The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-07-23
HOW WOUNDED MEN BEHAVE.
Some are as Cool rs Can BE and Others
Greatly Hurried.


Men wounded I'm battle behave I'm va
rious manners, according TO the nature
Of their hurts and the degree Of physical
courage possessed.
While the subject Of the dead and
wounded is the least touched on by writ
ers on the war, it is. nevertheless,
topic equally as interesting. ID not so
pleasing. as those having TO do with the
glory of war.
On the second day of the battle OF the
wilderness, when l fought as an infantry
soldier. / saw more men killed and
wounded than ! did before or after the
same time. ! knew but few of the men
I'm the regiment i'm whose ranks ! stood
but 1 learned the Christian names OF
some of them. The man who stood next
to me on my right was called VIII. lie
was cool. brave and intelligent.
In the morning when the Second Corps
was advancing and driving HIS soldiers
slowly back ! was Hurried. lie noticed
IL. md steadied my nerves by saying
kindly Don't fire so fast The hsht VIII
last an day Don't hurry. Cover your
man before you pull your trigger Take
II easy. my boys. take it easy and your
cartridges will last the longer.
During the day I had learned 70 look
up to this excellent soldier and lean on
him. Toward evening. as we were belng
slowly driven back 10 the BROCK roaa by
Iongstreet's men. we made a stand
was behind "a tree firing, with my rlhe
barrel resting on the stub of limb.
VIII was S anding by my side but I'm the
open. He with a grOan, doubled up ana
dropped on his hads as he ieH.
He looked up at me His face was
pale. He gasped for breath rev
pa.
me | am shot through the bowels.
eaid. Crawl TO the rear. We are not
far from the entertainments along the
Brock road" ] saw him sit up, ana
indistinctly saw him reach for his riile'
which had fallen from his hands as he
fell.
Again I spoke to him TO go to tho
rear. lie looked at me and said, impa-
tiently: az tell you, l am as good as
dead. There IS no use in foolng with
me. shall stay here" Then he pitch
ed forward. dead, shot again and through
the head We fell back before Long
streets soldiers and left Will
When We got TO the Brock road IN
trenchments. a man few files to my lett
dropped dead. shot just above the right
eve. He did not groan or sigh or make
the slightest physical movement. except
that his chest heaved a few times. Tho
life went out of his face instantly, leav-
ing il without a particle Of expression.
Ii was plastic. and. as the facial mus
cles contracted 81 took many Shapes.
When this mans body became cold ana
his face hardened, IL was horribly DIS
torted as though ne had suffered intense
". ANY person who had not seen him
Killed would have said that he had en-
dureJ supreme agony before death re-
leased him.
Sometimes the dead smile agan they
stare with CLASSY eyes and lolling tom
CUES and dreadfully distorted Vsages az
you. One death was as painless as the
other.
After Longstreets soldiers had driven
the Second Corps into their entrench-
ments along the Brock road. a battle-eX-
hausted infantryman stood behind large
oak tree. His back rested against Il. He
was very tired. and held his rife meek
~ in his hand.
The Confederates were directly in our
front This soldier was apparently in
perfect safety. solid shot from a
Confederate gun struck the oak tree
sduarelv about four feet from the ground
but II did not have sufficient force 10 tear
through the thick wood. The soldier fell
dead. There was not n scratch on him.
He was killed by conclusion.
While we were fighting savagely over
these entertainments, the woods in our
lIhIA Caught llif anu I NtM many va NAA
wounded burn to death.
The smoke rolled heavily and slowly
before the flames curled around the vic
Tins. The spectacle was courage-sap-
ping and pitiful. but do not believe that
the wounded soldiers who were being
burned suffered greatly, if they suffered
at all.
Wounded soldiers. II mattered not how
slight the wounds. generally FASTENED
away from the battle lines wound en-
titled man 10 so 20 the rear and 10 a
hospital. OF course. there were many
exceptions 10 this rule as there would
necessarily be battles where from TWEEN
~ thousand to thirty thousand men
were wounded.
| frequently saw slightly wounded men
who wees marching with their colors.
/ remember seeing two men wounded
who continued to fight. During the first
DAYS fighting in the Wilderness l saw
a youth of about twenty years skip and
veil. stung by a bullet through the
thsh.
He turned 10 limp 70 the rear After
he had gone a few steps he stopped, then
he kicked out his leg once or twice 10
see n II would work. Then he tore the
clothing away from his leg to see the
wound He looked at IL attentlyely for