g in his hand as
I approached him, and he was in the act of handing it to me when a
bullet crashed through his arm and wrist, spattering my face with his
warm blood. I seized the staff as it fell from his shattered arm. The
next instant a bullet cut the staff away just below my hand. An instant
later I was struck on the head by the fragment of a shell and fell
unconscious with the colors in my hand. How long I remained unconscious
I do not know, possibly twenty minutes or more. What were my sensations
when hit? I felt a terrific blow, but without pain, and the thought
flashed through my mind, "This is the end," and then everything was
black. I do not remember falling. It takes time to write this, but
events moved then with startling rapidity. From the time we went forward
from the embankment until the line was swept back could have been but a
few minutes, otherwise all must have been killed.

When I revived I was alone with the dead and wounded. The line of battle
had been swept away. The field about me was literally covered with the
blue uniforms of our dead and wounded men. The firing had very
perceptibly decreased. I had worn into the battle my overcoat, with my
sword buckled on the outside. I had been hit on the left side of my
head, and that side of my body was covered with blood down to my feet,
which was still flowing. My first thought was as to my condition,
whether mortally wounded or not. I was perceptibly weakened from loss of
blood, but lying there I could not tell how much strength I had left. I
did not dare move, for that would make me a target for the guns that
covered that terrible wall, the muzzles of which I could plainly see.
Many of them were still spitting out their fire with a venom that made
my position exceedingly uncomfortable. What should I do? What could I
do? To remain there was either to bleed to death or be taken prisoner
and sent to Libby, which I felt would mean for me a sure lingering
death. To make a move to get off the field would draw the fire of those
guns, which would surely finish me. These were the alternatives.

I carefully stretched my legs to test my strength, and I made up my mind
I had enough left to carry me off the field, and I resolved to take my
chances in the effort. I determined that I would zigzag my course to the
rear so as not to give them a line shot at me. So getting myself
together I made a supreme effort and sprang up and off in jumps, first
to the right, then t