The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-05-26

The hospital was 4 little village of
tents scattered about among the trees,
and in it were nearly d thousand
Union and Confederate soldiers, all of
them wounded, some Of them Gylng.
Among them Willie worked fer fort
night. He scraped lint for their
wounds, bound bandages about their
limbs, held water to their parched
lips, wrote last words to their far
away friends, and spoke words of
hope to them as they CROPPED their way
through the dark valley that leads to
the hereafter-for he had been taLght
to believe that there is a Great and
Good Being who rules both in this
world and in that.
Among the wounded was one whom
Willie took especial interest ina
bright-eyed, fair-haired boy, not much
older than himself, who had been IA
tally hurt in the great battle. He was
a Confederate boy, and he had gone
into the war with the same purpose as
Willie. to do all he could for what he
thought was freedom. He had been
told that the North wanted to ensiaVe
the South, and his soul rose in
strong resolve to give his young life,
if need be, TO beat back his coun-
try's invaders. In all this ne was mis-
taken; but only a demagogue viii say
"
not as noble as led many Northern
youth to be a martyr for liberty.
Young as he was, he had been in half
a dozen battles. and in the bloody
struggle of Chicamauga, had fallen,
pierced by two Union bullets. For two
days and nights he lay on the battle
field before he was discovered by the
party of men who had brought MIN
to the hospital Willie helped 10 bear
IL no 1hIJla
him down Oh a blanket in one of the
tents, and then he went for the chief
surgeon. A ball had entered his side,
and another had crushed the bones of
his ankle. His leg had 20 come OF
and the amputation, the long exposure
and the loss of blood rendered his re-
covery hopeless. The kind-hearted
surgeon said this to Willie, as he nm
ished the operation, and babe him tell
it to the Confederate lad as gently as
was possible. Willie did this, and the
wounded boy answered calmly, For
two days / have been expecting this,
and [ am willing to go; for, doubtless,
there is work for me in the other
life"
He fingered week, every day grow
ing weaker and weaker, and then he
sank to sleep as gently as the water
drop sinks into the ocean. A few
hours before he died he sent for Willie
and said to him You have been very
good to me, and as far as l can, I
would return your kindness. My
clothes are under my pillow. Take
them when 1 am gore. They may help
you to get back TO your mother. ! am
going soon. Stay with me until die
They laid his body away in the
ground and Willie went about his work;
but something loving and pure had
gone out of his life, leaving him lone
and heart-weary.
1 would like to tell all the details of
Willie's escape-how he dressed him
self in the Confederate boys clothes.
and one cloudy night boldly passed the
sentinels at the hospital; how ne fell
in with several squads of Confederate
was questioned by them and
got safely away. because of his gray
uniform; how, on his hands and knees
he crept beyond the outmost Confed-
crate pickets. and after wandering in
The woods two days and nights, with
,nly the sun by day and the north star
by night, to guide him, he got within
he Union lines, and then, exhausted
rom the want of food and worn OUT
With walking he lay down under a tree
oy the roadside and slept soundly till
:owards the following night. 7 will
}nly say that Willie was reused from