The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-10-03
Battlefield Items,


NN~N - ANAN 4bNAAAHt
FROM the corre,uondcuce Of the New York T iburo
ir'm the attle.held.
II was sad loss for us on the right
when Hooker was disabled. He fully
realized that it was one Of the Worlds
great days 81 would gladly have
compromised with the enemy" be saws,
"by receiving a mortal wound at night,
could ! have remained at my post until
the day ended. AS for the rebels, thew
probably could not have fought general
battle at all, and would not have made a
stand, but their for immense acquisitions
at Harper's Ferry. Whatever Of mourning
this battle has caused in hundreds and
thousands of families in the land for
those who may never return 10 them;
whatever of discomfort they may suffer
from the death or disabled condition of
ten thousand husbands and fathers
whatever of these, and train of evils,
may flow from this greatest and bloodiest
Of the battles Of this unparalleled, prepos-
ferrous revolution, it is all Immediately
chargeablc to the surrender of Harner's
Ferry.
1t is now asceriained from ofiici al re-
ports that we captured about two thou
sand wounded rebels, who were left be-
hind in the hospitals between Sharpsburg
and the river and also recaptured one
hundred and fifty Of our own men who
were wounded and taken prisOnersduring
the fight. Since last Saturday we must
have more than made up for our loss ut
Iarper's Ferry in prisoners. Among the
rebel wounded, we have about two hun
drcd oilcers-threo wounded Colonies.
and the restsMajors, Captains and Lieu
tonauts.
Three regiments have been occupied
since Thursday morning in burying the
dead. 1t is beyond all question, and |
challenge any enc who has been upon the
battle field to deny it, that the rebel
dead are almost three TO our one. On
the other had we lost more in wound
ed. This is accounted for by our Off
GERS from the superiority of our arms.
Many of our soldiers are wounded with
buckshOt, which disfgures the body
terribly, but seldom produces fatal
wound,
II is strange what difference there is
in the composition of human bodies, with
reference 10 the rapidity that change
goes on after death. Several bodies of
rebels strewed the ground on the banks,
in the vicinity Of the bridge. They
fought behind trees, and fence rail and
stone heap barbados, as many a bullet
mark in all these deiences amply attes-
ted; but all that availed not to avert death
from these poor creatures. They had been
dead least forty eight hours when
looked at them. Almost all of them had
become discOlOred in the face and much
swollen; there was one young man with
his face so | fe like, and even his eye so
bright, it seemed almost impossible that
he could be dead. IL was the loVliest
looking corpse l ever beheld He was
young man not 25, the soft. unshaved,
brown beard hardly asserting yet, the
fumes of its owners manhood The
features were tee small, and the
character of the face of too small
! and delicate an order, TO an
Rwcr the requirements of masculine
beauty. In death his eyes were of the
! clearcst blue and would not part with its
surprisingly gentle, amiable, good, and
charming expression, The face was like
piece of wax, only that it surpassed
any piece of wax work.
One other young man, besrdless yet but
of brawnier type, furnished another ex-
ample of slow decomposition. His face
was not quite as lilc-like; still one could
easily fancy him alive 10 see him any
where else than on the field of carnage;
aud strange his face wore an expression
of mirth, as If he had just witnessed
something amusing.
Nearly all the inhabitants Of Sharps-
burg have returned TO their dwellings.
! The work OF removing dead horses from
the streets and repairing the damages TO
the bu ldings has commenced. Two
churches were nearly destroyed and will
| have to be rebuilt.
Fortunately, the mansions Of the rich
| Rebels suffered the most severely. The
dwelling of a Mr.. Grover, a notorious
! Secessionist, was almost destroyed A
shell from one Of our guns passed direct
! ly through his portrait, hanging upon tho
wall in his parlor, and tore out his nose,
! h q eyes and his woodworking but his
bald head, neck and shoulders remains
within the frame. During the cannonade
the women and children were huddled
together for three days in the cellars; one
cellar under a large stone mansion con-
tanned moro than sixty. They enter
tanned themselves with prayer and psalm
singing, and cursing the Rebels or the
| Yankees, as their sympathies leaned with
one or the other beligerent.
One can imagine how furious the can
nonade must have been, from the fact
that but five dwellings in a village con-
tanning 1900 inhabitants escaped unin-
jured,
About one hundred rebels were killed
aud wounded in the streets, aud about al
many horses belonging TO citizens ant
Rebels, Several barns, containing tn,
cows Of the citizens, looked up for safety
were set on fire by exploding shells anC
! consumed