h yet in command of the attacking
force, a Major rode up from the left, and reported to me that his
officers and men were falling fast, and expressed the fear that
they could not be long held to their work. He was directed to
cheer them with the hope that the expected support would soon
arrive. As he swung his horse around to return, it was shot, fell,
and the Major, lighting on his feet, without a word quickly
disappeared (as seen by the light of flashing rifles) among the
dense scrub pines. He never was seen again, nor his body found.
He must have been killed, and his body consumed late by the great
conflagration which, feeding on the dry timber and _debris_, swept
the battle-field, licking up the precious blood and cremating the
bodies of the martyr dead. This was the gallant McElwain, who, in
the early morning, expressed so much anxiety for my safety.

Colonel William H. Ball, on hearing, late at night, of my wound,
inquired particularly as to its nature, and being assured it was
serious, characteristically exclaimed: "Good! he will get home
now and survive the war; his fighting days are over." Not so, nor
yet with him. As I was borne to the left along the rear of the
line on a stretcher towards the field-hospital, about midnight, a
quickened ear caught the sound of a voice, giving loud command,
familiar to me years before at my home city. I summoned the officer,
and found him to be my fellow-townsman, Colonel Edwin C. Mason,
then commanding the 7th Maine. A day or two more and he, too, was
severely wounded.

I had seen something of war, but, for the first time, my lot was
now cast with the dead, dying, and wounded in the rear. A soldier
on the line of battle sees his comrades fall, indifferently generally,
and continues to discharge his duty. The wounded get to the rear
themselves or with assistance and are seen no more by those in
battle line. Some of the medical staff in a well organized army,
with hospital stewards and attendants, go on the field to temporarily
bind up wounds, staunch the flow of blood, and direct the stretcher-
bearers and ambulance corps in the work of taking the wounded to
the operating surgeons at field-hospital. The dead need and generally
receive no attention until the battle is ended.

On my arrival at hospital, about 2 P.M., I was carried through an
entrance to a large tent, on each side of which lay human legs and
arms, resembling piles of stove wood, the blood only exc