[370]
For five hours the work of burying the dead went vigorously forward. The Yankees brought details of negroes, and we carried their negro prisoners out under guard to help them in their work. Over 700 Yankee whites and negroes were buried. A. P. Hill was there with long gauntlets, slouch hat and round jacket. Mahone, dressed in little boy fashion, out of clothes made from old Yankee tent cloth, was beside him. The gallant Harris, of the Mississippi brigade, and the gallant and intrepid Saunders, who but forty-eight hours before had so successfully retaken those works, the best looking and best dressed Confederate officer present, was sauntering leisurely about, having a general superintendence over the whole affair.
Whilst the truce lasted the Yankees and the “Johnny Rebs,” in countless numbers flocked to the neutral grounds and spent the time in chatting and sight-seeing. The stench, however, was quite strong, and it required a good nose and a better stomach to carry one through the ordeal. About 9 o'clock the burial being completed, the officers sent the men back to the trenches on each side. The officers bade each other adieu and returned to their respective lines.
