in battle.

After a while our brigade was moved forward and about half way up a rise
of ground--it was hardly a hill--at the top of which were an old house
and barn. We were ordered to lie down in support of a battery in front
that was doing a lively business. I remember that before getting down I
spread my rubber blanket to lie on. The fragments of the exploded shells
came showering down upon and about us, presently a chunk large enough to
have laid me out a harmless corpse came tearing through my blanket, but
in a spot not covered by my body. Every now and then along the
supporting line a man was knocked out. It was at this time that Ralph
Haskell, a Hamilton boy, and another lying beside him had their brains
knocked out by these shell fragments. They were but a few feet from me
and I saw the whole bloody business.

About this time a remarkable freak was perpetrated on the body of Capt.
Broady. He was standing, when in an instant he was thrown to the ground
with great force, and he lay there quivering as if life were the same as
extinct. Col. Barlow saw him fall and ordered his body taken to the
rear. This was done by a number of men, who remained by the body to
observe the passing of the last breath, when to their surprise the
captain opened his eyes and, with his slightly Swedish brogue, inquired
if he was much hurt. The men replied, "Why yes, you're all knocked to
pieces." The captain wiggled about some and then asked, "How do you know
men, do you see the blood run?" They had to answer "No." By this time
his consciousness had fully returned. He directed the men to help him
onto his feet and soon came back with his old-fashioned nippy gait.
Barlow had regarded him as ticketed for the "happy hunting ground" and
when he saw him walking back to the line, he was quite surprised. He
looked him over for a moment, and then said to his regiment, "Men, give
Capt. Broady three cheers, he's a brave man." This we did with a will.
When we got to a place where an examination could be had, it was found
that Broady had been so struck by a piece of shell that it went through
his overcoat, and then rotated in such a manner as to cut the tails off
from his dress coat, so that, after we got to Harrison's Landing the
captain went about dressed in that frock coat with the skirts cut off.
In other words he was supporting a jacket.

Shortly after this episode we were ordered forward up the slope to the
level ground and where the before