Rick Saunders

“I put green hickory leaves in my cap, and kept them well saturated with water from my canteen. The leaves would retain the moisture and keep my head cool, and when they became stale and withered, would be thrown away, and fresh ones procured.”
― Leander Stillwell, The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865

“We had no planning nor thinking to do, and the world could just wag as it willed.”
― Leander Stillwell, The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865

“Never. Never ask for what ought to be offered.”
― Daniel Woodrell, Winter's Bone

“One quiet, star-lit summer night, while on picket between Bolivar and Toone's, I had the good fortune to witness the flight of the largest and most brilliant meteor I ever have seen. It was a little after midnight, and I was standing alone at my post, looking, listening, and thinking. Suddenly there came a loud, rushing, roaring sound, like a passenger train close by, going at full speed, and there in the west was a meteor! Its flight was from the southwest to the northeast, parallel with the horizon, and low down. Its head, or body, looked like a huge ball of fire, and it left behind a long, immense tail of brilliant white, that lighted up all the western heavens. While yet in full view, it exploded with a crash like a near-by clap of thunder, there was a wide, glittering shower of sparks,—and then silence and darkness. The length of time it was visible could not have been more than a few seconds, but it was a most extraordinary spectacle.”
― Leander Stillwell, The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865