Arizona daily citizen., 1901-09-26
AFTER THE BATTLE.
A VETERANS STORY OF A TASSeLEp
TURKISH FEZ.

of Manassas--A brave hoy and His
Wing Request.
whenever see tasseled Turkish
! fcz." said II Confederate veteran whose
attention had been attracted by a
smoking cap Of that pattern in 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" ke continued In response to
request for the story. "and several OF
us from my company had gone over TO
the field In the hope of picking up
few things that we badly needed and
for which the dead had no further use
watcrproofs, for instance, and sound
! canteens.
During the previous days engage
ment you may remember that n regi-
ment of freshly recruited New York
zouayes held the crest OF hill and
were charged aud almost nnnlhilated
by Hoods brigade. They were moved
down like ripened grain and fell SO
| thIckly that their corpses literally car
| pcted the earth. dare say 1t was as
awful slaughter, considering the
number engaged, rs occurred anywhere
Ia the course OF the war.
We'll, 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. aud 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
ent tassels.
"l8elng just from the outfitters. all
this fine regalla was perfectly fresh
aud new. and somehow or other II
added 10 the ghastlluess 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 to describe In words.
However, to come to my point,
had picked up feZ TO carry away as
relic and was about TO leave the spot
when | happened to notice much
handsoner specimen OF the head Of
little zoua,e stretched cut, st!n and
stark, n few yards away. with hand
kerchlcf over his face. stepped up to
make swap but had barely touched
the tassel when low. sweet toned
voice under the handkerchief said,
Please don't"
For moment" continued the yeter-
an, that unpleasant protest. coming
from whnt bad supposed TO be q
corpse, made my balr brlstlc on my
hrad. Then lifted the handkerchief
and was shocked to see the delicate,
refined fea&Nres OF boy not over Is.
He was as death and evidently
despcra - wounded, but he looked at
me calmly. My God exclaimed.
what Ind you are to be here? I'm
afraid I'm dying unless have help
he replied DO you think the surgeons
VIII he around pretty soon? The Lord
Lnows! | groaned. for the boys cour
fGe touched me TO the heart. Your
surgeons have all run away. and we
only have few. With more wounded
than they can attend to- Then guess
all | can do IL to lie here quietly and
die, he said In the same gentle voice.
Can you get me little water before
you goY
II took his canteen and hurried down
to branch at the foot OF the hill.
where the first thing ! saw. by the
way, was the corpse OF zouaye float
Ing In pool. | went up the stream far
enough TO get out OF the horrible death
zone, Oiled the canteen with pure wa.
ter and was soon back at the boys side
gave him drink. and he thanked me-
Is there nothing else / can do? 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 Iinger much longer.
Nothing at all, thank Sou.' he replied
No message to anybodyY No; moth.
Ing thanks
Il turned away most reluctantly and
had gone only few yards when !
heard his thin voice calling me back.
Excuse me- he said, but | want you
TO accept this as present. and he
handed me his fine purple fez. no. no. !
| exclaimed. greatly embarrassed; I
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 we'll Please put 1t on my head
and take mine ] saw that be would
be hurt unless did as he desired, so | /
took the fez and went away.
''In less than half an hour our CON-
pany was on the march. and. needless
to say, never heard anything more of !
the little child zouave. He was badly I
wounded and undoubtedly died where
| left him. kept the fez long time,"
added the veteran. but It was finally
lost, with other odds and ends. in the
general confusion following the war;
Id give some money for 1t today
n.la tn