The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1889-06-20
How Horses Act in Battle.


1T is remarkable how quickly
horses adapt themselves to the
service said Captain Cox.
Every artilleryman knows that
they learn the bugle calls and the
evolutions quicker than the men as
a rule. For one thing, they soon ac-
quire a uniform gait, which is about
the same as the route step or the
usual marching step. If the horses
did not acquire the same gait as the
infantry there would be varying dis
tances between the different arms of
the service--that is, between the in
fantry and the cavalry, artillery and
the commanders and their escorts.
"In the drills in the artillery SER
vice the horses will themselves pre-
serve their alignment rs well AZ their
infantry. / shall always remember
one illustration of this trait which /
noticed Mt an exciting and critical
period of battle. In order to save
some of our infantry from being
surrounded and captured, / quickly
mounted the connoncers on the
guns and put the whole battery mt a
dead gallop across a stretch of mead
ow about half mile wide l was
quite accustomed to such sights,
but when We were half way across
the field | noticed the array and for
a moment was lost in admiration
of the magnificent picture. Every
driver was plying whip aud spur,
the great guns were rocking and
laundering over the ground, and
every horse, reeking with foam, and
full of animation and excitement,
was straining every muscle as he
galloped forward yet it seemed to
me that a straight line drawn along
in front would have touched the
heads of the lead horses in front OF
the six guns. That was an artillery
charge, one of the most thrilling
sights in the eyolutions of war.
1T is surprising how quickly they
learn the bugle calls. After we had
been in survice some time my first
sergeant asked me what call that
was as the bugle blew some com.
mand. That's pretty question
you ask / said. How in thunder
do you know how to march ? !
don't know how he said, but my
horse knows. Let the first note OF
the feed or water call be blown and
there will be n terrible stamping
kicking and neighing. Once, in q
terrible storm. our horses and those
of several other batteries broke loose
and there was wild rush among
the artillerymen to get horses in the
morning. All was excitement and
the horses were hard to get, but
when / ordered the bugler to mount
n stump and blow the feed call the
horses all made such mad rush for
our battery that the men could
hardly get out of the way quickly
enough.
"When it comes to battle hors,
seems to know everything that il
going on but he does his dut,
nobly, and seems to be III his ele
ment. He enters into the spirit o
the battle like II human being. II,
shows no fear of death, and it i
singular that if his mate is sho
down he will turn to look Mt him anC
seem pleased. A horse in my bat
terry was once struck by piece of
shell, which split his skull, so tha
one side was loose. The driver turn
ed him loose, but he walked up b,
the side of the gun and watched tn,
firing, and when shot was free
would look away in the direction o
the enemy, as if to see the effect o
the shot. When shell would burs
near by he would calmly turn an,
look at il: When he saw his owl
team going back for ammunition h,
ran back to his own place and gal
loped back to the caisson with tn,
rest. When the lieutenant pushet
him aside to put in another horse h,
looked at the other one sorrowfully
while he was being harnessed up
and when seemed to realize tina
there was no further use for him he
law dow.l and died, The lieutenant
strongly asserted that he died OF
( broken heart.
"At the time that Adams, Jack
sons and Preston's Brigades charg
ed me at Murfreesboro, some office
was killed and the brigade was driy
Ell back. But the fallen officer
horse had not been taught to rG
treat, and he did not. He just cam
at full speed through the battery