Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-09-21

soldier with the modern maoo,;,
Peater simply opens chamber in tho
oreech OF his gun, Grams in a handful
OF metal cartridges, slides hack Tho
cover and is at once ready to discharae
o. pa =. oIllets, one after another, as rapid |
y as ne can make the motions of firing.
ne can shoot twenty balls a minute!
IN our late war, lines of infantry
xl1nout cover repeatedly stood up be-
iore each other with not more than two
hundred yards between, and gave and
took punishment with arms like tho
Springfield for hours.
But how long, at that distance.
would line endure this incessant
storm of bullets from the breech-
loading repeater? How long. With
such arms, could line of battle he
kept together at that distance?
There has, indeed, been q revolution
IN war, comrades, since our day. Old
arms and old methods have passed
away, and new ones have taken their
places. The day is not far distant
when people will regard the muzzle-
loading musket with more curiosity
than we now regard the flint-lock and
powder.horn.
Therefore, since our old Springfelds
and Enields are practically things of
the past, let us revive some of the
memories that their names suggest.
The neatly fashioned leather cart
ridge-box must disappear with the
musket it supplied. But it is in no
danger of being forgotten, for one of
the army corps adopted it for its badge
long before the war was over.
The grand old cartridge-box! It was
q simple and seryiceable device for
carrying our fixed ammunition.
Pictures from the real soldier-life of
the great struggle are called up by the
mention Of its name.
l see the long infantry columns wad-
ing the Potomac at Whites Ford, each
soldier holding high his Springfield"
in one hand and his cartridge-box in
the other, intent on keeping them dry,
whatever else might get wet.
see six-mule teams laden with pine
boxes filled with rife-cartridges gal
Looping to the front under whip and
yell; see the boxes torn from the
wagons almost under fire, splintered
against great tree-trunks, and the eager
soldiers examining their pockets (for
there was no time to fill boxes and
hurrying back to the line.
see the line of battle strewn with
bits of tough brown paper, torn from
the cartridge by the teeth of the SOL
diers. I see the dry grass in front, be-
tween the lines. smoking and burning
from ignited paper.
see between fights soldiers with
their lips stained with powder, and the
fire of battle still shining in their eager
eyes, as prompt for the distribution of
cartridges as for the distribution Of
bareback
The pictures come and go, like the
shiftings of dream. And through it all
runs the crack of the Springfeld-a
thousand puffs of white smoke-the
singing of the grooved and pointed
ball-the roar of the battle!
Well, times have changed, indeed,
even in war. Yet, none will deny that
the soldiers of our great struggle did
their work we'll with the tools that
were given them. And in those days
they were called good tools, too!
One thing gladdens me in this con-
nection. It is that we have so many
perfect -efigies in store of the soldier
of 1865, with uniform, arms, and &C.
couterments complete, to carry down
to coming ages the silent story of how
our volunteers fought, and with what
they fought. Most prominent among
them is the thirty granite figure OF
the Union soldier that stands eloquent
guard over the field of Antietam. It is
yourself, comrade of the infantry, all
complete. The cap, the overcoat, the
belt, the musket at parade rest," the
bayonet in the sheath, the cap-pouch
before and the "forty rounds" behind
all are there, and they will speak for
centuries to come of the just glory OF
the Union volunteer.-Chic1gO Ledger.
i