1. A wound made by a musket-ball is essentially contused, and attended
by more or less pain, according to the sensibility of the sufferer,
and the manner in which he may be engaged at the moment of injury. A
musket-ball will often pass through a fleshy part, causing only the
sensation of a sudden and severe, although sometimes of a trifling
blow. If it merely strike the same part without rupturing the skin, the
pain is often great. Major King, of the Fusiliers, was killed at New
Orleans by a musket-ball, which struck him on the pit of the stomach,
leaving only the mark of a contusion.
2. Wounds from musket-balls, particularly of the face, sometimes
bleed considerably at the moment of injury, and for some little time
afterward, although no large vessel shall be injured to render the
bleeding inconvenient or dangerous. The application of a tourniquet is
then seldom if ever necessary, unless a vessel of some magnitude should
be partially torn or divided.
3. When a limb is carried away by a cannon-shot, any destructive
bleeding usually ceases with the faintness and failure of strength
subsequent on the shock, and a hemorrhage thus spontaneously suppressed
does not generally return; it is the effort of nature to save life.
The application of a tourniquet is rarely necessary, unless as a
precautionary measure, when it should be applied loosely, and the
patient, or some one else, shown how to tighten it if necessary.
A musket-ball will often pass so close to a large artery, without
injuring it, as to lead to the belief that the vessel must have receded
from the ball by its elasticity. A ball passed between the femoral
artery and vein of a soldier at Toulouse without doing more injury
than a contusion, but it gave rise to inflammation and closure of the
vessels, followed by gangrene of the extremity. General Sir Lowry
Cole was shot through the body at Salamanca, immediately below the
left clavicle; a part of the first rib came away, and the artery at
the wrist became, and remained, much diminished in size. General Sir
Edward Packenham was shot through the neck on two different occasions,
the track of each wound being apparently through the great vessels. The
first wound gave him a curve in his neck, the second made it straight.
His last unfortunate wound, at New Orleans, was directly through the
common iliac artery, and killed him on the spot. Colonel Duckworth,
of the 48th Regiment, received a ball through the edge of his leather
stock, at Albuhera, which divided the carotid artery, and killed him
almost instantaneously.
4. Secondary hemorrhage of any importance from small vessels does not
_often_ occur. On the separation of the contused parts, or sloughs, a
little blood may be occasionally lost; but it is then generally caused
by the impatience of the surgeon, or the irregularity of the patient,
and seldom requires attention.
5. A large artery does sometimes give way by ulceration between the
eighth and the twentieth days; but the proportion is not more than four
cases in a thousand, requiring the application of a ligature; exclusive
of those formidable injuries caused by broken bones, or the inordinate
sloughing caused by hospital gangrene, when not properly treated.
6. A certain constitutional alarm or shock follows every serious wound,
the continuance of which excites a suspicion of its dangerous nature,
which nothing but its subsidence, and the absence of symptoms peculiar
to the internal part presumed to be injured, should remove. The
opinion given under such circumstances should be very guarded; for if
this symptom of alarm should continue, great fears may be entertained
of hidden mischief. Colonel Sir W. Myers was shot, at Albuhera, at
the head of the Fusilier Brigade, at the moment of victory, by a
musket-ball, which broke his thigh, and lodged. The continuance of
the alarm and anxiety satisfied me it had done other mischief. He
died next morning, of mortification of the intestines. General Sir
Robert Crawford was wounded at the foot of the smaller breach at the
storming of Ciudad Rodrigo, by a musket-ball, which entered the outer
and back part of the shoulder, and came out at the axilla. There was a
third wound, a small slit in the side, apparently too small to admit
a ball. The continuance of the anxiety and alarm pointed out some
hidden mischief, which I declared had taken place; and when he died his
surgeon found the ball loose in his chest. It had been rolling about on
his diaphragm. Surgery was not sufficiently advanced in those days to
point out the situation, or to authorize an attempt for the removal of
the ball. It must in future be done.
