The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-09-23

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homesick feeling a feeling which sud
denly passed away, however, when
the order to charge or fire came. After
that the feeling was one of excitement
and anxiety as to the result Dying in
a charge is sublime being killed before
the charge is disappointing and SEEM
ingly inglorious. My experience taught
me that fear always preceded the act
ual fight. Ii is annoying to be struck
when you cannot strike back. This is
the way used to EEL when was boy
soldier. Now / expect | would be
badly scared under all circumstances
and conditions. Since the war / have
heard number of soldiers say that
they never felt better than when they
were under fire or in battle. Such
man writes himself down an ass, and,
if he ever was under fire, it is safe to
assume that he was coward.
In the old town of Plattsburg, sur
rounded by classic memorials of COM
bat and separated by the waters of
Champlain from his ancestral heath,
yet within sight of its emerald hills,
was found another Green Noun
tain warrior, General Stephen Moffit
of the Ninety-sixth New York
volunteers. General Motifs badge of
courage is not any empty sleeve. A
pair of well worn crutches and an
empty trouser leg turned back nearly
to the hip joint are his souvenirs of the
conflict. Like General Longstreet and
many Others, whom it would be mere
ly repetition to quote, General Moffit
found that the best way to avoid show
ing off as coward is to have some
thing to do, no matter how trifiing.
He said
"You ask me to give you my first eX-
perience under fire, if scared, how
much, etc.
al had my first experience under fire
near Franklin, Va. We had just en-
tered heavy timber after march of
twenty miles from Suffolk. The Con-
federates opened upon us from four
gun battery The fire was hot, but in
effectual; although the shells flew thick
and fast, most of them passed over us.
At the first note of the music of the
flying missiles nature asserted herself,
and her first law was very much in
evidence. Yes, | was frightened, thor
oughly frightened. At once | appre-
ciated the fact that | was trembling,
body and limb, and fearing that my
men would notice my trepidation, l
opened my haversack and took from it
a piece of hardtack and started in to
munich it. Hardtack was never hard
er and dryer, and how l got it down
and finally digested it under the cir
cumstances, the Lord only knows.
"Did the fear pass of? Not until the
last whizzing shell had passed over
my head.
AZ had a like experience in every en-
gagement, with but two exceptions
Imagination has much to do and per-
haps is wholly responsible in cases of
uncomfortable battle fright. Major Or
lando ]. Smith of the Fourth Indiana
cavalry told of an instance of fright ex-
perienced beyond the reach of bullets
His regiment moved to Balls Bluff the
day after the battle, the men knowing
the story of the slaughter. At the
crossing of the Potomac they saw dead
aud wounded victims of the field, one
particularly narrowing sight, corpse
rolled in blanket and slung TO pole.
Two men bore the pole on their should
ers with the ghastly burden swaying
at every step. Mounting the biufi, 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
with the fear of being scared, as the
Major expressed it. On coming under
actual fire he experienced no fright
equal to the one due to imagination.
Past Commander Henry III. Adams
of Lafayette post, New York, respond
ed fof the west, as q representative OF
one of Ohio's fighting regiments, the
One HundIed and Twenty-iifth, known
as the "Opdycke Tigers" Mr.. Adams
served as orderly captain Of scouts and
staff officer.
"You ask for my experience when
was first under fire. | will say that
nv ideals and recollections of Napoleon
and Murat were vivid, and it seemed a
if we were TO be glorified and not hurt
and it was not until warned by show
er of shot and shell that | speedily
sought shelter. This occurred at cross
ing Little Harpeth river, in Tennessee
when our brigade drove out Van Dorr
in 1868, but it was after having had al
object lesson given by the carnage o
one OF two sharp fights that | realized
the fear of entering into an engage
ment.
"My second experience will pleas
you. | was marker at the head of tn
division, which was marching gallant
ly. We approached Chattanooga anC
suddenly we ran upon an ambuscade
where the enemy was massed, and {
volley was delivered which frightened
me out of my wits, and | suddenl.
found myself crouching behind m!
horse in the road, in full view of m.
command, playing the coward.
However, in a moment, recovering
from this dreadful situation, | mount
ed my horse, but wished l were a
home, and felt that would sacrific
every patriotic sentiment / ever entel
tanned if | could only be out of tha
scrape. However, what seemed to be
month was but probably only on
minute, when General Harker gave m
orders to retire from the exposed pos
tioB,n
The soldier is stimulated by the un
form of his calling, the sense Of tn
power of the armament of which he
part, and his elbow touch with me-
he hopes are braver than himself.
is possible to be caught In a positio
where show of cowardice would en-
uncomfortably for other reasons tha
| d;ooraoa apd Shame