99th pennsylvania infantry:

Our lines were not long enough by a mile or so, and the rebels came right
around on our flank and rear. Before we knew it, more than a dozen of us were
between two fires, and compelled to surrender or die.

Not being ready to die just then, we surrendered. A rebel captain kicked off a
board from a fence near, grabbed me by the shoulders, dragged me through, and
said he "would make a man of me." While saying that, he took my hat,
a brand new one, put it on his own head, and placed his old, greasy, slouch hat
on my head, pulling it way down over my eyes and ears. The ridiculous business
made us both laugh right in the midst of the fighting, and as he was ordering me
to the rear, a shell from a mortar on one of our gun boats in the James River
came along, burst, and blew him to atoms. I made my way to the rear, and to
Libby prison, under guard, just as fast as I could. ("With the Colors in
War Time" by Capt. Harvey May Munsell in Uncle Sam's Medal of Honor
collected and edited by Theo. F. Rodenbough, NY & LOndon, G.P. Putnam's
Sons, the Knickerbocker Press, 1886, 203)

Bryce A. Suderow
streetstories@juno.com