Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1856-03-08
Appearance of the Hospital at sebastopol.

Of all the pictures of the horrors Of war
which have ever been presented to the world,
the hospital at Sebastopol presents the most
horrible, heartrendlng, and revolving. 1t can
| not be described, and the imagination of a
Fuseh could not conceive anything at all like
unto it. How the poor human body can be
| matilated and yet hold its soul within, when
every limb is shattered, and every vein and ar
terry is pouring out the life stream, one might
study here at every step, and at the same time
wonder how little will kill. The building used
as a hospital is one of the noble piles inside
the dockyard wall, and is situate in the centre
of the row at right angles to the line Of the
Redan. The whole row was peculiarly ex-
posed to the action of shot and she'll bounding
over the Redan, and to the missiles directed
at the Barrack Battery, and it bears in sides
roof, windows and doors, frequent and dis
tinctiye proofs of the severity of the cannon
ade. Entering one of these doors, | beheld
such sight as few men, thank God, have
ever witnessed. In long low room, support
ed by square pillars, arched at the top, and
dimly lighted through shattered and unglazed
window frames, lay the wounded Russians,
who had been abandoned to our mercies by
their general. The wounded, did | say ?
No, but the dead the rotten and fostering
corpses of the soldiers, who were left to die in
their extreme agony, uutended, uncared for,
packed as close as they could be slowed, some
on the floor, Others Oh wretched treSSels and
bedsteads, or pallets of straw, sopped and satu-
rated with blood, which oozed and trickled
through upon the floor, mingled with the drop
pings of corruption. With the roar ofexplod-
ing fortreSses in their cars, with shells and
shot pouring through the roof and sides Of the
rooms in which they lay, with the cracking
and kissing of fire around Them these poor
fellows, who had served their loving friend and
master, the Gar but too well, were consigned
to their terrible fate. Many might have been
saved by ordinary care Many lay, yet alive,
with maggots crawling about in their wounds.
Many, nearly mad by the scene around them,
or seeking to escape from it in their EXTREMIST
agony had rolled away under the beds, and
glared out on the heartstricken spectator, oh
with such looks! Many with legs and arms
broken and twisted, the Jagged splnters stick
ing through the raw flesh implored aid, water,
food or pity or deprived of speech by the APP
proach Of death, or by dreadful injuries in the
head or trunk, pointed to the lcthal spot
Many seemed bent alone on making their peace
with Heaven The attitudes of some were so
hideously fantastic as to appal and root one to
the ground by sort of dreadful fascination
Could that bloody mass Of clothing and white
bones ever have been human being, or that
burnt black mass of flesh have ever had hu-
man soul? 1t was fearful to think what the
answer must be- The bodies of numbers of
men were swollen and bloatcd to an incredible
degree, and the features dstended to gigan-
tic size with eyes protruding from the sockets,
and the blackencd tongue lolling out of the
mouth, compressed tightly by the teeth which
had set upon it in the death rattle, made one
shudder and reel round. In the midst of one
of these " chambers of horror"-for there were
many Of them-were found some dead and
some living English soldiers, and among them
the poor Captain Waugh, of the Goth, who has
since NC, umbed to his wounds | confess it
was impossible for me to stand the sight which
Mortified our most experienced surgeons the
deadly, clammy stencil, the smell of gangrencd
wounds, corrupted blood, rotting flesh, were
intolerable and odious beyond endurance
But what must have the wounded felt who
were obliged to endure all this, and who pass
ed away without hand to give them cup
Of water or avoice to say kindly word to them?
Most of these men were wounded on Satur-
ua.-naus perhaiS Oh lhe fTluay peloTe-lh-
deed it is impossible to say how long they might
have been there. In the hurry oftheir retreat
the Muscovites seem to have carried in dead
men to get them out out of the way, and to
have put them upon pallets in horrid mockery.
So that their retreat was secured the enemy
cared but little for their wounded. On Mon
day only did they receive those whom we sent
to them during brief armistiee for the pur-
pose, which was, believe, sought by ourselves,
as our overcrowdcd hospitals could not contain
and our overworked surgeon could not attend
to any more