The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1897-05-28
How Shells Fall in Battle.

Very few of the war historians, says
an old army man. give far idea Oh
how bullets. shells and cannon balis
come at a fellow i'll battle. Sometimes.
he continues. twenty big cannon pails
would be fired al company anu not
man would be injured, when suddenly
ball fired at a higher elevation would
cut of Il large branch OF a tree WAlcn
would fall with I; crash and a hair
dozen men would DE carried off disa-
bled \ half day would pass with
hurting shells Tying over the line,
when suddenly one would strike in Il
group of men, explode. and a dozen tine
soldiers would be disabled.
Sometimes at close range every shot
would tell, shells from ritied cannon
crashing into the massed tro%'s like
destructive thunderbolts, but more ire
Quently shot and shell fell short OF the
line OF Went over it, the men changing
position as the gunners got their range.
At first there was j belief prevalent
that ritied cannon could not be fired
without killing somebody, but later the
boys affected to believe that the ''whis-
tiers" scared more men TO death than
they killed outright.
At all events they became SO inditlel,
ent to artillery firing that when oppor-
tunity offered they would, as they lay
in line, go to sleep. At Cave City, Old
Hannibal, the largest man in the com
pany, was taking d nap while the Con
faGar3tn nrii1
ing on our line. The firing was wild
for time, but suddenly six balls We're
planted in rapid succession q few wards
in front, throwing dirt over the men
and causing general scramble. Old
hannibal slept through it all, but the
next broadside Showed. us one of the
boys put it, that the burned fools were
trying to hurt somebody. and most par
ticularly Old Hannibal, and a half
playful attempt was made to wake him
or drag him out of range. n
The rough horse play was resented
by the rudely awakened sound sleeper,
and, half awake, he ran back TO the
danger line, just as the Confederate
battery began to deliver another series
of shots. They struck to the right and
left of the daZed, bewillered man, but
he stood stark still, ducking his head
and putting up his arms. as would Il
boy under a storm of Snowballs. When
the storm was over he turned to his
frightened comrades with the remark:
They never touched me-" and walked
nonchalantly away, although his face
was paler than it had been for six
months.
After that Old Hannibal was little
superstitious. He believed that the
whistlerS, as the boys called the cap
shells, pursued him or that in some
way he was Il special mark. If he was
lying in the mud Il shell would burrow
into the ground near him and not ex-
plode. If he thereupon left his place
in line and went behind tree a shell
would strike that and scare all the men
in the vicinity. On one occasion the
Confederates bombarded our camp for
three days and did no damage. The
next morning cannon ball knocked a
tin cup full of coffee out of Old Hanni.
balls hand just as he was raising the
cup to drink. He explained to the bows
that he didn't care anything for the
cup, but didn't like to lose the coffee
They volunteered to make him barrel
of coffee if he would move out of camD
an intimation that they regarded Old
Hannibal in the light of hoodoo.