Year: 1879

us out all right.


Mlistellaueuns &eading.


THE VOLUNTEER SOLDIERS LIFE.


THE MARCH, THE EXPERIENCE OF BATTLE


AND THE DISMAL SCENES THE DAY


AFTER THE CONFLICT.


The career Of volunteer soldier is an epit-
ONE of life. He rushes to arms with the ar.
dor of youth, ignorant, but eager and hope
full His mind, filled with visions of glory
and stern resolve, ignores the weary march
by day and watch by night. He sees before
him, or thinks he sees, "a holiday campaign
crowned with victory; and speedy march
home to the sound Of triumphant music.
Here, as in all other pursuits, the future is
mercifully yelled from view, and the imagin.
alton is allowed to paint it in its own colors.
Were it otherwise, could the unfedged sol
dier feel in advance how heavy the knapsack
would become, and how sore the feet, many
would be 10th to enlist. -s,s.,


The march in the beginning, even in day,
on good roads, was hard work, but in the mud
and rain, and in the night, it was toilsome in
the extreme. The want of sleep, together
with the frequent halts from the blocking OF
the road in front, threw men into incessant
"cat naps," from which they were necessarily
wakened to "move on" Night, under these
circumstances, heightened out interminably
and when at last day broke it disclosed many
and many stragger' far behind the column,
stretched out by the roadside sound asleep.
When these nocturnal movements occurred
in winter, detachments of the sick poured into
the hospitals from every quarter until they
were overAowed. They were as disastrous to
the column as battle. The march, too, un.
der hot August sun, kept up from its rising
to its resting, and often prolonged into the
night, amid clouds of sitting dust and tor
turing thirst, must be experienced to be un-
derstood. The uninitiated think the greatest
danger the soldier is exposed to is on the bat;
tle.feld; on the contrary it is the least. The
popular misapprehension is caused by the
consolidated report sent out after an action
of the thousands shot down in day; but
the decimation from exposure and disease
that slowly swells into tens of thousands, pass
es by without notice. But we, who have
closed our shrunken ranks as our comrades
dropped out by the wayside, know it, and our
surgeons reports attest it.


The battlefield as test of endurance is
overrated. The fatigue is not experienced
until after the fight is over, and comes chiefly
not from the battle ITSELF but from the toll
some and broken marches that precede it. If
troops could be brought into action, fresh and
rested, after good breakfast, we might con-
centrate our attention on the battle. But, in
point of fact, they are not so brought on.
The supply trains have often been unavoida-
bly, left far in the rear, the haversacks are
nearly empty, and the night before has been
in part consumed in getting the troops in
place. The excitement of the battle supplies,
for the time, the want Of food and rest, so
that the actual discomfort largely precedes
the following fight.


The opening of the battle with artillery at
long range and the bursting of shell is rather
dramatic than dangerous. Cannon balls and
fragments of shell when they strike do exc
culion, but they comparatively seldom hit the
mark. They are chiefly effective in disturb.
ing the nerve of advancing columns by their
sound and fury and occasional ghastly work.
The artillery does its real work at closer
range, with grape and canister and when the
action extends into night, the bursting of a
shower of shells at short range lends to the
scene peculiarly wicked and vindictive spir-
it. The first heavy loss in battle falls upon
the skirmish line, which, however it may pro-
tect itself by intervening objects, is necessa-
riIy constantly exposed in advancing to a
steady fire at rest. The advance of the skir-
mishers is beautiful and brave sight. 1t
would be painful to see them 60 down, had
one time, at such a moment, to indulge in
sympathetic feelings. l remember nothing
more touching than the narrative of broth
er officer, of the sight, as he beheld it, Of a
line of skirmishers of the Irish Legion at
Missionary Ridge, perfectly aligned, at regu-
lar intervals, with an officer in the rear Of the
centre, sword in hand-all killed. They
moved into the jaws of death in perfect Or
der, and offered, as they lay on the field in
the cold gray of that November twilight, a
tribute to discipline and manhood, such as
the world has seldom seen equaled.


When troops come to close quarters and
the battle begins in earnest, no one can see
AloIC luou NlloUOSCuAo III llIo IilIilCuialC
front. He can hear, in the pauses Of the ac.
tion before him, the roar of musketry to his
right and left, rolling far off until it seems
like distant thunder, broken by peals of ar,
tillery that alike grow fainter, as they recede;
he can see, too, at times, advancing lines of
infantry, with batteries unlimbered in the
rear, hurting overhead, at the enemy, tenn
pest of shell to disturb and distract him; he
can see the artillery suddenly cease fire; lin.
ber up and gallop after their infantry, take
a nearer position, and in trice unlimber and
thunder away again. He can see the infant,
ry reach stone wall, and halt and open fire
from the shelter, or if an impediment be in
the way, he will see them sweep on to the
charge and close with the adversary. Soon
however, the fight reopens on his own 'front.'
and he sees no more of the battle on his right
or left; his faculties are absorbed in the com,
bat before him. The wounded, when in
reach, are carried to the rear as they fall, or
to convenient sheltered spots in the field
where the surgeon awaits them, knife in hand
Many disabled men receive their death
wound as they are carried off; and where they
lie between two fires and cannot be promptly
reached even die for want of attention. 1t
is doubtless trying position for one to lie for
hours, wounded and helpless, on field swept
by the enemy's fire; but to lie on debatable
ground, as many a poor fellow has done, and