rer
was mortally wounded. Plunket then took the colors and a little further
along he was wounded in his left hand by a minnie ball; in an instant
after a shell burst right in his face and carried away his right hand and
forearm, the colors falling on his wounded arm and hand. Olney then took
the colors and carried them through the rest of the battle. The blood to
be seen on the flag in the State House came from Plunket's wounds at that
time.

All along the top of the ridge in our front, the enemy's artillery was
posted, and at the foot of the hill was the infantry. As we reached the
farther edge of the field just in front of the Rebel infantry, we came to
a board fence. We were ordered to lie down behind that fence. Then the
order was given to fall back behind a little ridge and lie down, and there
we remained the rest of the afternoon firing away whenever we saw a man or
the head of a man to fire at. Late in the afternoon a battery of artillery
came out and took a position about a quarter of a mile in our rear and
opened fire on the Johnnies directly in our front, firing right over our
heads, the balls passing so near the sound was anything but agreeable.

Just before we started on the charge, as we lay in the field just back of
the city, a Company I man was killed by having his head carried bodily
away by a cannon ball, the body rolled over, the blood spurted from the
neck as water comes from a pump, until the heart pumped the body dry, the
body then settled down a lifeless mass.

The circumstances leading up to this man's death were peculiar. He had
from the beginning a presentiment that if he went into a battle he should
be killed and up to that time he had succeeded in evading each fight. This
the boys did not like, and abuse was heaped upon him unmercifully.
Soldiers have no respect for a man who deserts them in the most trying
hour. Life thus became so unbearable to him, that as it became known there
was to be a battle, he wrote his farewell letters to his family at home,
gave them to his captain, requesting him to post them in the event
anything happened to him. Company I was right near Company K at the time,
and nearly every one of our boys saw him killed, and often afterwards
spoke of the incident.

During the afternoon a new regiment was sent out to re-inforce us. When
they got within fifteen or twenty rods of us, they halted and opened fire
on the Johnnies through us.

During the evening we were relieve