Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1889-06-20
THE DEVILS OF WAR.
a Vivid Description of the Terrifying scres

a Vivid Description of the Terrifying Scream
OF the Whtworth She'll.
There is something terribly menacing
in the ping of a musket ball, as il cuts
the air above the heads of men in line
something TO try the nerves of tho bravest
in the rush of solid shot, but of all the
devils ia war the scream of shell is the
wickcdest A bomb-shel flies with a
long "w-o-u-s-h!' something like the
rush of big skyrocket, and there are
shells used by the light artillery which
ilY with 4 sort of long-draWn sigh, not
1t all terrifying. But the man who hears
the scream of Whitworth shell will
never forget the sound TO the day of his
death 1t is Il concentration of the war
whoop of an Indian-the snarl of a
tiger the scream of woman in mortal
terror. II begins afar off with a mutter-
ed threat OF vengence; it grows upon
the ear with 4 howl as of wolves in pur-
suit of the lone traveller; il comes nearer
with shrieks of baiiied rage it is at hand
with n scream which can be likened to
nothing but the cries ola mob mad for
death and destruction.
| have seen dozen men killed by
these Whteworth shells, and | verify
believe that most of them were so ter
rilied BY the sounds that they suffered
nothing in the moment of death. One
could tell, after few experiences,
whether the shell was in the direct line
or 10 the right or left, but tho coming
ever brought a feeling of helplessness-
sort OF dumb terror which held tina
limbs captive. One could not have run
away had he 50 desired; but where
could one run 10? Who could say lust
where the terrors would fall after their
flight the instant they were to explode
and send their fragments hther and
ihither 10 search out and claim their
victims?
While the blockaderS Law off the
mouth of the Cape Fear river two or
three Of the Whitworth guns were in
constant use by the Confederates. They
had range of six miles. and were
almost rs accurate as rifles. Whenever
blockader yentured in within range
10y daylight she became target for a
Whitworth Ii the wind was off shore
we could hear one of the devils
almost rs soon rs it left the muzzle OF
the gun. Its flight begun with a
shrek OF iiendsh glee. changed to a
moan of agony. rose TO scream for
vengeance. and the last quarter of a
milo was a combination of scream and
shrek which brought the hair ON end
and the cold ehills to the spine. The
man who pretended not 10 fear them
was base hYpocrite The man whose
ears can take in the sound without
affecting his nerves does not live 10 do
battle. Our vessel was struck two or
three times. and ON five or six occasions
had close calls. but the shells which
struck We're no more terrifying than
those which dropped into The water
with the hiss OF q monster serpent a
hundred feet away.
To be Killed by a Shell bursting at
the instant of contact means more than
death. Ii means such complete annihi-
lation as can be effected in no other
manner on earth, except by the explo-
sion Of gunpowder or nitro-glyceriHe.
The victim may see flash, hear a
roar, but it must come in the fiftieth
part Of a second. The vengeance OF
man grants him the mereSt iota of time.
Those to the RICH and left see q flash of
flame and hear an explosion and the
wv h-i n g" of fragmantS. but the vic.
tim perhaps the man on his immedi-
ate right and eft-has been blotted off
the face of the earth, as if he had
never existed. When the roar of battle
has died away to q low growl; when
the growl has become an occasional
muiter; when the mutter has lapsed 10
a gasp, in which a man in blue or gray
yields up his life to stray bullet, we