.
AT Brandy Station one of Clusters troopers
had his left stirrup strap cut away by grape
shot, which passed between his leg and the
horse, blistering his skin as if a red-hot iron
had been used. He dsmounted to ascertain
the nature of his injury, and as he bent over,
a bullet knocked his hat off and killed his
horse. In the same fight was trooper who
had suffered several days with toothache. In
a hand hand fight he received pistol ball
in the right cheek. 1t knocked out his aching
double tooth and passed out of the left-hand
corner of his mouth, taking part of an upper
tooth along. The joy of being rid Of the
toothache was so great that the trooper could
not be made to go to the rear to have his
wound dressed
An object, however triflDg, will turn bull
let from its true course. This was shown one
day at the remount camp in Pleasant Valley.
! They had bull pen" there, in which about
| 500 bounty jumpers and other hard cases were
under guard. Once in while one of these
men would make break for liberty. Every
| sentinel in position would open fire, and 1t did
not matter in the least if the man ran toward
| the crowded camp. On this occasion prison.
| er made for the camp, and as many as six
| shots were fred at him without effect. One
| of the bullets entered the tent of captain in
| the Twelfth Pennsylvania Cavalry. He was
| lying down, and the course Of the bullet would d
| have buried it in his chest. Fortunately for
| him, the candle by which he was reading sat
| on stand between him and where the bullet
| entered. This was struck and cut square in
two, and the lighted end dropped to the floor
without being snuffed out. The ball was de-
| hected, and buried itself in the pillow under
the officers head, passed out Of that and
| through his tent, entered one behind it. passed
between two men and brought up against a
| camp kettle.
There is in Detroit to-day man who was
wounded five times in less than ten minutes at
| Fair Oaks. The first bullet entered his left
arm; the second gave him a scalp wound; the
third hit him in the foot; the fourth buried
| itself in his shoulder; the fifth entered his
| right leg. While he was being carried to the
rear the first two men who took him were
| killed. While his wounds were being dressed
an exploding shell almost buried him under
an avalanche of dirt. In being removed far
ther to the rear a runaway ambulance horse
carried him half mile and dumped him out,
and yet to-day he is seemingly hale and hearty
and walks without limp.--Detroit Free Press