The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-03

harder or drier. and how 1 got it down and
finally dIgested it. under the circumstances,
Did the fear pass off? Not until the last
whizzing shell had passed over my head.
4 had a like experience in every engage
ment, with but two exceptions.
Imagination has much 10 do and per-
haps is wholly responsible IN cases OF I'M
comfortable battle fright. Maj. Orlando j.
Smith. of the Fourth Indiana Cavalry, told
me Of an instance OF fright experienced
beyond the reach Of bullets. His regiment
moved t9 Balls Bluff the day after the bat
tie. the men knowing the story of the
slaughter. At the crossing Of the Potomac
they saw dead and wounded victims of the
Held. one particularly narrowing sight
corpse rolled in a blanket and slung TO
pole. Two men bore the pole on their
shoulders, with the CHASTITY burden swaying
Indiana soldiers were stationed under the
crest with their backs TO the river, a sec
ond slaughter pen should the enemy attack.
Distant firing could be heard and the men
were scared with the fear of being
scared" as the major expressed 1t. On
coming under actual fire he experienced no
fright equal to the one due wholly to i'm
agination.
OBJECT LESSONS VALUE.
Past Commander Henry II. Adams, Of
Lafayette Post, New York, responded for
the West, as a representative of one of
Ohio's fighting regiments. the One-hundred-
and-twenty-fifth, known as the "Opdycke
Tigers" Colonel Adams served in the
ranks as orderly, captain of scouts and
staff officer.
"You ask for my experience when was
first under fire. / will say that my ideals
and recoIlections of Napoleon and Murat
were vivid, and it seemed as if we were to
be glorified and not hurt, and it was not
until warned by a shower Of shot and shell
that I speedily sought shelter. This oc-
Cured at crossing Little HaI peth river, IN
Van Dorm, in 1863. but it was after having
had an object lesson given by the carnage
of one or two sharp fights and the anguish
of the wounded that / realized the rear OF
entering into an engagement
my second experience viii please you.
was marker at the head or the dIvlslon,
which was marching CALAMITY we ap-
preached Chattanooga, and suddenly we
ran upon an ambuscade, where the enemy
were massed, and volley was aehVereq
which frightened me out or my WIS ana
suddenly found myself crouching behlnd
my horse in the road, in full view OF my
whole command, playing the coward.
However, in q moment recovering rom
this dreadful situation. ] mounted my morse,
but wished / were at home, ana lei! lhatt
/ would sacrifice every patriotic sentiment
1 ever entertained if | could only pc OUT
of that scrape. However, what seemed 70
be a month was but probably only one MN
ute when General Harker gave me ORDERS
to retire from the exposed position.
The soldier is stimulated by the uniform
of his calling. the sense of the power or the
armament OF WnlCn ne Is IL part anu HiS
elbow-touch with men he hopes are PRAYER
than himself. 1t is possible to be caught IN
position where the show of coWardice Wouio
end uncOmfOrtably for other reasons lHdIl
disgrace and shame. Meeting the new west
ern story-teller, Walter Juan Davis Lhe
hero of an encounter with the sewage Ge-
ronimo [ asked him how II Ielt 70 De
nounced upon bv a band of Apaches Davis
was United States surveyor IN southwest
New Mexico when Geronimo leIt me , Mt1l-
can Sierras and raVaged the border setLle-
ments in 1886. He was armed, as We're MS
Mexican helpers, but none of the party had
been under fire, and had cultlvatea ene e sen
was on in front. These tactics wouldn I
work with the well-mounted Apaches-but
Mr. Davis tells his own story:
1--WE had run something more than half
mile in our forlorn hope to escape the
fiends that were bearing down upon US ana
now. dead tagged, we stopped at the crest
of a little knoll to fight as we might and
die as we had to. It would be silly for me
to say that was not frightened; Tor was
in q perfect chill of fear, which became al
most rank panic when bullet, from the
first fire of the Apaches, sang its peculiar.
blood hunting song, within six inches OF my
ear CHANGE OF MOOD.
40 God. to die like this in this far
away plain! said to myself, as the cold
wave swept over my flesh and brought out
the goose pimples.' The next instant I was
as hot as a stove. The Internal bloody
beasts of hell! 1 shouted, in another tone
and another mood. Wen get a few, no
matter what they do to u.s. And as 7
pulled UP my carbine and blazed away at
the on-swooping line of devils | glanced
about me and found that all my little party
were with me, shoulder to shoulder, and
this glimpse of their dirty faces and set,
hard looks showed me that they, too, had
passed from fright to fury
Gen. Nelson A. Miles's answer to the
question was as follows:
concerning the effect of being under fire
for the first time, / can say that and the
first battle seen were inSpirit1ng and exhll-
arating and / do not remember that 1t
produced the least Notwithstanding like
as much as the effect afterwards, in some
more sanguinary engagements, when we
had learned to realize the serious effect of
the enemy'S fire"
General Sickles was hurrying to keep
pressing appointment when quoted to him
the text from Grant. Leaning upon his
and said: Eyes, I'll tell you about that. Be
fore the ball opened | felt shaky but soon
recovered, and had too much to do to
think about danger. / was colonel at that
time The higher the rank the more respon-
sibility, and the man in the line with little
to do except to wait for the enemy 10 shoot
at him is in the most trying position of all. ;"
Differences in details nth agreement in
essentials is true of battlefield emotions
These fresh talks of war-worn heroes bear
out that statement. Some men would have
lodged on all occasions, but for the fact
that arrant towards didn't allow occasions
to repeat themselves They went home or
to Canada. All men lodged on some occa-
sions and III so doing saved their fighting
vim for the hour when it would tell. Sher-
man hit the rule that obtained throughout
the army when schooling Cameron's High
landers under their baptism of fire'-his
own as well-at Bull Run When bullets and
shells began to hy the Highanders very
naturally ducked their heads. Sherman told
them to keep cool. as there was no use in
lodging, for whenever the sound of bull
Ix~1l fteA hoo rd 10
it was over. Besides, it didn't look well in
soldiers. The words had barely lett his lips
when an immense shell came with it's muir
derous 'ka-swishI ka-swishp a few feet
above his head Down went Tecumseh until
he Law PROSTATE along his horses shoulders
and neck and when he arose again it was
with a very red face. softened by smile
Very much amused that a preacher should
be so weak in practice. the killed High
landers let the general know 1t. and Uncle
Billy let himself down easy by saying
'sWell boys. you may dodge the big ones'
BLUEGRASS SEED.