ederal soldier still grasping the rammer.
Beneath the still struggling horses lay human forms just as they had
fallen. Probably they had been dead ere they reached the ground, but I
felt a shuddering dread lest perhaps some lingering spark of life had
been crushed out by the rolling animals.

We had nearly reached the road when our attention was arrested by
stifled cries and groans proceeding from a little log cabin which had
been nearly demolished during the fight. Entering, we found it empty,
but still the piteous cries continued. Soon the doctor discovered a
pair of human legs, hanging down the chimney, but with all his pulling
could not dislodge the man, who was fast wedged and only cried out the
louder.

"Stop your infernal noise," said the doctor, "and try to help yourself
while I pull." By this time others had entered the cabin, and their
united effort at length succeeded in dislodging from the chimney,--not
a negro, but a white man, whose blue eyes, glassy with terror, shone
through the soot which had begrimed his face. He had climbed up the
chimney to escape the storm of shot, and had so wedged himself in that
to release himself unaided was impossible. Irrepressible laughter
greeted his appearance, and I--I am bitterly ashamed to say--fell into
a fit of most violent hysterical laughter and weeping. Dr. Welford
hurried me into the buggy, which was near at hand, and drove rapidly
to town, refusing to stop at the hospital, landing me at my room,
where some ladies who came from I know not where kindly helped me to
bed. Under the influence of a sedative I soon fell into a deep sleep,
awakening at daylight to find my own servant (who had returned with
other negroes during the night) standing at my bedside. The surgeons
had sent a little of the precious _real coffee_, of which there was
only one sack left. Upon awakening, I was to be at once served with a
cup. A warm bath followed. By six o'clock I was once more at the
hospital, ready for duty, after two days and nights, during which, it
seemed to me, I had lived for years.

Even at this early hour, Buckner hospital presented a scene of great
activity. Some of the surgeons had remained all night on duty, and
were still busy; while others, having snatched a few hours of sleep,
were now preparing for their trying work.

In almost every ward lay a few wounded Federals, but, all the spare
beds having been filled, a long, low, brick building, on the corner
opposite th