The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1905-06-01
THE FIELD OF BATTLE
INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES OF
THE WAR.
The Veterans of the Rebellion Tell OF
whistling Bullets, Bright Bayonetsr
Bursting Bcmbs, Bloody Battles
Camp Fire, Festive Bugs, ETC., Etc

attention to Field Marshal Oyama's
characterization of the modern Jap
anese army. After explaining that
under the old rule military service
was limited to the hereditary fighting
or soldier class, the general pointed
to the result of breaking away from
the old rule and calling men or all
classes into the army. He insisted that
an army including all classes had
finer national spirit and fought better
than the old army made up exclusive
ly of professional fighters.
This interested me greatly, because
it called to mind experiences In the
Union army of the civil war which IL
lustrated the processes by which the
! average man of patriotic impulse was
transformed into a soldier. 1t Is I'M
possible for the present generation TO
understand how utterly ignorant the
men of 1861 We're Of the simplest de-
tails Of military service. There were
then very few military companies out
side of the large cities. and the mem-
| bers of the few carried themselves as
superior beings.
when Fort Sumter was fired on the
members of the military companies in
the country towns constituted sort
of fighting caste, and they became the
drill masters Of the thousands of pa
triotic young men, not one of whom
could come to an about face. l re-
member we'll when a hundred OF our
best young men organized military
company. They sent to Captain
Branch in the nearest city, asking
him to send one of his crack company
out to drill us. A private in the COM
pany donned a lieutenant's uniform
and came out to act as instructor at So
an hour. and he lorded it over hun
dred as earnest and intelligent men as
ever lived.
$50 anxious were we to learn, and
so much respect had we for man
who knew military things that we bore
with the autocratic impertinences OF
the drill master and conceded all he
demanded in the way of difference to
himself. He seemed to us great man.
although we discovered later that he
taught us very little. We went for
ward rapidly, however, after he left us,
and were soon at the front, where we
learned In a few months more than
any crack holiday soldier could teach
us. After several campaigns we were
with Buel's advance to Shiloh, and
as we climbed the bank of the river.
where thousands of stragglers were
gathered, heard a voice that l knew.
"Thc men of the company had been
in service nearly a year. They con-
stituted the crack company Of fight
ing regiment. They were going up the
ready and eager to meet the enemy.
Imagine their surprise when they saw
their pompous little drill master of the
previous April standing among the
stragglers declalming to the newcom-
ers about the glory and death that
awaited them in front.
''The captain, who had been among
. the humblest of the learners, in April,
: 1861, and was in April, 1862, one of
!, the most resourceful officers in the
: regiment, looked at the declaimer in
wonder. The orderly, who had been
roundly abused because he could not
hold his hands still, said quietly to the
: shouting straggler: If you want to
go to the front and glory fall in at the
rear Of the company Then came the
marching men, whose swing into line
and soldierly bearing silenced the man
who had lorded it over them for S.
an hour less than year before. They
had become fighting soldiers, while he
had stood still at $13 month.
There had been surprises and dis.
appointments in the company, of
course In the first forced march five
! of the strongest and finest looking men
fell by the way, and three of them did
not recover their health for several
years. Slender young fellows, given
three months to break down, stood
,, that march and all others well. Men
of refinement and education had come
into close fellowship with men who
could not write their names, and the
hodcarrier had become the comrade OF
his old employer. but the thinning out
|
|, pendable soldiers of ALL"
, Il remember" said the captain, zone
fine looking fellow who enlisted after
, we had started to the front. He
carried himself well in all things and
all went well with him until he came
to signing the pay roll, when he
baked and declined to sign. l saw
embarrassment in the fellows eyes
and did not press the point. Later
called him to my tent and showed him
I that several of the men had made theil
marks, but If he didn't want to make
his mark l would teach him to write
his name and wait until he could sigr
for himself. He said he couldn't ever
make pot hooks, but II 1 would give
him three days lie would write his OWL
name.
He was the proudest man 1 ever
saw when three days later he wrote
I his name. But he confided to me that
he was in fresh trouble, as he couldn't
, read a blamed word of the letters thai
/, came to him from acquaintances, who
took 1t for granted that he could write
The outcome Of all this was that ht
learned to write. After the war ht
: studied law, located in the West and
was elected to Congress, and twenty
, years ago, while in Washington, wa:
{ examining with him some old docu
ments, when he said, in his old soldier
way:
s "T tell you l am gladder than {
half q dollar that l never made my
i, mark on pay roll or any other docu
t ment that was to go on file. See how
Il many of these fellows We're "cross'
men. You saved me that time, Cap
, and now | take as much pride in m.
4 signature as old John Hancock did il
his, and, do you know, 1 sign NOR
petitions and more letters of introduc
fion opd racomnenda tiOn than an,