The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-11-16
BURIED a WHOLE DAY. !.

t y ILL., a.s5s1' ssztEt7sE
BURIED A WHOLE DAY.
Sensations of Man Under . Burden of
Sand and Timbers. n.
The funeral of Joseph Nelson took
place in Oakland lately, and when
the coffin was lowered into the grave
he was buried for the second time,
says the San Francisco Examiner.
The first burial was twenty-seven
years ago, when he was entombed
alive at the capture and explosion of
Fort Fisher, when he was buried in
the debris for thirty-six hours be-
fore he was found, and then he was
dug out for dead -, &
Joseph Nelson was then a lad of 21,
volunteer in Company F of the Six
teenth New York regiment and at
tached to General Benjamin F. But
ler's division. He was at the storm
ing of Fort Fisher under General
Ames. with feet under the COM
mand of Admiral Porter. Fort Fisher
| was captured, and when it was evac-
uated by the Confederates the maya
zine was fired, and when the Union
forces took possession the fort was
blown into the air and the Union
troops with it. Mr.. Nelson was
buried many feet under the ruins, and
it was thirty-six hours before he was
found.
He was paralyzed from the burial,
and became sufferer from sciatic
| rheumatism for his entire life from
| the effects of the shock and exposure.
He never recovered, but was for a
time able to perform the duties of
conductor on light run on the
southern Pacific railroad.
MI. Nelson was not always willing
to tell of his unusual experience of
being buried alive for such a length
of time. He was very graphic in his
account, however, and this is the
way he told it shortly before his
death:
1T all seemed like night mare, or
the things one fancies while in
fever. Fort Fisher seemed to be on
top of me with all the guns directed
at me. I could neither move nor
speak. Slowly began to grow cold,
so cold and numb that l began TO
wonder if I were dead. It began at
my feet and crept up through my
limbs and up my body until it seemed
to clutch at my heart. I thought
that it was death itself-but I could
hear noise. It was very human
noise. and sounds that told me only
too plainly that I was still alive-the
cries of the dying and wounded from
the battle and the explosion. They
we're over me and around me-cries
that made my already chilled body
grow colder | could hear them
everywhere, it seemed to me, the
cries Of those in greater pain than L,
for they were wounded and mangled,
while IL was only cold.
Il was buried up to my shoulders
in the heavy sand of the breastworks
but my head was free. Over it some
timbers and rocks had become
crossed and TANNED, and they had
formed roof over my head. This
did not know at the time. l could
only feel the terrible cold that be-
numbcd me, for the pressure of the
sand around by body drove the
blood back to my heart and left me
without feeling. 49,,
> Il could not move, my arms were
buried in the sand and l was abso
, lutely pinioned l could breathe ani
that was all Then there came :
great pain in my head. It seemed
as if it would burst and still / coul6
do nothing. Twas helpless. I hard
ly knew whether was alive or not
I was conscious for could hear tit
cries OF the wounded, but that wa:
all / knew save that I could no
move and that was cold.
The fort blew up at o'clock il
the morning, and it was the follow
ing day before [ was found and dus
out, and all that time I was con
scious and helpless
!, When Mr.. Nelson was found he wa
taken to the hospital at Wilmington
N. c., but he never fully recovered
from the injury to his spine, ani
,, during the greater part of his lif,
!, walked on crutches. His wife dice
before he did, and he left a son ant
, daughter 1880.