The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1898-11-17
MEN HIT IN BATTLE.
Observations Of Soldier Who Fought In thu
Civil War

"If you want to know how men die
in battle, ask some of those who
have been at Wilson's Greek, on one
side or the other said Judge David
Murphy of the criminal court OF st.
Louis.
Il was in Totten's Battery, and |
saw them, wounded and dying, falling
thick and fast around me. You may
say that | saw not one man funk in
the face of death on that terrible day
of fight and bloodshed. While | was
firing my gun from Bloody Hill a
youngster, not more than twenty years
old, suddenly jerked his leg. He ut
tered a sharp, quick cry, then bent
down and tore the trousers away from
the place on his skin where MIME
ball had struck him. He looked up
with 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 or
his arm. Hit again,' he said, sat down
behind the battle ranks and examined
his arm. The wound was only SKIN
deep, and that seemed to please him
hugely. for he tied his handkerchief
around it and went again forward
into the ranks with .hisymtlsket
You're fighting in bad luck. to-day,
Pete said q .eSfnrade. The youngster
turned his face to answer back, and
blythe swapping of his eyes it could
f'be seen that his mind framed saucy,
defiant reply. Just then his jaw
dropped. A ball ploughed its way
through his mouth, leaving nothing
but a bloody tongueless cavity. With
hoarse gurgle the fellow threw his
gun on the ground and fed back OF
the lines. He was found in hospital
afterward but never recovered.
ION that same day | encountered
| three men under a tree. Their faces
were ashy gray, showing that they
were mortally wounded. l asked them
why they were not attended to, and
one of them said that it was all over
with them: they wanted the surgeons
to attend first to those who could be
saved. One of the men was smoking
q short briarwood pipe.
What are you doing, my friend" l
asked.
Taking my last smoke he an
swered, his CLASSY eyes looking stead
lily at me. Another was reading a let
ter. He held it up to his face, but
/ could see that he was not making
any Roadway. His eyes were grow
ing dim, and his weak, trembling
hands folded the missive and thrust
it into his breast pocket He was per-
fectly resigned to his fate and had not
word to say. When | returned in
the evening, after a lull l found the
three men dead. Their faces We're
white and set in the shadow of the
tree under which they lay. By the
placidity of the features | knew that
they had met death without hunklng.
That's all bosh about men raving
about home, mother and heaven. All
the men | have seen die or near death
were quiet and perfectly rational. they
made no fuss. Those that did were
usually delirious, entirely out of their
quently distorted, and gave every evil
dence of the mental and physical ago
ny they unconsciously had endured.
Zone thing struck me as peculiar.
Nearly all the regulars exhibited an
instant desire to examine their wounds
when they were hit, and the express
sion of their faces indicated in a mo-
ment whether they were slightly OF
MORALLY wounded. They seemed to
know with unfailing certainty. If the
wound was slight and in place where
they could tie it up conveniently, they
did so, and then went back to the
fighting lines. If it was mortal theil
grave, pale faces betrayed their knowl
edge The volunteers were not so wei
posted, but they were as brave as
lions. and seldom gave up unless Sc
| riouSly hurt