Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-08-21
SOLDIERS IN BATTLE
How Men Feel and Act With
Death All About Them.
THE STORY OF A PRIVATE.

THE STORY OF A PRIVATE
With the Beginning Of tho Fight
Comes Fear, but That Soon Passes
Away In tho Eagerness For Killing
Varying Effects Of Wounds.
A narrative Of the battle of Solferi-
no as told by veteran survivor tt
Robert Shackleton appears in Har
per's. 1t is, word for word, chapter
Of history as seen by man in the
ranks. Incidents which impressed him
are curious:
1--WE halted, and Tyrolese lying on
the ground cried out: 7 am dying.
Give me to drink Whereat my com
panion stopped to offer him a flask,
and as he stopped the Tyrolese struck
savagely at him with his bayonet, but
my companion jumped back, and it
missed him, and he said, You Tyro-
lese, you said you wanted drink be-
fore you died, and now you shall die
without the drink And he stuck his
bayonet through him as boy would
stick pin through fly.
"The fighting soon began again, and
it was very fierce. 1t was soon that
we came to know that we were to cap
ture little village and the hills about
the village. The village was named
San Maritime, and there were walled
barns and gardens, and the Austrians
were very strong there.
'"The bursting of the shells was very
bad. Sometimes all of us close by
would be thrown down and be COW
cred with mud and earth, but most Of
us would jump up again, not wounded,
but always there were some who
would not jump up again, because they
were wounded or dead.
AT the beginning of battle SOL
der feels afraid. At the beginning OF
this battle 1 felt afraid, and know
that other men felt afraid, though it
was not our first battle, and We knew
what it was to be under fire.
$50 It was that at the beginning
we commended ourselves; we felt like
death, but soon that passed away, and
we thought no more Of death, but only
Of the killing Of the Austrians.
can around me men were killed.
There were heads and arms blown of,
and men few into pieces like the
smashing Of q jug. But We did not
care. We thought nothing Of it ]
do not know that we even knew we
saw such things, but some OF them
come to me as sit with you and talk
Of that long day. We did not notice,
and we did not think that at any mo-
ment we too might have our heads
blown OF or be smashed into little
pieces like the breaking Of aug. 81
"Once, when we rushed over the big
guns and killed the men who still
fought with US, we turned the guns
to fire on the Austrians AZ they dew
away, but they had driven bits Of steel
into the touchholes, and 20 We could
not fire them. They were Of cour-
age, those Austrians.
"Only once in all that battle did I
think much Of what saw or heard.
and that was when there was the
terrible screaming Of 4 captain who
had his foot shot OF. He twisted and
turned as he cried out and It was
very bad sound. But It 10 just ~ It
chances. saw many men who were
hurst worse than that captain and
many who were blown into little bits,
but I did not trouble about them. It
IL just II it chances 20.
ut Is very often that q man does
not know that he 10 hurt remember
that once there was q man near me
with a great hole In his forehead, but
he ran right on with ~ with his bay.
onet, and l thought, He viii fail dead
But after that saw him NO uaors, for
there wal. AWAY tie fighting.
The storm and the ebiaclnses, they
made Of :us q great mixin18 Yes; 1t
was 1 very great tansiing, for. al lines
were elpst and II know that zeometimes
Austrians struck ut Austtans and
sometimes Italians struck at italians,
for we were in a very great mixing
and verf fierce in tho bIackness Of that
storm.
I'VE were told to lie down and sleep
So we lay down where we were, among
the dead and the wounded, among the
Italians and the Austrians.
"And we slept Yes; we were tired
for we had fought hard for all that
long, long day, and on that hill that al
last we had gained we slept and we
gave no heed to the dead men or the
wounded.
1.-THE wounded they made very great
cries. and there were men sent to &c
among them with lights: Some were
surgeons, and some were men to carry
them TO the held hospitals. But the
most Of us we lay there and slept, and
we were very tired, and we knew that
with the morning there might be an
other fight. !" - 49,. - SI1" -
Tbs Hungry Author. we
Il The following is an. extract from the
notebook Of an author:
Rose at s and had sonnet and =
glass Of cold water for breakfast. .
~ ~&a.~xa a. xwi&ns.