Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1854-12-22
IvKERMANN
THE FIELD AFTER THE BATTLE
4 THRILLING ACCOUNT.

~. a.. G.t1 tLipk have 1ail. over and over
aa.;u" ,La, :, .... .i,bt vLieI, could never be
I7"ar'had 4 cao.id-,abl nonLar. some 80 to
! ma pn..ia,. LiIlsd md ,yonnd.d were living
a,n, NJ , tou,s and here al.n were many. too
many onrn.es If Zouyes and French Infantry Of
III, Inn All nur wounded have been removed.
and tho v,um,led of the enemy were being gath.
.red IN. Thu Kindness and attention If our fell
low IL their hrlple>s enemies was beyond all
rroise. They brpupbt them WATER. got kuap~ack-
10 nut under their hends. aud borrowed blankets
in which to cover them from the ras night air;
here and there. small groups of them stood alb
sorhed in pity round some PROSTATE foe. 10 whom
their kindness came too late. and who. shot either
through the head or lungs, gaspcd out his eXls-
fence in painful sobs. or terminated il IN "A horri
BILE conyulsion, which made Your blood curdlr to
hear. \ little above the line of tents was the
brow of the hill overlooking l%nkermann flights.
Here was the spot where the allied artillery engd
ged that of the enemy after the retreat, and
here the sight was sickening indeed. There is
nothing so awful IA the spectacle of the bodies
of those who have been struck down by round
shot or shell.
One poor fellow of the 9Jth had been struck
by two - Founders in the head aud body. A
shell afterwards burst on him and tore him TO
pieces. aud it was only by the fragments uf cloth,
with the rrgimrntal buttons adlIrring thai ynn
could tell that the rough bloody mass which lay
in the road had ever been II human being. But
it i useless 10 dwell ON these siekening details;
suffice to say that here, among tie earca>ses OF
some 200 killed and wounded horses, lay the bo-
dies of our brave English aud French artillery
men, all more or less frightfully mutllated. Some
had their heads taken of at the neck, as If with
an axe; others their legs gone from the hips
others their arms, and others, again, who were
hit in the chest or stomach, were literally as
smashed as if they had been crushed in II ma
chine. But it was not alone the allies who lay
hero . on the contrary tbprp were ten Russian
corpses to one of their: but the latter were all
killed by mnsketry before the artillery came up.
On this spot the Russians kept dropping shells
the whole night, bu. their vindictive efforts were
in vain; all who lay in reach Of their missiles
had suffered the last which they were to endure
on earth. Passing up the road to Sebastopol be-
tween heaps of Russian dead, YOU come to the
spot where the Guard. had been compelled to re-
tire from the defence of the wall above lnkermann
Valley.
Here our dead were nearly ns numerous as the
enemy's. Across the path, side by side, lay five
guardsmcn who were killed by one round shot as
they advanced to charge the enrmy. They lay
ON their faces in the same attitide, with their
musket, tightly gra-ped IN both hand,, and all
had the same grim, painful frown upon their
features, like men who were struck down in the
net of closing with their focs. Beyond this, the
Russian guar,lsmcn and line regiments lay thick
as leaves, intcrmixed with dead and wounded
horses. | he latter, With fractured HI1lDS, were
now and then rising, and after Staggering a few
steps, rolling over among the corpeS, S%norting
and plunginp ~fcnrfullv. tn TO the right of the
wall was the WAY 10 tLe two Gun battery. The
path law through thick brushwood, hut the path
was slinppry with blood. and the brnshwood was
broken down and encumbered with the dead
The SCENE from the battery was awful-awful
beyond description. stood mon the parapet
about nine nt NIGHT. and felt my heart sink a.
eazcd npon the scene of carnnro nronud. The
moon was full. and showed every object as if nv
the LIGHT Of day.
Foriur mo vns tbo vnllcv or IuLermonn. with
thr Cbernnvs like hand nf silver Aowiuo grace
tnIlv hnt w.en the bills which far vari.d and mic
tur.snne henntv. nigbt vie with any mar, of the
world Nat Isb,l n,ver vocal tn. M, mary nf
Inkcrmonn Valley. viii onv Int fnclinys nf L,,tb-
mo md horror for around the .not from which
sSnry,vod tbe sc.nn Ia, inward. of 5nao ho.
dies. Nnnv bndlv wounded also Law there. mud
their low dun NOM. Of mnrtnl n,ny struck with
bnr,;ble distinctnass nnnn the ner ,r worse .till.
the boarse qorgling cry and vehnment strnorlas
of those who wrr, conynl.od before they passpd
away Around tbe hin small Grams of men with
hasi,itnl stretchers yorn sn,r9obin ~, ,ut for tbns.
who still survived mud otbnrs# ar,in. with Ian.
ferns. busily turning over the d,9d. lookino for
the hndies az officer. vbn were known to he killed
INT who had NAT ho,n f,nnd
Here were also Enpli,h women. whose bus.
bnnds had NOT returned. bn,ryine nbont with
loud lamentations. TURNING tbe tnces of our dead
To the moonlight. eoprrlv seeking for what they
fc,red ia t;nJ Tbree Int,nr wcr, far moro to he
pittie1 than the ~inanimate farms of those who
fast as they came np. received their load of Off
GERS. and even blankets were used to convey the
wounded to the rear. Outside the battery the
Russians law two and three deep. Inside the
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