The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-11-02
A MILITARY EXECUTION.

e all love % rec.ill 10 memory deeds
of daring and of bravery The mind nat
urally exults rs it hears or reads of some
great military achievement, Of some dar-
ing exploit, Of some hard-fought, stub
bornly contested battle. We associate
with such all that is glorious in war or
dazzling in the life of a soldier Loss of
human life, loss Of limbs, ghastly wounds,
bloody carnage, with all the terrible con-
comitants of an embattled field, are inter
mixed and blended with, and become
part of the general results-a part Of his
sory. The records of history are confin-
ed to such. When we read or study these
thought is seldom or never given TO the
many silent and unwritten scenes. deeds
of individual daring and bravery, gallant
acts, or of suffering or heartrending an
guish, woe, despair, that are frequent at
tendants of all wars, of nearly every cam
paign. No matter how tragical their
character, they are TO the historirn but
the side shows Of the great drama being
enacted. They are seldom known except
to the actors and participants. Their his
tory and details rarely, If ever, find their
way to the public, absorbed as it is with
the greater leading events-the great
changing panorama Amid the rush of
war they are overlooked, lost sight of,
eor,..+.a,, ,,,,4sl ~ ofsar I.,vc r.ar,.ba rea
recalled to memory in social intercourse.
1t is an indisputable fact that the lead
ing tendency Of all wars, especially civil
war, is the hardening of the heart, for the
time. to all the refined and tender emo
tions and feelings of compassion which
are natural to humanity in civilized
state-holding them in abeyance to the
sterner dictates Of an imperious military
necessity, rendering it, to all outward APP
pearance, but mass Of icy callousness
inducing an appe trance, an indifference
to human suffering, mental anguish,
touching appeal, that becomes truly a
matter of wonder and astonishment in af-
ter and more peaceful days. All such
feelings and emotions. if felt. are sternly
repressed and subordinate,l to the behests
of military duty. Military necessity, be
it apparently in other days neyerso cruel
in its characterand calling. Thus, for the
tiinc and occasion and circumstances, the
otherwise feeling man shows but the sem
blance Of the seemingly staieol savage
At such times and under such eircun-
stances he * no longer human, but sim
ply military machine. The unwritten
history of the late civil VAR contains
MANY 4 narrowing ~ene that. brought 70
light. would touch the heart and thrill it
with a feeling of herror-causin- u to
wonder such could have transpired in
any civilized land and been carried out
in detail by Christian people. Many
such are now locked in the breasts of the
individual actors, participants and Wit
nes-es. sealed Theoretically TO the world
except, perchanoe, they find the light
through one or the other of these as they
fight their battles over and recall expert
ences with some eomrade, as they bring
To memory the vivid scenes of the past
1t was thus with the writer few sab
baths back, when he had the following
military tragedy, in all its horrors, relat-
ed az one of the many episodes of mill
tary life:
"Do you remember, Joe, the shooting
Of that sick, dying man, while the COM
mand was at ?issah church, in Orange
or Madison county, virginia?7 sal | Nc
-, of one OF those present who had
held the post of orderly sergeant.
q / reckon do he replied Great
God shall never forget it If live to
be thousand years old
What? A sick man. | asked, new
er before having heard of il.
=. Yes, sick man; dying man, / told
vou,7 he exclaimed Nor viii |. Joe.
ever forget it 1t makes my blood eurtile
and run cold within me even now, after
more than twenty years, to think of it.
OF all the horrid scenes, the trying, saw
age scenes of eold-blooded butchery of
that fonr years, this beat all. | have
seen some few such. you all know, but
this, say. beat all-topped the climax
/ never saw one more such in all its de-
tails.
He was member Of the Twenty-fifth
Virginia. you remember, bel Jnging TO
our brigade. A faithful soldier, too, for
the first two wears of the war, and as
brave as they usually make them He
was back-woodsrlan from one Of the
western counties He had been in all the
fights in the valley, and in the seven days
around Richmond Stood out like man,
every duty, consumptive and
thin and weak IS he appeared.
He had wife and child from whom
he had been absent two years, and to
whom he was most devotedly attached
Of whom he was continually talking, the
boys said. when off duty
In an evil hour for him his wife wrote