| Lieut. Holden's Escape
The following is an extract from a letter received in this city, from first lieutenant N. K. Holden, of Co G fifteenth Massachusetts regiment, who was reported wounded. He Says: “I am able to resume my duties, which have multiplied very fast since the fight. My wound was nothing. One ball grazed my leg, one the palm of my hand, and two struck my sword sheath. It was swimming the river that used me up. It was near midnight when I swam the river. I had my doubts, tired as I was, and hesitated. The bank was covered with the wounded, dead, and those that could not swim, the boats having been swamped. I thought perhaps they would build a raft and come to our relief. But all of a sudden, a volley was fired from the bluff above us into the crowd. Then my mind was made up. I started upstream on the run, pulling off my cloths as I went, and plunged in. The water was very cold and the current swift. Twice I sunk and was drifted by the current, but held my breath, and kept struggling. I had given up all hope of getting out when my toes hit the bottom. When I reached the bank, I could not rise for some time, and when I did rise, I was so chilled that I could not use my limbs. I would go a few steps and fall. But soon a man came to help me to a house on the island, where the wounded were. I got a shirt and blanket, and after warming myself, went out and crawling into a haystack, where I stayed till morning. I arrived in camp the next night." |