Flag of truce raised.
About noon or a little later there went up a flag of truce immediately in our front.
The flag was a white piece of cloth about a yard square on a new staff.
General Saunders ordered the sharpshooters to cease firing.
Then a Yankee soldier, with a clean white shirt and blue pants jumped on top of their works, holding the flag, and was promptly followed by two elegantly uniformed officers.
General Saunders asked those of us near him if we had a white handkerchief.
All replied: ‘No.’
A private soldier near by said to the men around him: ‘Boys, some of you take off your shirt and hand it to the general,’ to which another replied: ‘Never do that; they will think we have hoisted the black flag.’
The general finally got a handkerchief, which answered the purpose, though not altogether suitable for a drawing room.
He and
Capt. George Clark,
assistant adjutant general, tied it to the ramrod of a musket, and
Captain Clark, with one man carrying the improvised flag, went forward to meet the
Yankee flag.
(I have frequently thought that the ‘get up’ of these flags of truce graphically illustrated the condition of the two armies). They met half way, about forty yards from each line.
After a few minutes' interview, the
Yankee officer handed to
Captain Clark a paper.
They then withdrew to their respective
[
170]
sides.
In handing this communication to
General Saunders,
Captain Clark said: ‘They are asking for a truce to bury their dead and remove their wounded.’
