Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1861-08-27
More Of the Rattle Field
Panfcs.


A correspondent Of the New York Eren.
ing Post sends the following:
As much uncalled for asronisbment has
been expressed at the late panic in our
army, by those who are ignoran: of the
Tact that panic among perfectly raw
troops Is as much the rule as the exception,
1t may be well to cite an instance given by
high military authority. to show that
such things will sometimes happen even
among regular and veteran soldiers. The
Illustration is very appropriate. and is tax
en- from the preface to the Memoirs upnn
the Art of War. by Field Marshal Count
SAKE, published in London in 1857:
After the French Infantry, at the attic
OF Friedlingen. had repulsed the Imperial,
lists with unparalleled fortitude had totally
routed and pursued them through n weed
into plain which lay on the other side,
some one. upon the appearance Of twn
squadrons (which might be French for
Anything that -xas.kwwn to the contrary, J
cried nut We ere COT 90 y Upon Who
f!iese sfctJJs0< bPs Instantly abahdnned
their triumplfs, and took to flight in the
most dreadful confusion, without being
either attacked OF pursued by a single per>
SON; repassed the wood with the utmost
precipitation. and never once halted till
they had got beyond the field of battle.
Marshal ViIlars. together with the Gen
erals Of the army, took all possible pains to
rally them, but to no purpose and yet the
victory had not only been gained hnt rem
dered at the same time so complete that no
part of the enemy attempted to make the
least appearance afterwards; nevertheless
we find that those men, who in one moment
had discovered such amazing intrepidity,
were the same whose fears the next betrsy
ed them TO shameful fight The Marshal
himself had related this fact to me at Vaux
villars, when he was showing me the plans
of his battles; and whoever has curiosity
enough to search for more examples of this
nature may meet with numbers in the his
tory of all nations. This, however, is, at
present, sufficient to prove the instability of
the human heart, and how little we ought,
consistently with prudence, to depend upon
it."
The Scientific american improves the
subject thus:
The CONDUCT OF OUR SOLDIERS -Napo-
lem Bonaparte once remarked: 1T has
been said that the victories of the French
Republic were won by the new volunteers,
who were inexperienced in war. There
could be no greater mistake; they were
won by the 100000 old soldiers of the mon>
archy. You will not soon see me going to
war with new recruits" The same opin-
ion of the iDefhciency Of raw levies has
been held by nearly all experienced Off
GERS
The case is entirely changes, however, if
the troops can be placed behind breast
works; they are apt to fight well. At Bum
ker Hill. out troops were perfectly steady
until the British got inside the lines, but
then they ran as fast as their legs could
carry them, in spite of all the endeavors of
the officers to arrest them Gen. Putnam
especially wasting a great many oaths in
the effort. No Drawer commander ever
lived than Gen. jackson, and in his dis
patches before the battle of New Orleans,
he says distinctly that he shall not suffer
his soldiers to fight until he can phase them
behind entertainments.
The principal objection brought against
volunteers is, that they are more subject to
pdnicS than veteran troops, and especially
that when a panic commences it is more
apt to spread to the whole army. This
danger is sufficiently great in the oldest
and best disciplined armies. As a general
rule, when the lines are once broken, the
whole army takes to fight in utter confu-
sion. The cases are rare in which any por-
ton of :he army has resisted the contagion
Of panic occurring in another pnrtinn -
The conduct of the Imperial Guard at
Waterloo forms 0ne of these exceptions,
aud that cunduct will never be mentioned
hut with n thrill Of pride by any French
man To the latest generations. After the rest
Of the army had fed in frantic terror. the
Imperial Guard stood firm amidst their
foes. refusing either to retreat or to sur
render.
NV, the fact to which we wish to call
attention, which the whole community
ought to understand and appreciate, is this:
When our troops were under murderous
fire. and though thousands Of their COM
rades were running in wild confusion from
the field, sererai Of the regimeats did mol
catch tie contdgiOn. but marched off the
field only in obedience TO the commands of
their officers. preserving their thinDed
ranks in perfect order.
In all our reading of history we have
never seen this conduct paralleled by a
large army of soldeirs in their first battle.