History of Marshfield v. 2, p. 219

HISTORY OF MARSHFIELD.

219

ISRAEL CARVER.

"Enlisted in the Civil War, Sept. 2, 1862. Went to Newbern, N. C. Was posted on picket duty. Was in the battle of Kinston, N. C., and defeated the rebs. It was a great battle. We then engaged in battle at Whitehall, N. C.; 500 prisoners were taken. We next went to Goldsboro, and fought a great battle there under Maj. Gen. Foster and won. From Goldsboro, after the battle, we were ordered to Little Washington, N. C., and embarked in transports. Maj. Gen. Foster was commander of our forces. The rebels were planning to surround the General and his small force who were reconnoitering about there, and had nearly succeeded in capturing him and his force when we appeared on the scene and rescued them, routing the rebels. In one of our fights beyond Newbern we were defeated, and defeated by the inability and cowardice of our commanding officer, who was drunk. Had Gen. Foster been there we would have whipped them.
"On the steamer returning from Little Washington, on board of which was Gen. Foster, a ball was fired from a rebel battery, and struck the head of the berth from which the general had just risen. On the transport on which I was also returning another ball was fired from a rebel battery and struck a fellow close to me, tearing a gash on his arm, leaving the flesh hanging only by a slender thread, which the surgeon soon cut off clean, and amputated the arm. When a squad of us were lying on the battlefield, a cannon ball came whizzing along and struck close beside me. My comrade remarked, 'I am a good mind to take that home with me,' but I said, 'No, it will be too big a lug for us to carry on our marches,' and we left it. I was taken sick and sent to the hospital, and two men, laying each side of me, died. One was Nelson Gardner, son of Stephen Gardner of Sea View, for whom the (Marshfield) Sons of Veterans Post was named. He died of typhoid

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