The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1906-03-28

70 90. Following the we'll be,,e,
pain through the bsruyard small
riVulet, We entered tae s.ubble deld
and tramped on, hundred yards Ii nav.
hsps, to the open end of tho second 81
too parallel trenches. There we aia
what little we could to make. Chris.
tian burial. From the sides Of a pa;r
OF cracker boxes, framed ever and
around the body as it lay in the
trench, We improvised tho best sub.
atltute for coffin that the exigeneies
OF war would p:rmit. Tnea from
memory spoke shcrt buria, ser
vice, offered brief prayer, while the
faithful Spauld:ug kuelt beside me
with uncovered head, and, with the
terse but solemn formula, "Dust 20
dust, ashes to aa.,es," committed the
body of Donald Gordon to the earth
OF the battlefield WHEREOF be fell. On
MIS- tight, as ho, lay in tie shallow
trench, slept 100 men who died for the
same lost cause-nezt to him the her
culcan frame Of John Briggs, a Flori-
da soldier, who gave up the struggle
only twenty minutes after tho lieuten-
ant died and vas buriad an hour be-
fore him. On h:s left, in the same
soried ranks Of tie fallen, we bad laid
before left the wretched barn for.
ever, 200 more of the army, Of North:
ern Virginia.
Through all the latter hours of that
funeral day Tom Spauldiug sat, knife
IN hand, patiently carving lettere in
the lid of boz that had nailed to
the threshold Of the barn so that he
might work upon it with his ono up
crippled arm. In the evening he
showed me his work. Deep ia the
yielding pine he had out this simple
epitaph: ''Lieutensnt Don. Gordon.
18th Georgia, G. 8. AZ he pointed
significantly toward the stubble field
as he explained briefly: ''Shipsles
with name written on shem hurried.
" wont stand the weather long. This
will do better, I think" SO the next
esy We drove the board deep into the
ground at tbs head Of the SPOT where
Donald Gordon lay aud left il there
an humble monument to mark Q sol.
dier'e grave. ..':. ...] =
Three weeks longer I toiled on amid
the ghastly scenes OF the barn hos.
pital, and when at last / kissed nv
wife and babies at home again I had a
little battle Of my own 20 fight--six
weeks tussle with malignant typhoid
fever. -. !. ~, |..''..- @.,:;
Years afterwards learned that the
tender messages entrusted to the ser.
geant, the ring, the medallion and the
portrait, never reached those dear ones i
IN Columbus, and they heard not :
word of how Don Gordon died. /: Poor,
faithful Tom spaulding' fate ~ waa
even more terri. le than his comrades.
He recovered from his wound, was val, ex.
changed soon after, rejoined the army
OF. Northern Virginia and was shot
dead in the disastrous attack at Mine
t1!1 hun.t: y 81 | known: this ,at the time
my sto, y5nie ht not be worth tho tell.
inB, for lnieht hsvs done. iin narE a
least, Whas i; nald g ordop lefe e! aa..:a;
20 do. ButlI sdia not kndaWj.; kil I'd. A,nd q,
%: for: eight j J 81 card sd ! DDoSald D Gcir,do,rr i,i Z
sieps beneath the fisla of as stsEsyjsibbulsig;,, tsEsji
while his somrsde d BODY lay I ksn,ovl
nos whore. I only know tnas sor,s 4, tl
where in: the bsttls.searfea sonsh.a,as .,a
the Geld Where 40 9ell. . u inesomlsspoi , ,l ,
dierf eenotery, II ]. Rsrohanos s. Tlomrl Sd
Nspauldins N 4 body lies. 40 insignia loan, III
unit! unit "a THE great MN I'D bersd arrnyso
the unknoWnS sd :@ 81 IS.