The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-23

Some times bFstNe wen ooNiu SES
like ChiIdren-The Realization of
HeIpIessness Unnerved Them-Oth-
er and Even Greater Danger
Awaited the wounded.
NJ. Quad in Detroit Free Press.
It was strange and queer to watch the
5ameanor Of men wounded in battle. You
might have stood beside hundreds who
we're struck down, and yet you would
not have found two whose actions were
avactlv alike When hit while standing
inactive most men threw up their hands
and cried out and staggered about before
falling. If hit while the regiment was ad-
yancing they fell with curses on their lips,
and sometimes rose up again and limped
painfully after their comrades. If reached
bv bullet while the command was be-
ing driven or retreating or changing its
position. then men walled out like chill
dren-not so much over the hurt as be-
cause they realized that they were to be
left on the field to suffer and would be
helpless to protect themselves.
when regiment was in line. waiting to
move to the right or the left or be adj
vanced. the thud of a bullet as it struck
a man could be heard by the men on his
right and left. If struck in the chest
or shoulder or head he fell out of the
ranks. threw up his hands with a shout,
and then fell like a log. If struck be-
low the breast he nearly always lurched
forward and placed his hands on the
wound and sunk down with groan- The
demeanor of no two wounded men was
alike in minor particulars, but strangely
alike in the first movements. A sOluler
Shot through the head or heart-shot dead
in his tracks, as you might term 1t, was
not instantly killed. There was no such
thing as instant DEATH unless struck with
a solid shot or blown to pieces by an eX-
ploded shell. No matter whether the bull
let pierced heart or brain, the victim lived
on for a few seconds-long enough to
throw up his hands and call out and clutch
at the comrades beside him for support.
Few men preserved silence after being
hard nit. After the first examination they
cursed or Wept, and We're not conscious or
what they did. Each felt that he had been
grieVously wrOnged by being shot down.
Sometimes they cursed first and wept af-
terward-sometimes wept and sobbed like
children from the first moment of feeling
pain. The cursing and the weeping were
the direct result of the nervous system be-
ing keyed too nigh by the excitement of
the battle. If a wounded man was carried
to the rear room he soon got the better OF
his Mysteries, and it was the same if left
to himself for three or four hours on the
field provided the fighting had ceased in
his vicinity. 1t was the wounded who lay
on field where the fighting continued
who were the most to be pitied They
feared to be wounded again or killed out
right, and their shouts and screams could
be heard whenever the roar of battle died
away little. Bullet and ball and shell
ana graDeshot were continually falling
among them, and during the war thOus-
ands of soldiers were killed while lying
wounded between the lines. The burial
parties used to find bodies which had
been hit from three to ten times, and after
found a confederate with twenty-three
bullet wounds in his dead body
ana there was more than the fear of
missiles before the eyes of the wounded
men. If infantry charged over them thew
might not suffer, but if q battery changed
position or there was a charge of cavalry
Iney might be ground into the earth
When in his normal condition a cavalry
morse Will not step on the body of a man
g r IN his path, but when excited to
OF war will trample down anything The
wounded men lying about must take their
chances when the bugles blew a charge
some would escape the iron-shod hoofs-
DINERS would be almost beaten into the
tdrJh II was the same way if a battery
was retired or advanced The change of
position was made with horses on the
dead run, and their riders could take no
ihought of the dead and wounded living
N the way. The fate of a brigade or d.
VISION or even wing of the army, might
ne at stake, and the sacrifice of a score
9I men already wounded did not count
When the guns were advanced at Chan
ceHorsville to check Jackson's twilight
attack the earth was fairly numbered
win the dead and wounded. On the few
oVitS OF cleared ground over which the
suns mad to advance were camp-fires,
knapsacks, haversacks, stacked muskets
and several hundred men who had fallen
under the volleys poured in from the edge
Of the forest The guns dashed right into
and over this tumble, and above the roar
vi musketry from the oncoming confeder-
dtes we caught the screams and shrieks
OF our wounded men as they realized that
wheels.
The burial parties were always pushed
Tor time, and yet there was no time to
look INTO the faces and observe the atti-
Iu1es OF the dead and notice that death
seldom came to two alike. Some suffered
agonles from their wounds-others died
ds peacefully as if no twinge of pain had
neen felt. Some had their lips parted as
Il praying TO God or uttering farewells
70 the loved ones at home-others had
llps compressed and their faces showed
sIin determination or anger. Sometimes
d wounded man had crawled away into
me me pushes or behind stump or log to die
IN his bronzed cheeks partly bleached
~ lhe touch of death, we would find traces
vi tears, and the hard lines would be soft
ehed down. When struck down as they
moved and dying within a few minutes
o1ey carried fierce, stern faces and clench-
gu handS, and nearly always their eyes
we're VIDE open and their lips parted to
snow their teeth. If the musket had not
l@H5h from their hands under the shock
VI the missile it was clenched so tightly
mat their stiftened fingers had to be
opened one by one
mere was no pity for the wounded while
!iSHI was on. NOW and then 1t was
pie to alleviate thirst, or in case of
an IN officer to carry him to the rear, but
ms unwounded had little thought of the
55diIeh. 1t was only when night came
uoWn and the roar of battle had died
1 t TO a growing and suffering here and
itlere that a new sound rose on the even
is ar to pale the faces of the veterans
7glns about with open haversacks. 1t
mds sound which began like the far-off
rnnuIInur of mighty crowd-which came
tsdIer and neaFer-which swelled in vol
drowned other sounds
W. %siiIch separated itself from the shouts
al men neighing of horses, peals of bugles
~ ~ rattle of drums-one great overpow-
ed iig wall from the thousands of wound
an r men which went right to the heart
s 9,'5 caused every man to lift his head
III Whisper: Poor fellows-God pity |