Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-07-20

The Battle Am W,lsfern virginia.
we extract the following from the special
correspondence Of the Cincinnati Commmeial
1t viii be found interesting: ls.
THE DEAD ON THE FIELD OF. BATTLE.
The dead presented ghastly spectacle,
never conceived anything half 30 hideous. Nc
power of expression is adequate TO describe IL
Il was q complete Concentration OF horror's self
Il Is said that the features Of those who die By
other causes, are usually relieved by faint
smile--thgt suffering 10 rarely left imprinted on
the countenance of corpse-but that the coun.
tenancs Of those who are shot have impressed
upon them the traces Of pain. Those which !
saw, exhibited nothing but the revolving char
acters of exquisite agony, There was not the
faintest glimmer of a lingering smile, not the
slightest possible tint of softness or mildness,
not lineament Of beauty remaining, to relieve
the harsh, horrid, distorted, agonized faces of
the dead Of Rich Mountain. The bright sun,
glaneing through the parting leaves, lent no
kindly ray to soften the ugly outlines; melan.
choly had no cad, quiet shadow, to mingle with
the hard, forbidden aspect of the dead faces on
which gazed with perfect horror. Had there
been even traces of angry passion, vindictive.
ness, revenge, death could not have stared 90
horribly as 1t did, out of those ghastly Inca.
ments; we could have felt that there was still
something human left in those human faces but
mere outlines L3i3l o7T f' N'
The faces of our own dead were as fearfully
forbidding as those of their dead enemies. IL
was impossible to drive from my mind refiec
tons upon the terrible intensity Of grief which
those VINO see the forbiddlng countenances Of
dead loved ones on the field Of battle, must ex.
perience. l imagine 1t must exceed all other
grief for the dead because every feature Ia 90
distorted and unnatural, 80 entirely devoid Of
the tone of expression which friends have loved
In the living features Some we're lying prone
on the field as they had fallen, with limbs
sprawling, great thick plotches of coagulated
blood near their bodies, their garments saturat-
ed with the ensanguined flow, and their gaping
faces and stony eyes, staring full at the broad,
brazen eky. One who had been ehot down In
the woods, above the breastwork, lay stark up
on his face, one arm thrown with convuleive
struggle around the limb of fallen tree.
Clotted blood which had flowed out Of his side,
was near him In thick Jumps. But the most
hideous scene was that Of twenty mine dead
rebels packed horribly together In o atrench-
most of them with fearful oriRces perforatiDg
their heads, through which the brains oozed In
sickening clotsj others with mimic holes full In
their breasts; some with shattered limbs, and
others with lacerated and mangled flesh, with
here and there splintered bone exhibiting 1t.
self. Our own precious dead, but few in num-
Der, had been more tenderly gathered, and kind
comrades had decently composed their stiffen.
Ing forms. lifted the covering which conceal.
ed their inanimate features, but saw nothing to
remove from my mind the indelible impression
Of unmiagated ugiiness Of dead faces of men
shot in battle. s1ia+r Ii.. I.H 1f Il
One poor fellow of the 18th Indiana was shot
in the left eye BY a grape shot. IL perforated
the brain and dislodged and disorganized the |
whole inner structure from the Uranium down
ward, leaving monstrous cavity Of uuimagin |
able horror. The bail left the eyelid perfect
entering directly under the nose where IL Joins
the forehead, without dishguring the nose in
the lesst--a perfectly clean, but very singular
Our own dead occupy separate graves on the
battlefield they so gallsntly won. The bodies
Of our brave but misguided foemen were care |
fully laid In common grave, and are now rest |
ing quietly where but yesterday they fought 30
well. m r.. ..f -g 4 ss. .. .'.-a1IC