Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 06.djvu/244

234 one of the men got his foot entangled in a grape vine and fell, letting General Jackson fall on his broken arm. For the first time he groaned piteously; he must have suffered agonies. He soon recovered his composure, however, and we again took the road to avoid the repetition of such an accident. It was a long time before we got out of the space on which the fire of the battery seemed to be concentrated; as long as we were in it, the shells burst around us thick and fast; they seemed like falling stars. At length I met Dr. Whitehead, who, as I have since learned, had been summoned when General Jackson was found to be wounded. Dr. Whitehead had procured an ambulance, in which we placed the General. It was already occupied in part by a person whom I did not then recognize, but whom I afterwards found to be Colonel Crutchfield, of the artillery, who had had his leg broken. General Jackson at this time complained of great pain in the palm of his left hand, and repeatedly asked for spirits, of which we were unable to find any for a long time, but Dr. Whitehead at length procured a bottle of whisky. After we had gone a short distance with the General in the ambulance, we stopped at the house of Melzei Chancellor to get some water for the General and Colonel Crutchfield. *  *

At Melzei Chancellor's, Dr. Hunter McGuire, Chief Surgeon of our corps, joined us and took charge of the General.

"Arriving at the hospital, I found Drs. Coleman, Taylor and Fleming; *   *   *  that General Jackson had already arrived; and the surgeons told me it would be necessary to amputate his arm. No one at that time seemed to think that his life was in danger." *  *