used chiefly for throwing shell and canister at
comparatively short distances.

The greatest artillery conflict of the war (in the field) occurred at
Gettysburg. For two hours in the afternoon of the memorable third day's
battle, about four hundred cannon were filling the heavens with their
thunder, and sending their volleys of death crashing in all directions.

It was estimated that the discharges numbered five or six a second; in
fact, the ear could hardly detect any cessations in the roar. The air
was constantly howling as the shells swept through it, while the falling
of branches, cut from the trees by the furious missiles, seemed as if a
tornado was in the height of its fury: every few minutes, a thunder
heard above all other sounds, denoted the explosion of a caisson,
sweeping into destruction, with a cataract of fire and iron, men and
animals for hundreds of feet around it. The effect of such a fire of
artillery is, however, much less deadly than any except those who have
been subject to it can believe. The prevalent impression concerning the
relative destructiveness of cannon and musketry is another instance of
popular error. In the first place, all firing at over a mile distance
contains a large proportion of the elements of chance, for it is
impossible to get the range and to time the fuses so accurately as to
make any considerable percentage of the shots effective; and in the next
place, except when marching to a close conflict, the men are generally
protected by lying down behind inequalities of the ground, or other
accidental or designed defences. The proportion killed in any battle by
artillery fire is very small. Lines of men frequently lie exposed to
constant shelling for hours, with small loss; in fact, in such cases,
old soldiers will eat their rations, or smoke their pipes, or perhaps
have a game of poker, with great equanimity.

No portion of the military service has been more misrepresented than the
_medical department_. An opinion seems to prevail quite extensively that
the army surgeon is generally a young graduate, vain of his official
position, who cares little for the health of the soldier, and glories in
the opportunities afforded by a battle for reckless operations. Such an
opinion is altogether fallacious. In the regiments there are undoubtedly
many physicians who have adopted the service as a resource for a living
which they were unable to find at home, but the majority are exactly the
sa