AN INCIDENT OF THE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS.
These facts were related to me by a Virginia soldier, and woven by me
into a story for the _Southern Bivouac_.
On the night of May 11, 1864, Lee had withdrawn his forces from a
salient point called the "Horseshoe," in consequence of a retrograde
or flank movement of the enemy opposite that point. A battery of
artillery, consisting of four companies, which was to have occupied
that point, was removed some two miles back. At early dawn, word was
brought that Grant's forces had again advanced, and the artillery was
ordered to return with all speed. Faster and faster they advanced
until they reached the top of the hill, in the very toe of the
Horseshoe, to find themselves in the jaws of the enemy. It fell to the
lot of a non-commissioned officer of Captain W.P. Carter's Battery to
prepare the ammunition. He first cut the fuse for one second's time.
After preparing several shells and receiving no word from his general
he made ready several charges of canister, knowing the enemy to be
close at hand. Still nobody came for the ammunition. He observed next
that the drivers of the limber-chest had dismounted and left their
horses, and the horses being without a driver, backed the wheels of
the limber over the ammunition. To prevent damage, he seized the
off-leader by the bridle, turning them back to a front position. While
doing this, he distinctly heard the minie-balls crashing through the
bones of the horses. They did not fall at once, however, and he had
just gotten them to a front position, when a forcible blow upon the
right shoulder, made by the enemy's color-bearer with the point of his
staff, showed him that they were upon him. There was no time to say
"good-morning," so he beat a hasty retreat around his limber, "_Sauve
que peut_." He had scarcely commenced to run when he felt a heavy blow
about the middle of his back. His thought was, "Can that color-bearer
have repeated his blow, or am I struck by a ball, which has deadened
the sense of feeling?" There being no flow of blood, however, he
concluded he was not much hurt. After a run of forty yards he came to
the dry bed of a stream between two hills. Here he paused to
reconnoitre. The morning fog and the smoke of battle obscured the
view, except close to the ground. Crouching on all-fours, he peered
below the cloud of smoke toward the crest of the hill where the
battery was. He soon saw that the case was hopeless, and the battery
in possession of the enemy. Looking to the left, he read in the
anxious countenance of an aide-de-camp on horseback that matters at
that point were in a desperate case. Running up the bed of the stream,
he reached the shelter of the woods on his left. So far he had run
parallel to the line of battle. When well in the woods, turning at
right angles, it seemed that he had made his escape. Meeting just then
with an officer of the battery (the only one who escaped) and several
comrades, a brief consultation was held, suddenly cut short by a
continuous roar of musketry in the rear and near the heel of the
Horseshoe, showing that the party were in danger of being enclosed and
cut off within the circle. The consultation was summarily ended, and
flight again resumed. This time they ran well out of the Horseshoe and
out of danger, stopping not until they met Lee's reinforcements going
to the front. Here, from a point of safety, they could hear war
holding high revelry in the bottom below. Now, for the first time the
soldier took occasion to examine his knapsack. A minie-ball had
entered the lower part, passing through sixteen folds of tent-cloth,
many folds of a blanket, riddling several articles of underwear, and
finally burying itself in a small Bible. Such was its force that not a
leaf from Revelations to Genesis remained without impress of the ball,
and half the leaves were actually penetrated.
Just at this time he was overjoyed to see his brother (about whom he
had been painfully anxious) returning to the rear with a company of
the Richmond Howitzers, who, having spent all their ammunition, came
to replenish their chests. This young man had been color-bearer of the
company, and when the battery first reached the hill, had turned to
the woods on his left to tie his horse. Hearing a wild yell, which he
supposed to be the battle-cry of the Confederates, he joined lustily
in the shout and rushed forward bearing his colors. The fog and smoke
concealing from him the true state of affairs, it was a terrible shock
to see, suddenly, the enemy's color floating from the battery.
Realizing for the first time that all was lost, he hastily lowered his
flag between the chests of a caisson, and, tearing off the colors,
thrust them into his bosom, throwing the staff away. He then ran into
the woods and up the lines, where he came upon a company of the
Richmond Howitzers, and served with them until their ammunition was
exhausted.
A remarkable circumstance connected with the above incident was the
fact that, during the confusion and haste following the order for the
hasty march, the brothers lost sight of each other, and the elder (who
bore the flag) was compelled to gallop to the front, leaving the
tent-cloth and blankets, which usually were included in the roll
behind the saddle, to be carried in the other's knapsack. The first
thought of the younger was impatience at the unusual burden he had to
carry into battle, but reflection brought with it a feeling (perhaps a
premonition), "It is all right and perhaps the means of saving my
life." In less than half an hour it had proved indeed a blessing in
disguise.
The owner of the Bible, then a youth of nineteen, now a minister of
the Protestant Episcopal Church, cherishes the book and the
minie-ball, not only as a memento of the war, but with feelings of
deepest gratitude, which find appropriate expression in the
consecration of his life to Him who "protected his head in the day of
battle." It is his earnest hope that he may, by the blessing of God,
so expound the teaching of that blessed Book as to make it a means of
salvation to many souls.