. Knapsack and rifle; or, Life in the Grand Army; war as seen from the ranks. Pen pictures and sketches of camp, bivouac, marches, battle-fields and battles, commanders, great military movements, personal reminiscences and narratives of army life ... Also, a complete chronology of the war, and a digest of the pension laws of the United States .. . free from all cares ofthat sort. Then you dont know how I feel; you uns are verykind to us, but would to God you could send us home. My heart was touched, and I believe I would haveliberated the poor fellow if it had been in my power, andwould have t
. Knapsack and rifle; or, Life in the Grand Army; war as seen from the ranks. Pen pictures and sketches of camp, bivouac, marches, battle-fields and battles, commanders, great military movements, personal reminiscences and narratives of army life ... Also, a complete chronology of the war, and a digest of the pension laws of the United States .. . free from all cares ofthat sort. Then you dont know how I feel; you uns are verykind to us, but would to God you could send us home. My heart was touched, and I believe I would haveliberated the poor fellow if it had been in my power, andwould have turned his grief to joy. Just then he sawthe group of visitors, among them a bright little boyabout half a dozen years old. Is that your child? he cried to a lady who seemedto be the mother. ^ That is my boy, she answered. Tears came in a fresh outburst to the prisoners brushed them away, sprang to his feet, reached outhis long bony arms, and, rushing toward the boy, KNAPSACK AND BIFLE. 289 caught him up, and convulsively hugged him to hisheart, and kissed him over and over again. Pardon nie. Madam, he exclaimed, but hes likemy boy—at least the boy I left long ago, and God onlyknows whether hes alive or dead. A thrill of feeling ran through the group, and we stoodin a silence, which was broken only by sobs. •^* ^»^^K^ J .i^^^tf. The co:srFEDEEATE prisoner and the little boy. With a voice that betrayed emotion the lady said,* Im very sorry for you; your lot is a hard one. Madam, he answered, I could bear the marchesand dangers, the hardships and wounds; I aint takinon because Im a prisoner, but to be separated from— He could not speak; emotion sealed his lij^s. And hewas only one of hundreds whose chief trial was not thatthey were held in prison by our forces, but had neitherhome nor wife, nor sweet-faced children, save in memory. I wrote to friends in Philadelphia for contributionssuch as would make the prisoners comfortable, and such 19 290 KNAPSACK AND BIFLE. a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidknapsackrifl, bookyear1889