This constitutional alarm and derangement are not always present to so
marked an extent. A soldier at Talavera was struck on the head by a
twelve-pound shot, which drove some bone into, and some brain out of
his head: he was walking about, complaining but little, immediately
after the accident, although he died subsequently.
7. It is not always possible, from their appearance, to decide which
opening is the entrance, which the exit of an ordinary sized round
ball; or when two holes are distant from each other, to ascertain
whether they have been caused by one, or by two distinct balls. When a
ball is not impinging with much impetus, it may become a penetrating,
without being much of a contused wound, which will close in and heal
with little suppuration. If the ball do not press upon, or interfere
with some important part, the slight degree of irritation which follows
may give rise to the formation of a sac, which adheres to it and
possibly keeps it quiet for years, if not for life.
8. The wound made by the entrance of an ordinary musket-ball is usually
circular, depressed, of a livid color, and capable of admitting the
little finger, the exit being more ragged, and not depressed. It is
sometimes little more than a small slit or rent, although at others, as
in the face or in the back of the hand, it may be much torn, giving to
an otherwise simple wound a more frightful appearance, such as is not
usually seen in the thigh, or other equally firm fleshy part.
9. Wounds from flattened or irregular-shaped musket-balls, pieces of
shells, or other sharp-edged destructive instruments, are often very
much lacerated, and their entrance is less marked. The part thus torn
can generally be preserved, and the wound healed with comparatively
little loss of substance.
10. When it is desirable to ascertain the exact course of a ball, and,
if possible, the internal part injured by it, the sufferer should be
placed in the position he was in when he received the injury, with
especial reference to the probable situation of the enemy, when that
will often become very intelligible which was before indistinct. My
attention was directed, after the battle of Toulouse, to a soldier,
whose foot was gangrenous without an apparent cause, he having received
merely a flesh wound in the thigh, not in the exact course of the main
artery, which, nevertheless, I said was injured. On placing the man
in the same position with regard to us, that he supposed himself to
have been in toward the enemy when wounded, the possibility of such an
injury was seen; and dissection after death proved the correctness of
the opinion.
11. When one opening only can be seen, it is presumed the ball has
lodged; but this does not follow, although the finger of the surgeon
may pass into the wound for some distance. At the battle of Vimiera, I
pulled a piece of shirt, with a ball at the bottom of it, out of the
thigh of an officer of the 40th Regiment, into which it had gone for
at least three inches. After the battle of Toulouse, a ball, which
penetrated the surface of the chest, and passed under the pectoral
muscle for two inches, was ejected by the elasticity of the rib against
which it struck. Scarcely any inconvenience followed, and the officer
rapidly recovered. After the battle of Waterloo, I was requested to
decide whether a young officer should be allowed to die in a few days,
or to have a chance for his life by losing his leg above the knee. The
joint was open, the suppuration profuse. A large or grape-shot was
supposed to be lodged in the head of the tibia. The limb was amputated,
and he is now alive, forty years afterward, but no shot was found in
his limb. It had dropped out after doing the injury.
12. The treatment of simple gunshot or flesh wounds should be, under
ordinary circumstances, as simple as themselves. Nothing should be
applied but a piece of linen or lint, wetted with cold water; this
may be retained by a strip of sticking-plaster, or any other thing
applicable for the purpose of keeping the injured part covered. A
compress of linen, or other similar substance, moistened with cold
or iced water when procurable, will be useful; and a few inches of a
linen bandage may be sewed on, to prevent the compress from changing
its position during sleep. When the wound becomes tender, a little
oil, lard, or simple ointment may be placed over it. A roller, as a
surgical application, is useless, if not injurious. At the first and
second battles in Portugal, every wound had a roller applied over it;
it soon became stiff, bloody, and dirty. They did no good, were for the
most part cut off with scissors, and thus rendered useless. When really
wanted, at a later period, they were not forthcoming. An advancing
army cannot, and ought not to carry casks full of rollers into the
field; and the apothecary-general had better have instead, two casks or
boxes full of good wax candles; for, although every regimental surgeon
ought to have four in his panniers, kept as carefully for emergencies
as his capital instruments, they will require from time to time to be
replaced. No roller should be more than two inches and a quarter wide,
and made of good, strong, coarse linen, very much, in fact, the reverse
of the rollers which have until lately been supplied to the army.
