The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1885-12-31

ana me were the enemy. tsWaa riddled
with shot and slone. The M vss on
pressive: looked around for cooler
spot Near at hand VS. . tree with
sprouts growing out around II : ledge of
rocks bedded with ieavea. SLOWLY I
crawled around and laid doxA Ia q hol.
low OF the rock in the shade. Here vas
aslight movemsns Of the IL, cool and
refreshing. Thought of snakes when /
got IN, but had left my belt, sword and
pistol where / lay FIRST. was Just en-
Joying as much az could The cool breeze
and bed Of leaves when espisd FEEDER.
al straggler coming througk the woods.
de saw my weapons, stopped, then dis
"Where are YOU wounded pr he
asked.
told him as well as could.
Have you any greenbscks p he de-
"None."
81 will see."
He kneeled down and beean TO search
my pockets. / have since ahoaxht per-
haps it was well that mxI pons warn
out of reach. WssAs - go
loss of blood my indignation made me
forget pain. He took my pocketbook,
watch, some letters, knife, which had
been presented to me in 1859, plain
gold ring which had worn for many
years, and my nice new SLOUGH hat, leav-
ing his old battered hat behind as he de
parted.
"A few moments later another Federal
soldier came up. He was an Irishman.
He did not want to rob me. He inquired
all about my injuries, and finding that 1
was suffering from thirst, went to spring
three quarters of mile away for some
water. A group of Averill's cavalry
came up. They ranged around me in a
seml-clrcle, and inquired about our com.
mand, numbers, etc. [ avoided giving
any information that would be of any ser.
wee to them. Then they began to see
how desperately was wounded, and how
much | was suffering. They looked at
my bloody sleeve lying by my side, saw
my bleeding leg, and then began convers-
ing with each other. While they were
something moving in the dead leaves
among the rocks above my head. tried
to persuade myself that it was ground
mouse, but noticed that it approached
with "A sliding motion. It was a snake
The reptile glided past my ears, up my
temple and across my forehead, and stop
ped in the sprouts, its tail hanging down
near my face.
"'Pease come and Kill! the snake, and
not let it bite me-" 1 called to the SOL
diers
"They looked around and down at me
in amazement, and then at each other,
evidently thinking that | was deirious.
| called out again, and big, young fel-
low bent over me and saw the snakes
tail hanging from rock among the
leaves near my face.
"There is a snake boys, sure enough"
he cried
The soldiers gathered around to kill
it. l thought the reptile would turn and
bite me. raised myself to a sitting pos
ture and begged Of soldier:
"Please stand over me aaa hold mp my
head so it can't bite me p
" He complied good-naturedly, and it
was great relief to have him stand there
and hold my head with his brawny hands.
When the snake was killed it was found
to be large moccasin."
General" was asked at this point,
"were you not unconscious during this
trying ordeal?'
'Only once; that was when the sur
geons had me stretched on a table made
of a door and under the influence of
chloroform. When l awoke, they had
cut off my arm close to my shoulder. not
even leaving a stump, and had my leg
dressed"
How did you manage to live through
it all p
81 think it was nerve; there wasn't
anything else left"
"Did you ever recover the articles
stolen from your"
Il told Surgeon Morris about my ex-
perience, and he in turn related it to the
Federal Colonel, who recovered my
watch"
Gen. Lilley has recovered the use Of
his leg, and only an empty sleeve re-
mains to recall his experience on the bat
tlefeld near Winchester