a rifle-butt over his skull. When he got on his feet again and had picked up a gun and was ready to fire, Brehm's bold dash through the enemy's ranks may have already been accomplished; but Spayd, noticing in time that he was running right into the Johnnie's, and having changed his course to clear their left flank, was nearer to Price, who, presently brought him down by firing a bullet through his thigh. It took him but a minute to cover the distance between them, when he pulled out from under our seventeen year old hero the flag which he had but a few minutes before so gallantly rescued; and Price, who had had his grasp on the staff of our national flag, but slipped up on its capture, as narrated, now had possession of our State flag, while the National flag and its noble bearer went down over a hundred yards further on, south of the pike and east of McPherson's.
This furnishes a striking illustration of the rapid succession of stirring events during the whirlwind of battle, and the sudden changes of fortune from one side to the other.
As a further confirmation of the above account, I will quote from Capt. Bond's letter to Comrade W. R. Johnston, secretary of our Regimental Association:
W. R. Johnston, Belleview, Pa.,
Dear Comrade:—Yours of the 21st with stated enclosure to hand. I have read Capt. Bassler's address with very great interest. The more so for the reason that I was a witness in part, and I might say an actor in part of one of the incidents described, for I was the mounted staff officer who fired several shots at the Mississippian who captured your State flag. * * * * When I dismounted and picked up a musket there could have been nothing very formidable about my appearance for I was only a pale-faced boy, yet several of the wounded thought I was an inhuman monster, for with hands raised in a deprecating way they besought me not to kill them. Poor devils! I would have helped them if I could, had the time been not so stirring. * * * *
Yours fraternally,
