Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1861-10-31
Uarietu.
T'fe Realities ora Battle.
fay AN EYE WITNESS AT MANASSAS.

rey AN EYE WITNESS AT MANASSAS.
No person can begin to comprehend
from description the terrible realities OF
n battle: and even those who participate
are incompetent to speak OF their own
personal experience. Where friends and
foes are falling by scores, and every spe-
cies of missile is Aying through the air,
threatening each instant to send one iuto
eternity, less time is afforded for mere
observation and reflection than is required
for personal safety. The scene is one Of
the most exciting and exhieiating that
can be conceived. Imagine regiment
passing you at "double quick" the men
cheering with enthusiasm, their teeth set,
their eyes flashing, and the whole in ircn-
Nv of resolution. You accompany them
to the field. They halt. An Aid de
Camp passes to and from the Command
ing General The clear voice of the Off
GERS ring along the lines in tones of pas
eionato eloquence; their words short, thrl-
ling and electric. The word is given to
march, and the body move into action
For the first time in your life you listen
TO the whizzing of iron ball. Grape and
canister hy into the ranks, bomb shells
over your head and the fragments fly
around YOU. \ friend falls, and perhaps
a dozen or twenty or thirty Of your COM
arades lie wounded or dying at your feet.
A strange involutary shrinking steals
over you which it is impossible to resist.
You feel neither inclined to advance nor
recede, but are spell bound by the conten-
ding emotions OF the moral and physical
man. The cheek blanches, the lip quiv-
ers, the eye almost hesitates to look upon
the scene. In this attitude you may,
perhaps, be ordered to stand an hour in
active, havoc meanwhil e making its foot
steps with blood on every side. Finally
the order is given in advance, to fire, or
to charge. And now what metamor-
phois? With your frst shot you become
new man. Personal safety is your
least concern. Fear has no existence in
your bosom Hesitation gives way toan
uncomfortable desire 10 rush into the
thickcst of the fight. The dead and dy-
ing around you, if they receive passing
thought, only serve to stimulate you to
revenge. You become cool and delibcr.
ate, and watch the effect of bullets, the
shower of bursting shells, the passage o
cannon balls as they rake their murder
Gus channels through your ranks; the
plunging of the wounded horses, the az
onies Of the dying, and the clash of con
tending arms, which follows the dash
ing charge, with feeling calloused by
surrounding circumstances that your sou
seems dead to every sympathizinB anC
selfish thought. Such is the spirit whicl
carries the soldier through the field o
battle. But when the excitement ha
passed, when tho roll of musketry ha
ceased, the noisy voice of the cannons ar
stilled the dusky pail of sulphuriou
smoke has risen from the field, and yol
stroll over the theater of carnage, hear
ing the groans of the wounded, discover.
ing here shattered almost beyond recog-
milton the form Of some dear friend,
whom only an hour before you met in the
full blush of life and happiness; there an
other perforated by a bullet; third with
limb shot away; fourth with his face
disfgured; q fifth almost torn to frag-
ments; a sixth headlcss corpse; the
ground plowed up and stained with blood;
human brains splashed around limbs
without bodies, and bodies withot limbs,
scattered here and there, and the same
picture duplicated scores of times, then
you begin to realize the horrors of war,
and experience n reaction of nature; the
heart opens its flood gates, humanity as
serts herself again, and you begin to feel
Friend and foe alike now receive youi
kindest minsterings. The enemy who
but short time before, full Of hate
you were doing all in your power to Kill
you now exert to save. You supply him
with water to quench his thirst, with ioot
TO sustain his strength, and with sympa
thizing words to soothe his troubled mind
All that is human or charitable in you
nature now rises to the surface, and yo,
are animated by that spirit of mere,
(which blesseth him that gives and hin
that takes" A battle field is eminent,
place that tries mems souls,
Q