Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-10-06
Real Horrors of War

80
rough and ovcrpowcrng.
Think only of the common hackncycd ox-
prcssions which pass SO lightly between the
lips when speaking of q great battle We
talk eXultngly, and with certain fire of " a
magnificent CHARGE of ga splendid charge -
yet very few will think of the heous partic-
ulars these two airy words stand for. The
"splcndid charge is hcndlong rush of m en-
on strong horses urged to their fullest speed,
riding down and overwhelming an opposing
mass of men on foot The reader mind Goes
no further: being content with the informa-
ton that the enemy s line was broken " and
"gavc away" 1t does not fill in the picture.
10 do so effectively we must think first of
an ordinary individual run down in the public
streets bya horscman moving at an easy pace
The result is, usually, fracture and violent
confusion. We Nay strengthen the tones of
the picture by setting the horscman at full
gallop, and joining to him a company of other
! flying horscmcn. How will it then be with
the unhappy pedestrian SO when the
passed by, there will be found sight, very
much like the scene of frightful railway nc.
cidcnt. There will be the full complement of
backs broken in two; of al. twisted wholly
off; of men impalcd upon their own bayoncts;
Of legs smashed up like bits of frewood; of
heads sliced open like apples; of other heads
crunched into soft jelly by iron hoofs of hor-
Sos; of faces tramplcd out of all likeness to
anything human. This is what skuks behind
ga splendid charge y This is what follows,
rs matter of course, when "our fellows rode
at them in style, and 90 cut them up famous.
ly.' Again, how often does the commander,
writing home in his official dispatches, dwell
! particularly on the gallant conduct of Captain
Smith, who, finding the enemy were annoy
ing our right little, got his gun" into posi-
ton, and cifcctualy E" held them in check"
Both expressions are fair drawing room phra-
ses, to be mentioned by ladies' lips 1t is. as
it were, few flies buzziug about " our right
wing" teasing and freting "our" men,
And yet, properly translated, it signifies this
] that stray men of that right wing are now and
then lcaping with a.conyulsivc start into the
air, as Mimic bullet flies with sharp sting
through their hearts that stray men, sud
denly struck, are rolling on the ground, that
man, here and there, is dropping down quite
suddenly with Shrek, his fireock tumbing
from his hand in short, that there is series
of violent death scenes being enacted up and
down the long line.
The reading public-instructcd by journals
and books of memoirs-can form for itself sat
isfactory pictures of the poor soldiers in hos
pitnl, ly"g on their pallets in rows, say at
Scutari, having their pillows smoothcd and
cooling drinks protfercd by those kind, chari
table ladies who went out to be their nurses
Has not the public viewed paintings of the
Scenc-thc sick warrior lying in comfortable
convnlcsccncc, and taking with grateful Ian
guor the cool beverage from his gentle attend.
ant? The sympathiSng public has also had
presented to it i'll manly and affecting language,
by MIR. Russcl, some pictures of those suffer
mgs which fall under the frightful category of
Gunshot wounds. y medical gentleman has
now collected number of cases from the late
Indian mutiny, with t'o view Of assisting his
profession take a few samples from this mis-
ccllany as among the real horrors of war
Private John Halliday received gun-shot
wound in the head, which carried away {" n
large portion of the sea Up and bone," and left
a large irregular opening " about two inches
in diameter, through which the brain might
be seen pusating. This injury was done by
bits of the telegraph wire ingeniousy cut up
into slugs. Private o Lcary was stricken by
a large fragment OF shell, and at first appeared
not to be seriously injured. Presently he
complained of headache and sickness, and a
crucial IncisoD was at once made. Here
was discovered fracture, and au opening left
""""V ''+O oiHc vi Il SnIllnP. Inc dura
mater at once protrudcd through the wound
and was puncturcd. In Il few days convusive
fits came on, with paralysis, and he died com
atosc. Poor private O'Lcary On post-mor-
Sem examination, one half of his head inter
naly, was discovered to be mass of blood
ana "dlsorganiscd cerebral natter Private
NJ K.nzie had been hit in the same place, and
had several large fragments of bone removed
from him by means of an instrument known as
Hey's saw; still Inflammation of inc brain
and its membranes set in, and the surgeons
thought of making a closer examination, when
a fragment of bone was discovered, "turncd
edgoways," and sticking into the dura mater
Strange to say, private MKenzie recovered.
and is doing duty now.
Another soldier was brought in with " near
ly half the roof of his skull blown off bv a
shell" yet who held on till the tenth day
Often, a ball striking on the scalp splits into
two pieces, SO stout is the bony texture of the
skull. One fragment, however, is sure to
penetrate, Sometimes it leavesa clean round
hole with cracks radiatng from it in all direc-
TONS as in broken pane of glass.
Often, the ball cannot be found and has to
DC gropcd for unsuccessfully, with the probe.
One wretchcd private had to carry it twenty
five days in his head. Anothc. mans Mace
burst in his hand, and part of the lock got
embedded under his eye, too far to be re.
moved. Many more were afflicted by ball
making entrance just bchind the ear, and pass
N mat nNynN Ala