eech
saw his posture and came up to him and said, "Stand up! What are you
crouching for?" The fellow replied, "I'm not crouching." Keech replied,
"Yes, you are!" and he hit him across his humped-up back a sharp rap
that made him grunt, and said, "Stand up like a man!" In battle the
tendency is almost universal for the men to work out of a good line into
clumps. The men of natural daring will rather crowd to the front, and
those cast in more timid or retiring molds will almost automatically
edge back and slip in behind. Hence the necessity of not alone
commissioned officers in the rear to keep the men out in two ranks, but
sergeants as well. I think I have stated that there were less than one
hundred men present with the regiment. For the less than ninety muskets
in the ranks we had a number of commissioned officers. More than was
needed. We had officers enough in our regiment in this great battle to
have commanded three hundred men, and it is a standing proof of the
gross ignorance, or the villainy of the New York government that such
was the case. In the early part of the day I remarked to a number of the
men near by that when some one of them was knocked out I was going to
take his musket and get into the firing line. We were in this wheatfield
and the grain stood almost breast high. The Rebs had their slight
protection, but we were in the open, without a thing better than a
wheat straw to catch a Minnie bullet that weighed an ounce. Of course,
our men began to tumble. They lay where they fell, or, if able, started
for the rear. Near to me I saw a man named Daily go down, shot through
the neck. I made a movement to get his gun, but at that moment I was
struck in the shoulder. It did not hurt and the blow simply caused me to
step back. I found that I could not work my arm, but supposed that hurt
was a flesh wound that had temporarily paralyzed it, and that it was not
serious enough to justify my leaving the fighting line. So, I remained
and did what I could in directing the firing. Sometime after this, I
felt a blow on the left leg, and it gave way, so that I knew the bone
was broken. This stroke did not hurt, and I did not fall, but turned
around and made a number of hops to the rear, when my foot caught in the
tangled grain and I went down full length. While lying here entirely
helpless, and hearing those vicious bullets singing over my head, I
suffered from fear. I had, as most men do, got over the dread of battle
af