The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-04-14
Queer Things In War.
From the bet Free Press

Men might write for a thousand year:
of the curious phases of war and still
leave the subject fresh. War is a lot
terry, aud the prizes are shot, shell
wounds air! death Tens Of thousands
of men served Tour years in the late
war aud returned home. Ia a thousand
cases recruits we're killed within TWEEN
ty-four hours after reaching the front.
War missiles are no respecters OF per
sons, and the soldier who fights an 81
DAYS battle without receivinga wound
NAV be killed in his tent at night by
the accidental discharge of a muskct
At the Battle Of Franklin. the first
shell sent from the first Union field
piece TO open fire, killed twenty SIX
confeleretcs. The next five shells from
his same gun failed o explode or clear
ed the advancing lines. In the same
fight the horse OF a confederate colo
mel was cut square in two by a shot
and the rider escape uIhurt. Ten
minutes after a Union officer behind
The earth-woIks stumbled AMI fell for
ward TO the ground and broke his
neck
In one of the assaults on Fort Wag-
Ter. in Charleston harbor, the iron clad
fleet assisted ny land batteries mum
erIuytwenty seven heavy cannon BON
t,ardpl the fort for two hours before
killing a single soldier. From seventy
to eighty cannon Wee hurting three
tons Of iron into the fort each minute,
and yet no one was hurt until over
hrcc hundred tors of solid death
had been wasted. As an offset to this,
witness the work of a single solid shot
thrown from d federal gunboat on the
lower Mississippi.
\ confederate flying battery was
just taking position, and one piece had
already fired The federal shot was III
rected at this piece the big mass Of iron
struck the six FOUNDER square on the
muzZle and upset gun and carriage. A
piece of the muZz'e weighing about
twenty pounds, was broken off, and
this piece flew to the left and killed
men. Three men were wounded
by smaller fragments of flying splin-
tiers. The big shot next struck and ex
plo1ed a caisson, killing three more
men and wounding two others. From
the caisson it turned to the right, kill
eel a horse, smashed a wheel for a field
piece and crushed the leg ola ser
geant to a bloody mass. That one shot
SC disorganized the battery tbatit lin
bered up and dashed away to cover.
While heavy ordinance is necessary
in reducing forts and earthworks, 1t is
doubtful # there is any profit IN the
work of big guns carried by the iron
Il Il, -, a., , IVbar NoIfI1lIo- |
fell back he had the cover Of gunboats,
and some writers have claimed that
their fire saved his army from capture.
far as the confederate records show
the loss by the hundreds of enormous
shells thrown Over the heads OF our
into the woods 10y these great
cannon did o amount to a hundred
men. They were Il new thing then,
and the effect of the awful crash and
explosions were demorali-
ziug on the troops in line.
\ Union glnboat on the White river
threw three shells into a confederate
camp, killed nearly fifty men and rout-
Il force of 800. Within i week af-
ter that event the Confederate General
planted FOUR pieces of flying ar
tillery on the levee within 400 feet of
same guuboat at anchor, and, with
cut the least cover for men or guns,
kept up the fight for over an hour, or
until he gunOoat backed cut OF it and
away.
Tn chances in a lottery can be fig
lred down fine, and a certain per cent,
Of escapes is allowed in a steamboat
explosion, but he who goes to wal has
nothing to console him. He may
lodge a 200 pound shell and be killed
BY W buckshotS. He may receive a
dozen bullets and live On or the first
one may be fatal. He may ride in the
widest charge unhurt, and he may be
killed by astray bullet beside his camp
ire.