borne the battle

[kjc0123]

What is the meaning of "have borne the battle" in the following sentences?

Lincoln's second inaugural address closed with these words:

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

[andy hughes]

"Borne" in this contect is old-fashioned English for having suffered the battle, or taken part in it.

[Peter Pedant]

yeah,

but I cannot from the context see why it is,

shall have borne the battle and not ....who has borne the battle.

to bear a battle as a burden means that one has not come out of it well, and been wounded. Then n the next phrase it mentions widow, so bear the battle also means to have been killed in a battle. Finally, bear (ha!) in mind that you only need one parent dead to be an orphan.