There an incident occurred that I can never forget. I expected to go home with my regiment on veteran furlough as soon as the campaign that we were then on was completed. I had felt desirous of procuring a complete Confederate Colonel's uniform to take home with me as a trophy. I had already secured every thing except a coat. When I had completed my day's ride, and secured my horse for the night, it had got to be so late as 9 o'clock. Passing along the line to find somebody that would lend me some tobacco--which, by the way, was a scarce article then--I met a soldier, who said, "Bunker, didn't I hear you say that you wanted a rebel Colonel's coat?" "Yes." "There was a rebel Colonel killed on the skirmish line in front to-day." "Was there! Where is he?" "Go up the ditch yonder, to the left, till you come to the end of it; then take a hollow that leads away to your left. The first body that you come to is a dead private; the next is that of a Colonel." The night was very dark, but my desires to obtain the coat were so strong that they overcame all fear, so I started out. I found the hollow described with less difficulty than I had expected. Coming to the dead private, I said, "Good evening, Johnnie! You'll get cold there, won't you?" A few steps further brought me to another body. "Good evening, Colonel!" said I. He made no reply. I continued: "You are going down below, where it is warm, and when we get back from this raid I am going up north, where it is cold; you have got a good coat and I want it. Since it is so warm down where you are going that you don't need it, what objections can you have to my taking it?" The Colonel made no reply. "Well, Colonel, they say, when sparking old maids, that silence gives consent so I guess I'll take it." He lay on his back, with his feet crossed, and one arm laying across his breast. His boots were already gone. Taking hold of his arm and raising it up, I found that it was limber. Said I, "You haven't had your furlough long, have you, Colonel?" He made no reply. I set the body up, and got down upon my knees in front of it, and commenced to take off the coat. A gasp and a convulsive spring forward brought the Colonel's open mouth suddenly against my face. Unearthly horror seized me; with one bound I was on my feet, and the next thing that I knew I was in camp. To say that I was frightened is no description of my feelings. Had a demon from the infernal regions placed his gnashing jaws against my face, I could not have been more horrified. I covered myself in my blankets, and cold tremors crept over me for hours after. Every attempt to court sleep would force through my mind a vivid recollection of every mean thing that I had ever done, followed by all the stories of ghosts and hobgoblins that I had ever heard. I have had no desire since to obtain a rebel Colonel's coat.