Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-02-14
AT CHICKAMAUGA.
A BIT OF EXPERIENCE WHICH TWO
MEN WILL REMEMBER.
What Happened to Federal Artillery
man-MakinS Friends with a Wounded
Confederate - Robbed by Ghouls "a
Close CALM the Swamp.

| Close Cabin the Swamp.
! Miles P. Cook, of Flint, Mich, went to the
front during the rebellion in the Twentieth
Ohio Battery, and had an experience at the
| battle of Chickamauga which he will ever
remember. He says:
! ION the first day of the fight our battery
was charged time after time, but we repulSed
the Confederates each time until about mid
afternoon. A raw regiment was then brought
up to act as support for the battery, and at
the very first charge they fed in wild disor-
| der. We were left stark alone on open
ground, and though we gave them double
| charges Of canister the Confederate lines
swept right up to our guns and over us. l
was shot in the arm and leg, and was left ly
ing on the ground with scores of others when
the guns were drawn of.
"As soon as l could look around me
found that the man on my right. who was
wounded in the hand, shoulder and thigh,
was Confederate He was member of the
Ninth Alabama infantry-one of the charg
ing regiments-and his name was A. f. Car
ter. There were other Federal and Confed-
crate wounded around US, and the ground
was covered with dead men and horses.
and with the roar Of battle around US we be-
came the best of friends. None of the
wounded were removed that night, and early
next day the Shouls began to appear saw
number Of Confederates robbing the dead
and wounded, and by and by member of
Hoods Texan rangers approached us. I had
on pair of new boots Of fancy make, and
as he came up he ordered me to pull them
off. replied that was wounded and could
not do it. He remarked that he would have
them off in jiffy, and he seized my foot
and drew the boot off in rough manner. The
other leg was the wounded one, and as he
grabbed my foot cried out with the pain.
was then braced up against a bank of earth
in sitting position, and the wound had be-
come very painful Carter reproved the
ranger for his want Of feeling, and with an
oath he dropped my foot and picked up a
musket with q bayonet attached
CLOSE CALL.
II believe he meant to kill me, but as he
thrust at me the bayonet passed through my
right hip and entered the earth, pinning me
fast. The merciless Ranger then picked up my
foot, braced one of his feet against my body,
and pulled off the boot. Everything turned
dark to me, although did not lose conscious
ness. He was going away with the boots
under his arm when Carter reached over and
possessed himself of a revolver from q caval-
ryman's holster, and taking careful aim
across my legs, he sent a bullet into the
Rangers back and dropped him dead in his
tracks. l expected we would both be muir
dered for this, but the fellows own comrades
came up and agreed that it served him right.
They raised me up, cleaned the bayonet of ali
dirt, and then pulled it out as carefully as
possible.
Just below us was bit Of swamp, and
Carter, myself and several others managed
to crawl down to it. There was bed of
soft, wet muck into which we burrowed
clear up to our chins, AM We Were there
another twenty-four hours before the Fed
erals came to take us eff the field. Tho mud
bath was doubtless the means of saving our
lives, as it kept the flies away, stopped the
loss of blood, and acted as dressing When
they came to wash me off in hospital the
flesh about my wounds was as white as
chicken meat, and the soreness had nearly
all disappeared. Carter was taken to thu
same hospital, but l never saw him after
ward But for him l shorld certainly have
been murdered by the ranger, and it was he
who revenged me. He may yet be living,
and if so / would give more to receive word
from him than I would to be appointed
member Of the presidents cabinet.-Detroit
Free Press.