They Drank from the Same Canteen

Captain S. P. Horrall tells a pretty story of an incident during the battle of Perryville, Kentucky on October 8, 1862. Captain Horrall thus relates it:

“The Forty-second regiment, by overpowering numbers, was compelled to surrender the ground that had been fought over, back and forth, three times, being held alternately by the Federals and Confederates, thus mixing side by side the wounded and dead of each army. As our men were retiring, Corporal Allen Gentry, of Company H, was passing a wounded Confederate, who asked for water. Though at danger or risk of capture, Corporal Gentry divided his own scanty supply with his enemy of half an hour before. They were no longer enemies. One of my own comrades lay dying near a Confederate. The comrade’s thirst slaked, the canteen passed into the hands of a young Confederate, who also lay dying the glassy look of death in his eyes. He drank the water, the last drop, then as did the federal soldier laid his head to rest in the long sleep. ‘They drank from the same canteen.’”

Source: Perrysburg Journal (Perrysburg, OH)., May 27, 1910, Page 6, Image 6