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Show I r-i I DEATH OF COUNT VON HAAKE. 1 His Traolc End In Wilderness Graphic- ally Described by Comrade, Now the Only Living Witness. UL Tho Nation Trlbuno recently pub- fB llshed n brief history of the Fifty-sec- W ond Now York regiment, of which 1 Count Von Hnako was n member and captain of Company G. His death oc-1 oc-1 curred at Po River, Pa., on May 10, 1 1804, and Is best told by Stephen W. Coakley of Chicago. It Is as follows: II am probably tho only ono living who witnessed tho thrilling and tragic death of Count Von Haake. It occurred oc-curred at Po Itlver, Va., May 10, 18G4. Count Von Haako was tho captain of my company (O), and about midday on tho 10th our regiment (tho Fifty-second Fifty-second Now York) advanced and occupied oc-cupied a position in n donso wood where wo encountered the rebel sklr mlshers, who stubbornly resisted oui ( He Fell Beside Me, Shot Through the Chest. advance, a resistance in which they were aided by their batteries, which commenced a vigorous shelling of the woods in our immediate vicinity. This resulted In Igniting the brush, and soon the entire undergrowth was , allamo and slowly but surely consum-t consum-t Ing tho trees surrounding us, making our position untenablo nnd forcing ub to retreat. Capt. Von Hnnko was the last to give the command to retreat, which he did in a guttural, discordant tone, tho result of a wound In the neck which ho had received in a previous buttle, and from tho effect of which V ho bad but recently recovered. When ho gavo tho command to re treat he stood but a few feet from me, and scarcely had ho uttered the words when ho fell beside mo, shot through tho chest. A hasty examination examina-tion revealed that his wound was mortal, mor-tal, as ho immediately becamo unconscious, uncon-scious, although breathing heavily, Of course, under ordinary circumstances circum-stances nothing would be done beyond permitting him to remain where ho fell, but tho fire which was now fast gaining on us made such a thought agonizing in tho extreme, and I determined, de-termined, if possible, to bear him beyond be-yond tho reach of tho flames, which had rendered our situation so alarming alarm-ing that our men becamo panic-stricken panic-stricken and sought safoty In flight. There remained with mo but one comrade. com-rade. At thin lato day I am not certain cer-tain as to who that ono was, but I think It wns W. H. Mowby, of our company, and If I am mistaken I desire de-sire to be corrected. Wo raised tho nlmost Inanlraato form nnd placed It ncross our rifles, which we carried "hand-barrow fashion" for some 50 yards through flnmo nnd smoko. Under Un-der favorable circumstances this would bo accomplished In a few seconds, but it took us fully ten minutes, owing to tho fact that tho dense smoke which surrounded us would not permit us to see nnythlng, nnd consequently the ninny blind rushes wo mndo against trees greatly retarded our progress, nnd wo then discovered that tho flames had bo gained on us as to bo In our front as well as In our rear. Our situation now had becorao most crlticnl, and warned us plainly that wo must abandon our hapless and lielplesB burden in order to save our own lives, nnd another hasty examination examina-tion showed us that ho was still breath-' breath-' Ing heavily, and wcJhon loft him, in tho hope that life wftold be extinct ero tho liaraeB reached tho body. In abandoning him to his fato wo had previously dono all that mortal could do undor such distressing nnd nlormlng conditions, nnd had nothing toblnmo oursolves for, a stntoment in which 'i am sure my comrado, if still living, will boar mo out should ho hap-pen hap-pen to road theso lines. A 4 I had previously noted on entering tho wood from tho clearing that wo had ndvnncod nbout 200 yards at tho tlmo of retreat, and deducting tho 50 ynrds already covored there remained about 150 yards of burning bush which still soparated us from tho clearing. Wo unBtrnpped our blankets from our knnpsacks und spread thorn over our heads and shouIdoM to protect ub from tho flames, nnd It took fully ton mlnutoH in blindly groping and butting ngalnBt trees to reach tho clcnrlng. Wo then rejoined our regiment, nud I reported tho death of Count Von Hnako to our company commander, Uurgt. William Westorhold, who, how-ever, how-ever, wnB too busy to listen to tho harrowing details as Inserted here, nnd thoy nro now mndo public for tho first tlmo. |