Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-10-01


bugs in me body got into me head;
| not one av them stayed away. They
cum in squads. an regiments, an bri-
gades. How many av thin were there
| I'll never know. fur | whit daft as
hen and not thing did / know for
| tin days. Whin l woke up was as
weak as baby and me head was as
Imply as me haversack. I want no
more bugs, docthor.'
Tell me what caused the hole in
the sleeve of that coat on the table,
| doctor" said l, pointing to the gar
ment
"Oh, that was made by bullet that
didn't draw a drop Of blood from my
anatomy" he replied, as he took up
the coat and tried to wipe of the Vir-
ginia dust which had laid there more
than thirty years. sit was in the
spring of 1852, and near Warwick
Court House, Va, when we were on
the way up the peninsula on the gen.
eral movement toward Richmond. 1t
wasn't in any battle at all. Just a
little picket fight, which was going on
all the time. The woods were full Of
Confederate sharpshooters and we
couldn't venture far out of camp with
out being picked off. The enemy had
strong picket line ahead OF us all
the time and there was good deal
of firing l was where | had no bust
ness to be and a sharpshooter nearly
took my life But the bullet didn't
hit me, passing through the sleeve Of
my coat. The marksman's aim was
pretty good If he intended to hit my
heart, for three inches more to the
right would have pierced that organ.
The concussion, however, knocked me
senseless and left a queer feeling all
day"
But you were wounded, were you
not?"
Yes; twice, I believe"
How did it feel, doctor?"
Well 1t hurt little. The bullet
struck me about six inches below the
right hip and travelled clear around
1 lodging ON the inside, where it was
afterwards cut out. 1t was fiattened
ny SlElhIHB against LIl0 Juice, Oh
though none were broken"
When and where did this happen,
doctor?"
"Oh, during the Seven-days' fight
some time in June, when Mcclellan
moved his whole army up country in
/ the first great advance on Richmond
June 81, I think it was the enemy
attacked us in great force near Gaines
Mill, making fierce onslaught on our
right, threatening the rear and COM
polling a change Of front. About
o'clock the Confederates massed for a
final attack upon the left of the line
held by Butterfield and Martindale.
Brigade after brigade was hurled
upon them with ceaseless force and
determination, and suddenly broke
through Martindale's left and attempt
ed to capture Butterf1eld's brigade
The Confederates came rushing across
the field where I lay with the rest of
the wounded and with the dead. They
were fighting for all they were worth,
and when they saw a federal soldier
with too much life in him they ran
him through with the bayonet, and
as one OF the Confederates passed me
he stabbed me in the left arm. AS he
hurriedly passed on he gave the gun
a twist and the bayonet was detached
and remained sticking in my arm and
through it down into the sand. My
right hand fortunately was at liberty
and / managed somehow to pull out
the bayonet, but some, sand came up
with It and that was stripped off in
the wound and bothered me a good
deal
I'VE lay there several days with no
attention from any person. The hos
pital arrangements were not as per-
feet then as later, and we had to do
the best we could. Some of the men
who had good legs managed to get
water for the rest of us, and they
searched the haversacks of the dead
and found something for us to eat.
But it was pretty hard for the wound
ed Sometimes 1t would rain and we
scraped shallow places in the sand
which would fill with water and last
us lOE ID JlIHS. L was IOoIuS SOOu
deal of blood, SO some of the boys tore
the lining out of a blouse and plugged
UP my wounds with that, and so | got
along"
How did you get out of that terri
BILE situation?"
"Oh, the Confederates took us pris-
oners-not difficult thing to do-and
sent us to Richmond, where they put
us in Libby-over hundred of us
where we had a pretty tough time. [
was one of five to come out alive
Detroit Free Press.
Mastering Them Out.
Thousands of blue-coated G. A. r.