men faced to the
front. It was all a scene of wild confusion, the roar of guns
incessant, the air full of powder smoke, shells bursting here and there,
and constantly the shouts of men. Ammunition wagons blocked the pike,
soldiers thronging about them to stuff cartridges into emptied belts; a
battery of artillery dashed past, recklessly scattering the surging mass
to left and right, as its horses, lashed into frenzy, plunged forward
toward the fighting line; horsemen galloped back and forth, commanding,
imploring, swearing, as they endeavored to reform the mob into a reserve
column; riderless horses dashed about, resisting capture; and a runaway
team of mules, dragging behind the detached wheels of an army wagon,
mowed a lane straight across the open field. Men lay everywhere
sleeping, so exhausted the dead and living looked alike; there were
ghastly bandages, dust-caked faces, bloody uniforms, features blackened
by powder, and limping figures helped along by comrades. Empty
ammunition wagons loaded again with wounded, went creaking slowly to the
rear, the sharp cries of suffering echoing above the infernal din. Just
outside the gate, under the tree shadows, was established a field
hospital, a dozen surgeons working feverishly amid the medley of sounds.
I had heretofore seen war from the front, in the excitement of battle,
face to face with the enemy, but this sickened me. I felt my limbs
tremble, the perspiration bead my face. I now knew what war was,
stripped of its glamour, hideous in its reality of suffering and
cruelty. For a moment I felt remorse, fear, a cowardly desire to escape,
to get away yonder, beyond the reek of powder, the cries of pain. The
awful vista gripped me as if by spectral fingers. But for the movement
just then of that cavalry regiment, recalling me to duty, I half believe
I should have run, not from fright but to escape the horror.

They were moving forward past the front of the house, the men still on
foot, gripping the leather at their horses' bits, the restive animals
plunging so wildly as to make it seem more the advance of a mob than a
disciplined body. A shell exploded in the road to their left, tearing a
hole in the white pike, and showering them with stones. I could see
bleeding faces where the flying gravel cut. Another shrieked above, and
came to earth just in front of the house, shattering the front steps
into fragments, and leaving one of the wooden pillars hanging,
unsupported. Yet