Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1861-07-19
A Soldier. Emotion i'm Battle.

mentS Just before the combat begins. A
soldier Ia his narration OF personal adven.
lures in the Mexican war, published IL
'Ho,ce's AchIvs memis Of Amertca,' gives
some nter.s stu Z items OH his head III his DIS
.rlpt on OF the bal tie Of T. 10 Alto, tae opel.-
my battle Of the war;
When al was ready, both armies stood
still for about twenty minutes, each waiting
r the other to begin the work of death, nnu
Turing this time, did not see single mat
u the enemy move they stood like statues.
Ne remalhe! quiet with two exec ptions
General lay Tor. followed by his staff, rod,
from left to tight at slow pace, with his
leg thrown over like a woman, and as b.
passed each regiment. he spoke words ofef
enlargement. know now wi at he said t.
the others, out when he came up to where
sc stood, he looked steadily ut us, SUPPOSE
10 SEQ what eft CT The novel circums ances ill.,
which we were y AGED had u, o.. Us, aud, n-
he gaze l. he said: "1he bay0nef mig hea~y
cocks! The bayo,set the thinyH Tie
Dther CccaslOn was that Of Lieutenant Blnk',
me Of the engineers, who luEtcered t"
,allOp along the c: eny's line, in front OF
Doth armies, and count their guns; and 50
close did he go tn It lie might ave been shot
hundred mes. One Of the officers of tn,
elemy, doubtless thinking II lad some
communication to make. rode out to meet
him, but i.e rode on. and then returned al d
reported t, Taylor.
Thus stood those two belligerent armies,
ace to face. What We've the teelng Of thos.
thousands HoS many thoughts and LEAFS
were crowded INTO those few moments Look
at our men claumy sweat is selt cd all
over faces slightly pale, not from coward
Tear, but from All awful sense Of peIll, coul-
OiEed with the determination not to t1,nct
from duty. These are the moments in which
true soldiers resign themselves to their tate.
.lid console thenI., Nv with the 7, Il, ctlon
that whate er may betall them they will acl
with hOn,f; these are the moments when the
Absolute coward suffers more Il an death
when If not itain he would be shot IN his
track he would turn and flee. Fighting is
very hard work the man who has PASSED
Through II tw" hours tight has lived through
u great mount of ental and ply steal Ia
Dor At e end of battle | always
found that had perspred so pro!usely as
10 W, through all M thick wooen clothing,
ani waen had got cool, | was rs sor: AS il
[ had been beaten all over with c ub. hen
the battle commences the feel ngs undergo Il
change. Reader, did you ever see your
nous. on fire? it so, 1t was lhrn you rushed
into great danger; it was then you went
over places. climbed over wall llfte heavy
loads, which you never could have done in
your c0o.er moments; you then have exper-
,enceu Some OF the excitement of "A sold, r in
battle. | always knew my dangcr-that ut
my moment | WIS liable to be killed, vet
such Was my excite .ent that never full Y
real d 1t. All Inen ale not IA Ike some are
cool some are perfectly wild or crazy 9th
erS are SO Frustrated 10y !ear that they are
| pietcy uniIe. we'd an awful sinking an
| relaxation OF all their eneIg,es take place,
awful 10 behold; they treIuuiehke an Il pen,
| sink into dltc.'es ami covert places, cry like
children, aud are totally ln,ensibl to shame
| dea to ,veiy emotion but the over hel IL
, ing fear OF instant death. We had few. aud
but few, OF such in our army.
| a. the two armies were ia ing each other
It was remarkable to SEE the coolncss uf gu,
men there they stood chewing bits Of bus
cult, and aiking nbout the Mexicaus- ONE
wonderlngl they would gh others allow
ing that they would, aud ike demons, etc.
| kept my eyes III the artillery OF the enemy,
and happened TO he looking toaard tn. II
right wing, when >uJd, My white cur. OF
smoke SprAng up from one of tn ir guns, and
then | saw the dust fly sumo distance il,
front, where the ball struck. Instantly an
other, a;d then another RE h curl of snok.
arose, succeed d sy "a booming sound, and
the shot came crashing toward u. The en-.
ci"y ti'ed v'ly zap ely, aud their La,ls
Knocked the dust about us N all du ectlons
Sore went over ou' heads, others struck
the ground IN front and bound d sway.
Our batteries now Welt TO work, and
poured IN upon them Il perfect storm of ro, !,
Lieutenant ChuIch and his men beya.
With heir e'ehtc. n Founders, and " hen tn,
tirst was fired, 1t ma'ie such a luuI report
that our men gave Spontaneous shout
which seemed to ln:p!re US It'll renewed
confidence. | C uld hear every word the
lieutenant said to hiss men. When the first
shot was fired, he watched the ball, saying
Too high, men; try another ~ 100 low
mea; try again-the third time is tn.
charm ~ The third shot was fired, and
saw with nv ow eyes the dreadful effect OF
that and the following shots "rhats,t, nv
boys y shouted Churchill, jumping up about
tao feet; you have them now !" keep he,
at that; and SD they did. and every she,
tore complete lanes through the ene:ny' 5
lines; but the full chorus ofbat,le HOW ragged
twenty three pieces Of artillery belch,d forth
their IRON hai
We were ordered to lie down in he grass
to avoid the shot; this puzzled the enemy,
! AMI they coull not bring TIL ir guns to bear
upon u, making our loss very small. Many
were the narrow escapes; one h4!l Game
within SIX inch of my left side. The force
of the shot was tremendous: horses body
Was no obstacle at all n mans leg was y
mere PIPE stem. | watched the shot as it
struck the root Of the grass, and it was AS
tonishng how the dust flew In atout an
ho:f the grass caught on fire, an': the ciou Is
of smoke shut out the opposing armies IRON.
view. We lad mol rs yet lost a man from
our regiment. In the obscur,y the enemy
changed their line, and tie eighte, n-pound-
eIs, supported by our regiment, took new
position on Il little Sc O. ground rs we
moved on the sptt. six FOUNDER shot car
ric'l away the lower jaw OF Capt Page, and
then tank off a mans head on the ,i.ht, as
clean as W tn a kn le The blnod of poor
Page WAS the first blood | saw; he was
knocked down in the gr-ss. and as he en-
deavored t, raise himself, he presented such
CHASTITY spectacle thata sickly, fainting SEN
sation can [ over me, and the meinnr, of that
night | sha carry with me to my dying day.
A lt'e later, Major Rn:gold was no1tal;y
woun led at his na'te,y; | saw him after it
The shot had torn away portion o. the csh
Of his thighs; its iurce was trernendo5 s, cut
ting off both his pistols at the locks, aud al
so the withtrs of his horse.
Times SLr~LY LEARNED II truth is.
grea, many things are slowly learnt. !
nave lately hal occasion to observc that the
Alphabe is one Ut thee. remember, t, G.