The Tucson citizen., 1901-12-27
AFTER THE BATTLE.
A VETERANS STORY or A TAssELED
TURKISH FEz.

Participated as the second Battle
Of Maaassas--A Brave noy aaa Mis
Dyia9 Request.
"Whenever see n tasseled Turkish
fez," said a Confederate veteran whose
attention had been attracted by n
smoking cap Of that pattern in q Canal
street window, IL am reminded Of
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 for the story. land 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.
During the previous days engage
ment you may remember that regI.
ment OF freshly recruited New York
xouavcs held the crest OF hill and
were charged and almost annihiiated
by Hoods brigade. They were moved
down like ripened grain and fell so
thickly that their corpses literally car.
peted the earth. ] dare say II was as
awful slaughter. considering the
number engaged, as occurred anywhere
| In the course Of the war.
well, 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 a week before. and they were said
TO be the most gorgeously uniformed
military troop ever organized. They
wore scarlet Turkish trousers. blue
jackets embroidered with gold bullion
braid and purple fezes with long pend,
snt tassels.
BEING Just from the outfitters. all
this fine regalia was perfectly fresh
and new, and somehow or other II
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
couldn't begin 10 describe In words.
However. TO come 10 my point.
had picked up fey to carry away as y
relic and was about TO leave the spot
| when | happened TO notice much
handsomer specimen on the head OF q
little zouave stretched out. stiff and
stark. a few yards away. with a band
kerchief over bis face. stepped up to
make o swap but had barely touched
the tassei when q low. sweet toned
voice under the handkerchief said.
please don'tr
"For q moment" continued the veter-
an. that unpleasant protest. coming
from what | had supposed TO be
| corpse. made my hair bristle on my
head. Then | lifted the handkerchief
and was shocked TO see the delicate.
refined features Of boy not over Is.
He was pale as death and evidently
desperately wounded. but he looked at
me calmly. My God.' exclaimed.
what lad you are to be herer I'm
afraid Tin dying unless have help
he replied. 'Do you think the surgeons
will be around pretty soouf The Lord
knows" | groaned. for the boys cour-
age touched me TO the heart Your
surgeons have all run away. and we
nBiy have n few. with more wounded
han they ran attend to- Then guess
all | can do is to lie here quietly aud
die. be Nj ~ In the same gentle voice
Tan Won get me little water before
you goF
Il took his canteeu and hurried down
to a branch at the foot OF the hill.
where the first thing saw. by the
way. was the corpse OF n Zouave float
ing In pool. went up the stream far
enough to get out OF the horrible death
zone. filled the canteen with pure wa.
ter and was 5000 back nj the boys side
! gave him drink. and he thanked me-
Is there nothing else | can dor asked
awkwardly. beca usr | knew our COM
pany was under early marching orders
that morning and that II would be I'm
possible for the TO inger much longer.
Nothing Mt all. thank yOu.' he replied.
No message TO anybodyY No; moth
Ing. thanks
Il turned away most reluctantly and
had gone only a few yards when !
heard his thin voice calling me back.
Excuse me- he said, but ! want you
to accept this as a present. and he
handed me his fine purple fez. NO. no.
| exclaimed. greatly embarrassed: !
couldn't think of taking It When |
started to little while ago. | thought
you-you'- Thought | was dead. OF
course he interrupted. We'll. soon
will be. and that other fez will do me
just as well. Please put 1t on my head
and take mine saw that he would
be hurt unless did as he desired. so 1
took the fe2 and went away.
I'm 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