The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-10-25

conner. After most ~ them he would
remark in n chuckling way: Reckon
| that let some of your water out or
! Always could shoot in the dark As
| the enemy fired back | felt the zip and
| the hum of the shots passing by the
| hrea twOrk of bodies. Often, however,
heard and felt the thud OF the bullet.
as it was stopped by the living or dead
beneath me.
oddly enough | had no desire to
make known to my shooting comrade
that | was alive So that | might be
taken from the danger zone But even
had | had the desire | could not have
done So. l was without an ounce OF
strength, lying there in "A sort of semi
/ trance, blood trickling down my cheek
| from my mouth.
Il found myself strangely hoping
| that the human bodies would be found
| sufficient to protect our men. once or
| twice as a bullet struck the heap of
| flesh beneath me groan would issue.
! Tn" soldier using me for a rest pulled
At the bodies now and then between
shots as though to arrange them better
| for shelter.
after one of these shiftings my hand
| came in contact with another hand be-
rade fired across my chest or the bullets
| Of the enemy struck US more spld'y,
the hand below would contract about
my fingers. Finally a shot came that
| brought a moan from the heap somc-
where and the hand Clutchcd mine no
more. Following Il period of heavier
| fire than usual the man using me for
| aim and protection suddenly emitted a
| cry between Il snarl and gurgle and
| fell forward on mo.
"Ie must have been on his feet when
he was shot, for when they picked his
b dead body off me the next day it was
. Il bullet through the heart that had
done the work. Probably growing
| Cramped on his knees he had risen to
! shift just as "A chance shot from the
Yankees got him. lie pitched forward
so that his face came plumb against
mine and as he brcathcd his last con-
| vulsIycly his blood mingled with mine
| on my cheek. | am glad now il was
! not daylight, so that the awful death
| agony and stare of my comrade was
not visible to me. But at that time, as
| | had given up all hope myself, / recall
it made no difference to me at all.
| AT last the firing slackened and
| finally, with an Intermittent shot here
| and there, ceased altogether. our night
attack had failed. | recall our officers
| ordering our men to fall back and the
appeals for help to the rear made by
wounded soldiers.
"No one thought of the human
| breastworks containing living men. SO
lay there all through the night. |
remember just as wildly as though it
were now "A fantastic train of thought
had. | had intended writing my wife
before Gettysburg began, but the action
had come on more suddenly than eX-
| pectcd and | was in it before / had
penned my letter. This omission kept
ringing at me IA constant reproach as
| lay on the top Of that bloody heap.
81 had intended telling my wife of a
dream had of finding coal on our land.
| come from II section that Is now West
/ Virginia and coal had been located in
many places near me. In my dream the
spot where coal was located on my land
was nifty PAGES back Of my barn in the
direction of an unusually tall pine. l
saw it most plainly in my dream, and
as | lay there wounded | saw the place
again. ! counted off the nifty PAGES
again and again.
How would my wife get TO know II
now As the night wore on l lapSed
into and came out of comatose state
several times, but at each awakening
was haunted with the troubled thought
Of how | should communicate with my
wife after | died. | saw myself walking
the fifty PAGES with measured tread,
while my wife stood in the doorway of
our house shading her eyes with her
/ hand, wondering what | did.
daylight came on that fatal July
3-thc last day of Gettysburg. 1t would
b. the last sunrise | would see, ! felt
sure. | opened my eyes from a drowsy
fa.uting spell, ravcnous for n drop Of
water. with "A great effort | turned my
head away from the face of my dead
comradc for the space Of an inch, not
any more than that, it was all | could
move.
"lt sufiCcd to get my line of vision
away from him. | saw the ground over
which We had charged covered with
dead. ! saw the line of human breast
works stretching along the wood. Then
; the trees, the hill, the dead bodies and
IN" Nhulr world seemed slipping away.
= | woke M in "A Yankee tpnf hngnttnI