Omaha daily bee., 1896-08-30

on" SCP"ldlcu py the waters OF Champlatn
from his ancestral heath. yet within sight
OF its emerald hills, l found another Green
Mountain warrior, General stephen MoHitt
OF the Ninty sixth New York volunteers.
General Mofitt's badge OF courage is not an
empty sleeve. \ pair Of well worn
trutchcs and an empty trousers leg turned
back nearly to the hip joint, arc his in
sCrarable souvenirs Of the conflict. Like
General Longstreet aud many others. whom
1t would he merely a repetition to quote,
General Mofltt found that the best way
to avoid showing on as a coward is to have
something better to do, no matter how
triling. Said he:
You ask me to give YOU my first ex-
I'rl'hct under fire; If scared; how much,
etc, etc.
II had my first experience under fire near
Franklin, Va. We had just entered heavy
timber after a march OF twenty miles from
SUFFOLK. The ConfCdcrates opened upon us
from Il four-gun battery. The fire was
hot but Intellectual although the shells flew
thick and fast. most Of them passing over
us, At the first note Of tho music OF the
nylhE missiles, nature asserted herself, and
her first law was very much in evidence
Yes, | was frightened, thoroughly fright
onod. At once | appreciated the fact that
was trembling. body and limb, and fearing
that my men would notice my regulation,
| opened my haversack and took from II a
piece of bareback, and started In coolly 90
to MUNICH 1t. HardtaCk was never harder,
or dryer; and how ! got 1t down and finally
| ulBtSltu IL, UnUGI lnD circumstances, the
Lord only knows.
Ibid the fear pass on? No, not until
the last wht22ing shell had passed over
my head.
~ had a like experience in every en-
Cagencnt. with but two exceptions
Imagination has much to do and per-
hans IS waolly responsible in eases OF un-
controllablc battle fright. Major Orlando j.
Smith Of the Fourth Indiana cavalry told
me of an instance % fright experienced
hnypn1 tho tpnph nf li1latG HE rnuipNpnf
moved to Balls Blum the day after the
battle, the men knowing the story of the
slaughter. At the crossing OF the Potomac
hey saw dead and wounded victims OF
the field, one particularly narrowing sight.
a corpse rolled in a blanket and slung to
a pole. Two men bore the bole ON their
shoulders with the CHASTITY burden swaying
at every step. Mounting the blum the raw
Indiana soldiers were stationed under the
crest with their backs to the river, a second
slaughter pen should the enemy attack.
Distant firing could be heard and the men
were scared with the fear of being scared
as the major expressed II. On coming
under actual fire he experienced no fright
equal to the one due wholly to imagina-
Son.
Past Commander Henry II. Adams OF
Lafayette post, New York, responded for
the west, as a representative OF one of Ohio's
lighting regiments, the One Hundred and
Twenty-ffth, known as the "Opdycke
Tigers Colonel Adams served in the ranks
as orderly, captain of scouts and stan
officer.
you ask for my experience when l was
first under fire. | will say that my ideals
and recollections of Napoleon and Murat
were vivid, and it seemed as If we were
to be glorifed and not hurt, and it was not
until warned by a shower of shot and shell
that | speedily sought shelter. This oc-
Cured at crossing Little Harpeth river,
in Tennessee. when our brigade drove out
Van Dorm in 1868, but it was after having
had an object lesson given by the carnage
of one or two sharp fights and the anguish
of the wounded, that | realized the fear Of
entering into an engagement.
My second experience will please you.
| was marker at the head of the division,
which was marching CALAMITY. We APP
Chattanooga and suddenly we ran
upon an ambuscade, where the enemy was
and a volley was delivered which
frightened me out Of my wits and | suddenly
myself crouching behind my horse in
the road, in full view of my whole
playing the coward.
However, in a moment recovering from
this dreadful situation, | mounted my horse,
but wished | were at home, and | felt that
| would sacrifice every patriotic sentiment /
ever entertained if l could only be out Of
scrape. However, what seemed to be a
was but probably only one minute,
when General Harker gave me orders to
from the exposed position"
The soldier is stimulated by the uniform
Of his calling, the sense of the power of the
of which he is a part and his
elbow touch with men he hopes are Drawer
han himself. 1t Is possible to be caught in
/, position where a show OF cowardice would
md uncomfortably for other reasons than
and shame. Meeting the new west
srn story teller, Walter Juan Davis, the
hero of an encounter with the savage Geron-
imo, | asked him how 1t felt to be pounced
Ipon by a band of Apaches. Davis was a
United States surveyor in southwest New
Mexico when Geronimo left the Mexican
'ierras and ravaged the border settlements
II 1886. He was armed, as were his Next
AN helpers, but none of the party had been
lnder fire and had cultivated the sentiment
# going the other way when a fight was on
n front. These tactics wouldn't work with
he well-mounted Apaches-but Mr.. Davis
ellis his own story:
Eve had run something more than a
lalf mile, in our forlorn effort to escape the
lends that were bearing down upon us, and
low, dead tagged, we stopped at the crest
( a little knoll to fight as we might and die
t we had to. 1t would be silly for me to
ay that / was not frightened, for ! was in
perfect chill of fear, which became almost
ank panic when a bullet from the first fire
( the Apaches sang its peculiar, blood
uniting song within six inches of my ear.
"'Oh, God. to die like this in this far
way plain!' ! said to myself, as the cold
'aye swep. over my flesh and brought out
'as as hot as a stove. The internal, bloody :
casts Of hellH | shouted, in another tone
nd another mood, Wen get a few, no mat
err what they do to u.s. And as / pulled
p my carbine and blaZed away at the on
wooping line of devils, / glanced about
ne and found that all my little party were
nth me, shoulder to shoulder; end this
limpse of their dusty faces and set, hard
1oks showed me that they too had passed
fright to fury"
General Nelson A. Miles answer to the
uestion was as follows:
Concerning the effect of being under
re for the first time, / can say that the
battle seen was inspiring and exhila-
lting, and | do not remember that 1t pro-
uced the least trcpidation-nothing like az
luch as the effect afterward in some more
engagements, when we had
armed to realize the serious effect of the
lemy's fire"
General Sickles was hurrying away to
eep a pressing appointment when | quoted
him the text from Grant. Leaning upon
Is crutches at the door Of the cab. he
niled and said: Yes, I'll tell you about
Before the ball opened | felt shaky,
ut soon recovered and had too much to do
think about danger. | was a colonel at
lat time. The higher the rank the more
,sponsibility, and the man In the line
it'll little to do except to wait for the
,emy IN shoot at him is In the most try-