Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1861-08-06
Dead and Wounded ar Rich
Mountain

| MOuntain.
In The Cincinnati Commercials account
Of the battle of Rich Mountain, in Western
| Virginia, occurs the following sad picture
of the scene after the defeat of the rebels
by our troops:
The dead presented CHASTITY spectacle.
| never conceived anything half so hideous.
\ M pawer Of expression is adequate to de-
scribe 1t. Ii was a complete concentration
of horrors self. ltis said that the features
/ of those who die by other causes. are
usually relieved by a faint smile-that
suffering is rarely left imprinted on the
countonauce Of a eorpse-but that the
/ counienances of those who are shot have
! impressed upon them the traces of main
! Those which | saw-about ffty-exhib;,ed
nothing but the revolving characters of ex
| quisite agony. There was not the faiutest
| gilmmer OF lingering smile, not the
slightest possible tint Of softness or mild
ness. not lineameut Of beauty remaining.
to relieve the harsh, horrid. distorted, ago.
nized faees Of the dead of Rich Maintain.
The bright sun, glancing through the
parting leaves, lent no kindly ray to soften
the ugly outlines; melancholy had no sad.
| quiet shadow, to mingle with the hard
which gazed with perfect horror. Had
! there been even traces Of angry rassion.
| vindictiveness or revenge, death could no,
/ have stared so horribly as il did. opt Of
! those CHASTITY lineaments we could have
felt there was still something human left in
these human faces but mere outlines.
The faces of our own dead ve-a ne
fearfuily forbidding as those If their dead
enemies 1t was impossible To drive from
my m'nd reflections upon the terrible in
tensiiy OF grief which those who seq m.
torbiddiEg countcnances of dead loved ones
on the held of battle must experience. |
imagine IL must exceed all other grief for
the dead-because every feature is sn dis
torted and unnatural, so entirely devoid Of
the tone of expression which friends have
loved in the living TEXTURES. Some were
lying prone on the field as they had fallen.
with limbs s7rawling, great thick blo,ch.s
Of coagulated blood near their bodies. their
garments saturated with the ensanou;nsd
flow. and their gaping faces and stony ewes
staring full at the broad. brazen sky. One
who had been shot down in the vopds
above the breastwor&s, lay stark npon his
face, one arm thrown with n couyul.ive
struggle around the limb Of a fallen tree
/ CIetted blood which had flowed out of his
/ SIDE, was Eear him IN thick lumns. Bu,
/ the mnst hideUu: scene was that OF twenty
! nine dead rebels packed horribly together
4 In a trench-mnst of them with fearful
oritces periOrating their heads. through
/ which the brains uOze1 in sickeninp cl,fs
| others with MIME holes full in fbair
breasts; sumo with shattered limbs AID
others with lacerated and mangIeJ flesh
| with here and there a splintered bone ex-
I hibiting itself. Oh, horrible most horri-
BILE! Our own precious dead. but few in
number, had been more tenderlv gathered
/ and kind comrades had decently cnu,ncseJ
their siitfening forms. / lifted the cover
/ ing which concealed their inanimate gca-
lures, hu. saw nothing to remove from nv
mind that indelibie impression VI uun,i,-
igated ugliness Of dead faces Of men shat
/ in battle.
One poor fellow OF the 18Th Indiana
was shot in the lef' eye by a grape shot
1t perforated the BRAN and disltdoed and
| disurganized the whole inner structure az
the Uranium from the skull downward
leaving monstrous cavity of unina ,inatle
horror. The ball left the eyelid perfect.
entering directly under the nose where il
joins the forehead, without disfguring the
nose III the leasi-a perfectly clean, but n
very singular wound.
I OuI u"h ueau occupy seIafate graves
on the battle field they so ga .lantly won
The bodies of our brave, misguided Ieemsn
were carefully laid in a common grave.
and are now resting quietly where bat
yesterday they fought so well.
Our own and rebel wounded Law .trewn
together in blankets on the floors Of Harris
house. Every available space was covered
with their convulsive and quiyering bodies
Down under the porch there WAS anotber
line Of wounded. There was no difference
in the treatment of the sufferers. The So
yerely wOrnded OF the enemy were attended
to before the slightly injured Of our own
army. Most of them suffered in silence. =
few slept soundly, but some moaned with
intense agony. One poor fellow, an Irdi-
anlan, shot through the side Of the head
who could even yet stand on his feet with
assistance, suffered excrueiating agony. II
he survives, II will be almost miraculous -
Now and then a wounded rebel would
stare suiienly at our perple, hut the ma.
Jority appeared gratefully surprised at the
kindness with which they were treated
Indeed, everything was done to mitigate
their sutferings ! shall not aftempt n
depict the CHASTITY pictures OF hurrid wounds
and shuddering forms of poor victims. To-
whom It would have been merciful If they
conlI have died. but who lay on the cold
cold ground, quivering with agony with
no chance TO survive, and vet could rot Ike
out last sutfering gasp"