The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-05-19
Getting Frightened.

A writer in the Inter-Oce narrates
the following stories: "Our regiment
was in the command of General Force
in the Atlanta campaign, and on one
occasion we got into the hottest place
that soldiers of any nation ever found.
We were coming down to close quarters,
and the fight had reached point where
we could neither go forward nor back.
There we were, with the rebels pouring
in hailstorm of bullets, a good many
of the men lying close to the rebel
breastworks. AT this juncture General
Force called for flag. He asked re-
peatedly if some of the men who were
lying down could not find a flag.
thought he meant a flag of truce, and
feeling that we ought to surrender, and
the quicker the better, hurried around,
as best could, among the men to ask
them if some one hadn't white hand
kerchief, but could find none. Then,
getting desperate, asked if some one
hadn't white shirt, part of which he
could spare on such an occasion, but
there was not white shirt in the COM
pany. Force had been watching my
movements with good deal of inter-
est, and 1 thought that he meant to
encourage me in my search, but when
| spoke to man near him about piece
of a white shirt, he understood what |
was driving at, and there was terrific
explosion. The general never swore
except on tremendous occasions. On
this occasion he gave tremendous
swear, and informed me in the most
emphatic language that he wanted an
American flag, to show those fellows in
front that he never meant to surrender,
and he didn't want any white flag of
any kind or description, and any man
The boys had the joke on me, and they
never let me hear the last of that hunt
for white flag before Atlanta. There
were great many men in the army
who suffered years of humiliation
through losing grip on themselves for a
single instant. | remember that on one
occasion one of the most reckless men
in our company, after fighting like
salamander for an hour, lost his head.
After twenty minutes spent in the very
fury of charge and counter-charge the
man on his right dropped without a
word, the man on his left fell across his
front, and the branch of tree, cut off by
a cannOn-ball, dropped at his feet. He
turned in blind, dazed way, lost con-
troll of his nerves, and darted rearward
like frightened deer. Scores of others
went with him, and the men who turned
and retreated more slowly saw with
surprise these men SPRING up, each with
shrek, and jump, one after another,
into depression in the rocky ground.
This cellar-like depression was not
more than four or five feet deep, and
it afforded no adequate protection
against the storm of shot and shell, but
after one man had jumped in all these
frightened men followed, like so many
sheep, and they continued to do this
until the hole was full, men packed in
one on top of the other. The men who
retreated slowly, making the best fight
they could, escaped. The panic-stricken
men who jumped into the hole lay
there helplessly after our line passed,
and were taken prisoners without a
show of resistance. After months OF
WEAKNESS and suffering they came back
to the regiment, and have heard my
friend of the reckless mood say hun
bred times that one minute of panic
stricken foolishness so injured his self
respect that he was afraid he would
never be man again"