e all full of fight when the
Sumter news came, and anxious to get in it; and I saw a heap of it, too,
before I made the acquaintance of Nathan Bull.

"There was some lively skirmishing on the morning of September
twentieth, sixty-three, before the armies got together in earnest. It
was real comical to see the boys tearing up their love-letters and
playing-cards just before going into battle. The roads and fields were
speckled with the scraps just like a snowfall on the stage, as I reckon
all of you have seen in plays like 'Alone in London,' and the 'Banker's
Daughter.' It was in one of those preliminary set-tos that somehow my
company strayed away, and left me up in the woods with a bullet in my
leg. I was looking around for some place where I could lie down and
nurse myself a bit, and at the same time keep clear of the shells and
other things flying around. The air was full of them--making a noise
like 'Whar-izz-yer?' 'Whar-izz-yer?' Haven't you often heard that sound,
Senator? Some poor devil hears it once _too_ often, every now and then,
doesn't he?

"It was very hot and dusty, and I was plumb crazy for water. Somehow I
managed to work my way out to a big clear space on the side of the hill.
The brush and weeds were up to your neck. At the foot of the hill was a
piece of marshy land where there had once been a spring. It had long
since dried up, but there were patches of greenish water here and there.
I threw myself on the ground, and my, how good that nasty-looking water
tasted! Then I bathed my face and hands in it. I heard a man over to my
right shout out that General Hood had been killed; and in a minute or so
two of our officers dashed out of the timber, coming my way, riding for
dear life, and nearly trampling me. Meanwhile, the battle seemed to be
raging all around me. Most of the heavy fighting that day was done in
the woods, and the losses were big on both sides. Well, I dragged myself
to a little clump of sassafras, not caring much whether I lived or died,
I was that played out, and my leg burning and stinging just as though it
was being touched up with a red-hot poker. I had been there about
fifteen minutes when a blue-coat rose up in front of me--right out of
the ground it seemed--and says, very fierce, 'You're my prisoner!' He
was a young fellow, about my age, and didn't look at all dangerous. I
just wished that leg of mine had been all right, I would have given him
his money's worth, I tell you! But it