Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-07-04
THE SERPENT OF WAR.
Its Fangs Struck With Deadly Effect
There Was No Enemy in Sight.

My company lost thirteen men killed
and five wounded at the battle of Fair
Oaks. If this percentage had been fol-
lowed out through every company en-
gagged in that battle the total loss would
have Mortified the world. 1t wasn't that
we lost four or five men in this fight,
three or four in that, from two to six in
third, that finally worked complete
metamorphosis in our company and reg
iment. 1t was the fangs of the serpent
of war; the deadly bite of the dreaded
reptile which never rests after the alarm
of war has sounded.
We went to the front 10i strong. Be
fore we had even seen a Confederate in
uniform we had lost seven men. A week
after the seventh was buried not one Of
us could recall how nor where the seven
had passed away The serpent had
struck and fever had followed, one had
gone insane, one had crept away into q
Jungle ON the Chickahominy and blown
out his brains; death had come as surely
as if it had been sent from the lannon's
mouth, but yeti was insidious. A pri-
vate soldier in a great army is one of
the grains Of sand of the seashore. He
answers roll call tonight; tomorrow
morning he is not in line. If his alb
scence is remarked it is soon forgotten.
He drifts away to the hospital, dies, is
buried, his name is dropped from the
muster rolls, and in few weeks he is
out of mind.
We lost eleven men between Fair
Oaks and Antietam, only one of whom
died with uniform on. The other ten
were bitten by the unseen serpent of
war as they lay on the damp earth, as
they drank the waters of the swan rs,
as they stood guard with the vapor of
typhus fever floating around them like
smoke. One by one they were marked
"absent" at roll call; one by one they
drifted out of the whirlpool to die in
their beds at Harper's Ferry, Charles
ton or Washington. Between McClel-
Ian at Antietam and Burnside at Fred
ericksburg the serpent of war struck his
poisoned fangs into four more of our
men. They had been foremost in the
rush upon Che guns; they had been first
at the enemy's breastworks; they had
been praised and comphmented for
their bravery. The serpent crept among
them at midnight, and never an ear
heard his movements. He struck them
at high noon in the presence of thous-
ands, and never an eye caught sight OF
his loathsome form. We missed them
for day; hardly longer.
Now and then man who had been
struck did not die. He fled away-de-
serted-the victim of sordid malan-
choly, soldier whose actions were
guided by the vagaries of lunacy. We
did not remember him with contempt.
Every one of us could feel how it was
with him. And others Withdrew to the
swamps and jungles and there lay down
to die alone or to put sudden end to
the sufferings which had become unbear-
able. We remembered these men with
gentleness and sympathy. There were
times when each of us had to fight back
the same power which they could not
resist.
And the serpent crept among us, no
matter where we were encamped, and
he demanded his victim, no matter who
was taken, and so it came about before
we sat down in front Of Petersburg that
our returns read:
Killed in action ....-..............R
Wounded and discharged. .......17
Deserted. B
Sick and discharged. ..........7
Bitten by the serpent of war. ..... As
Thus we had only five men left of the
original band, and before the surrender
three of these had fallen in action. We
had three different captains, two first
four seconds, four first SER
geants. and two soc survivors of the
original company, who went out as pri-
Yates, had shoulder-straps a year before
the war closed. After the first year we
never numbered over ninety men, and
Mt no time did we ever fall below sixty.
Recruits kept coming, but the serpent
never rested. The missiles of war would
have left us almost half the old company.
The fangs of the serpent were less mer-
ciful than the heat and turmoil of battle.