rning his bandaged head towards me, his eyes filling with tears. "I aint
afraid to die, cul., but I would like to see my old mother first. Do you
think I will?"

Oh, yes, I said, no doubt of it; at the same time I felt that his days
were numbered, but I wanted to make him feel as comfortable as possible.
He was so much worse off than I, that I forgot my own injuries and was
eager to assist him all I could. After a few minutes silence--

"Say, cully, reach under my pillow and find a little book there; it's a
little Testament that my dear old mother gave me; read a little for me,
will you please? You'll find a place mother marked for me, read that,
please."

I turned the leaves over till I found a little white ribbon pinned to a
leaf, marking the verse beginning, "Suffer little children to come unto
me." I started to read for him, but the tears filled my eyes. I had to
stop, and as I did so, I noticed he seemed very quiet. I glanced at him,
and the open, staring eyes and the rigid drawn features told me too
plainly that the little fellow was out of his sufferings:--he was dead!

"Mother" was the countersign on his lips so thin,
And the sentry in heaven _must_ let him in.

I remained here three weeks, finally got up and around and began to think
I had enough of soldier life. I had everything I wished for; some ladies
in the town--God bless them, I never will forget them--visited the
hospital occasionally, and they always took pains to bring me flowers or
goodies of some kind. (Pardon me, but somehow I was always a favorite with
ladies.) Well, after remaining there three or four weeks I concluded I
didn't want to go to the front, so I sat down and wrote a personal letter
to Secretary Stanton, told him who, how, and what I was, and asked him to
advise me what to do; if I should go to the front or home. Soon after, a
special order came back from him to have me transferred to the "2nd
Battalion Veteran Reserve Corps."

Let me here state to those who do not understand; all soldiers who were
sick or wounded, unfit for field service were transferred to the Veteran
Reserve Corps, for the purpose of doing light guard duty in camp, or at
headquarters; they were divided into two battalions, 1st and 2nd. The 1st
battalion was supposed to be able to carry a musket for duty, while the
2nd battalion was composed of one-armed men or totally disabled soldiers,
and were supplied with a small sword; and thus I was condemned by speci