lelliott19
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AMUSING INCIDENTS AT SPOTSYLVANIA, VA.
by Wiley Gartivan Johnson for the Confederate Veteran 1893
On the 12th of May, 1864, the hard, all day struggle, when brigade after brigade had been rushed in to regain the ground lost early in the morning, on the spot where dead and wounded men, horses, and disabled artillery told of the deadly strife, where a man, after trying it awhile, if not killed or wounded, looked anxiously for the next relief to come up, late in the evening our (Humphreys) brigade was rushed in to relieve another that had served its time. While passing along the line of low earthworks to take our allotted position, one of the men in front of us, who had been sorely pressed, and was thinking seriously of the rear, cried out, " Are you all fresh troops? " Alter repeating the question several times, getting louder and louder every time, Pat Burns*, a cool, brave Irishman of my company, yelled back at the fellow, "Yis, we niver was in a fight before."
A few minutes later, when we were ordered to take our places in the shallow trenches, we found them occupied by dead and wounded, and among them a big six footer lying prone on his face, as still as a mouse, seemingly dead, and in the place that then belonged to Pat. The Irishman was nonplussed. He did not want to molest the dead or wounded. But soon the very position of the man aroused his suspicion, and, jumping astride of him and grabbing him by the shoulders, jerking him up and down, said, " Are you dead?" When the fellow rolled up the white of his eyes, showing he was. "possoming," Pat hauled him out and started him to the rear. It created a laugh, though in the midst of extreme danger.
W. GART JOHNSON**
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ga/topic/news/CV/cv1893pg12.htm
*Patrick Burns - b. 1835 Ireland. Pvt Co C 18th MS Infantry. Captured near Fredericksburg and exchanged; wounded at Gettysburg (GSW) returned to duty Aug 4, 1863; captured at Farmville (Sailor's Creek) April 6, 1865; paroled from Newport News.
**Wiley Gartivan Johnson - b. 5/1/1836. Promoted to Captain Co C 18th MS Infantry 7/3/1863. Captured at Berryville, Va. 9/3/1864; released on Oath of Allegiance 6/14/1865 from Johnson's Island. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14562187
@18thmississippi @Pat Young
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