Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1898-07-30
BRAVE MEN FEAR A FIGHT.
Nearly All Our Great Generals Coates 70
Weak Moments.


Ask any man who ever followed Gen.
eral Sheridan In one Of his dashing
charges, and he will declare with all
the emphasis at his command that no
Drawer man than Little Phil" ever
wore sword OF went into battle. One
enthusiastic admirer speaks Of him as
the typical American fighter Of his gen.
GRAFTON, and all laud the daring which
won him such rapid promotion and such
signal victories.
Long after the war Sheridan sat
beside the late Charles A. Dana at an
evening dinner party. General, said
Mr. Dana, with his wonted directness,
"between ourselves, were you ever
afraid In battle?"
"My dear fellow" came the immedi-
ate reply, ~ have never seen the begin
ming of battle without fear, and had I
followed my first impulse would have
run away every time. The men who
say they have never known fear are
liars AID humbugs!"
General Grant, of whom a grizzled
old veteran said that he hadn't nerve
in his body or cowardly drop Of blood,
used almost precisely the same language
as did Sheridan and always distrusted
a man who loved to vaunt his own feer-
lessness. Hancock, with his magnificent
figure, his martial mien and his gallant
conduct, was the idol Of his men, who
called him "The Superb" yet ne said
in his own impressive way that there
were times Immediately preceding
general engagement that it was with
the most determined exercise Of will
power that he overcame his sense Of ap-
prehension.
"Stonewall'' Jackson, whose title ev-
cry soldier that ever fought with him or
against him knows to be a we'll earned
one, said that he depended upon moral
rather than physical courage. and that
on the days that he fought with tho
most intrepidity 1t was not the excess
of his own spirit that moved him SO
much as the desire to inspire his men
by an example of courage. Sherman had
the heartiest contempt for soldiers who
declared that they feared nothing or
nobody" and it was the opinion of this
same general who ade the famous
march to the sea that they were respon-
sible for much Of the incompetency,
confusion and disgrace in 1861.
Farragut was our greatest naval hero
of the war, and his exploit while dashed
to the rigging of the Hartford in Mo-
bile bay has given him place among
the immortals Of history, yet he was
soldier upon principle. He never did
anything for dramatic effect. He was
mild hammered and good tempered and
did his bravest deeds from sense OF
duty rather than animal courage. When
he came down from his perilous place
aloft on the Hartford, where he had
won the fame that will live forever, he
wept as woman would over the poor
fellows who had been killed and were
laid out on the deck.
Jefferson, who was physically timid,
thought that Washington was born
without sense Of fear, but those who
are closer readers Of character attribute
the bravery Of the great leader to that
more exalted courage which can over
come fear. It is conceded on all sides
that Mad Anthony Wayne was some
thing of daredevil, yet he was much
the same stamp of man as Sheridan, and
Sheridan knew what fear was. The lat
ter, with Sherman in council, once esti-
mated that one soldier out of four in
the volunteer service would prove
coward and fail to meet the demand
made upon him when the greatest nerve
and persistency were required. They
hunted cover when things became hot.
They would fall to the ground, pretend
ing to besick, wounded or exhausted
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