It is a fact worthy of being noted that
Corporal Mauk was an eye witness to the killing of
General Sedgwick, commander of the Sixth army corps, whose taking off was as sudden, as unexpected, and almost as tragic as that of
General A. P. Hill.
The Sixth corps had made a long march on the 8th of May, 1864, and on the 9th was getting into position in front of
Spotsylvania.
No general engagement was expected for some hours, and
Sedgwick and several officers of his staff were leisurely inspecting the lines, walking from one point to another, and stopping occasionally to speak encouraging words to the men. The Confederate line was apparently a mile away, but every now and then the whirr of a minie ball showed that the sharpshooters were plying their deadly work from such vantage points as the natural features of the battle ground afforded.
Sedgwick had been told by his chief of staff, earlier in the day, that there was one place on the line which he should avoid, for the reason that the fire of the sharpshooters seemed to converge upon it, as if it had been selected for a target.
Strangely enough, the officer who had given the warning accompanied
General Sedgwick to the very spot which he regarded as specially dangerous.
They stopped, and
Sedgwick passed some jokes with the men who were inclined to drop to the ground whenever they heard the singing of a bullet.
To reassure one poor fellow whose dodging interrupted his work,
Sedgwick said to him, ‘They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance.’
These were the last words of the amiable, good-natured, gallant
Sedgwick.
A ball struck him fair in the face, and went through his head.
General
McMahon, who was standing close beside him, in attempting to support
[
38]
his stricken chief, was borne to the ground, and it was not until he saw the blood gushing from the mortal wound that he recalled the warning he had given but a short time before.
Fate had led both men unconsciously along, until they stood immediately in front of the sharpshooters' target.
Corporal Mauk was close enough to the group to hear the conversation with the dodging soldier, and he often repeated
Sedgwick's expression about the inability of a sharpshooter to hit an elephant at so great a distance.
General McMahon described the touching scene in a private letter to a friend, a portion of which was published not a great while ago, and the last sentence uttered by
Sedgwick, as recorded by his chief of staff, is identical with what
Mauk heard him say an instant before the sharpshooter gave such awful proof of his skill.
