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Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events, Diary from December 17, 1860 - April 30, 1864 (ed. Frank Moore), 1861, June (search)
hem, with what effect could not be seen, owing to their position. Captain Ward behaved with great coolness, standing by the guns and directing the fire. When his gunner received a wound in the thigh, which disabled him, he immediately took his place, and was sighting the gun when he received a Minie musket ball, which killed him almost instantly. The men left on the shore by the boats in their retreat swam out to the Freeborn--one of the men carrying on his back a wounded comrade named Bess, who had four musket balls shot into him. John Williams, coxswain of the third cutter, received a flesh wound in the leg while waving the Stars and Stripes, which he carried in his hand the whole time, behaving most gallantly under the hottest fire. The American ensign, which he never ceased to wave, was pierced with nineteen musket balls. Only three men of the boats were wounded, and the only life lost was that of the Owens to gallant Ward, who, the moment the enemy was discovered, blew th