The Opelousas courier., 1898-09-03
HOW MEN DIE IN BATTLE.
Bravely, Invariably, Though Regulars First
Examine Their Wounds.

LhoHhihS lhS "Vuhoo'
eff you want to know how men die
IN battle, ask some of those who have
been at Wilson's Creek, on n side
or the other" said Judge David Muir
ply Of the Criminal Court.
Il was in Totten's Battery, and I saw
them, wounded and dying, falling thick
and fast around me. You may say that
l saw not one man funk in the face OF
death on that terrible day Of fight and
bloodshed. While l was firing my gun
from Bloody Hill a youngster, not more
than 20 years old, suddenly jerked his
leg. He uttered a sharp, quick cry,
then bent down and tore the trousers
away from the place OF his shin where
a minnie had struck him. He looked
up with a smile, patted the wound with
his hand, pulled the torn trousers down
and went on shooting. Five minutes
later he yelled again, and his hand went
up to the fleshy part of his left arm.
Hit again!' he said, sat doYn behind
the battle ranks and examine mis- arm.
The wound was only skin ueep, I'D
that seemed to please him h"-Liy, fot
he tied his handkerchief around 1t, and
again went forward into the ranks with
his musket.
You're fighting in bad luck today,
Pete" said a comrade. The %youngster
turned his face to answer back, and by
the swapping of his eyes it could be
seen that his mind framed a saucy, de-
faint reply. Just then his jaw dropped.
A ball plowed it's way through his
mouth, leaving nothing but a bloody,
t%Cngueless cavity. With a hoarse CUR
gle the fellow threw his gun on The
ground and fled back of the lines. fH
was found in a hospital afterWard. but
never recovered.
ION that same day l encountered
three men under a tree. Their faces
were ashen gray, showing that they
were mortally wounded. l asked them
why they were not attended to, and
n of them said that as it was all over
with them they wanted the surgeons
to attend first to those who could be
saved. One of them was smoking a
short briar-wood pipe.
what are yorsdoing, my lend? l
asked.
Taking my last smoke he an
| swered, his CLASSY eyes looking stead
| fastly at me. Another was reading a
| letter. He held it up to his face, but
l could see that he was not making any
Roadway. His eyes were growing aim,
| and his weak, trembling hands folded
| the missive and thrust it into his breast
pocket. He was perfectly resigned to
his fate, and had not a word to say.
When I returned in the evening, after
a lull. l found the three men dead.
Their faces were white and set In the
shadow of the tree under which they
Law. BY the placidity of the features
knew that they had met death without
funking.
"That's all bosh about men raving
about mother, home and heaven. AL
the men I nave seen die, or near death
were quiet and perfectly rational. Ihey
made no fuss. Those that did were
usually delirious, entirely out OF thel!
minds. The faces of these were ire
ouently distorted, and gave every EVIL
dence of the mental anu pnyslcai "eoN'
they had endured.
One thing struck me as peculiar
Nearly all the regulars exhibited an IN
stant desire to examine their wounds
when they were hit, and the expression
of their faces indicated in a momen'
whether they wer slightly or mhrtall5
wounded. They seemed to know witt
unfailing certainty. If the wound wa:
slight and in a place where they coult
tie it up conveniently, they did so, an(
then went back into the fighting lines
If it was mortal, their grave, pale race
BETRAYED their knowledge. The volun
teers were not SO we'll posted, but the!
were brave as lions, and seldom CAV
UP unless seriously hurt"