Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1862-05-21
From Burroughs Battery.
CAxp SrASroN. Tenn. May srd

CAMP STANTON, Tenn, May 3rd.
Dear Gronice.-I had hoped ere this tc
have given. your readers an account o.
our second engagement and triumph
This Impending conflict, which heavy
rains and consequent bad roads have de
layed, is by no means averted. and every
movement is now being made to bring
about a speedy and desired collision
May it come soon.
Since the battle, we have made two
movements forward, ofseveral miles each,
both occurring within the past week. We
are now halfway to Corinth, and to NOR
row will resume u march onward. and
it is not unlikely, may push on till with
in striking distance of the minions Of
treason. Ere this reaches you the deci.
sive struggle will doubtless. have taken
place. From III camp we have repeated,
ly heard the firing announcing a skirm-
ish, and have usually received an accom-
panying order to prepare for immediate
action. So frequent have been these
ALARMS of late, that they scarcely excite
attention, unless accompanied by cannon
fading.
Inaddition TO the twenty-seven killed and
wounded in the battle of April 9th, we
sent thirteen sick men down the river,
one week after the battle most of whom
became so from the fatigue and exposure
Incident to that occasion, having to lay
out without shelter, through two nights
of drenching rain. During that week, in
which two of them were delirious, it was
impossible to obtain the services of a
Physician and we were compelled to be
witnesses to the agonizing sight of seeing
our men. who had escaped q perfect rain
storm of shot and shell, slowly but surely
wasting away, with ourselves powerless to
alleviate a single pang, or even remove
them to a place where they could receive
medical attention. This is but one of the
many terrible woes of war, but this one,
above all others, I most desire not TO bear
again. To jeopardize ones life in his
country's service is brave TO yield it up
on the battle field is heroic, but to add to
these its sacrifice by wasting disease, ap-
proaches the sublime.
OF such sacrifices how many examples
docs our Battery furnish! Every stop
ping place from Ohio to Mississippi is
marked by our losses. One unvarying,
continual detail of sick men for the Hos
pital. has thinned our ranks, till of the
one hundred and ifty-six, with which we
started, las September, scarce fifty remain,
"A shattered emnant of former glory-a
monument whose broken shaft still gives
sad. yet eloquent testimony, of departed
symmetry and beauty.
Ofthe thirteen alluded to as sent down
the river, Levi Kittinger, of Summit Co.,
died the day after leaving camp-a clear
case of death from neglect. He was q
mild-tempered, most i~noffensive young
man, a good and faithful soldier. OF the
others we have not heard. Among them
were Messrs. Laird, of your place, Lane,
of Champion and Grimm, of Mecca.
Messrs. Musser, Angstadt, Moore of War
rem, and McCombs of Champion, have
since been added to the list of those sent
to Hospital. About eighty of the Battery
are absent in Hospital or at home by rea-
of illness.
To my previous long letter giving an
account of the part taken by our Battery
in the action. designed adding a sketch
of the field which had beenmade aperfect
Aceldama, by the terrible destructiveness
of the conflict, but with this lapse of time
intervening it will be needless, since
many morbid pens have no doubt been
to dish up for the dyspeptic public
a feast of horrors" from the ample ma
terials which that strife afforded. Ny re
marks will therefore be general.
Ga riding over the battlefield, on Tues
day, the fatality of the contest was every
where manifest a decided majority OF the
dead consisting of rebels, in many cases
presenting a most unnatural and horrible
appearance, being swollen to twice their
natural size, and their c-ountenances vary
ing in color from a darkish jaundiced yell
low, to that of a deep green, and very ma
nv of inky blackness, as if death had been
produced by strangulation. This horribly
grotesque appearance was universally at
tributed to the deep potations of whiskey,
mixed with gunpowder. which, as at Fort
Donelson. was said and believed to have
been issued almost without limit, with
of raw beef, for the special purpose
Of adding to their ferocity, which is uni
mistaken in the dementcd South,
'or bravery. The prevalence of Canteens,
illed with this ~hell-broth, at the sides of
.hese poor dupes. was certainly of a very
'onirmatory character of the above sup
position. None of the Union soldiers
this appearance, in so marked a de
,ree, and only after a longer lapse oftime.
The yellow tinge, which was common to
he dead of both armies, was owing, in
.reat measure. to the prevalence Of jaun-
lice, directly traceable in many cases TO
he malpractice of Quacks, bearing the
tile of Surgeons, and rejoicing in shoul
lie: $ straps, who'd se the soldier. wi.hopu n,
nd even muriatic acid, to check the Diar
heas so prevalent. | have seen men in
,ur W command taken with gripping
olics in an hour after taking these death
portions. l knew of one case :
there a soldier died within a few hours