13. Cold or iced water may be used as long as cold is grateful to the
sufferer. When it ceases to be so, it should be exchanged for warm,
applied in any convenient way which modern improvements have suggested,
whether by piline, gutta-percha, oiled silk, etc. An evaporating
poultice may be used in private life, but no poultices should be
permitted in a military hospital, until the principal surgeon is
satisfied they are necessary. They are generally cloaks for negligence,
and sure precursors of amputation in all serious injuries of bones and
joints. They are properly used to alleviate pain, stiffness, swelling,
the uneasiness arising from cold, and to encourage the commencing
or impeded action of the vessels toward the formation of matter. As
soon as the effect intended has been obtained, the poultice should be
abandoned, and recourse again had to water, hot or cold, with compress
and bandage. I was in the habit of calling a poultice when misapplied a
_cover-slut_.
14. Many simple flesh wounds are cured in four weeks; the greater part
in six. Fresh air and cold water are essential. Purgatives may be
occasionally given, and abstinence is an excellent remedy. Emetics,
bleeding, and something approaching to starvation as to solids, are of
great importance if the sufferers should be irregular in their habits,
or the inflammatory symptoms run high. In weakly persons, a generous
diet with tonic remedies will be necessary.
15. In wounds of muscular parts inflammation usually occurs from twelve
to twenty-four hours after the injury, and the vicinity of the wound
becomes more sensible to the touch, with a little swelling and increase
of discoloration. A reddish serous fluid is discharged, and the limb
becomes stiff and nearly incapable of motion, from its causing an
increase of pain. These symptoms are gradually augmented on or about
the third day; the inflammation surrounding the wound is more marked;
the discharge is altered, being thicker; the action of the absorbents
on the edges of the wound may be observed; and, on the fourth or fifth,
the line of separation between the dead and living parts will be very
evident. The wound will now discharge purulent matter mixed with other
fluids, which gradually diminish as the naturally healthy actions take
place. The inside of the wound, as the process of separation proceeds,
changes from a blackish-red color to a brownish yellow, moistened by
a little good pus. On the fifth and sixth days, the outer edge of the
separating slough is distinctly marked, and begins to be displaced;
the surrounding inflammation extends to some distance, the parts
are more painful and sensible to the touch; the discharge is more
purulent, but not great in quantity. On the eighth or ninth day, the
slough is, in most cases, separated from the edges of the track of the
ball, and hanging in the mouth of the wound, although it cannot yet be
disengaged; the discharge increases, and the wound becomes less painful
to the patient, although frequently more sensible when touched.
If there be two openings, the exit of the ball, or the counter-opening,
is in general much the cleaner, being often in a fair granulating
state before the entrance of the ball is free from slough. If the
inflammation have been smart, the limb is at this time a little swollen
and discolored for some distance around; fibrin and serum are thrown
out into the cellular membrane, or areolar tissue, as it is now termed;
the redness diminishes; the sloughs are discharged, together with any
little extraneous substances which may be in the wound; and there is
frequently a slight bleeding, if the irritable granulations are roughly
treated. The limb on the twelfth, and even fifteenth day, retains the
appearance of yellowness and discoloration which ensues from a bruise,
and which continues a few days longer. The sloughs do not, sometimes,
separate until this period, and, in persons slow to action, not even
until a later one. The wound now contracts; the middle portion of the
track first closes, and is no longer pervious; the lower opening soon
heals, while the upper, or that usually made by the entrance of the
ball, continues to discharge for some time, and toward the end of six
weeks, or sometimes two months, finally heals with a depression and
cicatrix, marking distinctly the nature of the injury that has been
received.
16. The state of constitution, the difficulties and distresses of
military warfare, exposure to the inclemency of the weather, the season
of the year, or the imprudence of individuals, will sometimes bring on
a train of serious symptoms, in wounds apparently of the same nature as
others in which no such evils occur. After the first two or three days,
the symptoms gradually increase, the swelling is much augmented, the
redness extends, and the pain is more severe and constant. The wound
becomes dry, stiff, with glistening edges, the general sensibility is
increased, the system sympathizes, the skin becomes hot and dry, the
tongue loaded, the head aches, the patient is restless and uneasy,
the pulse full and quick; there is fever of the inflammatory kind.
The swelling of the part increases from deposition in the areolar
tissue to a considerable extent above and below the wound, and the
inflammation, instead of being entirely superficial or confined to
the immediate track of the ball, spreads widely. The wound itself the
sufferer can hardly bear to be touched; it discharges but little,
and the sloughs separate slowly. Pus soon begins to be secreted more
copiously, not only in the track of the wound, but in the surrounding
parts; sinuses may form in the course of the muscles, or under the
fascia, and considerable surgical treatment be necessary, while the
cure is protracted from three to four, and even to six months; and is
often attended for a longer period with lameness, from contraction of
the muscles or adhesions of the areolar tissue. The parts, from having
been so long in a state of inflammation, are much weaker, and if the
injury have been in the lower extremity, the leg and foot swell on
any exertion, which cannot be performed without pain and inconvenience
for a considerable time. The treatment should be active; the patient,
if robust, ought to be bled if no endemic disease prevail, vomited,
purged, kept in the recumbent position, and cold applied so long as
it shall be found agreeable to his feelings; when that ceases to be
the case, warm fomentations ought to be resorted to, but they are to
be abandoned the instant the inflammation is subdued and suppuration
well established. The feelings of the patient will determine the
period, and it is better to begin a day too soon than one too late.
If the inflammation be superficial, leeches will not be of the same
utility as when it is deep seated; but then they must be applied in
much greater numbers than are usually recommended. The roller and
graduated compresses, or pressure made by slips of adhesive plaster
under them, are the best means of cure in the subsequent stages, with
change of air, and friction to the whole extremity, which alone, when
early and well applied, will often save months of tedious treatment.
If the limb become contracted and the cellular membrane thickened, it
is principally by friction (shampooing) that it can be restored to its
natural motion.
17. If the ball should have penetrated without making an exit, or have
carried in with it any extraneous substances, the surgeon must, if
possible, ascertain its exact situation, and remove it and any foreign
bodies which may be lodged; indeed, if there be time, every wound
should be examined so strictly as to enable the surgeon to satisfy
himself that nothing has lodged. This is less necessary where there are
two corresponding openings evidently belonging to one shot; but it is
imperiously demanded of the surgeon, where there is one opening only,
even if that be so much lacerated as to lead to the suspicion of its
being a rent from a piece of shell; for it is by no means uncommon for
such missiles, or a grape-shot, to lodge wholly unknown to the patient,
and to be discovered by the surgeon at a subsequent period, when much
time has been lost and misery endured. A soldier during the siege of
Badajoz had the misfortune to be near a shell at the moment of its
bursting, and was so much mangled as to render it necessary to remove
one leg, an arm, and a testicle, (a part of the penis and scrotum being
lost.) In one of the flesh wounds in the back part of the thigh and
buttock a large piece of shell was lodged, and kept op considerable
irritation until it was removed. The man recovered.
