The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1892-05-11
THE ROAR OF GREAT GUNS.
THE ORDEAL OF SOLDIERS WHO
SUPPORT A BATTERY.
GUS Cannonade Upon Man, Beast,
Bird and Fish

Bird and Fish
7 ERE arc two field batteries
NJ twelve, six and nine Founders
in all-fring as rapidly as
they can be loaded. The re-
ports blend into roar, and you must
raise your voice as If hurricane was
bowling about you. You are not i'm
pressed, but rather aggravated and
annoyed. There's snap to each
report like the cracking of a great whip
"a spiteful sound which reminds you of
a dog following at your heels with his
yelpl yelpl yelpl
There is no more trying situation for
a soldier than to be lying down in sup
port of a battery. He is only few
yards in front of the guns, and he not
only feels the full force of the conclusion
as communicated to the earth, from the
"kick" of the gun, but the report itself
seems to strike the spinal column and
travel up to the back of the head. Then,
too, there is the fear of shells explod-
ing prematurely or of grape or canister
ter "dribbling" to cause wounds or
death, and 1t is positive relief to see a
column of the enemy break cover for q
charge. The roar of the guns does not
lnger for hours after, as is the case with
mortars and siege guns, but you find
your nerves on edge and your temper
spoiled for day or two. The men who
lay in lines with battery firing over
them probably endured more mental suf-
fering than the enemy at whom the guns
were pointed. The fire of great guns is
terribly trying for the first few minutes,
but this feeling gradually gives way to
one of awe and sublimity.
There is something terrific and appal-
ling-you feel yourself so atomless in
omparison-that you would speak in
whispers il the roar could suddenly ease.
You are an onlooker; if assisting to
work gun, physical activity would take
away from the mental strain. When
Admiral Porter got his twenty mortar
boats, each armed with an eight and
half-ton mortar and thirty-two pound
rifle cannon, at work against the forts
below New Orleans, and the big guns in
both forts had opened in reply, there
was something akin to the sound of
heaven and earth coming together. The
mortar shells weighed over 200 pounds
piece, and the rush of them through
the air made ones hair feel as if il
crawled. The venomous hiss of big
skyrocket was magnifed thousands of
times, to be followed by crash which
seemed to split the sky open into cracks
and crevices.
When the firing had continued until
all reports had been merged into one
steady roar there was little short of an
earthquake on land or sea for ten miles
around, The earth shook as if a great
steamehammer was pounding it few
yards from your feet. If standing near
tree, you could feel the roots letting 90
OF the soil with a sound like bugs crawl
ing over dry leaves. On the water great
mud spots rose up here and there to
show where the earth, forty feet below
had been disturbed. In the Mississippi
River itself huge catfish leaped above
the surface in fright and pain or floated
and were carried along with the current,
gasping for breath. Out on the blue
water air bubbles as large as dining
plates tloated to the surface and bursted
with snap, and fish of all kinds exhi-
bited the greatest confusion and alarm.
Thirty miles away the roar was like
that of gale sweeping over a pine for
est. Horses and cattle sought to hide
away, birds flew about uttering cries of
distress, and dogs pointed their noses
toward the sky and howled dismally.
Birds and fowls felt the air and earth
waves long before human beings did,
and their actions were so queer as to be-
come alarming. The coming of the roar
to those afar of was preceded by lar
ring of the earth and moaning in the
air. Springs over1owed, and the water
in wells circled around as in a whirl-
pool. The widest species of birds left
the woods and thickets and came iyIng
about the houses, and rabbits deserted
their burrows and sought the compauion-
ship OF domestic animals. The thunder
storms of a score OF years combined
could not have rent the heavens nor dis
turbed the solid earth as that cannonade
did.
II the beginning was painful and ex-
asperatng the ending was something TO
be remembered for its grandeur. One
mortar after another, one great gun after
another, was silenced by order. The re.
verberations had travelled through air
and earth and water distance of ffty
miles. They now seemed to return
back to the guns. The rent and riven
skies had kept up a constant moaning
and complaining. These sounds gradu-
ally died away, as a man in pain finally
drops off to sleep. The earth resumed
its solidity again, the sun shone forth
in its old familiar way, and the bank of
clouds piled up in the west and tinged
with gold all along their lower edges
seemed proof to the eye that the world
still stood as we had lived in it the day
before those monsters awoke and de-
manded human blood and wreck aud de.
struction as the price of their silence
NJ. Quad, in st. Louis Republic.
How a Lion Attacks.