Was It Bravery? 

Echoes From The Marches Of The Famous Iron Brigade : Unwritten Stories Of That Famous Organization-By Cullen B. Aubery 1902

An Irishman in Co. D of the Sixth when lying on the ground at the battle of Gettysburg happened to look up and saw a fuse shell coming along, bounding on the ground, fuse still burning. The boys around him began to scatter, making ready for the results, when he scraped up some mud from the ground and with this expression, “Boys, ten to one it don’t bust,” put out the fuse by throwing the mud upon it. Was that bravery ?

The stories of the Iron Brigade were compiled in 1900 by Cullen Bryant Aubery, who had been a newsboy during the Civil War. Aubery rode out between pauses in the action at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, to sell newspapers about the first day of the battle to soldiers. He was attached to the Iron Brigade and was later captured and confined in Libby Prison. This unit history of the Iron Brigade gives a chronological summary of the Brigade’s actions, as well as many humorous accounts of camp celebrations, camaraderie among soldiers, and tales of bravery.

Cullen B. Aubery’s Echoes from the marches of the famous Iron Brigade-Wisconsin Historical Society

(Source: content.wisconsinhistory.org)

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