United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Anecdotes
sound in his ears like the tolling of a great bell. It seemed to swell
and rise until it drowned even the rattle and roar of the battle which
was still going on. When Tinkham opened his eyes everything seemed to
waver and quiver before him. Suddenly there came a short, thin, wailing
sound which cut like a knife through the midst of the unconsciousness
which was stealing over him. It was the cries of two wounded men lying
far out in the field over which he had come. Tinkham raised his hand
and strained his eyes. He could recognize two of his own file, men who
a moment before had been by his side and who now lay moaning their
lives away out on that shell-swept field. Tinkham listened to it as
long as he could. Then he set his teeth, scrambled to his feet and in
spite of his comrades who thought that he was delirious, climbed
stiffly over the edge of the rifle-pit and began to creep out between
the lines toward the wounded men. At first every motion was an agony.
He was weakened by the loss of blood and he could bear no weight on his
left arm, yet there was such a fatal storm of bullets and grape-shot
whizzing over him that he knew that, if he rose to his feet, there
would be little chance of his ever reaching his friends alive. Slowly
and doggedly he sidled along like a disabled crab. Sometimes he would
have to stop and rest. Many times bullets whizzed close to him and cut
the turf all around where he lay. As soon as he had rested a few
seconds, he would fix his eye on some little tuft of grass or stone or
weed and make up his mind that he would crawl until he reached that
before he rested again. It was a long journey before he reached his
goal. On the way he had taken three full canteens of water from silent
figures which would never need them more. When at last he reached the
men, they recognized him and the tears ran down their faces as they
called his name.
"God bless you, Corporal," said one; "it's just like you to come for
us."
Tinkham had no breath left to talk, but he gave each wounded man a
refreshing drink from the canteens. Both of them were badly, although
not fatally, wounded. One had a shattered leg and the other was slowly
bleeding to death from a jagged wound in his thigh which he had tried
in vain to staunch. Tinkham bandaged them up to the best of his ability
and started to drag them both back to safety. With his help and
encouragement, each of them crawled for himself as best he was able. It
was a weary journey. During the last part of it, however, he was helped
by other volunteers who were shamed into action by seeing this wounded
man do what they had not dared. All three recovered and lived to take
part in the latter-day victories which were yet to come.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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