Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1864-10-04
A Picture OfWar,


A battle field in which masses of men
are moved hitber and thither by a guiding
human intelligence, at one moment hurled
with almost the celebrity aud deadly effect
Of thund erbolts on this or that point. and
the next gathered up into solid columns
immOvable as the eternal hills q battle
field 10 motion, as it were, with it's coil
ploughed by charging squadrons, it's att
mosphere heavy with the thupderous
smoke, and at intervals lit up with the
lurid lightning of war is, it mast be cons
fessed, fesrfully magnificent spectacle,
and one we'll calculated to impress the iIn-
aginstion powerfully. 1t is wonderful to
see Intelligent human beings, under the
stern and sslutsry influence Of discip line,
rivalling the precision Of machinery, and,
in the face of an enemy, executing the
most dangerous and complicated military
maueuvers. Glorious are the fashing
flags aud ordered lines, the furious charge
and frantic rally, soul-stirrinR the blaring
trumu, the drum, the crashing cannon
and the rafting vOlley.
But wbeG the battle is over and the hue,
man waves that surged across the field are
still and silent, and the tide of life that
gave it strength and follness has ebbed
away, the abattle-feld presents diferent
sight. Who can look on 1t then with q
thrill of exultation Where, then, the
Qnickening of the pulse, the rapid coursiD z
Of the blood, the e1ultatiOn of the spirits
Wbera the flashing eye and flushing
cheek, the wild excitement, the fever of
expectation, the temporary alteration OF
mind, during whose Continuance reason
and feeling we're dethroned, and passion
supreme Gone vanished with the smoke
of the last vOlly, died out with the last
sounds Of strife Il is a graveyard now, q
Haceldama, from which we turn With hor-
ror and remorse.
Amid the details that have reached us Of
the Attles in the Wilderness there is
enough of agony and suffering to wiring
the kindly heart with sympathy. and to
string the most callCus into feeling
There lay the dying and the dead, the
MANNED and wounded, youpg and old.
weltsripg iu their blood thorugh the chill.
ing night aud the long burning day
Poor fellows theirs at least, was on Lip
devotion to pripci pie they had sent no
substitute to the war they were not bleed
iIg e,cariously, nor dying by proxy ; they
bad asked DO man to that which they re.
fused to do, nor TO brave that which they
sbrauk from facing. Calamity did they
bear themselves through the conflict, and
yet, We doubt not, IS they lay upon that
hard tonight field, their wish and hope.
their longing and desire was for peace. The
braWler and braggart may clamor for war,
the truely brave man is not ashamed to
raise bis voice for peace. And surely tie
battle field can best teach its value, for
that uninspired tongue can equal the mute
elequence Of that inanimate preacher oil
peace. Can glowing phrases or sounding
periods touch tire hearts like pools of blood
and hills of slain Can powerful argu-
ments or passionate pleadings move OF
convince like the subdued means and Ag.
Onized shrieks that ring above the battle
field, rising like the protest of outraged
humanity to hesvenl
An element Of horror not usually found
! in the battlefield entered in and added tC
the dire ter rOrs Of these scenes. Fire wa'
among the wounded. Tue very battle
field was on fire. Some Union soldiers
while preparing their food, had inadver
tsnrly set the dry leaves on FIRE, and the
flames went roaring and leapirg oVel
acres. consuming everything in their way
The wounded, who lay gaspiug in toe sun
saw lBc dpp-bdCu VI LUIS ne" anu
/ dable foe, against whom fight alone could
give them any chance, and as they opult
| not fY Traced themselves to meet him a.
they might. What the CoDfederates lef
undone be finished, and the cha.red re
mains attested the extent Of bis ravages'-
This uutOward accident Chaps the climax O
horror. and impsrts to the battles of tn
Wilderness dread distinction. The i'm
aginatiOn shri ks aghsst from endeavorin,
to pierce the mystery that shrOuds thei
last moments. and the heart, in shudder
ing sympathy, turns from this strange new
horror on the field of horror > but no ear
save those dull as the dead can be deaf t
the supplicatiOns which rises from thes
blOod-stsined fields and which sounds lik
the cry of weary soul-'Givs us. o Lord
peace in our days.'-NeW York Metropoli
| tim Record