Year: 1863




wounded, $4,000 or 10000 on our side,
as evidence of the desperateness of the en-
counter? tell you that when men get
up and run out of their rife pits and
breastworks like flock of sheep, instead
of staying 10 and defending them, not on
ly they deserve to be shot, but as an ac-
tual matter of fact they do get hit and
killed about four-fold what would be hurt
if they did their soldierly duty like men.


Am saying things that oughtn't to be
spoken of out of school? That had bet
ter be smoothed over and explained away /?
I'm not certain about that. / think peo-
pie ought to understand somewhere about
where the truth lies and do not think
soldiers ought to be eulogized ami told
that men never fought more gallantly on
the face Of the earth and the victory
would have been theirs if their officers
hadn't mismanaged, when as matter of
fact their officers gallantly did their duty
and were left to be killed or captured on
the field because their men turned tail
and ran away from them-mind, l don't
mean to say that this was very generally
the case in the late battle. But l do
mean to say that according to my best in
formation and belief the great llth corps
of our army, attacked by an inferior
force of the enemy, gave way with only
shadow of resistance and ran out of their
intrenchments like parcel of frightened
deer, thus making great gap in our
good arrangements, and opening the way
for the disasters that followed. And
from all that can learn the 9th corps did
not do any better, and though very
large portion of the army did their duty
very fairly. l have yet to learn of any
considerable body of troops that display
ed that real gallantry and determination
to win which only can restore losing
battle and atone for the disgraceful flight
of the towards and panic-stricken. |
know of whole regiments and brigades,
long and heavy lines of battle, that gave
way before lines of the enemy 80 thin and
struggling as hardly to be considered more
than skirmishers. I saw regiment after
regiment and brigade after brigade of
those corps have mentioned come pour
ing back through our reserves till they
covered acres aud acres of ground, enough
to have made stand against all the reb-
els in Virginia, and only breaking our
lines and telling such cock and bull stories
Of being cut to peices in front and sur
rounded and attacked in the rear as car
ried evidence of their absurdity on the
very face of them, till | could have cried
for grief and shame to be obliged to ac-
knowledge myself as belonging to the same
army.


Still in spite of all have said. it. is by
no means the truth that our men are a
parcel of towards and poltroons. They
are as brave as the average Of people
quite as brave as our enemies are. But
we don't fight in such common sense
way as they do. Shall l tell you how
one of our lines of battle engages +?
They go in in fine style, steadiIyin good
line and without any finching, halt at
what is held to be desirable point, and
at the command commence firing stand
ing, kneeling or lying down as may be Or
dered. Then, as in all their previous
training they have been taught to load
and fire as rapidly as possible, three or
four times minute, they 90 into the
business with all fury, every man W.
ing with his neighbor as to the number of
cartridges he can ram into his piece and
spit out of it, The smoke arises in a
minute SO you can see nothing where to
aim. The noise is deafening and confu-
sing to the last degree. The impression
gets around of tremendous conflict 60
ing on. The trees suffer sorely and the
clouds a good deal. By-apd-by the guns
get heated and won't go off and the car.
tridges begin to give out. The men have
become tired with their furious exertions
and the excitement and din Of their own
firing, and without knowing anything
about the effect produced upon the enemy