The Placer herald., 1862-01-18
AUBURN. PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA JANUARY 49, 1862.
Decisions as to Bayonet Wounds.

O0tuSlolS DIS W OdyOHeC w WOuuuS
The popular idea of soldiers in bayonet
charge rnooing hand to hand and face to
face, with fixed bayonets. is likely to be ex'
ploded, like many other deusions. We
find, by referring to Guthries commentaries
on army Surgery, that these struggles never
occur. 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 vanity, but not quite in accordance
with matter Of fact. Opposing regiments,
when formed in line, and charging with fixl
ed 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 others
come close enough to do mischief; doubtless
considering that discretion it the better part
of valor
Small parties Of men may have personal
conflicts after An affair has been decided, or
in the subsequent srufl., if they cannot get
out of the way fast enough. The battle of
Mazda is usually referred to as a rema,ila
BILE instance of hay,nrt fight; neverthe.
less the sufferers, whether killed or wounded
IiobCh VI IIiIO ilSil, NulltitU llOII bUletS, UOt
bayonets. The late Sir James Kemp com
manded the brigade supposed to have done
this feat, but he has assured us that no
charge with the bayonet took place, the
French being killed in line by the fire of
musketry; a fact which of late received n
remarkable confirmation in the published
correspondence of King Joseph Bonaparte,
in which Gen. Regnier, writing to him on
the subject, says:
The irst and Forty second Regiments
charged with the hayone until they came
within fifteen PAGES of the enemy, when
they turned ct 1ririent IL truile. The sec
ond line, composed of Polish troops, had
already done the same
Wounds from bay )nets w4ra vt les IRE
in the l'eninsular war II may be that all
those that We're havon ,tte W ,re k ell vet
their bodies were never found a certain
fighting regiment had the misfortune, one
very misty morning, to have large number
of men carried off by "A cha,ge of Polish
Lancers, many being also killed. The com.
manding officer concule they must be all
killed, tor his men possessed exacly the
same spirit as part IF the French Impe'i'
killed. but they cond not 10y any possibility
be taken prisoners He returned them all
dead accordingly. A few day, atierward
they reappeared, to the astouShment Of
every body, having been swept off bv the
cavalry, and had made their escape in the
retreat of the French army through the
woods. The regiment from rhn, day obtain
ell the lulicrous in he of tn. "hr,urrerton
men
The siege of Stbl,tnp,l has fIrnishe
many opportunities for par,ial hanI to-han
bayonet contests in which uany have been
killed and wounded on all Sid.s, bat do
no; learn that in any engagements which
have taken plae, regiments advanced
against each other IN lne and really crossed
bayonets AS a body, although individual
bravery of smaller parties WAS frequently
manifested there as well AS in the war in the
Peninsula
The ABOLITION MADNESS The San Fran
cisco CalFs New York correspondent. writing
on the 4th of December, says:
Present circumstances Indicate divisions and
trouble at the NORTH, scarcely less serious to
the Administration than Secession itself
Madness seems to have seized upon the Alb
olitionsts, who will not see that the conser
vative policy of the All dninistration is the
wisest for AL parties at present, but are
bound to force it if possible, into immediate
schemes Of emancipation and blood thirsty
retaliation, which would make tho entire
country one scene of civil conflict, and give
US reputation worse than that Of the Sepoys
abroad. Meetings for the advancement of
Of these purposes whose reasonable designs
are as patent as those of any Southern con
vention, are being constantly held in different
parts Of the country. and we have even ac
counts Of a meeting of Congress preliminary
to the SESSION which opened Monday, in which
resolutions were passed that the Government
should be compelled to sustain Mr.. Cameron
and General Fremont in their emancipation
views and policy. What difference there is
between treason in South Carolina and trea
son in Ohio or the District of Columbia it
would puzzle Philadelphia lawyer to dis
cover.
THE UoURs OF SLEEP.-Sonebody has
undertaken to bring together practice and
theory on this subject thus: