The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1906-02-02
Bv James Mitch" Ell.

NV last letter lett nc III the li"ld
h<S,,ital OF kershaw $ brigade OH 1:le
evening Ct the 9TH OF May. after The
second days fighting at the battle Of
the Wilderness. will tell YOU of
some Of the things to be seen at a
teld hospital after a battle here IN
a small clearing, probably about thee
or four acres of land was the field
hospital of Kershaw brigade with
hundreds of torn and lnanyled soldiers
some with their life blood ebbing
away, some under the influence OF
ehlorofor7n on the surgeon table,
and there near the table lay pile Of
arms and legs just amputated. is
soon as the doctors get thr"n:h with
me. another was put on the tihl', and
this went on I'll night. and next day
a.! could stay but q few minutes. but
] saw things i'll those few minutes
that ~ years has not made lie
tl."u~!,:::: grow din: Sume time in the
still hours Of night, memory carries
me back to those scenes of forty odd
years ago. and the pictures are as
plain as if but yesterday.
went back across the battlefield
ef that morning just before leaving
the hospital. I saw detail pass
along, and upon enquiring, learned
that General Longstreet had been
wounded and General Jenkins had
been killed through a mistake by
General Jenkins own troops. and
this was the detail that carried them
off the field. I saw a yankee who had
been shot (centering the forehead) he
was in the act of taking aim when
struck. The muscles must have be-
come rigid Immediately, for he was
living fiat on his back with gun grasp
ed and pointing as if in the act OF
shooting. [ went to the place where
our regiment fought that morning.
Colonel J. D. Nance was killed there
before we fell back. He lay there,
and we fought over him twice that
aay. his body was carried off. [ did
not see it, but was told that he was
struck by five bullets, and any OF the
five would have killed Kim. saw
some Of our dead, one in particular
7 remember-A. J. Werts-who had
been shot through the thigh cutting
the artery, he had taken off his sus-
renders and tied them around his
thiph ant ran small stick through
and had tri,sd to twist the string tight
enough to stop the blood till he could
get help, but he was too weak or his
plan. would not work, he had bled to
death. A Mississippi detail from Hum
phrey's brigade buried the dead from
our company and none Of US knew
one grave from another. passed on
to where the yankees were that morn
ing the woods had caught fire, or had
been set on fire by the. enemy to keep
us from following then fire was still
burning, burning to death the wound
ed. and burning the clothing off their
dead. On the battlefield where the
FIRE had burned, presented gruesome
sight. Our line had passed on over
this battlefeld our details had gath
cred together our dead, and left the
FIRE to burn out. When got back to
The line, I found that they had moved
a little to the right where some other
troops had built breast-works, where
we spent the next day and night.
That night Ham Kibler and | we're
sent out with a detail under Colonel
Rutherford back to the wagon train
Rutherford back to the wagon tram
after rations, We started in a single
file along a little path through the
Wilderness. Colonel Rutherford TAX
ing the lead on horseback. Some OF
us back at the detail end. came to
fork in the path, and did not know
which path Colonel Rutherford had
taken. and we took the wrong path
and were soon lost in the wilderness.
We wandered around till we found
the plank road, then we followed it
back by the field infirmary and back