Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-03-27
never again walk a dozen steps, but at

never again walk a dozen steps. but al
my earnest entreaty they gave me an
| other trial. To meet 1t I summoned up
all my strength and resolution. Whers
I was, if l remained. death seemed in
evitable. Thirty miles or so away were
all the comforts necessary to minister
to q sorely wounded body and wearied
brain. l might die on the way-but
then I would be nearer friends. Thus /
reasoned and started.
On lifting me up they steadied my
form until 1 "got my head" so to
speak. was quite dizzy at first. and
then. hopes taper uimly burning. !
started to follow it to death or Wash
ington. I was desperately weak, and
staggered when l walked like a drunk
en- man. With my right hand 1 was
obliged to support my head, and the
paralyzing effects of the bullet and
piece of shell upon my left side retard-
ed locomotion. SO that it required great
caution to keep from falling, and when
once down l knew l could not get up
without assistance. Before leaving the
other prisoners / saw a number of
comrades from my w regiment who
were unable to travel, and babe them
good-bye-some forever. others to meet
again.
A SITHT OF THE SURGEONS.
p From the crest we had vainly at
tempted to take l made my way to the
farm house of the widowD d. gan, where.
beneath the shade of the fruit and
other trees surrounding it, the sur
geons were at work at their bloody vet
merciful trade. 1t was only a trifie
over a mile distant, but it took me all
OF an hour to traverse the intervening
space. Several times I was on the
point of giving out; the exertion Of
walking caused the wound in my neck
to bleed afresh. 1 grew faint-a slight
nausea set in. but the prospects of re-
lief cheered me, and 1 persevered-suc-
ceeded. By this time the wound in nv
neck had become by rapid increase one
fostering mass of maggots, some of
which, eve and anon, went rolling
down inside my clothing, which 1 had
loosened, their cold, bloodless, squirm-
ing bodies producing no agreeable feel
ing as they came in contact with the
bare skin.
I went up to nj of the surgeons and
asked him to dress my wounds. He
Tepulsed me rudely with an oath, which
struck me harder and hurt me more
than did the bullet that came so near
taking my life. His assistant, how
ever, a more humane man. gave me
about two yards of bandage, which I
succeeded IN twisting about my neck in
a manne to somewhat staunch the
flow of blood, keep Off the flies and act
as a supporter.
A BIT OF FOOD.
Then DR.. r. X. Gregory, a pleasant
faced, kind-hearted Confederate sur-
geon Il know his name, for I met and
recognized him several years after the
war was over), gave me a teaspoonful
of brandy and two oyster crackers. /
was ravenous for food, but the hardest
undertaking of my life thus far was my
attempt to swallow those two diminu-
tive morsels. My throat was dry and
fearfully swollen, the muscles Of the
neck and jaw were stiff and intiamed.
1t was only by moistening the crumbs
thoroughly that l finally succeeded in
placing them where they would do the
most good.
l would like to say here that absence
of food and water while I lay on the
field was not through any fault, so far
as l could see, of those having the pris-
oners in charge. The Confederates
were generally kind, but they had
nothing for themselves to eat, and the
guard was not large enough to wait
! Ipnnn oil NJ y vyh@ v,noInI ,r,oko- -
once. Some of us had to wait-others
were Internationally overlooked. ]
vas one of the latter.
PAROLED.
About 2 p. m. l left Dogan's for
Cen~terville, which place it took me four
hours to reach, owing to my pitiful
condition. I me there a friend in
| Colonel, afterward General. Thomas S.
F%lournoy, of the Sixth Virginia Caval-
ry, in charge of paroling prisoners.
Several hundreds of unfortunates, who
had gotten ahead of me, were in line,
when the Colonel espied me, took me
from the rear to headquarters and in
fifteen minutes, with a copy of my pa
role in my pocket, I was on my way to
Alex andria.
IL Vas We'll on toward midnight, i
should Judge. when 1 came near Fair
fax Courthouse, and knowing of a path
that would cut off some distance l
concluded to take it instead of the pike.
l had gotten about half way to where I
would again strike the road when a
sudden 1aintness came over me, and, as
l was walking alongside Of a steep
bank IN my right, l thought I would
lean up against it and take a brief rest.
I did so, but the instant l got out of
the perpendicular dropped all in a heap
in a sort of ditch that ran along the
edge of the path. l tried to get up, but
could not do so. / wallowed around in
the darkness like q wounded animal.
My wound began to bleed afresh and
l thought the daylight would find me
dead.
1 had lain there probably an hour
when l heard footsteps approaching.