[The following is from the Civil War diary of Samuel Clear, a Union soldier.]
Thursday, Jany 19th
Old sol still shines down on us and makes us feel good. The boys are all in good condition. Corporal Daniel Chisholm returned to us to day, he was badly wounded on the shin June 19th, 3 days after he was wounded. His wound in all that time was not dressed or any care taken of it, not even washed off, and he was under fire all three days besides running through the underbrush caused it to become very much inflamed and his limb swollen so that he could scarcely walk. He came very near losing his leg on account of gangrene setting in. On the evening of May 5th, 1864 in the first engagement that we participated in at the battle of the Wilderness, he had the front part of his cap pierced by a Minie Ball – tearing the whole front part of it out, passing through his hair above his forehead. It was a narrow escape for if it had been one half inch lower he would have been killed. While in the Hospital at City Point one of the Christian Commission seen his cap and told him he would attend to forwarding it home to his father, as it would be a great curiosity and show how near he had come to being killed. He did so and now it hangs in his room at his home.
Source:
Chisholm, Daniel, et al. “Diary.” The Civil War Notebook of Daniel Chisholm: A Chronicle of Daily Life in the Union Army, 1864-1865. Ballantine Books, 1990. 59-60. Print.
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