the battle of the ants from chapter 12 of walden or life in the woods 1854 by henry david thoreau
you only need sit still long enough in some attractive spot in the woods that all its
inhabitants may exhibit themselves to you by turns i was witness to events of a less
peaceful character one day when i went out to my wood pile or rather my pile of stumps
i observed two large ants the one red the other much larger nearly half an inch long and black
fiercely contending with one another having once got hold they never let go but struggled
and wrestled and rolled on the chips incessantly looking farther i was surprised to find that the
chips were covered with such combatants that it was not a duellim but a bellum a war between two
races of ants the red always pitted against the black and frequently two red ones to one black
the legions of these myrmidons covered all the hills and veils in my wood yard and the ground
was already strewn with the dead and dying both red and black it was the only battle which i
have ever witnessed the only battlefield i ever trod while the battle was raging internecine war
the red republicans on the one hand and the black imperialists on the other on every side they were
engaged in deadly combat yet without any noise that i could hear and human soldiers never fought
so resolutely i watched a couple that were fast locked in each other's embraces in a little sunny
valley amid the chips now at noonday prepared to fight till the sun went down or life went out the
smaller red champion had fastened himself like a vice to his adversary's front and through all
the tumblings on that field never for an instant ceased to naught one of his feelers near the root
having already caused the other to go by the board while the stronger black one dashed him from side
to side and as i saw on looking nearer had already divested him of several of his members they fought
with more pertinacity than bulldogs neither manifested the least disposition to retreat it
was evident that their battle cry was conquer or die in the meanwhile there came along a single red
ant on the hillside of this valley evidently full of excitement who either had dispatched his foe
or had not yet taken part in the battle probably the latter for he had lost none of his limbs whose
mother had charged him to return with his shield or upon it or perchance he was some achilles who
had nourished his wrath apart and had now come to avenge or rescue his patroclus he saw this unequal
combat from afar for the blacks were nearly twice the size of the red he drew near with rapid pace
till he stood on his guard within half an inch of the combatants then watching his opportunity he
sprang upon the black warrior and commenced his operations near the root of his right foreleg
leaving the foe to select among his own members and so there were three united for life
as if a new kind of attraction had been invented which put all other locks and cements to shame
i should not have wondered by this time to find that they had their respective musical
bands stationed on some eminent ship and playing their national heirs the while to excite the slow
and cheer the dying combatants i was myself excited somewhat even as if they had been men
the more you think of it the less the difference and certainly there is not the fight recorded in
concord history at least if in the history of america that will bear a moment's comparison
with this whether for the numbers engaged in it or for the patriotism and heroism displayed
for numbers and for carnage it was an australis or dresden concord fight two killed on the patriot's
side and luther blanchard wounded why here every ant was a buttrick fire for god's sake fire and
thousands shared the fate of davis and hosmer there was not one hireling there i have no doubt
that it was a principle they fought for as much as our ancestors and not to avoid a three penny tax
on their t and the results of this battle will be as important and memorable to those whom it
concerns as those of the battle of bunker hill at least i took up the chip on which the three i have
particularly described were struggling carried it into my house and placed it under a tumbler on my
window sill in order to see the issue holding a microscope to the first mentioned red ant i saw
that though he was assiduously gnawing at the near foreleg of his enemy having severed his remaining
feeler his own breast was all torn away exposing what vitals he had there to the jaws of the black
warrior whose breastplate was apparently too thick for him to pierce and the dark carbuncles of the
sufferer's eyes shone with ferocity such as war only could excite they struggled half an hour
longer under the tumbler and when i looked again the black soldier had severed the heads of his
foes from their bodies and the still-living heads were hanging on either side of him like ghastly
trophies at his saddle bow still apparently as firmly fastened as ever and he was endeavoring
with feeble struggles being without feelers and with only the remnant of a leg and i know not how
many other wounds to divest himself of them which at length after half an hour more he accomplished
i raised the glass and he went off over the windowsill in that crippled state
whether he finally survived that combat and spent the remainder of his days in some hotel
day invalid i do not know but i thought that his industry would not be worth much thereafter
i never learned which party was victorious nor the cause of the war
but i felt for the rest of that day as if i had had my feelings excited and harrowed by
witnessing the struggle the ferocity and carnage of a human battle before my door
kirby and spence tell us that the battles of ants have long been celebrated and the date of them
recorded though they say that huber is the only modern author who appears to have witnessed them
aeneas sylvius say they after giving a very circumstantial account of one contested with
great obstinacy by a great and small species on the trunk of a pear tree adds that this action
was fought in the pontificate of eugenius iv in the presence of nicholas pisteriensis an
eminent lawyer who related the whole history of the battle with the greatest fidelity
a similar engagement between great and small ants as recorded by olus magnus
in which the small ones being victorious are said to have buried the bodies of their own soldiers
but left those of their giant enemies a prey to the birds this event happened previous to
the expulsion of the tyrant christian ii from sweden the battle which i witnessed took place
in the presidency of polk five years before the passage of webster's fugitive slave bill
you