Page:The woman in battle .djvu/140

124 and panic-stricken crowd. Over the Bluff they went, pell-mell, leaping, rolling, and tumbling, more like a herd of frightened buffalo fleeing from the savages of the plains, than human beings, hundreds being shot down while attempting to cross, and hundreds of others being captured before they could gain the river. I was sick with horror; and as the cold shivers ran through me, and my heart stood still in my bosom, I shut my eyes for a moment, wishing that it was all over, but only to open them again to gaze on a spectacle that had a terrible fascination for me, in spite of its horrors. Directly, one of the prisoners whom I was guarding, shouted, "There goes my colonel!" "What is his name?" I inquired. "Colonel Devens, of the fifteenth Massachusetts. regiment," he replied, as he pointed to a figure striking out in an attempt to swim across the river.

I said, "I hope the poor fellow will get safely to land, for he has fought bravely, and deserves a better fate than a watery grave."

Colonel Devens, it appears, in the confusion got separated from his men, and seeing no chance of rallying them, or of doing anything to turn the tide of defeat, had, when all hope of ever effecting an orderly retreat was gone, sought to save himself in the desperate manner I have indicated. Pie was, apparently, a powerful swimmer, for he was soon out of musket-shot, and I believe he managed to gain the other shore. He had my best wishes in the attempt at any rate, for I have not a cruel or vindictive nature, and at this time my womanly sympathies were being awakened in the liveliest manner.

When the rout began, there was but one boat in the river, and this was quickly filled with a struggling mass of humanity, each man being intent only on making good his own escape from the deadly fire of the Confederates. On the bank, a dense crowd of fugitives were throwing away their arms, and divesting themselves of their clothing, some of them, apparently, resolved to save themselves, like Colonel Devens, by swimming. A large number of those who plunged into the river were drowned in the icy waters, and the shrieks of these poor fellows fairly appalled me as I heard them, and rang in my ears for days afterwards.