Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-08-14

count we found the Johnnies had SO.
cured about twice as many prisoners
as we.
The proceedings Of the next hour or
two would not have Interested any eli.
william spectator In search Of the glory
OF war. Several mounted men who
had been hurried away to n farmhouse
known to be about II mile down the
road came back with all the farmers
wagons, carts. colorcd men. spades and
picks. Into the wagons and carts on
lot Of pine tufts hastily picked were
placed the wounded and our own dead.
The colored men, under the direction OF
the farmer, who had kindly volun.
tcered to help, buried the Confederate
dead near the roadside. Some Of the
wounded groaned terribly, and one
poor fellow almost broke my heart by
family screaming "Fatherp' every mo.
mcnt. I didn't feel any better when
we learned that the wounded boy
whom we were about to cart away
was a son Of the old man who was
preparing the dead Confederates for
their last home. Then we knew why
the old man had offered to assist the
burial party and why he had looked SO
quickly and intently through the gath.
ering dusk into the faces of the dead.
The boy had been brought in later
from the woods, and the father would
never have known OF his presence had
1t not been for his cries.
Tho ppyt ccona was nrt,nI 1u inf Pal
the old man begging, with tears in his
eyes, to be allowed TO take his wound.
ed child TO his own house and the ma.
jor insisting on his duty to carr. all
the wounded captives to our own camp.
Several minutes before the old farmer
bad been to us only a stay at home rcb-
ell. Now there wasn't man Of us who
would not have added our entrea ties
to his had we dared. 1t was great
relief TO all of US when our assistant
surgeon, who had been rapidly examn.
ing the wounded, assured the old man
that the boy would need frequent sur.
gical attention instead Of home nurs.
ing if his life We're to be saved. so he
would be better off in our hospital
Then the surgeon offered the farmer
his hand, and after shake the old
man sighed:
'I'll take your word for it,
l couldn't understand why a mere
handshake was so convincing until one
of our middle aged chaps told me that
both men were Freemasons But the az.
Ony for us was resumed after we start.
ed for camp. for the major, though
true to the letter of his duty, was n
Precursor himself, so he halted us in
front Of the old mans farm long enough
to let the family come out and bid the
boy coodby, perhaps for the last time.
They came down with a lantern, for it
was now quite dark, and the mother
sobbed and walled as she leaned over
the cart and did all her thinking aloud
and told how handsome and CHEEKY her
boy had looked when he took dinner at
home few hours before for the first
time in months. His pretty sister
whom all Of US had adored from time
to time as she stood at the farm gate
with her father to see the soldiers pass
by, prayed aloud for heavens curse to
fall on the man whose bullet had pierre
ed her brothers lungs, and l am sure
each Of us trembled at the thought that
the bullet might have been his own
Near them stood a little brother and
sister crying in the pitiful. hopeless
way that my brother Ned did when he
first heard that | was going to the war
Yet this was not the only family that
suffered by that engagement. Besides
the men killed outright, some of our
own comrades died afterward of their
wounds without father, mother, sisters
or brothers to say goodby to them. Not
all the missing We're taken prisoners
by the enemy, and nearly half year
of awful uncertainty and OF frantic
letter writing passed before we learned
this through our captured men who re-
turned when exchanged. One of our
men, whose leg was broken by a bullet
and who then was knocked senseleSs
by glancing shot on his head, TO.
down the shallow stream some dis
lance before he came to his senses and
got ashore. Stanching his wound by
tying strip of his shirt tightly around
his leg, he bound the broken limb in
twigs and then spent two whole days
and nights in crawling on his hands
and one knee TO our nearest picket sta
ton, several miles distant. In the ear
ly spring colored man who went to
the creek to fish found the remains of
one of our men beside a tree, mile
below the scene of the fight, and
scratched on the bark OF the tree were
a few words telling how the poor fell |
low had died lingering death from
wounds, exposure and starvation.
Yet the entire engagement, in which
a full third of the men on the |
bridge were either killed, wounded or
captured within Is minutes, was in |
parlance merely a little !
brush" Mention Of it never got into
the newspapers. There were thou
sands like IL, except for the falling |
bridge, during the war, the results be-
ing too small or gradual TO be part of |
the history which was being made by |
some great engagements which pro
were not so bloody. Per
laps the story Of this one viii explain |
to some people why old soldiers when |
together about the war talk |
much Of the march and camp, but very |
little about fighting.
The fight at the bridge was the Sc.
verest engagement in which our COM
i. a xl,s