The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1896-03-04
STRUCK DOWN IN BATTLE.
THE DEMEANOR OF SOLDIERS DIS.
ABLED ON THE FIETD.

Cbi,dren--The Realization of Helpless
ness Unneryed Them--Other and
Even Greater Danger Await
ed the Wounded.
NJ Quad in Detroit Free Press.
It was strange and queer to watch the
demeanor 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 exactly alike. When hit while
standing inactive most men threw up
their hands and cried out and staggered
about before falling. 1t hit while the
regiment was advancing they fell with
curses on their lips, and sometimes rose
Nd again and limped painfully after
their comrades. If reached by bullet
while the command was being driven or
retreating or changing its position, then
men walled out like children-not SO
much over the hurt as because they res
allied 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 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 log. If struck be-
low the breast he nearly always lurched
forward and placed his hands on the
wound and sunk down with a groan.
The demeanor of no two wounded men
was alike in minor partic ulars, but
strangely alike in the first movements.
A soldier shot through the head or heart
shot dead in his tracks, as you might
term twas not instantly killed. There
was no such thing as instant death I'M
less struck with solid shot or blown
to pieces by an exploded shell. No
matter whether the bullet pierced heart
or brain, the victim lived on for 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 hit. After the first examination
they cursed or wept, and were not CON
sciOus of what they did. Each felt that
he had been previously wronged by be
ing shot down. Sometimes they cursed
first and wept erwards--some times
Tept and soboed like children from the
first moment of feeling pain. The culs,-
ing and the weeping were the direct re-
suit of the nervous system being keyed
too high by the excitement of the battle.
If 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 a field where the
tlghtng continued who were the most
to be pitied. They feared to be wounds
ell again or killed outright, and their
shouts and screams could be heard
whenever the roar of battle died away
little. Bullet and ball and she'll and
grapeShot were continually falling
among them, land during the war thous-
ands of soldiers were killed while lying
wounded between the lines. The burial
parties used to find hodies which had
oeen hit from three to ten times, and
AFTER Grants first battle in the Wilder
ness we found confederate with twenty
hree bullet wounds in his dead body.
And there was more than the fear of
missiles before the eyes of the wounded
men, If infantry charged over them
'hey might not suffer, but if a battery
changed position or there was charge
VI cavalry they might be ground into
'ne earth. When in his normal condi-
ZION cavalry horse will not step on the
0ouy OF a man lying in his path, but
"nen excited to madness by the roar of
U"''le the steeds of war will trample
Uo"n anything. The wounded men ly-
'ng aoout must take their chances when
'n9 ougies blow charge. Some would
escape the ilon-shod hoofs-others
~oulo be almost beaten into the earth.
- was the same way if battery was re-
"t0u or advanced. The change of po-
s'''on was made with horses on the dead