Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-04-17
Queer Things in War.

Men might write for o hundred years
of the curious phases of war and still
leave the subject fresh. War is q lot
terry, and the prizes are shot, shell,
wounds and death. Tens of thousands
of men served four years in the late war
and returned home. In 1000 cases re-
cruits were killed within twenty-four
hours after reaching the front. Wars
missiles are no respecters Of persons, and
the soldier who fights an all-day's battle
without receiving a wound may be
killed in his tent at night by the acct
dental discharge of musket.
At the battle of Franklin, the first
shell sent from the first Union field
piece to open, fire killed twenty-six Con-
federates. The next five shells from
this same gun either failed to explode or
cleared the advancing lines. In this
same fight the horse of Confederate
Colonel was cut square in two by a shot
and the rider escaped unhurt. Ten
minutes after Union officer behind the
earthworks stumbled and fell forward on
the ground and broke his neck. 49e q
In one of the assaults on Fort Wagner,
in Charleston harbor, the iron-clad feet,
assisted by land batteries numbering
twenty-seven heavy cannon, bombarded
the fort for two hours before killing q
single soldier. From seventy to eighty
heavy cannon were hurting three tons
of iron into the fort each minute, and
yet no one was hurt until over 800 tons
of "solid death" had been wasted. AS
an offset to this, witness the work of a
single solid shot thrown from Federal
gunboat on the Lower Mississippi. A
Confederate flying battery was just TAX
ing position, and one piece had already
opened fire. The Federal shot was d.
rected at this piece. The big mass Of
iron struck the six-pounder square on
the muzzle and upset gun and carriage.
A piece Of the muzzle weighing about
twenty pounds was broken of, and this
flew to the left and killed two men. Three
men were wounded by smaller fragments
or flying splinters. The big shot
next struck and exploded caisson,
killing three more men and wounding
two others. From the caisson it turned
to the right, killed horse, smashed q
wheel for feld-piece and crushed the
leg of a sergeant to bloody mass.
That one shot so disorganized the bat
terry that it imbered up and dashed
away to cover. Gs7.h
While heavy ordnance is necessary in
reducing forts and earthworks, It is
doubtful if there was any profit in the
work of the big guns carried by the
iron-clads on the rivers. When McClel-
Ian fell back he had the cover of gun
boats, and some writer's have claimed
that their fire saved his army from capt
ure. So far as the Confederate records
show, the loss by the hundreds of enor-
nous shells thrown over the heads of
our troops into the woods by these great
cannon did not amount to a hundred
men. They were new thing then, and
the effect Of the awful crash and tremen-
dous explosion was demoralizing on the
troops in line. ~;
A Union gunboat on the White river
threw three shells into a Confederate
camp, killed nearly fifty men, and routed
force of 800. Within a week after that
event the Confederate Gen. Shelby
planted four pieces of flying artillery on
the levee within 400 feet of the same
gunboat at anchor, and without the least
cover fer men or guns kept up the fight
for over an hour, or until the gunboat
backed out Of it and steamed away.
The chances in lottery can be fig
ured down fine, and a certain per cent.
of escapes is allowed in steamboat ex-
plosion, but he who goes to war has
nothing to console him. He may dodge
2O0-pound shell and be killed by two
buckshot. He pay receive dozen bull
lets and live on, or thesfrst one may be
fatal. He may ride in the widest charge
unhurt, and he may be killed by stray
bullet beside his camp fre.-Detroit
Free Press