If We Only Save The Finger Of

There Was No Indication Of Panic. The Broken Files Marched Back In Steady Step. The Effort Was Nobly Made And Failed From The Blows That Could Not Be Fended.

I Fancy That No Good Ideas Upon That Campaign Will Be Mentioned At Any Time That Did Not Receive Their Share Of Consideration By General Lee.

My Arm Is Paralyzed; My Voice That Once Could Be Heard All Along The Line, Is Gone; I Can Scarcely Speak Above A Whisper; My Hearing Is Very Much Impaired, And Sometimes I Feel As If I Wished The End Would Come; But I Have Some Misrepresentations Of My Battles That I Wish To Correct, So As To Have My Record Correct Before I Die.

I Have Been A Soldier All My Life. I Have Commanded Companies, I Have Commanded Regiments. I Have Commanded Divisions. And I Have Commanded Even More. But There Are No Fifteen Thousand Men I The World That Can Go Across That Ground.

I Hope To Live Long Enough To See My Surviving Comrades March Side By Side With The Union Veterans Along Pennsylvania Avenue, And Then I Will Die Happy.