Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1862-06-13
The Realities Of War

Think only of the common hackneved
expressions which pass so lightly between
the lips when speaking of a great battle.
We talk exultingly, and with a certain
fire, of g magnificent charge . OF ga
SPLENDID charge - yet very few viii
think Of the particulars those two airy
words stand for. The splendid charge
Is a 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 further, being content with the infor-
nation that the enemv's line was broken
and s'gave way 1t does not fill IN the
picture. To DO so effectively, we must
think first Of an ordinary individual run
down IN the public street by a horseman
moving at an even pace. The results is
usually, fracture and violent confusion
We may strengthen the tones of the pic
ture by setting this horseman at full gal
lop, and Joining to him a company Of
other flying horseman. How VII it be
with the unhappy pedestrian? So when
the " splendid charge las done It's work
and passed by, there viii be found sight
very much Ike the scene OF a fFightiul
railway accident There VIII be the full
complement Of backs broken in two of
arms twisted of; Of men impaled upon
their own bayonets Of legs smashed up
ike bits Of firewood of heads sliced open
I like apples Of other heads crushed into
a soft Jelly by iron hoofs Of horses of
faces tranpled out Of all likeness to any
thing human. This Is what szulks be
hind a splendid charge /" This is what
follows, as & matter Of course, when our
fellows rode at thom in style, and % cut
them up iamously.
Again, how often does the commander,
write home IN his official despatch. dwell
particularly on the gallant conduct OF
Captain Smith, who, finding the enemy
were annoying our right little, got in
10 position, aud eItectuaIy held them in
check. . Both are fair drawiDg-room
phrases, TO be mentioned cAeerluuy by
ladies lips. 1t Is, as it were, a few flies
buzzing about " our right wing, F." teasing
and fretting our " men. And yet, pro
perly translated, it signifies this: that
stray Iaen Of that right wing are now ana
then leaPing with q convulsive start into
the air, as a Minnie bali flies with n sharp
sting through their hearts; that stray
mal, suddenly struck, are rolling on the
ground; that man, here and there, is
dropping down quite suddenly with Il
shrek, his frclocI, tumbline from his hand
In shart, that there Is series Of violent
death scenes being enacted Up and down
the long line.
Then come the bavonot wounds, Jag
gcd, porplexing and painful. Now has It
been thrust violently through the chest
and lungs and out at the back, and IS as
violently withdrawn with peculiar
twist, whence comes suppuraGon, painiel
gaepiaSs for breath, and al malucr ol
horIid accomplishments. Now it has i'm
pGled the iutestinas, producing strange
complications. Now It 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. 4 bullet SKINS through the body
smashcs the lower vertebrae Of the col
umn, 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 shivcring the bone in
numberless splinters and fragments
The conical point acts as a wedge, and
the scattering Of splinters adds much to
the inflammation, Sc the dismay catalo-
I que runs on.
! The real horrors Of war are played out
to the utmost,on the hospital pallet when
the theatrical business is all over.