The tremendous effect of shot and shell among the trees, the
rows of fresh graves where the dead soldiers were buried, and the intolerable stench
rising from the decaying carcasses of scores of dead horses and mules, I must
confess, had a tendency to take out some of the poetry and romance of war from
me, and picture rather vividly the prose of this scourge. In one place our men saw about one hundred cold
Cherokee Indians, whose carcasses are respected no more than so many mules. –
They came into the battle with one side of their faces painted black, and the
other red, signifying that they would give no quarter. But they were of no account in the battle,
as a shell thrown near them would put them to rout in no time.
– Published in the Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye,
Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 12, 1862, p. 4
1 comment:
I've seen numerous comments in the writing of the time that Native Americans were easily disordered by artillery fire. I wonder why that was? The average Missouri farm boy didn't have any more experience with artillery than the average Cherokee, yet managed to hold up better. Was this a stereotype that people believed to be true or was it really true? I wonder.
Post a Comment