18. In examining a wound, a finger should be gently introduced, if
possible, in the course of the ball, to its utmost extent; in parts
connected with life, or liable to be seriously injured, it is the only
sound usually admissible. While this examination is taking place, the
hand of the surgeon should be carefully pressed upon the part opposite
where the ball may be expected to lie, by which means it may perhaps be
brought within reach of the finger, and for want of which precaution,
it may be missed by a very trifling distance. While the finger is in
the wound the limb may be thrown as nearly as possible into that action
which was about to be performed on the receipt of the injury, when
the contraction of the muscles and the relative change of the parts
will more readily allow the course of the ball to be followed. If this
should fail, attention should be paid to the various actions of the
limb, the attendant symptoms arising from parts affected, and what may
be called the general anatomy of the whole circle of injury. A muscle,
in the act of contraction, may oppose an obstacle to the passage of an
instrument in the direction the ball has taken, especially if it should
have passed between tendons or surfaces loosely connected by cellular
membrane; as by the side of, or between the great blood-vessels, which
by their elasticity may make way for the ball, and yet impede the
progress of a sound. When the ball is ascertained to have passed beyond
the reach of the finger, a blunt silver sound or elastic bougie may be
used, and the opposite side of the limb should be carefully examined,
and pressure made on the wounded side, when it will probably be found
more or less deeply seated. If the ball should not be discoverable by
these means, the surgeon should consider every symptom, and every part
of anatomy connected with the wound, before he decides on leaving the
ball to the operations of nature.
19. It is unnecessary to dilate a wound without a precise object
in view, which might render an additional opening requisite. This
dilatation or opening, when made, should always be carried through
the fascia of the limb. A wound ought not to be dilated because such
operation may at a more distant period become necessary. The necessity
should first be seen, when the operation follows of course.
Suppose a man be brought for assistance with a wound through the
thigh, in the immediate vicinity of the femoral artery, which he says
bled considerably at the moment of injury, but the hemorrhage had
ceased. Is the surgeon warranted in cutting down upon the artery, and
putting ligatures upon it on suspicion? Every man in his senses ought
to answer, No. The surgeon should take the precaution of applying a
tourniquet loosely on the limb, and of placing the man in a situation
where he can receive constant attention in case of need; but he is not
authorized to proceed to any operation, unless another bleeding should
demonstrate the injury and the necessity for suppressing it. By the
same reasoning, incisions are not to be made into the thigh on the
speculation that they may be hereafter required. If the confusion which
has enveloped this subject be removed, and bleeding arteries, broken
bones, and the lodgment of extraneous substances be admitted to be the
only legitimate causes for dilating wounds in the first instance, the
arguments in favor of primary dilatation in other cases must fall to
the ground.
When the inflammation, pain, and fever run high, the tension of the
part being great, an incision should be made by introducing the knife
into the wound, and cutting for the space of two or three inches,
according to circumstances, in the course of the muscles, carefully
avoiding any other parts of importance. The same should be done at the
inferior or opposite opening, if mischief be seriously impending, not
so much on the principle of loosening the fascia as on that of taking
away blood from the part immediately affected, and of making a free
opening for the evacuation of the fluids about to be effused.
It is no less an advantageous practice in the subsequent stages of
gunshot wounds, where sinuses form and are tardy in healing. A free
incision is also very often serviceable when parts are unhealthy,
although there may not be any considerable sinus. Upon the necessity of
it where bones are splintered, there is no occasion in this place to
insist.
20. In making incisions for the removal of balls in the vicinity of
large vessels, particularly in the neck, the hand should always be
unsupported, in order to prevent an accident from any sudden movement
of the patient. This caution is the more necessary on the field of
battle, where many things may give rise to sudden alarm. At the affair
of Saca Parte, near Alfaiates, in Portugal, I stationed myself behind
a small watch-tower, and the wounded were first brought to this spot
for assistance. A howitzer had also been placed upon it, being rising
ground, and at the moment I was extracting a ball situated immediately
over the carotid artery, the gun was fired, to the inexpressible alarm
of surgeon, patient, and orderly, who bolted in all directions. From
my hand being unsupported, no mischief ensued, and the operation was
completed as soon as all had recovered their usual serenity. When a
ball is discovered on the opposite side of a limb, through which it
has nearly penetrated, but has not had sufficient power to overcome
the resistance and elasticity of the skin, it should be removed by
incision. An opening is thus obtained for the evacuation of any
matter which may be formed in the long track of such a wound, and
any other extraneous bodies are more readily extracted. When a ball
has penetrated half through the thick part of the thigh, in such a
direction that it cannot readily be removed by the opening at which
it entered; or, from the vicinity of the great vessels, it may be
considered unadvisable to cut for it in that direction; or if the
ball cannot be distinctly felt by the finger through the soft parts,
it ought not to be sought for at the moment, for an incision of
considerable extent will be required to enable the surgeon to extract
it. Much pain will be caused, and higher inflammation may follow than
would ensue if the wound were left to the efforts of nature alone,
by which, in time, the ball would in all probability be brought
much nearer to the surface, and might be more safely extracted. It
frequently happens, that after a few days or weeks, a ball will be
distinctly felt in a spot where the surgeon had before searched for it
in vain. A wound will frequently close without further trouble, the
ball remaining without inconvenience in its new situation; and the
patient not being annoyed by it, does not feel disposed to submit to
pain or inconvenience for its removal. A very strong reason for the
extraction of balls during the first period of treatment, if it can be
safely accomplished, is, that they do not always remain harmless, but
frequently give rise to distressing or harassing pains in or about the
part, which often oblige the sufferer to submit to their extraction at
a later period, when their removal is infinitely more difficult; and
may be more distressing than at the moment of injury.
