West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1881-04-16
KINGWOOD, PRESTON COUNTY, w. VA, SATURDAY,
How ucn Arc Sometime KiIIr,
when They Least Expect Death.

How Ncn Are Sometime KiIIrd
when They least Expect Death.
Men might write for 4 hundred years
Of the curious phases Of war snd still
leave the subject fresh War is lottery,
and the prizes are Shot, shell, wound,
and death. Tens Of thousands OF men
served four years In the late war and re-
turned home. In Thousand cases re-
cruits were killed within twenty four
heurs after reaching the trent. Ware
missiles are no respectoIs Of persons. and
the soldier that fights sn all-day's battle
without receiving q wound may be killed
in his tent Ct night hy the accidental dis
charge Of a mukset.
AT the battle Of franklin, the first she /,
sont from the fret Union Held-piece TO
oreR Gre, killed twenty six Cunfederates.
The ncSt five shells from this same gun
either failed 20 explode or cleared the
advancing lines. In this same feht q c
horse of "a Confederate colonel was cut
square i'm two by a shot and the rider c.-
capped unhurL Ten minutes after a
Ulion officer behind The carthw1rks STUN
bed end tell forward On Tie ground and
broke bis neck.
Ia one Of The assaults on Fort Wagner
in Charleston Harhor, tho iyor-clad fleet,
assisted by land baueri,, rumberirc
twcn,y-scvcn heavy cannon, bomuartcd
The fort for two hours before killing a
single soldier From seventy 60 eighty
heavy cannon were hurlrg throo tons Of
iron into the for, each minute, and yet no
one was hurt until over three hundred tons
of solid death hsd been wasted. AZ an
off 7ct 10 this, witness the work O. q single
solid shot thrown from Federal gunhoat
on the lower Mississippi 4 Confederate
living battery was just tskirg position
and one piece bad already opened fire.
The Federal shot WAS directed at this
piece. The bio mass OF iron struck tho
siN,poundCr 'QIar. on the mu2zlc and NJ
set gun ami carriaPc piece of the
muzzle weighing about twenty pounds
was broken eff, and this flew 10 the left
and killed two men. Three were wounded
by small fragments or flying sIlrtcrs
The big shot next struck and exploded
caisson. killed three more men and
wounded two others. From tie caisson
it turned TO the right, killed horse,
smashed a wheel for field piece lud
crushed the leg Of a sergeant To n bloody
mass. That one shot So disorg1nized the
battery that il limbered up and dashed
away TO cover.
While heavy ordnance ia necessary in
reducing forts apd earihworks, 1t is
doubtful If there was ssy profit in the
work Of the big guns carried by the iror-
clads on the riveIs When Mcclellan fell
back he bad the cover OF gunboais, and
some writer's have claimed that their fire
saved his army from capture. So far as
the Confederate records show the loss by
the hundreds of enormous shcsls thrown
over the heads Of our troops into the
woods by these great canoon did not
amount to hundred mc7. they were a
new thing then, aud the effect Of The aw IA
crash and tremendous explosion was de
moralizing on the troops IN line.
A Union gunboet on the White River
threw three shells into a Confederate
camp, killed nearly fifty men. and routed
a force sf eight hundred. Within week
after that event the Confederate General
Shelby planted tour pieces Of flying aTii'-
lcry on the lsyee within four hundred
feet Of the same gunboat at anchor, and
without the least cover for mcn or guns,
KEEP, up the fight fer over az hour, or uu
iii the gunbeat bacEct out Of it and
alehnnl hwnu