Ralph looked for the sergeant. He had shrunk to the rear, and was busy hiding behind a huge tree which towered above the field.
“Thank heaven!” said Ralph, “our flag was saved.” He felt sure that his new friend, who was corporal of the color guard, would be rewarded in some way, but the soldier who had rescued the flag, when summoned before the commanding officer, and offered promotion to color sergeant, promptly refused it, unless the one who had so belittled his trust were reduced to the ranks. This was not done, for some reason, but the man who had rescued the colors was made a sergeant—a deserved promotion.
The rumor proved false, for General McClernand, so far from taking the two forts, had been repulsed, and the men who were sent to help him were many of them killed; they were made the victims of a misstatement, to put it as mildly as possible. A short time after, General Grant relieved him of further responsibility, and General Ord succeeded him.
This assault was a costly one, for two thousand five hundred men were sacrificed, and Grant determined to besiege the city. He went to the rear, earth-works were thrown up, and mines were dug under the fortifications. By day and by night the big guns were booming across the space, which daily grew narrower, as the Union soldiers brought the trenches nearer to the line of defense. Those were days that tried their courage and patience, but not a murmur was heard.
One day a great commotion took place among the soldiers. Three objects were seen whirling through the air, and fell in the Union lines, within five feet of where Ralph was standing.
“What is it? Where did it come from?” was the query, as several hastened to the spot, to find three men, two white ones lying on the ground dead, and one negro nearly so.
“Something struck some one that time,” Corporal Calvin Strong said. “See—the colored man's coming to.”
And so he was, and as he raised up, he began to rub his head, and look wildly about.
“Say, he's contraband of war, and we must confiscate him,” the Corporal continued, laughingly.
“Whar—whar be I? Is dis yere de bottomless pit?” the black man asked.