It's June 1, 1864 in Hanover County, Virginia during the fourth year of the American Civil War.

19-year-old Confederate private, Green W. Hodge creeps through the thick woods on the lookout for Union soldiers.

As he glances, left, and right, a bullet ricochets off the tree next to him, splintering the wood.

Hodge ducks down beside the nearest trunk and makes himself as small as possible, all too aware how close he just came to being hit.

Yesterday, Union soldiers targeted

a strategically important crossroads in Virginia, known locally as Cold Harbor. Private Hodges

regiment was instructed to keep the attackers at bay until reinforcements arrived, but the vastly

outnumbered Confederates were pushed back into the woods. There they began digging new defensive

positions, and now, while his compatriots continued to fortify these defenses, Private Green has been

sent to patrol the woods. Judging by how close that gunshot was, the enemy isn't far away.

Private Hodge checks his weapon and scans all around. He can't see the enemy.

But 30 feet away through the trees,

he can just make out his fellow Confederates,

barricaded behind a hastily built wall of mud.

After one last check around him, he makes a run for it.

But he isn't fast enough.

Before he can reach the barricade,

a bullet strikes his leg and sends him crashing to the

ground. As Private Hodges writhes in agony, he hears footsteps approaching. It's a union captain,

and believing the enemy soldier has come to deal the final blow, Hodge braces himself,

but the union man doesn't shoot. Instead, he kneels down and ties a tourniquet around Hodges' leg to stop the bleeding.

Then he scrapes up some dirt into a mound and gently rests Hodges' head on it.

...