Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1904-04-30
The Terrors of War.

war is war; sometimes Tor the most
trivial causes, but always bloody, bru-
tai, savage. They may tell about this
and that officer being outgeneraled,
and what might have happened. but
when they have done, what do you
know about the men, how they suf-
fered, the families disrupted End in
sorrow, the discomforts and the priva-
lions in the home and in the field.
camp, march and prison? Most of
this is left out, as well as are the
cause of the war and what men think
about it now.
l think that no country was ever
in so roor a condition to undertake
such a great war as was ours in 1861.
I have been surprised at the ignor-
ance of New Hampshire men as to
what they had to meet. Politicians,
pSeudo-warriOrS and Self-cla1med
heroes went about trying to make
men believe that it was the easiest
thing in the world to go down and
clean those Southern fellows out. On
the other side the same condition ex-
sHted. Yancey and other windjam-
mers were going round procla1m1ng
that the people of the North were
nothing but ''mud-sills,'' who would
be swept away by the first dash of
the mounted gentlemen of the black
horse cavalry.
At the first call New Hampshire
sent one regiment. That call was for
$4,000 men, showing, s1ngularly
enough, from the present standpoint,
how even the leaders of the North
looked then upon the issue which
grew to such fearful proportions. In
the second call, for 100000, New
ho
1 knew some of the boys and some
officers, and they were lamenting
that they didn't get into the first, so
as to get to Washington and see that
city before the war was over. When
we think of those days and what fol
lowed, we ought to profit by them,
and not initiate those who go around
as if they had chips on their shout
ders, ready to get into trouble with
somebody.
There were many who, after they
had seen what fighting was, were not
anxious to go back. They had been
surprised at what they had run up
against" 1 look back to the time
when the Sd, 9Th, 18th. and particu-
larly the 18th, went away, and when
you think of the boys in them whom
you went to school with or who were
your companions or neighbours, it all
seems like dream.
remember one of my playmates
who went. He won no halo, no glory,
no fame, but sickness took him, and
his father went to the front to get him
and brought him home dead. Another
was hit by a bullet which coursed
along his skull, and he lived in suf-
fering until eight years ago. My seat
to of he
eyes at Fredericksburg and instantly
killed, all but his head, and he lived
for days in agony, perfectly conscious
that he must die. When 1 hear men
declaring that we ought to fight about
this, that and the other, the vision
comes of boyhood friends with arms
OF, legs off, bullets in their bodies,
ruined health and worn out, ekeihg
out an existence.
They went of in excitement? True.
But not all. l remember hearing q
neighbor in prosperous business talk
ing with my father and considering
whether, when his country was in
peril, it was. his duty to leave wife
and children and all to go. 1 heard
his decision to join the army, and he
hardly reached the front when he was
shot dead.
Lei US see just WHdt we Qlu lace
by looking at the Union side alone.
There were 2,700 900 enlistments, and
allowing for re-enlistments, it is esti-
mated that 2,0O0, 900 different men
were engaged. There is not a man in
this audience who can conceive what
this means. There were 100000 losses
by death Can you imagine how long
It would take for an army of 400. 900
to march past this door? Did any
body in my town, Lee. think of such
vast numbers when the war started?
Besides these, 10000 died in prison
These figures may astOund you, but
even more would the experience with
in the prisons. A woman in Peters
| burg asked a New Hampshire officer,
my brother was in the 9th Massa-
| chusetts, and he died in Anderson
vile: can you tell me anything about
his life there?" No, madam, can
not The experiences there were such
| that I can never describe them to
wife, sister or mother" There were
! 800 general enEagements-a battle
| q day for four years. and 500 over
In 112 engagements our loss was 500