Nothing appears more simple than to cut out a ball which can be felt
at the distance of an inch, or even half an inch below the skin, but
the young surgeon often finds it more difficult than he expected,
because he makes his incision too small; and cannot at all times oppose
sufficient resistance to prevent the ball from retreating before the
effort he makes for its expulsion with the forceps or other instrument.
The ball also requires to be cleared from the surrounding cellular
substance, to a greater extent than might at first be imagined; for
all that seems to be required is, that a simple incision be made down
to the surface of it, when it will slip out, which is not usually
the case. When a ball has been lodged for years, a membranous kind
of sac is formed around it, which shuts it in as it were from all
communication with the surrounding parts. If it should become necessary
to extract a ball which has been lodged in this manner, the membranous
sac will often be found to adhere so strongly to the ball that it
cannot be got out without great difficulty, and sometimes not without
cutting out a portion of the adhering sac.
It often occurs that a ball lodges and cannot be found, especially
where it has struck against a bone, and slanted off in a different
direction. If the ball should lodge in the cellular tissue between two
muscles, it often descends by its gravity to a considerable distance,
and excites a low degree of irritation, which slowly brings it to
the surface, or terminates in abscess. Colonel Ross, of the Rifle
Brigade, was wounded at the battle of Waterloo by a musket-ball, which
entered at the upper part of the arm and injured the bone. More than
one surgeon had pointed out the way by which it had passed under the
scapula and lodged itself in some of the muscles of the back. About
a year afterward I extracted it close to the elbow, the ball lying
at the bottom of an abscess, which was only brought near the surface
by time, by the use of flannel, and by desisting from all emollient
applications.[1]
[Footnote 1: Various instruments have been invented for the removal
of balls which have been deeply lodged in soft parts; but little
assistance has been derived from them hitherto, although many of them
are very ingenious.]
21. A ball will frequently strike a bone, and lodge, without causing
a fracture, although it will a fissure. It will even go through the
lower part of the thigh-bone, between or a little above the condyles,
merely splitting without separating it, and some balls have lodged in
bones for years, with little inconvenience. It should nevertheless be
a general rule not to allow a ball to remain in a bone, if it can be
removed by any reasonable operation. The rule is not entirely devoid of
exception. Lieutenant-Colonel Dumaresq, aid-de-camp to the present Lord
Strafford, was wounded at Waterloo by a ball which penetrated the right
scapula, and lodged in a rib in the axilla. The thoracic inflammation
nearly cost him his life, but he ultimately quite recovered, and died
many years afterward of apoplexy, the ball remaining enveloped in bone.
22. When a bayonet is thrust into the body it is a punctured wound made
by direct pressure; when of little depth, much inconvenience rarely
ensues, and the part heals slowly, but surely, under the precaution of
daily pressure. A punctured wound, extending to considerable depth,
labors under disadvantages in proportion to the smallness of the
instrument, and the differences of texture through which it passes.
