Clarksville evening chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn) 1886-1890, 1888-11-01
WOUNDED UNTO DEATH.
An Incident III inc Battle Of Fair Oaks
'.norrible War"

An Incident M inc Battle Of Fair Oaks.
..nerrible War"
A battle is not always a whirl of con-
fusion and nproar. with men firing at will
or at random. At Fair Oaks when we
swept down in the gray Of morning on
Casey's division we found two-thirds of
it unprepared for our reception. was
sergeant in my company, and as we
began firing / noticed federal sergeant
of my own rank displaying the utmost
energy in rallying the men around him
to check us, Some of our men noticed
him as well and two or three called out
that he looked near enough like me to be
brother. BY his own individual efforts
he rallied enough men to check US tenn
porarily, but after a few minutes we
drove them again and were in the Federal
camps. Then our lines broke and each man
fought for himself. had singled out the
sergeant and fired twice at him, and twas
fact that he had also singled me out
and fired at me alone. We kept adj
vancing slowly, and by and by, as we
crowded them from their shelters, got
q fair view of the sergeant. For mo-
ment / forgot that there was any ons
else in all that battle. had raised my
gun when he wheeled and raised his, and
we both fired together. went down
like log, having received his bullet in
the right shoulder, and for two hours
Rugged the earth beside log to escape
being hit again by the missiles of friend
or foe.
When the fury of. battle had passed on
was lame and stiff, and as the location
was strange to me, and did not know
whether we were still advancing or in
retreat, l could not make my way off the
field. could not tell front from rear,
nor was there ono chance il ten of find
ing a field hospital After pulling my
self up, and holding to tree for a few
minutes, felt better and advanced to
the spot where had last seen the Federal
sergeant. / found him lying on his back.
My bullet had struck him in the side and
he was fatally hit. AS knelt down be-
side him he recognized me and said;
"You have given me my death
wound"
"But you sought to kill me, I pro-
tested, in extenuation.
eyes, fired AZ you. Some Of the
men said you loalcl like rlc. and / felt
desire to kill rou."
'Iet us be ends, p" / said. as I knelt
beside him. II can use ono hand and
arm. and perhaps can stop the bleed
ing"
at is too later he whispered.
So it was. lie had lost II great guam
tity of blood, and it was still pouring out
and sinking away into the black soil of
the forest. AS my hand touched his he
grasped it and said;
''We werc enemies, Letus be friends.
Give me water.
held my canteen to his lips until his
thirst was satisfied, and then sat beside
him and held his hand. and watched the
shadow of death coming nearer lie lay
with his eyes closed for long time, and
at last whispered:
Tell Mary and the children I am
comingr
My heart smote me rs 7 thought Of
tho wife and children who would never
SEQ him agaia--of tho black pail Of sor-
row which would settle down over u
happy household.
And tell father and mothor!' he
StiolGtls llstNG llGui dllA NpAilO w WV
old home to meet me-.
And there was father-and mother
AMI brothers and sisters. And my
bullet would bring tears and sobs and
walls aRt: mourning. And the sl.t,sl.ia,
of life woul SO out OF many hearts for
months and ycars-perhaps forever.
prayed him over and over to forgive me,
and as death came nearer dared not
look away from his pale face for fear
that should meet the accusing chances
Of widow and orphans through the drift
ing smoke of battle. As death finally
came he clutched my hand with tlrmer
grip, looked into rly eyes with a last
effort and family whispered:
1T is war, horrible war! Let us be
friends! God bless Mary and the chill
drenw - "Ex-Rebcl" in Detroit Free
Press.