Lee Lee's close brush with Death

[War Horse]

Longsteet not only stayed cool observing that Hill's horse was shot under him he even showed some black humour by joking about it. As Hill tried to dismont his wounded horse, Longstreet was teasing him, telling him he should come down one side, then the other and then shouted "get over his head, Hill". This ability to stay calm even in dangerous situations is what I probably admire most in him.
But sorry, War Horse, I'm abusing your thread!

Not at all, A little Longstreet is never unwelcome.

 

[AUG]

Near misses whether it be from sharpshooter or stray bullets were probably more common than you'd think. Often soldiers wrote about their clothes being torn here and there by bullets after a battle, their canteens shot through, or their knapsacks riddled with bullet holes. There are those instances where a soldier was saved by a Bible or coin in their pocket stopping a bullet.

 

[FarawayFriend]

Here is another story illustrating how cold blooded General Lee must have been.

"Lee was interested in a brand new 15,000 pound Columbiad cannon, manufactured in Richmond, Virginia, that had recently been installed at Fort Bartow. This monster weapon was capable of hurling a big projectile five miles from its rifled 6.4 inch bore. The cannon was loaded for a demonstration firing, but failed to discharge. On the second try the tube split. The lower half stayed in place as the cannonball shot downrange, but a 3,500-pound piece of the upper and rear tube flew high into the air, sailing mere feet over Lee, who was standing nearby, and landing several hundred yards away in the Wilmington River. Accounts state that up to two soldiers were killed, or that several were injured. The course of the Civil War had Lee been killed here has elicited considerable speculation. The cannon was one of three which exploded in that manner. -"
See more at:
http://www.brownsguides.com/blog/ci...arly-killed-in-savannah/#sthash.ajm1RiM9.dpuf

 

[War Horse]

Here is another story illustrating how cold blooded General Lee must have been.

"Lee was interested in a brand new 15,000 pound Columbiad cannon, manufactured in Richmond, Virginia, that had recently been installed at Fort Bartow. This monster weapon was capable of hurling a big projectile five miles from its rifled 6.4 inch bore. The cannon was loaded for a demonstration firing, but failed to discharge. On the second try the tube split. The lower half stayed in place as the cannonball shot downrange, but a 3,500-pound piece of the upper and rear tube flew high into the air, sailing mere feet over Lee, who was standing nearby, and landing several hundred yards away in the Wilmington River. Accounts state that up to two soldiers were killed, or that several were injured. The course of the Civil War had Lee been killed here has elicited considerable speculation. The cannon was one of three which exploded in that manner. -"
See more at:
http://www.brownsguides.com/blog/civil-war-generals-robert-e.-lee-nearly-killed-in-savannah/#sthash.ajm1RiM9.dpuf

Very interesting read. Thank you

 

[FarawayFriend]

That's about it. It wasn't all that easy for a sniper to get an officer unless he was sticking his neck out in some way. And stray bullets were always etched with somebody's name, but maybe not the one they missed. Sherman, at Kennesaw, was helping aim a cannon and put his face down close to the barrel to get a better sighting when a bullet zipped right past his nose. Made him sneeze but that was all! Forrest, who had so many close calls he wondered about it himself, was riding with Morton when he suddenly ducked his chin and yanked his hat off his head - there was a bullet hole in the brim. Grant was checking his lines and a bullet zinked off his sword - not into him. Lee had another good one but I can't remember the battle - maybe someone else can! He was looking at the field through his binoculars when an artillery round landed right in front of him, almost between his feet. He looked down - the fuse was still burning but was very, very short. There was no point in running so he just watched it burn down. Nothing. Not even a fizzle! Went back to looking at the field through his binoculars...

diane, you might have been referring to an event at Fredericksburg, described in the book
"In the Footsteps of Robert E. Lee", page 12. It is similar to the one above.
http://books.google.de/books?id=yHn...YXXgKgM&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=shell&f=false

Does anybody know how I can manage to copy and paste from Google books? Seems that it doesn't work for me. Or is it deliberately made impossible for copyright reasons?

 

[War Horse]

diane, you might have been referring to an event at Fredericksburg, described in the book
"In the Footsteps of Robert E. Lee", page 12. It is similar to the one above.
http://books.google.de/books?id=yHnaRehEW5cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=In the Footsteps of Robert E. Lee&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Al81VIefLcjCOYXXgKgM&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=shell&f=false

Does anybody know how I can manage to copy and paste from Google books? Seems that it doesn't work for me. Or is it deliberately made impossible for copyright reasons?

Great Job Fareaway I've been looking for that story since Diane mentioned it.

 

[FarawayFriend]

It pays to know a librarian ...

 

[diane]

diane, you might have been referring to an event at Fredericksburg, described in the book
"In the Footsteps of Robert E. Lee", page 12. It is similar to the one above.
http://books.google.de/books?id=yHnaRehEW5cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=In the Footsteps of Robert E. Lee&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Al81VIefLcjCOYXXgKgM&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=shell&f=false

Does anybody know how I can manage to copy and paste from Google books? Seems that it doesn't work for me. Or is it deliberately made impossible for copyright reasons?

That's the one! I have to say, I think I'd give running a try at least... He just knew even so he'd never get clear of the blast.

You can't snip off the Google books but the link is good - sometimes there's information around the snippet that's even better! There's some images I've wanted to try to post but they won't let me but at least they can be linked.