I asked several of them why they had torn off the insignia of their rank,
and they always answered, "Humph, you think that I was going to be a
target for the Yankees to shoot at?" You see, this was our first battle,
and the officers had not found out that minnie as well as cannon balls
were blind; that they had no eyes and could not see. They thought that
the balls would hunt for them and not hurt the privates. I always shot
at privates. It was they that did the shooting and killing, and if I
could kill or wound a private, why, my chances were so much the better.
I always looked upon officers as harmless personages. Colonel Field,
I suppose, was about the only Colonel of the war that did as much
shooting as the private soldier. If I shot at an officer, it was at long
range, but when we got down to close quarters I always tried to kill
those that were trying to kill me.
SEWELL MOUNTAIN
From Cheat Mountain we went by forced marches day and night, over hill
and everlasting mountains, and through lovely and smiling valleys,
sometimes the country rich and productive, sometimes rough and broken,
through towns and villages, the names of which I have forgotten, crossing
streams and rivers, but continuing our never ceasing, unending march,
passing through the Kanawha Valley and by the salt-works, and nearly back
to the Ohio river, when we at last reached Sewell Mountain.
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