L. P. Brockett, The camp, the battlefield, and the hospital: or, lights and shadows of the great rebellion

But now stepped forward a little squad of colored men from the “Corps d'afrique,” as General Banks had named them, and one of them acting as spokesman for the rest said to the adjutant: “We'se been thinking, sar, dat dere's got to be a good many killed in this war, 'fore our people can get deir freedom, and p'raps it may as well be we as anybody else; so if you please, sar, we'll go after the general.” The adjutant-general, as may be supposed, readily accepted their offer, and there being sixteen of the volunteers, they formed into fours, and the first squad, with a stretcher and supplies of water, etc., moved off steadily across that fire-swept plain. The first fifty yards were hardly passed when one of the four was struck down; his companions did not stop, but pressed forward, when another and another, and finally the fourth fell. Without uttering a word or hesitating a moment, the second squad of four stepped out, similarly equipped, to traverse the field of death. They, too, were all smitten down, though they had approached nearer to the general than the first. Instantly and without a moment's delay, a third squad of four went forward on the perilous journey. Two of these fell wounded, but the other two reached the general, and though unable to bring him off, allayed his thirst, and remained near him amid the fiery hail till evening, when he was carried to the bivouac of the troops. These last two had also been wounded, but not severely. We think it is no impeachment of the courage of the white troops to say that in no battle of the war have they ever exhibited a cool and deliberate courage surpassing this