. A grandfather's oft told tales of the civil war, 1861-1865 . ground; I satdown on my knapsack. One of the attendants came around unofficially andglanced us over; he looked at my arm and side and re-marked, H you were where you would receive properattention, that arm could be saved. After a little while the medical director of the corps,in full uniform, accompanied by a large and brilliantstaff, came along and examined the wounded soldiers;his usual order was, Cut it off, or the one word, Am-putate. When he reached me he took hold of my handand raised it upward and knew at once that the arm w
. A grandfather's oft told tales of the civil war, 1861-1865 . ground; I satdown on my knapsack. One of the attendants came around unofficially andglanced us over; he looked at my arm and side and re-marked, H you were where you would receive properattention, that arm could be saved. After a little while the medical director of the corps,in full uniform, accompanied by a large and brilliantstaff, came along and examined the wounded soldiers;his usual order was, Cut it off, or the one word, Am-putate. When he reached me he took hold of my handand raised it upward and knew at once that the arm wasshattered. Amputation, he ordered. No, sir. Iquickly responded, remembering what the attendant hadsaid. W^ith a surprised look he said, That arm is com-ing off. No, it is not, was my retort. Your deathbe upon your own head, he angrily replied. On myown head, I acquiesed. Commanding his staff of sur-geons to follow him he walked to other wounded menand I was left without attention. By and by the attend-ant returned, took my big bandana handkerchief, made 24. TALES OF THE CIVIL WAR a sling of it, and wetting the shattered arm said, Keepyour arm wet all the time with cold water, and whenyou get to the general hospital the people there will knowwhat to do. Just before dark my tent-mate, Charley Fryberger,brought in several hundred Confederate prisoners cap-tured by our brigade. That night I slept on the bareground with my knapsack for a pillow. The next morning an ambulance train more than amile long started off with the wounded and at duskreached Fredericksburg, Va. Here we were placed inthe Presbyterian Church, which was being used as atemporary hospital. We were given hardtack and hotcoffee for our evening meal and our wounds were dressed. As the darkness thickened attendants with candlespassed from one wounded soldier to another ministeringto his wants; at last the work was ended and the stillnessbroken only by groans of agony wrung from some pain-fully wounded soldier. The p
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