The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-10-22
Queer Things in War.

Men might write for ahundred years
OF the curious phases of war, and stIl
leave the subject fresh. War is q LOT.
terry, and the prizes are shot, shell.
wounds and death. Tens OF thou.
sands of men served four years in the
late war and returned home. In a
thousand cases recuits were killed
within twenty-four hours after reach.
ing the front. Wars missiles are no
respecters OF persons, and the soldier
who fights an all days 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, says the
Army Bulletin, the first shell sent from
the first Union feld-piece to open fire
killed twenty-six confederates. The
next five shells from the same gun
either failed to explode or cleared the
advancing lines. In this same fight,
the horse of O. confederate colonel was
cut square in two by q shot, ans tGe
rider escaped unhurt. Ten minutes
after, a Union officer behind the breast-
works stumbled and fell forward on
the ground, breaking his neck. 81
In one OF the assaults on Fort Wag.
ner in Charleston harbor, the iron
clad fleet, assisted by land batteries
numbering twenty-seven cannon, bonn
barded the fort for two hours before
killing a single soldier. From seventy
to eighty heavy n no We're hurting
three tons of iron into the fort each
minute, and yet no one was hurt In
til over three hundred tons of solid
death" had been wasted. As an Offset
to this, witness the work OF q single
solid shot thrown from a federal gum
boat on the Lower Mississippi. A
confederate flying battery was just
taking position, and one piece had al
ready opened fire. The federal shot
was aimed 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, and this flew to the left and
killed two men. Three men were hurt
by smaller fragments or flying spin
tiers. The big shot next struck and
exploded q c~aisson, killing three more
and wounding two others. From the
caissou it turned to the right, killed q
horse, smashed a wheel OF a field-piece
and crushed the leg of a sergeant to .
bloody mas That n shot SO dls.
organized the battery that it limbered
up and wheeled away to cover.
While heavy ordnance is necessary
in reducing forts and earthworks, 1T IS
doubtful if there was any profit in the
work of the big guns carried by IRON
clads on the rivers. When Mcclellan
fell back he had the cover ofgun-boats,
and some writer's have claimed that
their fire saved his army from capture.
So far as the Confederacy records
show, the loss by the hundreds OF
enormous shells thrown over the heads
OF our troops into the woods by these
great cannons amounted to no more
than one hundred men. They were q
new thing then, and the effect OF the
awful crash and terrific explosion on
the men was demoraiizing on tina
troops in line.
A Union gunboat on the White Klvs
er threw three shells into a confeder.
ate camp. killed nearly fifty men and
routed q force of 500. Within a week
after that event the Confederate Gen
eral Shelby planted four pieces OF ny
ing artillery on the levee, within foui
hundred feet OF the same gunboat al
anchor, and without the least cover
for men or guns kept up the fight foi
over an hour, or until the gunboai
backed out of it and steamed away.
The chances in a lottery can be fig'
ured down fine, and a certain percent
age of escapes is allowed in a steam,
boat explosion; but he who goes to
war has nothing to console him. lie
may dodge atwo-hundred-pound shell
and be killed by two buckshot. re
may receive a dozen bullets and live
on, or the first may be fatal. He may
ride in widest charge unhurt, and he
may be killed by a stray bullet around
i his canr fire.