Page:Confederate Cause and Conduct.djvu/242

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Wounding and Death of Jackson.

mitted. Unfortunately, one of the bearers was struck down, and the litter having been supported at each of the four corners by a man, fell and threw the General to the ground. The fall was a serious one, and as he touched the earth, he gave, for the first time, expression to his suffering, and groaned piteously.

Captain Smith sprang to his side, and as he raised his head, a bright beam of moonlight, made its way through the thick foliage and rested upon the pale face of the sufferer. The Captain was startled by its great pallor and stillness, and cried out, "Oh! General, are you seriously hurt?" "No," he answered, "don't trouble yourself, my friend, about me," and presently added something about winning the battle first, and attending to the wounded afterwards. He was placed upon the litter again, and carried a few hundred yards, when I met him with an ambulance. I knelt down by him, and said, "I hope you are not badly hurt. General." He replied very calmly, but feebly, "I am badly injured, Doctor; I fear I am dying." After a pause, he continued, "I am glad you have come." I think the wound in my shoulder is still bleeding. His clothes were saturated with blood, and hemorrhage was still going on from the wound. Compression of the artery with the finger arrested it, until lights being procured from the ambulance, the handkerchief which had slipped a little, was readjusted. His calmness amid the dangers which surrounded him, and at the supposed presence of death, and his uniform politeness, which did not forsake him, even under these, the most trying circumstances, were remarkable. His complete control, too, over his mind, enfeebled as it was by loss of blood, pain, &c., was wonderful. His suffering at this time was intense; his hands were cold, his skin clammy, his face pale, and his lips compressed and bloodless; not a groan escaped him—not a sign of suffering, except the slight corrugation of his brow, the fixed, rigid face, and the thin lips so tightly compressed that the impression of the teeth could be seen through them. Except these, he controlled, by his iron will, all evidence of emotion, and more difficult than this even, he controlled that disposition to restlessness which