Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-09-22
GLORY OR QUINlNE2
Why Confederate Division Charged the
Federal BreastwOrk.

GLORY Ok QOINlNEI
why Confederate Division Charged the
Federal Breastwork.
The major was a gallant officer in the
confederate service. Indeed he is men
toned in the army records as having
been something of an inspirer of men
where desperate chances We're to be
taken
There were a good many kinds of
desperation in the southern ranks that
were little known to the boys in blue,
after whose comfort, welfare and health
powerful government looked with
such solicltude as it might 1t is one
thing to be footsore, wounded, or down
with break bone fever where a we'll
stored commissariat. government
amply able to replenish the supplies
when needed and large corps of skilled
physicians and surgeons are at hand.
1t is quite another thing to meet with
these same Affections while fighting in
the ranks where poverty's CHASTITY hand
withholds not only food but medical
skill and medical supplies as we'll This
was the condition of affairs in the di-
vision of the southern army to which
the major belonged.
The men were not unusually hungry.
They had become quite accustomed to
short rations. There We're not an un-
due proportion of wounded sufferers;
but break-bone fever had settled like a
pail over the entire camp; and the pc
culiar form of desperation engendered
by this fact was what might be called
quinine mania. There was nothing
the men would not do to get quinine.
Some of them had been known TO steal
the carefully boarded ounce, held more
precious than diamonds, by some iso-
lated country family. Others had OBJ
tanned it by dire threats from even
those whom they We're protecting, and
men who were known as perfectly re-
spectacle had resorted to devices for
obtaining the coveted drug that would
bring a flood of crimson to their
cheeks were it recorded against them
now
This was the state of affairs when the
battle of which l speak took place,
where the gallant major won distinc-
tion by means of the circumstance and
the particular type of genius which en-
abled him to take advantage of and
turn to account a calamitous condition
of things
just at that time they were in Arkan-
sas and the fever, malignant at all
times was holding high carnival. Men
who were accustomed to the climate
We're doggedly desperate and those to
whom it was comparatively new eX-
perience were in despair Every body
was sick and almost everybody was sui
len. In short it was a particular in
opportune moment to ask for brave
deeds or expect to find heroes.
There was pretty brisk skirmish
going on which merged itself into
battle later in the day. The confeder-
ates were loading and fring-or lying
on their arms-according to the orders
given--in a logged and half-dead con-
dition. They obeyed orders as machine
might--if the machine was pretty near
~ worn out, The officer in command
tried to rouse them in vain. He shouted
to them of glory, but the fever-cursed
men had no yearning to be glorious just
then. He dashed along the line and
tried to inspire them with the idea that
the protector of the homes of the
south from all sorts of dire disaster and
disgrace rested upon their shoulders
alone. The men, shaken with ague,
fixed their thoughts not upon homes,
but upon the empty drug stores of
their beloved land-and felt that home
would be a mockery with empty quinine
bottles.
One officer shouted a brief speech to
the reserves to the effect that this was
~, Al,
that the success or failure of the con-
federacy rested upon them and them
alone. The men sat or lay sullenly be-
fore him, and no CLEAN of enthusiasm
stirred them. Only the steady awful
shake of break-bOne fever occupied
their minds. The confederacy was a
dream This was reality. The Yam
KEGS were far off. Each man clutched
to his own breast the terrible enemy.
The officers We're in despair No one
could win a battle with men SO indiffer-
ent and SO sullen as these.
At last happy thought struck the
major. lie dashed along the line with
fresh news from the front He told the
company officers that which put new
life into them. The word was swiftly
passed along the line from man TO man
as they lay in the reserve line.
The effect was magical Every man
prepared with that vim and energy
which means success to obey the next
command. a battery had for a long
time hell for the northern troops the
vantage ground. Behind that ugly bat
terv were the supply wagons Of the fed
ERA army. The major had sent out