Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1893-06-10
HOW A MAN FEELS UNDER FIRE,
Mental Impressions of the Soldier When
Bullets Fly About.

Bullets Fly About.
l was wandering on foot through
wood trying to see how the battle was
going. There was continuous firing to
the left and frequent whizzing of bul.
lets over our heads. Abruptly the con-
federates opened on us from an adjacent
battery with grape and canister. The
shot ratified all around us, cutting down
the bare twigs and boughs above and
plowing up the ground in our immedi-
ate vicinity. 1t was so abrupt and the
source was so invisible that | was fair.
ly startled at first, but l was eXhilar.
| ated also 1t seemed like real war.
The sensation was genuine and not un.
pleasurable, because, perhaps, saw no.
body struck.
Itmalles deal of difference with ones
feelings, under fire, when oneis an eye.
witness of casualties in the immediate
neigh borhood. The sense of danger is
greatly increased as well as the lilSeli.
hood of death if men are falling around
one-if somebody at one's side receives
a ghastly or mortal wound. Wounds
and death in the concrete appear very
different from what they do in the alb.
stract. Time and experience are needed
not to be deeply moved by the inev'
table horrors of war. Usage makes IL,
to a certain extent callous to our sur
roundings however painful. In bat
tie every soldier is under obligations to
be firm, to obey orders, to be faithful to
his cause. If he falters or flies he il.
disgraced, punished, lrrevocably ruined
On the other hand, if he does what h,
should do, he is esteemed, honored, pro
noted. AS n matter of policy, of self
interest, therefore, is it not strange
that any soldier should shirk or finch
under any circumstances? A soldier il
his frs: engagement is inclined to {
presentiment of death, and is often sur
prised when it is over to find that he il
still alive. In his twentieth or tenth
engagement his presentiments have dis
appeared with his nervousness, and he is
cool in the presence of peril.
What is known as courage is in nine
ty-nine cases out of hundred, mat
ter of discipline. man is alarmed a,
danger in the beginning, not so mucf
because he is timid as because danger
is new to him. The trite proverb thai
familiarity breeds contempt is meas
urably true of war. The coward of to
day may be the hero of tomorrow
The nerves that tremble at the outset
may be strong as steel at the terlnina
ton. Everything comes by education
) intrepidity included. Raw troops are
always untrustworthy, simply becaus,
of their rawness. The same troops a.
veterans do not blanch in the face o:
! la 10 d,
: mans courage, but it would be mad
ness to count on his cowardice. AL
most any human being will be fearles,
with certain provocations, from certain
} motives Much depends on the caus;
and his attachment to il. He may b'
craven In one thing and dauntless il
T another. Men feel very differently
under fire at first, but much alike u
| last. They can all be made to endur,
1T becomingly, creditably, after re
peated trials. The incurable coward il
almost as exceptional as the congenita
t idiot.-Junius Henri Brown, in Wor
/ thington's.
IT is just a quarter of century sine,
Gen. John A. Logan. then commando
in chief of the Grand Army, issued hi
eloquent order designating May 80
: 1868, 'for strewing with flowers or 9th
erwise decorating the graves of com
: rades who died in defense of thei
e country during the late rebellion, ant
whose bodies now lie in almost ever,
a city, village and hamlet churchyard il
: the land "
The first military order ever issuer
> by Gen. Grant is now in possession o
Col. Il. T. Dawson, of Grand Forks, n
ID. 1t is a simple document, is No.
dated July 2, 1861, appointing Mr.. Daw
y son quartermaster and commissary o