ite cloth
we wore around our arms to denote, we belonged to the stretcher corps,
seemed to add to the sadness of the occasion, for to those poor wounded
souls we were like ministering angels, and as I moved from one to the
other with tear dimmed eyes offering water and assistance to those who
needed it I saw many incidents of bravery and self-sacrifice that went far
toward ameliorating the suffering and obliterating the bitterness of the
blue and the gray. I noticed one poor fellow who had spread his rubber
blanket to catch the dew of the night sharing the moisture thus gathered
with an unfortunate confederate who had lost a leg. Another, a
confederate was staying the life-blood of a union officer by winding his
suspenders around the mangled limb. Oh! the horror of such a picture can
never be penned--or told, and contemplated only by soldiers who have been
there.

One-half of our regiment had been killed or wounded. After this things
settled down into a siege. I employed my time foraging for the company.
One day I found an apple orchard, gathered as many apples as I could
carry, took them to the company and made apple-sauce without sweetening.
They ate very heartily of it, poor fellows. It was a treat for them; but
it was a bad find, for the next day the whole lot of them were unfit for
duty. That nearly put a stop to my reconnoitering. Our regiment lay here
in the advance line of breastworks for thirteen days. The sappers and
miners were constantly working our breastworks towards the enemy, and
every time I wanted to reach my company I found it in a new place and more
difficult to reach. The rebel sharpshooters, with their deadly aim, were
waiting for such chaps as me. However, under cover of night, I always
managed to find and reach the company with some palatable relish.

I will never forget one night; four men were detailed to go to the rear
for rations. The commissary was located about two miles to the rear, and
the wagon could only haul the rations within one mile of us on account of
jungle and rebel sharpshooters. Therefore these men were detailed to pack
the rations the rest of the way. I was one of the detail from my company.
We went back to the covered wagons that were waiting for us. The boys said
I was too small to walk, and they threw me into the rear end of one of the
wagons. We got to the commissary tent--a long tent open at both ends--and
from both ends they weighed out the rations of coffee, sugar, etc.