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[145] upon them from a parallel street. Here Captain Mudge was wounded in the leg, just as he had given the order to his men to face about and give the Rebels a volley,—which had had the good effect of scattering them for a few moments. In this brief period of respite a sergeant brought him a horse and assisted him to mount; and Robert G. Shaw (then Captain Mudge's Lieutenant) aided him to accompany the troops on the rest of their way through the town. The wound, though bad and painful for the time, fortunatetly neither imperilled his life nor maimed the limb. Careful nursing cured him, but not in time for him to take part in the battle of Cedar Mountain, where his regiment went through so terrible an ordeal. While his friends rejoiced at his escape, he himself was exceedingly grieved at his enforced absence; but as he was at the time upon crutches, and wholly unable to move without their assistance, he had no option but to remain at home.

On the 1st of September, 1862, Captain Mudge wrote to his father:—

For the last ten days I have eaten what might pass for eleven meals. For three days our principal food was green apples and water, with occasionally a cracker. We have marched somewhere every day, generally bringing up where we started from. There had been a good deal of fighting, with various success. I don't think there has been an hour since I have been here, when I was awake, that I have n't heard firing; . . . . but we are in the best of spirits under it all; in fact, joking more when we expected to starve, than if we were in some comfortable place enjoying ourselves. I have had a blanket and overcoat to sleep in two nights out of ten only.

A few days later the regiment was engaged in the heat of the battle of Antietam, and added fresh laurels to those already gained. It suffered severely, both in the officers and in the rank and file. During the battle Captain Mudge was in the perilous command of the color company. His part in the fight is best told in his own simple and soldier-like description—

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Charles Redington Mudge (4)
Robert Gould Shaw (1)
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September 1st, 1862 AD (1)
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