A surgeon of the Virginia army relates the following incident: “As I was pushing my way through a crowd of idle spectators, at the Second Corps hospital, Gettysburg, one of our wounded, from a North Carolina regiment, called to me in a feeble voice. I went to him, and he said: ‘You are a Confederate surgeon–are you not?’ I answered him, ‘Yes; what can I do for you?’ He caught me nervously by the arm; and in a manner very striking and very eloquent, he uttered: ‘What do you think, doctor? I am wounded and dying in defence of my country, and these people are trying to persuade me to take the oath of allegiance to theirs!’

“The crowd around him scattered as if a bomb had fallen into their midst, whilst I, overcome by the fervent eloquence of his words, could only bow in silence over the gallant fellow, upon whose brow the damp shadow of death was already gathering.

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