The National tribune., 1886-07-29
FREDERICKSBURG.
0Continued from Ist page !

Continued from Ist page.l
their muskets, almost at the same second, so
strangely illuminated their faces, uniforms
and position as TO lend an additional weird
ness TO the gloomy and impenetrahle dark
ness and terrors of that night, while the
rattle of their musketry gave place once
more TO the distressing cries and groans Of
the wounded.
1t soon began to rain, as is generally the
case after any great battle, adding fresh hor-
rors to the field of carnage and aggravating
the terrible suferings of the injured. For
tunately the night was mild for the season,
else hundreds who lay on the ground till
morning unable TO help themselves, would
have perished from exposure The darkness
now offering me its friendship in getting out
OF Confederate musket range, l ayailed my
self of it. Gathering myself up as best /
could, for ] was suffering intense pain,
crept slowly back from the treacherous Con-
federate front, dragging my blanket along
towards the low ground, frequently STUN
bling over the dead bodies of fallen comrades.
The town was in darkness, and how to
reach it, should / make good my escape,
did not know, especially as the canal had TO
be crossed the location of whose bridges /
could not remember. There were no guides
TO the city save few glimmering lights car
ried by some of the ambulance corps on the
outskirts and along the edges of the battle
field, and they were a considerable distance
from nae. However, / continued to gradu-
ally make the distance greater between me
and the stone wall, at times walking and at
others crawling on all fours among heaps Of
the slain, till had almost reached place Of
safety, when my strength gave out and /
sank again on the ground. / had scarcely
done so when another volley of Confederate
musketry came whizzing along, bullet
tearing the heel-tap Of my boot completely
away.
/ lay here about 10 minutes then getting
upI continued the backward movement, and
I finally reached a locality out of range of
| Confederate bullets. Here spread my gum
/ blanket on the wet ground and lay down, in
/ the hope that in some way assistance would
reach me from our men. ! was soon attacked
1 by chills and fever and thirst for water-a
I thirst that no pen nor words could describe.
4 Oh, that burning, consuming thirst, can
never, never forget! lwOuld have given the
world
FOR A CUP OF COLD WATER.
/ My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth
utterance was nearly impossible. / had been
] lAAuE lNAG 4 hnDM uDA nbh lOuEs III "A hAlN VI
stupor, caring little what my fate might be,
when suddenly was aroused by voices in
the rear, in the direction Of the town. This
cheered me up and revived my hope for as
sistance. Then / discovered small light in
! the same direction, moving about from place
( to place, and sometimes almost touching the
1 ground, from which / inferred that il was
some of our men searching for fallen COM
rades. In this was not mistaken.
The night was pitch dark and the rain fell
1 in torrents The light was yet some distance
/ OF, but prayed that lie in whose hands
had left myself would direct the footsteps of
( the men bearing the little star OF hope to
/ where lay. l tried to get up, but my limbs
refused TO do their duty. I was as weak and
/ helpless rs a child, but clung to hope.
I Every minute seemed to be an hour.
1 Sometimes the light appeared not more than
/ 80 yards away, then il would suddenly
vanish and in few minutes reappear farther
off. This was discouraging. Finally my
desire was granted, for in about half an hour
the light was within 20 yards of me, when
/ discovered il TO be lantern carried by a
soldier in blue, accompanied by a single
comrade.
BY this time could hardly speak, owing
to weakness and thirst Fortunately, how
ever, although in a choking voice, sue
ceeded in attracting the attention of these
men, who then cautiously approached where
/ lay, picking their steps, for the night was
dark and wet, the mud ankle deep, and many
Of the dead lay in their path. When near
me recognized the man with the lantern 10
be Serg't Jacob Stretchaboc. of Philadelphia,
and of my own company a. and regiment,
who I always found, like poor Foltz, TO be
a friend 10 me. On reaching my side / said
TO him:
That's you, Stretch, isn't it?"
Not then recognizing my voice, he lowered
the light TO see my face, and then exclaimed
Heavens, it's you, Bill. We have been
hunting for you and FOltz, and some oi
the other fellows that fell, for the last two
hours its now near midnight. Where are
you wOundedr"
To this made no reply at the time, but
! Immediately asked for water to quench nv
burning thirst. His partner, with several
canteens Of the Heayen-giyen liquid sluDg
over his shoulder,
THE VERY SIGHT or WHICH
refreshed ne, then came forward, drew the
cork out Of one Of the canteens and handed
it down to me. i drank it all at one draft
and then another, and oh, how refreshing
and what relief Then i told my friend how
had escaped after dark from the COnfeder
ate front, and how our comrade (FOltz) haC
been killed. The latter story affected him
greatly.
"Well, Bill, said he, how, under heaven
did you get out alive? ] saw you fall, but il
was too hot to get you away when the regi
ment fell back. But come, we must get yor
out Of here. The Confederates are expect d {,
advance before morning, and if they get yol
here you are prisoner"
So saying, the men raised me TO my fee
and helped me 10 lower ground, near a tan
merry. Ii was so dark that none of US knew
exactly where we were. Buthere we stopped
my friend remaTking that he might have
chance soon Of getting me into one Of th,
ambulances then hard at work carrying Ou
wounded into the city. In 10 minute
, several Of them came along and passed by
but not one without my friend asking anC
pleading with the driver 20 stop and take M
another wounded man. But the replies were
ave can't do IL; have more now than W.
can well carry" So the only alternative wa
/ 20 wait a chance, since was too weak {,
} walk, and my friend swore that he woul,
J not leave me till he got me, as he called il
into some coach"
While waiting here my friend asked me /
, j had seen two regiments go down nea
the canal, where they were in line Of battl
in the morning. j did not understand him
! and asked an explanation. j remembered
however, passing a body of troops there
ready 10 clarge when nv re8imenf sveut M