The Battle of Birch Coulee

     "T-Toby?" said Private Colter, the sound of bewilderment in his voice. He touched his hand to his bloodied  blouse and stared at it, unbelieving. "Look what they done to me, Toby! They done killed me!"
    "Easy now," Ryker said, fighting back his emotions. "Major Brown is here, and Colonel Sibley and the troops back at Fort Ridgley have heard the shooting echoing up the valley by now. They'll be along directly." But Ryker knew even if the surgeon for the Sixth Minnesota had been right next to him though, it wouldn't save Private Colter. His number had been called.
     "I feel warm, Toby." Colter's voice was softer as the strength drained from him along with his lifeblood. He coughed, and the blood from his ruptured lung gurgled out of his mouth.
     Ryker was aware only of Private Colter even as the bullets whizzed around them. He pulled the soldier, who was not much more than a boy, to him and hugged him, rocking him in a soothing motion. "There now, Georgie, just don't you worry none."
     "I-Is it sundown?"
     Ryker glanced down at the bloody chest. "Just about."
     "Tell my Mama I died proud, Toby. Like a true Colter."
     "That you are, Georgie." Ryker wept as Colter's eyes rolled back and his spirit left him.

(Scene from the Birch Coulee battle described in Blood on the Prairie - A Novel of the Sioux Uprising. Read it here.)

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