New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-01-23

were first at the fire. say that it broke out all along
the roof almost at the same time. 1t is the general
impression that it must have been set on fire in
several places
Real Horrors of War.
The spade il now busy on the ground Of Sol
ferino and Magenta The manumitted husband
man. now hidden to look up and be cheerful be-
cause he has been set tree gloriousiy, rnefuny
his deliyerers have brought to him. Almost with
despair he gazes upon his crops, rodden into
mash by swiftly passing legions; upon the stumps
of his yine-trees, cut down pteousy to warm his
benefaetors' soup; above all, upon the memorials
they have left to him, Of bodies thrust barely
foot below his soil, from which the swelterng sun
distils the thick nliasma OF decomposition encom-
passing him in cloud too broad to travel out Of
tt will be long before these human shambles can
be made to take the smooth, decent, tranquil
aspect of q graveyard.
But for the people outside, who stood round
watching the fight, with bated breath and senses
painfully strained, it seemed glorious, thrilling
spectacle, that campaign just now played out.
For those who sit at o distance, and read all the
shifts and turnngs and general theatrical business
Of war in the open field, the trnrnpet-blowing
and fanfares, the Haunting coiors and gaudy liv-
cries, the marching and manauyring, the desper-
ate charges and bits Of dramatic heroisn have
grand and pusethrilling effect, which makes the
eve sparkle and the color come and go.
But this is no more than the fine eoloring Of q
consumptiye cheek, or the bloom of rotten apple.
| There is not, of all things existent, more repul
siye coarse untheatrcai business than war, and
what it brings with it. the delicate film of gaudi
ness rubs off in an hour; the gold lace furnishes in
night; the bright uniforms, faded with rain and
pudilestains, fall into rags and show great patches
| Imprevised camps become presently iithy sWanps
and open sewers. The grand pomp and crcum-
stance of glorious war " is well enough in the alb
stract; in its details and private bearings it is
offensive, rough and overpow ering.
Think only the common hackneyed expressions
which pass so lightly between the lips when speak
ing Of great battle. We talk exutiDgly, and
with certain fire, of a " magnificent charge ~ of
a splendid charge z yet very few viii think Of
for. The "splendid charge is a headlong rush
Of men on strong horses urged to their fullest
| speed riding down and overwhelming an opposing
mass Of men on foot. The readers mind goes no
further; being content with the information that
| the enemy's line was broken" and gave
| way.n 1t does not fill in the picture.
To do so effectively, must think first of an Or
| binary individual run down in the public street by
| a horseman moving at an easy pace. The result
/ is, usually, fracture and violent confusion We
may strengthen the tones of the picture by setting
this horseman at full galop, and joining to him q
4 company of other flying horsemen. How will it
4 then be with the unhappy Pedestrian? So when the
| splendid charge has done its work, and passed
by, there will be found sight very much like the
scene of a frightful railway accident, There will
be the full complement of backs broken in two of
arms twisted wholly off; of men impaled upon their
own bayonets oflegs smashed up like bits Of fire.
| wood of heads sliced open like apples; of other
heads erunched into soft jelly By iron hoofs of
horses; of faces trampled out of all likeness to
1 anything human. This is what skulks behind q
G splendid charged" This is what follows, as a
matter Of course, when "our fellows rode at them
4 in STYLE and "cut them up famously." Again,
how eften does tie COMMANDER, writing home III
his official dispatches, dwell particularly on the
| gallant conduct of Captain Smith, who, finding the
enemy were annoying our right a little, got his
gun u into position and effeetuay held them in
OH Rotb gro
phrases to be mentioned cheerfully by ladies' lips.
1t is, as twcre, o few flies bazzing about IS our
right wing, teazing and fretting s0urh men.
4 And yet, properly translated, it means this That
4 stray men Of that right wing IRE now and then
leaping With conVulsYe start into the air, az a
Mimic bullet flies with sharp sting through their
hearts; that stray men, suddenly struck, are roll
ing on the ground; that man, here and there, is
dropping down quite suddenly with a shrek, his
relock tumbling from his hand in short, that there
is a series Of violent death scenes being enacted
up and down the long line.
