Union veterans speak
_A UNION VETERAN'S STORY. Norm G. Cooper, editor of the Coffee Cooler, Brooklyn, N. Y.: "On the 29th of August, 1862, I was a musket bearer in Company . E, ' Twenty fourth New York Infantry, First Brigade, First Division, First Army Corps, and, by carelessness in obeying the orders of our colonel, I got into a fight at Groveton, Va. The whole regiment was careless also, we ought to have known better. Our charge about dusk was not a success we got licked. Some sardine of a 'Johnny' shot a ball through my arm, and I didn't want any more shooting. We all retreated. I could not get away fast enough, on account of loss of blood, and had to halt and keep halting, till I found myself alone. It was, perhaps, 8 P.M. when I looked to a small hill a short distance off and saw a lot of soldiers in the moonlight. I went toward them and hailed them as follows: 'Are there any of the Twenty fourth there?' The question came back: 'Twenty fourth what?' I replied: 'Twenty fourth New York.' Some one said, ' Yes,' and a sergeant of a Texas regiment stepped toward me and said: 'You are a prisoner.' Then I was sold. Can you find that 'noncom.' for me? He gave me a drink [of] water." Confederate Veteran, March 1897.
Anonymous Union soldier's account of Second Bull Run, National Tribune Sept. 1, 1880. Update: By cross-referencing names mentioned in this account with New York State regimental rosters, I identified that the author was a member of Company G, 13th New York.
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