Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1861-07-03
A Soldiers Emotion I'm Battle.


Our citizen soldiers, inexperienced in the battle
field, will find the most terrible moments just be-
fore the combat begins. A soldier, In his MARIA
ton of personal adventures in the Mexican war,
published in "Howe's Achievements of Ameri-
cans" gives some interesting items on this head
in his description of the battle of Palo Alto, the
opening battle of the war:
"When all was ready, both armies stood still for
about twenty minutes, each waiting for the other
to begin the work of death, and during this time
/ did not see single man of the enemy move
they stood like statues.
1--WE remained quiet with two exceptions Gen.
Taylor, followed by his staff, rode from left to
right at slow pace. with his leg thrown over like
woman, and as he passed each regiment he spoke
words OF encouragement / know not what he
said to the others, but when he came to where we
stood he looked steadily at us-I suppose to see
what effect the novel circumstances in which we
were placed had upon us; and, as he gazed, he
said: The bayonet, my hardy oaksl the bayonet
is the thingp The other occasion was that of
Lieutenant Blake, of the engineers, who volun-
teered to gallop along the enemy Is line in front of
both armies and count their guns; and so close
did he 60 that he might have been shot hundred
times. One of the officers of the enemy, doubt
less thinking he had some communication to
make, rode out to meet him; Blake, however,
paid no attention to him, but rode on and then
"Thus stood these two belligerent armies face
to face. What were the feelings of those thou
sands? How many thoughts and fears were
crowded into those few moments? Look at our
men; a cammy sweat has settled all over faces
slightly pale, not from cowardly fear, but from
an awful sense of peril, combined with a deter
mination not to finch from duty. These are the
moments in which true soldiers resign themselves
to their fate, and console themselves with the re
Election that whatever may beiall them, they will
act with honor; these are the moments when the
absolute coward suffers more than death-when,
if not certain he would be shot in his tracks, he
would turn and fee Fighting is very hard
work; the man who has passed through two
hours hight, has lived through great amount of
mental and physical labor. At the end of bat
| tie, always found that / had perspired so pro-
fusely as to wet through all my thick woolen
clothing, and when / got cool, was as sore as if
had been beaten all over with club.
| "When the battle commences the feelings un
dergo a change. Reader, did you ever see your
house on firer If so, it was then you rushed in
to great danger; it was then you went over places
climbed over walls, lifted heavy loads that you
never could have done in your cooler moments ;
you then have experienced some of the excite
ment of soldier in battle. always knew my
danger-that any moment / was liable to be
killed, yet such was my excitement that never
fully realized it. All men are not alike; some
are cool, soms perfectly Wild crazy; others
are prosrated with fear that they are complete
ly unnerved-an awful sinking and relaxation of
all their energies takes place, awful to behold
they tremble like an aspen, sink into bitches and
covert places, cry like children, and are totally
insensible to shame-dead to every emotion but
the overwhelming fear of instant death. We
had few, and but a few, of such in our army.
CAS- the two armies were facing each other. it
was remarkable to see the GOODNESS of our men;
there they stood, chewing bits of biscuit, and
talking about the Mexicans, some wondering If
they would fight; Others allowing that they would,
and like demons, etc. i kept my eyes on the ar
tillery of the enemy, and happened to be looking
toward their right wing, when suddenly white
curl of smoke sprang up there from one of their
guns, and then saw the dust fly some distance
in front, where the ball struck. Immediately
another, and then another rich curl of smoke
arose, succeeded by booming sound, and the
shot came crashing toward US. The enemy fired
very rapidly, and their balls knocked the dust
about us in all diections-some went over our
! heads, others srS0ek the ground in front a4d
bounded away.
"Our batteries now went to work, and poured
! in upon them perfect storm of iron; Lieutenant
Churchill and his men began with their eighteen
J Founders, and when the first was fired, it made
such loud report that our men gave a sponta-
} neous shout, which seemed to inspire us with re-
|
Lieutenant said to his men. When the first shot
was fired, he watched the ball, saying, Too high
men; try anotherp-'too low, men; try again
the third time is the charm The third shot was
fired, and i saw with my own eyes the dreadful
effect of that and the following shots. That:
it, my boysp shouted Churchill, jumping up about
two feet; you have them nowl keep at that anC
so they did, and every shot tore complete lane:
through the enemy's lines; but they stood it man
fully. The full chorus of battle now ragged
twenty three pieces of artillery belched fortl
e their iron hail.
, 1--WE were ordered to lie down in the grass t.
avoid the shot; this puzzled the enemy, and the,
could not bring their guns to bear upon us, ma
king our loss very small Many were the marrow
escapes; one ball came within six inches of M
left side. The force OF the shot was tremendous
horses body was no obstacle at all; man
, leg was a mere pipe stem. / watched the shot a
it struck the roots of the grass, and it was aston
isLing how the dust few. In about hour tn
$ grass caught on fire, and the clouds of smok
shut out the opposing armies from view. w
had not, as yet, lost man from our regiment
In the obscurity the enemy changed their line
and the eighteen Founders, supported by our rec
; iment, took new position on little rise 0
y ground. As we moved on the spot, six -poun
l. shot carried away the lower jaw of Capt. Page
a and then took off mans head on the right a
: clean with knife.
| Il ne blood OF poor rage was tne nfSt DlOO
IL | saw; he was knocked down in the grass, anc
J. as he endeavored to raise himself, he presente
&c such CHASTITY spectacle that fanting sensatic
"a came over me, and the memory of that night
= u shall carry with me to my dying day. littl
u later Major Ringgold mortally wounded a
, his battery; saw him just after it. The she
y had torn away portion of the flesh of his thigh:
Is its force was tremendous, cutting off both hi
3 pistols at the locks and also the withers of hi
ID horse-a splendid steed-which killed to rt
ie eve him of his misery. The enemy tried hart
IL but without avail. to hit our eighteen -pounder
er The battle continued till night put an end to tn
Ie scene. We bivouacked where we ere and lai
~ arms; we slept, however. but little, think
er ing we might be attacked in our sleep.
or "The enemy had been very severely handled
" owing to the superiority of our artillery. Th
4 gunners went into it more like butchers tina
10 military men; each stripped off his coat rolled
70 his sleeves and tied his suspenders around h
IN waist; they all wore red flannel Shirts and ther
81 fore were in uniform. To see them limbering an
oi unlimberng, firing few shots, then again wit
~ lightning like rapidity, partly hid from view
N dense clouds of smoke and dust, with their dar
y red shirts and naked arms, yelling at every sh'
le they made, reminded me Of band of demon
y rather than men,"
D. The BATTLE FIELDS IN THE CRMEA-Tf
E. vicinity of the Redan, the Maakotf, the Garde
Battery, the heights OF the Alma, and other fort