The reading public, instructed by Journals and
books of memoirs form for itself satisfactory
pictures of the poor soldiers in hospital lying on
their pallets in rows, say at Scutar, having theil
pillows smoothed and cooling drinks protfered by
those kind, charitable ladies who went out to be
their nurses Has not the public viewed paintings
of the scenethe sick warrior lying in comfortable
convalescence, aud taking with grateful languoi
the cool beverage from his gentle attendant? The
sympathising public has also had presented to it il
manly and affecting language, by MIR. RUSSELL soms
pictures of those sufterngs which fall under the
trlghtful category OF gunshot wounds. Dr. WA
| hanson has now collected number of cases from
the late Indian mutny, with view Of assisting hi.
\ profession. Take q few samples from this misccl
lany, as among the real horrors Of war Z;
Private John Halliday received gnn-shot wount
J in the head, which carried away "a large portion
of the scalp and bone,n and left Large irregula
| openngn about two inches in diameter, through
which the brain was seen pulsating This inJur.
was done by bits of telegraph wire ingenionsly Gu
1 infl Eyu1 priv flparI tEal
large fragment of shell, and at first appeared no
to be seriously injured. Presently he complained
Of headache and sickness, and crucial incsio
T was at once made. Here was discovered frac
ture and an opening LETT about the size Of shil
ling. The aura mater ut once protruded through
: the wound and was punctured. In a few days con
yulsive fits came on, with paralysis, and he die
Z comatose. Poor private D'LearY! On post-noi
: TEN examination e-half of his head, internally
was discovered to be mass OF blood, and 9 disor
ganised cerebral matter.e Private Mckenzie ha
: been bit in TIE same place, and had several larG
. fragments OF bone removed from him by means q
an instrument known as Hey's saw: still, "infam
nation Of the brain and its membranes" set in, an
: the surgeons thought Of making closer eXamina
: ton, when great fragment q bone was discoN
q cred Z turned edgeways,' and sticking into IN
dnra mater! Strange 70 say, private McKenzi
u recovered, and is doing duty now.
a Another soldier was brought in with nearl
"half the roof of his skull blown oil by u SHE'LL
1 yet who held on till the tenth day.
Often ball striking on the scalp splits INTO Nv
pieces. so stout is the bony texture of the skull
One fragment, however. is sure to penetrate
Sometimes it leaves clean round hole with crack
rad ating from it in all directions, as in broke
l | pane Of glass.
m Often the ball cannot be found. and has to b
CROPPED for unsuccessfuy with the probe On
+ wretehed private had to carry it twenty-five day
: in his head. Another mans piece burst in n
hand, and part of the lock got embedded unde
ha eye, too far to be removed. Many more wer
afflicted by ball making entrance just behind tn
ear. and passing out over the temple.
| Then come the bayonet wounds, Jagged, PEI
T picking and painful. Now has IL been thrust vi
J. lenty through the chest and lungs and out at q
-1 back, and is violently drawn with pecul,t
< TWIST whence come suppuraton, painful gaspins !.
g breath, and all manner of hnrrid accompaniment
t Now it has impaled the intestlnes, producn
= strange complication. Now it has pierced n
Y lower extremity of the heart. and curious to sa
t the victim has lived five days. The spine com.
in, too. Tor liz share OF injury. bullet SKINS
) through the badly, srnashes the lower Vertebiie
the column. makes its escape the other side. ~
b,,nes come away in little pieces. The new MN
bah has, we are told, the useful properly o. shVe
L ing the bones into nunlbefless spiinters ana ira
1 menls Tie conica point acts IS q Wedge, a,
: lhe scattering Of the splinters Adds much 70 "a
intaniaiion. So the disnal catalogue runs on. !,
y The real horrors OF war are played out to n
i ntmost on the hospital pallet, When the theatres
business is all over.