or anything relating to it, is of such deep interest as to make no apology necessary for its frequent introduction.
]
was wounded by the fire of his own men; but we give the following statement, which is of interest, although it cannot conteract the positive testimony we have already published:
Mr. D. W. Busick, of this county, who since the war has been register of deeds, was one of the soldiers that started with the litter that bore
General Jackson off the field that fearful night at
Chancellorsville.
As a historical incident, from so worthy a source,
Mr. Busick's version of the affair is worth giving.
He says that
Jackson was not shot by our own men. He was lying that night by the road down which the
Yankees were sweeping with canister and minnie, when
General Jackson crossed the road and was shot.
His aid called out, and
Busick was one of the men that ran to him. He carried one corner of the litter as they went through the woods, where the men were lying so thick that he stepped on a man's leg, and the fellow pulling his leg away tripped him up and he fell, another soldier springing up and taking his place at the litter.
They evidently thought he was shot, and history so has it that one of the men at the litter was shot down.
But not so.
Mr. Busick was that man. In his opinion that
Jackson was not shot by his own men he is borne out by many other old soldiers who were present.
Mr. Robertson, near
Pelham, in Caswell county, was lying on that road, and had his gun barrel bent by a shot from the same charge that swept the road just about the time that
Jackson was killed.
He sprang into the woods.--
Reidsville (N. C.) Times.
In reference to the wounding of the litter-bearer, we have the following in a letter from
Dr. Thomas P. Perkins, of
Wilmington, Fluvanna county, Va., whom we have known from our boyhood, and for whose high character we can vouch: * * “The man who was bearing
General Jackson off the field when wounded, and also had his arm shot off at the time, and had to drop the litter, lives in my neighborhood.
He is called ‘ one-armed
John Johnson,’ and is a good, worthy man, though very poor.
All of the facts can be well established, as the officer by whose command he acted on the occasion,
Major J. G. Bowles, is my nearest neighbor and partner in business.”
We have asked
Dr. Perkins to procure from
Mr. Johnson a statement of his recollection of the facts.
