Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-11-24
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
EFFECTS OF A CHARGE.
A CavaIryman's Sensations While
4 niinaa

Action.
A regiment. brigade or division OF in
fantry may charge at rgn, put the
movement is .as often made a Z st'HIdy
step, SO the alignment can be maintain
ed nearly perfect With cavalry it is
always -gallop-charge.' There
is therefore an excitement about it that
puts the fear of death away. Cavalry
in waiting may exhibit signs of nery-
business. and the faces of men will grow
pale and fingers clinch more tightly,
but when the advance begins those
same pale faces flush with excitement,
and every man feels like cheering and
does cheer.
1t matters not what you are charging
against-lines of infantry battery or
masses of cavalry-there is no mental
figuring on the result. You feel your
self part of living wave, which IS
bound to roll on and on and overwhelm
everything before it. This result does
not always follow, but you forget that.
| A charge of cavalry has been complete
! ly checked by two or three murderous
volleys, but no such instance occurs to
your mind as you grip your saber and
feel your horse strong and steady under
the saddle
What are the thoughts of cavalry
man as he charges? 1t would be hard
for him to answer He does not always
know what he is riding at. The lines
may have been facing the west, where
the enemy was visible at the edge of
a wood or behind fences long way off.
A danger threatens which even his Off
GERS with their glasses have not seen.
An aide rides up, delivers an order and
the lines wheel TO the south and go
rushing away as if the fate of the battle
depended on the few hundred men.
The smoke may float about so as TO OBJ
scure the vision, or the field in that di-
rection may be perfectly clear-it's all
the same TO the riders He is listening
for the further notes of the bugle; per-
haps having some trouble with his over
exerted horse; looking at the earth inn
mediately in front to guard against
ditch or log or stump.
He can not tell whether he has gal
Hoped eighty rods or full mile. Bull
lets are whizzing about his ears, but |
there is no ducking and lodging
The scream of a shell comes to his ears |
above the din of the charge. but he does |
not wonder il ii is in line with him. 1t |
may explode TO his right or left and |
blot out three or four men and horses,
but he simply hears the explosion and /
does not turn his head to ascertain |
what attended
OF a sudden mass of cavalry appears
before him. They were quietly moving
around for charge on the flank, and
this movement is to check them They
wheeled into line, and there is some
confusion among them He has only
observed this and heard the shouts of
their officers when the shock takes
place. After that no man can say what
really happens. The horses meet head
on. Scores of them are knocked down.
If you are in the front rank you may be
tumbled out of your saddle by shot
from a revolver, your horse dropped un-
der you by bullet in his brain. or You
may strike your enemy and rol him
over and then go down after him. If
you are in the rear rank the horse
ahead may stumble over some obstruc-
ton or become one himself, and it is
nine chances to one that you are I'M
horsed.
1t is melee, a riot, free fight after
the collision. The smoke speedily OBJ
scures, all formation is lost and friend
and foe are sounding bugle calls at the
same time. You are there to strile-to
wound and to kill. The entire mass of
cavalry seems to be circling TO the right
or left II is sometimes SO, but you
would have the same idea if advancing
or retreating. You fire your revolver
at the half-hidden figures before You
you may fling it at some of them when
1t is empty You may be thoroughly
up in saber exercise, but you win use {
only the down cut in the melee.
How long has it lasted? You have s
no idea. What has happened? The
enemy has retreated, overpowered and G
defeated, and all at once you recognize $
The rally call of your familiar bugle. ;
The troopers rally, horsed or endorsed. c
lines are reformed in a confused way.
md presently the smoke Trims out until |
you can see the field over which Won /
have fought Wounded men limpinp '
and crawling about-horses galloping I
Wild and furious, or dead or wounded a
on the earth-dead men here and there c
Until the number is over one hundred.
The lines move back at a walk to- 4
ward our original position. Horses are {
painting and men inclined to be hys- II
erical Within ten minutes You can II
lot find face which does not show 4
trooper who is not trembling. II
hats reaction of charge into the a
avs OF deaths--M. Quad, in \. Y. II
World 81