Killing.... and being killed

[jpeter]

I am stimulated by a current book on posting this. I am particularly interested in the comments of any veterans on this forum.

In the 19th century, many young men were preoccupied with the "good death". They wanted to die well. They wrote to their loved ones about this even before they enlisted. They wondered, imagined, and predicted how they would fight and die. This was more common in the 19th century than the 20th century.

But killing, in my opinion, took far more courage. Killing someone went against everything you were taught as a Christian child. You had to overcome predetermined rules that you had lived with all your life up until that point. This is really the point of constant training with a rifle and bayonet. It's not just to learn to use the weapon. It's because you have to practice killing.

There are incidents of men who could not overcome their preconceived moral education. There were men who could not shoot or who would shoot in the air when first engaged in battle. Most performed as you would expect. but a few could not.

I am always fascinated by a young mans engagement in battle. The 19th century soldier was far more expressive about some of these feelings.

 

[johan_steele]

I've read the letters of a man who at Allatoona had already served on a scores of battlefields including Iuka, Corinth, Champions Hill, Vicksburg etc and he "Knew" had killed no one. At Allatoona a close friend was killed right beside him and he went a bit mad, killing mad as his comrades called it becoming one of his Captain's "Killers."

 

[larry_cockerham]

A little adrenalin squirt that occurs because a partly hidden figure in yon woods takes a pot shot at you or nails a comrade a few inches from your own head. That's what this war was about for the common soldier. He didn't stop to read a prayer book about slavery; that was left up to the rich folks and politicians. The men who were killing and being killed. Those are our heroes.

 

[johan_steele]

A few thoughts on the war by common soldiers:

-War is a ghost that haunts you from the moment it exists until the moment you don't.

-"There seems to be no God here, but more than the average amount of the devil." Sgt Cyrus Boyd

-Cushing ran the last of his guns to the battle line. The rest had been smashed to scrap by Lee's artillery fire. He held his guts in his hands as the charge came to the wall. His gun spoke out one time for him before he fell to the ground.

Stephen Vincent Be'net's account of the last shot fired from Cushing's battery at Gettysburg

-"You want to know what it was like to be a soldier? Boredom, exhaustion and terror with a bit of dysentery thrown in for good measure. But every memory tendered with the realization that we did our country a great service." GAR member 1904.

-"Them fellers out thar you ar goin up against, ain't none of the blue-bellied, white-livered Yanks and sassidge-eatin'forrin' hirelin's you have in Virginny that run at the snap of a cap - they're Western fellers, an' they'll mighty quick give you a bellyful o' fightin."

Robert C. Anderson, 2nd KY Inf. CS KIA Chickamauga

-"**** you Sir! I don't want a flag of truce I want an American flag!" General Force, Battle of Atlanta before being wounded.

-"Your communication demanding surrender of my comand I acknowledge receipt of, and would respectfully reply that we are prepared for the "needless effusion of blood" whenever it is agreeable to you." US Genl Corse in reply to CS Genl French demand for the surrender of the garrison at Allatoona pass.

-There are four types of homicide: felonious, accidental,
justifiable, and praiseworthy.

Ambrose Bierce

 

[jpeter]

I've read the letters of a man who at Allatoona had already served on a scores of battlefields including Iuka, Corinth, Champions Hill, Vicksburg etc and he "Knew" had killed no one. At Allatoona a close friend was killed right beside him and he went a bit mad, killing mad as his comrades called it becoming one of his Captain's "Killers."

Stories like this always fascinate me.

The psychology of battle, of one's first engagement, and of the letter describing it, always interest me.