previous to an engagement, is sprinkled with saw-dust to receive the
blood yet unshed. No man can know whose blood will be first to moisten
that dust, or whose life will be passed away before the action is
over. So on the eve of that first battle in Missouri, as I reclined
in the cabin of our flag-boat, and saw the surgeons busy with their
preparations for the coming day; as I saw them bring to light all the
dreadful implements of their trade, and arrange them in readiness
for sudden use--a coldness crept over me, and I fully realized we
had earnest work before us. Since that time I have witnessed many a
battle, many a scene of preparation and of bloody work with knife and
saw and bandage, but I have never experienced a chill like that I felt
on that early day of the Rebellion.

The war has made us familiar with horrors. That which once touched us
to the heart is now passed over with scarce a moment's thought. Our
nerves have been hardened, our sensibilities blunted, our hearts
steeled against suffering, in the terrible school through which we
have passed.

[Illustration: THE OPENING GUN AT BOONEVILLE]




CHAPTER IV.

THE FIRST BATTLE IN MISSOURI

Moving up the River.--A Landing Effected.--The Battle.--Precipitous
Retreat of the Rebels.--Spoiling a Captured Camp.--Rebel Flags