Under the guns : $b A woman's reminiscences of the Civil WarWittenmyer, Annie
History
Under the guns : $b A woman's reminiscences of the Civil War
Wittenmyer, Annie
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
“Oh, yes,” he answered cheerfully; “they are flying around here quite
thick.”
“Do you consider yourself safe while in this tent? It seems to me the
bullets are coming very close.”
“It is considered very safe. The bullets fall a little short you see.”
All the while I sat there I watched the bullets coming over and
clipping through the weeds.
Three days from that time an officer was killed while sitting in the
same chair on the same spot where I had sat and watched the bullets
shaking the weeds.
A PAINFUL ACCIDENT.
The smoke of the battle-field at Shiloh had cleared away; the dead
had been buried; the wounded gathered up, and their ghastly wounds
dressed--so that the people who came crowding to the battle-field saw
little of the horror of war.
Among the multitudes who came down with supplies and words of sympathy
and encouragement was Governor Harvey of Wisconsin, a grand, loyal
man. He walked over the battle-field, the scene of the recent terrible
conflict, and through the hospitals improvised for the accommodation
of the thousands who had been wounded, and over the score and more of
steamboats where many of the wounded were quartered.
He had given his promise of support to the men who stood between the
North and the sword and torch of war. And now, with a hasty farewell to
the crowd of distinguished patriots and officers who came down to wish
him Godspeed on his return to the loyal State of Wisconsin, he stepped
upon the single plank that bridged the little space between the shore
and the boat. There were a few steps forward--a misstep--a sudden
plunge, and the flowing tide ingulfed him out of sight. There was a
moment of awful suspense--he did not rise. Men plunged into the water,
reaching out their hands in every direction to find the lost one, but
alas! he was not found till life was extinct.
The boat on which he was going to take passage was lying just above our
sanitary boat, and a number of us saw him make the misstep and fall.
That was a sad day to us all--a sad day for the Army of the
Tennessee--a sad day for the State of Wisconsin--a sad day for the
wife, a grand, noble woman, who, crushed by the heavy blow, waited in
almost speechless agony for the bringing home of her dead.
But in those heroic days women did not sit down in speechless grief
to weep over their dead, but, crushing back their tears, consecrated
themselves to the cause of humanity and their country.
Mrs. Governor Harvey was no exception to this rule. Still staggering
under this stunning blow, she consecrated herself to service in the
Sanitary Commission and to the hospital work, and in blessed and
unwearying service for others solaced her own deep grief. Who shall
know how much comfort and encouragement the presence of this fair,
beautiful, refined lady brought into the hospitals where so many
homesick and pain-weary boys lay on their beds, longing for the sight
of a woman’s face, and tender touch of a woman’s hand?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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