Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 21.djvu/302

 294 Southern Historical Society Papers.

but Mr. Forrest unbuckled the sword and threw it out of the port- hole. All that desperate valor could accomplish had been done, " we surrendered to overwhelming numbers and resources." The ship was a complete wreck. Our loss, however, was slight. The Federal loss was very heavy. As soon as Faragut heard that the Admiral was wounded he sent his fleet surgeon aboard, offering assistance. This was very kind of him. Indeed, they accorded us generous treatment as foemen worthy of their steel, and soon the Blue and the Gray were fraternizing in the most friendly manner.

The transition from hard -tack and Confederate coffee to three courses at a meal, supplemented with wine, on the elegant quarters of the Hartford and the Richmond, was something phenomenal. I had formed quite a favorable opinion of Federal hospitality until I had the misfortune to fall into the hands of Sheridan and his troopers, near the close of the war. These marched me and starved me until I became so thin and shadowy, I escaped at night unobserved through the guards.

Admiral Buchanan united with Farragut in a petition to General Page at Fort Morgan, to allow a ship to pass out with Federal and Confederate wounded to Pensacola, Florida, where they could be made more comfortable. To this he assented. All the wounded having been transferred to the United States steamer Metacomet, on the morning of the 6th of August, we sailed for Pensacola with a full

cargo of mutilated and suffering humanity.

R. C. BOWLES. Ken? s Store, Virginia.

[From the Louisville, Ky., Courier-Journal, January 9, 1894.]

A MODERN HORATIUS.

Defence of a Bridge by One Confederate Against an Attack by Forty Federals.

He Kills Three and Wounds Eight of His Assailants After Losing a Hand.

[This article has been received from a distinguished Confederate officer. If the account may be questioned, let it be disproved. ED.]

[Correspondence of the Courier-Journal.'}

BRISTOL, TENN., January 7, 1894. I had an interview yesterday with a man who performed an act of