The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1879-10-11
NO. 26.
War as it Really Is.

| PeA.. hts mIhu, nlled witt
visions OF glory and stern resolve, ignore
the weary march by day and night. Fl.
sees before him, or thinks he sees a bo1;
uay campaign crowned with victory, ane
speedy march home to the sound d,
triumphant music. Here, as in all othe]
pursuits, the future is mercifulIy yelled
wltn view and the imagination is allowed
70 paint 1t In its own colors. We're Il
otnerwlse, could the unfedged soldier
feel In advance how heavy the knapsacl
Wonid become, and how sore the feet
many would be 10th to enlist.
The march in the beginning, even by
Gay on good roads, was hard work, but in
tne mud and rain, and in the night. ii
was tolisome IN the extreme. The want
OF sleep, together with the frequent halts
from the biockading of the road in front.
threw men into incessant sscat-naps. .
from which they necessarily wakened to
move on. Night, under these circum-
stances, heightened out interminably.
and life towards morning becomes almost
unendurable; and when at last day broke
| 1t disclosed many and many straggler
iar behind the column, stretched out by
the roadside sound asleep. When these
nocturnal movements occurred in winter,
detachments of the sick poured into the
hospitals from every quarter until they
overfiowed. They were as disastrous to
the column as q battle. The march. too.
under hot August sun, kept up from
Its rising to its setting, and often pro-
longed into the night, amid clouds of
sitting dust and torturing thirst, must be
experienced to be understood. The un-
initiated think the greatest danger the
soldier is exposed to is on the battlefield.
On the contrary it is the least. This popu-
lar misapprehension is causedby the con-
solidated report sent out after an action of
the thousands shot down in day: but
the defamation from exposure and dis
ease that slowly swells into tens of thou
sands pass without notice. But we. who
have closed our shrunk ranks as our
comrades dropped out by the wayside
know 1t, our surgeons reports attest il.
Ihe battlefield as q test of endurance is
oyerrated. The fatigue is not expert
enced until after the fight is over. and
comes chiefly not from the battle itself.
but from the toilsome and broken
marches that precede it. If troops
could be brought into fresh action and
rested, after good breakfast. we might
concentrate our attention on the battle.
But, IN point of fact, they are not SO
brought on. The supply trains have
often been left far in the rear, and hayer-
sacks are nearly empty, and the night
before has been in part consumed in get
ting the troops in place. The excitement
OF battle supplies for the time the want
OF food and rest, SO that the actual dis
comfort largely precedes the fight.
The opening of the battle with artillery
at low range and the bursting Of shell IS
rather dramatic and dangerous. Cannon
balls and fragments of shell, when they
strike, do execution, but they compare
lively seldom hit the mark They are
chiefly effective in disturbing the nerve
OF advancing columns by their sound
and fury and occasionally CHASTITY work.
The artillery does its real work at closer
range, with grape and canister; and when
the action extends into the night the
bursting of a shower of shells at short
range lends to the scene peculiarly
wicked and indicative spirit The first
heavy loss IN battle falls upon the
sklrmlsh line, which, however, It NAV
protect itself by intervening objects, is
necessarily constantly exposed in adyanc-
ing to a steady fire at rest The advance
of the skirmishers is beautiful and
4
them go down, had one at such moment
to indulge in sympathetic feeling. re-
member nothing more touehino Than the
narrative of brother officer of the s;obf az
he beheld it, of line of skirmishers of
the Irish legion at Mission RIDGE nor
/ fectly aligned. at regular intervals With
an officer in rear OF the center sword N
hand-all killed. They moved into tba
| jaws of death in perfect order and offer
/ ed, as they Law on the field in the cold
gray of that November twilight q tr;buta
/ to discipline and manbood sucb as tha
/ world has seldom eoualled
When troops come TO close ouartars
and the battle begins in earnest. mo one
can see much more than what occurs in
his immediate front. He can hear in tbe
pauses of the action before him the roar
of musketry to his right and left. rolling
far off until it seems like distant thunder.
broken by peals of artillery that alike
grow fainter as they recede: he can see
too, at times, advancing lines Of infantry'
with batteries unlimbered in the rear
hurting overhead at the enemy tempest
of shell to disturb ord ,J;et-sct H., II,
can see the artillery suddenly cease f,re
timber up and gallon after their infantrv
take near position. and in a thrice mn
timber and thunder away again. Hecan
see the infantry reach a stone wall and
halt and open fire from the shelter. or !,
no impeachment be in the way. he vii
see them sweep on the charge and clos.
with the adversary. Soon Rowayar N,
: fire reopens on his own front and Il,
sees no more of the battle ON his right q
: left; his faculties are ahsorbad ;n Al
! combat before him The wo,,n5ed
!. when in reach are carried 70 the raar .a.,s, 3
:. they fall or to conven;an4 sbaltara
J, spots IN the field vbara t1,o s,rcao
e awaits them knife in hand Nav Al.
e abled men receive tba;r ,1aath - t,.a ~.
i are carried off and [ whare e.s. .sar ~ r. sie h'
tween two Ares and nd osnnot Ia s ,,~ar,,.s e pi
= reached often die for want ~ .ttortior ~
: +. = Jo,,,st,ass -. -. mans "a as.su'iol
70 lie for bo,,rs -o,,rSad S t sS i.aI.,,o., ~
- lie az 49, az enen,y hIe, =.
I, = Moor fallou hos ,on so9nu as AZ. nlAss
pnffs raised abort h;n a III I ,s,,a4s .,Is s.a,
fr;ends and faas e,,5 III: - .s ess tao,
o,oss;,s, ; =; a' :nu ls.eh 70 tne mss ;.
hnrror e 81 massies' .nas - perhaps tne crownin
# ~ "a, a. 20.
:. Ao uoy oieci tlc HlBnt, II the eneiH