Smyrna times., 1862-03-06
WHOLE NO. S26

scene ofdesth was presented. There were Two
miles of dead strewn thickly, mingled with IRE.
arms, artillery, dead horses and the parspher.
nalIa Of the battle field 1t was a scene neysr
to De forgottea-neVer to be described.
ANOTHER Acc cUNT-INCIDENTs RELICS &c.
A correspondent Of the New York Tribune
says:
The battle continued three days, commencing
on Thursday and ending on Saturday at dark.
but this last day was most general Thursday
was very cold. the mercury being only 10 deg.
above zero and during The night it sleeted and
showed, as 1t did slso the following night
FRIDAY was warmer, still 1t froze all daV, and
the snow did not melt Ill after the fort surren.
dered
The distance between the two armies durino
the three days IN many cases was so slighl that
We could not bring off our dead, and the wound.
ed who could neither walk nor crawl remained
where they fell till Sunday morning, some even
ul la'e that day. A prisoner told me that some
Germans lay wounded before their earthworks
on Friday night, calling for help and water.
and they went out to bring them in, but it be-
ing moonlight cur men fired on them, and thew
were obliged to 90 back.
1t was early Sunday morning before thew
ventured out again, when they brought them
In. They were sill alive, but blue with cold
aud covered with frost and snow. They did
what they could for them, bat il was not much
and tor tins Teason for week they had been
! guarding their earthworks, three miles in
length, and from Thursday they had been out
in force, night aid day. Many OF them in the
rItls pits irOze their feet and hands
| On the boat sawy young officers whose slaves
pulled off their stockings, and as they did go
! he fToD oT ~. 8.
along with them. In passing from their works
to their quarters they frequently had TO wade
| siuet waist deep, aud then lay down to sleep in
! Their wet olhes The least result was violent
colo. In addition, our gunboats kept them in
Constant alarm, aud their artierisls were worn
out with cons aut watching
The Eleventh Illinois suddenly coming upon
| the enemy, WAS iurced TO retreat beneath an
awful shower Of bulls. The Major then called
Tor volunteers to bring off the wounded
! twenty or thirty started--crawled-andt they
brought of few, but some of them were wound
Cd IN the attempt. Again volunteers were
called for, and they approached amid an awful
! hre, when one OF cur wounded beckOned them
away. The attempt was madness. Just then
the leaves took hre, aud, covered by the smoke,
our men rushed III and saved a few more, but
the Clothes OF those had taken fire, and some
perished mserably. Those who were left of
course per shed.
Gen. Grant ordered that no fires should be
but at night, but fires were built, and they
lllumlned the woods for miles II would have
been mercifu If, at the close of each day, we
f had been permitted, under truce, to bring off
our wounded but il was not SO, and they Law
III the frost and sleet between the TWO armies
-many TO hear but none TO help them.
The severity OF the cold is well illustrated by
the statement made by our field officers, who
r"de IRON poet to post during the night, that in
the mcrnlRg their clothes were so stiff, that
could they have been taken off they would have
stood alone. 1t is doubtful whether suffering
! WIS greater, though IL was longer in the re-
treat of the French from Noscew Let no
ore hereafter say that our soldiers are paid TOO
much.
Mos Of the horses Of many of our batteries
were shot down They had been well trained,
and s'ood FIRE well. The horee is the m est in
leiIIgent OF all animals. He has a thinking
eye, It spark'ee with inquiry as you approach
: him he loves music, and in the horrors of
i baIle he is noe afraid. Herodotus calls the
horse stranger, perhaps because he was so lit.
= tie understood.
Saturday morning. when the enemy came cat
= IN heavy columns with knapsacks on, and three
|. times were driven back with tremendous slaugh.
Is ter some blttetles were ordered 10 positions
:, which the enemy little while be ore had &C.
Il cupicd. The horses hes,ated not 10 tread on
e the wounded, dying and Dead and the ponder.
artillery wheels crushed limbs and skulls. 1t
l. was an awful sight to behold weak, wounded
u men lifting their feeble hands beneath the
y horses hooIs. Signs. at least, are due TO the
noble horses which tell in this battle. Going
~ over this part Of the field on Sunday, where
the dead lay thck'y, and where the track o.
'e the artillery could be traced, some words OF ths
&c old poet come 10 my mind
y " So the Gerce coarsers as the chariot rolls,
e Tread down whole ranks, and crash heroes souls
IN Dashed from their hOnis while the dead they hY
r. Black. bloody drops the smoking chatOI dye;
NJ The spky wheels through heaps OF carnage tsre.
" And thick the gruanng aXles dropped with gore
=, The town of Dover, containing, perhaps, one
~ hundred houses must be considered a part o.
- the battle field, as it was within the rebel lines
> Every room contained sick, wounded or dead
u men.
~ " The inhabitants had fed. Some of our sol
~ dlers were sacklng II, contrary TO express or
= ders. | saw plates. knives and forks, and arti
~ cles of tine female wearing apparel on the floor
e bloody rags were everywhere, and often pieceI
" - OF ra W human flesh cut away BY the surgeons
- = and you could not open door without hearing
"a groans. No matter how grand or how low
~ 81, how retired or how public the house might be
~ ~ 1t was all the same. Thunder and lightning
,al CHVieId VI otheI PeIAIIeuCei OF tue most aWIu
80 earthquake could not have caused such seen,
of horror.
M On every hand were the evidences Of power
IS ty. Tneir two wheeled ambulances were cart
~ ~ covered with white cotton cloth, and in ever
~ branch 10 which our army is supplied with per
- maneRt and scientific fixtures, theirs are sup
hs piled with temporary and barely sufficient ones
ho We have oVerrated their pewers
te- -%-~~- ~--
hs A dispatch to the Cincinnati Gazette, date
mi al Cairo, Feb. 30, states that three thsusan
| .L.ln NJ Il