The record-union., 1897-10-17

to the right and left to make room for
our advance.
Our regiment had left Elmira in May,
1861, 500 strong We were one of the
thirty-eight regiments of New York
that having completed the first three
months enlistment under the first call,
We're sworn into the Government SER
vice for the residue of two years. Our
time being limited to two years, we
had r.ot been recruited to make good
the losses in battle, as at the period
l am speaking of all recruits were
sworn in for three years or during the
war The series of battles and skirm-
ishes in which our regiment had partic-
ipatad had so decimated our ranks that
we went into action at Fredericksburg
with less than 450 men, all told.
AT last the order came for our bri-
gade to advance and relieve the first
brigade and with the wounded of that
brigade breaking through our lines,
and the dead lying thickly on our line
of march, we moved forward There
was an order for us to dress to the
right as we advanced and thus keep
filling the places made vacant by losses
till we formed our line of bat
tie. So rapidly men fell as
we advanced that our forward
movement must have assumed the
appearance of movement to the
right oblique.' At last we halted in
easy range Of the enemy; we, in bold
relief, and they entrenched behind the
railroad grade and rifle pits We all,
to man, felt like charging, rather
than holding our line at such great
disadvantage, but no such order came
and we commenced firing. So close was
the range that only about half of the
time could we discern the enemy the
smoke hiding our vision for the other
half
We had passed through the second
battle at Manassas under Pope,
through Antietam and other historic
battles. We had all been under fire, and
there was no flinching, but, indeed,
there was no hope of victory. Call it
premonition or what you please. There
is quite generally in the soldiers heart
an impression as to the ultimate result
of a battle. Each man while actively
loading and firing is to some extent
oblivious of danger. Let him be inter
rupted by wounds, however slight,
and if they disable him from continued
participation, he Immediately has a
vivid realization of his danger.
Oh! it was pitiful! pitiful! to see our
men go down before that CALLING fire,
and all seemingly to no purpose. Seven
times our colors fell while in action,
and as many times was a scramble for
the honor and intense danger of being
the lucky man to bear them from the
field. Our guns were Belgian rifles, a
reasonably fair army gun, thirty years
ago, but after loading and firing them
for about thirty rounds, they invariably
became so hot that it was hard to use
them and do effective work.
Myers had carried from the field of
Antietam Mississippi rifle, which he
was using during the action, the caliber
corresponding with the Belgian. Side
by side we had stood since forming the
line of battle, and I had fired probably
thirty rounds, when I heard my name
called by his familiar voice. He had
fallen and of course called his nearest
and most intimate comrade. I stopped
down to catch his few words and saw
that the wound was low in the right
side, and 1 feared mortal. He told me
I couldn't help him, gave me few hur-
ried whispers of home, and fell, as
supposed, into a death stupor.
With my heart in my mouth. and
nerved to desperation by the fatality
that seemed to have claimed his young
life, I. carefully released his rifle from
his grasp and used it, am sure, with
more fatal effect than had marked my
early part in the action. One after an
other had fallen around me, both be-
fore and after Myers fell. and it could
not have been long after he fell before
my time came, in the shape of a Sc
we're flesh wound in my left leg above
the knee Here for the first time
realized my danger. when 1 undertook
with the aid of my rifle to work my
way to the rear. I was not too busy
then to hear the bullets whistle past
and sometimes uncomfortably close.
The history of the battle is well
known. So far as the old Twenty sixth
is concerned over one-third of our men
were either killed or wounded. The
field was left in the hands of the enc
my. A truce was had for the burial
of the dead, and from my cot at the
field hospital 1 inquired anxiously OF
Myers.
The enemy had made prisoners of the
helpless wounded, and it seems that
they had left him for dead upon the
field, and with a ray of hope / heard
that our burying sqpads had found
him still living, and had succeeded in
having him conveyed across the river
Vf,111
the time / was entirely helpless. From
the field hospital we We're conveyed in
ambulances to Aqua Greek, and placed
upon a steamer for conveyance to
Washington. To my delight I heard
that Myers, though delirious and very
low, was among the number on the
boat to be taken to the city.
We did not meet again till we met at
Carver Hospital. / say we met. but ii
is hardly the word. l had SO far re-
covered as to be able to move about on
crutches. and was of course anxious tc
see him. but in his poor blanched cheek,
and wild, delirious expression, there
was no indication of recognition. The
surgeon expressed but the faintest
hope of his ultimate recovery.
True to my promise on the field had
written to his parents, but / could not
exprees a hope. The busy reporters
Of the leading dailies had, in their usual
hurried way, passed in the names of the
killed and wounded from the most re-
liable sources, and at the earliest pos
sible moment after the battle. Myers
was very naturally reported among
those killed in action. My letter had
simply contradicted that statement
Now at the hospital, with Myers in
his delirious and dying condition, the
promise pressed upon me to write to
Blanche Guilford. 1t was a sacred
...-..o.;.o .ri1-on On Tho GnIa