Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1862-05-23
federate wounded in the other room.


to them, but she had seen a great deal O
suffering besides. On Monday night on
hundred wounded were brought to he
house. Her two horses had been seize,
by the rebels, her corn eaten, and M
equivalent returned. She conversed un
reservedly deplored the war, and wish
ed it over. There are seven new-mad,
graves in her garden, and in her door
yard there is n heap of cInders, ana ash
ss, and eharred acknowledgements o
wagons, and tent poles. On the upper
Cornth road fifty wounded are now ly
ing, cared for by our surgeons.
A SCENE.
wish that all who read these hastily
written lines could behold the scenes o
to-day-a great army in motion, or rath
er in its attempts to move. | have said
that there has been no road building; in
consequence, there have been thousands
of wagons stuck in the mud. A wagon
train must move as a train the wagon
master must keep his train together or
they become mixed in the mass. If the
forward wagon stops, all stop. Let me
state the outlines OF the picture while
your imagination fills it up with "pera-
phaelite' painting in detail. An open
forest, undula:irg, with little or no un-
derbrush thousands of wagons, all plod-
ding on, not in slow, easy motion, but by
/ fits and starts, with cutting, slashing,
shouting, swearing, chorus Of profanity
resounding through the forests. A mule
sticks fast he tumbles; his mate falls
upon him; there is kicking and thrash.
ing, and a general melee, long, half
frantic attempt to start again, an uDload-
ing aud reloading. Other trains in
the rear, tired of waiting, turn to the
righ; or left, perhaps to pass the little
slough safely, only TO meet with a similar
mishap ten rods further along. A bat
terry struggles along, with twelve horses
attached to single piece Of artillery.
The entire forest is cut up by passing
teams. Mingled with the thousands OF
wagons are regiments. They, too, are
in confusion. Buell's aud Grants forces
have become mixed. The divisions have
been ordered to move, but there has evil
IDENTIFY been no system prearranged to
avoid confusion. AS far as the eye can
reach it is one grand hurly-burly-one
frantic struggle to make headway-and
this for half a dozen miles. What a
waste Of horse-fesh Here are six mules |
attempting to draw six boxes of bread
weight, perhaps GOO pounds. The cav
airy bring out their supplies on horses,
each cavalry man bringing bag of oats.
There is cursing, swearing, pounding
brutal, inhuman treatment. The army |
in Flanders could not have been more
profane. The brutality of the drivers is
terrible. saw to day a miserable fel-
low, destitute of sense and humanity,
strike a mule over the head, telling the |
animal to the ground, when the animal
was innocent of any intention of being
muleish. Noble horses are remorseless>
ly cut up by these brutalized beings in
human form. There is no check upon
their bru tality. You see dead horses
everywhere. l sicken of the scene. All
the finer sensibilities become callous.
You must see, but not feel. You are
to look on without redress
There would be pleasure in snatching a
whip from these 5rutes in human form,
and giving them a dose of their own
medicine. But you are a civilian and
must hold your tongue. You must not
criticise military operations.
But though civilian, have word
for those in authority. Some one is cul-
pable for not preparing good roads,
Having had some acquaintance with
civil engineering in former years, and
knowing how easy it is to build corduroy
roads, how easy to drain ravine, to
build log bridge, can with reason say
hat the engineering department is utter
y inexcusable. For what purpose do
We have engineers They are in the
service and pay of government. They
ire to engineer roads as well as fortifica-
ions. Yet they have not lifted a finger
o improve the ways. Each regiment
,r division gets on as it can. If Beau
regard evacuates Corintb, if he retreats
into the interior, this army will become
utterly powerless unless there is re-
form, unless there is at least some show
IF energy. dare not allow myself to
20 on with this topic as it requires an ef-
iort to keep down the indignation aroused
BY the scenes Of the day, knowing, as /
10, that a regiment of men under COM
letent engineer, woald have made the
.oads at least passably good. j.