might as well ask mercy from the devil himself as to ask it from this miserable sneak and shirk. If all ambulance drivers are as devoid of feeling as this one, I pity those who have the misfortune to have to ride with any of them when sick or wounded. About twelve o'clock at night we halt in some fields. The ambulances are all parked together in a circle. My driver comes around and tells me to get out, so that he can get in. Of course, I cannot make any resistance, and crawl out and stretch myself on the wet, dewy grass, without a covering or an oil cloth to put under me, for everything has been thrown away on our fearful campaign to make us lighter for marching, except canteens and haversacks. I have a raging fever, and pass off into an unsound sleep. When I awoke in the morning, I found the warm rays of the sun shining upon me. Looking around, I find I am alone in the field, for the ambulances had all left early in the morning. I feel lonely, tired, and very sick. Everything is as still as the grave. I can hear the distant boom of heavy guns, and the faint sound of musketry. Oh, that I could be up with my comrades again and all right. But now, alas, I am not able to help myself. I make a feeble effort to reach the main road and sit down by a tree. While here I see the Provost Guard of the army headquarters advancing up the road, fetching up the rear and picking up all stragglers. The officer in charge comes up to me and tells me to come along. I tell him I am sick. But he says he is too used to the plea of sickness, and tells me that that is played out. I tell him that I am played out, but that is no excuse, and I try to raise up, but my limbs fail me and I fall to the ground again. He asks me where is my gun. I tell him that I am Color Sergeant of the Fifth Michigan Infantry, for at this time we are consoli dated with the Fifth. He saw then that I was not playing off, as he thought at first, and tells me to get into the shade, where I would be out of the burning sun, and they leave me to my fate. I will explain here and make a few remarks about shirks, bummers, sneaks and thieves, all called camp followers. The first is a man that when the army comes up, and is expecting that every man will do his duty, now we are ready to meet the enemy, he looks around to see if any of his comrades are watching him, and DROPS to the reardeserts his comrades in time of danger. He then becomes a bummer, and prowls around, and will do anything to keep himself away from danger in the ranks. He then becomes a sneak, and tries to get an ambulance to drive, or "SICH." After that he becomes the thief, and will steal from friend and foe alike, and is devoid of all principle. Reader, look around you, and see if there is such men in your midst. Shun them as you would a viper, and show to them that they are despised in private life by their neighbors, as they were in the army by their comrades. It is such men as these that cry for an equalization of bounties. I make my way further into the woods and lie down among the leaves, thinking that that would be my dying bed. Oh, the awful stillness that prevails around me! I have no water, and am almost choked with thirst. Oh, that I could die now and end all my hardships; but what account would be given of me should I die here? No one knows where I am, and the thoughts that run in my mind are hard to describe. As I lie on my back thinking, I hear a rustling in the dry leaves by my head. Turning to see what causes the noise, a sight meets my eye that makes the blood run cold in my veins. A huge rattlesnake is in the act of making a spring at me. Instantly I am on my feet, and with one bound leap about ten feet from the spot. I take renewed courage and make my way for a distance of about a mile, when I see some tents pitched in front of a house close by. I make my way to the gate, but find that my head becomes dizzy and everything looks dark around me, and I fall at the gate as if dead. When I come too, I find some kind nurses bending over me, and all looking anxiously for my recovery. I find, after awhile, that I fell into the hands of the ladies of the Christian Commission, who have left home and all its luxuries to administer to the poor soldiers in the field. God bless all those devoted women, and if they do not receive their reward on this earth may they receive it in heaven, is the wish of one who owes them a debt of gratitude. We hear heavy firing in front, and it is plain to us that heavy fighting is going on. The wounded now commence to come back, and they are talking of sending the sick back to the general hospitals. I take up my line of march for the front. I feel a little stronger, and am in hopes by taking it easy, to reach my regiment or fall in with my division field hospital. I come up to a fort near the O'Harrow House, in front of Petersburg, where are quartered some negro troops, who claim that they fought bravely to capture the forts and breastworks in their front. course no one could tell me anything about my corps, and I strike off for the left of the lines. The pickets are firing in front, and an occasional bullet spats harmlessly by my feet. At last I came in sight of an officer of our division staff, and he informed me where the division field hospital was. I make my way there, where I meet our kind surgeon, Henry F. Lyster, with his sleeves rolled up and Of his hands dripping with blood, for he has just come from the amputating table. He tells his colored boy to make a bed for me in his own tent, and to get me something good to eat. Soon the boy has a chicken stewing for me, and I make a hearty meal, which revives me very much, for it is the only thing I had to eat in two days. The wounded come back now from the front in great numbers, and after a day or so I am about, doing all I can for my comrades. I find Ralph Steffans of my own Company, shot through the lungs, and in a fearful way. The maggots crawl all over his body. No one has as yet seen to him, for there is not enough help, and a great many die for the want of care. I go to work and wash his wound, and get some clean drawers and a shirt for him. He seems to think he is going to die, but I cheer him up as well as I can, in the meantime I have no hopes of his recovery, -but he got over it, and now is at home after the war and is doing well. Poor Sergeant Deidrick. No better soldier in the service, and one who has carried one of the colors of my regiment, but now he is dying, after bearing the starry flag aloft for over two years. He informs me that Corporal Weir, who carried my colors, has been shot dead, and nearly all of my guard are either killed or wounded since I left, only a few days. I try to cheer him up, but no use, as he says he is bound to die, and I find, when I go to see him next morning, that he is in the arms of death. Poor fellow, thou hast fallen at last, bearing the starry emblem of your adopted country. Who will say that the foreigners have not done their duty in this rebellion? Where is there a battle-field in the country that is not sealed with the life blood of the foreigner. Of course they have, and claim as good rights under the Constitution, as any who live in the land, consequently they claim a right to fight for this country, and keep it whole, so that it will be the home of all who are oppressed by foreign tyrants, no matter from what country they come. The scenes around a field hospital will baffle all description; the bringing back the worst of the wounded on stretchers, men hobbling back, shot in the leg or arm; men wounded in all conceivable shapes, in the head, limbs and body; the groans and shouts of the sufferers; amputated limbs heaped up around the dissecting tables; hundreds under the influence of chloroform, and cuttting up all kind of antics; all make up a scene that would melt a heart of stone at the suffering that is all around. This is my first instance in a field hospital, and I hope my last. We witness great suffering on the field in the heat of battle, but everybody is so excited that no one will think much of it, but here in the hospital one can see and appreciate all the sufferings of the wounded soldier. CHAPTER XLII. GETTING WELL AGAIN-BACK WITH MY REGIMENT-A LONG About the 20th of June I make a start for the regiment. The doctor thinks I had better stay back for a while, but I want to get back, for it seems a long while to be away, two |