Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-07-22
B. COWles 8 Co.. Publishers
The Horrors Of tho Rattlc Field.

The correspondent Of the Cincinnati
Commercial writes thus from the battle
field ct Rich Mountain
FHE DEAD ON THE YIELD OF BArTLEh
The dead presented g chastity spectacle.
I never conceived snything half 50 hideons.
No power Of expression Is adequate to de-
scribe it. Il was complete concentration
Of horrors self. II is said that the feE-
lures Of those who die by other causes are
usually relieved BY faint smile--thRt suf-
fsring is rarely left imprinted Oh the coun-
tenanee Of eorpse-bul that the counte-
nances Of those who are shot have impress
ed upon them the traces Of pain. Those
which saE-about tfty--exhibited moth
ing bat the revolving characters Of exqui-
site agony. There was not the faintess
giimmer Of q lingering smile, not the
slightest possible tint of softness or mild
ness, not q lineameht Of beauty remaining,
10 relieve the harsh, hOrrid, distorted, ago
nized faces Of the dead Of Rich Mountain.
The bright sun, glancing through the part.
ing leaves, lent no kindly ray TO soften the
ugly outlines; melancholy had no sad,
quiet shadow 10 mingle with the hard, for
bidding aspect Of the dead faees on which
gaIed with perfect horror, Had there been
even traces Of angry passion, Vindietiye-
ness, revenge, death could not have stared
50 horribly as it did, out Of those ghastly
lineaments We could have felt there was
still something human left in those human
faces but mere outlines. -..-
The faces Of our own dead were as fear
FULLY forbidding as those Of their dead en-.
emies. 1t was impossible TO drive from
my mind reflections upon the terrible in
tensity Of grief which those who see the
forbiddine countenances Of dead loved
ones on the field Of battle, must expert
ence. imagine it must exceed all other
grief for the dead-because every feature
I is so distorted and unnatural, so entirely
devoid Of the tone Of expression which
1 friends have loved in The living features.
Some were lying prone on the field as they
had fallen, with limbs sprawling, great
! thick plotches Of eoRgulated blsOd near
their bodies, their garments saturated
with the ensanguined flow, and their gsp-
ing faces and stony eyes staring full at .he
broad, brazen sky. One who had been
shot down IN the woods above the breast
works, lay stark upon his face, one arm
thrown with q convulsive struggle around
the limb of a fallen tree. Clotted blood,
which had flowed out Of his side, was near
him in thick Jumps. But the most hide
GUS scene was that Of twenty nine dead
rebels packed horribly together in trench
most Of them with fearful ori6oes per
i foratinR their heads, through which the
brains oozed in sickening clots others
With mimic holes full in their breasts
some With shattered limbs, and others with
llacerated and mangled flesh, with here and
there spiintered bone exhibiting itself
! Oh, horrible most horrible Our OWL
precious dead, but few in number, had
been more tenderly gathered, and kind
comrades had decently composed their stiff
fening forms. / lifted the covering which
concealed their inanimate features, bu
saw nothing to remove from my mind tha
J indelfble impression Of unmitigated ugh
ness of dead faces of men shot in battle.
One poor fellow Of the 18th Indiana wa
shot in the left eye by grape shot. l
perforated the brain and dislodged and dis
organized the whole inner structure Of III
Uranium from the skull downward, leavin
a monetrous cavity of unimaginable hor
ror. The ball left the eyelid perfect, en-
tering directly under the nose where
Joins the forehead, without disfguring th
nose in the least-s perfectly clean, but
very singular wound. . NkH
Our own dead occupy separate graves o
: the battle field they so gallantly won. Th
bodies of our brave but misguided foeme
we're carefully laid in a common grave, an
are now resting quietly where but yestei
day they fought 50 well.
THE WOUNDED.