The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1898-08-24
How Men Die in Battle.

''If you want to know how men die
in battle. ask some OF those who We're
at Wilson's Creek, on one side or the
other,n said Judge David Murphy, Of
the Criminal Court.
''I was in Totten's battery, and saw
them, wounded and dying, falling
thick and fast around me. You may
say that I saw not one man funk in
the face of death on that terrible day Of
fight and bioOdshed. While 1 was
firing my gun from Bloody Hill
youngster, not more than twenty years
old, suddedly jerked his leg. He utter
ed a sharp, quick cry, then bent down
and tore the trousers away from the
place on his shin where a mimic 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 fieshy part of his left arm Hit
againr 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
again went forward into the ranks with
his musket.
"'You're fighting in bad luck to-day,
Pete said eomrade. The youngster
turned his face to answer back, and by
the swapping Of his eyes it could be
seen that his mind framed a sauey, de
fiant reply. Just then his jaw drop
ped. A ball ploughed its way through
his mouth, leaving nothing but q
bloody, tongueless cavity. With q
hoarse gurgle the fellow threw his gun
on the ground and fled back Of the
lines. He was found in hospital aft
erward, but never recovered.
"On that same day [ encountered
three men under a tree. Their f4ees
were ashy gray, showing that they
were mortally wounded. i asked them
why they were not attended to, and
one of them said it was all over with
them; they wanted the surgeons to at
tend first to those who could be saved.
One of the men was smoking a short
briarwood pipe.
"'what are you doing, my friend -
| asked.
"sTaking my last smoke, he answer
ed, his CLASSY eyes looking steadily at
me. Another was reading letter. He
held it up to his face, but 1 could see
that he was not making any headway.
His eyes were growing dim, and his
weak, trembling hands folded the mis-
sive and thrust it into his breast pocket
He was perfectly resigned to his fate,
and had not a word to say. When /
returned in the evening, after lull, i
found the three men dead. Their faces
were white and set in the shadow Of
the tree under which they lay. By the
plaeidity Of the features l knew that
they had met death without fiunking.
"That's. all bOsh about men raving
about mother, home 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 deIirious, entirely out Of their
minds. The faces of these were fire.
quently distorted, and gave every evil
denee of the mental and physical agony
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 expression
of their faces indicated in a moment
whether they were slightly or mOrtally
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 into the fighting iinss.
If it was mortal, their grave, pale faces
betrayed their knowledge. The VOlun-
teers were not so we'll posted, but they
were brave as lions, and seldom gave
up unless seriously hurt. st Louis
Republic.