Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-07-30
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
The EIRsT BATTLE.


Emotions of a Raw Recruit
If you were to ask dozen or more
old soldiers to tell you how they felt
when going into their first battle, per-
haps no two would have precisely the
same impressions to relate. To most
men going for the first time into the fire
of an enemy's guns on the field of bat
tie, it is certainly trying ordeal, an
occasion attended with the most thrill
ling sensations, feelings full of dread
and fear. No other experience in life
can fifty compare with it.
volunteer army is composed of var
led classes of men. and in the variety,
dangers do not always develop the
same feelings or results. Men who
confront death on battle field from a
sense of duty are affected differently
from those who under the mere thrill
! of excitement rush, like the pnthinking
horse, into peril needless of cause or
result Then there is another class of
/ soldiery, men who are-they know not
why-utterly Indifferent to fate, men
who are unconsciously devoid
of the sense of danger, even
If they do not possess that
i sublime trait of character called valor.
( Bravery does not always consist of the
J power or capacity to meet and defy
danger, and men are often towards
I when there is really no danger to face
and overcome Such people are like
! children who are reluctant to go into
the dark room even though they are
confidently assured there is no enemy
there. Shadows brighten many people
as well as chickens
Among soldiers there is-as observed
in our late war-still another class but
little different from those just referred
to, men who may be put under the
head of don't cares"-young men who
go into battle with about the same feel
ing with which they would 60 into
foot race or swim in deep water.
Then there are the men with the pure
lofty courage, the valiant and true, who
go out coolly and steadily under the
fire, even though there is the restrained
dread in the innermost heart, even
though there may be seen the slight
pallor on their checks the unconscious
restlessness in the eye and the evident
subtle emotion that moves the lip and
the limb. Woe to the enemy who
stands or covers under the steel of su6l
a foe.
The most trying ordeal in the first
battle-and in all battles, for that mat
ter-is in the start; in the getting ready
when the hour has come to move on the
foe; in the movements preparatory to
the action; in the moments of prelude,
and before the enemy is in sight; when
the drum first beats the loud alarm;
when the bugle blast fiercely trills the
sudden summons, Boots and lSdddlesi
and the cry spreads like an electric
flash through the startled camp the foe
is in front. and that the hour of battle
is now at hand.
OH then it is that the heart and the
brain of the soldier are pierced with the
wild woe of war. Then it is that the
courage spirit wakes or wanes. Then it
is that valor begins to totter if the sure
props are not there. Then it is that the
soldier begins to think; and when he
begins to think, he often begins to
dread; and when he begins to dread,
fear soon follows.
In the moments between the first
bugle blast or drum beat and the vision
of the enemy in front, the soldier has
time for reflection; and thought has al
ways been prolific source of fear or
reluctance to go into danger. Many
tragedies have been the result of men
not thinking or rejecting upon eonse-
quences- And with the soldier-when |
tl,.,.a oa,,,na tla l.5,,,..
or child or other loved ones, when the |
vision of these come and remain be-
tween man and prospective death-he ,
always fingers over the images upon the |
heart mirrors; and he shrinks from the
of the grave. even If he does
not exhibit cowardice
1t is not merely conscience that
makes towards of us all; but in the work.
ings of the brain otherwise when men
have the time to think, they turn away
from the dangers that are in front to
the loved that are behind them; and
then comes, as have said, the dread of
that something hereafter so lSeenly felt
and acknowledged by Hamlet.
But as soon as the soldier gets up I'M
der the enemy's fire; as soon as he
finds he is being shot at and the OPP
portunity is given him to return the
FIRE; as soon as he sees the real enemy
in his 'front.' and the battle is upon him
then il is that all the trouble and all
the dread Of battle are over with that
soldier who has any of the elements of
manhood in him. Then the man natu-
-ally wants to return the fire; then
zones the bending of the energies for
he assault upon the foe; then the yearn-
ng for the fire and the advance Once
n the din and flame and roar of the
conflict there is no time TO think of con-
time for thoughts of the
owed ones far away in the embrace of
home; the only consuming passion then
S how to get at the enemy and punish
finland hence therush and the shout,
he incarnation Of resolve, that always
the charge, the on to vic
DRY or death. +.
Once in the fire and tumult of the :
truggle, with the battle spirit filing !.