Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1861-08-02
The Cheat River Battle.

CU~ettos aNSoLh P""Jih5 ~ @
lan's army, gives the following graphic
account of the death of General Garnett,
and the scenes accompanying the retreat
: of his army:
AS soon as the proper arrangements
could be made, Gen. Garnett's body was
conveyed on one of his own filters, thrown
from their baggage wagons by his flying
soldiers to hasten their retreat to Gen.
Morris headquarters. There, fresh
clothing was procured from a Georgia
trunk in one of the captured wagons, and
the body was decently laid out.
} The brave boy who fell by him was Ia
: ken to the hills above the headquarters
and buried by Virginia troops. AT his
head they placed board with the in
scription: Name unknown. A brave
fellow who shared his Generals fate, and
fell fighting by his side, while his COM
panions fed
When Gen. Garnett fell it was only
known that he was an officer attempt
, ing to3 rally the flying rebels. He
wore Colonel's uniform, with the epau-
lette changed, and the Brigadier Cen
erals silver star glittering on the Shout
der strap. Over this he wore fine black
overcoat. The ball struck him in the
back, Gas he was turning on his heel to
} rally his men, passed transversely thro'
his body and came out on the left side of
, his breast He wore a dress sword with
plated silver hilt, which had been pre-
scented to him by an old friend, Gen. G.
| M. Brooke, of war 1912 distinction.
: This, his gold chronometer, the opera
glass slung across his shoulder, a fine to-
biographical map of Virginia, and his
, pocket book, containing sixty-one dollars
, in Virginia currency, were taken from
his person by Major Gordon, to be kept
at headquarters till an opportunity should
offer for returning them to his family.
5 Returning from the bank where Gar
< nett lay, / went up to the bluff on which
t the enemy had been posted. The first
e object that caught my eye was large
t iron rifed cannon "a six-pounder), which
S they had left in their precipitate flight.
5 The star spangled banner of our regiment
foated over it. Around it was a sicken-
ing sight. Along the brink of that bluff
lay ten bodies, stiffening in their own
2 gore, in every contortiop which their
death anguish had produced. Others
were gasping in the last agonies, and still
others were writing with horrible but
not mortal wounds, surrounded by the
soldiers whom they really believed to be
about to plunge the bayonet to their
hearts. Never before had I so CHASTITY
a realization of the horrid nature of this
fraternal struggle. These men were all
: Amer:cans-men we had once been
proud to claim as countrymen-some of
them natives of our own Northern States.
J, One poor fellow was shot through the
J bowels. The ground was soaked with
his blood. l stopped and asked him if
" anything could be done to make him more
comfortable he only whispered, I'm so
e coldP He fingered for nearly an hour
in terrible agony.
Another-young, and just developing
into vigorous manhood-had been shot
through the head with large MIME ball
The skull was shockingly fractured; his
brains were protruding from the bullet
hole, and lay spread on the grass by his
head. And he was still living! I knelt
by his side and moistened his lips with
water from my canteen, and an officer
who came up moment afterward poured
a few drops Of brandy from his pocket
flask into his mouth. God help US what
- more could we do? A surgeon rapidly
- examined the wound, sadly shook his
head, saying it were better for him if he
were dead already, and passed on to the
next. And there that poor Georgian lay,
gasping in the untold and unimaginable
agonies of that fearful death, for more
than an hour.
Near him lay a Virginian, shot through
the mouth, and already stihening. He
: appeared to be STOPPING when he was
shot the ball struck the tip of his nose.
cutting that off, cut his upper lip, knocked
4 out his teeth, passed through the head,
and came out at the back of the neck.
The expression of his ghastly face was
awful beyond description. And near him
lay another, with ball through the right
eye, which had passed through the back
of the head. The CLASSY eyes were all
open; some seemed still gasping with
opened mouths all were smeared in their
own blood, and cold and clammy with
the dews of death upon them.