, 1862-07-26
What is a Battle =?

A battle after all is only pummeling match
on large scale the side which can best stand
being beaten has the best chance of beating.
That men are not afraid while the battle is ra-
gng around them, and comrades falling fast on
all sides, is very true but that is not because they
are too brave not to know what fear means, which
is only an absurd way of saying that they are too
irrational to know what their danger is but be-.
cause passive emotion of fear is incompatible
with the active exertion required of head, legs,
and arms. The commander-in-chief has to think
and the full private to act during the action, and
both thinking and acting are states which nut an
end, for the time present, to the sympathetic emo
ticns. The surgeon amputating patients limb,
is conscious Of nothing but the operation ITSELF
If h. wore to give way for an instant be would be
unnerved and unarmsd. During the trying mo-
ment he is being of pure intelleot,- devoid Of
feeling or emotion Of any kind. And unless he
could put his understanding under an exhausted
receiver, and work it for the time IN 7acuo, he
might give up surgery, and had better adopt the
study Of some of the fine arts instead
We would not say that the general who is most
brave will win the day, but he that fears least
nor is tie distinction a mere triaing about words.
The normal state Of two armies marching to bat
tie is the state of fear; the general trembling for
his reputation, the drummer boy for the lass that
he left behind, and the lips he kissed so fondly
when drawn for a conscrpt few days before
To all that mighty host there is the awful alterna-
tive, death or victory it may not be a peerage or
Westminster Abbey to all but the prize is in pro-
portion to the stake. The commander-in-chief
stakes his all on the issue, and so does the drum
mer boy. The one cannot hazard more than life
and honor, and the other cannot hazard less. In
such lottery as this the boldest may hold his
breath, as the ball whiazes in the roulette of bat
tie and fortune hangs in suspense between the
combatants
This is why many excellent and able men have
been unable to qualify themselves for the profess
sion of surgeon. They were unable to master
their passive emotions in the operating room,
their nerves were too finely strung, and conse-
quently their intellect never had fair play; they
could never rise to the perception of the beauty
of an operation, and forget the sufferings of the
patient A surgeon is not heartless, as some sup
pose, because he forgets the one class of emotions
and can even induce new train of emotions If
the patient were a dear relative he would not at
tempt the operation. A look might unnerve him
and the more the feelings are compressed the
greater their gush when once the sefcommand
is lost, and like waters breaking through dam,
they sweep all before them.
To apply these remarks to field of battle
Men there screw their courage to the sticking
point They do talk nonsense about not knowing
what fear means, but like Macbeth they can do
all that does become man-who dares do more
is none Sir Alexander Ball, than whom a bra
yer man never walked the quarterback, confessed
that when boy he was put into the ships launch
on cuttng-out expedition he felt the tears rise
in his eyes, and he would have given worlds to
choke down his emotions. But kind word from
an old boatswain soon set him all right again, and
once the first natural gush of fear was gone un-
der, he felt no more return of it, and got on in
action as well as the oldest seaman. This is the
real state of armies going into action at first the
strong sense OF danger is uppermost in the mind,
but as this is conquered by the sense of
duty, there is then no return Of these qualms, un-
less as sometimes happens the army finds itself in
a trap or a cul de sac, with cannon on all sides,
and then the sensation of fear returns with over
strength, in proportion as it has been
kept under so long.