MAJOR GEORGE S. DAW SON. 65 



took place next day, and he sought me out. In the few 

 minutes' chat he ran over several incidents of school days, 

 and referred to good old Professor Anthony and our 

 trouting. That day's fishing was firmly fixed in his mind. 

 I never fished with him again, and do not know that he 

 ever went fishing after that time. In later years, while 

 fishing with his father, we often talked of the Major, and 

 he was a favorite subject with the elder George, but no 

 reference to his fishing, except on that one occasion, was 

 ever made. 



A bugle call broke our conference, and with a hurried 

 grip of the hand Captain Dawson said: "I think we will 

 intrench here and besiege Petersburg, and then we can 

 visit often. Good-by." 



There was a siege of Petersburg after the assault on 

 the enemy's works on June 16, but Captain Dawson took 

 no part in it. A rifle-shot just above the left knee, which 

 he thought only a flesh wound and which the surgeon 

 termed "a thirty-days' scratch" meaning a furlough for 

 that length of time took him off the field; and twenty- 

 four hours later, while on his way to the Second Corps 

 hospital at City Point, he was strong enough to hold in 

 his lap the head of a poor fellow whose leg had been am- 

 putated. Whether the wound was more serious than was 

 at first supposed, or because of the jolting in the ambu- 

 lance, his leg was amputated shortly after reaching the 

 hospital, and he was sent by steamer to Washington, 

 where he remained four months before he was allowed to 

 be taken home. Shortly after reaching Washington his 

 commission as major was received. "That's good," 

 said he; "when my leg gets a little better I'll be mustered 

 in as major, and then I can join my regiment as a mounted 

 officer; for a fellow with one leg is of no use in the line, 

 and I want to see this war fought to the end." Poor fel- 



