The Scouting Expeditions of McCulloch's Texas Rangers; or, the Summer and Fall Campaign of the Army of the United States in Mexico--1846; including Skirmishes with the Mexicans, and an accurate detail of the Storming of Monterey; also the Daring Scouts at Buena Vista together with anecdotes, incidents, descriptions of country, and sketches of the lives of the celebrated partisan chiefs, Hays, McCulloch, and Walker. Page: 75
251 p. : ill. ; 20 cm.View a full description of this book.
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THE HOSPITAL OF THE SICK. 75
CHAPTER VIII.
The Hospital of the Sick-Soldiers' Anecdotes-Orders for our March8cout
to China-The Sugar Rancho-The strange Guide-An extraordinary
Vision-The March at Night-Rancho El Toro--The Arm-Chair
Church-Preparations for a Fight-The false Alarm-Our Entrance into
China-Retreat of Col. Seguin and his Men-The vain Pursuit.
HAVING seen the termination of "6The Indian Scout," which
the writer was deprived of participating in, we will ask of the
kind reader to go back with us from the time we were made an
invalid until the next expedition of our company, in order to bring
up our ,, Journal notes."
We lay sick then in the hospital tent of the 5th infantry, to
which we had been removed by the kindness of our friends; and
stretched out on a pallet among the sick soldiers of that regiment,
we suffered for some days from the excruciating disease of
the climate. There is no place like the couch of the sick for
reflection and meditation. There, man is made to feel his helplessness
and his dependency upon the will of a Supreme Being;
there, feeling the uncertainty of life, his soul softens and relents
towards his fellow man; the stern purpose, or fell design, relaxes in
determination; and he who, in health the day before, would have
stopped at nothing, is then made as weak and helpless as a child.
The hospital of the sick, especially that of the soldier, is human
nature undisguised. It is the mirror of character, into which one
may look and read at will. Scenes of every nature are reflected
there, from the gayest to the most mournful. And, oh ! most sad
and sorrowful is it, melancholy, and most painful of all scenes, to
see a young soldier in the bloom and hey-day of life, when his
fond anticipations and dearest prospects glow brightest with the
fire of enthusiasm, lying on the couch of death, with no kind
friend or relative near to speak a soothing word of consolation, or
to remember him to those he loved, or bear to them his dying wish,
as his last breath vanishes upon the atmosphere of a foreign land,
and sinking into the arms of death, not even to be mentioned
or remembered for the service he had rendered, or known to the
world as one who had fought in the defence of his country's cause.
These thoughts naturally arose in our mind as we saw, in our
presence, a poor fellow carried out to be buried, who had fought
bravely at the late battles, and was now to be entombed without a
tear, or hardly a regret, to follow him to his grave, save that which
te volley of muskets echoed as the fresh green earth was piled
over his corpse.
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Reid, Samuel C., Jr. The Scouting Expeditions of McCulloch's Texas Rangers; or, the Summer and Fall Campaign of the Army of the United States in Mexico--1846; including Skirmishes with the Mexicans, and an accurate detail of the Storming of Monterey; also the Daring Scouts at Buena Vista together with anecdotes, incidents, descriptions of country, and sketches of the lives of the celebrated partisan chiefs, Hays, McCulloch, and Walker., book, 1859; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth38096/m1/79/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.