The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-04-09
WHEN A MAN rs WOUNDED.
sENSA TTONs PRODUCED BY
SMALL CALIBRE BULLETS.
One Volunteer Disgusted, Another inn'E,
mint and n Third Profoundly Astonishc"
Feeling of Men In Battle for lheH
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A man in this city set out after the Iecehl
warto find soldiers who had been wounGeul III
action. lie wanted to ask them about tier
wounds. 10 know how they acted when hut'.
and especially what was their first conscious
thought-tle psychological effect. in short.
The investigation was attended with certain
difficulties. In tn" first place. "A surprisingly
small percentage OF the invading army had
been wounded. Soldiers had suffered all sorts
of other things. from sunstroke to yellow Jack.
but Spanish Workmanship seemed less and
less to be feared as the search wont on. Even
after the Investigator corralled some men who
had been shot he had trouble in making them
tell about it-a whole lot OF trouble. TN fact.
Many of them were like the old Sergeant OF
regulars, whose tale was "a follows: "Oi was
shot in the leg. sorr. Oi tumbled down. sorr.
It felt like hell. sorr." There is a tradition
that men shall not have feelings when they are
under fire. When they tell OF their feelings at
oil it comes in the nature Of a confession
something to be ashamed OF. That is what
drill and training are for as much as anything
clse-to create a habit that will he strong
enough to resist nature. Consequently 1t was
among the volunteers. who had not prepared
themselves so thoroughly AS the regulars for
this Kind OF crisis, that most OF the interesting
mental phenomena occurred
At least one experience seemed to be gem
eral. Regulars and volunteers alike knew at
once what had happened to them. There was
none Of that wonder and perplcxity which
at one time came to men who had been shot.
A surgeon suggested that possibly the reason
for this was the comparative absence Of shock
produced by the wound from a modern fire.
arm. Another thing that the victims agreed
upon was that the first effects OF n shot
Wpfn lags Inipful mud lngG napnrally dis
tressing than they had been taught to be-
lieye. For this reason explained a why lit
tie regular. Spaniards were dead easy com
pared with Indians. because the Indians he
had faced always shot something that hurt
every minute. A volunteer said that he had
wondered quite a lot about what particular
kind OF fool he was going to make Of himself
should he get shot. and the fact that he was
neither hurt enough to he frightened nor
frightened enough to be hurt was afterward a
matter of great fclicitation.
There was one member Of the Seventy-frs
Regiment who was shot in the leg. and he said
that the mental effect was intense chagrin. His
people. he said. were of the " let the others go"
variety of patriots. They did not forbid him
to enlist. but the consensus OF home opinion
was against it. They took the ground that
other lives. OF less value either to their owners
or to society. would answer the purpose as
well. He argued that he did not expect to lose
either life or limb or health were the loss Of
any Of these certain lie would not have enlist
ed, and he concluded that his chances we're
nearly as good as IL he were to remain at home.
Well. when he was shot down there in Cuba
the episode became part of that discussion in
a way that was sudden. complete, and not at
all unnatural or grotesque. Swifter than the
shot itself came the thought: What will the
folks say to me now And how am | going TO
explain this 2"
Another volunteer said that when he was
shot he felt like standing up and telling the
Spanish Army that they had performed the
feat of final detriment, not only to this country.
but to the whole universe. The idea Of his get
ting shot struck him as having been compassed
only by means Of an homogeneous relaxation OF
attention on the part OF Providence. He could
not reconcile it with preconceiyed ideas. He
said that he stood up and spluttered in the
direction from which the shot had come like n
mad baby Until somebody came along and
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