Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1888-11-15
SOLDIERS DEPARTMENT.
EXCITEMENT IN BATTLE.
The Effect 1t Produces on Wounded Men
Illustrated by Anecdotes.

The Eject 1t Produces on Wounded Men
illustrated by Anecdotes.
General Henderson, of Iowa, was
talking the other day of the little atten'
ton paid by men during the war, tc
their wounds, and he related this Incl.
dent:
''At Corinth | was a Lieutenant ir
the Twelfth Iowa There was a mar
in my company whose gun got cloggeo
in some way or other and refused tc
work, and that fact utterly deprived
this fellow of his nerve. / suppose he
thought that if he had to face the
enemy with weapon worse than moth.
ing, he was a .goner' sure. saw what
was the matter, and so | said to him,
and man isn't apt to be very choice
in his language at such times:
you internal fool, whyndon't you
pick the tube out with a pin like you
used to when hunting prairie chickens"
"The words prairie chickens had a
familiar sound, and he accepted my adj
vice and was soon all right again. A
little later that man was badly wounded
in the thigh, but he dragged himself
behind tree and didn't give up unit
he had fired his last cartridge.
81 saw another instance of what ex-
element will do for wounded men. Al
Donelson was wounded in the neck
and was in the hospital with a good
many other men suffering from bad
wounds. The next day after the battle
we heard the sounds Of cheering and
were told that's flag of truce had been
sent out We knew what that meant.
Now, an hour before we heard that news
we were all so badly wounded that we
couldn't do the slightest thing without
assistance, but when we knew that our
army had won a great victory we forgot
wounds and every thing else and
cheered and shouted like healthy men.
The effect of that ebulition Of enthusi-
asm was to reopen many wound, and
in several cases cause relapses, but that
was something we didn't consider or
didn't care for.
Representative Laird, of Nebraska,
was in the group. Fear" he said,
sis peculiar thing. ! came to appre-
ciate the horrors of war in curious
sort of way. After the battle of Ham,
over Court House, Va. on the 25th OF
May. 1862, / saw the dead piled up on
the field. Their frightfully distorted
faces, their gaping wounds, from which
the blood still trickled in some cases,
the shattered limbs and the general air
of carnage was horrible to one not used
to such scenes, as was not at that time,
and made great and lasting impression
on me-
"A few days later, while watching
some men drilling fell asleep under
pine tree. And as ! slept the horrors
of what had seen ON the field arose
before me, only more awful, if such
thing is possible. The agony on the
contorted faces was so terrible that |
could appreciate how those men suf- |
fered, and all the hideousness of battle |
was brought so wildly before me that |
it was more horrible than even the real |
thing. While gazing on this picture in |
my dream l had this proposition pre-
sented to me, and it was put as plainly /
as if / had INDUCED in an argument. |
said to me: You have seen
what war means. win you take the
chances and perhaps end as these men |
have, or will you try and save yourself
by playing the part of coward? That
was the condition that confronted me,
and / realized just exactly what it
meant ! made up my mind to take
N.Y. chances, and | believe / can fairly
say, without vanity, that after that
dream had very little fear of the con-
IN y Tj-ib,lte