The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-01-18
DsIusaons a. e Bavoast VVounas.

The popular idea Of soldiers in bayO-
net charge struggling hand TO hand and
face to face, with fixed bayOnets, il likely
TO be exploded, like many other decisions.
We find, says an exchange, by referring
to "Guthrie's Commentaries on Army
Surgery" that these struggles never Oc'
cur. We quote that eminent authority:
A great delusiOn is cherished in Great
Britain on the subject Of the bayonet-a
sort Of mOnomania very gratifying to the
national -Aaity, but not quite in accord.
ance with matter Of fact Opposing reg.
iments, when formed in line, aud charg.
ing with fixed bayonets, never meet and
struggle hand to hand and foot to foot,
and this for the very best possible reason
that one side turns round and runs away
rs soon as the other comes close enough
to do mischief; doubtless considering that
discretion is the better part Of Valor.
Small parties Of men may have person
al conflicts after an affair has been deci.
ded, or in the subsequent scuffle, if they
cannot get out OF the way fast enough
The battle Of Mazda is usually referred to
as . remarkable instance Of a bayOnet
fight nevertheless, the sufferers, whether
killed or wounded, French or English,
suffered from bullets, not bayOnets. The
late Sir James Kemp commanded the
brigade supposed to have done this feat,
bat he has assured US that no charge with
the bayOnet took place, the French being
killed in line by the fire Of muskctry; a
fact which Of late received a remarkable
confirmation in the published correspon.
dence Of King Joseph BOnaparte, in which
Gen. Regnier, writing to him on the sub
jcct, says:
1.-THE First and Forty second Regiments
charged with the bayonet until they came
within fifteen PAGES Of the enemy, when
they turned ct pririent Ia .truile. The
second line compose Of Polish troops, had
already done the same"
Wounds from bayOnets were not less
rare in the PeninSular war. 1t may be
that ell those that were bayonetted were
killed, yet their bodies were never found.
A certain fighting regiment had the mis-
fortune, one very misty morning, to have
a large number of men carried off by a
charge Of Polish Lancers, many being
also killed. The commanding officer con.
ciuded they must all have been killed, for
his men possessed exactly the same spirit
as part Of the French Imperial Guard
At Waterloo. They Wight be killed, but
they could not by any possibility be taken
prisoners" He returned them all dead
accordingly. A few days afterward they
reappeared, to the establishment of every
body, having been swept off by the caval-
ry, and had made their escape in the
retreat Of the French army through the
woods. The regiment from that day OBJ.
tanned the ludicrous name of 1.-THE Res
direction Men,"
The sirge Of Sevsstopol furnished many
opportunities for partial hand-to.h hand
bayOnet contests, in which many we're
killed and wounded on all sides, but do
not learn that in any engagements which
took place, regiments advanced against
each other in line and really crossed bay
onets as a body, although the individual
bravery of smaller parties was frequently
manifested there as well as in the war OF
the Peninsula.