Amador ledger., 1906-09-28
A Hard One to Swallow
GOriginal.l


deed, all the material for story telling
that took place in the civil warts or
was ineXhaustible," said the veteran
when pressed for a "Reminiscences. 81
have a story that happened to friend
of mine, but before 1 tell it I'm going
to tell you an incident that happened
to myself, for without the first 1
wouldn't have believed the last. 1
bivouacked on n farm in Tennessee
one night in 1862 and noticed a coun-
try girl looking at me- as 1 thought,
curiously. We marched in the morn
ing, and soon after l was transferred
to another field 1000 miles away. Two
years later l was back in Tennessee,
where the conditions were all changed.
One day we were pushing the John
MES, and at a certain spot 1 noticed
something familiar A countryman
who was talking with me recognized
ME and told me that l was on the
farm on which had bivouacked two
years before. Then he told something
about the girl that 1 wouldn't like to
repeat"
"Oh, go ahead"
mo; I'll tell you the other story.
The one I've told you is true, for it
happened to myself. The one I'm go
ing to tell happened to Bill Havens,
man in my company, and 1 know he
wouldn't lie. You see, we were shift
ing all the time and never could tell
whom we were going to run up
against. And the girls-I mean the
country girls-if they saw their fate
or affinity or whatever you like to call
him they would drop as if struck by
bullet.
bill Havens was a handsome young
fellow with devil-may-care smile
that would drop any girl. One day
when our skirmish line was feeling for
the enemy we stood at rest near Il
farmhouse, on the gallery of which
were a couple of girls. Bill sang out:
'Hurrah! We're going to have a jolly
fght!' One of the girls turned pale,
but she gave Bill look that 1 could
not quite get out of my mind for some
time. l wished she'd given it to me.
"The Johnnies weren't where we
thought they were and we didn't have
near by and didn't move for week.
Meanwhile Bill had made the acquaint-
ance Of the girl who had looked at
him and though he said nothing about
it I knew there was love affair going
on. She couldn't have been more than
seventeen-Bill was only nineteen him
self-wore her skirts to the top of her
boots and her hair cut square around
her neck, as most of the young south
ern girls then wore the hair. l knew
it was bad case of love fever, for
when we broke camp and moved on
down south the girl was standing on
the gallery and l saw her with my
own eyes drop in a heap just as Bills
waving handkerchief passed out of
sight.
You must remember that the war
lasted four years, and all that time
the armies kept moving here and there,
back and forth, places often occupied
by the Johnnies and rebs successfully.
remember entering a beautiful south
ern town in go and was impressed
with the magnificent trees that sur
rounded it. 1 went into the same place
year later after the Confederates had
occupied it and every tree had been
cut down to give a clear sweep for
artillery. I would never have known
was IN the same place.
:'Well, about year and a half after
we had camped near the farmhouse
where Bill met the girl we went
through one of the biggest battles of
the war. After it was over the Con-
federates withdrew, as they usually
did, and leaving men to pick up the
wounded and bury the dead we went
on after them. Bill Ravens was among
the missing. He was never accounted
for till he accounted for himself nearly
three months afterward, and this is the
account he gave. You needn't believe
it unless you want to, but there We're
stranger things than even this hap
pened in that war.
During a charge Bill had fallen,
pierced by bullet in the chest. He
kept his Consciousness for awhile amid
a din of firing, then tainted from loss
of blood. The next thing he was con-
scious of was hearing a bird singing
and not another sound. The army had
moved on; the men let to bury the
dead and succor the wounded had
moved on, too, leaving Bill lying under
bushes where they hadn't seen him.
Death seemed only put off. 1t might
be years before his body would be
found.
snow I'm going to leave Bill to starve
to death or die of his wound and twist
my story to the girl he had met long
before. She was sitting on the gallery
where she had last seen Bill, thinking
about him, of course, when she heard
something drop lightly on the steps be-
fore her. Looking down she saw gold
watch chain with a piece of white
paper tied to it. She picked it up aud
read the paper. 1t was written in
blood and read: Union soldier dying.
Help
She didn't wait to speculate on how
the chain got there; she knew all about
the battle and rushed off on search,
calling as she went At last she heard
faint answer, and going to the spot
found the man she loved
'Bill had taken his watch chain, got 81
piece of paper from his pocket, broken
off twig and written the message
with his own blood. Then he rammed
it down his musket and fired it at an