An Incident

A correspondent of the N. Y. Tribune narrates the following incident as having occurred at the battle of Pea Ridge:

One of the Texas soldiers was advancing with his bayonet upon a lieutenant of the 9^th Iowa, whose sword had been broken.  The officer saw his intention, avoided the thrust, fell down at his foeman’s feet, caught hold of his legs, threw him heavily to the ground, and before he could rise drew a long knife from his adversary’s belt and buried it in his bosom.

The Texan, with dying gasp seized the Lieutenant by the hair, and sunk down lifeless, bathing the brown leaves with his blood.  So firm was the old of the nerveless hand that it was necessary to cut the hair from the head of the officer before he could be freed from the corpse of his foe.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Thursday Morning, March 27, 1862, p. 2