A Casualty

From "The Battles of Spotsylvania Courthouse and the Road to Yellow Tavern, May 7-12, 1864"

"Hancock's only significant casualty was Lieutenant Colonel Richards McMichael of the 53rd Pennsylvania.  Well fortified with drink, he skinned his nose on a tree, complained loudly about being the only man wounded in his regiment, the unsteadily led the way several hundred yards ahead of his troops.  Somehow he survived until darkness, when he attracted a crowd by beating his horse to punish it for sniffing conscripts.  Such was the drama of our officers who freely indulged in that dark beverage of hell, a witness declared."