The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-04-29
on THE MARCH.
Yicissitudcs of Army Life during the Civil
War.

vicissitudcs of Army Life during the Civil
War.
J.T. Murray, ,twriting for the Washins-
ton Republican, says:
The Confcderates undoubtedly suffered
far greater vicissitudes than the Union
armies, for apart from those hardships
incident to every 9rmy in the field, they
were poorly clothed and fed, which was
not the case with their opponents, as a
rule
We will suppose command is ordered
to reach an indicated point within q
given time, either to surprise an enemy
or to hold a threatened and important
position. And in this am writing from
my recollection of experiences in the
Seventeenth Virginia Regiment. of
Pickett's division of Coufederates.
The men are drawn up, aud those who
have knapsacks ordered to pile them.
Then the company officers sec to it that
no man carries more than single blank.
ct.
Two extra packages of cartridges are
served out, making, with those in the
cartridge box, sixty rounds, a pretty
heavy weight in itself when the calibre
of the rifle was fiftyeight, as was usually
the case. Next, three days rations of
hardtack and bacon are issued to last four
or five days, or until more could be pro-
cured.
The line of march is then taken up and
the quickstep ordered from the first.
Now, it must be remembered, that a SOL
dier with his rifle, ammunition, blanket,
provisions, etc., is weighed down by about
fifty pounds Or over, and this dead weight,
instead of being distributed over the body
bears chiefly upon the shoulders.
Those who have never been there gen.
orally suppose that the actual contact of
battle is the hardest and most trying to
the nerves and pluck in the phases ofa
soldiers life. This is fallacy. Many
time have 1 heard my comrades express
satisfaction, after long and distressing
march, at having got at last within strik-
ing distance of the foe. do not believe
that the man lives or has lived, who could
honestly say that he never felt fear while
on the eve of battle, or rather when first
going under fire.
But forced march is terror to the
best of troops, no matter however we'll
they have been disciplined. What do
the readers of this paper suppose forced
march means? It means torture of mind
aud torture of body; it means dull
aching of every joiot and bone and mar
row of the bones; it means not simply
utter WEAKNESS and pain, but almost
complete prostration of the physical
powers; it means that one falls asleep for
minute while mechanically plodding
along and to awake with start while
staggering to fall it means, when the
ten minutes rest comes at every two miles
to sink down in ones tracks like an empty
bag and to be asleep before you touch
the ground. When the ten minutes rest
expires and command, "Fall in !" is Civ.
en- one awakes and gets up from mere
force of habit and resumes the grinding
task, sitter and sorer, if possible, than
before.
1t means, finally, that one would barter
a million cheerfully for an hours rest
and sleep, and, while feeling bound to
obey the inexorable command forward"
one is in such state of mental and phys
ical wretcbedness that he is ready almost
to curse God and die. And then, too.
when the days march is concluded
sometimes far in the night, what must be,
the condition of those detailed to guard
their sleeping comrades? Surely no gal
lev slave was ever tortured like this.
And such march often occurs in the
most inclement weather, whether the sun
was blazing hot, and the roads so dusty
that one could not see ten yards before
him, or the air bitter cold and the snow
and slush foot deep on the ground.
recollect that after the second battle of
Bull Run, when Gen. Lee made his forced
march across the country in order to ford
the Potomac before his opponent could
reach the opposite bank, the day was SO
hot and dusty and the pace so rapid
that hundreds of the men who had been
enfeebled by weeks constant marching
and fighting fell (sunstruck) out of the
ranks by the wayside, and dozens ofthem
died, as the surgeon did not stop to pay
them any attention.
After the battle of Gettysburg, Corse's
brigade of Pickett's division, which had
been left behind to guard the line of rail-
road between Gordonsville and Richmond
was ordered to Winchester. We made
forced march over the mountains, and
when we got to the east branch of the
Shenandoah we found it full and too deep
for small man to ford, SO the six footers
formed a Gordon across the rushing stream
and passed the shorter men along the line
until all were safely over.
Then without stopping to dry clothes,
we pushed ahead, but rain soon afterward
came down in torrents and every little
valley in that billy country soon became
overrun with deep, muddy stream,
through which we waded breast high.
When the command got to Winchester
the feet of the men, from the constant
rasping of the water and sand in their
shoes, were in a terrible condition, and
their shoulders were CALLED like those Of
tow.path mule. Had the enemy's caval-
ry come on US next day, as was fully ex-
pected, for they had advanced to Berry
vile, the brigade could not possibly have
maneuvred rapidly enough to give them
a stiff fight, unless by taking up positions
behind the stone fences and staying