William W. Bennett, A narrative of the great revival which prevailed in the Southern armies during the late Civil War

[382] had scarcely been offered before a shell from one of the enemy's batteries, recently planted, about nine hundred yards distant, passed very near them. The group then began to disperse in different directions. General Johnston and Lieutenant-General Polk moved off a few paces together and separated — the former selecting a path lower down the hill, and General Polk proceeded along the cone of the knoll. General Johnston had scarcely parted from General Polk before a second shell from the same battery struck the latter in the chest, and he fell without a groan.

Colonel Gale, of his staff, who observed his fall, ran immediately back to the spot, but before he had reached it the great soul of his loved General had sped beyond the clouds. There was a slight tremor of the lower jaw, but the eyes. were fixed and the pulse had ceased. A three-inch rifle-ball or shell had taken effect in the left arm, above the elbow, crushing it and passing through the body, and also through the right arm just below the shoulder-joint, leaving it in the same mutilated condition as the left, portions of the integuments serving to secure the arms still to the frame. The opening through the chest was indeed a frightful one and, in all probability, from the direction of the missile, involved the heart and lungs in its course. The position of the General, on the slope of Pine Mountain, at the moment of the sad occurrence, accounts for the upward tendency of the shot, as indicated in the course traced on his person.

The enemy's battery by this time began to fire with great rapidity, and the body was borne back on a litter under a heavy fire. Upon examination of the pockets of his coat were found, in that of the left side, his Book of Common Prayer for the service of the P. E. Church, and in the right pocket four copies of the Rev. Dr. Quintard's little work, entitled “ Balm for the Weary and the Wounded.” Upon the fly-leaves of each of these little volumes, indicating for whom they were intended, was