Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-06-27
AFTER THE BATTLE.
A VETERANS STORY OF A TASSELED
TURKISH FeZ.
The Grewsome Incident In Which He
Participated at the Second Battle
of Manassas-A Brave Boy and His
Dying Request.


attention had been attracted by a
smoking cap of that pattern in a Canal
street window, Il am reminded Of a
curious and rather grewsome incident
of my campaigning days. 1t was on
the morning after the second battle OF
Manassas" he continued in response to
a request fqT the story, and several of
us from my company had gone over to
the field in the hope of picking up a
few things that we badly needed and
for which the dead had no further use
-waterproofs, for instance, and sound
canteenS.
'1uring the previous days engage
ment you may remember that regi-
ment of freshly recruited New York
zouaVes held the crest of hill and
were charged and almost annihilated
by Hoods brigade. They were moved
down like ripened grain and fell so
thickIy that their corpses literally car
peted the earth. l dare say IL was as
awful n slaughter, considering the
number engaged, as occurred anywhere
in the course of the war.
"Wen, we hadn't gone very far when
we came to this hill and began to get
among the dead men. The poor fellows
had been mustered into service less
than n week before, and they were said
to be the most gorgeOusly uniformed
military troop ever organized. They
rIa UN11rlriSh hlJa
Jackets embroidered with gold bullion
braid and purple fezes with long pend
ent tassels.
Being just from the outfitters, all
this fine regalia was perfectly fresh
and new, and somehow or other 1t
added to the ghastliness Of the specta-
Gle on the hillside. The corpses were
in all sorts of strange postures, and
their fantastic costumes gave them an
air of horrible grOtesqueness that l
couldn't begin to describe in words.
However, to come to my point, l
had picked up a fez to carry away as
relic and was about to leave the spot
when l happened to notice a much
handsomer specimen on the head Of a
little Zouaye stretched out, stiff and
stark, a few yards away, with a hand
kerchief over his face. l stepped up to
make a swap but had barely touched
the tassel when a low, sweet toned
voice under the handkerchief said,
Please don'tp
For a moment" continued the veter-
an, that unpleasant protest. coming
from what 1 had supposed to be q
corpse, made my hair bristle on my
head. Then l lifted the handkerchief
and was shocked to see the delicate,
refined features Of a boy not over 10.
He was pale as death and evidently
desperately wounded, but he looked at
me calmly. My God,' l exclaimed,
what lad you are to be here? Pm
afraid Pm dying unless l have help
he replied. DO you think the surgeons
will be around pretty soon? The Lord
knowsn | groaned, for the boys cour
age touched me to the heart. Your
surgeons have all run away, and we
only have a few, with more wounded
than they can attend to- Then l guess
all / can do is to lie here quietly and
die he said in the same gentle voice.
Can you get me a little water before
you goY
II took his canteen and hurried down
to a branch at the foot of the hill.
where the first thing l saw, by the
way, was the corpse Of Zouave float
ing in pool. l went up the stream far
enough to get out of the horrible death
zone, filled the canteen with pure wa
ter and was soon back at the boys side.
gave him a drink, and he thanked me.
Is there nothing else can doT | asked
awkwardly, because | knew our COM
pany was under early marching orders
that morning and that 1t would be i'm
possible for me to linger much longer.
Nothing at all, thank you.' he replied.
No message to anybody No; moth
ing, thanks
Il turned away most reluctantly and
heard his thin voice calling me back.
Excuse me- he said, but l want you
to accept this as a present. and he
handed me his fine purple fez. No, no.
l exclaimed, greatly embarrassed; I
couldn't think OF taking 1t. When l
started to little while ago, l thought
yOu-yOu'- Thought l was dead, of
course he interrupted. We'll, l soon
will be, and that other feZ will do me
just as well. Please put it on my head
and take mine l saw that he would
be hurt unless l did as he desired, so l
took the fez and went away.
"In less than half an hour our COM
pany was on the march, and, needless
to say, | never heard anything more Of
the little child Zouave. He was badly
wounded and undoubtedly died where
left him. l kept the fez long time,"
added the veteran, "but 1t was finally
lost, with other odds and ends, In the
general confusion following the war.
I'd give some money for 1t today
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