The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-08-05
ARp,s WEEKLY BUDGET.
Rcminisccpcas of tho First Battle OF Ma
nassaB.
atlanta Constitution,

century has passed since the first battle
of Manassas. A battle that made more
lasting impression upon the nation than
any that occurred during the war. ltwa
the first shock of the earthquake. The
first blood, the first glory and the first
grief We had read about wars all our
lives and about bloody battles where
thousands and thousands were slain. We
had in earliest childhood looked at the
pictures and wondered and wondered.
The few books that had them we're almost
worn out with our thumbing the leaves
and We would talk over the same old
heroes and wonder again. Our mothers
made US read the Bible every Sunday and
when We came to big battle our minds
were filled with awe at the contemplation
of bloody things. What a wonderful
hero was Samson who seized an old jaw
bone of an ass and like mighty giant
went threshing around shifting the Phil.
istines hip and thigh, and never stopped
until he had slain thousand men. Then
we came down to the revolution where
our forefathers foug ght, and there were the
pictures of Bunker Hill. and Lexington,
and Yorktown, that we're nearer kin.
But still it was all fanciful dream.
Nearly fifty years have passed since Jack.
son fought ct New Orleans, and those
heroes were dead. Here and there was q
man who fought in Mexico, but they we're
of past generation, and that war was
not intensified by long quarrel among
brethren-people of the same blood and
nation. The North and South had been
quarreling for more than fifty years, and
at last had come to blows and to blood.
The chip on the hat had been knocked off.
What an awful scene it was, that fret
battle. At home it was awful when one
man was suddenly killed. 1t startled q
whoLa community, and the news of it was
carried from nabor to nabor until it was
the talk of the County. My elder broth.
er was doctor, and was permitted to
look on once when DR.. Wildman cut a
mans leg of, and I saw the quivering
flesh and the arteries and the blood, and
the thigh bone severed with the saw, and
heard the poor mans groans, and I had
not forgotten that. But here were men,
healthy and strong and brave, shot down
by the score. Many were dead and many
were dying, and they we're al! around me.
The pine thicket and the open field close
by, where the Eighth Georgia and Fourth
Alabama fought side by side, was speck:
ed with them. That pine grove and field
was terrible shock to me, for my friends
we're there and some of my kindred.
The dead seemed asleep with their arms
near by. The wounded asked for water.
Their surviving comrades had left them
to pursue an enemy that was still fighting,
though retreating. We hurried to the
branch for water. We rode to the rear
for help.for ambulances. We found the
wounded all along the route and the news
was that Barlow and Bee were killed and
Colonel Gardner was wounded, and 9
prisoner. Shout after shoutswas heard
as the front advanced and the enemy
retreated. Everywhere there was wild
hurrying to and fro. Ambulances went
on the run to the battle field. Couriers
with orders few in hot haste over hill and
plain. Generals with their staff gallop:
ed from hill to hill to overlook the move.
ments of their troops who were surging
and swaying at double quick and yelling
like wild Comanches as they drove back
the enemy and broke their columns. The
air was filled with smoke. The minnie
balls ratified through the pines or spent
their force against the fences or upon the
ground. The canonading was incessant
and was continued long after the enemy
was out of reach. The terrible sound Of
it lent wings to their flight and they left
everything behind them. Night shut
down upon the scene and brought rest
rest to the weary, but not to the wounded
All night long We watched and waited.
and nursed and comforted them as best
we could. The surgeons knife was busy,
and as one poor fellow was attended to
and moved aside the doctor wiped the
perspiration from his brow and hurriedly
said, "next." There was not a groan noI
moan IS arms and legs we're hastily
amputated. don't believe that the boys
had much feeling then. The excitement
and the victory had wrought them up to
pitch that smothered feeling. They
talked and laughed and cried as the sur.
peons dressed their wounds. / saw DR.,
Miller cut ball from Jet Howard's hip
that had come nearly through from the
other side, and Jet stood up to have ii
done, and as the ball dropped into the
doctors hand he seized it and said, 81
wouldent take thousand dollars for
this" 1t was Sunday. What day fol
such deeds of carnage. The next day
was devoted to the dead. Our own dead
we're buried in spots selected by their
! friends and some rude headboard marked
the name. The fedcrals were lined in
trenches with head to feet in nameless
graves. They we're thick in some places,
so thick that one could step from corpse
to corpse. 1t was the third day before
some OF them were buried, and they had
swollen and looked fat and bloated, and
some of their clothing had burated with
swelling flesh. There was company Of
Zouaves in Turkish costume, who looked
like race of giants sleeping there;
Dead horses streWed the ground, and
they were swollen too and their legs stood
out without touching the goound, and
The buzzards sat upon their heads and
feasted upon their eyeballs as the sweet
est morsel to begin With. Artillery
horses fell dead upon each other and were
cross and piles and the harness had to
he cut away.
This battle was Insignificant when
compared with those that came after, but
il was 80 that the soldiers and the nation
cot used to blood. Within year the
Shock of it had passed. The horror OF it
was gone. The army wagons marched
ever the battle field of Seven Pines 9
raouth or so later, after it was fought and
as the wheels crashed across the shallow
trenches where the dead we're buried, one
could see an arm or a leg shoot up OF
hear the bones crack with the passing
weight. The teamsters looked back and
smiled or cracked a heartless joke-blood
and death and corp.es are nothing iD war
--nothing when one gets hardened to
them. It is all business and destiny.
No wonder that Bonaparte fought on and
felt no sympathy. He was used to it and
the dead were nothing. 1t was no more
than a game of chess and the people were
the pawns. But more than this is the
silent grief of widowed wife and father.
less children, and of the mothers and
fathers and sisters and brothers whose
r..