Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1900-03-28
BLUE AND THE GRAY
6RAvE MEN WHO MET ON THE
FIELD 0F BATTLE.
Thrilling Stories OF the Rebellion
Old Soldiers and Sailors Relate Rcmi-
absences of Life in Camp and on
the Field Incidents of the War.

the Colonel, that the British soldiers
who showed the most bravery at Co
lenso and who saw the hardest service
at the front never caught glimpse of
the enemy. This Introduces new fac
tor in what we may call the emotional
life of soldiers. In our civil war the
producer of panics was the sudden APP
pearancc of the enemy at close range
or headlong charge of the enemy in
great numbers. 1t was the light of the
enemy that scared men.
THE question is how veterans of our
war, trained through folr years of act
i've service TO regard with equanimity
the visible approach of an enemy.
would feel under the steady fire of good
marksinen who could not be seen.
Their first impulse would be to hide
themselves, but would the practice of
marching into the range of an invlsi-
bic foe enrage them or scare them!
The chances are that they would not
find much encoura cement in a fight in
which personal courage and prowess
counted for nothing. In the first year
of the civil war feeling of dismay fire.
uuently came over the most expert
enced soldiers when an apparently re-
sistless line of Confederates moved
steadily forward in spite of heavy mus
ket fire. The feeling of helplessness ~
the face of a superior force led to many
a panic, but in time the presence of the
enemy at close quarters had no intlu-
ence in precipitating a panic. The
sight of the enemy did not mean de-
feat.
Il remember one case in which our
regiment charged forward after flee
ing enemy until 1t cane % a big corn
field This was in midwinter, but the
corn had not been cut and the heavy
growth of stalks made a good shelter
for those in retreat Our boys had gone
probably fifty yards into the corn when
the enemy turned on us and we in our
turn We're contemplating retreat, when
we caught sight over the corn of doz-
en- regimental flags. coming from the
right. Supposing, of course, that these
flags represented so many Union regi-
mems coming TO our assistance we
Strengthened our wavering line and
were moving forward, when some one
discovered that the approaching regi-
ments moving through the corn all car
ried Confederate flags. ] remember to
this day the inward sinking away that
came over me as | realized that we
were quarter of a mile in advance of
any other Union troops, and that full
division of the enemy was within Il
hundred va of us.
I'VE stood IN our places. fascinated,
paralyzed by the spectacle of twelve
Confederate flags waving above the
cornstalks, showing the position of reg
iments marching directly upon us. We
could not see man, but we could hear
the steady tramp. tramp, tramp of
thousands Of men. We stood there and
saw the regiment on the left of the line
march by our front not ten PAGES from
us. The thing that frightened us was
that these Confederate veterans paid
no attention to our fire, but marched
steadily forward at a right-shoulder
shift until the bIgle's sharp notes
brought them TO n left flank and IA
charge.
I'VE could see more than the whites
of their eyes. We could see the con
temptuous look on Their faces as they
plunged forward in the face OF our
rambling fire. They swept over us
with the indifference of herd of buffa-
10, trampled us into the earth. and sped
onward to take the position assigned
them in new line of battle. Then the
usual thing happened. The fragments
of our broken regiment. instead of
speeding wildly TO the rear. gathered
about their torn flag. released their col
onei, who had gone down under his
horse. and. forming a thin line, blaZed
away ut the backs of the Confederates
who had run over us. 1t seemed a fool
ish and desperate thing 10 do, but in
time that charging Confederate line
was met by adequate resistance in
front, and then the attack in the rear
changed their advance into retreat"
AT ChicSamauga," said the Major.
before daylight on the morning of
Sept. 20, our regiment skirted along the
edge of a great mass of men sleeping
on their arms. We knew that the regi-
ments and the brigades had been
formC in column doubled on the cen
ter and had been massed in battle or
der and that the men retaining this
formation We're sleeping In ranks. We
had been out all night on a scouting ex-
petition. and coming on this division
or corps, we left it to the rear, suppos
ing az matter Of course that it was
one of our own divisions. There were
other flying columns moving this way
and that, and we paid as little atten-
ton to them az we did 10 the men in
biyouac
I'VE felt easy because we believed
that the heavy mass Of troops was be-
tween us and the enemy. Imagine our
dismay when we discovered that the
sleeping men were Confederates and
that by taking the wrong read we had
lost our bearings and were outside our
own lines and Ia the immediate vicinity
of a corps of the enemy In the dark
ness and in the fog that prevailed
about daylight the Confederate guards
had taken us for Confede rate troops.
We could scarcely believe our own
eyes and ears, but we mo,ed forward
changed direction TO wat seemed to
US the Confederate rear, and came up
on our own yidettes Shivering in the
cold and wondering why IN the nation
the Johnnies hadn't fired on MS
That day we moved 10 within a
short distance of Gen. Rosecrans' head