The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1897-10-06
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
a NOBLE ZOE

mis- Dying Breath Spent in saving
the Life of an Enemy.
aAmong the numerous instances of
remarkable endurance and wonderful
vitality of wounded soldiers that 1
had knowledge of during the late war;
said former hospital attendant, Il
recall none so remarkable as that of
John Peters. At the battle of Balls
Bluff he was a member of the Forty
second New York regiment. He was
badly wounded in the hip, and he fell
on the field. When he lay there an
other ball fractured his right knee
joint. Utterly helpless, he was tram
pied beneath the feet of contesting sol
diers until the close of the engagement,
and was then taken prisoner to Rich
mond. He remained there four months,
when he was exchanged and sent with
ether wounded to the Philadelphia hos
pital. / was an attendant there. Pc
ters' wounds had been so carelessly at
tended to that he was worse off, if any
thing, than when he was first wound
ed. We did the best we could for him,
but he was in such shape when able
to leave the hospital that he was dis
charged from the service as perma-
nently disabled.
"Some months afterward was trans
ferred to hospital in Washington,
and was there when the battle of Chan
cellorsville was fought. Two weeks
after that engagement number of
soldiers who had been wounded there
were transferred from the hospital at
Aqua Creek to the Washington hos
pital Among the most desperately
and apparently hopelessly wounded Of
these was amazed to discover John
Peters, the soldier who had left the
Philadelphia hospital to pass officially
as lifelong cripple. When he was at
last able to tell his story, was still
more amazed. After being discharged
from the service as permanently dis
abled, he had placed himself in charge
of a noted surgeon of that day, and aft
er some months was made almost as
sound as he ever was. At any rate he
was able to reenlist, which he did in
the One Hundred and Fifteenth Penn
sylvania, and became orderly sergeant
OF his company. At Charlottesville
he was shot in the right thigh, the bull
let causing compound fracture, and
almost at the same moment mimic ball
Gtruck him in the left hip and lodged
there against the bone. He fell, and
attempted to rise. AS he raised his head
he was hit by flying piece of shell,
which fractured his skull and knocked
him senseless.
''When Peters regained consciousness
his regiment had taken another posi-
ton, and he lay there between two
lraking fires, bullets, cannon balls and
shells whizzing over him for hours, un-
til at last he managed to drag himself
q few yards away to the bank of q
stream where there were bushes. Grasp
ling bush, he pulled himself over the
bank and let himself down into the
water, waist deep, which re
lieved his pain. Our troops re
treated soon after that, and the
confederate army swept by where
Peters hung. After it had passed Pc
tiers endeavored to draw himself out Of
tho stream to the bank, in hope that he
might be picked up, but he found thai
the bush to which he clung, while
sufficient to support him while he
crouched in the water, was not stiff
enough to bear his weight in efforts
to pull himself up the bank. There was
ia bush just below him evidently strong
enough to enable him to accomplish
his purpose, but it was out of his reach
and if he released his hold on the bus}
that was supporting him to make thu
attempt to reach the stronger one, hi
knew he would drop helpless in thu
stream and drown.
/, while he was thus facing death hi
saw movement on the bank, and the