The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-10-13
THE HORRORS OF WAR.

IftE holsItOteS OF WAR.
a Federal Soldier Tells Hts Expert
ence in Battlc-He Don't Want to
Shoulders Muskct Again.
Atlanta Journal.
A boy with a rife and cartridge box
got On the a the other morning.
" Fall in according to height, right
face y facetiously remarked q man who
used to drill on the university campus
Fall imp" said a m~iddle.aged man
with q gruff voice. 81 want to
fall in again. | would rather fell
out every time"
L could not help contrasting the boy
and tho veteran. Here was the ROSY
anticipation of youth side by side with
prosaiC, pessimistic and battle.scarred
experience. The veteran seemed to
DO very much in earnest, and l con-
cluded to draw him out.
That's worry nice for tho boys" said
he, but war is horrible. The more |
saw OF 1t the worse it got. a boy OF Is
goes into battle with fewer qualms
danger, and it takes less grit for fresh
troops to stand fire than 1t does to keep
Thorn there after they have seen men
shot down. and mangled. In my tiw.
battle, | was without fear at the z at
fro. Pretty soon q comrade fell 0ver
on my breast the blood gushing from u
mortal wound and spattering all over
me. That made me weak. | wanted to
get out. Awhile afterward a sergeant
near me was ptruck on the head by a
solid shot. His brother close by was spat-
tered with the poor fellows brains and
some Of them spattered me. Ugh |!
1t was horrible. 1 turned sick and
faint"
l did not wonder that he didn't want
to fall in any more. But this q not
all OF it.
When you hear a man describe a
BATTLE" said he, "you may put it down
that he wasn't in it. 1t is impossible.
After a little while you can't see 20
foct from you. You can't tell whether
your gun is firing. Tho roar Of battle
browns q single report, evcn from your
w gun. The rebound makes your
shoulder so numb that you can't feel
IT," Our guns were muZzled-loaders.
and sometimes they we're half tull OF
loads. The soldier didn't know his
gun had refused TO fire.
Talk about manual Of arms and
beautiful company movements" said
he, "they don't amount to the snap Of
my finger in battle. All you can do is
to keep somewhere in line and keep
on firing. You can't see far and YOU
can't hear anything but the awful roar
Of baltic. Ii u move is to be made,
you get notice OF it by motions, or by
seeing the men near you moving out,
and you get out as quick rs you can.
This talk about a general leading
his men ia battle is all nonsense. II
the men saw a general in front of them
they wouldn't stay there a minute.
They would know something was
wrong. The general has his headquar-
tors away back perhaps a mile or two,
and there his dag is lying. He must
havo a place where he can be found,
like the mayor Ola city. Else it would
| be impossible n~-get-cfGers When a
flank is turned. have been in many
@ battle and never sax q general vet.
have seen ~brigadicr generals, but
not q division or corps commander, or
away back in the rear, whero they
ought to be-"
The veteran had o personal expert
ence to relate. He was on tho Federal
side, and was one ofthosc who charged
the Confedcrates in the confusion i'm
mediately following the explosion OF
the mine under the fort at Petersburg.
His account OF the sensation Of being
shot is an interesting one. "A sheet
Of fire shot out from the opposite line
said he, and five of us fell forward
vt the same instant. 1t was q rain OF
bullets that cut us down. / was shot
in my leg. in my arm and in my head.
il didn't know that | was shot, and
thought that had fallen down through
the weakness OF excitement. I was
#, I'M IA fnn fhA 1,,1l44 -t.,,1x ~ l-.x
and ~paralyZcd me, but l did not lose
my senses. The wounds did not pair
me, ut first. In the course of o hal
hour, when the excitement had worr
OFF, my wounds began to hurt. | did
not know that my leg was shot till
saw the blood running out over my
shoe. A comradc who was badly
wounded tied q handkerchief around
my leg and stopped the flow of blood
But for that [ would have died. While
| lay there another shot struck me in
the side. 1t was two or three hours
before help came. | suffered great
pain. | wanted water and [ was death.
ly. sick. 1t vas a year after tho war
before got well, and | carry a minnie
ball in my side to this day"
thought he had given me enough
FOR a full realization of the horrors OF
war, but he had one more picture,
more moving still.
"The'night before / was shot" said
he, 81 vent on the field and saw those
poor devils lying there. A boy Of is
was crying for his mother. Oh, the
pity OF it Then realized that every
man there wns somebody's sou Or some.
hody's brother. Goa protect us from
another war ~
lle stopped of tho electric car briskly
and walked to his daily round of bust
ness In the Equitable building. The
lad who had not heard this COW rsa-
tion vent on to school with iIs rife