Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1861-09-03
THE FIERCE REALITIES OF WAR.
IErnnn ALI the Year Rnnnd

Think only Of the common haokneyed ex-
pressions which pass 30 lightly between the lips
when speaking Of great battle. We talk-ex-
ultingly, and with . certain fre, Of ga mag
ni6csnt charge :" of " . splendid charge !" yet
very few will think of the hideous particulars
these two airy words stand for. The splendid
charge" Ii q headlong rush Of men on strong
horses, urged to their fullest speed, riding
down an overwhelming and opposing mass Of
men on foot. The readers mind goes no fur
ther, being content with the information that
the enemy's line was broken" and gave
way" 1t does not fll in the picture. To do
50 effectively, we must think first Of an ordi-
nary individual run down in the public street
by horsemsn moving at an easy pace. The
result is, usually, fracture and violent contu-
sion. We may strengthen the tones of the pic
ture by setting this borseman at full gallop,
and joining TO him a company Of other flying
horsemen. How will it then be with the un-
happy pedestrian So when the splendid
charge" has done its work, and passed by,
there will be found sight very much like the
scene Of a frightful railway accident. There
will be the full complement Of backs broken in
two; Of arms twisted of; of men impaled upon
their own bayonets; Of legs smashed up like
bits Of irewood; of heads sliced open like ap-
ples of other heads crunched into soft jelly by
iron hoofs of horses; of faces trampled out Of
all likeness to anything human. This is what
ehuhs oculuu splcuUlu Auls 10
what follows, as matter Of course, when "our
fellows rode at them in style, and "cut them
up fsmously"
Again, how often does the commander wri-
ting home in his official dispatches, dwell par
ticularly on the gallant conduct Of Capt Smith,
who. finding the enemy were annoying our
right little, got his gun into position, and ef-
sions are fair drawing room phrases, to be
mentioned eheerfully by ladies' lips. It is, as
1t were, few flies buzzing about "our right
wing" teasing and fretting sour" men. And
yet, properly translated, 1t signifies this that
stray men of thatright wing are now and then
leaping with a convulsive start into the air, as
a MIME bullet flies with sharp sting through
their hearts; that stray men, suddenly struck,
are rolling on the ground; that a man, here
and there, is dropping down quite suddenly
with shrek, his frelOek tumbling from his
hand. In short, that there is a series Of yiO-
lent death scenes being enacted up and down
the long line.
Then come the bayenet wounds, jagged,
perplexing and painful. Now has it been
thrust violently through the chest and lungs
and out at the back, and is as violently with
drawn with peculiar twist, whence comes
suppuration, painful gasping for breath, and
all manner Of horrid accompaniments. Now
1t has impaled the intestines, producing
strange complication. Now il has pierced the
lower extremity of the heart, and. curious to
say, the victim has lived FIVE days. The spine
comes in, too, for its share of injury. A bullet
skins through the body, smashss the lower
vertebre Of the column, makes its escape on
the other side. The bones come away in little
pieces. The new Mimic ball has, We are told,
the useful property Of shivering the bone into
numberless splinters and fragments. The con-
ical point acts as q wedge, and the scattering
OF the splinters adds much to the infamma-
tion. So the disRal catalogue runs on.
The real horrors Of war are played out to
the utmost on the hospital pallet when the the
strical business is all over.