The Cook County herald., 1905-05-06
Soldiers in Tryjno Situation.

Soldiers in Trying Situation.
firing over men with heavy guns"
said the doctor, "was from the sur
seon's standpoint very interesting
experiment. I never saw the expert
ment tried until after our army had
Deen driven back at Stone river, and
wren it was proposed then to throw
the Infantry to the front OF the artil-
lery, and fire over them at the at
lacking enemy, I demurred. The idea
was to save the artillery as we'll as
the Infantry, the general insisting
that when the heavy guns had shat
tered the enemy's line our own in
fantry would be in position to finish
the work.
so it happened that the men of our
division were formed in line in front
OF i've or more batteries of artillery,
ordered to lie close to the ground and
await orders. The boys could see the
rebel line coming at double quick,
and they wanted to know what the
darned fool general meant. But no
sooner were they down than the bat
terles opened on the rebels, the shot
and she'll passing not more than two
feet above the heads of our own men.
Most of these were stunned by the
unusual situation, and by the roar or
the guns so near them.
II observed those in my vicinity
very closely to note the first effect
on the nerves. Most of them accept
ed the situation in good part, and,
turning their faces to the ground,
waited patiently for the end. On a
few the strain was too much, and
while not shot or shell touched
them, they were at the end disabled
and helpless. Others seemed dazed
and in state of collapse until the
artillery at signal ceased firing and
the order came to charge. Then the
men who had seemed to be on the
point of collapse went forward blind
ly but Justify, returning to their
senses as they ran. Some of these
were in the hospital the next week,
and their cases were a mystery to
me and were very difficult of treat
ment.''
Il speak" said the sergeant, '<for
those who kept their heads and who
made no complaint except on account
of the burning wadding from the guns
or the fiery flakes or sparks that fell
in showers on their backs and more
often than otherwise burned through
overcoat and blouse before they were
discovered. The boys talked about
being held at the cannon's mouth,
about the surprise that awaited the
Johnnies in front, and as the per-
formance continued longer than they
expected, they wriggled from place
to place on the ground, doing consid-
cradle visiting.
1T seems incredible to me now, but
while that bombardment was in prog
ress I received visits from two men
of regiments in other divisions whom
had not seen in the course of the
war. One of them was an old school
mate. His regiment had been driven
back on our left just as we were
ordered to lie down in front of the
guns. Noticing the number of our
regiment, and, as he put it, feeling a
little lonesome he decided to join us
and see the outcome of the new tac-
tics.
when the firing began, and the
smoke from thirty or forty cannon
settled down upon us, darkening the
air about us like a cloud, he asked
where company c was, and, with his
nose to the ground, crept along the
front of three companies until he
found me. All our faces were black
with dirt and smoke, and when my
old schoolmate, without looking up,
spoke my name, some one said, jocu-
larly, What you want, Dirty Face?'
and, slapping me on the shoulder,
said, Here is your man. We lay
side by side for what seemed to us
a long time, when there came creep
ing toward US another figure.
''The fellow was coming slowly, his
movements in the smoky gloom re-
minding me of pictures Of Indians
creeping on an enemy. Like the 9th
er, he asked for me, and when 4
said 'Here!' he Topped close beside
me, speaking only one word, Teach
err felt, rather than saw, that one
of the incorrigibles Of my first school
had come to me. He made me under
stand that it was his private opinion
that hell had broken loose and that
we were all doomed. Oppressed by
this impression, he thought he would
like to die with somebody who knew.
him, don't you know? Therefore he