Joseph Plumb Martin mentions the deaths he experienced during the Revolution with a little different tone than he does one particular experience toward the end of the war. If I remember correctly from my reading in his memoirs, Joseph sat in his barracks with this particular soldier, a friend, when the soldier started hotdogging with his weapon, swinging it around and spinning it into the air. A young man, perhaps he wasn't as careful as a more experienced soldier would have been.
The bayonet still fixed to the barrel of his rifle, this young soldier lost control of his shenanigans. Rifle spun in the air, out of control, and came down, bayonet first, into his calf and coming back out near the ankle. Joseph reacted quickly to get the soldier some help, but ultimately, as the headline suggests, the young man died from his injury. Just a little while longer and he would have seen the end of war, been able to return home, and had a good chance at a longer life. I have no doubt that this death had a profound effect on Joseph's life, as he recounts it in detail in his memoirs.
The bayonet still fixed to the barrel of his rifle, this young soldier lost control of his shenanigans. Rifle spun in the air, out of control, and came down, bayonet first, into his calf and coming back out near the ankle. Joseph reacted quickly to get the soldier some help, but ultimately, as the headline suggests, the young man died from his injury. Just a little while longer and he would have seen the end of war, been able to return home, and had a good chance at a longer life. I have no doubt that this death had a profound effect on Joseph's life, as he recounts it in detail in his memoirs.
