Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1888-03-22
a SOLDIERS FIRST rlcHr.
An incident In the Early DAYS OF the
Late Civil War.

An incident i'm the Early DAYS Of the
Late Civil War.
From the San Francisco Alta California.
A great many terrible things have
been written about the war, but it is
doubtful II a man has really told the
public about his first real sensations
under fire-perhaps the idea would be
more correctly expressed by saying
his real sensation in his first battle
1t is all very well to talk of glory and
heroism, and the lofty courage which
heroism inspires. One can fully APP
preciate the dignity of such emotions
after the fight is over, but they are
not so apparent in the initial shock
OF the first battle.
1t was in the afternoon OF a beauti.
ful July day that q troop of partisan
cavalry, some sixty men in all. was
camped in one ofthe says of the Usage
hills, on tn great thoroughfare which
then led down through the southwest.
lt had once been the highway from
st. Louis to the Red river. The camu
was in the confusion which distin.
guished early service and inesperience.
Saddles were scattered in ell direc-
TORS, Horses were tethered to every
available bush. Men were lying under
the grateful shade of trees, or were en-.
gagged in inexperienced cookety. They
were dressed in all conceivable fash.
ions. There was the merchant in his
graceful fitting frock of broadcloth
and plug hat; the farmer in blue
jeans the lawyer IN professional APP
paref The men were gathered from
nearly every nationality under the
sun. The American with his calm de-
meanor, and fixed determination in
face and bearing; the jolly son OF Erin,
restless. joyous and full OF song and
merriment; the steady phiegmatlc Ger
man; the sullen, dark-browed immi.
grant from Poland. Grouped about
where the plainsmen, grown hardy by
the tollsome days and nights in cara
vans that yearly cross the great des.
erts with goods and freight fer the
distant military posts; and voyagers
In the lake country and from the
rivers where strength and vigor were
acquired in tempestous labor. It was
indeed mixed and curious assem-.
blage.
The troop had been on the march
all day through heat and dust, en-
route for the main army. encamped a
few miles distant, and now, cast in
every conceivable attitude and posi-.
tion, they were taking well.earned
rest. But suddenly there was a sharp
defamation OF q distant rifle, and the
next minute the picket came galloping
In upon the guard. In O. moment
everything was in wild confusion.
Men ran in all directions in purs nit of
saddles and mislaid arms. Nothing
was in and everything was wrong. On
this scramble OF eager and excited
men broke the clear notes OF the bu-
gle, sounding "boots and saddles"
In some way, no one could tell how,
the line was formed, and at a slow
trot along the dusty highway the
troup moved off to meet the enemy.
1t had not far to go. Across the load
and covering the crest OF low ridge q
scouting platoon was drawn up to re.
ceive them. There was no science or
tactics employed on either side. Both
troops were equally ignorant OF the
art OF war. They only knew that
their business was to kill. The order
came to charge And they did. It
was each man for himself and the
devil take the hindmost. A wild
and scattering fire blazed along
the line; O sheet of flame answered
it from the other side The
dust rose in dense cloud from the
gathering hoofs of the horses, as ig-
norant as their riders of the art of
war. A wild shout pealed through the
forest aisles, and in the midst OF dust
and cries and yells, the excited and
furious men mixed In battle. Rifles,
shotguns, pistols, knives and swords
were used in reckless and indiscrimate
confusion. Men were knocked from
their saddles and trampled beneath
the feet of the frightened and rearing
horses.
During The melee two brothers
named Kelcher met in q fierce and
desperate struggle. In the excitement
of the strife each had failed to recog-
nize his opponent; and not until the
death wound was dealt to the young.
er man was the elder conscious of
the terrible deed he had done. The
fight had drifted away from them, and
he dismounted and bore the body to a
little distance, where spring gurgied
from the earth. He bathed his face
and head, and tried to stanch the flow
of blood that welled from his breast.
at is no use, Billy" said the dying
g4IA fat al
home"
Strange to say the encounter had
taken place but few miles from the
farm where their youth and boyhood
we're passed; where their parents
lived, and where in q few hours the
elder brother was to lay the dying
form of the youngest born at his
mothers feet.
Don't tell them at home you did
it. 1t was in battle and you did not
know me-"
The promise was given, and that
night the fratricide laid the dead boy
in his mothers arm. Save one friend
no one ever knew how Jimmie Kelcher
died, nor who fired the fatal bullet
that ended his young life before it had
fairly begun.
But how about the feeling one has
in his first battle? That is not easily
told. But to say one IS not frighten.
ed, Judging by experience, would be
far from the truth. There is no fright
so terrible as a man feels when he is for
the first time under fire. He may con-
ceal the fact from every one but him.
selfbut mis- own heart he cannot deceive
His nerves may be steady, his moral
courage great enough to bear him
safely through the ordeal, but If when
the bullets begin TO sing and the guns
to flash there is not feeling OF gone
ness" in his mental and moral econo-
my, he is not made of the stuff that
ordinary persons are. He may not
run, but he would give the world not
to be afraid to run. 1t is the greater
fear OF shame in nine cases out OF ten
that enables him to face bravely the
situation.
1t is told OF Frederick the Great
that he never went into battle with
out trembling from fear. His moral
courage alone sustained HIM. The
same sensations have been experience
ed by thousands of other people, who
perhaps have not the moral courage
to confess it.
In the same little band OF amateur
soldiers flor they were nothing more
them was fellow named Hitchings.
He was the bully OF the camp; alnays
fighting. always quarreling; invariably
insubordinate. But in battle he was
utterly upset. II chance offered he
never failed to run. If chaffed about