The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-09-05
BURYING THE DEAD AT MANASSAS.

BURY1NG THE DEAD AT MANASSAS.
THRILLING DESCRIPTION.
A correspondent of the Savannah Republican
thus describes second visit to the scene of the bat
tie of Manassas on the "Wednesday following the
strug gle, and what he saw there:
On Monday our dead were buried or boxed up,
and sent home for interment and many of the enc
| mv's wounded were brought in and attended to-
All day Tuesday was devoted to burying the dead
on the other side, and yet the work had not been
half finished when l arrived on the field Wednesday
morning. So intolerable was the stencil arising
from the dead, and especially from the horses, that
our men had been compelled to suspend their hui
name labors. did hear that some Of the prisoners
we had taken were subsequently sent out and
ordered to finish the work, which they did, though
reluctantly.
1t a sad sight, the battlefield that day. The
enemy's dead still lay scattered in every direction
and the silent vultures had begun to circle above
| them. They were well clad. and were larger and
stnuter men than ours. Nearly all of them were
lying upon their backs, some of them with their
legs and arms stretched out TO the utmost MANY
had their feet drawn up somewhat, while their
arms, from the elbows, were raised, and the hands
rather closed, after the fashion of boxers. 1t was
singular and yet the prevailing attitude Most of
them had sandy or red hair, and | have observed
that this is the predominant color among our own
soldiers. Those who were not killed instantly had
almost invariably torn open their shirt collars and
loosened their clothing about the waist.
There was another mark in addition to this by
which we could tell whether their death was sudden
or lingering. 1t was the color of the face. If the
body had time to become cool and quiet before
DEATH the CORPSE was pale, though not so much so
as those who die from disease. Those who were
killed instantly, however, and while heated and
excited, were purple and black in the face. Ia
such cases the blood being in full circulation there
was not time for it to return to the heart before the
body had ceased all its functions AT least, SUP
pose such is the explanation, and physician con-
firms me in it.
Such of the poor wretches as had been buried
were placed in long bitches trenches, sometimes
twenty or thirty in the same trench. OF course it
was impossible to procure collins or boxes for them
They were laid away in the attitude in which
they were found, and in which their bodies and
limbs had become stiff and rigid-one with his arms
and legs stretched out-another bent nearly double
"a third with his hands raised, as described above.
One poor fellow had died with his arms clasped
around small tree, and others with their hands
casped tightly about their muskets or such twigs
or roots as were in their reach One was foutd
with bis Bible opened upon his breast. Some had
their hands crossed, and the whole body composed
after the manner of corpse. A few were found
upon whom there was not the least wound or mark
Whether they died from sun-stroke, or from ex-
hsuson, simple fright, it impossible to say,
though probably it was from the first cause.