Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-08-25
FELL WHILE cHARelNe.
meath Of a Young Soldier Who Would
nave Been DIshonored Had He Lived

o..,h n n Young Soldier Who Would
u.ve been DIshonored Had He Lived.
.Toward the close Of the rebellion
said a grizzled veteran Of the late war,
Who. strangely enough, never fights bis
battles over again unless he is pressed
/ to do go by friends who were not there,
81 saw a young man die dishonored,
who. believe, was the victim OF
wretchedly unfortunate circumstances.
don't know what his name was and
/ shonld not mention it If did, but he
was not more than seventeen years old,
and he was beside me as we charged
sone Confederate breastworks during
the preliminary skirmishing that pre-
coded the battle of Gettysburg. He
was unrnistakably very much fright
sned. for he had been sent TO the front
with batch Of raw recruits, and this
was the first engagement he had par
ticipated in.
''His face was ashy pale, and more
than once | saw him looking back over
his shoulder. But he held his musket
firmly, and, he and being about the
same height, the point of his bayonet
was in an almost unwavering line with
mine. As / notice this l remember
thinking, This young fellow will make
a good soldier yet If the bullets spare
him.
"The fire was very heavy as we drew
ND to the works and our men went
down by scores. Suddenly | saw the
lad beside me roll over, and several
others observed him falling, for he had
attracted a good deal of attention by
his youth and evident nervousness.
g That fellows fear didn't deceive
him. muttered the man who closed
into his place. His fighting days are
over
1--WE carried the breastworks with
great loss, and there was no more skir
mishing that day. In the evening" sit
ting at the campfire, watching the coffee
boil with the rest of us, was the recruit
whom we had seen, as we supposed.
shot down in the morning. Beyond
some scratches and bruises. caused by
the soldiers i'm the rear trampling him,
he was not hurt at all He told u.s. in
a shamefaced way, that he had tripped
and fallen to the ground, and that he
was unable to get up in time to join in
the attack.
mot one of us believed his story.
We were convinced that he had pur-
posely dropped to get out of the fire.
The officers of the regiment held the
same opinion when they heard of the
matter, and the young man had mar
row escape of being tried by drumhead
court martial and shot for rank COW
ardice that night. He pleaded his case
so earnestly, however that he got the
benefit of the doubt and another chance
THE other chance came the mex
day We were advancing toward Get
tysburg, and again we were ordered tc
charge on some outlying sandworks
from which the rebel marksmen were
harassing us. For the second time the
boy was at my side as we rushed on
and again noticed his pale face anC
compressed lips, though | detected nC
other indication of terror about him.
Brace yourself up, my lad, said
1t will all be over in a minute.
II had hardly spoken when he pitched
forward on his face. He fell exactly a.
he had gone down the preceding day.
al hope he has bullet in him thu,
time, ! said to the man who filed the
gap he had made.
"'If he hasn't he will have before
sundown,' was the grim rejoinder.
"a couple of hours later the dead
body of the boy was found on the
cleared field. He had killed himself.
The shoe and stocking were off one OF
his feet, and his bare toe was pressed
upon the trigger of his empty musket.
The muzzle of the piece was in his
mouth, and the bullet had passed up
ward through his brain. Nearly all
the regiment believed that, in frenzy
of terror, he had thrown himself down
to escape the danger of the moment,
and then, realizing the utter hopeless
ness of his position, had summoned
sufficient resolution to take his own
life. But | always fancied that he
may have tripped twice, and, despair
ing of explaining the cause of his fall
ing the second time, blown out his
brains. Under any circumstances, that
was the wisest thing he could have
done. New York Recorder