Benjamin notes that he became too sick to march and rode in an ambulance during a three-day trek. He says other ill privates were forced to continue marching because a number of officers--whom some soldiers refer to as "Whiskey Tubs"--were too drunk to keep pace and were already occupying the ambulance. Benjamin claims that these officers often go into combat drunk to give them courage, which was the case with their commanding officer (referred to simply as "Colonel") at the Battle of the Wilderness earlier that month. Benjamin goes on to detail how their drunk colonel broke formation to lead them past two others lines of soldiers, putting their regiment in a dangerous isolated position. They made a hasty retreat but DeWitt Spaulding was captured and many of their men were wounded, killed, or taken prisoner. Unlike some soldiers who dropped their knapsacks to run faster, Benjamin was unwilling to part with his rations, but he was able to escape unharmed nonetheless. The colonel was captured and, according to Confederate prisoners taken at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, subsequently killed for acting "saucy." The colonel remains unnamed throughout, but it is likely Benjamin was referring to Col. Frank Graves, who was in command of the 8th Regiment of Michigan Volunteers and was killed in the Battle of the Wilderness. Conflicting reports about his death appear in a number of sources. Some say he was killed leading a charge, one claims he was wounded then murdered, and one reports Graves was killed after being captured because he called a Confederate soldier who took off his boots a "robber." Benjamin also tells his mother that he needed assistance from other soldiers during combat on May 12th because his body could not stand the heat.
Read
