The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-21

He cannot direct the troops If he il On the bat
tie line He could not see how the fight was
going. Brigade commanders could not find
him. OF course IL his troops were charging, or
If they were advancing, he should be with themS
A corps commander pictured as in the front line
on smokeobscured battle feld, with the in-
fantry fighting by his side, and he pointing 20
the the charging confederates and saying Stop
them, gentlemen is an absurdity.
We are told of general officers grievously
wounded waving aside their aids and lightly
dismissing their medical attendants, and saying
in effect Let the battle proceed cannot
PAIL much they, under the circumstances,
thought OF the Union or OF their troops The
truth Is that they one and all got them
selves lugged off the field as quickly as posi-
ole, and they were exceedingly glad to get TO
the rear and into an ambulance and
De driven to place of safety and surgeon To
have rifle ball weighing an ounce driven home
In the groin, or shatter the thigh bone, or mash
the knee joint to splinters, or mash the bones 81
the arm, or to have solid shot or a ragge1
chunk OF a shell lop off an arm or leg, knock
the fight out of man. He wants to 60 home o
once. 1t was possible for general officers to q
home. and they went. At least never saw, moi
did any of my comrades see, general oficer
swatned with bloody clothes fighting their di
visions or corps.
General officers, corps and army commanders,
these ere pictured as speaking words OF en-
couragement to their wavering troops, which,
battle, caused the men to nerve themselves for
supreme efforts, and they won the fight These
childish tales are probably rehash of the myth
ical military legends of the Napoleonic era The
was ever represented as talking to an
army Of from $4,000 to 100000 men.
Then, too Wellington is said to have
batted up guards, and at Them to his troops
on the feld of Waterloo. The noise of battle il
terrific, and one human voice could not make
itself heard for any great distance. Suppose
battle Is in progress. The infantry is firing.
The artillery ia in action. Solid shot and three.
inch bolts fly screaming through the air. Shell
are bursting. The hum of bullets Is loud and
steady. The men are cheering The wounded
shrek as they fall. The dying groan. And we
are asked to believe that q general officer spoke
to his men in the midst of this deafening uproars
and inspired them. He could speak, and speak
and if his voice did not have the compass OF fifty
fognorns he might as well whistle into his boot
for all the inspiration his troops could draw from
him.
1t is probably inevitable that the current no.
ton that General Sheridan personally rallied the
army in the valley as it fed, panic-stricken, be-
fore Earlys victorious troops, will go into history
as q fact Sheridan is absurdly represented as
galloping to the lost field, and calling to the
flying soldiers to face about; and they, inspired
by the presence Of their beloved commanders,
turned, and won great victory. Now for the
truth. Early in the morning OF Oct 10, 1864,
the army of West Virginia was surprised by the
confederates under EARLY Sheridan was sleep
ing soundly at Winchester. about twenty miles
away. Many of our men were panc-stricken,
and fed wildly for the rear. The men or
Wright's Sixth Corps, approved fighters these,
from the Army of the Potomac, who had been
hammered and wrought, and refined in the
heat of many confederate battle fires, did
not break. They were pushed back by
Gordons men until the found q position they
thought they could hold. There they stood, and
fought, and checked the confederate advance.
49, L.. Aoks l~ 1Ekk 1oxx ox.1 Ghnm
idan was not on the field The panic had spent
itself, The broken troocs.ss, heartily ashamed Of
themselves, bad begun to form behind the pro-
tective line of the Sixth Corps Tt ia true that
the confirmed "coffee boilers" were still hunting
for solitude in the rear, but those men always
search for safe places in which to boil coffee
when the bullets begin to hum. The army was
well In hand, and every man in the
Sixth Corps knows this fact, before Sheridan
came on the field. The succeeding battle could.
and would, have been won by Wright, as it was
by Sheridan, because the confederates had lost
their heads while pludering our camp, and were
in no condition to resist attack in force. But
Sheridan is to go down in history as riding into
panic-stricken army, and by simply waving his
hat and speaking to the troops mot 100 Of whom
could have heard him) he restored order and
won great victory The absurdity of this al
legged military miracle is apparent to all men
who have seen actual battle.
A friend told me how the colonel of his regi-
ment secured promotion 1t is fair sample OF
how sham military reputation is manufactured.
The regiment was in action In the open. this in
the Southwest under Sherman. The colonel was
on horseback in the rear of his regiment, just
where he should have BEEN The confederate
sharpshooters saw an officer on horseback, and
began to pay attention to him. The colonel,
finding that the sharp-shooters had selected him
for target, was greatly alarmed, and thought
he was to be killed. He did not dare ride off of the
field, nor did he dare dismount while under fire, for
fear that his men would suspect him Of cow
ardce He speedily concluded that he had best
be moving, SO he galloped his horse up and
down behind his regiment. lie was nervous
and excited, as well he might be, with scors
OF sharpshooters trying to gather him to hid
fathers and to relieve his feelings, he shouted
to his men to "Give the rebel - - 49,
-" Furiously he rode, expecting to be
killed every instant An advantage gained BY
troops in another part of the field dis
lodged the sharpshooters, and the colonel was
at rest His riding his line and his sham en-
enlargement of his men had been seen from
corps headquarters. There his actions wero con-
strued to indicate that his regiment was hard
pressed, which was true, and that he was gal
lantly holding his men to their work. which was
not true, as they had no intention of abandoning
the field. The colonel was recommended for
promotion as reward for his gallantry In ac-
ton. Speedily single star shone his
shoulder strap, whore the bird of freedom had
been won't to roost. And ever after he posed az
fighting brigader
The privates In both the Union and confeder-
ate armies did the fighting in our war. Theirs
the deeds Of desperate valor; theirs the
poor pay and wretched food. Not q regiment of
volunteers but had as intelligent men in the
ranks as the one who commanded the division
they belonged TO. No general saved this Repub-
lie 1t was preserved by the stanch courage and
intelligence and patriotism Of the prvates, who
were victorious on many bloody battle fields in
spite of the laundering incapacity OF their com.
manders.
An Estimate of Matthew Arnold.