The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1861-10-23
! The Realities of Battle.


No person can begin to comprehend
from a description the terrible. realities
of battle; and even those who partici.
pate are incompetent to speak of their
own personal experience Where friends
and foes are falling by scores, aud every
species of missiles is flying through the
air, threatening each instant to send one
/ into eternity. little timse ia afforded for
more observation and reflection than is
required for personal safety. The scene
is one Of the most exciting and exhilara
ting that can be conceived Imagine a
regiment passing you at double quick, y
the men cheering with enthusiasm their
teeth set, their eyes flashing, and the
whole in frenzy of resolution You ac-
company themto the field They halt. An
Aid de>Camp passes to or from the com,
manding General. The. clear. voice of.the
officers ring along the lines in tones of
passionate eloquence; their words short,
thrilling 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 balls Grape and
canister fly into the ranks, bomb shells
burst over your head, and tbs fragments
fly around you. A friend falls, and per.
haps dozen or twenty or thirty of your
comrades lie wounded at your feet; a
strange involuntary shrinking steals over
you which it is impossible to resist. You
feel neither Inclined to advance nor re.
cede, but are spell bound by the contend
Ing emotions Of the moral and physical
man. The cheek hlanches, the lip quivers,
the eyes almost hesitnte to look upon the
scene. In this attitude you may perhaps
be ordered to stand an hour inactive, hav.
oc meanwhile making its footsteps with
blood on every side. Finally the order
is given to advance, to FIRE, or to charge.
Aud DOW, what metamorphosisl With
your, first shot you become new man.
Personal safety is your least concern.
Fear has no existence in your bosom.
Hesitation gives way to ao uncomfortable
desire to rush into the thickest of the
fight, The dead aad dying around you,
If they receive passing thought, only
serve to stimulate you to revenge. You
become cool and deliberate, and watch
the effect of bullets, the shower Of burst.
ing shells, the passage of cannon balls as
they rake their m1rderous channels
through your ranks; the plunging of
wounded horses, the agonies of the dying,
and the clash of contending arms, which
follows the dasbing charge, with feeling
calloused by surrounding circumstances
that your soul seems dead to every sym
pathisiDg aud selfish thought. Such is
the spirit which carries the soldier through
the field of battle. But when the excite
ment has passed, when the roll of musket-
ry has ceased, the noisy voice Of the cam
mons are stilled, the dusky pail Of sulphu-
reous smoke has risen from the field, and
you stroll over the theater of carnage.
hearing the groans of the wounded. dis
covering here the form of some dear friend
whom only an hour before yon met in the
full blush of life and happiness-there
another perforated by bullet; third
with limb shot away: fourth with his
face disigured; fifth almost torn to
pieces; sixth headess corpse; the
ground plowed up and stained with blood;
human brains splashed around; limbs
without bodies, and bodies without limbs;
scattered here and there and tie same pic
ture duplicated scores of times, then you
begin to realize the horrors of war, and
experience reaction of nature: the heart
opens its food gates, humanity asserts
herself again, and you begin to feel
Friend and foe alike now receive your
kindest ministeringa. The enemy VIII o
but short time before, full Of hate, you
were doing oil in your power to kill, you
DOW exert to save. You supply him with
water to.auench his thirst, with food to
sustain his strength, aad with sgmpathis,
ing words to soolhe his troubled MUD.
All that is HUMAN or charitable in your
mature cow rises to the surface, aud yor
are animated by that spirit of mercy
| (which blesseth him that gives and hin
that takesn A battle field is eminently 8
place that tries mems souls.