The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1903-06-10
WAR STORIES.
'Ehe Awful Horrors Of the War.

Some of us who went off to the war
in those stormy times when warfare
was the chief occupation Of men in
our country. cams home with great
mental burdens Of long windcd ard
prolix stories or battles, biy,1aci,
marches, ETC., which we have repeated
and rccitcd over aud over agaIn, until
our rropensities for war story telling
have ripcncd into chrouc habits. We
love TO tell Of tie memorable scenes
when, in our youth ard early man
hood, we laid aside our customary
ayocations, BID adicu to home and
loved ores and went forth to offer up
our lives upon the altar Of our coun-
try. We love to tell Of close calls on
the fields Of battle, Of sore trials aud
privations in the camp and on the
march, and humiiating ill-treatmcnt
in military prisons and Of the final
Homecoming with its indescribablc
blendings Of hope and 9despair, joys
and sorrows, comforts and discomforts
The story of some of the hardships
and privations VIC suffered in the
army, in general terms, is proposed
for the present occasion. We suffered
much from sickness, especially during
the first few months of our service,
before we became acclimatcd to the
new localities, to which we had gone
and unaccustomed to the unavoidable
hardships and exposures of camp life
and wo were provided with neither
comfortable accommodations nor COM
petent attendants for the sick, even
in err best hospitals, where our most
faithful and conscientious nurses SER
~. we received no such kind attcn-
:ions and tender care as we had been
accustomed to from mothers, sisters
and wives at homo. We sometimes
suffered severely from hunger. Our
daily allowance Of food, the full ra-
tion of which was scarcely sufi cient
TO appease our hunger, vas frequently
out down to less than the regular allow
ance and sometimes only few degrees
above starvation point. Our clothing
was woefully insufficient for comfort,
in times of tho severe blizzards that
prevailed in those Virginia winters,
especially on such occasions as when
exposed on picket posts for two hours
ut time without fire to warm our
selves by. We had to depend almost
entirely upon the Yankees for over-
coats and although wo captured many
of those garments, majority of our
men were never provided with them.
The Yankee overcoat was we'll made
OF good material, was warm and dur
able, but one very serious objection to
it's use IN our army was its, detestible
blue color, which was the distinctive
color of the Yankee uniform. We
were sometimes caught out, in cold
stormy weather, without tents or any
kind Of shelter to protect US from the
cruel elements.
l remember on one occasion we. had
stood shiveripg around smoky fires in
terrible rainstorm all through long,
wearisome dog, and at night we had
to choose between continuance of
that abominable game of dodging
around through the mud from the
ever shifting smoke or Of spreading
down our already wet and bedraggled
bedding in the mud, lying down and
taking drenching. On another oc.
casion we had undertaken to cook our
paitry meal out in tho rain, and after
We had put our rations on the fires to
sook heavier downpour Of rain set
IN that put out our fires before
our dinner was cooked and the
Affections Of vexation and worry
were added to those Of hunger and
exposure. We were frequently re-
quired to wade through streams Of
water that flowed across our route
when on march and on one occasion
We waded the Clinch river, in East
Tennessee, one cold. frosty morning
"hes .hcss Was considerable cake OF
1ce on stagnant places. The water
was above our waists, and we had to
continue the march exposed in our
vet clothing to e bitterly GOLD north
west wind. We had no tribunal with
authority to settle our personal dis
putes and each one Of US had to de-
: aSend ourselves from all sorts of in
suits and injuries by means of such
Z. resistance as his own ingenuity,
strength and courage permitted, and
chose Of US who from conscientious
soruples, weakness OF -owardice were
unable to successfully defend our.