The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-07-10
KEGS had exploded it. That was the vol

KEGS had exploded 1t. That was the vol
cano.
"As I look back I'm not sure but the
chance explosion Of my ammunition
wagon saved what was left Of me and
my battery. The smoke swept down and
covered us up like q fog. The Yankees
ceased firing on us. They probably
thought we were wiped of the face Of
the earth in the explosion As the smoke
drifted on, while it became clear about
the battery, it hung like a blanket be-
tween us and the enemy and acted the
part of a shield. The Yankees couldn't
zee us, so they didn't shoot.
1.-TWO Of my men came along and
Of immediate harm.
Are you hurt, captain?' asked one.
II told him couldn't tell. That was
the extent Of my information.
He tore open my coat and vest. NV
shirt was white, and a for powder
stains and the general CRIME of battle it
was white still. Not a drop Of blood
Redeemed it. 1 held up my left boot.
Pull off that boot I said.
The boot, a high cavalry sort, came
OH. Not a twinge Of pain, not a color
Of blood.
AT this point I broke into a perspi-
ration. A fear seized me, the like Of
which has never overcome me since.
Had l tainted away in the midst of bat
tie and i'll view Of two armies? 1 felt no
wound, was torn by no pain. 1t came
over me like some dream of horror that
I was unhurt and had tainted, and that
in the sequel Of the story l would be
branded a coward from one end Of the
val to the other wherever soldiers built
a campfire.
Il held up the right boot to be re-
moved. "A cupful of blood ran out. I
was never so glad to see anything in my
life. l would not have taken gold for a
single drop Of it, such was the relief it
brought. l had been pierced through the
ankle by a rifle ball.
when night fell, while we still held
our lines, we were whipped. 1t had be-
gun to rain, with a sad, hopeless driz-
zle that took the heart ont Of a man. |
was lying on some blankets in one cor
ner of a negro cabin. Over in another
corner, under a blanket, lay my dearest
friend, dead. All about were wounded
men. The doctors had turned the place
into a hospital. At last a doctor whom
l knew came in.
"'Never while I'm alive I replied.
I'm too young to talk about going
through life on one leg
"Then he told me the army would
have to retreat that night that he had
no ambulances, no means Of transporta-
ton. The wounded, including myself,
would have to be left behind. They
would be prisoners to the Yankees.
"All at once like a landslide, I
thought of Butler and that newspaper
account Of my firing ON the gunboat aft
er it had surrendered. l made sure But
Ter would hang me like a dog, onee he
got hands ru me. 1t was at this juncture
when determined he shouldn't get me.
I was as strenuously against hanging as
against amputation.
1--WE were on an old sugar plantation.
Before the fight I'd seen some rough,
two wheeled sugar carts. I made them
hustle about and get me a mule, a negro
and a sugar cart. They bandaged my
leg and put me in. The last thing the
doctor did was to give me a two ounce
bottle of morphine and show me how to
take it. Then he said 'Goodby,' and I
could see that he thought it was forever.
He probably figured that if the Yankees
didn't kill me the morphine would.
"All that night, all the next day, all
the next night that rough cart jolted Oh
through the rain. For a whole SO hours
I lived OH morphine. At last we got to
Shreveport. When I was lifted out of
the cart, my ankle was swollen to ele-
phantipe size. But l escaped Butler, and
I had not tainted away in battle, and
these two reliefs almost made the rest
easy. l got back into Texas, and at last
was well again. AS soon as I could sit
in a saddle l was back with my battery
again in time to take part in a campaign
against General Canby-who was after
ward killed by the Modoc Captain Jack
in New Mexico. We left Texas with
over 5000 men, and on our return eight
months later mustered fewer than
|. o '-WaShinOton Star