History of the Eighth Regiment Vermont Volunteers. 1861-1865

172 THE EIGHTH VERMONT.of peril, refused to be swept away with their broken lines, andadded the influence of their personal courage to the inspirationwhich broke the enemy's front, and insured the victory. Whilehis regiment was under the terrific morning fire, Maj. Buffumexhibited his coolness and pluck by standing up while the entireline lay prostrate on the ground ; and requesting his threecomrades also to lie down, he said :" Boys, if I fall, do n't forgetthat I did my duty." At the request of the historian, Maj.Buffum has writen for these pages the following lively descriptionof the scenes in which the homeless color guard of theFourteenth New Hampshire participated.AS OTHERS SEE US.A regimental history is written, generally, from an insidepoint of view. Yet it may be well to vary its pages with theparagraphic glimpse of the outside eye and pen. I gladly standfor such an outsider, although, in my present mood, I feel verymuch identified with the Eighth Vermont, an organizationdearer to me than any other save my own. It was my goodifortune to occupy a position during the whole of the afternoonon the sanguinary field of the Opequon, where I could criticallyobserve the conduct of the Eighth Vermont, and I desire tagive in my testimony.Fortunate indeed were the battle-tossedwaifs from your sister state that the eye of your commanderwas upon us, and that his memory is yet clear concerning ourconduct on that field, for our own regiment knew nothing ofour whereabouts.The Fourteenth New Hampshire, battered by the shells ofFitz Lee, drenched in its best blood, had been whirled out oforganized existence by a reinforced foe, after a splendid andtriumphant charge, which opened the battle, by the infantry.Struck three times by shell and bullet, though not seriously, Ihad a sense of being hurled out from "the jaws of death," andhaving passed tJirougJi "the gates of hell." In an hour I hadlived a lifetime, and life itself from that hour was a differentthing. The colors of the Fourteenth were not lost, as supposed^,