They had managed to support life, but were so
retired that they saw very few people.
Leaving them food and supplies, the colonel
and the corps passed on.
TWO HERO-STORIES OF THE CIVIL
WAR
BY BEN LA BREE (ADAPTED)
I. BRAVERY HONORED BY A FOE
In a rifle-pit, on the brow of a hill near Fredericksburg,
were a number of Confederate soldiers who
had exhausted their ammunition in the vain attempt
to check the advancing column of Hooker's
finely equipped and disciplined army which was
crossing the river. To the relief of these few came
the brigade in double-quick time. But no sooner
were the soldiers intrenched than the firing on
the opposite side of the river became terrific.
A heavy mist obscured the scene. The Federal
soldiers poured a merciless fire into the trenches.
Soon many Confederates fell, and the agonized
cries of the wounded who lay there calling for
water, smote the hearts of their helpless comrades.
``Water! Water!'' But there was none to give,
the canteens were-empty.
``Boys,'' exclaimed Nathan Cunningham, a
lad of eighteen, the color-bearer for his regiment,
``I can't stand this any more. They want water,
and water they must have. So let me have a few
canteens and I'll go for some.''
Carefully laying the colors, which he had borne
on many a field, in a trench, he seized some
canteens, and, leaping into the mist, was soon out
of sight.
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