When the instrument is large, the opening made is in proportion, and
does not afford so great an obstacle to the discharge of the fluids
poured out or secreted as when the opening is small. Lance wounds are
therefore less dangerous than those inflicted by the bayonet. When a
small instrument passes deep through a fascia, it makes an opening in
it which is not increased by the natural retraction of parts, inasmuch
as it is not sufficiently large to admit of it; and which opening,
small as it is, may be filled or closed up by the soft cellular tissue
below, which rises into it, and forms a barrier to the discharge of any
matter which may be secreted beneath. If the instrument should have
passed into a muscle, it is evident that if that muscle were in a state
of contraction at the moment of injury, the punctured part must be
removed to a certain distance from the direct line of the wound when in
a state of relaxation, and vice versa. The matter, secreted, and more
or less in almost every instance will be secreted, cannot in either
case make its escape, and all the symptoms occur of a spontaneous
abscess deeply seated below a fascia. That inflammation should spread
in a continuous texture is not uncommon; that matter, when confined,
should give rise to great constitutional disturbance is, if possible,
less so; but that this disturbance takes place without the occurrence
of inflammation, or the formation of matter, may be doubted; and it
may be concluded that there is no peculiarity in punctured wounds that
may not be accounted for in a satisfactory manner. Serious effects have
been attributed to injuries of nerves, but without sufficient reason;
nevertheless, those who have seen locked-jaw follow a very simple
scratch of the leg from a musket-ball, more frequently than from a
greater injury, are not surprised at any symptoms of nervous agitation
that may occur after punctured wounds. As many bayonet wounds through
muscular parts heal with little trouble, it is time enough to dilate
them when assistance seems to be required. Cold water should be used at
first; care should be taken not to apply a roller or compress of any
kind over the wound; matter, when formed, should be frequently pressed
out, and, if necessary, a free exit should be made for it.
23. A great delusion is cherished in Great Britain on the subject
of the bayonet--a sort of monomania very gratifying to the national
vanity, but not quite in accordance with matter of fact. Opposing
regiments, when formed in line, and charging with fixed bayonets, never
meet and struggle hand to hand and foot to foot, and this for the very
best possible reason, that one side turns round and runs away as soon
as the other comes close enough to do mischief; doubtless considering
that discretion is the better part of valor. Small parties of men may
have personal conflicts after an affair has been decided, or in the
subsequent scuffle if they cannot get out of the way fast enough.
The battle of Maida is usually referred to as a remarkable instance
of a bayonet fight; nevertheless, the sufferers, whether killed or
wounded, French or English, suffered from bullets, not bayonets. The
late Sir James Kempt commanded the brigade supposed to have done this
feat, but he has assured me that no charge with the bayonet took
place, the French being killed in line by the fire of musketry; a fact
which has of late received a remarkable confirmation in the published
correspondence of King Joseph Bonaparte, in which General Regnier,
writing to him on the subject, says: “The 1st and 42d Regiments charged
with the bayonet until they came within fifteen paces of the enemy,
when they turned, _et prirent la fuite_. The second line, composed of
Polish troops, had already done the same.” Wounds from bayonets were
not less rare in the Peninsular war. It may be that all those who were
bayoneted were killed, yet their bodies were seldom found. A certain
fighting regiment had the misfortune one very misty morning to have a
large number of men carried off by a charge of Polish lancers, many
being also killed. The commanding officer concluded they must be all
killed, for his men possessed exactly the same spirit as a part of the
French Imperial guard at Waterloo. “They might be killed, but they
could not by any possibility be taken prisoners.” He returned them
all dead accordingly. A few days afterward they reappeared, to the
astonishment of everybody, having been swept off by the cavalry, and
had made their escape in the retreat of the French army through the
woods. The regiment from that day obtained the ludicrous name of the
“Resurrection men.”
The siege of Sebastopol has furnished many opportunities for partial
hand to hand bayonet contests, in which many have been killed and
wounded on all sides, but I do not learn that in any engagements which
have taken place regiments advanced against each other in line and
really crossed bayonets as a body; although the individual bravery of
smaller parties was frequently manifested there, as well as in the war
in the Peninsula.