The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1899-12-21
SOLT ERS AT HOME.
THEY TELL SOME INTERESTING
ANECDOTES OF THE WAR.
How the Boys Of Both Armies Whiled
Away Life in Csmp-ForaRinR Ex-
periences, Tireaome Marches-Thril.
ling Scenes on tho Battlefield.

| A group of old soldiers, both COnfed
! crate and Federal, were recently swap
| ping stories of the civil war. At las
they fell to comparing the greatest acts
of bravery that each had known, anG
the Southerner told the following story
1T was hot July day in 1864, and
Gen. Grant was after us. Our men had
hurriedly dug rifle pits to protect them
selves from the Federal sharp-shooters
and dead and dying Feds were lying uT
to the very edge of those pits.
In one of the pits was an ungainly
raw, red-headed boy. He was a retiring
lad, green as grass, but reliable fight
er. We never paid much attention to
him, one way or another.
The wounded had been lying foI
hours unattended before the pits, and
the sun was getting hotter and hotter.
They We're suffering horribly from pain
and thirst. Not fifteen feet away, out
side the riflepit, lay mortally wound
ed officer who was our enemy.
'As the heat grew more intOlerable
this officers cries for water increased.
He was evidently dying hard, and his
appeals We're of the most piteous ma
ture. The red-headed boy found it hard
to bear them. He had just joined the
regiment and was not yet callOus to
suffering. At last, with tears flooding
his grlmy face, he cried out:
II can't stand it no longer, boys!
I'm going to take that poor fellow my
canteen.'
'For answer to this roOlhardy speech
one Of us stuck cap on n ramrod and
hoiSted it above the pit. Instantly it
was pierced by dozen bullets. To ven-
ture outside a step was the maddest
suicide. And all the while we could
hear the officers moans:
Water! water! Just one drop, for
Gods sake, somebody! Only one drop!
The tender hearted boy could stand
the appeal no longer. Once, twice, three
times. in spite of our utmost remon-
STRANGE, he tried unsuccessfully to clear
the pit. At last he gave a desperate
leap over the embankment, and once
on the other side threw himself fat up
on the ground and crawled toward his
dying foe. He could not get close to
him because of the terrible fire, but he
broke a sumac bush, tied TO the stick his
precious canteen and landed it in the
sufferers trembling hands.
You never heard such gratitude in
your life. Perhaps there was never any
hnfnrn hn nff tvi inc
his gold watch on the stick and sending
1t back as slight return for the dis
interested act. But this the boy would
not allow. He only smiled happily and
returned as he had gone, crawling amid
a hatlstorm of bullets. When he reached
the edge of the pit he called out for his
comrades to clear the way for him, and
with a mighty leap he was among us
once more. He was not even scratched.
HE took our cOngratula lations calmly.
We said it was the bravest deed we had
seen during the war. He did not answer.
His eyes had soft, musins look.
How could you do it? asked in
whisper, later, when the crack Of the
rifles ceased for moment.
1t was something l thought Of he
said simply. Something my mother
used to say to me. Il was thirsty, and
ye gave me drink" she said. She read
it to me out of the Bible, and she taught
1t to me until never could forget Ii.
When l heard that man crying out for
water l remembered it. The words
stood still in my head. l couldn't get
rid of 'em. SO l thought they meant
me-and went That's ALL
This was the reason why the boy
was ready to sacrifice his life for an
enemy. And it was reason enough"
added the soldier, with n quavering
vOice.-Metropolitan and Rural Home.