The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1895-03-07

used to say that he had been through
the Crimean war,-rose and looked of
down into the woods to see, when o
rebel bullet pierced him through the
body. He turned toward his left side,
curled down upon the ground and rocks
and was dead without a word or a
groan.
| heard it reported in after years that
1900 dead rebels were gathered from
before the front of our corps; but there
is no way of knowing. | believe the
official records show that over 5000 Of
them were buried on the field.
There is one fact very curious to me,
which have never seen referred to in
connection with any battlefield, and
which / wish could be explained. The
first vacation l had, Gn July, 1866,
three years after the battle | made
straight for Gettysburg, and went over
all the field where / had been, and a
large part of the rest. Of course | at.
tended especially to Culp's Hill. Then
the breastworks were all lying just as
we had left them, except as they had
fallen down through the weather.
Now this was the fact which / noticed,
that just where | knew men had fallen,
and their blood had flowed out upon
the ground, there skoke berries, which
are plants and berries Of peculiarly
blood-red color, were growing, and they
were not growing anywhere else. For
instance, / could tell exactly where
William Murphy was shot, as he tried
to roll over the log breastwork to our
side, but was taken on the fly, as it
were, by rebel not three rods away,
with a
BULLET THROUGH THE BRAIN,
and rolled back to the other side, and
right out of that spot the skoke berries
were growing luxuriantly that year
(1S66) when was there.
The sight of those blood-red plants
and berries growing right out of those
spots where | knew the blood of my
comrades had been shed three years be-
fore produced very peculiar sensations
in me as walked there alone. They
do not grow there now. Neither in
1883, nor 1886, nor 1893, when l was
there, was there any sign of them to be
seen. What / think is that the plants
did literally grow up out of the blood
that had been shed, and that when the
plants had absorbed it all out of the
earth and exhaled it away through their
plant action they then became extinct,
there being nothing more there for them
to feed upon. | wonder if any similar
fact has been observed by others 2
An incident occurred in the first
charge of that night attack altogether
personal and of a good deal of i'm
portance to me, which l cannot but
think will be interesting to the comrades,
and which they will pardon me for re-
lating.
On my way to Charlottesville pair
of steel breastplates came into my pos
session-by chance, many would say,
let me say providentially- They were
found accidentally, and apparently had
been thrown away. At some time /
heard it said that such plates were in
use covered in vest AT any rate,
here we're the bare plates. AT Gettys-
burg | had them on. The shoulder
supports held them up; my blouse was
buttoned up over them, and the sword
belt buckled around held them firmly
to the body. They Tapped by about an
inch, and probably were intended to do
so.
Now, as | was standing a rod back
from the breastwork, behind an oak tree
some six inches through Gt is there now,
watching to see If the rebs would make
any attempt to come over where we
were, z-z-z-z-
FELT STROKE
in the midst Of my body. and putting |
my hand to the spot / found that the |
breastplates were deeply indented where
they had stopped the bullet.
From the shape of the ground, the
man could not have been more than
three rods away, and nearly or quite in
front The bullet, doubtless mimic,
struck on the edge of the overlapping
plate, bent it back halfinch or more,
then slipped off onto the other plate, and
made hollow quarter of an inch deep
or so, straining the steel visibly for
radius of nearly two inches all around.
But in no place did it crack or sunder
the steel in the least. Had the bullet
gone an eighth of an inch to my right
the point would not have caught on the
edge Of the overlapping plate, but
would have struck only on one plate,
and then it would probably have gone
through.
Now, those breastplates are the hand
Of God to me which saved my life at
al
Often-always, think when 7 tell
anyone the story, / am asked, Didn't
it knock you down." And so an
ticipate the question here, and answer,
It had no tendency that way. There
was not the least punch or push about
it. 1t did not stagger me, or move me,
Or tend to move me, SO far as was con-
scious. But it had very curious effect.
The knob of the boss or bulge, which
came back against me, is about the size
&c a Ji,na kuf tbaro mae xx,oJo ox Al |