Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1881-03-03
QUEER THINGS IN WAR.
now EgS AgE SOMETIMES KILLED wHES
THEY LEAST EXPECT DEATH.

now HgS AgE sOBETiBEs KILLED wHEs
THEY LrAsT EXrEcT DEATH.
From the Detroit Prev Press.
Men might write for hundred
years Of the curious phases Of var and
still leave the subject fresh. War il
lottery, and the prizes are shot.
shells, wounds and death. Tens Of
thousands Of men served four years in
the late war and returned home. In
thousand cases recruits were killed
within twenty-four hours after reach
ing the front. Wars missiles are no
respect0rs Of persons, and the soldier
who fights an all day. battle without
receiving a wound may be killed in
hIs tent at night by the accidental dis
charge Of a musket.
At the battle Of Franklin, the first
she'll sent from the first Union field
piece to open fire. killed twcnty.six
Confederate. The next five shells
from this same gun either failed 10
explode or cleared the advancing lines.
In this same fight the horse Of a Con-
iederate colonel was cut square in two
by shot and the rider escaped un-
hurt. Ten minutes after Union Off
Ger behind the earthworks stumbled
and fell forward on the ground and
broke his neck.
In one OF the assaults on Fort Wag-
ner, in Charleston Harbor, the iron
clad fleet, assisted by land batteries,
numbering twenty-seven heavy can
non, bonba rded the fort for two hours
before killing a single soldier. From
seventy TO eighty heavy cannon were
hurliug three tons Of iron into the fort
each minute, and yet no one was hurt
until over 300 tons Of solid death"
had been wasted. A. an Offset to
this, wilnes- the work Of a single solid
shot thrown from Federal gunboat
on the lower Mississippi 4 Confed-
crate flying battery was Just taking
position, and once piece had already
opened fire. The Federal shot was
directed at this piece The big mass
Of iron struck the siX.pounder square
on the muzzlc and upset gun aud car
rage. 4 piece Of the nuzzle weigh
ing about twenty pounds vas broken
oft, and this flew 20 the leT and lilied
two men. Three were wounded bv
snail fragment. or fyiug splinters.
The biz shot next struck aud exploded
a cai-son. killing three more men and
wouuding two others From the cais-
son it turned 90 the right. killed a
horse, smashed a wheel for a field
piece aud crushed the leg Of a sergeant
to a bloody mass Tha, one shot 50
di.oreanized the battery that it linn
bered up aud dashed away to cover.
While heavy ordnance j, necessary
in reducing forts and earlhworks. it is
doubtful II there was any profit in the
work Of the big guns carried by the
iron.clads on the rivers. When Nc
Clellau fell back be had the cover Of
guubnats. and some writers have claim
cd that their FIRE saved his army from
capture - far a. the Confederate
record show the loss hy the hundreds
Of enormous shells thrown over the
heads Of our troops into the woods by
these great cannon did not amount TO
a hundred men. They were a new
thug then, aud the effect of the awful
crash and tremendous explosion was
demcralizing on the troops in line.
A Union gunboat on the White
River threw three shells into a Con-
iederate camp. killed nearly fifty men,
aud routed force of 500. Within a
week after that event the Confederate
General Shelby planted four pieces of
flying artillery on the levee within
400 feet Of the same guuboat at anchor,
and without the least cover for men or
guns, kept up the fight for over an
hour, or until the guuboat backed out
Of it and steamed away.
The chances in lottery can be fig
ured down fine. and certain per cent.
of escapes is allowed in a steamboat
explosion. but he who goes to war has
nothing to console him. He may dodge
a two hundred pound shell and be
killed by two bucksbot. He may re-
ceive a dozen bullets and live on, or
the first one may be fatal. lie may
ride in the widest charge unhurt, aud
he may be killed by a stray bullet be-
side his campfire.