The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-08-13
Under Fire.
! SOLDIERS SENSATIONS WHEN ENGAGED
IN TIL

IN IL
Whenever you can find n soldier who I'M
der fire aims low and boots to make every
bullet wound or kill, you will find fifty
who are n~eryously throwing away ammuni-
ion, seeming TO reason that the reports of
heir muskets will check OF drive the
enemy. And yet this need
hot be wondered at, for they are playing n
anne oflife and death.
At Malvern Hill, seventeen soldiers, be-
0nging to an Ohio regiment, took cover in
q dry ditch, which answered admirably for
rifle pit. A Georgia regiment charged
his little band three times, and were three
times driven back. The fire was low and
apid, and the loss in frsnt of their guns
1as more than one hundred killed in ten
minutes. Regiments a been engaged
or an hour without losing half that num-
Der. The fire of this II was 80 continuous
hat Mcclellan forward q brigade to their
upport, believing that n n entire regiment
ad been cut off.
At Mine Run the writer was just in the
rear of a New York regiment which was
mddenly attacked. A single company of
.onfederates, cut off from the regiment, and
lodging around bout to rejoin it, suddenly
iebouched into q field and found itself face
% face with the Union regiment. Fighting
commenced at once: A regiment fought a
company, both lying down for cover. Hay
o neal a third sergeant that l could touch
his heels, and l watched his fire. Every
time he pulled the trigger he elevated the
nu9zle of his gun at an angle of iorty-nve
degrees instead of depressing it for the
enemy lying down. L saw him repeat this
operation fourteen different times. The
man in front of him fred as many bullets
dump into a stump in his front, and the
man on the other side shot into the ground
about ten feet away. Others must have
been wasting bullets about the same way,
but that little company was shooting to
kill. In hat ten minutes of fighting the
New Workers suffered a loss of thirty-six
killed and wounded, and then o bayonet
charge doubled them back md opened n
gap for the little bands escape. l walked
over the ground and found one dead and one
rounded confederate. Not n gun, blanket,
gnapsack or canteen had been left behind.
Any soldier will no doubt fight.better I'M
der cover h he will in the open field, but
over does not always insure good fighting.
At Pittsburg Landing five thousand Union
soldiers skulked under the river bank, safe
rom the enemy's fire, and many of them
threw their guns into the river rather than
DIRE n shot. Again, at Yellow Tavern, five
# Clusters men, dismounted and lying
behind a fence, held five companies of
avalry at bay for twenty minutes, and
silled twenty-four men, and this without
getting q scratch in return.
At Mine Run a Union regiment wentinto
the fight with sixty rounds of ammunition
per man, making u total of perhaps four
thousand bullets. This regiment was placed
o act as a check to any advance of the
enemy in q certain direction. They did not
zee thirty confederutes during the whole
lay, and yet it was twice more supplied
Nth ammunition. 1t fired away at least
welve thousand bullets, and yet only kill
ed two rebel skirmishers
One cool man will do more execution
with his musket than thirty men firing at
andom. One must nave n will strong
enough to crowd down all emotion, and
,blige his hands to cease trembling at the
6ord. Out of every regiment, not more
fhan one hundred men are fighters. These
shoot to kill. The others shoot at random,
md kill only by accident. Thirty cartridges
could last a good fighter for all days
dght. The ordinary soldier would fire out
dis sixty in an hour and n hall, and like
enough lave his eyes shut half the time
when he pulled the trigger. Amember of
the I'd Michigan infantry hit the case pretty
,ell at Blackburn Ford. When the ski
nishing began he counted his cartridges,
md said:
"Just sixty of 'em, and I'll fire three n
minute, and have these fellcrs licked in
Just twenty minutes to a tick !"-Detroit
Free Pres.