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From Spotsylvania's Battlefield's FB Page
In battles where projectiles of all kinds seemed to fill the air, many a fortunate soldier claimed a near miss. Close call encounters with minie balls and shell fragments are a common topic in soldiers' letters. In a May 17, 1864, letter Sgt. Charles T. Bowen, 12th U.S. Infantry, wrote about his at Spotsylvania's Laurel Hill.
"I have thus far escaped harm, but on the 12th, had it not been for my knapsack, I should not be now telling you about it. We had made a charge & lost some 60 men and were forced back in some disorder to our breastworks. We had to jump on the bank & then down into the trench toward the balls which were coming in a storm. I had just got my feet on the works & was just about to jump down when a shot hit me on the knapsack & knocked me full ten feet on the other side, flat as a flounder in a puddle of mud and water. Here I lay for a moment with the breath knocked clean out untill one of the 146th [New York Infantry] picked me up. When I looked at my knapsack I found a musket ball had gone clean through my dry goods & was only stopped by my razor which happened to be about the last article between my back & the ball. It made a smash of the handle, but I was mighty glad it didnet do the same to my spine."
#cvbt #commonsoldier #battleofspotsylvania #civilwarhistory
www.cvbt.org
In battles where projectiles of all kinds seemed to fill the air, many a fortunate soldier claimed a near miss. Close call encounters with minie balls and shell fragments are a common topic in soldiers' letters. In a May 17, 1864, letter Sgt. Charles T. Bowen, 12th U.S. Infantry, wrote about his at Spotsylvania's Laurel Hill.
"I have thus far escaped harm, but on the 12th, had it not been for my knapsack, I should not be now telling you about it. We had made a charge & lost some 60 men and were forced back in some disorder to our breastworks. We had to jump on the bank & then down into the trench toward the balls which were coming in a storm. I had just got my feet on the works & was just about to jump down when a shot hit me on the knapsack & knocked me full ten feet on the other side, flat as a flounder in a puddle of mud and water. Here I lay for a moment with the breath knocked clean out untill one of the 146th [New York Infantry] picked me up. When I looked at my knapsack I found a musket ball had gone clean through my dry goods & was only stopped by my razor which happened to be about the last article between my back & the ball. It made a smash of the handle, but I was mighty glad it didnet do the same to my spine."
#cvbt #commonsoldier #battleofspotsylvania #civilwarhistory
Central Virginia Battlefields Trust | Civil War Battlefields
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